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SCIENCE
AND RELIGION
Science
regards as “scientific” any fact
established through empirical methods.
Therefore, assertions not established
through observation and experiment are
only theories or hypotheses.
As
science cannot be sure about the future,
it does not make definite predictions.
Doubt is the basis of scientific
investigation. However Prophet Muhammad,
upon him be peace and blessings, who was
taught by All-Knowing, made many
decisive predictions. Most have come
true already; the rest are waiting for
their time to come true. Many Qur’anic
verses point to recently discovered and
established scientific facts. As pointed
out in the previous section, the Qur’an
mentions many important issues of
creation and natural phenomena that even
the most intelligent person living
fourteen centuries ago could not have
known. Furthermore, it uses the Prophets’
miracles to allude to the farthest
reaches of science, which originated in
the Knowledge of the All-Knowing One.
DOES
THE QUR’AN CONTAIN EVERYTHING?
Being
a Book describing man and the
universe, the Quran contains ‘everything’.
It declares:
With
Him are the keys of the Unseen.
None but He knows them. And He
knows what is in the land and
the sea. Not a leaf falls but
with His Knowledge, not a grain
amid the darkness of the earth,
nothing of wet or dry but (it is
noted) in a Manifest Book. (al-An‘am,
6.59)
Ibn
Mas‘ud says that the Quran provides
information on everything but we may not
be able to see everything in it. Ibn ‘Abbas,
known as the Interpreter of the Quran
and the Scholar of the Ummah, asserts
that if he loses the rein of his camel,
he can find it by means of the Quran.
Jalal al-Din al-Suyuti, a significant
scholar who lived in Egypt in the 15th
century, explains that all sciences or
branches of knowledge are to be found in
the Quran.
How
can a book of medium size and which
contains reiterations contain
everything we need about life,
sciences, conduct, creation, the
past and future and so on?
As
is known, the Quran is a book of medium
size and due to certain purposes it
makes reiterations. So, how can it
contain everything we need about life,
sciences, conduct, creation, the past
and future and so on?
Before
proceeding to explain this important
matter, we should point out that in
order to benefit from the Quran, which
addresses all time and space and all
levels of understanding from
philosophers to sociologists and
psychologists, from physicists to
biologists, from lawyers to
Traditionists and from spiritual guides
to educationists, one should be prepared
to benefit from it. A student of the
Quran should, first of all, have firm
belief in the Quran and does his utmost
to practice it in his daily life.
Second, he must try to refrain from sins
as much as possible. Thirdly, the Quran
declares that a man has only that for
which he makes effort (al-Najm, 53.39),
so, in order to benefit from the Quran,
a student of the Quran should, in the
manner of a good, experienced diver
searching for coral or of a deep-sea
explorer, dive into the ‘ocean’ of
the Qur’an and, with no tiredness and
boredom, he should continue his research
until death. Fourthly, understanding the
Qur’an requires a good command of the
Arabic language and sufficient knowledge
about all the branches of natural and
religious sciences. Therefore, a good
interpretation of the Quran demands the
cooperation of scientists from all the
fields of natural and sociological
sciences and religious scholars-experts
on the Quranic commentary, Hadith, fiqh
(Islamic Jurisprudence), theology and
spiritual sciences. Fifthly, while
reciting and studying it, a student of
the Quran should regard him as the first
addressee of the Quran. He should be
conscious of the fact that every verse
of the Quran addresses each of its
students directly. If we consider, for
example, its verses telling of the past
events or the stories of the Prophets
and their peoples as, simply, an account
of certain historical events which has
nothing to say to us, we cannot benefit
from the Quran. We should know that with
all of its verses, the Quran addresses
us directly and describes us to
ourselves.
According
to its nature, significance, worth
and place in existence, everything
has a place of its own in the Quran
According
to its nature, significance, worth and
place in existence, everything has a
place of its own in the Quran:
The
Quran contains every thing but not in
the same degree. The Quran pursues four
purposes: it seeks to prove the
existence and Unity of God, Prophethood
and bodily resurrection and concentrates
on worship of God and justice. In order
to realize its purposes, the Quran draws
our attentions to God’s acts in the
universe, His matchless art displayed
through creation, the manifestations of
His Names and Attributes and the
magnificent, perfect order and harmony
in existence. Also, it mentions certain
historical events, lay down the rules of
personal and social good conduct and
morality and the principles of a happy,
harmonious social life. Again, it
explains how we must worship our Creator
and what we must do in order to please
Him. The Quran also gives much account
of the other life and expounds how we
can gain eternal happiness and be saved
from eternal punishment.
·
Everything is found in the Quran,
but everyone cannot see every thing
in it since the things are found at
different levels.
