Authenticity of the Qur’anHow It Came To Be Written

Thanks to its undisputed authenticity, the text of theQur’an holds a unique place among the books ofRevelation, shared neither by the Old nor the NewTestament. In the first two sections of this work, areview was made of the alterations undergone by the OldTestament and the Gospels before they were handed down tous in the form we know today. The same is not true forthe Qur’an for the simple reason that it was written downat the time of the Prophet; we shall see how it came tobe written, i.e. the process involved.

In this context, the differences separating the Qur’anfrom the Bible are in no way due to questions essentiallyconcerned with date. Such questions are constantly putforward by certain people without regard to thecircumstances prevailing at the time when theJudeo-Christian and the Qur’anic Revelations werewritten; they have an equal disregard for thecircumstances surrounding the transmission of the Qur’anto the Prophet. It is suggested that a Seventh centurytext had more likelihood of coming down to us unalteredthan other texts that are as many as fifteen centuriesolder. This comment, although correct, does notconstitute a sufficient reason ; it is made more toexcuse the alterations made in the Judeo-Christian textsin the course of centuries than to underline the notionthat the text of the Qur’an, which was more recent, hadless to fear from being modified by man.

In the case of the Old Testament, the sheer number ofauthors who tell the same story, plus all the revisionscarried out on the text of certain books from thepre-Christian era, constitute as many reasons forinaccuracy and contradiction. As for the Gospels, nobodycan claim that they invariably contain faithful accountsof Jesus’s words or a description of his actions strictlyin keeping with reality. We have seen how successiveversions of the texts showed a lack of definiteauthenticity and moreover that their authors were noteyewitnesses.

Also to be underlined is the distinction to be madebetween the Qur’an, a book of written Revelation, and thehadiths, collections of statements concerning the actionsand sayings of Muhammad. Some of the Prophet’s companionsstarted to write them down from the moment of his death.As an element of human error could have slipped in, thecollection had to be resumed later and subjected torigorous criticism so that the greatest credit is inpractise given to documents that came along afterMuhammad. Their authenticity varies, like that of theGospels. Not a single Gospel was written down at the timeof Jesus (they were all written long after his earthlymission had come to an end), and not a single collectionof hadiths was compiled during the time of the Prophet.

The situation is very different for the Qur’an. As theRevelation progressed, the Prophet and the believersfollowing him recited the text by heart and it was alsowritten down by the scribes in his following. Ittherefore starts off with two elements of authenticitythat the Gospels do not possess. This continued up to theProphet’s death. At a time when not everybody couldwrite, but everyone was able to recite, recitationafforded a considerable advantage because of thedouble-checking possible when the definitive text wascompiled.

The Qur’anic Revelation was made by Archangel Gabrielto Muhammad. It took place over a period of more thantwenty years of the Prophet’s life, beginning with thefirst verses of Sura 96, then resuming after a three-yearbreak for a long period of twenty years up to the deathof the Prophet in 632 A.D., i.e. ten years before Hegiraand ten years after Hegira. [Muhammad’s departure from Makka toMadina, 622A.D.]

The following was the first Revelation (sura 96,verses 1 to 5) [ Muhammad was totally overwhelmed by these words.We shall return to an interpretation of them, especiallywith regard to the fact that Muhammad could neither readnor write.].

“Read: In the name of thy Lord who created, Who created man from something which clings Read! Thy Lord is the most Noble Who taught by the pen Who taught man what he did not know.”

Professor Hamidullah notes in the Introduction to hisFrench translation of the Qur’an that one of the themesof this first Revelation was the ‘praise of the pen as ameans of human knowledge’ which would ‘explain theProphet’s concern for the preservation of the Qur’an inwriting.’

Texts formally prove that long before the Prophet leftMakka for Madina (i.e. long before Hegira), the Qur’anictext so far revealed had been written down. We shall seehow the Qur’an is authentic in this. We know thatMuhammad and the Believers who surrounded him wereaccustomed to reciting the revealed text from memory. Itis therefore inconceivable for the Qur’an to refer tofacts that did not square with reality because the lattercould so easily be checked with people in the Prophet’sfollowing, by asking the authors of the transcription.

