Conclusion to Islam

This article is taken from the blog: https://therationalfaith.wordpress.com/ 

Is Quran the “Word of God” ? - Conclusion to Islam

I’m back to where I had started from. But it’s not over yet. I still need to find proofs of divinity of Islam. Otherwise, even this has to be rejected. So let’s continue.

Islam is yet another Semitic religion. It is purely monotheistic and believes in Mohammed (PBUH) as the prophet of God. The criteria for a person to be a Muslim is to believe in the Creed called the “Kalma”. It is as follows.

“La Ilaha IlAllah, Mohammedur Rasoolullah”

“There is no god except God, and Mohammed is His Messenger.”

Islam is monotheistic in the strictest sense. Assigning godly attributes to anything else is considered as ‘Shirk’ i.e. “to ascribe partners to God”. It is the highest of all sins. Any person doing shirk cannot be called a Muslim. Shirk is not forgiven until and unless the person truly repents and reverts back to Islam in his lifetime.

“God forgives not that partners should be set up with Him; but He forgives anything else, to whom He pleases; to set up Partners with God is to devise a sin most heinous indeed.” [Quran 4:48]

Chapter 112 of the Quran gives the perfect definition of God.

“Say: He is God, The One and Only. God, the Eternal, Absolute. He begets not, nor is He begotten. And there is none like unto Him.”(Quran 112:1-4)

I am not going to look too much into the ‘Concept of God’ here because I already know how straight forward this religion is when it comes to defining God. Islam believes in God as an entity pure of all ungodly acts, all powerful, all-knowing, etc, etc.

IS THE QURAN ‘WORD OF GOD’?

The second thing that one needs to ponder upon is the Quran, which is believed to be ‘Word of God’. But before you think too smart of yourself, trying to validate this claim, the book itself challenges you for this. It says,

“Say: If the mankind and jinns were together to produce the likes of this Quran, they could not produce the like thereof, even if they helped one another.”(Quran 17:88)

(Note: Don’t confuse jinns to what you have seen in Cartoons and heard in the Arabian folklores)

It lightens the challenge for the unbelievers later on from the whole book to just 10 chapters.

“Or they say, “He forged it.” Say: Bring you then ten forged Surah (Chapters) like unto it, and call whomever you can, other than God, if you speak the truth.”(Quran 11:13)

 The challenge was reduced even more from 10 chapters to just 1 Chapter.

“And if you are in doubt concerning that which We have sent down to our slave (Mohammed PBUH), then produce a surah of the likes thereof and call your witnesses besides God, if you are truthful.”(Quran 2:23)

This is something unique. No other religion has a book that is believed to be ‘Word of God’, which challenges you to prove otherwise. Here is a book that says, “Believe this, or else prove it wrong”. The ball is in the other side of the court now. You are the one who is being attacked. So this book surely needs to be inspected more closely. Read it, turn the pages, dig out everything you can and prove this to be words of a human. That’s what the book wants you to do. But if you can’t then you are asked to accept what it says.

I’ve written so many exams right form pre-primary school to my engineering exams. After so many exams have I felt that I’ve written a perfect exam. But never have I dared to write in my answer sheet that, “I haven’t made a single mistake in this exam. Find one if you can.” Because the moment you do this the examiner will spend sleepless nights and search out plenty of them. But here is a book that challenges. So this is a book that will have to go through the most rigorous tests. The first thing is to plan out the ways in which the Quran can be proved not to be ‘Word of God’. Here are the ways in which this can be done.

If it can be proved that this book is not the same as Mohammed (PBUH) brought to the people.

Did Mohammed (PBUH) author it? Because he was the one who kept bringing in the verses and chapters.

Did he copy it from somewhere?

Did someone else write it for him?

Does this book contradict itself? Because God cannot contradict himself, since His memory is perfect unlike we humans who might contradict our earlier statements.

Can it be falsified?

These are the points on which we will examine the Quran. If you can think of any more please let me know any time after reading this. As of now, let us start examining each point one by one.

Quran Edited?

The first point that we need to note is that Quran did not come in its current form directly. It was revealed chapter by chapter, verse by verse; in a span of 23 years. Every year, Mohammed (PBUH) used to order the chapters in the order we have today. This is because the verses were a guide to Mohammed (PBUH) against the difficulties he was facing in spreading the light of Islam and speaking about the Unification of God to his people. The same verses are a guide for later generations too. However, for someone who is trying to understand Islam through Quran, it is better for him that he learns the concepts in order of their importance and not their chronology of revelation. However, this makes no difference to the actual content.

Whenever something was revealed to Mohammed (PBUH), he used to memorize it thoroughly. The revelations came to him through the angel Gabriel; the same angel who brought revelations to all other prophets before him. Angel Gabriel would not leave until and unless Mohammed (PBUH) had learnt it EXACTLY the way God presented it. Later on, Mohammed (PBUH) used to go to his fellow literate as well as illiterate Muslims and these people were always curious to know what new verses have come. They would all gather up and learn the new verses. Those who could write used to write it down. Mohammed (PBUH) would then ask them to recite everything and thus crosscheck it. Only after everything was perfect would these people leave. So this was a perfect system of sharing and crosschecking. What happened by this scheme is that there were hundreds of people who had memorized and written it perfectly. Even if a few of them went wrong later on, they got corrected by others. Over the passage of time, the number of these perfect copies went on from hundreds to thousands. Today there are more than a million people who have it memorized perfectly. God, with the help of advances in literature and printing has ensured that the last of his Book remains unharmed from editions in any way. The Quran is not only recorded in its printed book form but has also been inscribed in the non-volatile memories of so many humans who can never forget it. We call this as ‘RAID Level 1’ in computer terminology. That means, we store so many copies of the same data that there is absolutely no chance of the stored content getting damaged and still remaining unnoticed. 

