|
Fourteen centuries ago, God sent down the Qur'an to
mankind as a Book of Guidance. He called upon people to
be guided to the truth by adhering to His Book. From the day of
its revelation to the Day of Judgement, this last Divine Book
will remain the sole guide for humanity.
The
matchless style of the Qur'an and the superior wisdom in it are
definite evidence that it is the word of God. In addition,
the Qur'an has many miraculous attributes proving that it is a
revelation from God. One of these attributes is the fact that a
number of scientific truths that we have only been able to
uncover by the technology of the 20th century were stated
in the Our'an 1,400 years ago.
Of course the Qur'an is not a
book of science. However, many scientific facts that are
expressed in an extremely concise and profound manner in its
verses have only been discovered with the technology of the 20th
century. These facts could not have been known at the lime of
the Qur'an's revelation, and this is still more proof that the
Qur'an is the word of God.
In order to understand the
scientific miracle of the Qur'an, we must first take a look at
the level of science at the time when this Holy Book was
revealed. In the 7th century, when the Qur'an was revealed, Arab
society had many superstitious and groundless beliefs where
scientific issues were concerned. Lacking the technology to
examine the universe and nature, these early Arabs believed in
legends inherited from past generations. They supposed, for
example, that mountains supported the sky above. They believed
that the earth was flat and that there were high mountains at
its both ends. It was thought that these mountains were pillars
that kept the vault of heaven high above.
However all these
superstitious beliefs of Arab society were eliminated with the
Qur'an. In Sura Ra'd. verse 2, it was said: "God is He Who
raised up the heavens without any support..." (The Qur'an.
13:2). This verse invalidated the belief that the sky remains above because of
the mountains. In many other subjects, important facts were
revealed at a time when no one could have known them. The Qur'an,
which was revealed at a time when people knew very little about
astronomy, physics, or biology, contains key facts on a variety
of subjects such as the creation of the universe, the creation
of the human being, the structure of the atmosphere, and the
delicate balances that make life on earth possible.
The Coming of the Universe
into Existence:
The origin of the universe is
described in the Qur'an in the
following verse: "He is the Originator of the heavens and the
earth."(The Qur'an, 6:101)
This information sivagreement with the findings
of contemporary science. The conclusion that astrophysics has
reached today is that the entire universe, together with the
dimensions of matter and time, came into existence as a result
of a great explosion that occurred in no time. This event,
known as "The Big Bang" proved that the universe was created
from nothingness as the result of the explosion of a single
point.
Before the Big Bang, there
was no such thing as matter. From a condition of nonexistence
in which neither matter, nor energy, nor even time existed, and which can only be
described metaphysically, matter, energy, and time were all
created. This fact, only recently discovered by modern physics,
was announced to us in the Qur'an 1,400 years ago.
The Expansion of the
Universe:
In the Qur'an, which was
revealed 14 centuries ago at a time when the science of
astronomy was still primitive, the expansion of the universe
was described like this:
"And it is We who have
constructed the heaven with might, and verily, it is We who are
steadily expanding it."(The Qur'an, 51:47)
The word "heaven", as stated
in this verse, is used in various places in the Qur'an with the
meaning of space and universe. Here
again, the word is used with this meaning. In other words, in
the Qur'an it is revealed that the universe "expands". And this
is the very conclusion that science has reached today.
Until the dawn of the 20th
century, the only view prevailing in the world of science was
that "the universe has a constant nature and it has existed
since infinite lime". The research, observations, and
calculations carried out by means of modern technology,
however, have rebeginning, and that
it constantly "expands".
While observing the sky with
a telescope. Edwin Hubble, the
American astronomer, discovered that the stars and galaxies
were constantly moving away from each other. A universe where
everything constantly moves away from everything else implied
a constantly expanding universe. This fact was explained in the
Qur'an when that was still unknown to anyone. This is because
the Qur'an is the word of God, the Creator, and the Ruler of the
entire
info@harunyahya.com |
