The Qur’an and Modern Science

by Dr. Maurice Bucaille.

As most people in the West have been brought up on misconceptions concerning Islam and the Qur'an; for a large part of my life, I myself was one such person. Let me cite one or two specific examples to indicate the kind of inaccurate ideas generally current.

Misconceptions
As I grew up, I was always taught that 'Mahomet' was the author of the Qur'an; I remember seeing French translations bearing this information. I was invariably told that the 'author' of the Qur'an simply compiled, in a slightly different form, stories of sacred history taken from the Bible; the 'author' was said to have added or removed certain passages, while setting forth the principles and rules of the religion he himself had founded. There are moreover Islamic scholars today in France whose duties include teaching and who express exactly these views, although perhaps in a more subtle form.

This description of the origins of the Qur'anic text, which is so out of touch with reality, might lead one immediately to assume that if there are scientific errors in the Bible, there must also be errors of this kind in the Qur'an! This is the natural conclusion to be drawn in such circumstances, but it is based on a misconception. We are well aware that at the time of Muhammad - the Qur'anic Revelation took place between 610 and 632 A.D - scientific obscurantism prevailed, both in the Orient as well as in the West.

In France, for example, this period corresponded roughly to the reign of King Dagobert, the last of the Mrovingians. This approach to what was supposedly the Qur'anic text may on first sight seem logical, but when one examines the text with an informed and impartial eye, it becomes clear that this approach is not at all in keeping with reality. We shall see in a moment the truth of this statement, which is obvious from the texts.

Whenever there is textual proof of the existence in the Qur'an of statements that are in agreement with modern knowledge, but which in the Bible are related in a manner that is scientifically unacceptable, the stock response is that, during the period separating the two Scriptures, Arab scientists made discoveries in various disciplines which enabled them to arrive at these supposed adaptations.

This approach takes no account whatsoever of the history of the sciences. The latter indicates that the great period of Islamic civilisations, during which, as we know, science made considerable progress, came several centuries after the communication of the Qur'an to the communication of the Qur'an to man.

Furthermore, scientific history informs us that, as far as the subjects dealt with in this present book are concerned, no discoveries were made during, the period separating the Bible from the Qur'an.

When this aspect of the Qur'an is mentioned in the West, however, we are likely to hear it said that while this may indeed be so, nowhere is this fact referred to in the translations of the Qur'an which we possess today, or in the prefaces and commentaries that accompany them.

This is a very judicious remark. Muslim - and indeed non-Muslim - translators who have produced a French version of the Qur'an are basically men of letters. More often than not, they mistranslate a passage because they do not possess the scientific knowledge required to understand its true meaning. The fact is, however, that in order to translate correctly, one must first understand what one is reading.

A further point is that translators - especially those mentioned above - - may have been influenced by notes provided by ancient commentators often came to be regarded as highly authoritative, even though they had no scientific knowledge - nor indeed had anybody else at that time. They were incapable of imagining that the texts might contain allusions to secular knowledge, and thus they could not devote attention to a specific passage by comparing it to other verses in the Qur'an dealing with the same subject - a process that often provides the key to the meaning of a word or expression. From this results the fact that any passage in the Qur'an that gives rise to a comparison with modern secular knowledge is likely to be unreliably translated.

Very often, the translations are peppered with inaccurate - if not totally nonsensical - statements. The only way to avoid such errors is to possess a scientific background and to study the Qur'anic text in the original language.

Scientific Errors
On the subject of man, as well as the other topics mentioned earlier, it is not possible to find any corresponding data in the Bible. Furthermore the scientific errors contained in the Bible - such as those describing man's first appearance on earth, which, as we have seen, may be deduced from the Genealogies that figure in Genesis are not to be found in the Qur'an. It is crucial to understand that such errors could not have been 'edited out' of the Qur'an since the time they first became apparent: well over a thousand years have elapsed since the most ancient manuscripts and today's texts of the Qur'an, but these texts are still absolutely identical.