The Quran itself says that God will guard it from corruption.

“Verily We: It is We who have sent down the Quran, and surely We will guard it (from Corruption).”(Quran 15:9)

The obvious question that comes to your mind is that why didn’t God guard his earlier books then? Why didn’t He have a single book right at the beginning for humanity and keep it guarded? If you did think of this then you are finally getting skeptical about things. Congratulations then. I’ll always appreciate such a thought process and then expect you to be wary of what you are following and what you believe in. Anyway, this is not a big issue. The answer is simple and logical if you remember the concept of Semitic religions that I mentioned earlier a couple of times. God sent different prophets to different civilizations at different places of the world and different times of human history. How could He have a same book for all of these? These people were so spread out both in time and location and their way of living was so different, that they certainly needed different laws. Each civilization was given a law according to its needs. The only thing that was common was the ‘Concept of God’. But today, the world has become smaller. We live in an era of Globalization. God new this was going to happen. So He later replaced all these ‘different’ religions with a single one in Islam. Earlier civilizations were given books, but they were never supposed to last forever. And this is the same reason a new prophet was sent to them every single time those people lost the true ‘Concept of God’.

Coming back to our point of discussion, whether the Quran has been edited ever since it came to the people; it is a consensus of both the Muslims as well as Non-Muslim historians that it hasn’t been tampered. The Quran is accepted to be the only authentic (unedited) of all the religious scriptures. None of the other revealed books have reached us in their original form or language except this one. (See Joseph van Ess’  “Christianity and the World Religions” edited by Hans Kung, Garden City, NY: Doubleday & Co., 1986 and Michael Sell’s “Approaching the Quran”, Ashland or White Cloud Press, 1999).

 

Is Mohammed (PBUH) the author?

We can end this question in just one line. “Mohammed (PBUH) was an illiterate”. But it will be really unfair on my part not explain things to the readers. So I’ll go into details and still analyze much more.

The fact is that even though Mohammed (PBUH) was from a noble lineage of the city of Mecca, he never received any kind of schooling. History is clear that he could not read or write even after he became the leader of the Islamic state. But if you read the Quran, it has been written in a very eloquent language. It is regarded by both the Muslim and the Non-Muslim Arabs as the most beautiful literature ever written in Arabic. Even for people of that time, the Quranic literature was extraordinary. It is highly illogical to believe that an illiterate man came with such piece of literature. The Quran itself says the same thing.

“And thou (Mohammed) were not to recite a book before this, nor art thou (able) to transcribe it with thy right hand: in that case, indeed, would the talkers of vanities have doubted.”(Quran 29:48)

Secondly, if we think that Mohammed (PBUH) authored the Quran, then we will be giving him more credit than he even asked for; because he never claimed authoring such a work. Is it possible that a man, who authors such a beautiful piece of literature, will take NO credit for it whatsoever?

“Say (O Mohammed): I don’t tell you that with me are the treasures of God, nor I know the unseen, nor I tell you that I’m an angel. I but follow what is revealed to me by inspiration. Say: Are the blind and the one who sees equal? Will you not then take thought?”(Quran 6:50)

Thirdly, the Quran was not revealed as a complete book at the same time. It came in a span of 23 years. The first revelation came to Mohammed (PBUH) when he was 40. Let us assume that he would have written it before he turned 40. But Quran gave guidance to him in his mission of spreading Islam as and when required. For example, when the non-believers kept on pressing for some miracles from him, the following verses were revealed,

“Say: The signs are indeed with God; and most clearly I am only a clear warner.”(Quran 29:50)

So to say that he had verses ready for all situations is illogical. The conclusion will be that he would have written it as and when required. But then, every human goes through a set of emotions across his lifetime. Mohammed (PBUH) lost his dear wife Khadija at the most important phase of life. He lost his uncle Abu Talib. He kept on losing his daughters to death. He also lost his son whom he loved more than anyone else. All these surely must have had an impact on him. Also there were so many victories that he achieved. So these happy and sad phases of his life should reflect in the Quran if he had been the author in those 23 years. This technique is used by police today. Whenever they round on a few suspects in crime, they start inspecting their posts on social networking sites like Orkut.com and Facebook.com. But when applied to Mohammed (PBUH) and Quran, this gives a negative result as to whether he had authored it.

If you read the verses of Quran, you will yourself be convinced that Mohammed (PBUH) did not author it for sure. I know many of you will not bother to do that, so let me note down a few of them here.

Do you think someone will point out his own mistakes in his own book? Quran points out Mohammed’s (PBUH) mistakes on so many occasions. For example, Chapter 80 verse 1-12. Mohammed (PBUH) was busy preaching to the non-believing Meccans and didn’t pay attention to the poor blind man. The old blind man came to him, but Mohammed (PBUH) was getting disturbed in his speech to the non-believing Meccans. Obviously he didn’t like to be interrupted when he had been given an opportunity to present his thoughts by his enemies. Quran says in chapter 80 that he should not neglect anyone this way, because he is just a messenger and he doesn’t know if the blind man would have accepted Islam and none of the people whom he was speaking to would have accepted it. Similar messages where Mohammed (PBUH) has been pointed out his mistakes are found on so many occasions. Example, Chapter 66 verse 1; Chapter 16 verse 126; chapter 8 verse 84; etc.

