Ungrudging Tributes
Today, there are in these world some over one thousand Million Muslims who Unhesitantly accept that the Holy Qur'an is the "Word of God" and that is a "Miracle"
Why should they not, when even avowed enemies are paying unsolicited tributes regarding the miraculous nature of this book of God. The Rev. R. Bosworth-Smith in his book "Mohammed and Mohammedanism"1 opines about the Qur'an:
(a) "A MIRACLE OF PURITY, OF STYLE,OF WISDOM AND OF TRUTH.
Another Englishman - A. J. Arberry, in his preface of his English translation of the Holy Quran - says:
(b) "WHENEVER I HEAR THE QUR'AN CHANTED, IT IS AS THOUGH I AM LISTENING TO MUSIC, UNDERNEATH THE FLOWING MELODY, THERE IS SOUNDING ALL THE TIME THE INSTANT BEAT OF A DRUM, IT IS LIKE THE BEATING OF MY HEART,"
From these words and the rest of his preface he sounds like a Muslim, but regrettfully he died outside the pale of Islam. And yet another Briton, Marmaduke Picktall in the foreword to his translation of Holy Qur'an describes it as:
(c) "THAT INIMITABLE SYMPHONY, THE VERY SOUND OF WHICH MOVE MEN TO TEARS AND ECSTACY."
This Author embraced Islam before translating the Qur'an, and we are not in aposition to verify whether he previous effect he wrote before or after his conversion.
(d) "NEXT TO THE BIBLE2IT (The Quran) IS THE MOST ESTEEMED AND THE MOST POWERFUL RELIGIOUS BOOK IN THE WORLD" - J.Christy Wilson in "Introducing Islam" New York 1950
(e) "THE KORAN IS THE MOHAMMEDAN BIBLE, AND IS MORE REVERENCED THAN ANY OTHER SACRED BOOK, MORE THAN THE JEWISH OLD TESTAMENT OR THE CHRISTIAN NEW TESTAMENT." - J. Schillidy, D.D., in "The Lord Jesus in the Koran" Surat 1913, p. 111
We can quite easily adduce a dozen more eulogies to the above list. Friends and Foes alike pay tribute ungrudging commendations to the Last and Final Revelation of God - the Holy Qur'an. The contemporaries of Muhammed(pbuh) saw in its beauty and majesty, the nobility of its call and magnanimity of its message, the Sign and Miracle of God's Handiwork, and accepted Islam. to all the Tributes and Testimonies the unbeliever and the sceptic might say that these are subjective feelings. He might further seek refuge in the pretext that he does not know arabic. He is heard to say, "I do not see what you see, nor do i feel as you feel. How am i to know that God exists and that it is he who inspired his Messanger Muhammed (pbuh) with that Beautiful message; the Qur'an?" He continues "I am not averse to the beauty of its philosophy, its practical ethics and high morality, i am prepared to concede thatMuhammed(pbuh) was a sincere man and that he gave many beautiful percepts for Human Welfare. What i cannot subscribe to is what you muslims claim 'a supernatural authority for his dicta'."
To this kind of sympathetic, yet sceptical mentality, the author of the book (Al-Qur'an) uses various types of Arguments to resolve his doubts. To the atheists and agnostics, the cynics and the sceptics, who have super-abundance of sceintific knowledge and who consider themselves to be "Intellectual Giants", the point is driven home that they are in reality like stunted "dwarfs". They are like the dwarf who may have acquired abnormal development in any one particular direction at the expense of other parts of his faculty, like an oversized head on a puny body, the Supreme Creator Questions him.
But Before we pose God's question to him, let me satisfy my own curiosity. "You men of science who have studied astronomy and who study our universe through mighty telescpoes as if scrutinising an object in the palm of your hand; tell me how did the universe came into being?" This man of science though lacking in spiritual insight, is nevertheless most generous in sharing his knowledge. He really responds, "Well," he begins, "Billions of years ago our universe was a single peice of matter, and there happened a "Big Bang" in the centre of that huge lump of matter and mighty chunks of matter began flying in all directions. Out of the big bang our solar system came into being as well as the galaxies, and since there is no resistance in space to that primodal momentum generated by the initial explosion, the stars and the planets swim along the orbits..."