Four suras dating from a period prior to Hegira referto the writing down of the Qur’an before the Prophet leftMakka in 622 (sura 80, verses 11 to 16):

“By no means! Indeed it is a message ofinstruction Therefore whoever wills, should remember On leaves held in honor Exalted, purified In the hands of scribes Noble and pious.”

Yusuf Ali, in the commentary to his translation, 1934,wrote that when the Revelation of this sura was made,forty-two or forty-five others had been written and werekept by Muslims in Makka (out of a total of 114).

–Sura 85, verses 21 and 22:

“Nay, this is a glorious reading [Inthe text: Qur’an which also means ‘reading’.] On a preserved tablet”

–Sura 56, verses 77 to 80:

“This is a glorious reading  In a book well kept Which none but the purified teach.This is a Revelation from the Lord of the Worlds.”

–Sura 25, verse 5:

“They said: Tales of the ancients which he hascaused to be written and they are dictated to him morningand evening.” Here we have a reference to theaccusations made by the Prophet’s enemies who treated himas an imposter. They spread the rumour that stories ofantiquity were being dictated to him and he was writingthem down or having them transcribed (the meaning of theword is debatable, but one must remember that Muhammadwas illiterate). However this may be, the verse refers tothis act of making a written record which is pointed outby Muhammad’s enemies themselves.

A sura that came after Hegira makes one last mentionof the leaves on which these divine instructions werewritten:

–Sura 98, verses 2 and 3:

“An (apostle) from God recites leaves Kept pure where are decrees right and straight.”

The Qur’an itself therefore provides indications as tothe fact that it was set down in writing at the time ofthe Prophet. It is a known fact that there were severalscribes in his following, the most famous of whom, ZaidIbn Thâbit, has left his name to posterity.

In the preface to his French translation of the Qur’an(1971), Professor Hamidullah gives an excellentdescription of the conditions that prevailed when thetext of the Qur’an was written, lasting up until the timeof the Prophet’s death:

“The sources all agree in stating that whenever afragment of the Qur’an was revealed, the Prophet calledone of his literate companions and dictated it to him,indicating at the same time the exact position of the newfragment in the fabric of what had already been received. . . Descriptions note that Muhammad asked the scribe toreread to him what had been dictated so that he couldcorrect any deficiencies . . . Another famous story tellshow every year in the month of Ramadan, the Prophet wouldrecite the whole of the Qur’an (so far revealed) toGabriel . . ., that in the Ramadan preceding Muhammad’sdeath, Gabriel had made him recite it twice . . . It isknown how since the Prophet’s time, Muslims acquired thehabit of keeping vigil during Ramadan, and of recitingthe whole of the Qur’an in addition to the usual prayersexpected of them. Several sources add that Muhammad’sscribe Zaid was present at this final bringing-togetherof the texts. Elsewhere, numerous other personalities arementioned as well.”

Extremely diverse materials were used for this firstrecord: parchment, leather, wooden tablets, camels’scapula, soft stone for inscriptions, etc.

At the same time however, Muhammad recommended thatthe faithful learn the Qur’an by heart. They did this fora part if not all of the text recited during prayers.Thus there were Hafizun who knew the whole of theQur’an by heart and spread it abroad. The method ofdoubly preserving the text both in writing and bymemorization proved to be extremely precious.

Not long after the Prophet’s death (632), hissuccessor Abu Bakr, the first Caliph of Islam, askedMuhammad’s former head scribe, Zaid Ibn Thâbit, to makea copy. this he did. On Omar’s initiative (the futuresecond Caliph), Zaid consulted all the information hecould assemble at Madina: the witness of the Hafizun,copies of the Book written on various materials belongingto private individuals, all with the object of avoidingpossible errors in transcription. Thus an extremelyfaithful copy of the Book was obtained.

The sources tell us that Caliph Omar, Abu Bakr’ssuccessor in 634, subsequently made a single volume (mushaf)that he preserved and gave on his death to his daughterHafsa, the Prophet’s widow.

The third Caliph of Islam, Uthman, who held thecaliphate from 644 to 655, entrusted a commission ofexperts with the preparation of the great recension thatbears his name. It checked the authenticity of thedocument produced under Abu Bakr which had remained inHafsa’s possession until that time. The commissionconsulted Muslims who knew the text by heart. Thecritical analysis of the authenticity of the text wascarried out very rigorously. The agreement of thewitnesses was deemed necessary before the slightest versecontaining debatable material was retained. It is indeedknown how some verses of the Qur’an correct others in thecase of prescriptions: this may be readily explained whenone remembers that the Prophet’s period of apostolicactivity stretched over twenty years (in round figures).The result is a text containing an order of suras thatreflects the order followed by the Prophet in hiscomplete recital of the Qur’an during Ramadan, asmentioned above.

One might perhaps ponder the motives that led thefirst three Caliphs, especially Uthman, to commissioncollections and recensions of the text. The reasons arein fact very simple: Islam’s expansion in the very firstdecades following Muhammad’s death was very rapid indeedand it happened among peoples whose native language wasnot Arabic. It was absolutely necessary to ensure thespread of a text that retained its original purity.Uthman’s recension had this as its objective.

Uthman sent copies of the text of the recension to thecentres of the Islamic Empire and that is why, accordingto Professor Hamidullah, copies attributed to Uthmanexist in Tashkent and Istanbul. Apart from one or twopossible mistakes in copying, the oldest documents knownto the present day, that are to be found throughout theIslamic world, are identical; the same is true fordocuments preserved in Europe (there are fragments in theBibliothèque Nationale in Paris which, according to theexperts, date from the Eighth and Ninth centuries A.D.,i.e. the Second and Third Hegirian centuries). Thenumerous ancient texts that are known to be in existenceall agree except for very minor variations which do notchange the general meaning of the text at all. If thecontext sometimes allows more than one interpretation, itmay well have to do with the fact that ancient writingwas simpler than that of the present day. [ The absence of diacritical marks, for example,could make a verb either active or passive and in someinstances, masculine or feminine. More often than nothowever, this was hardly of any great consequence sincethe context indicated the meaning in many instances.]

The 114 suras were arranged in decreasing order oflength; there were nevertheless exceptions. Thechronological sequence of the Revelation was notfollowed. In the majority of cases however, this sequenceis known. A large number of descriptions are mentioned atseveral points in the text, sometimes giving rise torepetitions. Very frequently a passage will add detailsto a description that appears elsewhere in an incompleteform. Everything connected with modern science is, likemany subjects dealt with in the Qur’an, scatteredthroughout the book without any semblance ofclassification.

* It is imporatnt to say that Qur’an was collected during the Prophet’s lifetime. TheProphet, and before his death, had showed the collectionof Qur’an scrolls to Gabriel many times. So, what is saidin regard to collecting of Qur’an during the rulingperiod of the Caliphs after the Prophet means copying thesame original copy written in the Prophet’s life whichlater were sent to different countries, and it does notmean the recording or writing of Qur’an through oralsources as it may be thought. Yet, many of the Companionshave written the Qur’an exactly during the lifetime ofthe Prophet. One of those was Imam Ali’s copy. He,because of his close relation with the Prophet, his longcompanionship, didn’t only collect the dispersed scrollsof the Qur’an, but he rather could accompany it with aremarkable Tafseer, mentioning the occasion of eachverse’s descension, and was regarded the first Tafseer ofQur’an since the beginning of the Islamic mission. IbnAbi Al-Hadeed says,” All the scholars agree thatImam Ali is the first one who collected theQur’an,” (see Sharhul Nahj, 271). Another one,Kittani, says that Imam Ali could arrange the Qur’anaccording to each surah’s order of descension, (seeStrategic Administration, 461). Ibn Sireen Tabe’eerelates from ‘Ikrimeh, who said that ‘lmam Ali couldcollect the Qur’an in a manner that if all mankind andjinn gathered to do that, they could not do it at all,’ (see al-Itqan 1157-58). Ibn Jizzi Kalbi alsonarrates, “If only we could have the Qur’an which wascollected by Ali then we could gain a lot ofknowledge,” (see al-Tasheel, 114). That was only abrief note about the benefits of Imam Ali’s Mus’haf, asIbn Sireen had declared, “I searched so long forImam Ali’s Mus’haf and I correspounded with Medina, butall my efforts gone in vain.’ (see al-Itqan, 1/58,al-Tabaqat,2/338). Thus; it becomes certain that Qur’anhas been collected by Imam Ali without simple differencebetween it and other known copies, except in the notesmentioned by Him which renders it as the most excellentcopy has ever been known. Unfortunately, the inconvenientpolitical conditions emerged after the demise of the Prophet, (i.e after the wicked issue of Saqeefah) was amain obstacle to get benefits from that remarkable copyof the Qur’an.

