Introduction:
Dr. Maurice Bucaille is an eminent French surgeon, scientist, scholar and
author of ''THE BIBLE, THE QURAN AND SCIENCE'' which contains the result of
his research into the Judeo-Christian Revelation and the Quran. It is a unique
contribution in the field of religion and science.
Being an outstanding Scientist, he was elected to treat the mummy of
Merneptah (Pharaoh) which he did. During his visit to Saudi Arabia he was
shown the verses of the Holy Quran in which Allah says that the dead body of
the Pharaoh will be preserved as a ''Sign'' for posterity. An impartial
scientist like Dr. Bucaille, who (being also a Christian) was converstant with
the Biblical version of Pharaoh's story as being drowned in pursuit of Prophet
Moses. He was pleasantly surprised to learn that unknown to the world till
only of late, the Holy Quran made definite prediction about the preservation
of the body of that same Pharaoh of Moses time. This led Dr. Bucaille to study
the Holy Quran thoroughly after learning the Arabic language. The final
conclusion of his comparative study of Quran and the Bible is that the
statements about scientific phenomena in the Holy Quran are perfectly in
conformity with the modern sciences whereas the Biblical narrations on the
same subjects are scientifically entirely unacceptable.
The present booklet, which is a lecture given by Dr. Bucaille on the subject
Qur'an and Modern Science at the Commonwealth Institute London, will provide
guidance towards the eternal of Islam.
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The Qur'an and Modern Science:
ON 9 NOVEMBER 1976 an unusual lecture was given at the French Academy of
Medicine. Its title was 'Physiological and Embryological data in the Qur'an. I
presented my study on the existence in the Qur'an of certain statements
concerning physiology and reproduction. My reason for doing this was that our
knowledge of these disciplines is such, that it is impossible to explain how a
text produced at the time of the Qur'an could have contained ideas that have
only been discovered in modern times.
There is indeed no human work prior to modern times that contains
statements which were equally in advance of the state of knowledge at the time
of they appeared and which might be compared to the Qur'an.
In addition to this, a comparative study of date of a similar kind contained
in the Bible (Old Testament and Gospels) seemed desirable. This is how the
project was formed of a confrontation between modern knowledge and certain
passages in the Holy Scriptures of each monotheistic religion. It resulted in
the publication of a book under the title, The Bible, the Qur'an and Science.
The first French edition appeared in May 1976. (Seglers, Paris-English and
Arabic editions have now been published.
It comes as no surprise to learn that Religion and Science have always been
considered to be twin sisters by Islam and that today at a time when science
has taken such great strides, they still continue to be asociated, and
furthermore certain scientific data are used for the better understanding of
the Qur'anic text. What is more, in a century where, for many, scientific
truth has dealt a deathblow to religious belief, it is precisely the
discoverires of science that, in an objective examination of the Islamic
Revelation, have highlighted the supernatural character of certain aspects of
the Revelation.
When all is said and done, generally speaking, scientific knowledge would
seem, in spite of what people may say, to be highly conductive to reflection
on the existence of God.
Once we begin to ask ourselves in an unbaised or unprejudiced way about the
metaphysical lessons to be derived from some of today's knowledge, (for
example our knowledge of the infinitely small or the problem of life), we
indeed discover many reasons for thinking along these lines. When we think
about the remarkable organisation presiding over the birth and maintenance of
life, it surely becomes clear that the likelihood of it being the result of
chance gets less and less, as our knowledge and progress in this field expand.
Certain concepts must appear to be increasingly unacceptable; for example, the
one put forward by the French winner of the Nobel prize for Medicine who tried
to get people to admit that living matter was self-created as the result of
fortuitous circumstances under the effect of certain outside influences using
simple chemical elements as their base. From this it is claimed that living
organisms came into being, leading to the remarkable complex called man. To
me, it would seem that the scientific progress made in understanding the
fantastic complexity of higher beings provides strong arguments in favour of
the opposite theory: in other words, the existence of an extraordinarily
methodical organisation presiding over the remarkable arrangement of the
phenomena of life. In many parts of the Book, the Qur'an leads, in simple
terms, to this kind of general reflection. But it also contains infinitely
more precise data which are directly related to facts discovered by modern
science: these are what exercise a magnetic attraction for today's scientists.