Can a person put himself into problems? It is mentioned in Chapter 69 Verse No. 44 to 47, that if the messenger was to invent a lie in God’s name he would be seized by his right hand and his artery of his heart will be cut off. Even the messenger is not excused. There were chances that if Muhammad (PBUH) would have lied that these are words of God, surely he would have been exposed at some point of life and he would be subjecting himself to such a brutal penalty of death. And this punishment is not mentioned just once. Similar message is sent out in chapter 42 verse 24. Imagine the risk this man will be taking if he lies as Quran being God’s word. One mistake later on, where his lie would have surfaced, and he would have had to taste death by his own followers.

And why will a man lie in the name of God. We have many people in Indian subcontinent who claim to have a divine connection. But their motive is money. This man was offered everything he wanted, not once but so many times. Every time the deal was the same, i.e. to stop telling people that there is only One God. His uncle Abu Talib came to Mohammed (PBUH) on behalf of all the citizens of Mecca in a very early stage of Islam and told him that they would make him the wealthiest man in Arabia. All he had to do was to give up his message and the Quran. And Mohammed’s (PBUH) reply was, “Oh! My Uncle, even if they put the sun in my right hand and the moon in my left, I will not give up this mission until I die.” After this he faced so many threats to his life. He faced social boycott for around three years. They didn’t sell him food and trade with him. He and his followers (who were very few since it was the early stage of Islam) had to struggle a lot. They used to chew pieces of leather since they had no food to eat. This did not end in days, weeks, or months. It went on for three years. What did the Meccans want from them? Just that they stop speaking about ‘One God’ and stop speaking against their idol gods. You think someone would go to such an extent had he not been backed by the truth?

Even after Mohammed (PBUH) went on to become the head of the Islamic state later on in life, his way of life didn’t change. He could have used fancy clothes. He could have had very good food; he could have lived in mansions and in monumental buildings; he could have had guards; etc. But Muhammad (PBUH)!! He milked his own goat. He mend his own clothes, he repaired his own shoes, he even many a times did the household work. He was an amazing model of simplicity and humbleness. He sat on the floor even when he enjoyed the status of a king. He went to shop in the market without any guards. Even when poor people used to invite him, he used to dine with them and eat graciously whatever was given to him.

So there seems to be no reason whatsoever why Mohammed (PBUH) would write something like Quran and have no personal benefits from it.

 

Did Mohammed (PBUH) copy the content from somewhere?

Well, the same historical proof is enough to end this question. Mohammed (PBUH) was an illiterate. He could just not read anything. Forget understanding it and modifying and then using it in Quran. And even here the question remains the same. Why will he do this? We have already seen that money or power were not his aim. Then what could be the reason to come up with such a book?

Anyway, let us analyze where he could have copied this Quran from. First I’ll analyze an allegation made by some people and then take a look from some other perspectives as well.

The only allegation that has been made so far in this case is that Quran speaks so much about the earlier prophets from Adam to Noah, from Moses to Jesus, and all others; that it is possible that Mohammed (PBUH) copied it from earlier revelations like Torah and the Gospels i.e. the Bible. This allegation is completely baseless since we know that in 6th century, there was not a single Bible available in Arabic. Do you mean to say that this illiterate man, who could not even read his own language, studied the content of those Hebrew or Greek literature, and then translated them and reframed them and included them in his work? Mind you that Quran defers from even the most ancient versions of the Bible when it comes to many stories. For example, it says Jesus was a true prophet (going against the Jews) and he was not crucified (going against Christians); and so many more things. It is highly impossible that Mohammed (PBUH), an illiterate, studied all these scriptures in Hebrew and Greek, and analyzed them, and gave his own views on those matters. The only explanation that goes correct is that it comes from the same source. Islam comes as a continuation in the series of the Semitic religions and hence the incidents still hold importance for people of earlier religions that they might learn from their own past and believe in this religion.

Now that we have proved the allegation wrong, let us take a look at other topics which the Quran covers. There is a very interesting theme in Quran. It calls all the believers of Semitic religions to learn from the past incidences by narrating and reminding them of their own religions. But it has something special for the “Men of Science”, as we call ourselves today. We believe in Science and nothing else. But any person with a good knowledge of science cannot deny the existence of God. Science can be used as an ‘Eliminating model for gods’. But you cannot deny the existence of God. According to Albert Einstein, “Science without religion is lame. Religion without science is blind.” So the Quran continuously points out to scientific phenomena to call us. It mentions scientific phenomena and these are followed by words like, “In these are signs for men with knowledge” and “will they still not believe?” and “then which of the signs of thy Lord will thou deny?” It speaks on various topics like physics, chemistry, biology, geology, geography, astronomy, meteorology and so many more. I’ll go a bit in details of this topic because here lays the major part of the answer to the question “Why should I follow Islam?”

But before going further, let me make a very clear statement. We all know that science often takes a U-turn. So I consider only the established scientific facts and not those theories and hypothesis which are not backed by proofs but mere possibilities.

ASTRONOMY

Scientists have established the “Big Bang” theory after observing and gathering experimental data from various studies. According to it, the universe was earlier a big mass called the ‘Prima Nebula’. Then there was an explosion and this resulted in the formation of various stars, satellites, comets, planets, etc. This theory is supported by the latest studies and was unknown to anyone in the 6th Century. But Quran mentioned this more than 1400 years ago. It says,

“Do not the Unbelievers see that the heavens and the earth were joined together, before We clove them asunder?”(Quran 21:30)

Mere observation of the sky could not have resulted in such a theory. And there was no telescope in those times too. Mohammed (PBUH) surely could not have copied such stuff from anywhere. There is no way that an Arab who always thought that it is the Sun that revolves around the earth, can come up with such a theory; and then Mohammed (PBUH) found it so interesting that he copied it into Quran.