The Creation of the Heavens and the Earth.

DIFFERENCES FROM AND RESEMBLANCES TO THE BIBLICALDESCRIPTION

In contrast to the Old Testament, the Qur’an doesnot provide a unified description of the Creation. Instead of acontinuous narration, there are passages scattered all over the Bookwhich deal with certain aspects of the Creation and provide informationon the successive events marking its development with varying degreesof detail. To gain a clear idea of how these events are presented, thefragments scattered throughout a large number of suras have to bebrought together.

This dispersal throughout the Book of references tothe same subject is not unique to the theme of the Creation. Manyimportant subjects are treated in the same manner in the Qur’an:earthly or celestial phenomena, or problems concerning man that are ofinterest to scientists. For each of these themes, the same effort hasbeen made here to bring all the verses together.

For many European commentators, the description ofthe Creation in the Qur’an is very similar to the one in the Bible andthey are quite content to present the two descriptions side by side. Ibelieve this concept is mistaken because there are very obviousdifferences. On subjects that are by no means unimportant from ascientific point of view, we find statements in the Qur’an whoseequivalents we search for in vain in the Bible. The latter containsdescriptions that have no equivalent in the Qur’an.

The obvious resemblances between the two texts arewell known; among them is the fact that, at first glance, the numbergiven to the successive stages of the Creation is identical: the sixdays in the Bible correspond to the six days in the Qur’an. In facthowever, the problem is more complex than this and it is worth pausingto examine it.

The Six Periods of the Creation

There is absolutely no ambiguity whatsoever in theBiblical [ The Biblical descriptionmentioned here is taken from the so-called Sacerdotal version discussedin the first part of this work; the description taken from theso-called Yahvist version has been compressed into the space of a fewlines in today s version of the Bible and is too insubstantial to beconsidered here.] description of the Creation in six daysfollowed by a day of rest, the sabbath, analogous with the days of theweek. It has been shown how this mode of narration practiced by thepriests of the Sixth century B.C. served the purpose of encouraging thepeople to observe the sabbath. All Jews were expected to rest [ ‘Sabbath’ in Hebrew means ‘to rest’.]on the sabbath as the Lord had done after he had laboured during thesix days of the week.

The way the Bible interprets it, the word ‘day’means the interval of time between two successive sunrises or sunsetsfor an inhabitant of the Earth. When defined in this way, the day isconditioned by the rotation of the Earth on its own axis. It is obviousthat logically-speaking there can be no question of ‘days’ as definedjust now, if the mechanism that causes them to appear-i.e. theexistence of the Earth and its rotation around the Sun-has not alreadybeen fixed in the early stages of the Creation according to theBiblical description. This impossibility has already been emphasized inthe first part of the present book.

When we refer to the majority of translations of theQur’an, we read that-analogous with the Biblical description-theprocess of the Creation for the Islamic Revelation also took place overa period of six days. It is difficult to hold against the translatorsthe fact that they have translated the Arabic word by its most commonmeaning. This is how it is usually expressed in translations so that inthe Qur’an, verse 54, sura 7 reads as follows:

“Your Lord is God Who created the heavens and theearth in six days.”