At this juncture, my memory tickles me - Our materialist friends appear to have been secretly imbibing their knowledge from the Sura Yaa-Seen3;
AND THE SUN RUNS HIS COURSE
FOR A PERIOD DETERMINED FOR HIM
THAT IS THE DECREE OF (HIM) THE EXALTED IN MIGHT THE ALL-KNOWING
AND THE MOON, WE HAVE MEASURED FOR HER MANSIONS (TO TRAVERSE)
TILL SHE RETURNS LIKE THE OLD (AND WITHERED) LOWER PART OF A DATE - STALK.
IT IS NOT PERMITTED TO THE SUN TO OVERTAKE THE MOON,
NOR CAN A NIGHT OUTSTRIP A DAY
EACH (JUST) SWIMS ALONG IN (ITS OWN) ORBIT (ACCORDING TO LAW).
Holy Qur'an - 36:38-40
The atheistic sceintist continues. "Ours is an 'expanding' Universe. The galaxies are receding away from us at a faster and faster rate, and once they have reached the speed of light,4 we will not be able to see them anymore. We must construct bigger and better telescopes as quickly as possible to study the sights, if not we will miss the bus!"
"When did you discover these fairy tales?" we ask. "No, these are not fairy tales but sceintific facts!" our friend assures us. "All right, we accept your facts for what they are, but when did you really stumble upon these facts?" "Only Yesterday!" he replies. Fifty years, after all, is only yesterday in the history of human race. "An unlettered Arab in the deesert over 1400 years ago could have never had the knowledge of 'Big Bang' and of your Expanding universe, could he ?" we ask, "No Never!" says he boastingly. "Well, then listen to what this ummi 5 Prophet uttered under inspiration:"
DO NOT THE UNBELIEVERS
(THE ATHEISTS AND THE AGNOSTICS) SEE
THAT THE HEAVENS AND THE EARTH
WERE JOINED TOGETHER
(AS ONE UNIT OF CREATION)
BEFORE WE CLOVE THEM ASUNDER?
Holy Quran 21:30
AND IT IS HE (GOD ALMIGHTY)
WHO CREATED THE NIGHT AND THE DAY
AND THE SUN AND THE MOON
ALL (THE CELESTIAL BODIES) SWIM ALONG,
EACH IN ITS ROUNDED COURSE
Holy Quran 21:33
'BIG BANG THEORY'
Can't you see that the words "The Unbelievers" in the first quote above are specifically addressed to You - the men of science - the geographers, the astronomers, who after having made amazing discoveries and conveyed these discoveries to mankind, still remain so BLIND as not to SEE its AUTHOR? "With our Sciences and Encyclopedias, we are apt to forget the Divineness, in those laboratories of ours." 6 says Thomas Carlyle.
Where on earth could a camel driver in the desert have gleaned 'Your facts' fourteen hundred years ago except from the maker of 'Big Bang' Himself?
ORIGIN OF LIFE
"And You biologists who seem to have your fingers on all organic life, and yet have the tendency to deny the existance of the Source of that life, i.e., God: tell me, according to your vaunted research: where and how did life originate?"
Like his 'unbeleiving' astronomer companion in sceince, he too begins - "Well, billions of years ago primaeval matter in the sea began to generate protoplasm out of which came the ameoba; and out of all the mire in the sea came allliving things. In one word all life came from Water!"
"And when did you discover this fact that all living beings are came from water ?" The answer is no different from that of his fellow sceintist tha astronomer = "Yesterday". "No man of learning, no Philosopher or poet would have guessed your biological discovery fourteen centuries back, could he?" we ask, and our biologist is as emphatic as the astronomer. "No Never!" says he. "Well then, you just listen to this untutored son of the desert!"
