I wonder, if three bakers were to come visit the author of this list and one were to say: "Bread is made from flour," the next were to say "bread is made from dough" and the third were to say: "Bread is made from wheat," if he would consider this a "contradiction" too?
If two physicists now came along and one said "bread is made from atoms" and the other said "bread is made from molecules," would this be an even further "contradiction"?
The blood of all living creatures is composed of 55 percent plasma, which in turn is composed of more than 90 percent water. As opposed to 1400 centuries ago when the Qur'an was first revealed by God, today it is a well known fact that the major "ingredient" in the human body is water (a matter emphasized ONLY in the Qur'an and not in the Bible). It is further very well known that mankind is made from "dust" (when you place his body in the grave and leave it for a number of years, and the water evaporates, what form does his body revert to? Further, what is "clay"? Is it not a special form of water and dust? It is equally obvious that if God created everything then there must have been a time when everything we see was "nothing," including humans.
However, our current author severely dislikes all Muslims and is bent on
discovering "contradictions." The irony of the matter is that although he has no
formal knowledge of these matters but manages to brand all of these statements to be
"contradictory," in spite of that, when truly objective and unbiased Christian
scholars who are world renown specialist in this field are presented with
the very same verses and many more, and spend over three years studying them
in detail, we find these world renown Christian scholars so totally amazed at their
accuracy in matters which were only scientifically proven in the last twenty years that
they found no recourse but to admit that it must have come from God and even to go so far
as to suggest the total replacement of current scientific terminology with that used by
God in the Qur'an. But they is saying this with regard to the Muslim Qur'an and not
their own Christian Bible. Who are some of these men? Among them are Prof. Keith Moore, Prof. E.
Marshall Johnson, Prof. Joe Leigh Simpson, Prof. T.V.N. Persaud , Dr.
Maurice Bucaille, and Dr. Tejatet Tejasen to name
but a few. Let us learn a little more about these men and then hear what they have to say
in this regard:
Dr. Moore was contacted by a Muslim scholar by the name of Abdul-Majeed Azzindani. He was asked to participate in a three-year study of around twenty-five verses of the Qur'an and the Sunnah (sayings of Muhammad, pbuh) which speak about embryology, and to determine the degree of their correspondence to modern scientific discoveries. Dr. Moore's conclusion regarding this matter was:
Fig. 12 The human fetus in various stages of
development, at six, eight and 14 weeks
"For the past three years, I have worked with the Embryology Committee of King Abdulaziz University in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, helping them to interpret the many statements in the Qur'an and the Sunnah referring to human reproduction and prenatal development. At first I was astonished by the accuracy of the statements that were recorded in the seventh century AD, before the science of embryology was established. Although I was aware of the glorious history of Muslim scientists in the 10th century AD, and of some of their contributions to Medicine, I new nothing about the religious facts and beliefs contained in the Qur'an and Sunnah. It is important for Islamic and other students to understand the meaning of these Qur'anic statements about human development, based on current scientific knowledge. The interpretations of the "verses" in the Qur'an and the Sunnah, translated by Shaikh Azzindani, are to the best of my knowledge accurate."
From the forward of "The Developing Human: Clinically oriented Embryology," third edition, by Dr. Keith L. Moore.
The author of this list and his friend Dr. Campbell have done their best to try and claim that the Qur'an contains scientifically incorrect information and to attempt to convince the reader that they know what they are talking about and should be considered authorities in this matter. They attempt to convince the reader that Al-Alaq(96):2 which mentions that one of the microscopic stages of development of the human embryo is in the form of "Alaq," a clinging leech-like entity (4), is wrong.
Now it may indeed be possible that all of these world renown Christian scientists who are defending the Qur'an are all mistaken and that only the author of this list and his friend, Dr. Campbell, are able to see the truth. However, I shall leave it up to them to first convince these scholars of what is or is not "clearly" or "obviously" scientifically incorrect. With regard to this specific verse, it is suggested to them both to please read page 56 of the third edition of "The Developing Human" with its accompanying pictures and then to please contact Prof. Moore (or any of the other award winning, world renown, Christian Professors of embryology we shall be hearing from soon) and explain to him how they would like to show him how he is propagating such clearly incorrect and scientifically unsound information in his textbooks in his defense of the Islamic terminology and staging.