In early times, people believed that the earth was flat. For centuries, men were afraid to venture out too far, for fear of falling off the edge! Sir Francis Drake was the first person who proved that the earth is spherical when he sailed around it in 1597. Now consider the following verse of Quran.

“And the earth, moreover, hath He made egg shaped.”(Quran 79:30)

Mind you, it does not even say “Round” in shape. The word used in Arabic is ‘Dahaha’ which means ‘Ostrich egg’. It is exactly the shape of the earth, i.e.  geo-spherical; flattened at the poles. Even if some Arab observes the skies, he could not have come to know the shape of the earth; unless and until he had launched a secret satellite in 6th century.

Going further, it was always believed that moon is also a source of light just like the sun. Not long ago did humans come to know that moon reflects the light of the sun. The Quran however mentioned it back in 6th Century. Take a look at the following verses.

“It is He who made the sun to be a shining glory and the moon to be a light (of beauty).”(Quran 10:5)

“See ye not how God has created the seven heavens one above another, “And made the moon a light in their midst, and made the sun as a (Glorious) Lamp?”(Quran 71:15-16) 

The Arabic word for the sun in Quran, is ‘shams’. It is also referred to as ‘siraaj’ which means a ‘torch’ or as ‘wahhaaj’ meaning ‘a blazing lamp’ or as ‘diya’ which means ‘shining glory’. All three descriptions are appropriate to the sun, since it generates intense heat and light by its internal combustion. The Arabic word for the moon is ‘qamar’ and it is described in the Quran as ‘muneer’ which is a body that gives ‘noor’ i.e. reflected light. Not once does the Quran mention the moon as ‘Siraaj’ or ‘Wahhaaj’ or ‘Diya’, nor does it use ‘Qamar’ or ‘Muneer’ for Sun.

Let us continue. Everyone in those times believed that the earth was stationary and sun revolved around it. Only in 1512, Nicholas Copernicus put forward his theory of planetary motion which said that the sun is motionless and planets revolve around it. In 1609, German scientist Yohannus Keppler published the ‘Astronomia Nova’ in which he concluded that not only do planets revolve, they also rotate upon their own axis. Even after these discoveries, we thought that the sun is stationary. It was only a few decades ago that we concluded that even the sun rotates and revolves. Take a look at what Quran has to say on this.

“It is He Who created the Night and the Day, and the sun and the moon: All (the celestial bodies) swim along, each in its rounded course.”(Quran 21:33)

“It is not permitted to the Sun to catch up the Moon, nor can the Night outstrip the Day: Each swims along in orbit.”(Quran 36:40)

 Although the earlier translators have used the words ‘swim along in orbit’, the Arabic word used is ‘Yasbahoon’, which is derived from ‘Sabaha’, which implies not just motion, but also rotation; i.e. revolution + rotation.

 

HYDROLOGY 

In 1580, Bernard Pelissy was the first person to describe the present day water cyle including evaporation, impregnation of clouds, soaking of water by the soil, etc. The Quran mentions this water-cycle in a very detailed format in so many verses like 23:18, 15:22, 86:11, 24:43, 30:48, 7:57, 13:17, 25:48-49, 35:9, 36:34, 45:5, 50:9-11, 56:68-70 and 67:30. All these verses go exactly according to science.

GEOLOGY

A book entitled ‘Earth’ is regarded as a basic reference textbook on geology in many universities around the world. One of the authors of this book is Dr. Frank Press. According to him, mountains play an important role in stabilizing the crust of the earth. Geologists tell us that the radius of the Earth is about 6,035 km and the crust on which we live is very thin i.e. ranging from 2 to 35 km. Since the crust is thin, it has a high possibility of shaking. Mountains act like stakes or pegs that hold the earth’s crust and give it stability. (See Earth: Press and Siever, p. 435. Also see Earth Science, Tarbuck and Lutgens, p. 157) The Qur’an contains exactly such a description: 

“Have We not made the earth as a wide expanse, and the mountains as pegs?”(Quran 78:6-7)

“And We have set on the earth mountains standing firm, lest it should shake with them.(Quran 21:31)

 “And He has affixed into the earth, mountains standing firm, lest it should shake with you, and rivers and roads, that you may guide yourself.”(Quran 16:15)

Not even in his wildest guess could an Arab have come up with such results. These have been established only using the modern day equipments and years of studies.

 

OCEANOLOGY

Now this one is really interesting. It took me a while to understand. Science tells us that whenever two seas meet, there is a barrier between them. This barrier divides the seas so that the two have their respective temperature, salinity and density. (See Principles of Oceanography, Davis, pg. 92-93). Quran speaks about this in chapter number 55. It says,

“He (God) has given freedom to the two great bodies of water, so that they might meet: Between them is a Barrier which they may not transgress.”(Quran 55:19-20)

I didn’t pay much attention to this verse since this is something ‘visible’. This phenomenon occurs in several places, including the divider between the Mediterranean and the Atlantic Ocean at Gibraltar. A white bar can also be clearly seen at Cape Point, Cape Peninsula, South Africa where the Atlantic Ocean meets the Indian Ocean. So I was never going to include these verses here; because anyone could have argued that Mohammed (PBUH) learnt about this phenomenon from some sailor who might have told him about this. But then I came across a similar, yet so distinct verse. Take a look.

