"We
shall show them Our signs on the horizons and within themselves until
it will become clear to them that it is the Truth. Does it not suffice
that your Lord is Witness over all things?" Qur'an:41:53.
Muslims
are taught that throughout the ages, Allah Almighty has sent a prophet
to every nation as a Warner and a bearer of glad tidings. Each Prophet
was wisely selected by Allah in order to be the best person for the job.
He was then provided by Allah with miracles as proof of his
truthfulness and his message. These miracles were wisely selected by
Allah in order to be in the same field as that which these people
excelled in so that they could fully comprehend the magnitude of these
miracles.
For
instance, the people during the time of Moses excelled at magical
trickery. Their rulers used to surround themselves with the most
powerful of these wizards as a sign of power. This is why Allah made the
miracles of Moses (as) similar to their magical trickery (changing a
stick into a snake, parting of the sea... etc.) but of a much greater
magnitude than anything they could ever hope to accomplish. For they
were not tricks, but actual physical miracles.
The
people at the time of the Prophet Jesus (as) excelled in matters of
medicine. For this reason, his miracles were of a medical nature
(raising of the dead, healing of the blind...etc.), but of a degree that
they could never hope to imitate. Similarly, one of the major miracles
of Islam was a new and unheard-of type of literature similar to the
Bedouin's poetry but far beyond anything they could ever hope to match.
Although they did indeed try. This new literature was called "The
Quran."
The
Arabic language, as can be attested to by any of it's scholars, is a
very rich and powerful language. The Bedouin people of the Arabian
desert were, in general, illiterate people of very little scientific
knowledge. The thing that set them apart, however, was their mastery of
poetry. Spending their days as they did in the desert watching their
sheep graze got quite boring. They alleviated their boredom by
continually composing and refining poetry. They would spend entire years
composing and refining their poetry in anticipation of a yearly
face-down of the poetic compositions of their peers from all over the
country. The fact that they were illiterate forced them to also train
themselves in the memorization of works of literature to such an extent
that they were able to memorize complete works from a single recitation.
Even in matters of leadership, one of the major criteria for selecting
the leaders of the various Bedouin tribes was the individual's prowess
in literary composition and memorization.
When
Muhammad (saws) first became the prophet of Islam, he presented his
people with a challenge: "compose a literary work on a par with this
Quran that I have brought you and you will prove that I am a liar." They
could not. The Quran continued to reduce it's challenge until the
challenge finally became: "compose only a single verse comparable to
this Quran and you will have won." They still could not. This in
addition to the fairness, justice, and logic of the Quran eventually won
them over and slowly more and more people became Muslims.
Many
claims have been made against Muhammad (saws) in that day and this.
Among them are the claims that he was a lunatic, a liar, or deceived by
the devil.
If
Muhammad (saws) was a lunatic or a liar then we have to wonder how all
of his prophesies came true?. Further, if he was a deceived by Satan
then we are faced with another problem. For we know that all Muslims are
taught that when reading the Qur'an to first begin with the words "I
seek refuge in Allah from Satan the accursed one." and then follow this
up with the words "In the name of Allah, Most Beneficent, Most Merciful"
So, we have to wonder if Satan would "inspire" a man to teach mankind
to seek refuge in God from Satan? Indeed this is the exact same
accusation which was made against Jesus (as). Let us read how Jesus
responded to this claim:
"But
some of them (the Jews) said, He casteth out devils through Beelzebub
(Satan) the chief of the devils. And others, tempting [him], sought of
him a sign from heaven. But he, knowing their thoughts, said unto them,
Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and a
house [divided] against a house falleth. If Satan also be divided
against himself, how shall his kingdom stand? because ye say that I cast
out devils through Beelzebub." The Bible: Luke 11:15-18
It
has been the case throughout the ages that with all previous Prophets,
their miracle was separate from their book. Although we may claim that
we have the "Torah" of Moses, still, it is not possible now to bring
Moses' (as) staff and see it perform miracles as it did in his time.
Similarly it is not possible today to see Jesus (as) raise the dead as
he did so many centuries ago. However, since the message of Islam was
the final message of God to mankind, therefore, the book of Islam itself
was made the main miracle of Islam. It was also promised to renew it's
challenge to mankind throughout the ages.
What
does this mean? Nowadays, the number of people who can appreciate the
literary content of the Quran has dwindled and this challenge no longer
has the same impact it did fourteen hundred years ago. However, as we
have seen in the verse quoted at the beginning of this chapter, Allah
Almighty has promised to continually renew the challenge of the Quran
throughout the ages. So how will it be renewed?
Recently,
a new field of study has opened up to scholars. People nowadays are
fascinated with science. This is the age of technology and scientific
discovery. For this reason, mankind has begun to study the religious
scriptures of humanity from a scientific point of view in order to
challenge the scientific claims made in these scriptures. Many works
have been published on this topic.