The reader is encouraged to study Fig. 4-3 of page 56 of Prof. Moore's
textbook which contains a microscopic representation of the human embryo in the stages
from 15-21 days and notice the unmistakable physical similarity it bears with common
leeches. Further, the reader is encouraged to note that this similarity is not only in
appearance, rather it is also a similarity of function. Just as leeches attach themselves
to a host organism and feed off of the blood supply of that host, so too does the human
embryo mimic this exact same action. Were it not for the fact that the human embryo is
many orders of magnitude smaller than a real leech and imperceptible by the naked eye,
then both entities would be all but indistinguishable.
Top, a common leech or "bloodsucker." Below, a 24 day-old human embryo.
Note the leech-like appearance of the human embryo at this stage in both
physical appearance as well as in function (The human embryo, however, is
many orders of magnitude smaller than the leech and can
not be seen by the naked eye).
The Qur'an and the Sunnah of the prophet Muhammad (pbuh) provide a very detailed description of the microscopic development of the human embryo from a mere sperm drop up to the stage of a completely formed human being. It is well known that microscopes were not developed until the sixteenth century AD, and even at that were very crude in design. Zacharias Janssen is credited with having invented the compound microscope in about 1590. With it, remarkable scientific discoveries were made in the 17th and 18th centuries. The Dutch naturalist Anthony van Leeuwenhoek produced lenses powerful enough to prove that many tiny creatures are not spontaneously generated but come from eggs.
Before this period, theories on human reproduction ran rampant. Some scientist believed that the menstrual blood itself developed into the fetus. Later on, a new theory was developed wherein the sperm drop was popularly believed to contain a completely developed miniature human (homunculus) which later grew to the size of a baby. The science of embryology as we know it today did not discover many of the detailed aspects of human development which are taken for granted today until only about twenty years ago, or 1972 to be precise.
Now we must ask the question: where did prophet Muhammad (pbuh) get such
detailed knowledge of the microscopic development of the human embryo in the 6th century
AD without a microscope, technical training, or a laboratory of any kind? The only logical
conclusion is that it came from exactly where he claimed it did. From the one who created
mankind, God Almighty!
Prof. Moore has since given numerous lectures on the topic of embryology in the Qur'an. He is quoted in one of these lectures as saying:
"It is clear to me that these statements must have come to
Muhammad from God, or Allah, because most of this knowledge was not discovered until many
centuries later. This proves to me that Muhammad must have been a messenger of God, or
Allah." (As mentioned before, the one Christians refer to as "God the
Father" is known in Islam as "Allah.")
Prof. Moore was so impressed with the Qur'anic classification of the stages of development of the human embryo, that he suggested the adoption of the Qur'anic system in place of the system currently in use by scientists today. Prof. Moore said:
"Because the staging of the human embryo is complex owing to the
continuous process of change during development. It is therefore suggested that a new
system of classification could be developed using the terms mentioned in the Qur'an and
the Sunnah. The proposed system is simple, comprehensive, and conforms with present
embryological knowledge."
When Dr. Moore first presented his findings in Toronto it caused quite a stir throughout Canada. It was on the front pages of some of the newspapers across Canada. One newspaper reporter asked Professor Moore,
"Don't you think That maybe the Arabs might have known about these things - the description of the embryo, its appearance and how it changes and grows? Maybe there were not scientists, but maybe they did some crude dissections on their own - carved up people and examined these things."