“And He it is who has given freedom to movement of the two great bodies of water- the one sweet and thirst-allying, and the other salty and bitter- and yet has wrought between them a barrier and a forbidding ban.”(Quran 25:53)

 When the Quran mentions the phenomenon in case of Salty and fresh water, it clearly mentions the existence of the forbidding ban AND the barrier. Modern science has discovered that in estuaries, where fresh (sweet) and salt water meet, the situation is somewhat different from that found in places where two salt water seas meet. It has been discovered that what distinguishes fresh water from salt water in estuaries is a “pycnocline zone with a marked density discontinuity separating the two layers.” (See Oceanography, Gross, pg.242. Also see Introductory Oceanography, Thurman, pg.300-301.) This partition has salinity different from both the fresh water and the salt water. (See Oceanography, Gross, pg.244. Also see Introductory Oceanography Thurman, pp. 300-301.)

 

ZOOLOGY

Von-Frisch received the Nobel Prize in 1973 for his research on the behavior and communication of the bees. The bee, after discovering any new garden or flower, goes back and tells its fellow bees the exact direction and map to get there, which is known as ‘bee dance’. The meanings of this insect’s movements that are intended to transmit information between worker bees have been discovered scientifically using photography and other methods. The Quran mentions in the following verses how the bee with its skill, finds the spacious paths.

“And thy Lord taught the Bee to build its cells in hills, on trees, and in (men’s) habitations; then to eat of all the produce (of the earth), and find with skill the spacious paths of its Lord.”[Quran 16:68-69]

However what is important to note in the above verse is the ‘Gender; used for the bee. The Arabic word used is ‘fasluki’ and ‘kuli’. They clearly mean that the bee that leaves its home to gather honey i.e. the worker bee, is a FEMALE bee; which is what we know only now after 300 years of investigation. No Arab back then knew anything of sorts nor were they fond of giving any credit to the females for no reason. And if that was not all, do you want to say Mohammed (PBUH) liked this so much that he copied it into Quran?

 

PHYSIOLOGY

In the 12th Century, Ibn Nafees described the circulation of blood. To the western world, it came up only in 16th century when William Harwey brought this to their understanding. Today we know that chemical reactions occur in the intestines and from there, substances extracted from food pass into the blood stream via a complex system; sometimes by way of the liver, depending on their chemical nature. The blood transports them to all the organs of the body, among which are the milk-producing mammary glands.

In simple terms, certain substances from the contents of the intestines enter into the vessels of the intestinal wall itself, and these substances are transported by the blood stream to the various organs. Now take a look at the verse below. 

“And verily in cattle there is a lesson for you. We give you to drink of what is inside their bodies, coming from a conjunction between the contents of the intestine and the blood, a milk pure and pleasant for those who drink it.”[Quran 16:66]

 

EMBRYOLOGY

Although I’ve never had interest in any field dealing with biology, the Quranic verses on these topics are really amazing. It was with Prof. (Dr.) Keith Moore’s help that the Muslims came to know the importance of these verses. Prof. Moore is to ‘Embryology’ what E.Balagurusamy is to ‘Object Oriented Programming’; a Master! He is a world renowned author of many books on Embryology. He was asked by some scientists in Riyadh to give his opinion on the verses of Quran that deal with his subject. He was so surprised with what he found that he actually studied those verses in great detail, and managed to discover a few new things and also corrected many of the wrong notions of embryology in his books. He actually changed his textbooks after that research. These things made quite a stir in the scientific world dealing with embryology.

These verses are so many and in such great detail that I cannot quote all of them here. However, I would still mention one of them here just to give you a glimpse of what I’m talking about. The Quran says,

“Man We did create from a quintessence; then We placed him as (a drop of) sperm in a place of rest, firmly fixed; then We made the sperm into a leech like substance; then of that clot We made a (foetus) lump; then We made out of that lump bones and clothed the bones with flesh; then We developed out of it another creature. So blessed be God, the Best to create!”[Quran 23:12-14]

Now before you tell me that some crazy Arab might have done a crude dissection on someone, let me remind you that all these things are from a very early stage of embryology. They are now known to us by observation under powerful microscopes. Even the early microscopes could not give magnification of more than 10 times which is far less than what we need to observe these things. And all this is what Prof. Moore testifies to us. So if you want to tell me that some Arab back in the 6th century had discovered a ‘powerful’ microscope, did these studies making no mistake whatsoever, destroyed the microscope (because we still haven’t found any microscope in Arab history), and then somehow taught these things to an illiterate Mohammed (PBUH) and convinced him to include these in the Quran, etc, etc, etc. then I’m never going to believe it; unless you come up with some logic behind it.

 

OTHER SUBJECTS

Apart from the verses mentioned above, there are so many verses that call for attention. I could not mention all of them here because of my lack of knowledge on those topics and the information available. There are tones and tones of material that has been researched on the topic of ‘Quran and Modern Science’ by Muslims and Non-Muslims alike. But it is very clear that the Quran continuously keeps pointing out the existence of nature and the order which it follows. It calls us to think of these things with detail and realize the existence of God. These signs and evidences keep coming up one after another as we make progress with our technology and then later find it right before our eyes in a 1400 year old book. It is to these incidences that the Quran says,

“Soon We will show them our signs in the (furthest) of regions and in their own souls, until it becomes manifest to them that this is the truth. Is it not enough that thy lord witnesses all things?” [Quran 41:53].

If you are thinking that the Arabs were always the men of science, then you are bad at history. Even I had this notion. But the fact is that in 6th Century, the Arabs were no better than beasts in human form. So what I mean to say is that this book just could not have been copied from anywhere. We have already seen that the content is too sophisticated to be found in any scientific work of that time. And it is ridiculous to say that the Arabs somehow had the information which they didn’t want to share with the rest of the world; because it is shortly after this period that they became master traders. Their knowledge on these topics would have surely popped out. But the fact is that they themselves didn’t know it. Also this book is much different from any other religious scripture. This is not a story book. The more I read this book, the more it impresses me. It is full of things that will fascinate you and call your attention. It asks you to observe nature and ponder upon different things. It gives you clear signs of the existence of God and the authenticity of the source of Quran. Throughout the book, you will notice a single theme behind varying topics. It is signs, evidences, a call towards the truth, and a question. A question which asks you, ‘Aren’t these signs enough for you?’ And if they are not, then it means you have not tried to inspect it with a non-prejudiced mind.

