Page 21
The Islamic Bulletin
Issue 18
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 commen-
taries that accompany them.
This is a very judicious remark. Muslim - and indeed non-Mus-
lim - 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 influ-
enced 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 er-
rors is to possess a scientific background and to study the Qur’an-
ic text in the original language.
SCIENTIFIC ERRORS
In the subject of man, as well as the other topics mentioned ear-
lier, 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 under-
stand 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 Proph-
et’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 QUR’AN
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 uncor-
rupted 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 sev-
eral 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 Testa-
ment. 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 consid-
erable 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 recession of the text, which involved checking it
against the recited versions.
TEXT OF QUR’AN 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 re-
cession 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 su-
perstition. 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 brief-
ly summarized 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 reli-
gious 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 oc-
casioned by references to divine omnipotence and designed to
emphasize that omnipotence in the eyes of mankind through-
out the ages.
The presence of such reflections in the Qur’an has become par-
ticularly significant in modern times, for their meaning is clearly
explained by the data of contemporary knowledge. This charac-
teristic 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 realized 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 inaccu-
rate, 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 interpre-
tation 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.
Answers for crossword puzzle
Across: 1. Inshallah; 6. Alim; 8. Hump; 10. Amina; 12. Yasin; 14.
Moat; 15. La; 17. Baitullah; 19. Din; 20. Al Aqsa; 13. Off; 24. Ruh;
25. Arnaze.
Down: 1. Isha; 2. Spain; 3. Alhamdulillah; 4. Lip; 5. Halal; 7.
Minaret; 8. Muallim; 1.. Malaysian; 13. Sahara; 16. Dhul Qada; 19.
Hafiz; 22. Qul.