Thus, if Muhammad were the author of the Qur'an (a theory upheld by some people), it is difficult to see how he could have spotted the scientific errors in the Bible dealing with such a wide variety of subjects and have proceeded to eliminate every single one of them when he came to compose his own text on the same themes. Let us state once again, that no new scientific facts had been discovered since the time the Bible was written that might have helped eliminate such errors.

In view of the above, it is imperative to know the history of the texts, just as it is essential to our understanding of certain aspects of the Bible for us to be aware, of the conditions in which it was written.

As we have noted earlier, experts in Biblical exegesis consider the books of Old and New Testaments to be divinely inspired works. Let us now examine, however, the teachings of Muslim exegetes, who present the Qur'an in quite a different fashion.

When Muhammad was roughly forty years old, it was his custom to retire to a retreat just outside Mecca in order to meditate. It was here that he received a first message from God via the Angel Gabriel, at a date that corresponds to 610 A.D. After a long period of silence, this first message was followed by successive revelations spread over some twenty years. During the Prophet's lifetime, they were both written down and recited by heart among his first followers.

Similarly, the revelations were divided into suras(chapters) and collected together after the Prophet' death (in 632 A.D.) in a book: the Qur'an. The Book contains the Word of God, to the exclusion of any human additions. Manuscripts dating from the first century of Islam authenticate today's text, the other form of authentication being the recitation by heart of the Qur'an, a practice that has continued unbroken from the time of the Prophet down to the present day.

Uncorrupted Nature of the Quran
In contrast to the Bible, therefore, we are presented with a text that is none other than the transcript of the Revelation itself; the only way it can be received and interpreted is literally. The purity of the revealed text has been greatly emphasized, and the uncorrupted nature of the Qur'an stems from the following factors:

First, as stated above, fragments of the text were written down during the Prophet's lifetime; inscribed on tablets, parchments and other materials current at the time. The Qur'an itself refers to the fact that the text was set down in writing. We find this in several suras dating from before and after the Hejira (Muhammad's departure from Mecca to Medina in 622 A.D.) In addition to the transcription of the text, however, there was also the fact that it was learned by heart. The text of the Qur'an is much shorter than the Old Testament and slightly longer than the New Testament.

Since it took twenty years for the Qur'an to be revealed, however, it was easy for the Prophet's followers to recite it by heart, sura by sura. This process of recitation afforded a considerable advantage as far as an uncorrupted text was concerned, for it provided a system of double-checking at the time the definitive text was written down. This took place several years after the Prophet's death; first under the caliphate of Abu Bakr, his first successor, and later under the caliphate of Omar and in particular that of Uthman (644 to 655 A.D.) The latter ordered an extremely strict recension of the text, which involved checking it against the recited versions.

Text of Quran Uncorrupted
After Muhammad's death, Islam rapidly expanded far beyond the limits of the area in which it was born. Soon, it included many peoples whose native language was not Arabic. Very strict steps were taken to ensure that the text of the Qur'an did not suffer from this expansion of Islam: Uthman sent copies of his entire recension to the principal centers of the vast Islamic empire. Some copies still exist today, in more or less complete form, in such places as Tashkent (U.S.S.R) and Istanbul. Copies have also been discovered that date from the very first centuries after the Hejira; they are all identical, and all of them correspond to the earliest manuscripts.

Today's editions of the Qur'an are all faithful reproductions of the original copies. In the case of the Qur'an, there are no instances of rewriting or corruption of the text over the course of time.

If the origin of the Qur'an had been similar to those of the Bible, it would not be unreasonable to suppose that the subjects it raised would be presented in the light of the ideas influenced by certain opinions of the time, often derived from myth and superstition. If this were the case, one might argue that there were untold opportunities for inaccurate assertions, based on such sources, to find their way into the many and varied subjects briefly summarised above. In actual fact, however, we find nothing of the kind in the Qur'an.

