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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 Qur’an 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 Qur’an 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
Qur’an, 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 Qur’an.
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
subtances 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
blesings, 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 haemorrhage,
God’s Messenger replied.17
Except
by Prophethood, how could Muhammad, upon him be peace and
blesings, have distinguished between a normal haemorrhage and
menstrual blood, and how could he have known that menstrual
bleeding is a kind of haemorrhage?
¨
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.
63. Said Nursi, Tarikhca Hayat (Biography), 56.
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