CAUTION!qURA'AN IS NOT JUST A BOOK .....READ TO LEARN THE
MIRACLES OF QURA'AN
THE SCIENTIFIC MIRACLES OF THE QUR'AN
INTRODUCTION 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 this 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 Qur'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 time 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 Sad, 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. Now, let us look at some of these scientific miracles
revealed in the Qur'an together. 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 given in the
Qur'an is in full agreement 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. Modern scientific
circles are in agreement that the Big Bang is the only rational
and provable explanation of the beginning of the universe and of
how the universe came into being. Before the Big Bang, there was
no such thing as matter. From a condition of non-existence 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 time". The
research, observations, and calculations carried out by means of
modern technology, however, have revealed that the universe in
fact had a beginning, and that it constantly "expands". At the
beginning of the 20th century, the Russian physicist Alexander
Friedmann and the Belgian cosmologist Georges Lemaitre
theoretically calculated that the universe is in constant motion
and that it is expanding. This fact was proved also by
observational data in 1929. 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.
The observations carried out in the following years verified
that the universe is constantly expanding. 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 universe.
THE SPLITTING ASUNDER OF "THE HEAVENS AND THE EARTH" Another
verse about the creation of the heavens is as follows: Do not
the Unbelievers see that the heavens and the earth were joined
together (as one unit of creation), before We clove them
asunder, and We made from water every living thing. Will they
not then believe? (The Qur'an, 21:30) The word ratq translated
as "sewn to" means "mixed in each, blended" in Arabic
dictionaries. It is used to refer to two different substances
that make up a whole. The phrase "we unstitched" is the verb
fataqa in Arabic and implies that something comes into being by
tearing apart or destroying the structure of ratq. The sprouting
of a seed from the soil is one of the actions to which this verb
is applied. Let us take a look at the verse again with this
knowledge in mind. In the verse, sky and earth are at first
subject to the status of ratq. They are separated (fataqa) with
one coming out of the other. Intriguingly, when we remember the
first moments of the Big Bang, we see that a single point
included all the matter in the universe. In other words,
everything, including "the heavens and earth" which were not
created yet, were included in this point in a condition of ratq.
This point exploded violently, causing its matter to fataqa and
in the process created the structure of the whole universe. When
we compare the expressions in the verse with scientific
findings, we see that they are in perfect agreement with each
other. Interestingly enough, these findings were not arrived at
until the 20th century. ORBITS While referring to the Sun and
the Moon in the Qur'an, it is emphasized that each moves in a
definite orbit. It is He Who created the night and the day, and
the sun and the moon. They swim along, each in an orbit. (The
Qur'an, 21:33) It is mentioned in another verse, too, that the
Sun is not static but moves in a definite orbit: And the sun
runs to its resting place. That is the decree of the Almighty,
the All-Knowing. (The Qur'an, 36:38) These facts communicated in
the Qur'an have been discovered by astronomical observations in
our age. According to the calculations of experts on astronomy,
the Sun is traveling at the enormous speed of 720,000 kilometers
an hour in the direction of the star Vega in a particular orbit
called the Solar Apex. This means that the sun travels roughly
17,280,000 kilometers a day. Along with the Sun, and all planets
and satellites within the gravitational system of the Sun also
travel the same distance. In addition, all the stars in the
universe are in a similar planned motion. That the entire
universe is full of paths and orbits such as this one, is
written in the Qur'an as follows: By the sky full of paths and
orbits. (The Qur'an, 51:7) There are about 200 billion galaxies
in the universe, consisting of nearly 200 billion stars in each.
Most of these stars have planets, and most of those planets have
satellites. All of these heavenly bodies move in very precisely
computed orbits. For millions of years, each has been "swimming"
along in its own orbit in perfect harmony and order with all the
others. Moreover, many comets also move along in the orbits
determined for them. The orbits in the universe do not only
belong to celestial bodies. The galaxies also travel at enormous
speeds in computed, planned orbits. During these movements, none
of these celestial bodies cuts across another's path, or
collides with another. Surely at the time the Qur'an was
revealed, mankind did not possess today's telescopes or advanced
observation technologies to observe millions of kilometres of
space, nor the modern knowledge of physics or astronomy.
Therefore, at that time, it was not possible to determine
scientifically that space is "full of paths and orbits" as
stated in the verse. However, this was openly declared to us in
the Qur'an that was revealed at that time: