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PREDICTIONS
CONCERNING SCIENTIFIC
DEVELOPMENTS
God’s
Messenger, upon him be peace and
blessings, also made many
predictions concerning
developments in various branches
of science. Some of these
predictions have already come
true, and the others will also
happen exactly as foretold by
the holy Prophet, whose
Prophethood will thus be
confirmed once more.
Out
of the many examples, I will
cite only a few to illustrate
that the Prophet Muhammad, upon
him be peace and blessings, was
also accurate in his predictions
concerning scientific
developments.
As related by Bukhari, God’s
Messenger, upon him be peace and
blessings, declared:
God
did not send down an illness for
which He did not send a cure.1
This
hadith, in addition to declaring
that every illness is curable,
is the most comprehensive
statement encouraging research
in the field of medicine. In
another Tradition, the
Messenger, upon him be peace and
blessings, pronounces that there
is a cure for every illness.2
Another version tells us:
Do
not neglect having your diseases
treated, for God does not send a
disease for which He will not
send a cure except for old age.3
Mankind
may discover a cure for every
illness, but they will never be
able to stop man’s journeying
from the world of spirits to the
material world and then on to
either Paradise or Hell through
the stations of embryo,
babyhood, childhood, youth, old
age, the grave, and the
Resurrection. The ‘Prince of
the two worlds’, upon him be
peace and blessings, thus, on
the one hand, encourages mankind
to undertake every kind of
research possible to find cures
for illnesses, he also warns
them, on the other hand, not to
neglect preparing for the next
world.
God
Almighty encourages mankind to
strive in the development of
sciences by presenting in the
Quran the miracles of the
earlier Prophets to their
attention and thereby showing
the limits to which they should
aspire. By allowing the Prophet
Jesus, upon him be peace, as an
inimitable miracle, to bring the
dead back to life, He points out
that mankind will be able to
find a cure for every illness
but that death will inevitably
catch hold of them. In the story
of Prophet Moses’ staff, the
Quran tells mankind that they
can, and will be able to, employ
inanimate things in different
ways like obtaining water from
the depths of the earth by using
devices as simple as a staff,
like a centrifuge, but they will
never be able to cause a rock to
flow abundant water by striking
it with a staff, or to change a
staff into a snake, both of
which the Prophet Moses did.
The
Quran, being the greatest
miracle of the Prophet Muhammad,
upon him be peace and blessings,
marks the farthest limit in
literary style and eloquence and
implies that writing and
eloquence will have the greatest
importance towards the end of
time. However, mankind will
never be able to match the
eloquence of the Quran.
The
Prophets set examples and showed
us the limits to which we may go
in material as well as spiritual
progress.
We can trace the principle of
quarantine to God’s Messenger,
who said:
If
you hear that there is
pestilence in a place, do not
enter it; if the pestilence
breaks out where you are, do not
leave it to escape the
pestilence.4
According
to Ahmad ibn Hanbal, he also
declared:
Keep
away from the leper as you do
from a lion.5
In
this hadith, God’s Messenger
advises us to fight with leprosy
and to search for the ways to be
protected against it. Quarantine
is again suggested here as a way
to prevent the spread of
leprosy.
Imam Muslim narrates in his
Sahih that God’s Messenger
declared:
When
a dog has licked a bowl of
yours, clean it seven times,
first time with earth, the other
six with water.6
This
hadith contains the following
medical principles:
Dogs may be carrying the
microbes of certain diseases
possibly communicable to human
beings, a fact which has only
recently been discovered.
The saliva of dogs, like their
excrement, may contain
substances greatly injurious to
man’s health.
At the time of the Prophet, upon
him be peace and blessings,
neither disinfection nor
sterilization was known.
Nevertheless, God’s Messenger,
being a Prophet taught by the
All-Knowing, recommends earth to
clean a bowl licked by a dog. We
know today that earth is a good
antiseptic containing substances
like tetracycline.
In
another hadith concerning dogs,
God’s Messenger expresses a
fundamental principle of
ecology, saying,
If
dogs were not a separate
community, I would order their
killing.7
This
implies that every species in
the creation is an indispensable
element of ecological balance.
Except that dogs, as a
community, have a part in this
balance, it would be better that
they be removed from the surface
of the earth, for they carry
germs harmful to man’s health.
All
of the facts expressed in the
hadith are of the kind recently
discovered by science.
As recorded by Sahih al-Tirmidhi
and Sunan Abu Dawud, God’s
Messenger, upon him be peace and
blessings, declares:
The
blessings of food lie in washing
hands before and after eating.8
In
this hadith, God’s Messenger
emphasizes the importance of
cleanliness. As we use our
hands, germs accumulate. Only by
washing hands can they be
removed.
In
another hadith, God’s
Messenger advises us to wash our
hands after we wake up since You
do not know, he says, where your
hands have moved in sleep.9
No
one in the time of God’s
Messenger knew about microbes,
the existence of which would be
discovered centuries later.
Besides, God’s Messenger was
unlettered. If he taught, as he
did, in spite of that, about
cleaning hands before and after
eating, and after waking up, he
must certainly be a Prophet
instructed by the Greatest
Teacher.
As recorded in all of the six of
the most authentic books of
Tradition from as many as forty
Companions, God’s Messenger,
upon him be peace and blessings,
established the principle of
dental care, saying,
If
it did not place an excessive
burden upon my community, I
would command them to clean
their teeth with miswak [a tooth
stick] before each of the five
daily prayers.10
Cleaning
of teeth is of great
significance for both dental
care and the health of the whole
body. Despite this, even
dentists do not brush their
teeth five times a day, but God’s
Messenger, upon him be peace and
blessings, urged his community
to clean their teeth before
every prayer. This was a
practice of God’s Messenger
himself and is thereby a sunna,
a strong Prophetic
recommendation, for all Muslims.
In relation to health and
digestion, God’s Messenger
recommended:
In
eating, apportion a third of
your stomach to food, another
third to water, and leave the
last third empty. The bowl most
distasteful to God is a full
stomach.11
In
another similar hadith, God’s
Messenger, upon him be peace and
blessings, also says:
What
I fear concerning my community
is a large paunch, oversleep,
idleness and the lack of
certainty.12
All
of the points mentioned in the
hadith are each an antecedent to
or result of the other. A man
who spends an idle life of
heedlessness with no
self-control and self-criticism
is apt to get a paunch, which,
in turn, causes him to eat more
and more. A full belly naturally
causes excessive sleeping.
Lastly, the one who is addicted
to overeating and excessive
sleeping will never be able to
acquire certainty and deep
conviction about the principles
of faith. This is the case with
most people in today’s world,
a fact that provides another
decisive proof of the Prophethod
of Muhammad, upon him be peace
and blessings.
Another Tradition concerning
health is as follows:
Treat
your eyes with kohl, for it
nourishes eyes and eyelashes.13
Many
medical authorities state that
kohl is useful for the
nourishment of eyes and
eyelashes.
Another
substance, recommended by the
Prophet, upon him be peace and blessings, and useful for health
as an antibiotic and for its
dermatological effect, is henna.14 Henna is better and
more effective as an antiseptic
and as a sterilizing agent than
substances like tincture of
iodine.
Bukhari relates from Abu Hurayra
that once God’s Messenger
said:
There
is in this black seed [black
cumin] a cure for every illness
except death.15
This
hadith contains many truths
concerning therapy. A patient
needs, particularly during the
time of convalescence, foods
rich in proteins, calories, and
vitamins, and which are easily
digestible. Scientific
investigations have recently
shown that all these properties
are found in black cumin, a fact
which shows that Muhammad, upon
him be peace and blessings, was
a Prophet taught by the
All-Knowing.
Bukhari relates from God’s
Messenger:
When
a fly falls into the bowl of
somebody among you, he should
dip it completely in the food
before taking it out. For there
is disease in one of the fly’s
wings and cure in the other.16
This
hadith contains proof for the
Prophethood of Muhammad, upon
him be peace and blessings. For,
first of all, no one at the time
of the Prophet knew that flies
carry microbes. Second, when a
fly drops in a bowl, it tries to
hold one of its wings off the
food, so that it can take off
again. In which case, it leaves
in the food the bacteria it
carries in its wing. But, when
it is submerged in the food with
a slight touch, the tiny bag on
the other wing bursts open to
scatter the anti-bacteria to
kill the germs it has already
left. This is one of the latest
discoveries in medicine.
As related by ‘A’isha,
Mother of the Believers, once a
woman named Fatima, the daughter
of Abu Khubash, came to God’s
Messenger and said:
‘O
God’s Messenger, my blood does
not stop; shall I abandon the
prescribed prayers?’ No, you
must not, for it is not the
menstrual blood, it is a hemorrhage, God’s Messenger
replied.17
Except
by Prophethood, how could
Muhammad, upon him be peace and blessings, have distinguished
between a normal hemorrhage and
menstrual blood, and how could
he have known that menstrual
bleeding is a kind of hemorrhage?
Tariq ibn Suwayd narrates:
I
used to suffer from an illness,
and I took alcohol for a remedy.
When alcohol was banned, I went
to God’s Messenger, upon him
be peace and blessings, and
asked him whether I would be
allowed to continue taking
alcohol. No, for it is not a
remedy, rather it is the disease
itself, God’s Messenger
declared.18
Scientists
all agree that even a single
drop of alcohol is harmful to
man’s physical and spiritual
health.
God’s Messenger, upon him be
peace and blessings, once
proclaimed that ten things are
intrinsically necessary for men
and therefore ordered by the
Prophets. Circumcision is one of
them.19
Today,
scientists admit that the loose
fold of the skin at the end of
the male sex organ is exposed
and susceptible to infections
and even to cancer. Therefore,
millions of people are
circumcised in Europe and
America.
We
are convinced that the West will
one day embrace Islam, and the
prediction made at the beginning
of this century by Said Nursi
will also come true:
The
Ottoman State is pregnant with a
Western one, as the West with an
Islamic. Both will give birth to
what they are pregnant with.20
We
have so far tried to explain the
truthfulness of the Prophets,
emphasizing the truthfulness of
God’s Last Messenger, upon him
be peace and blessings. As
reiterated several times, they
never lied, to the extent that
all their predictions either
have come true or will do so in
due course. They came to guide
men to the Straight Path and
lead them to Paradise. Had they
displayed a single trace of
dishonesty, they would have
guided no one to the truth.
However, their truthfulness,
especially the truthfulness of
the Last Messenger of God, upon
him be peace and blessings, will
be manifested as brightly as the
sun in the Hereafter, where
people will see everything
clearly, and all the tidings
they gave concerning the next
life, the Resurrection, the
Place of Gathering, the Final
Reckoning, the Bridge, Paradise
and Hell will be realized.
1.
Bukhari, Tib, 1.
2.
Abu Dawud, Tib, 10; Muslim,
Salam, 69.
3.
Tirmidhi, Tib, 2; Ibn Ma’ja,
Tib, 1; I. Hanbal, 4.278.
4. Bukhari, Tib, 30; Muslim,
Salam,
98.
5. Bukhari, Tib, 19; I. Hanbal,
2.443.
6.
Muslim, Tahara, 91.
7.
Abu Dawud, Adahi, 21; Ibn Ma’ja,
Sayd, 2; I. Hanbal, 4.85.
8.
Abu Dawud, At‘ıma, 11;
Tirmidhi, At‘ıma, 39; I.
Hanbal, 5.441.
9.
Muslim, Tahara, 87; Abu Dawud,
Tahara, 49; Tirmidhi, Tahara,
19.
10.
Bukhari, Jumu‘a, 8; Muslim,
Tahara, 42; Abu Dawud, Tahara,
25; Tirmidhi, Tahara, 18; Nasa’i,
Tahara, 6; I. Ma’ja, Tahara,
7; I. Hanbal, 1.80.
11. Tirmidhi, Zuhd, 47; I. Hanbal,
4.132.
12.
Kanz al-‘Ummal, 3.460.
13.
Abu Dawud, Tib, 14; Tirmidhi,
Tib, 9.
14.
I. Ma’ja, Tib, 29; Tirmidhi,
Tib, 13.
15. Bukhari, Tib, 7; Muslim, Salam,
88.
16.
Bukhari, Bad‘u l-khalq, 17;
Tib, 58; Abu Dawud, At‘ima,
48.
17. Bukhari, Wudu, 63; Muslim, Hayd,
62; Abu Dawud, Tahara, 109.
18.
Muslim, Ashriba, 12; Ibn Ma’ja,
Tib, 27.
19.
Muslim, Tahara, 49; Abu Dawud,
Tahara, 27.
20.
Said Nursi, Tarikhca Hayat
(Biography), 56.
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