But having said this, we should note that the Qur'an is a religious book par excellence. We should not use statements that have a bearing on secular knowledge as a pretext to go hunting after any expression of scientific laws. As stated earlier, all we should seek are reflections on natural phenomena, phrases occasioned by references to divine omnipotence and designed to emphasise that omnipotence in the eyes of mankind throughout the ages. The presence of such reflections in the Qur'an has become particularly significant in modern times, for their meaning is clearly explained by the data of contemporary knowledge. This characteristic is specific to the Qur'an.

Unexpected Discoveries
It was not until I had learnt Arabic and read the Qur'an in the original that I realised the precise meaning of certain verses. Only then did I make certain discoveries that were astounding. With my basic ideas on the Qur'an - which to begin with were inaccurate, just as those of most people in the West - I certainly did not expect to find in the text the statements that I in fact uncovered. With each new discovery, I was beset with doubt lest I might be mistaken in my translation or perhaps have provided an interpretation rather than a true rendering of the Arabic text.

Only after consultations with several specialists in linguistics and exegesis, both Muslim and non-Muslim, was I convinced that a new concept might be formed from such a study: the compatibility between the statements in the Qur'an and firmly established data of modern science with regard to subjects on which nobody at the time of Muhammad - not even the Prophet himself - could have had access to the knowledge we possess today. Since then, I have not found in the Qur'an any support given to the myths or superstitions present at the time the text was communicated to man. This is not the case for the Bible, whose authors expressed themselves in the language of their period.

In 'La Bible le Coran et la Science' (The Bible, the Qur'an and Science), which first appeared in the original French in 1976 and which subsequently appeared in English in 1978, I set forth the main points of these findings. On November 9, 1976, I gave a lecture to the Academia de Medecine (French academy of Medicine) in which I explored the statements of the origins of man contained in the Qur'an; the title of the lecture was 'Donnees physiologiques et embryologiques de Coran'(Physiological and Embryological Data in the Qur'an). I emphasised the fact that these data - which I shall summarise below - formed part of a much wider study. The following are some of the points which arise from a reading of the Qur'an:

• a concept of the creation of the world which, while different from the ideas contained in the Bible, is fully in keeping with today's general theories on the formations of the universe;
• statements that are in perfect agreement with today's ideas concerning the movements and evolution of the heavenly bodies;
• a prediction of the conquest of space;
• notions concerning the water cycle in nature and the earth's relief, which were not proven correct until many centuries later.

All of these data are bound to amaze anyone who approaches them in an objective spirit. They add a much wider dimension to the problem studied in the present work. The basic point remains the same , however: we must surely be in the presence of facts which place a heavy strain on our natural propensity for explaining everything in materialistic terms, for the existence in the Qur'an of these scientific statements appears as a challenge to human explanations.

That does not mean to say, however, that the statements in the Qur'an - especially those concerning man - may all of them be examined in the light of the findings of modern science. The creation of man as described in both the Bible and the Qu'ran totally eludes scientific investigation of the event per se.

Similarly, when the New Testament or the Qur'an informs us that Jesus was not born of a father, in the biological sense of the term, we cannot counter this Scriptural statement by saying that there is no example in the human species of an individual having been formed without receiving the paternal chromosomes that make up one half of its genetic inheritance. Science does not explain miracles, for by definition miracles are inexplicable, thus, when we read in both the Qur'an and the Bible that man was moulded from the ground, we are in fact learning a fundamental religious principle: Man returns from where he came, for from the place he is buried, he will rise again on the judgment.

Side by side with the main religious aspect of such reflections on man, we find in the Qur'an statements on man that refer to strictly material facts. They are quite amazing when one approaches them for the first time. For example, the Qur'an describes the origins of life in general and devotes a great deal of space to the morphological transformation undergone by man, repeatedly emphasizing the fact that God fashioned him as He willed. We likewise discover statements on human reproduction that are expressed in precise terms that lend themselves to comparison with the secular knowledge we today possess on the subject.