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Encyclopedia Knowledge Necessary
to Understand the Qur'an :
For many centuries, man was unable to study them, because he did not possess
sufficient scientific means. It is only today that numerous verses of the
Qur'an dealing with natural phenomena have become fully comprehensible. I
should even go so far as to say that, in the 20th century, with its
compartmentalization of ever-increasing knowledge , it is not always easy for
the average scientist to understand everything he reads in the Qur'an one is
today required to have an absolutely encyclopaedic knowledge, by which I mean,
one which embraces very many disciplines.
I use the word 'science' to mean knowledge which has been soundly established.
It does not include the theories which, for a time, help to explain a
phenomenon or series of phenomena, only to be abandoned later in favour of
explanations which have become more plausible thanks to scientific progress. I
basically only intend to deal with knowledge which is not likely to be subject
to further discussion. Wherever I introduce scientific facts which are not yet
100% established. I shall, of course, make this quite clear.
There are also some very rare examples of statements in the Qur'an which
have not, as yet, been confirmed by modern science: I shall refer to these by
pointing out that all the evidence leads scientists to regard them as being
highly probable. An example of this is the statement in the Qur'an that life
is of aquatic origin; and another is that somewhere in the Universe there are
Earths similar to our own.
These scientific considerations should not, however make us forget that the
Qur'an remains a religious book par excellence and that it cannot, of course,
be expected to have a 'scientific' purpose per se. Whenever man is invited to
reflect upon the works of Creation and the numerous natural phenomena he can
observe, the obvious intention, in using such examples, is to stress Divine
Omnipotence. The fact that, in these reflections, we can find allusions to
data connected with scientific knowledge is surely another of God's gifts
whose value must shine out in an age where scientifically based materialistic
atheism seeks to gain control at the expense of the belief in God.
Throughout my research I have constantly tried to remain totally objective.
I believe I have succeeded in approaching the study of the Qur'an with the
same objectivity that a doctor has when he opens a file on a patient:in other
words, by carefully confronting all the symptoms he can find to arrive at a
diagnosis. I must admit that it was certainly not a faith in Islam that first
guided my steps, but simple research for the truth. This is how I see it
today. It was mainly fact which, by the time I had finished my study, had led
me to see in the Qur'an a text revealed to a Prophet.
We shall examine statements in the Qur'an which appear today merely to
record scientific truth, but which men in former times were only able to grasp
the apparent meaning of. How is it possible to imagine that, were there any
subsequent alterations to the texts, these obscure passages scattered
throughout the text of the Qur'an were able to escape human manipulation? The
slightest alternation to the texts would automatically have destroyed the
remarkable coherence which is characteristic of them, and prevented us from
establishing their conformity with modern knowledge. The presence of these
statements spread throughout the Qur'an looks to the impartial observer like
an obvious hallmark of authenticity.
The Qur'an is a preaching which was made known to man in the course of a
Revelation which laste roughly twenty years. It spanned two periods of equal
length on either side of the Hegira. In view of this, it was natural for
reflections having a scientific aspect to be scattered throughout the Book. In
the case of a study such as the one we have made, we had to regroup them
according to subject, collecting them sura by sura.
How should they be classified? I could not find any indications in the
Qur'an suggesting any particular classification. So I have decided to present
them according to my own personal one.
It would seem to me, that the first subject to be dealt with is the
Creation. Here it is possible to compare the verses referring to this topic
with the general ideas prevalent today on the formation of the Universe. Next,
I have divided up verses under the following general headings: Astronomy, the
Earth, the Animal and Vegetable Kingdoms, Man, and Human Reproduction in
particular; the latter is a subject which, in the Qur'an, is allotted a very
important place. To these general headings it is possible to add sub-headings.