Professor Moore immediately pointed out to him, however, that he had missed a very important point. All of the slides of the embryo that Dr. Moore had based his study upon had come from pictures taken through a microscope. He said,
"It does not matter if someone had tried to discover embryology fourteen centuries ago, they could not have seen it!." Dr. Moore taunted, "Maybe fourteen centuries ago someone secretly had a microscope and did this research, making no mistakes anywhere. Then he somehow taught Muhammad and convinced him to put this information in his book. Then he destroyed his equipment and kept it a secret forever?. Do you believe that? You really should not unless you bring some proof because it is such a ridiculous theory."
When he was asked "How do you explain this information in the
Qur'an?" Dr. Moore's reply was, "It could only have been divinely
revealed."
Prof. Keith Moore is not the only scholar who has been presented with
such verses of the Qur'an. Many other scholars from all over the world have been presented
with similar statements from the Qur'an in their field of expertise. Only a few of these
people are:
"The Qur'an describes not only the development of external form
but emphasizes also the internal stages - the stages inside the embryo of its creation and
development, emphasizing major events recognized by contemporary science... If I was to
transpose myself into that era, knowing what I do today and describing things, I could not
describe the things that were described... I see no evidence to refute the concept that
this individual Muhammad had to be developing this information from some place... so I see
nothing in conflict with the concept that divine intervention was involved..."
"... these Hadeeths (sayings of Muhammad) could not have been
obtained on the basis of the scientific knowledge that was available at the time of the
writer'... It follows that not only is there no conflict between genetics and religion
(Islam) but in fact religion (Islam) may guide science by adding revelation to some of the
traditional scientific approaches... There exist statements in the Qur'an shown centuries
later to be valid which support knowledge in the Qur'an having been derived from
God."
"Muhammad was a very ordinary man, he couldn't read, didn't know
how to write, in fact he was an illiterate... were talking about 1400 years ago, you have
some illiterate person making profound statements that are amazingly accurate, of a
scientific nature... I personally can't see how this could be mere chance, there are too
many accuracies and like Dr. Moore, I have no difficulty in my mind reconciling that this
is a divine inspiration or revelation which lead him to these statements."
4) After a study which lasted ten years, the famous French physician Dr. Maurice Bucaille addressed the French Academy of Medicine in 1976 and expressed the complete agreement of the Qur'an and established findings of modern science. He presented his study on the existence in the Qur'an of certain statements concerning physiology and reproduction. His reason for doing that was that
"our knowledge of these disciplines is such, that it is impossible to explain how a text produced at the time of the Qur'an could have contained ideas that have only been discovered in modern times."
Based upon his extensive study of these issues over many years, Dr.
Bucaille later converted to Islam.
"From my studies and what I have learnt at this conference I
believe that everything that has been recorded in the Qur'an 1400 years ago must be true.
That can be proved the scientific way."
6) Dr. Arther J. Alison. head of the Department of Electronical and
Electronics Engineering in a British University after researching the field of
Parapsychology and spiritual treatment of man in the light of the Qur'an and current
scientific knowledge was so completely amazed at the scientific accuracy of the statements
he found in the Qur'an in this regard that he converted to Islam and is now named Abdullah
Alison. He urges all Western scientists to get acquainted with Islam which "addresses
both intellect and sentiments at the same time." Dr. Alison worked for six years as
the chairman of the British Parapsychology and Spiritual Studies Society. This position,
led him to deeply study different religions and philosophies, including Islam. Dr. Alison
placed special emphasis in his study on the relationship between death and sleep, and the
conformance of scientific data to the claims he later found in the Qur'an were the reason
for his final conversion. Dr. Alison exclaimed "my joy knew no bounds as the results
of my study were so convincing and, thus I discovered Islam." he added. He regretted
that the West is totally ignorant about the scientific approach of Islam. "During our
discussion at this conference (in Cairo) , we have arrived at conclusive evidence that
Islam does not contradict science, and plan to do further research on parapsychology in
the light of the Qur'an."
The list is constantly growing. Others such non-Muslim scientists include:
7) Dr. Gerald C. Goeringer. Professor and Coordinator of Medical Embryology in the Department of Cell Biology in the Georgetown University school of Medicine. Washington, D.C. He has published numerous articles dealing mainly with the study of teratogenesis.