Interest To Men of Science
The many statements in the Qur'an that may thus be compared with modern knowledge are by no means easy to find. In preparing the study published in 1976, I was unable to draw on any previous works known in the West, for there were none. All I could refer to were a few works in Arabic dealing with themes treated in the Qur'an that were of interest to men of science - there was, however, no overall study.

Over and above this, research of this kind requires scientific knowledge covering many different disciplines. It is not easy, however, for Islamologists to acquire such knowledge, for they possess a mainly literary background. Indeed, such questions hardly seem to occupy a place in their field of classic Islamology, at least as far as the West is concerned. Only a scientist, thoroughly acquainted with Arabic literature, can draw comparisons between the Qur'anic text - for which he must be able to read Arabic - and the data supplied by modern knowledge.

There is another reason why such statements are not immediately apparent: Verses bearing on a single theme are scattered throughout the Qur'an. The book is indeed a juxtaposition of reflections on a wide variety of subjects referred to one after the other and taken up again later on, often several times over. The data on a precise theme must therefore be collected from all over the Book and brought together under a single heading. This requires many hours' work tracking down verses, in spite of the existence of thematic indexes provided by various translators, for such lists may perhaps be incomplete and indeed, in many cases, they often are.

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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 Qur'an. It is a unique contribution in the field of religion and science.

Being an outstanding Scientist, he was selected to treat the mummy of Merneptah (Pharaoh) which he did. During his visit to Saudi Arabia he was shown the verses of the Holy Qur'an 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 conversant 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 Qur'an made definite prediction about the preservation of the body of that same Pharaoh of Moses' time. This led Dr. Bucaille to study the Holy Qur'an thoroughly after learning the Arabic language. The final conclusion of his comparative study of Qur'an and the Bible is that the statements about scientific phenomena in the Holy Qur'an are perfectly in conformity with the modern sciences whereas the Biblical narration's on the same subjects are scientifically entirely unacceptable. [From the Origin of Man]

Source: IslamHerald.com

The Leaders of Modern Science Choose Islam and the Qur'an

Six international scientific conferences were held to show the scientific miracles in the Qur'an and Sunnah (sayings of the Prophet Muhammad). In these conferences many scientists, Muslim and non-Muslim, came from several countries and several scientific specialization's to listen or to give lectures about the different scientific miracles which they discovered in the Qur'an. The most recent conference was held in Bandung in Indonesia, in 1994. All Kinds of scientific research in different scientific fields were discussed.

Many famous Western scientists became convinced that the Qur'an is the "Truth" because Muhammad could not possibly know all this diverse and up-to-date scientific data, in this ancient period.

Here we give only a few examples:

1. Professor Keith L. Moore: He is Professor of Anatomy, Twinabic, West Canada, head of the organization of scientists in embryology and anatomy in Canada. Member of the Royal Society (medical) in Canada, the international academy for histology, and the American union of anatomists.

He is the author of many scientific books in anatomy and embryology. He wrote 8 books which are considered scientific references by medical students and have been translated into six languages.

When Professor Keith L.Moore saw the various scientific researches about the Qur'an in different scientific fields he was greatly astonished and he said: "I am so glad to share in the sharing and explanation of these verses in the Qur'an and the Hadith that describe embryology. From this evidence it is clear to me that this scientific information came to Muhammad from Allah, because all this scientific information was not discovered except in recent times. This proves to me that Muhammad is truly the Prophet of Allah."

Professor Moore also stated that:

"...Because the staging of human embryos is complex, owing to the continuous process of change during development, it is proposed that a new system of classification could be developed using the terms mentioned in the Qur'an and Sunnah. The proposed system is simple, comprehensive, and conforms with present embryological knowledge."The intensive studies of the Qur'an and Hadith in the last four years have revealed a system of classifying human embryos that is amazing since it was recorded in the seventh century A.D... the descriptions in the Qur'an cannot be based on scientific knowledge in the seventh century..."

