By: Haris Ahmad[1]
The Qur’an is a book that encourages its reader to learn, examine, and ponder as well as question things so that he/she can get a clear understanding of everything that exists in his/her surroundings. It may be a holy scripture but it can also be referred to, as a scientific book that explains many scientific phenomena, which no one had, knew about in the time of its revelation. In fact, the scientific phenomena that the Qur’an explains weren’t even understandable to humans for centuries after. So basically, the Qur’an explained many of the scientific discoveries that we are doing now, 1400 years ago. In this blog, I’ll discuss about the scientific miracles of the Qur’an. I’m referring to these as scientific miracles because, how can a book that as revealed 1400 years ago, explain the science of today?
The first scientific miracle I’ll explain in this blog is that the angels are made of light. Allah has created the angels from light and the Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him) confirmed this when he said, “The Angels are created from light”. Now, in a Surah 32, verse 5, it is said that, “He arranges [each] matter from the heaven to the earth; then it will ascend to Him in a Day, the extent of which is a thousand years of those which you count.” This verse explains that Allah arranges the matters (situations) on Earth that reach to Him in one day, the extent of which is a thousand years that we count. These matters are brought to him by Angels which is confirmed in the Quran (35:1) which says, “...Who made the angels, messengers with wings - two, or three, or four (pairs). The people of the time of the revelations of the Qur’an used to count years as lunar years unlike now because we use solar years now. Hence, there are 12000 lunar orbits in 1000 lunar years. If we divide these 12000 lunar orbits or 1000 lunar years by an Earth day just like the Qur’an explained in the given verse; it is nerve-racking to know that the answer is exactly 299,792.458 km/s, which is exactly the speed of light. You can search for this number on the Internet to confirm. Therefore, the miracle is that the Qur’an explained in the given verse that indeed it is the Angels, which take the matters of the Earth to Allah and they are made of light. The Qur’an also gave us the exact number of the speed of light. Isn’t this shocking that the speed of light was successfully calculated by humans in 1676 while the Qur’an had explained all of this in 632 A.D?
The second miracle I’ll explain in this blog is about celestial bodies. From the 4th century BCE till the 16th century, humans believed in the theory that all the celestial bodies in the universe orbited around the Earth after certain observations that the people conducted. However, in the 16th century, Nicolas Copernicus brought forward the heliocentric model, which showed that the Earth and other planets orbited the Sun that was stationary at a certain point in the universe. Even though this theory was right, it still missed something. It missed the point that the Sun was not stationary. Recently, humans have discovered that the Sun is also moving. In fact, it moves along with its planets around the Milky Way at the speed of 28,000 km/hr and you will be shocked to hear the Qur’an had explained this phenomenon 1400 years ago. In the Qur’an, Surah 39, verse 5, it is written, “He created the heavens and earth in truth. He wraps the night over the day and wraps the day over the night and has subjected the sun and the moon, each running [its course] for a specified term. Unquestionably, He is the Exalted in Might, the Perpetual Forgiver.” As you can see, it says that the sun and the moon are each running in their own courses for a specific term. This cannot be a coincidence at all. Indeed, there is no clash that the Qur’an is the word of Allah himself who is the sole creator of everything.
The third miracle I’ll talk about is about the creation of things in pairs. As you may know that almost everything you see is in pairs. Take examples of matter and anti-matter, electron and positron. Believe it or not, Paul Dirac, a British scientist, was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1933 for his stunning discovery about sub-atomic particles being in pairs. However, even this was clearly explained in the Qur’an in Surah Yaseen where it is said, “Glory be to the One, Who created in pairs all things that the earth produces, as well as themselves, and other things they do not know.” As I explained, everything has a pair. Even plants have species that differ in their gender. Humans and other animals have different genders. Love has the pair of hate, bravery has cowardice. Moreover, it is also said that some of what they do not know. These may be some that are too hard for us to see or are inaccessible to us.
The fourth miracle I’ll explain in this blog is about plants and the process of photosynthesis. Most of you may know that plants are autotrophs. This means that they can produce their own food using inorganic materials from their surroundings. They produce food by using light from the sun by converting it from light energy to chemical energy. Moreover, carbon dioxide and water are also needed for this process to take place. The main natural source of water for plants is, of course, the rain that they use in the process of photosynthesis but the main thing is that when this process takes place, glucose and oxygen are the byproducts of the process. The glucose is used within the plant but the oxygen is a gas so it is release into the surroundings and is scattered around. Believe it or not, the process of photosynthesis that humans discovered in the 18th century was explained in the Qur’an in the 7th century. In the Surah 18, verse 45 of the Qur’an, it is said, “And present to them the example of the life of this world, [its being] like rain which We send down from the sky, and the vegetation of the earth mingles with it and [then] it becomes dry remnants, scattered by the winds. And Allah is ever, over all things, Perfect in Ability.” This clearly explains how water is used and then is scattered like dry remnants that is scattered by winds.
The fifth miracle that I will explain is about continental drift. In 1912, Alfred Wegener put forward the theory of continental drift, which explained that the continents were shifting positions on Earth’s surface. According to the website live science, “Although Wegener's "continental drift" theory was discarded, it did introduce the idea of moving continents to geoscience. And decades later, scientists would confirm some of Wegener's ideas, such as the past existence of a supercontinent joining all the world's landmasses as one. Pangaea was a supercontinent that formed roughly 200 to 250 million years ago, according to the U.S Geological Survey (USGS) and was responsible for the fossil and rock clues that led Wegener to his theory.” This means that since we believe that all of the continents once used to be a single supercontinent, it could be a confirm fact that the continents drifted apart to form the continents we know now. This was indirectly explained in the Quran in the Surah 27, verse 88 in which it is said, “You now see the mountains and consider them firmly fixed, but then they shall pass away even as clouds pass away. That will be the handiwork of Allah Who has created everything with perfect wisdom. He is well aware of what you do.” This clearly explains that the mountains that are placed on lands are moving apart from each other, which is of course related to continental drift because it explains the same thing.
Many people use the excuse of these miracles being coincidences but they are wrong. They should know that coincidences happen once or twice but not more than that otherwise it would be truth. Likewise, in the Qur’an, there are many verses about science, which have been proven to be absolutely true. Hence, the miracles of the Qur’an are not coincidences at all and they have also been proven to be the truth.
[1] Haris Ahmad is currently studying in 9th grade (O levels) in The City School Islamabad.
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