 

Did someone else write it?

Now let us move on to our third point of discussion. We are exploring the possibility of someone other than Mohammed (PBUH) authoring the Quran. One thing that is certain from history is that it was Mohammed (PBUH) who brought forth this book. If it was a single person who was writing the Quran for Mohammed (PBUH) for 23 years, then he would have surely asked for some credit somewhere. There is not a single person who becomes a suspect in this case. This is because Islam speaks only of God and God alone. It doesn’t even give any credit to Mohammed (PBUH) apart from the fact that he was a messenger. Mohammed (PBUH) has always been referred to as a simple human being like you and me.

And even if there did exist somebody who worked day and night for Mohammed (PBUH), without taking any credit for himself, we have already seen that no human could have possibly come up with ideas on so many subjects of science and religions with such precision in that period.

Secondly had there been anybody of such sort, the Meccans would not have left any chance in pointing this out. They had a 24×7 watch on Mohammed (PBUH) and his work. The only time they did suspect him was when they alleged that it was the Christian man in Mecca who used to teach these things to Mohammed (PBUH). However the Quran itself answered that.

“And indeed We know that they say: ‘It is only a human being who teaches him.’ The tongue of the man they refer to is foreign, while this (Quran) is a clear Arabic tongue.”[Quran 16:103]

Note that Quran is a very eloquent literature. So to believe that this man taught Mohammed (PBUH) all this is like believing that a Chinese immigrant to England who could barely speak English taught Shakespeare. Apart from the foreign language of this person, this man couldn’t have stayed with Mohammed (PBUH) throughout his life. He was a Meccan. The revelations continued to come for 23 years even in Madinah and other parts when he was nowhere around. 

Even if we consider the possibility of many people (each good in his field of study) authoring the Quran, it does not stand long enough. These people would have some way or the other contradicted themselves. Nor could they have maintained such uniformity throughout 114 chapters over a period of 23 years. Secondly, Mohammed’s (PBUH) proximity to such men of knowledge would have never missed out of history books. In fact, what we have in history is otherwise. Mohammed (PBUH) was always approached by some or the other person almost every time. His life was very open and he was very easily approachable not just by the Muslims but even by the non-believers too. And these meetings were nothing private. These used to be held publicly in presence of even the hypocrites who had accepted Islam just to get close to Mohammed (PBUH) and find faults.

 

Quran contradicts itself?

All the above points that we have seen so far were my ways of testing the authenticity. There are so many ancient books (some religious some non-religious) that are said to have contained scientific facts that the modern world did not know. (However I will still like to remind you that the intention of Quran is not to bring forth scientific facts but to present science and nature as signs of existence of God.) But the fact that the source of Quran cannot be determined doesn’t mean anything. One thing that can prove the divinity of its origin is that humans make mistakes, God doesn’t. The Quran itself says,

“Do they not consider the Quran carefully? Had it been from other than God, they would sure have found therein many contradictions.”[Quran 4:82]

This is the challenge Quran puts forth. It asks us to read it carefully and observe the consistency it exhibits throughout the book. Mind you, any book written over a period of 23 years cannot show consistency, whether be it a single author or multiple authors.

When I typed ‘inconsistencies in Quran’ in my Google Search bar, I found many few web-sites on the topic; although most of them were just replicas of each other. They mention a quite a few of them. A few of them were very interesting while many others made me laugh (because they were so obviously not contradictions). Alas! Some of these materials were written just for the sake of proving the Quran wrong; with a strongly prejudiced mind. But it doesn’t matter. Prejudice or not, a contradiction is a contradiction. But the question is, “Are they really contradictions?”

Yes they are contradictions! At the first look, they really are. But the point remains that these contradictions are NOT in the Quran, but in the translations and interpretations done by MEN. The fact is that NO Muslim reads the Quran in English or Hindi or any other language. They all read only the Arabic text when it comes to “reading” the Quran. It is only when they need to understand a few things that they either go to someone who knows Arabic, or they refer to the translations available. I don’t blame the translators for anything, because they used the best possible words to write the translations. But any person who knows literature will tell you that it is impossible to exactly translate any language to another. There will always be instances where the other language hasn’t got any word close to the original. There are so many cases where the same words mean entirely two different things. At the time of translating, these translators used the words according to their own understanding and thinking. However, the original Quran is still in Arabic and all the verses are present in their purest form. Not even an alphabet has been lost or edited. This we have already talked about and can always be confirmed from any historian. So the problem lies not in the Quran but in the misinterpretations of people. Another thing that I observe in these so called “contradictions” is that people who have come up with them have little or no knowledge about Arabic grammar. For example, as I mentioned earlier, in Arabic and Hebrew, there are two cases in which plural form is used. One is to signify ‘multiple’ while other is to show ‘respect’ or ‘power’. Now suppose if someone picks up an English translation of a Hebrew Bible and an Arabic Quran, and says that these books say, “We created the earth”, so they mean that there are more than one God. So it is not the Bible or the Quran which is wrong there, but it is the person who lacks knowledge of those languages and their grammar. The ‘We’ in those translations doesn’t signify ‘multiple’ Gods, but just signifies a ‘respectful’ and ‘powerful’ God.

Although it is not possible for me to cover all the allegations of “contradictions in Quran” over here, I will mention a few of them that are common and repeat on many web-sites.