There are very few translations and commentaries ofthe Qur’an that note how the word ‘days’ should really be taken to mean’periods’. It has moreover been maintained that if the Qur’anic textson the Creation divided its stages into ‘days’, it was with thedeliberate intention of taking up beliefs held by all the Jews andChristians at the dawn of Islam and of avoiding a head-on confrontationwith such a widely-held belief.

Without in any way wishing to reject this way ofseeing it, one could perhaps examine the problem a little more closelyand scrutinize in the Qur’an itself, and more generally in thelanguage of the time, the possible meaning of the word that manytranslators themselves still continue to translate by the word ‘day’ yaum,plural ayyam in Arabic. [ Seetable on last page of present work for equivalence between Latin andArabic letters.]

Its most common meaning is ‘day’ but it must bestressed that it tends more to mean the diurnal light than the lengthof time that lapses between one day’s sunset and the next. The plural ayyamcan mean, not just ‘days’, but also ‘long length of time’, anindefinite period of time (but always long). The meaning ‘period oftime’ that the word contains is to he found elsewhere in the Qur’an.Hence the following:

–sura 32, verse 5:

“. . . in a period of time (yaum) whereof themeasure is a thousand years of your reckoning.” (It is to be noted that the Creation in six periods is precisely whatthe verse preceding verse 5 refers to).

–sura 70, verse 4:

“. . . in a period of time (yaum) whereof themeasure is 50,000 years.”

The fact that the word , yaum’ could mean aperiod of time that was quite different from the period that we mean bythe word ‘day’ struck very early commentators who, of course, did nothave the knowledge we possess today concerning the length of the stagesin the formation of the Universe. In the Sixteenth century A.D. forexample, Abu al Su’ud, who could not have had any idea of the day asdefined astronomically in terms of the Earth’s rotation, thought thatfor the Creation a division must be considered that was not into daysas we usually understand the word, but into ‘events’ (in Arabic nauba).

Modern commentators have gone back to thisinterpretation. Yusuf Ali (1934), in his commentary on each of theverses that deals with the stages in the Creation, insists on theimportance of taking the word, elsewhere interpreted as meaning ‘days’,to mean in reality ‘very long Periods, or Ages, or Aeons’.

It is therefore possible to say that in the case ofthe Creation of the world, the Qur’an allows for long periods of timenumbering six. It is obvious that modern science has not permitted manto establish the fact that the complicated stages in the processleading to the formation of the Universe numbered six, but it hasclearly shown that long periods of time were involved compared to which’days’ as we conceive them would be ridiculous.

One of the longest passages of the Qur’an, whichdeals with the Creation, describes the latter by juxtaposing an accountof earthly events and one of celestial events. The verses in questionare verses 9 to 12, sura 41:

(God is speaking to the Prophet)
“Say. Do you disbelieve Him Who created the earthin two periods? Do you ascribe equals to Him. He is the Lord of theWorlds.”He set in the (earth) mountains standing firm. He blessed it.He measured therein its sustenance in four periods, in due proportion,in accordance with the needs of those who ask for (sustenance? orinformation?).”Moreover (tumma) He turned to heaven when it was smoke and saidto it and to the earth: come willingly or unwillingly! They said: wecome in willing obedience.”Then He ordained them seven heavens in two periods, and He assigned toeach heaven its mandate by Revelation. And We adorned the lower heavenwith luminaries and provided it a guard. Such is the decree of the AllMighty, the Full of Knowledge.”
These four verses of sura 41 contain several pointsto which we shall return. the initially gaseous state of celestialmatter and the highly symbolic definition of the number of heavens asseven. We shall see the meaning behind this figure. Also of a symbolicnature is the dialogue between God on the one hand and the primordialsky and earth on the other. here however it is only to express thesubmission of the Heavens and Earth, once they were formed, to divineorders.

