The Quran: Science and the Unseen
The following article is from the On Demand Course: Is the Quran True Revelation? by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani and Shaykh Ali Hani. This is the fourth in a series.
لَمْ تَقْتَرِنْ بِزَمِانٍ وَهْيَ تُخْبِرُنَا
عَنْ المَعَادِ وَعَنْ عَادٍ وَعَنْ إِرَمِThey aren’t bound by constraints of time, as they tell us of
The day to come, also Aad and Irum – past history.
In elucidating proofs that the Quran is truly from Allah let us now turn our attention to the Quran’s uncovering of unknown matters as well as the scientific realities found within.
Unseen Matters
Just think of the weather forecasts. It is not forecasted based on conjecture but science, proofs and technology are utilized. Yet despite this how often is the forecast wrong? Now consider the matters of the unseen that the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) conveyed through the Quran and also himself (Allah bless him and give him peace). Not one of the matters of the unseen was incorrect.
Among the matters related to the past is that all of the creation in the beginning was enveloped together and then it separated:
أَوَلَمْ يَرَ ٱلَّذِينَ كَفَرُوٓا۟ أَنَّ ٱلسَّمَـٰوَٰتِ وَٱلْأَرْضَ كَانَتَا رَتْقًۭا فَفَتَقْنَـٰهُمَا ۖ وَجَعَلْنَا مِنَ ٱلْمَآءِ كُلَّ شَىْءٍ حَىٍّ ۖ أَفَلَا يُؤْمِنُونَ
“Or can those who disbelieve not have considered that the heavens and earth were fused as one; Then We divided them; And We made of water everything alive: Will they not then believe?” [Keller, The Quran Beheld 21:30]
قُلْ أَئِنَّكُمْ لَتَكْفُرُونَ بِٱلَّذِى خَلَقَ ٱلْأَرْضَ فِى يَوْمَيْنِ وَتَجْعَلُونَ لَهُۥٓ أَندَادًۭا ۚ ذَٰلِكَ رَبُّ ٱلْعَـٰلَمِينَ
وَجَعَلَ فِيهَا رَوَٰسِىَ مِن فَوْقِهَا وَبَـٰرَكَ فِيهَا وَقَدَّرَ فِيهَآ أَقْوَٰتَهَا فِىٓ أَرْبَعَةِ أَيَّامٍۢ سَوَآءًۭ لِّلسَّآئِلِينَ
ثُمَّ ٱسْتَوَىٰٓ إِلَى ٱلسَّمَآءِ وَهِىَ دُخَانٌۭ فَقَالَ لَهَا وَلِلْأَرْضِ ٱئْتِيَا طَوْعًا أَوْ كَرْهًۭا قَالَتَآ أَتَيْنَا طَآئِعِينَ
“Say: Can you actually disbelieve in Him who created the earth in two primordial days; and ascribe to Him rivals? That is the Lord of all Worlds of Beings
And who made firm-anchoring mountains upon it; And placed every benefit and blessing therein; And appointed its provisions throughout for all its creatures in four more such primeval full days, neither more nor less, or any who ask.
And greater yet, He had turned His full intent to the sky before, when it was a dark vaporous dust, and said to it and to earth: ‘Come hither, willing or no.’ They said, ‘We come in meek submission.’” [Keller, The Quran Beheld 41:9-11]
Only with the spending of billions and all this effort in discovering space did they begin to realize some of these realities.
The Death of Firawn
Likewise, matters of the past. Firawn drowned. But then his body was saved. It didn’t remain in the ocean. The Torah tells us that he drowned but doesn’t tell us what happened after.
فَٱلْيَوْمَ نُنَجِّيكَ بِبَدَنِكَ لِتَكُونَ لِمَنْ خَلْفَكَ ءَايَةًۭ ۚ وَإِنَّ كَثِيرًۭا مِّنَ ٱلنَّاسِ عَنْ ءَايَـٰتِنَا لَغَـٰفِلُونَ
“‘So this day shall We save you in your lifeless body, as a mighty sign of an example made to whoever comes after you.’” [Keller, The Quran Beheld 10:92]
Ramses the Second ruled for sixty years and died of drowning. When did they discover his grave and discover that he had in fact drowned? It was only just slightly over one hundred years ago. And he had been buried in the graves of the kings.
وَقَوْلِهِمْ إِنَّا قَتَلْنَا ٱلْمَسِيحَ عِيسَى ٱبْنَ مَرْيَمَ رَسُولَ ٱللَّهِ وَمَا قَتَلُوهُ وَمَا صَلَبُوهُ وَلَـٰكِن شُبِّهَ لَهُمْ ۚ وَإِنَّ ٱلَّذِينَ ٱخْتَلَفُوا۟ فِيهِ لَفِى شَكٍّۢ مِّنْهُ ۚ مَا لَهُم بِهِۦ مِنْ عِلْمٍ إِلَّا ٱتِّبَاعَ ٱلظَّنِّ ۚ وَمَا قَتَلُوهُ يَقِينًۢا
“And saying: Verily it was we who killed the ‘Messiah’ Jesus son of Mary, the “Messenger of Allah”; Though they killed him not, nor crucified him, but rather another was made to resemble him to them; And verily those who differed about him are truly in doubt over him: They have no true knowledge of it at all, but only the slavish following of mere conjecture, and they did not kill him for certain, as they claim.” [Keller, The Quran Beheld 4:157]
Even within the Biblical tradition, there are many contradictory accounts. There is confusion. It was one of the things that were deeply differed upon for centuries. They did not kill him. Nor did they crucify him. Rather, it was simply made to appear thus. They are in grave doubt regarding what happened and they certainly did not kill him. The Quran explains it quite clearly.
Furthermore, there is the defeat of the Romans and then their victory. This seemed impossible. Yet the Quran tells us exactly how many years they would be defeated and victorious. And in the lifetime of the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) there was also the promise of the Fath of Makkah, well in advance:
إِنَّا فَتَحْنَا لَكَ فَتْحًۭا مُّبِينًۭا
“Verily have We given you a most signal victory!” [Keller, The Quran Beheld 48:1]
Scientific Realities
The scientific realities that the Quran talks about were not known at that time. Even science only discovered these things centuries after the coming of the Quran and the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace). However one must keep in mind that the Quran is not a book of science. It is a book of guidance and it contains signs confirming its truth.
Meeting of The Oceans
Amongst these is the reality that there is a meeting of the oceans and bodies of water. There remains a barrier between them and you see that in many, many places. Now we know scientifically how it happens that there are bodies of water that meet but do not mix, there are currents of water that cross oceans but do not mix with the rest of the water. These bodies of water retain their distinct constitution, salt level, and temperature even though they are in contact, and there is a barrier between them:
مَرَجَ ٱلْبَحْرَيْنِ يَلْتَقِيَانِ
بَيْنَهُمَا بَرْزَخٌۭ لَّا يَبْغِيَانِ
“He had loosed the two seas upon each other seething back and forth while meeting;
Between them a great unseen barrier: neither can overreach the other” [Keller, The Quran Beheld 55:19-20]
What Allah tells us in the Quran is precise, clear and detailed. So, any claim that Nostradamus predicted things, those things are open to all kinds of interpretations. Knowledge of the oceans progressed just in the last two hundred years. Even sailors didn’t know how this worked.
The Front of the Head
كَلَّا لَئِن لَّمْ يَنتَهِ لَنَسْفَعًۢا بِٱلنَّاصِيَةِ
نَاصِيَةٍۢ كَـٰذِبَةٍ خَاطِئَةٍۢ
“By no means is it thus! If he cease not, We will wrench him by his brow in blackest-grimace to his hellish fate;
A hideous, lying, willfully-evil brow” [Keller, The Quran Beheld 96:15-16]
The Arabs knew what the nasiyah was but they didn’t know what its reality was. The nasiyah is the front of the head. The Ulema of Tafsir were bewildered because the nasiyah in Arabic is this front of the head. They said this is a metaphor: a rhetorical expression. It is the human being that lies, not the front of the head.
Where does judgment take place? In the human brain and the frontal cortex. And what is its role, etc.? This was not known before the time of the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace). Not even by the Arabs till much later, in modern times, when they looked at brain function.
Conclusion
As time passes, more and more things will manifest, each of which will confirm the truth of the Quran.
سَنُرِیهِمۡ ءَایَـٰتِنَا فِی ٱلۡـَٔافَاقِ وَفِیۤ أَنفُسِهِمۡ حَتَّىٰ یَتَبَیَّنَ لَهُمۡ أَنَّهُ ٱلۡحَقُّۗ
“We shall unfailingly show them Our signs in all the far-flung directions and in their very selves until it becomes unmistakably plain to them that it is the Truth” [Keller, The Quran Beheld 41:53]
The meaning “them” refers to the disbelievers. Other proofs which have not been expanded on here include the eloquence of the Quran and its preservation. All these proofs prove how the Quran is truly revelation from Allah.
Will there be humble acceptance?