 

Is Satan an Angel or a Jinn?

This one is not from the web. This one came up in my own house. It was me and my brother that came up with this doubt. (Although later we found out that there have been many who have doubted this.) The reason we come up with this are the following verses.

“And We said to the angels: ‘Prostrate yourself before Adam.’ And they prostrated except Iblis (Satan), he refused and was proud and was one of the disbelievers.”[Quran 2:34] 

These lines suggest that Iblis, i.e. the Satan is an angel. However angels are not supposed to have ‘free will’. So there can be no question of an angel rejecting God’s words. According to Islam, all creatures follow their preprogrammed instincts except humans and Jinns. Humans and Jinns are supposed to posses ‘free will’ or the property of decision-making. In fact, Quran directly says that Iblis, i.e. Satan is a jinn in another verse.

“And when We said to the angels; ‘Prostrate to Adam.’ So they prostrated except Iblis (Satan). He was one of the Jinns…”[Quran 18:50]

The question arises that if the angels were asked to prostrate, why will the Jinn? The problem here is that we didn’t know about a rule in Arabic grammar called ‘Taghleeb’. According to this rule of ‘Taghleeb’, when the majority is addressed it also applies to the minority. For example, suppose we have a class of 9 boys and 1 girl. In English, if I say “boys leave the class”, the girl will stay there. However if the same thing is said in Arabic, the girl will go too. Because if the girl knows Arabic, (which obviously she does because I’m speaking Arabic to her), she will understand that the grammar of ‘Tagheeb’ is being used and so it implies that she must leave too. So in the same way, the verses of Quran mean that the majority present there was of angels, but Iblis, who is a Jinn, was also present and all of them were addressed.

 

Mathematical error in Quran?

This one was brought up by Arun Shourie. He says that if you add up the shares of inheritance according to Islamic laws as mentioned in chapter 4 verse 11 and 12 of the Quran, they don’t add up to 1 but go more than one. Let me first quote those two verses.

“God (thus) directs you as regards your children’s (inheritance): to the male, a portion equal to that of two females: if only daughters, two or more, their share is two-thirds of the inheritance; if only one, her share is a half. For parents, a sixth share of the inheritance to each, if the deceased left children; if no children, and the parents are the (only) heirs, the mother has a third; if the deceased left brothers (or sisters) the mother has a sixth. (The distribution in all cases is) after the payment of legacies and debts. Ye know not whether your parents or your children are nearest to you in benefit. These are settled portions ordained by God; and God is All-Knowing, All-Wise.”[Quran 4:11]

 

“In what your wives leave, your share is a half, if they leave no child; but if they leave child, ye get a fourth; after payment of legacies and debts. In what ye leave, their share is a fourth, if ye leave no child; but if ye leave a child, they get an eighth; after payment of legacies and debts.”[Quran 4:12]

Well, these are not the only verses in the Quran that deal with inheritance of wealth of deceased. There are so many parameters that one can do an entire research on this.

Suppose I ask you to solve 2+(3-1)x5, what will you do? Of course you will solve the brackets first, then multiplication and then addition. This is because you are applying the BODMAS principle (Brackets Off, Division, Multiplication, Addition, and Subtraction) that we studied in primary school. This is what the allegation misses out on. Although the 11th verse specifies children’s share and then 12th verse specifies the share of spouse and parents, the scheme to this distribution is different. First the debts and liabilities of the deceased are paid off; then the spouse and parents get their share; and then the children get their share. So if you go in proper order, there is no mathematical error in Quran. The error was in the mathematics of the allegation. 

A day for God is like 1,000 years or 50,000 years?

Here are the verses that lead to the confusion. Take a look.

“And they ask you to hasten the torment! And God fails not in His promise. And verily, a day with your Lord is as a thousand years of what you reckon.[Quran 22:47]

And in another part it says,

“The angels and Gabriel ascend to Him in a day the measure whereof is fifty thousand years.”[Quran 70:4]

Well, these verses look contradictory at the first glance. But what they actually imply is that time in sight of God is incomparable to the earthly time. 1000 years or 50,000 years are just numbers used to indicate that even so much time is like a day or a second to God.

But even if we take it in a literary sense, it is not the verses that are wrong, but the translation that goes wrong. The word that has been used in Arabic is ‘Yaum’. This word, although primarily it means ‘day’, it also has another meaning, i.e. ‘a period’ or ‘an epoch’. Earlier translators have used the word ‘day’. However when you consider it as an ‘epoch’ or a ‘period’, it is not contradictory at all; because the two verses are referring to different events. One verse refers to some general “period” of time and the other refers to the “period” of time it takes for the angels to ascend to God. So if I say it takes a “period” of half an hour for me to reach Mumbai, and a “period” of three hours to reach Pune, it’s not wrong at all.

 

Heavens and Earth created in 6 days or 8 days?

There are a few web-sites which say that the Quran contradicts itself by saying that everything i.e. the heavens and the earth were created in 6 days at one place and then at another place it says that they were created in 8 days. Also they say that it contradicts the Big Bang theory.

Quran says that the heavens and the earth were created in 6 days at so many occasions, not one. It says this in chapter no.7 verse no.54, chapter no.10 verse no.3, chapter no.11 verse no.7, chapter no.25 verse no.59, chapter no.32 verse no.4, chapter no.50 verse no.38 and in chapter no.57 verse no.4.

The alleged creation in 8 days has been over Chapter no.41 verse no.9, 10, 11, and 12. Take a look.

9- “Say: Do you verily disbelieve in Him who created the earth in two days and you set up rivals with Him? That is the Lord of all the worlds.”