When Sheikh Abdul Majid al-Zindani (one of the Islamic scholars and supervisors of the conferences of scientific miracles in the Qur'an and Sunnah) asked Prof. Moore:- "Does this mean that you believe that the Qur'an is the word of Allah?" He answered: "I don't find difficulty in this? How do you believe in Muhammad while you believe in Jesus?" Answer: "I believe that both are from the same school."

Read more: Embryology in the Qur'an, and It is the truth.
Books on Embryology by Prof. Keith L. Moore

2. Professor Tejatat Tejasen: Head of the Department of Anatomy and Embryology at University of Chiang Mai, Chiang Mai, Thailand.

Professor Tejasen studied various articles concerning the Qur'ân and modern embryology. He spent four days with several scholars, Muslims and non-Muslims, discussing this phenomenon in the Qur'ân and Hadîth. During the 8th Saudi Medical Conference in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia he stood up and said:

"“During the last three years, I became interested in the Quran . . . . From my study and what I have learned from this conference, I believe that everything that has been recorded in the Quran fourteen hundred years ago must be the truth, that can be proved by the scientific means.

Since the Prophet Muhammad could neither read nor write, Muhammad must be a messenger who relayed this truth, which was revealed to him as an enlightenment by the one who is eligible [as the] creator. This creator must be God. Therefore, I think this is the time to say La ilaha illa Allah, there is no god to worship except Allah (God), Muhammadur rasoolu Allah, Muhammad is Messenger (Prophet) of Allah (God). Lastly, I must congratulate for the excellent and highly successful arrangement for this conference . . . . I have gained not only from the scientific point of view and religious point of view but also the great chance of meeting many well-known scientists and making many new friends among the participants.

The most precious thing of all that I have gained by coming to this place is La ilaha illa Allah, Muhammadur rasoolu Allah, and to have become a Muslim.”

Article Prof. Tejatat Tejasen: On the Sensory Characteristics of the Skin

3. Professor Marshall Johnson: Head of the Depeartment of Anatomy, head of the Daniel Academy at Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia, U.S.A.

Author of over 200 publications. Former President of the Teratology Society among other accomplishments. Professor Johnson began to take an interest in the scientific signs in the Qur'ân at the 7th Saudi Medical Conference (1982), when a special committee was formed to investigate scientific signs in the Qur'ân and Hadîth. At first, Professor Johnson refused to accept the existence of such verses in the Qur'ân and Hadîth. But after a dicussuion with Sheikh Zindanî he took an interest and concentrated his research on the internal as well as external development of the fetus.

"...in summary, the Qur'ân describes not only the development of external form, but emphasises also the internal stages, the stages inside the embryo, of its creation and development, emphasising major events recognised by contemporary science."

He said: "I am a scientist who can only deal with things that I can see definitely. I can understand the science of embryology. Also, I can understand the words that are translated to me from the Qur'an. If we supposed that I was living in the period of Muhammad, I could never know what I know now. I do not see any cause or any evidence for truth that can antagonize the information of this man, Muhammad, who definitely must have received these documents from some other place. So, I do not believe that any scientific evidence could be considered against the idea that God's interference was the cause of the knowledge by Muhammad of all this information that he called people to."

4. Professor Joe Leigh Simpson: Professor in Gynaecology and Obstetrics at Northwestern University in Chicago, U.S.A.

He said: "I believe that there is no controversy between modern scientific documents and the inspiration (of Muhammad). Also, inspiration confirms the scientific methods. The Qur'an came several centuries ago, confirming what we discovered. This indicates that the Qur'an is the word of Allah."

{In every one of you, all components of your creation are collected together in your mother’s womb by forty days...}

{If forty-two nights have passed over the embryo, God sends an angel to it, who shapes it and creates its hearing, vision, skin, flesh, and bones....}

He studied these two sayings of the Prophet Muhammad extensively, noting that the first forty days constitute a clearly distinguishable stage of embryo-genesis. He was particularly impressed by the absolute precision and accuracy of those sayings of the Prophet Muhammad. Then, during one conference, he gave the following opinion:

"... these Hadîths (sayings of Muhammad) could not have been obtained on the basis of the scientific knowledge that was available at the time of the 'writer'... It follows that not only is there no conflict between genetics and religion (Islâm) but in fact religion (Islâm) may guide science by adding revelation to some of the traditional scientific approaches... There exist statements in the Qur'ân shown centuries later to be valid which support knowledge in the Qur'ân having been derived from God."