Furthermore, I thought it useful to make a comparison between Qur'anic and
Biblical narrations from the point of view of modern knowledge. This has been
done in the case of such subjects as the Creation, the Flood and the Exodus.
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Creation of the Universe:
Let us first examine the Creation as described in the Qur'an.
An extremely important general idea emerges: its dissimilarity with
Biblical narration. This idea contradicts the parallels which are often, and
wrongly, drawn by Western authors to underline solely the resemblanes between
the two texts.
When talking of the Creation, as of other subjects, there is a strong
tendency in the West to claim that Muhammad only copied the general outlines
of the Bible. It is indeed possible to compare the six days of the Creation as
described in the Bible, plus an extra day of rest on God's sabbath, with this
verse from sura Al-A'raf (7:54):
"Your Lord is Allah Who created the Heavens and the
Earth in six days"
We must point out straight away the modern commentators stress the
interpretation of ayyam, one translation of which is 'days', as meaning 'long
periods' or 'ages' rather than periods of twenty-four hours.
What to me appears to be of fundamental importance is that, in contrast to the
narration contained in the Bible, the Qur'an does not lay down a sequence for
the Creation of the Earth and Heavens. It refers both to the Heavens before
the Earth and the Earth before the Heavens, when it talks of the Creation in
general, as in this verse of the sura Taha (20:4):
"A revelation from Him Who created the Earth and the
Heavens"
In fact, the notion to be derived from the Qur'an is one of a con-comitance
in the celestial and terrestrial evolutions. There are also absolutley
fundamental data concerning the existance of an initial gaseous mass (duhkan)
which is unique and whose elements, although at first fused together (ratq)
subsequently became separated (fatq). This notion is exprssed in the sura
Fussilat (41:11):
"And God turned to Heaven when it was smoke"
And the same is expressed in the sura Al Anbiya' (21:30):
"Do not the Unbelievers see that the Heavens and the
Earth were joined together, then We clove them asunder?"
The separation process resulted in the formation of mulitiple worlds, a
notion which crops up dozens of times in the Qur'an, once it has formed the
first verse in th sura Al Fatiha (1:1).
"Praise be to God, the Lord of the Worlds"
All this is in perfect agreement with modern ideas on the existence of
primary nebula and the process of secondary separation of the elements that
had formed the initial unique mass. This separation resulted in the formation
of galaxies and then, when these divided, of stars from which the planets were
to be born.
Reference is also made in the Qur'an to an intermediary Creation between the
Heavens and the Earth, as in the sura Al Furqan (25:59)"
"God is the One created the Heavens and the Earth and
all that is between them"
It would seem that this intermediary Creation corresponds to the modern
discovery of bridges of matter which are present outside organised
astronomical systems.
This survey certainly shows us how modern data and statements in the Qur'an
agree on a large number of points. We have come a long way from the Biblical
text with its successive phases that are totally unacceptable; especially the
one placing the Creation of the Earth (on the 3rd day) before that of the
Heavens (on the 4th day), when it is a known fact that our planet comes from
its own star, the Sun. In such circumstances, how can we imagine that a man
who drew his inspiration from the Bible could have been the author of the
Qur'an, and, of his own accord, have corrected the Biblical text to arrive at
a general concept concerning the formation of the Universe, when this concept
was not to be formed until centuries after his death?
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Astronomy - Light and Movement:
Let us now turn to the subject of Astronomy.
Whenever I describe the details the Qur'an contains on certain points of
astronomy to Westerners, it is unusual for someone not to reply that there is
nothing special in this, considering the Arabs made important discoveries in
this field long before the Europeans.
This is, in fact, a singularly mistaken idea resulting from an ignorance of
history. In the first place, science was developed in Arabian countries at a
time that was considerably after the Qur'anic Revelation had occured; in the
second, the scientific knowledge prevalent at the highpoint of Islamic
civilization would not have made it possible for a human being to have written
statements on the Heavens comparable to those in the Qur'an.