AND WE MADE FROM WATER7
EVERY LIVING THING
WILL THEY (THE UNBELIEVERS, THE ATHEISTS AND THE AGNOSTICS)
THEN NOT BELIEVE
Holy Quran 21:30
AND ALLAH HAS CREATED
EVERY ANIMAL FROM WATER
OF THEM ARE SOME THAT CREEP ON THEIR BELLIES
SOME THAT WALK ON TWO LEGS
AND SOME THAT WALK ON FOUR
ALLAH CREATES WHAT HE WILLS;
FOR VERILY ALLAH HAS POWER OVER ALL THINGS.
Holy Quran 24:45
It will not be difficult for you to note that these words of the Omnipotent, Omniscient Creater of Universe were addressed to YOU men of knowledge in answer to your skepticism today. Their real import was beyond the dwellers of the desert fourteen centuries ago. The Author ( God Almighty ) is reasoning with YOU, you man of science, how can YOU not believe in God?YOU should be the last to deny his existence and yet you are the first! What sickness has overtaken You that you allow your ego's to overshadow your sense of logic?
And to the botanists and the zoologists and the physists who, despite their amazing insite into the nature of things, refuse to acknowledge a Master Creator. Let them then account for these utterances of Muhummad (PBUH) the mouth peace of God.
GLORY BE TO HIM ( GOD ALMIGHTY )
WHO CREATED IN PAIRS* ALL THINGS
THAT WHICH THE EARTH PRODUCES
( THE VEGETABLE KINGDOM )
AS WELL AS THEIR OWN (HUMAN)
KIND (THE ANIMAL KINGDOM)
AND (OTHER) THINGS OF WHICH THEY HAVE NO
KNOWLEDGE (LIKE OF PHYSICS).
Holy Quran 36:36
* "CREATED IN PAIRS" "The mystery of sex runs through all cretion, - in man, in animal life, in vegetable life, and in other things of which we have no knowledge. Then there are pairs of opposite forces in nature, e.g. positive and negative electricity, etc. The atom itself consists of a positively charged nucleus or proton, surrounded by negatively charged electrons. The constitution of matter itself is thus referred to as pairs of opposite energies." (Comment by A. Yusuf Ali).
SIGNS OF GOD
The verses of this "Perspicuous Book," the Holy Qur'an are evidently self-explanatory. Students of hte Qur'an saw the unmistakable Finger of God in every discovery that man made. These were the "Signs," the "Miracles" from his Beneficent Lord and Cherisher so as to remove his doubts and strengthen his faith.
... IN THESE ARE SIGNS FOR
A PEOPLE OF LEARNING.
Holy Quran 30:22
What an irony! It is the 'people of learning' who are actually rebellious! Their vast material knowledge has inflated them with pride. They lack the genuine humility which goes together with all true knowledge.
In the words of modern Frenchman:
"THE ABOVE OBSERVATION (HIS OWN THESIS) MAKES THE HYPOTHESIS ADVANCED BY THOSE WHO SEE MUHAMMAD AS THE AUTHOR OF THE QUR'AN UNTENABLE. HOW COULD A MAN, FROM BEING ILLITERATE, BECOME THE MOST IMPORTANT AUTHOR, IN TERMS OF LITERARY MERITS, IN THE WHOLE OF ARABIC LITERATURE?
"HOW COULD HE THEN PRONOUNCE TRUTHS OF A SCIENTIFIC NATURE THAT NO OTHER HUMAN BEING COULD POSSIBLE HAVE DEVELOPED AT THAT TIME, AND ALL THIS WITHOUT ONCE MAKING THE SLIGHTEST ERROR IN HIS PRONOUNCEMENT OF THE SUBJECT?"