5. Professor T.V.N. Persaud: Head of the Department of Anatomy, Faculty of Medicine, and Professor of Paediatrics and Child Health, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.

He has written a number of books on gynaecology. He said: "The information given to me is that Muhammad was a very simple man, who could not read or write. We now are speaking about him. We're talking about 1400 years ago, you have some illiterate person making profound statements that are amazingly accurate, of a scientific nature... He gave comments which are very deep and very accurate in an astonishing way. Personally, I can't see how all this is just chance. There are many very accurate data. I am, like Dr. Keith Moore, not finding any difficulty in my mind in agreeing - that it was inspiration from Allah which led him to all this information."

6. Professor Palmar: He is one of he major scientists in geology in the U.S.A.

He said: "This book (the Qur'an) is a strange book. It discusses the past, the recent period, and the future. I do not know the cultural level of the people in the period of Muhammad and I do not know their scientific level. If it is as we know about the low scientific level in this ancient period, and the absence of technology, then there is no doubt that what we are reading nowadays in the Qur'an is a light from God. He inspired it in Muhammad. I had made research into the early history of civilization in the Middle East in order to know if there was such perfect information as this. If there was no other information like the Qur'anic information in that ancient period, this strengthens the faith that Allah sent Muhammad (PBUH); He sent to him a little amount from His large science, which we have discovered only in recent time. We are hoping for continuous dialogue in the subject of science with the Qur'an in the field of geology."

7. Professor Siaveda: He is one of the most famous scientists in the field of oceanic geology in Japan and also in the world.

Sheikh Abdul Majid al-Zandani Said: "When we met him for the first time, he said in a rigid voice: "you are the people of religion, you must keep silent forever, it is not right for you to speak in any subject!"

Sheikh: "Why professor, why?"
Prof: "Because you are making war between people all over the world!"
Sheikh: "NATO, why are they collecting these destructive weapons in the earth, land, oceans, space, why this, is it because they are religious people?"
Prof: Silent

And after a long discussion about the function of mountains for the fixing of the earth (land), and how the Qur'an describes them as "nails" and with the necessary references, the angry professor was completely surprised and said: "I believe that this (the Qur'an's information) is very very strange, it is nearly impossible, I believe truly that if what you are saying is right, thus, this book (the Qur'an) is very valuable to be noticed, I agree with you."

8. Professor Durja Bernald Rao: Professor in oceanic geology, teaching at King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

After discussion about what came in Qur'an about oceans science and geology, he said: "It is difficult to suppose that this type of knowledge was known in the period 1400 years ago. Some things include general ideas, but this detailed and long description is very difficult. Thus, certainly this is not simple human science. The simple man cannot explain these complicated phenomena with this level of detail. So, I am thinking of an extraordinary force out of human ability. This accurate information came from an extra ordinary source."

By this expert's evidence we come to the end of this small research: Everyone knows that the ignorant man can easily change his religion for any cause - love, money, work - and there are many examples of this type of hesitating people. But everyone also knows that a famous scientist and a major specialist in science will not easily change his rigid ideas, especially in the field of religion, except for very strong evidence, and highly surprising data.

These luminaries of the school of modern science cast their votes for Muhammad (PBUH), that man who came from a very primitive time, could not write or read, and called the world with a loud voice, saying that he is the last Prophet, believing in all previous Prophets and continuing their mission, and correcting the religious controversies and misunderstandings, believing in all the miracles of the previous Prophets, but having the greatest miracle that every nation, with every language and every place and every time until Doomsday can see, discuss, and understand. It is the miracle in the filed of the mind, the miracle of science that is the great Qur'an.