As
mentioned previously, Muhammad (saws) lived among tribes of illiterate
Bedouins. He himself was also illiterate. These people used to live
extremely simple lives. Most of them were Nomads who traveled from place
to place depending on where they could find grass for their sheep to
graze. When Muhammad (saws) brought them the Quran, the believers found
in the Quran the command to go out, seek knowledge, and to learn, learn,
learn. A few centuries later, once the Islamic nation became firmly
established, Muslims began to fulfill this command of the Quran and this
resulted in one of the greatest explosions of scientific advancement
mankind has ever seen. All of this was going on during a period that the
West calls "The Dark Ages," wherein the scientists of the West were
being persecuted and killed as sorcerers wizards and witches. During
this period, Muslim scholars introduced into the world such things as:
* Mathematical evolution of spherical mirrors
* Rectilinear motion of light and use of lenses
* Refraction angle variations
* Magnifying effects of the plano convex lens
* Introduced the concept of elliptical shape of cosmological bodies
* Study of the Centre of Gravity as applied to balance
* Measurement of specific weights of bodies
* Rule of algebraic equations
* Solutions to quadratic and Cubic equations
* Work on square roots, squares, theory of numbers, solution of the fractional numbers
* Solutions of equations of cubic order
* Wrote on conic geometry elaborating the solution of algebraic equations
* Determined the Trinomial Equation
* Avicenna's "Canon of Medicine." He is know as the Prince of Physicians to the West
* Wrote the first description of several drugs and diseases as meningitis.
* Treatment of Physiological shocks
* Expertise in psychosomatic medicine and psychology
* Al Biruni mentions 56 ( fifty six ) manuscripts on pharmacology
* Credited for identifying Small Pox and its treatment
* Use of alcohol as an antiseptic
* Use of mercury as a purgative for the first time
* First to describe the circulation of blood.
* "Holy Abbas" was, after Rhazes, the most outstanding Physician. His works were authoritative till the works of ibn Sina appeared
* Writings on Cosmology, Astrology, Music, Science of numbers and letters
* Proved that the earth is smaller than the sun but larger than the moon.
* Final authorities on Chemistry for many Centuries
* Classified metals into three classifications
* Laid the basis of the Acid Base theory
* Distillation, calcinations, crystallization, the discovery of many acids
* Cultivation of Gold - is a continuation of Jabir's work
* Theory of Oscillatory motion of equinoxes
* Addition of ninth sphere to the eight Ptolemaic astronomy
* Discovered the increase of the suns apogee
* Gravitational force
* Responsible for the discovery motion of the solar apsides
* wrote ' On the Science of Stars '
* Determination of latitudes and longitudes
* Determination of geodetic measurements
* Described the motion of the planets
* Solved the problems of spherical trigonometry
* First to study the isometric oscillatory motion of a pendulum
* Invented the instrument ' Sahifah "
* Responsible for the proof of the motion of the apogee of the sun with respect to the fixed stars.
* authorities on the theory of the system of homocentric spheres
* Prepared a calendar that was more accurate than the Gregorian one in use today.
and much, much more.
* Rectilinear motion of light and use of lenses
* Refraction angle variations
* Magnifying effects of the plano convex lens
* Introduced the concept of elliptical shape of cosmological bodies
* Study of the Centre of Gravity as applied to balance
* Measurement of specific weights of bodies
* Rule of algebraic equations
* Solutions to quadratic and Cubic equations
* Work on square roots, squares, theory of numbers, solution of the fractional numbers
* Solutions of equations of cubic order
* Wrote on conic geometry elaborating the solution of algebraic equations
* Determined the Trinomial Equation
* Avicenna's "Canon of Medicine." He is know as the Prince of Physicians to the West
* Wrote the first description of several drugs and diseases as meningitis.
* Treatment of Physiological shocks
* Expertise in psychosomatic medicine and psychology
* Al Biruni mentions 56 ( fifty six ) manuscripts on pharmacology
* Credited for identifying Small Pox and its treatment
* Use of alcohol as an antiseptic
* Use of mercury as a purgative for the first time
* First to describe the circulation of blood.
* "Holy Abbas" was, after Rhazes, the most outstanding Physician. His works were authoritative till the works of ibn Sina appeared
* Writings on Cosmology, Astrology, Music, Science of numbers and letters
* Proved that the earth is smaller than the sun but larger than the moon.
* Final authorities on Chemistry for many Centuries
* Classified metals into three classifications
* Laid the basis of the Acid Base theory
* Distillation, calcinations, crystallization, the discovery of many acids
* Cultivation of Gold - is a continuation of Jabir's work
* Theory of Oscillatory motion of equinoxes
* Addition of ninth sphere to the eight Ptolemaic astronomy
* Discovered the increase of the suns apogee
* Gravitational force
* Responsible for the discovery motion of the solar apsides
* wrote ' On the Science of Stars '
* Determination of latitudes and longitudes
* Determination of geodetic measurements
* Described the motion of the planets
* Solved the problems of spherical trigonometry
* First to study the isometric oscillatory motion of a pendulum
* Invented the instrument ' Sahifah "
* Responsible for the proof of the motion of the apogee of the sun with respect to the fixed stars.
* authorities on the theory of the system of homocentric spheres
* Prepared a calendar that was more accurate than the Gregorian one in use today.
and much, much more.
All
of this began with a single illiterate Bedouin Arab from the desert
fourteen hundred years ago. The book that was brought into the world by
such a man, cries out to be studied from a scientific aspect
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