Here again, the subject is so wide that I can only povide an outline of it.
Whereas the Bible talks of the Sun and the Moon as two luminaries differing in
size, the Qur'an distinguishes between them by the use of different epithets:
light (nur) for the Moon, torch (siraj) for the Sun. The first is an interbody
which reflects light, the second a celestial formation in a state of permanent
combustion, and a source of light and heat.
The word 'star' (najm) is accompanied by another qualifying word which
indicates that it burns and consumes itself as it pierces through the shadows
of the night: it is the word thakib.
In the Qur'an, the kawkab definitely seems to mean the planets which are
celestial formations that reflect and do not produce light like the Sun.
Today it is known how the celestial organisation is balanced by the position
of stars in a defined orbit and the interplay of gravitational forces ralated
to their mass and speed of movement, each with its own motion. But isn't this
what the Qur'an describes, in terms which have only become comprehensible in
our own day, when it mentions the foundation of this balance in the sura Al
Anbiya' (21:33):
"[God is ] the One Who created the night, the day, the
Sun and the Moon. Each one is travelling in an orbit with its own motion"
The Arabic word which expresses this movement is a verb sabaha (yasbahun in
the text); it carries with it the idea of a motion which comes from any moving
body, be it the movement of one's legs as one runs on the ground, or the
action of swimming in water. In the case of a celestial body, one is forced to
translate it in the original sense, that is, 'to travel with one's own
motion'.
The description of the sequence of day and night would, in itself, beb
rather commoplace were it not for the fact that, in the Qur'an, it is
expressed in terms that today are highly significant. This is because it uses
the verb kawwara in the sura Al Zumar (39:5) to describe the way the night
'winds' or 'coils' itself about the day and the day about the night, just as,
in the original meaning of the verb, a turban is wound around the head. This
is a totally valid comparison; yet at the same time the Qur'an was revealed,
the astronomical data necessary to draw it were unknown.
The evolution of the Heavens and the notion of a settled place for the Sun are
also described. They are in agreement with highly detailed modern ideas. The
Qur'an also seems to have alluded to the expansion of the Universe.
There is also the conquest of space. This has been undertaken thanks to
remarkable technological porgress and has resulted in man's journey to the
Moon. But this surely springs to mind when we read the sura Al Rahman (55:33).
"O assembly of jinns and men, if you can penetrate regions of the Heavens and
Earth, then penetrate them! You will not penetrate them save with [Our] Power"
This power comes from the All-mighty, and the subject of the whole sura is
an invitation to recognise God's Beneficence to man.
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The Earth:
Let us now return to Earth.
Let us examine, for example, this verse in the sura Al Zumar (39:21).
"Hast tho not seen that God sent water down from the sky
and led it through sources into the ground? Then He caused sown fields of
different colours to grow"
Such notions seems quite natural to us today, but we should not forget that
they were not prevalent long ago. It was not until the sixteenth century, with
Bernard Palissy, that we gained the first coherent description of the water
cycle. Prior to this, people talked about the theory whereby the water of the
oceans, under the effect of winds, were thrust towards the interior of the
continents. They then returned to the oceans via the great abyss, which, since
Plato's time, has been called the Tartarus. In the seventeenth century, a
great thinker such as Descartes believed in it, and even in the nineteenth
century there was still talk of Aristotle's theory, according to which water
was condensed in cool mountains caverns and formed underground lakes that fed
springs. Today, we know that it is the infiltration of rainwater that is
responsible for this. If one compares the facts of modern hydrology with the
data to be found in numerous verses of the Qur'an on this subject, one cannot
fail to notice the ramarkable degree of agreement between the two.
In geology, a fact of recently acquired knowledge is the phenomenon of
folding, which was to form the mountain ranges. The same is true of the
Earth's crust, which is like a solid shell on which we can live, while the
deeper layeres are hot and fluid, and thus inhospitable to any form of life.