8) Dr. Alfred Kroner, Professor of Geology, Germany.
9) Dr. Yoshiodi Kozan, Director of the observatory of Tokyo, Japan.
10) Dr. William Hay, Professor of Oceanography, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado.
11) Dr. Pete Palmer, Professor of Geology, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado.
12) Dr. Sayawida, Professor of Marine Geology, Japan.
13) Dr. Armstrong, Professor of Astronomy, University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas.
14) Dr. Draga Persaud Rauw, Professor of Marine Geology, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
15) Dr. Schroeder, Professor of Oceanography, Germany.
The response of these scholars when presented with verses of the Qur'an
in their field of specialization, varied. One thing however was always constant. They all
confirmed the accuracy of the scientific statements made in the Qur'an, and they all could
not explain how Muhammad (pbuh) could have known with such accuracy the scientific claims
to be found in the Qur'an so many centuries before mankind discovered them to be
scientific truths.
So how have the apologists and the "Islam bashers" responded
to such statements from so many leading world renown non-Muslim scientists? Well, to take
one example, the very best that the authors of "Answering Islam" have managed to
come up with is such revelations as: "..even if the Qur'an were proven to be
scientifically accurate, it would not thereby make it divinely authoritative. All it would
prove is that the Quran made no scientific blunders…" (p. 200)
Ahh, so here we have world renown Christian and other non-Muslim
scholars publicly admitting that the words of God in the noble Qur'an are completely
scientifically accurate in matters which were not found to be scientifically true until
many centuries later. They go on to declare that this degree of accuracy is of such an
unprecedented degree as to have been literally impossible to achieved by the people of
that age even if they were the most learned specialists in these fields, since the very
tools necessary of these discoveries would not be invented for many more centuries. They
then go on to tell us that these descriptions are far too numerous and too detailed to
have been arrived at by mere chance or stabs in the dark, especially by an unlettered Arab
sheep-herder who was making these comments almost as secondary remarks in a book which was
never meant to be taken as a scientific textbook. And finally, these scientists even go so
far as to suggest the total replacement of current scientific terminology with the
superior terminology provided by God in the Qur'an. After all of this the response is "…
all it would prove is that the Qur'an made no scientific blunders." …
Problem solved. I suppose that by the same token these authors will then assert that the
fact that Jesus (pbuh) raised the dead and cured diseases which to this day remain
incurable, that in their words "even if this is true" then this does not prove
that Jesus (pbuh) was sent by God, but it only proves that "Jesus made no errors in
his medical prescriptions"?
Allah Almighty tells us in the Qur'an:
"Allah did not create (all) that except in truth. He details the
signs for people of knowledge." The noble
Qur'an, Yunus(10):5
"And those who were given knowledge see that which was sent down
upon you by your Lord is the truth and guides to the path of the 'Exalted' (in Might) the
'worthy of all praise'." The noble Qur'an,
Saba(34):6.
"Had We sent down this Qur'an upon a mountain, you would surely
have seen it humbling itself and rending asunder for fear of Allah. Such are the parables
We put forth for mankind that they may reflect." The noble Qur'an, Al-Hashr(59):21
"Verily! this Qur'an guides to that which is most upright, and
gives glad tidings to the believers who work deeds of righteousness that theirs will be a
great reward" The noble Qur'an,
Al-Isra(17):9
"And We have indeed simplified [the comprehension of] this
Qur'an for remembrance, so is there any that will remember and be admonished?"
The noble Qur'an, Al-Qamar(54):17
So do the examples presented in this list really contain "contradictions" or could there possibly be some other reason why matters described by God in the Muslim's Qur'an are recognized by world renown Christian specialists to be of such unparalleled accuracy as to leave them at a loss for words and only able to attribute it to God, these very same verses appear to the author of this list to be "obvious" contradictions and "clearly" scientifically incorrect?
Back to Responses to the so called "Contradictions" in the Noble Quran.