Page 22 The Islamic Bulletin Issue 18 The Qur’an and Science cont. from pg. 21 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 summarize 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 Qur’an 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 molded 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. Everlast: Taking Islam One Day at a Time cont. from pg. 17 If when you finally get down to reading the Qur’an, the Bible and the Torah, which is pretty much just the Old Testament, you find that the Qu’ran is just an affirmation of what is correct and isn’t correct within those books (the Bible and the Torah). And then you say to yourself, “How did that go down when these cats were all from different parts of the world?” But they are all confirming each other’s story. I’m reading a book right now called Muhammad: The Life of the Prophet, by Karen Armstrong. It was written by a non-Muslim. So far, I’m only about a quarter of the way through; but it starts out telling you how they originally tried to make Muhammad look like the most evil man on the earth; that he established Islam under the sword. But then you learn that Muhammad only fought when he had to. Muhammad only fought to defend Islam. It’s a very good book about the man. It just lets you know that he was a man. We ain’t trying to tell you that he was anything else but a man. We’re telling you as Muslims that he was the most perfect example of a man to walk the earth so far. And from what I’ve read he is the last one to come of his kind. When you get beyond being scared of Farrakhan and what he’s sayin’ - and here as a white person I’m speaking - when you get beyond the ignorance of believing that Islam has anything to do with just people that are blowing up things, that doesn’t have anything to do with Islam. They might do it in the name of Islam. But it has nothing to do with Islam. You can’t argue with it. When I explain Jesus to a Christian, he can’t argue with me. And I don’t mean argue, saying, “Jesus isn’t God!” I mean, how much more sense does it make that he’s a man? If I was Christian, which to me means to be Christ-like, and God asks me, “Hey how come you weren’t more like Jesus?” I’ll say, I wasn’t more like Jesus because you made him half of a God [and] I’m only a man?” That doesn’t make any sense. God doesn’t want things hard on us. God wants things easy as possible. Allah is going to make it as easy as possible. If you ask and you are sincere, Allah will bring it to you. He might throw some rocks on your path, to make you trip and stumble. But it’s gonna come to you. Talk to me about the first and second time you took your Shahada (profession of faith). Well the first time, it was right after I had heard a tape from Warith Deen Muhammad (son of Nation of Islam founder, Elijah Muhammad, who took most of the Nation of Islam into mainstream Islam). That just kinda broke down the whole Jesus thing. He explained that we (Muslims) do Christians a great favor by bringing Jesus down to the level of a man. Why would God create a man who is half a God and compare us to him? And it just sent off a bomb in my head. So I took Shahada. And then the initial high wore off. It was almost like a Christian who says that they accept Jesus. Then they say, “No matter what I do now I’m saved.” ‘Cause I was raised with that kinda mentality. Like, “OK, I accept the truth so let me just go out here and sin my butt off and I’m saved.” I didn’t really claim to be Muslim though at that time. I picked and chose what I wanted to believe. Allah gave me leeway for a time. But eventually it was time to fish or cut the line. I was coming to a point where I was unsatisfied emotionally, and spiritually. I had money in the bank and a $100,000 car, women left and right - everything that you think you want. And then just sitting there being like, “Why am I unhappy?” Finally that voice that talks to you - not the whisper (of Satan) - the voice said, “Well, basically you’re unhappy because you’re living foul and you’re not trying to do anything about it.” My stubbornness at that time wouldn’t allow me to talk about it at that time. You get in that state of mind where you’re like, “I can figure this out all by myself.” I finally got humble enough to talk to Divine and Abdullah about it. They asked me, “How do you feel? What do you think it is?” So finally I’m sittin’ there taking Shahada again. From that point on I’ve made a commitment where I’m going to try my best. I’m gonna do my best to make my prayers, let’s start there. Let’s not beat ourselves up because we went out last night and had a drink. Let’s make our prayers and pray for the strength to stop doing one thing at a time. That’s what I’m still dealing with. You know, once you get over the big things, it becomes very subtle. It can be as subtle as looking a man, and not even speaking bad about him, but back-biting him in your mind. The easy ones to beat - well I shouldn’t say easy - the big ones are easy to notice. It’s the subtle psychological stuff that helps you get into who really you are. You gotta be able to face the truth of who you are. If you are not able to face that truth of who you are, you’re gonna crumble, man. People question me and go, “You’re Muslim?” And I’m like, “Yeah I’m Muslim, but I’m also a professional sinner.” I’m tryin’ to get over it, tryin’ to retire. I won’t front and say I’m better than you. I just believe that I’ve been shown the truth and hopefully that will save me.”
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