It is also known that the stability of the mountains is linked to the
phenomenon of folding, for it was the folds that were to provide foundations
for the reliefs that constituted the mountains.
Let us now compare modern ideas with one verse among many in the Qur'an
that deals with this subject. It is taken from the sura Al Naba' (78:6-7).
"Have We not made the Earth an expanse and the mountains
stakes?"
The stakes (awtad), which are driven into the ground like those used to
anchor a tent, are the deep foundations of geological folds.
Here, as in the case of other topics, the objective observer cannot fail to
notice the absence of any contradiction with modern knowledge.
But more than anything else, I was struck, at first, by statements in the
Qur'an dealing with living things, both in the animal and vegetable kingdoms,
especially with regard to reproduction.
I must once again stress the fact, that it is only since modern times, that
scientific progress has made the content of many such verses more
comprehensible to us. There are also other verses which are more easily
understandable, but which conceal a biological meaning that is highly
significant. This is the case of the sura Al Anbiya', a part of which has
already been quoted:
"And We got every living thing out of the water. Will
they then not believe"(21:30)
This is an affirmation of the modern idea that the origin of life is
aquatic. Progress in botany at the time of Muhammad was in no country advance
enough for it to be established as a rule that plants have both male and
female parts. Nevertheless, we may read the following in the sura Taha
(20:53).
"(God is the Who) sent water down from the sky and
thereby We brought forth pairs of plants each separate from the other"
Today, we know that fruit comes from plants that have sexual characteristics
(even when it comes from unfertilized flowers, lke bananas). In the sura Al
Ra'd (13:3) we read:
"And fruit of every kind He made in pairs, two and two"
Reflections on reproduction in the animal kingdom were linked to those on
human reproduction. We shall examine them presently.
In the field of physiology, there is one verse which, to me, appears extremely
significant: one thousand years before the discovery of the circulation of the
blood, and roughly thirteen centuries it was known what happened in the
intestine to ensure that organs were nourished by the process of digestive
absorbtion, a verse in the Qur'an describes the source of the constituents of
milk, in conformity with these notions.
To understand this verse, we have to know that chemical reactions occur in the
intestine and that, from there, substances extracted from food pass into the
bloodstream via a complex system, sometimes by way of the liver, depending on
their chemical nature. The blood transports them to all organs of the body,
among which are the milk-producing mammary glands.
Without entering into detail, let us just say that, basically, there is the
arrival of certain substances from the contents of the intestines into the
vessels of the intestinal wall itself, and the transportation of these
substances by the bloodstream.
This concept must be fully appreciated, if we are to understand this verse in
the Qur'an Al Nahl (16:66).
"Verily, in cattle there is a lesson for you. We give
you to drink of what is inside their bodies, coming from a cunjunction between
the contents of the intestines and the blood, a milk pure and pleasant for
those who drink it"
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The Creation of man:
In the Qur'an the subject of human reproduction leads to a multitude of
statements whic constitute a challenge to the embryologist seeking a human
explanation to them. It was only after the birth of the basic sciences which
were to contribute to our knowledge of biology, and especially after the
invention of the microscope, that man was able to understand such statements.
It was impossible for a man living in the early seventh century to have
expressed such ideas. There is nothing to indicate that, at this time, men in
the Middle East and Arabia knew anything mor about this subject than men
living in Europe or anywhere else. Today, there are many Muslims with a
thorough knowledge of the Qur'an and natural sciences who have clearly
recognised the comparisons to be made between the verses of the Qur'an dealing
with reproduction and human knowledge. I shall always remember the comment of
an eighteen year old Muslim, brought up in Saudi Arabia, replying to a
reference to the question of reproduction as described in the Qur'an. Pointing
to it, he said, 'But this book provides us with all the essential information
on the subject. When I was at school they used the Qur'an to explain to me how
children were born; your books on sex-education are a bit late on the scene!'