10- “He placed therein firm mountains from above it, and He blessed it, and measured therein its sustenance in four equal days, for all those who ask.”

11- “He then rose over towards the heaven when it was smoke, and said to it and to the earth: ‘Come both of you willingly or unwillingly’. They both said, ‘We come willingly.” 

12- “Then He completed and finished from their creation seven heavens in two days and made in each heaven its affair. And We adorned the nearest heaven with lamps (stars) to be an adornment as well as to guard. Such is the Decree of Him the All-Mighty, the All-Knower.”[Quran 41:9-12]

I purposely quoted all the verses here so that you can read and note that it doesn’t mention 8 days at all. It is these web-sites that add the 2+4+2 and come to the conclusion of 8 days.

The first point to be noted is that the Arabic words in the Quran are again ‘Yaum’ and ‘Ayyaam’. So if translated as ‘periods’ or ‘epochs’, they won’t go against the Big Bang Theory.

Secondly, the word ‘Summa’ in the 12th verse has been translated as ‘then’. I purposely quoted it as ‘then’ above, because this is root of the allegation. However the correct translation of the Arabic word ‘Summa’ here should be ‘moreover’.  One of the most famous translations, i.e. of Yusuf Ali, translates it properly as ‘moreover’. So it means that the earth was created in two periods and mountains & other stuff were done in 4 periods. So it was in 6 periods that the earth was created. MOREOVER, i.e. “simultaneously”, the heavens were created in 2 periods. So it is still 6 periods and not 8 periods.

 

No Contradictions

Here I have tried to clear a few common verses of Quran that have been taken as contradictions. There are many more that have been pointed out, and I’m sure people will keep coming up with even more. But the fact is that most of them are misquotations, mistranslations or misinterpretations. If there are any verses that you find interestingly contradictory, then I would like you to come up with them. Your skeptical approach is always welcomed.

 

Any Falsification Tests?

This is the last and the final test; and this is the way most scientific theories are examined. Today, if you come up with a theory, nobody has time to examine it just because you say so. What the scientific societies rather ask for is a ‘falsification test’. That is, if suppose I discover gravity, then I’ll put forward my theory of gravitation. The falsification test to this theory would be that a body with a definite weight starts floating in the air without any external force. If someone does that, then gravity will be falsified. The same can be applied to Quran. After all the logical explanations that I’ve given so far, the only thing that one can do to reject Quran’s claim of divine origin is to falsify it. So what falsifications are possible on Quran? Some of them can no longer be done because the people concerned have already died, while some falsifications still remain.

There were so many of such chances that were given to people of Mohammed’s (PBUH) time. For example, one of the Prophet Mohammed’s uncles, Abu Lahab, was a very strong opponent of Islam. So there came a whole Chapter (Chapter no.111) on him and his wife, saying that they will enter hell. This chapter came 10 years before Abu Lahab’s death. All this guy had to do was to accept Islam. Because according to Islam, anyone who accepts Islam, is forgiven of ALL his past sins and becomes pure again. He didn’t even have to follow Islam. He didn’t even need to behave like a Muslim. Because he just had to say that he is a Muslim and the Quran would have been proved wrong. Since Quran would have been proved wrong, the complete religion would have been proved wrong, and then neither Abu Lahab nor anybody else would have had to follow it. In fact, Mohammed (PBUH) would have been subjected to a very harsh punishment. But Abu Lahab didn’t do that. Mohammed (PBUH) could have never made such a statement. If you read history, Mohammed (PBUH) turns out to be a very intelligent leader, not just of the army, but also as a head of the state. So he would never give such a good chance to his uncle, had it not been divine.

This is just one example. There were quite a few given. Like, to the Jews in chapter 2 verse number 94 & 95.

Now one might argue that it’s not his fault that Abu Lahab missed the opportunity. The Quran says that it is guidance for us till eternity. So the falsification tests should be applicable till eternity.

The falsification tests that will last till eternity are the ones we have discussed in the five points above. If anyone can prove that Quran was written by Mohammed (PBUH), or that he copied it from somewhere or someone, or that there are contradictions in Quran; then he/she will be successful in falsifying the Quran and Islam as a religion will get nullified. And I will be the first person to support it.

 

CONCLUSION TO ISLAM

With all the logical analysis done so far there remains no doubt that the source of Quran is not human. Let’s see what is the probability of Quran being merely a collection of good guesses.

According to Quran, the shape of earth is like an ostrich’s egg; i.e. geo-spherical. (Now don’t tell me that pre-Islamic Arabs had launched their own satellite to find this). With so many shape to choose from, like disc, triangle, rectangle, cubic, spherical, pyramid, cylindrical, prism, etc, the chances of this ‘guess’ going right will be say 1/20 (if we assume this guess was made selecting 1 shape out of 20).

Then Quran says all living beings have been created out of water. (This idea of everything coming from water is really absurd to any Arab who doesn’t see any sign of water for miles, yet there are so many animals that inhabit his desert land). So the author could have guessed this as anything like ‘sand’, ‘air’, ‘stone’, ‘wood’, ‘copper’, ‘gold’, ‘silver’, etc instead of ‘water’. Let’s say there were around 1000 options to choose from. So the probability that he selects ‘water’ out of these 1000 is 1/1000. The probability of a good guess of shape of earth and life on earth together going right is (1/20)x(1/1000) i.e. 1/20,000 i.e. 0.005%.

Now I’m in no mood to go on multiplying this way all the things that Quran mentions. If the probability of right guess is 0.005% in just two examples, I leave it to you to calculate the probability after taking into consideration thousands of things that Quran mentions without going wrong anywhere. As for me, I have no doubt that Quran has a divine source.