Critics have seen in this passage a contradictionwith the statement of the six periods of the Creation. By adding thetwo periods of the formation of the Earth to the four periods of thespreading of its sustenance to the inhabitants, plus the two periods ofthe formation of the Heavens, we arrive at eight periods. This wouldthen be in contradiction with the six periods mentioned above.

In fact however, this text, which leads man toreflect on divine Omnipotence, beginning with the Earth and ending withthe Heavens, provides two sections that are expressed by the Arabicword tumma’, translated by ‘moreover’, but which also means’furthermore’ or ‘then’. The sense of a ‘sequence’ may therefore beimplied referring to a sequence of events or a series of man’sreflections on the events mentioned here. It may equally be a simplereference to events juxtaposed without any intention of bringing in thenotion of the one following the other. However this may be, the periodsof the Creation of the Heavens may just as easily coincide with the twoperiods of the Earth’s creation. A little later we shall examine howthe basic process of the formation of the Universe is presented in theQur’an and we shall see how it can be jointly applied to the Heavensand the Earth in keeping with modern ideas. We shall then realize howperfectly reasonable this way is of conceiving the simultaneous natureof the events here described.

There does not appear to be any contradictionbetween the passage quoted here and the concept of the formation of theworld in six stages that is to be found in other texts in the Qur’an.

THE QUR’AN DOES NOT LAY DOWN A SEQUENCE FOR THECREATION OF THE EARTH AND HEAVENS

In the two passages from the Qur’an quoted above,reference was made in one of the verses to the Creation of the Heavensand the Earth (sura 7, verse 54) , and elsewhere to the Creation of theEarth and the Heavens (sura 41, verses 9 to 12). The Qur’an does nottherefore appear to lay down a sequence for the Creation of the Heavensand the Earth.

The number of verses in which the Earth is mentionedfirst is quite small, e.g. sura 2, verse 29 and sura 20, verse 4, wherea reference is made to “Him Who created the earth and the highheavens”. The number of verses where the Heavens are mentioned beforethe Earth is, on the other hand, much larger: (sura 7, verse 54; sura10, verse 3; sura 11, verse 7; sura 25, verse 59; sura 32, verse 4;sura 50, verse 38; sura 57, verse 4; sura 79, verses 27 to 33; sura 91,verses 5 to 10).

In actual fact, apart from sura 79, there is not asingle passage in the Qur’an that lays down a definite sequence; asimple coordinating conjunction (wa) meaning ‘and’ links twoterms, or the word tumma which, as has been seen in the abovepassage, can indicate either a simple juxtaposition or a sequence.

There appears to me to be only one passage in theQur’an where a definite sequence is plainly established betweendifferent events in the Creation. It is contained in verses 27 to 33,sura 79:

“Are you the harder to create Or. is it the heaventhat (God) built? He raised its canopy and fashioned it with harmony.He made dark the night and he brought out the forenoon. And after that (ba’da dalika) He spread it out. Therefrom he drew out its water andits pasture. And the mountains He has fixed firmly. Goods for you andyour cattle.”

This list of earthly gifts from God to man, which isexpressed In a language suited to farmers or nomads on the ArabianPeninsula, is preceded by an invitation to reflect on the creation ofthe heavens. The reference to the stage when God spreads out the earthand renders it arable is very precisely situated in time after thealternating of night and day has been achieved. Two groups aretherefore referred to here, one of celestial phenomena, and the otherof earthly phenomena articulated in time. The reference made hereimplies that the earth must necessarily have existed before beingspread out and that it consequently existed when God created theHeavens. The idea of a concomitance therefore arises from theheavenly and earthly evolutions with the interlocking of the twophenomena. Hence, one must not look for any special significance in thereference in the Qur’anic text to the Creation of the Earth before theHeavens or the Heavens before the Earth: the position of the words doesnot influence the order in which the Creation took place, unlesshowever it is specifically stated.

THE BASIC PROCESS OF THE FORMATION OF THE UNIVERSEAND THE RESULTING COMPOSITION OF THE WORLDS

The Qur’an presents in two verses a brief synthesisof the phenomena that constituted the basic process of the formation ofthe Universe.–sura 21, verse 30:

“Do not the Unbelievers see that the heavens and theearth were joined together, then We clove them asunder and We got everyliving thing out of the water. Will they not then believe?”