It is on this point in particular, that a comparison between the beliefs
current at he time of the Qur'an, that were full of supersitions and myths,
and the contents of the Qur'an and modern data, leaves us amazed at the degree
of concordance between the latter and the absence of any reference in the
Qur'an to the mistaken ideas that were prevalent at the time.
Let us now isolate, from all these verses, precise ideas concerning the
complexity of the fertilizing liquid and the fact that an infinitely small
quantity is required to ensure fertilization, its 'quintessence' - if I may so
translate the Arabic word 'sulala'.
The implantation of the egg in the female genital organ is perfectly
described in several verses by the word 'Alaq' which is also the title of the
sura in which it appears:
"God fashioned man from something which clings
(96:2)"
I do not think there is any reasonable translation of the word 'Alaq' other
than to use its original sense.
The evolution of the embryo inside the maternal uterus is only briefly
described, but the description is accurate, because the simple words referring
to it correspond exactly to fundamental stages in its growth. This is what we
read in a verse from the sura Al Mu'minun (23:14).
"We fashioned the thing which clings into a chewed lump
of flesh and We fashioned the chewed flesh into bones and We clothed the bones
with intact flesh.' Then We developed out of it another creature. So blessed
be Allah, the Perfect Creator"
The term 'chewed flesh' (mudga) corresponds exactly to the appearance of
the embryo at a certain stage in its development.
It is known that the bones develop inside this mass and that they are then
covered with muscle. This is the meaning of the term 'intact flesh' (lahm).
The embryo passes through a stage where some parts are in proportion and
others out of proportion with what is later to become the individual. Maybe
this is the meaning of a verse in the sura Al Hajj (22:5) which reads as
follows:
"We created you out of dust, then out of sperm, then We
fashioned him into something which clings into a little lump of flesh, partly
fromed and partly unformed"
Next, we have a reference to the appearance of the senses and viscerae in
the sura Al Sajda (32:9).
"[God] appointed for you the senses of hearing, sight
and the viscerae"
Nothing here contradicts today's data and, furthermore, none of the
mistaken ideas of the time has crept into the Qur'an.
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Qur'an and Bible:
We have now come to the last subject: it is the confrontation, with modern
knowledge, of passages in the Qur'an that are also referred to in the Bible.
We have already caught a glimpse of the problem when talking of the
Creation. Earlier I stressed the perfect agreement between modern knowledge
and verses in the Qur'an, and pointed out that the Biblical narration
contained statements that were scientifically unacceptable. This is hardly
surprising when we know that the great narration of the Creation contained in
the Bible was the work of priests living in the sixth century BC, hence the
term 'Sacerdotal' narration. This seems mainly to have been conceived as the
theme of a preaching designed to exhort people to observe the sabbath. The
narration was constructed with a definite end in view, and, as Father de Vaux
(a former head of the Biblical School of Jerusalem) has noted, this end was
essentially legalist in character.
The Bible also contains a much shorter and older narration of the Creation,
the so-called 'Yehvist' version, which approaches the subject from a
completely different angle.
They are both taken from Genesis, the frist book of the Pentateuch or
Taurah: Moses is supposed to have been its author, but the text we have today
has, as we know, undergone many changes.
The Sacerdotal narration of Genesis is famous for its whimsical
genealogies, that go back to Adam, and which nobody takes very seriously.
Nevertheless, such Gospel authors as Matthew and Luke have reproduced them,
more or less verbatim, in their genealogies of Jesus. Matthew goes back as far
as Abraham, and Luke to Adam. All these writings are scientifically
unacceptable, because they set a figure on the age of the world and the time
man appeared on Earth, which is most definitely out of keeping with what has
today been established with certainty. The Qur'an, on other hand, is
completely free of data of this kind.