See "The Bible, the Quran and Sceince" p.125 by Maurice Brucaille
EARLY INSPIRATION
The seeds of this booklet, "AL-QUR'AN - The Miracle of Miracles," was probably sown by the Roving Ambassador of Islam, the silver-tongues orator -- Maulana Abdul Aleem Siddiqui. I was only a schoolboy when he visited South Africa on a lecture tour in 1934. Among his man erudite speeches, I heard him talk on 'Cultivation of Science by the Muslims." Subsequently, a booklet under the same title was published by the World Federation of Islamis Missions, Karachi, Pakistan, which brings back the earlier joy and thrill of the discourse I heard in my teens. In memory of that great servant of Islam, I reproduce here, for posterity, a few words of what the Maulana had to say on the relationship between the Holy Quran and the branches of scientific knowledge:
EXHORTATOINS OF THE SCIENCES
"The stress which the Holy Quran has laid on the scientific study of the universe is a phenomenon unique in the religious literature of the world. Repeatedly it calls our attention to the multifarious phenomena of nature occuring around us. Repeatedly it exhorts the Muslims that the pursuid of scientific knowledge is one of their religious duties. Repeatedly it emphasises the great truth unknown to the pre-Quranic world that everything in nature is for the service of man and should be harnessed by him for his use. It exhorts us to study the structure and functrion fo the human organism, the structure, functions and distribution fo animals, the form, structure, functions, classification and distribution of plants, and these are problems of BIOLOGY.
"It exhorts us to study the orde rof nature and the general properties of matter as affected by energy, which is the problem of modern PHYSICS.
"It exhorts us to study the properties of substances both elementary and compound and the laws of their dcombination and action one upon another which is the problem of modern CHEMISTRY.
"It exhorts to us the study the structure and mineral constitution of the globe, the different strate of which is composed, the changes that take place in its organic and inorganic matter, etc, etc., which are the problem fo modern GEOLOGY.
"It exhorts us to study the general description fo the earth, its phyusical divisions into seas, rivers, mountains, plains, etc., and the minerals, plants and animals in each, and its political divisions which are the problems fo modern GEOGRAPHY.
"It exhorts us to study the causes which bring about the alternation fo day and night, the variation of the seasons, the movement of the planets and other celestial phenomena, which are the problems fo modern ASTRONOMY."
"It exhorts us to study the movements of winds, the formation and evolution of clouds and the production of rain, and other similar phenomena, which are the problems of modern METEROLOGY."For centuries, Muslims were world leaders in the field of scientific learning. Then slowly, the leadership began to slip away from their hands. Muslims had failed in their leadership role and materialistic Europe moved forward to fill the vacuum in leadership created by the Muslims.
Further, the Maulana records tha contribution made by the Muslims as follows:
"The intellectual upheaval created by Islam was a gigantic one. There is not a single department of learning which they have not carved out a high position for themselves.
"In truth, Islam intends the Muslim community to be a community of intellectuals, and hte cultivation of science and all other forms of learning is one of the primary aims of Islam. Had it not been for the Muslims, Europe would never have seen its way to the Renaissance and the modern scientific era would never have dawned. Those nations who have received their knowledge of science from Europe are in fact indirectly the disciples of the Islamic community fo the past. Humanity owes to Islam a debt which it can never repay and gratitude which it can neever forget."The silver tongues orator (the Maulana) ended his masterful exposition of the topic -- "CULTIVATION OF SCIENCE BY THE MUSLIMS," with the words:
"Before I conclude, let me affirm once more that the Muslim community is out and out a creation of Islam which in its turn is rooted in Divine revelation. Nothing but belief in and the practice of Islam can make an individual a Muslim. Islam has laid it down as a religious duty that a Muslim should enquire inot the reality of objects around him, so that his scientific enquiry may lead him to the knowledge of his Creator. Scientific enquiry in Islam is not an end but a means to the attainment of higher end. And this is really the true end of humanity. "TO ALLAH WE BELONG AND TO ALLAH IS OUR RETURN"
Holy Quran 2:156
Notes:
1. There is no such thing as "Mohammedanism", and no such thing as a "Mohammedan". The name of the Religion is Islam and the followers are Muslims.
2. Coming from a Christian critic of Islam, we will not take exception to his placing Qur'an in the second place.
3. Yaa-Seen: is the 36th chapter of the Holy Qur'an. The verses here are laid down for you to memorize in a very easy form, together with their meanings. Take advantage of it!
4. Light is said to be travelling at the speed of hundred and eighty six thousand miles per second.
5. Ummi: means unlettered, unlearned.
6. From "Heroes and Hero Worship by Thomas Carlyle.
7. Protoplasm is the basis of all living matter and vital power of protoplasm seems to depend on the constant presence of water
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