–sura 41, verse 11. God orders the Prophet to speakafter inviting him to reflect on the subject of the earth’s creation:

“Moreover (God) turned to the Heaven when it wassmoke and said to it and to the earth . . .” There then follow the orders to submit, referred to on page 136.

We shall come back to the aquatic origins of lifeand examine them along with other biological problems raised by theQur’an. The important things to remember at present are the following.a) The statement of the existence of a gaseous mass with fineparticles, for this is how the word ‘smoke’ (dukan in Arabic) isto be interpreted. Smoke is generally made -up of a gaseous substratum,plus, in more or less stable suspension, fine particles that may belongto solid and even liquid states of matter at high or low temperature;

b) The reference to a separation process (fatq)of an primary single mass whose elements were initially fused together (ratq).It must be noted that in Arabic ‘fatq’ is the action ofbreaking, diffusing, separating, and that ‘ratq’ is the actionof fusing or binding together elements to make a homogenous whole.

This concept of the separation of a whole intoseveral parts is noted in other passages of the Book with reference tomultiple worlds. The first verse of the first sura in the Qur’anproclaims, after the opening invocation, the following: “In the name ofGod, the Beneficent, the Merciful”, “Praise be to God, Lord of theWorlds.”

The terms ‘worlds’ reappears dozens of times in theQur’an. The Heavens are referred to as multiple as well, not only onaccount of their plural form, but also because of their symbolicnumerical quantity. 7.

This number is used 24 times throughout the Qur’anfor various numerical quantities. It often carries the meaning of’many’ although we do not know exactly why this meaning of the figurewas used. The Greeks and Romans also seem to have used the number 7 tomean an undefined idea of plurality. In the Qur’an, the number 7 refersto the Heavens themselves (samawat). It alone is understood tomean ‘Heavens’. The 7 roads of the Heavens are mentioned once:

–sura 2, verse 29:”(God) is the One Who created for you all that is on the earth.Moreover He turned to the heaven and fashioned seven heavens withharmony. He is Full of Knowledge of all things.”

–sura 23, verse 17:”And We have created above you seven paths. We have never beenunmindful of the Creation.”

–sura 67, verse 3:”(God) is the One Who created seven heavens one above an other. Thoucanst see no fault in the creation of the Beneficent. Turn the visionagain! Canst thou see any rift?”

–sura 71, verse 15-16:”Did you see how God created seven heavens one above another and madethe moon a light therein and made the sun a lamp? [ It is to be noted that while the Bible calls both Sun andMoon ‘lights’, here, as always in the Qur’an, they are differentlynamed; the first is called ‘Light’ (nur) and the second iscompared in this verse to a ‘lamp (siraj) producing light’. Weshall see later how other epithets are applied to the Sun.]”

–sura 78, verse 12:”We have built above you seven strong (heavens) and placed a blazinglamp.”

Here the blazing lamp is the Sun.

The commentators on the Qur’an are in agreement onall these verses: the number 7 means no more than plurality. [ Apart from the Qur’an, we often find thenumber 7 meaning plurality in texts from Muhammad’s time, or from thefirst centuries following him, which record his words (hadiths).]

There are therefore many Heavens and Earths, and itcomes as no small surprise to the reader of the Qur’an to find thatearths such as our own may be found in the Universe, a fact that hasnot yet been verified by man in our time.

Verse 12 of sura 65 does however predict thefollowing:”God is the One Who created seven heavens and of the earth (ard)a similar number. The Command descends among them so that you know thatGod has power over all things and comprehends all things in Hisknowledge.”

Since 7 indicates an indefinite plurality (as wehave seen), it is possible to conclude that the Qur’anic text clearlyindicates the existence of more than one single Earth, our own Earth (ard);there are others like it in the Universe.