Earlier on, we also noted how perfectly the Qur'an agrees with general,
modern ideas on the formation of the Universe, whereas the Biblical narration
stands in contradiction to them; the allegory of the primordial waters is
hardly tenable, nor is the creation of light on the first day, before the
creation of the stars which produce this light; the existence of an evening
and morning before the creation of the Earth; the creation of the Earth on the
third day before that of the Sun on the fourth; the appearance of beasts of
the Earth on the sixth day after the appearance of the birds of the air on the
fifth day, although the former came first: all these statements are the result
of beliefs prevalent at the time this text was written and do not have any
other meaning.
As for the genealogies contained in the Bible, which form the basis of the
Jewish calendar and assert that today the world is 5738 years old, these are
hardly admissable either. Our solar system may be over 41/2 billion years old,
and the appearance on Earth of man, as we know him today, may be estimated in
tens of thousands of years, if not more.
It is absolutely essential, therefore, to note that the Qur'an does not
contain any such indications as to date, and that these are specific to the
Biblical text.
There is a second, highly significant, subject of comparison between the
Bible and the Qur'an: this is the Flood. In actual fact, the Biblical
narration is a fusion of two descriptions in which events are related
differently. The Bible speaks of a universal flood and places it roughly 300
years before Abraham. According to what we know of Abraham, this would imply a
universal cataclysm around the twenty-first or twenty-second century B.C. This
would be untenable in view of historical data.
How can we accept the idea that, in the twenty-first or twenty-second century
BC, all civilization was wiped off the face of the Earth by a universal
cataclysm, when we know that this period corresponds, for example, to the one
preceding the Middle Kingdom in Egypt, at roughly the date of the first
Intermediary period before the eleventh dynasty?
None of the preceding statements is acceptable according to modern knowledge.
From this point of view, we can measure the enormous gap separating the
Bible from the Qur'an.
In contrast to the Bible, the narration contained in the Qur'an deals with
a cataclysm that is limited to Noah's people. They were punished for their
sins, as were other ungodly peoples. The Qur'an does not locate the cataclysm
in time. There are absolutely no historical or archaelogical objections to the
narration in the Qur'an.
A third point of comparison, which is extremely significant, is the story of
Moses, and especially the Exodus from Egypt of the Hebrews enslaved to the
Pharaoh. Here I can only give a highly compressed account of the study of this
subject that appears in my book. I have noted the points where the Biblical
and Qur'anic narrations agree and disagree, and, for some details, I have
found points where the two texts complement each other in a very useful way.
Among the many hypotheses concerning the position occupied by the Exodus in
the history of the Pharaohs, I have concluded that the most likely is the
theory which makes Merneptah, Rameses II's successor, the Pharaoh of the
Exodus. The confrontation of the data contained in the Scriptures with
archaeological evidence speaks strongly in favour of this hypothesis. I am
pleased to to be able to say that the Biblical narration contributes weighty
evidence leading us to situate Moses in the history of the Pharaohs: Moses was
born during the reign of Rameses II. Biblical data ara therefore of
considerable historical value in the story of Moses.
The medical study of the mummy of Merneptah has yielded further useful
information on the possible nauses of this Pharaoh's death.
The fact that we today possess the mummy of this Pharaoh, which to be exact,
was discovered in 1898, is one of paramount importance. The Bible records that
it was engulfed in the sea, but does not give any details as to what
subsequently became of the body. The Qur'an, in the sura Yunus, notes that the
body of the Pharaoh, who was to be damned, would be saved from the waters.
"So this day We shall save your (dead), body that you
may be a sign for those who come after you! And verily, many among mankind are
heedless of Our signs" Sura Yunus (10:92)
A medical examination of this mummy, has moreover, shown that the body
could not have stayed in the water for long, because it does not show signs of
deterioration due to prolonged submersion.
Here again, the confrontation of the narration in the Qur'an with the data
provided by modern knowledge does not give rise to the slightest objection
from a scientific point of view.
The Old Testament constitutes a collection of literary works produced in
the course of roughly nine centuries and which has undergone many
alternations. The part played by man in the actual composition of texts of the
Bible is quite considerable.