When people who were professional in magic in Moses' time admitted and believed in Moses after they saw his miracle, they were the strongest evidence for Allah to the human race in this period. When the followers of Jesus believed in him, they were the evidence for all their nation. And now after this long time, Muhammad is calling the human race to the straight way, the way of the previous Prophets, Abraham, Isaac, Ishmael, and others, to avoid the misunderstandings and mistaken actions committed by those who kept the Old Testament and the New Testament.

Muhammad (PBUH) was a branch from the same tree of Prophets, a descendant of Abraham, like other Prophets coming before. He has the continuously visible miracle, the scientific miracle of the Qru'an, and when the people who are professional in science in every field admit and enter Islam behind Muhammad, thus, they are the greatest form of evidence from Allah and Muhammad.

"And say: 'The truth has now come from your Sustainer. Let, then, him who wills believe in it and let him who wills reject it. Verily, for all who sin against themselves (by rejecting Our truth) We have readied a fire." [Qur'an 18:29]

"There has come unto you from God a light, and a clear divine book, through which God shows unto all that seek His goodly acceptance the paths leading to salvation and, by His grace, brings them out of the depths of darkness into the light and guides them onto a straight way."[5:15-16]

9. Professor Alfred Kroner: Professor of the Department of Geosciences, University of Mainz, Germany.

"Thinking where Muhammad came from... I think it is almost impossible that he could have known about things like the common origin of the universe, because scientists have only found out within the last few years with very complicated and advanced technological methods that this is the case."

"Somebody who did not know something about nuclear physics 1400 years ago could not, I think, be in a position to find out from his own mind for instance that the earth and the heavens had the same origin, or many others of the questions that we have discussed here...

If you combine all these and you combine all these statements that are being made in the Qur'ân in terms that relate to the earth and the formation of the earth and science in general, you can basically say that statements made there in many ways are true, they can now be confirmed by scientific methods, and in a way, you can say that the Qur'ân is a simple science text book for the simple man. And that many of the statements made in there at that time could not be proven, but that modern scientific methods are now in a position to prove what Muhammad said 1400 years ago."

10. Professor William W. Hay: A well-known marine scientist. He is Professor of Geological Sciences at the University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado, USA. He was formerly the Dean of the Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science at the University of Miami, Miami, Florida, USA.

After a discussion with Professor Hay about the Quran’s mention of recently discovered facts on seas, he said:

“I find it very interesting that this sort of information is in the ancient scriptures of the Holy Quran, and I have no way of knowing where they would come from, but I think it is extremely interesting that they are there and that this work is going on to discover it, the meaning of some of the passages.” And when he was asked about the source of the Quran, he replied: “Well, I would think it must be the divine being.”

11. Professor Gerald C. Goeringer: Associate Professor of Medical Embryology at the Department of Cell Biology, School of Medicine, Georgetown University, Washington, DC, USA.

During the Eighth Saudi Medical Conference in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Professor Goeringer stated the following in the presentation of his research paper:

“In a relatively few aayahs (Quranic verses) is contained a rather comprehensive description of human development from the time of commingling of the gametes through organogenesis. No such distinct and complete record of human development, such as classification, terminology, and description, existed previously. In most, if not all, instances, this description antedates by many centuries the recording of the various stages of human embryonic and fetal development recorded in the traditional scientific literature.”

12. Professor Yoshihide Kozai: Professor Emeritus at Tokyo University, Hongo, Tokyo, Japan, and was the Director of the National Astronomical Observatory, Mitaka, Tokyo, Japan.

He said:

“I am very much impressed by finding true astronomical facts in [the] Quran, and for us the modern astronomers have been studying very small pieces of the universe. We’ve concentrated our efforts for understanding of [a] very small part. Because by using telescopes, we can see only very few parts [of] the sky without thinking [about the] whole universe. So, by reading [the] Quran and by answering to the questions, I think I can find my future way for investigation of the universe.”

Related: Science: The Leaders of Modern Science Choose Islam and the Qur'an (Islamweb.net) and other sources