The
verse above (al-An‘am, 6.59) states
that everything, wet or dry, is found in
it. Is that really so? Yes, everything
is found in it, but everyone cannot see
every thing in it since the things are
found at different levels. The Quran
contains all things, but since the basic
duty of the Quran is, as mentioned
above, to teach about the perfections,
essential qualities and acts of God and
the duties and the status and affairs
pertaining to the sphere of servanthood
to God, it contains them either in the
form of seeds or nuclei or summaries or
as principles or signs, and they are
found either explicitly or implicitly,
or allusively, or vaguely, or
suggestively. One or other of these
forms is preferred according to
occasion, in a way fitting for the
purposes of the Quran and in connection
with the requirements of the context.
For example:
As
the result of man’s progress in
science and industry, some scientific
and technological wonders such as
planes, electricity, motor vehicles, and
means of radio and telecommunication
have come into existence and taken the
most prominent position in the material
life of mankind.
The
Quran’s viewpoint of life and the
world is completely different from
the modern one
The
Quran’s viewpoint of life and the
world is completely different from the
modern one. According to the Quran, the
world is a guest-house. Man is a guest
with many duties who will stay there for
a short time only, and he is charged
with preparing all the necessities for
eternal life. He will give priority to
the most urgent and important of his
duties. Therefore, whatever is designed
and used mostly for worldly purposes, it
will have very little share in
servanthood to and worship of God, which
is founded upon love of truth and
otherworldliness, and therefore it will
have a place in the Quran according to
its merit.
If
the Quran had mentioned future
events and scientific developments
explicitly, then the purpose for
testing men would have been
meaningless
Religion
is for examination, a test and trial
offered by God so that in the area of
competition elevated spirits and base
ones may be distinguished from each
other. Just as raw materials are put in
the fire so that diamond and coal, gold
and earth, separate out from one
another, so too, in this arena of trial
the Divine obligations are for testing
conscious beings and putting them to a
competition so that the precious ‘ore’
in the ‘mine’ of human potential may
be separated from the dross. Since the
Qur’an was sent for man to be
perfected through trial in this abode of
testing, in this arena of competition,
for sure it will only allude to the
future events pertaining to the world,
which everyone will witness in due
course of time, and will only open the
door to reason to a degree that proves
its argument. If it had mentioned them
explicitly, then the purpose for testing
men would have been meaningless. Simply,
the truth of the Divine obligations or
proposals would have been as evident as
if inscribed with stars on the face of
the skies. Then everyone would be left
no alternative other than affirming
them. There would be no competition, the
testing and trial would mean nothing. A
spirit like coal would remain together
with, and appear to be of the same
degree as, a spirit like diamond.
Again,
the Quran addresses all times and
places and all levels of
understanding. It is the commonalty
in every community and in every age
that constitute the great majority
of people. Therefore, in order to
guide everyone to truth and to its
basic purposes, the Quran follows a
style and language which is
understandable to everyone.
Again,
the Quran addresses all times and places
and all levels of understanding. It is
the commonalty in every community and in
every age that constitute the great
majority of people. Therefore, in order
to guide everyone to truth and to its
basic purposes, the Quran follows a
style and language which is
understandable to everyone. As an
ordinary man of the lowest intellectual
level can benefit from the Quran, a
greatest scientist, no matter to which
branch of science he belongs to, also
benefits from the Quran. This is also
why the Quran usually uses a symbolical
language and frequently resorts to
metaphors, allegories, comparisons and
parables. Those who are well-versed in
knowledge (Al ‘Imran, 3.7) know how to
approach the Quran and benefit from it
and conclude that the Quran is the Word
of God.
If
the Quran had mentioned modern
scientific and technological
discoveries, the people of earlier times
would not have been able to understand
them and therefore been deprived of
benefiting from the relevant verses of
the Quran. Also, sciences are in
constant advance and what is regarded
today as true may appear tomorrow as
wrong or, by contrast, what we see today
as wrong, may be proved to be true in
the future.
God
Almighty has endowed man with
intellectual faculties, so in many
of its verses the Qur’an urges man
to use those faculties of him and
study nature and events.
God
Almighty has endowed man with
intellectual faculties, so in many of
its verses the Quran urges man to use
those faculties of him and study nature
and events. If, therefore, the Quran had
mentioned, say, modern scientific and
technological discoveries or everything
pertaining to life, nature, history and
man himself, it would have been
meaningless that man is created as the
best pattern of creation endowed with
many intellectual faculties. For he
would not have been able to use those
faculties and improve them.
If
the Quran had mentioned explicitly
whatever we like it to do so, then
it would have been a book with
hundreds of thousands of pages
impossible to read
If
the Quran had mentioned explicitly
whatever we like it to do so, then it
would have been a book with hundreds of
thousands of pages and therefore we
would not be able to recite it
completely to benefit from its spiritual
enlightenment. Also, it would give us
great boredom to recite. This is
contrary to the reason of its revelation
and the purposes it
pursues.
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