The Qur'anic Revelation has a history which is radically different. From
the moment it was first communicated to man, it was learnt by heart and
written down during Muhammad's own lifetime. It is thanks to this that the
Qur'an does not pose any problem of authenticity.
A totally objective examination of it, in the light of modern knowledge, leads
us to recognise the agreement between the two, as has already been noted on
repeated occasions. It makes us deem it quite unthinkable for a man of
Muhammad's time to have been the author of such statements, on account of the
state of knowledge in his day. Such considerations are part of what gives the
Qur'anic Revelation its unique place, and forces the impartial scientist to
admit his inability to provide an explanation which calls solely upon
materialistic reasoning.
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THE LIGHT OF REVELATION
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What is Life?:
Man's existence in this world and the creation of this entire universe are
not mere accidents or products of a fortuitous nature. This universe, every
single atom of it, manifests and points us to the realization of a Loving,
Merciful and All-powerful Creator. Without a Creator nothing can exist.
Every single soul know that he is existing and that his existence is
dependent on a Creator - he knows for sure that he cannot create himself.
Therefore it is his duty to know his master creator - God.
Mankind:
Man is a unique creature. God establishes man as His Representative or
Deputy to govern over all other creatures in this world. He is endowed with
the faculty of REASON, which differentiates him from all other animals. The
Prophet says:
''God has not created anything better than Reason or anything more perfect
or more beautiful than Reason........''
Together with this faculty to discriminate and discern, Man is given the
freedom (free-well) to choose for himself a way of life worthy of his
position as God's Representative or to fall lower than the lowest of all
animals or creations. Man is born pure and sinless. He is given the freewill
to do righteous deeds or indulge in sins.
Divine Guidance:
God, out of his abundant Love and Mercy for mankind has not left us in
darkness to discover the right path by trial and error alone. Coupled with
our intllectual capability to reason, God bestowed upon us DIVINE GUIDANCE
that outlines the Criterion for truth and the knowledge and reality of our
existence in this world and the Hereafter.
Revelations:
From the beginning of mankind God sent Propehts to convey his REVELATION and
to invite to the path of TRUE PEACE and OBEDIENCE to One true God. This is
ISLAM. This message conveyed to successive generations of man through
different Prophets, all inviting mankind to the same path.
However all the earlier messages or revelations from God were distroyed by
people of later generations. As a result, pure Revelation from God was
polluted with myths, supersitions, idol worship and irrational philosophical
idealogies. The religion of God was lost in a plethora of religions.
Human history is a chronicle of man's drift between light and darkness, but
God out of His Abundant Love for mankind has not forsaken us.
Final Revelations:
When mankind was in the depth of the Dark Ages, God sent the final
Messenger, Prophet Muhammad (May peace be upon him) to redeem humanity. The
revelation to Prophet Muhammad represents the ultimate and permanent source
of guidance for mankind.
Critaria for Truth:
How do we know that a revelation like the Qur'an is the word of God? The
criteria for truth can be easily understood by all:-
- RATIONAL TEACHINGS: Since God bestowed reason and intellect on
mankind, it is our duty to use it to distinguish truth from falsehood.
True undistorted revelation from God must be rational and can be
reasoned out by all unbiased minds.
-
- PERFECTION: Since God is all perfect, His revelation must be perfect
and accurate, free from mistakes, omissions, intepolations and
multiplicity of versions. It should be free from contradictions in its
narration.
-
- NO MYTHS OR SUPERSTITIONS: True revelation from God is free from
myths or superstitions that degrade the dignity of God or man.
-
- SCIENTIFIC: Since God is the Creator of all knowledge, true
revelation is scientific and can with stand the challenge of science at
all times.
-
- PROPHECY: God is the Knower of the past, present and future. Thus
His word of prophecies in His revelation will be fulfilled as
prophesied.
-
- INIMITABLE BY MAN: True revelation from God is infallible and cannot
be imitated by man. God's true revelation is a Living miracle, an open
Book challenging all mankind to see and prove for themselves.
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