Another observation which may surprise the Twentiethcentury reader of the Qur’an is the fact that verses refer to threegroups of things created, i.e.

–things in the Heavens.–things on the Earth –things between the Heavens and the Earth

Here are several of these verses:

–sura 20, verse 6;”To Him (God) belongs what is in the heavens, on earth, between themand beneath the soil.”

–sura 25, verse 59:”. . . the One Who created the heavens, the earth and what is betweenthem in six periods.”

–sura 32, verse 4:”God is the One Who created the heavens, the earth and what is betweenthem in six periods.”

–sura 50, verse 38:

“We created the heavens, the earth .and what isbetween them in six periods, and no weariness touched Us.” [ This statement that the Creation did notmake God at all weary stands out as an obvious reply to the Biblicaldescription, referred to in the first part of the present book, whereGod is said to have rested on the seventh day from the preceding days’work!]

The reference in the Qur’an to ‘what is between theHeavens and the Earth’ is again to be found in the following verses:sura 21, verse 16; sura 44, verses 7 and 38 ; sura 78, verse 37; sura15, verse 85; sura 46, verse 3; sura 43, Verse 85.

This Creation outside the Heavens and outside theEarth, mentioned several times, is a priori difficult to imagine. Tounderstand these verses, reference must be made to the most recenthuman observations on the existence of cosmic extra-galactic materialand one must indeed go back to ideas established by contemporaryscience on the formation of the Universe, starting with the simplestand proceeding to the most complex. These are the subject of thefollowing paragraph.

Before passing on to these purely scientific mattershowever, it is advisable to recapitulate the main points on which theQur’an gives us information about the Creation. According to thepreceding quotations, they are as follows:

1. Existence of six periods for the Creation ingeneral.
2. Interlocking of stages in the Creation of theHeavens and the Earth.
3. Creation of the Universe out of an initiallyunique mass forming a block that subsequently split up.
4. Plurality of the Heavens and of theEarths.
5. Existence of an intermediary creation ‘betweenthe Heavens and the Earth’.

SOME MODERN SCIENTIFIC DATA CONCERNING THE FORMATIONOF THE UNIVERSE

The Solar System

The Earth and planets rotating around the Sunconstitute an organized world of dimensions which, to our human scale,appear quite colossal. The Earth is, after all, roughly 93 millionmiles from the Sun. This is a very great distance for a human being,but it is very small in comparison to the distance separating the Sunfrom the furthermost planet from it in the solar system (Pluto); inround numbers it is 40 times the distance from the Earth to the Sun,i.e. approximately 3,672 million miles away. This distance, whendoubled, represents the largest dimension of our solar system. TheSun’s light takes nearly 6 hours to reach Pluto, and yet the journey ismade at the terrifying speed of over 186,000 miles per second. Thelight coming from stars on the very confines of the known celestialworld therefore takes billions of years to reach us.

The Galaxies

The Sun, of which we are a satellite like the otherplanets surrounding it, is itself an infinitesmally small element amonga hundred billion stars that form a whole, called a galaxy. On a finesummer night, the whole of space seems to be filled with stars thatmake up what is known as the Milky Way. This group has extremely largedimensions. Whereas light could cross the solar system in units of onehour, it would require something like 90,000 years to go from oneextreme to the other of the most compact group of stars that make upour galaxy.

The galaxy that we belong to however, even though itis so incredibly huge, is only a small part of the Heavens. There aregiant agglomerates of stars similar to the Milky Way that lie outsideour galaxy. They were discovered a little over fifty years ago, whenastronomy was able to make use of an optical instrument assophisticated as the one that made possible the construction of theMount Wilson telescope in the United States. Thus a very large numberindeed of isolated galaxies and masses of galaxies have been discoveredthat are so far away that it was necessary to institute a special unitof light-years, the ‘parsec’ (the distance light travels in 3.26 yearsat 186,000 miles per second).

Formationand Evolution of Galaxies, Stan and Planetary Systems

What was there originally in the immensely largespace the galaxies now occupy? Modern science can only answer thisquestion as of a certain period in the evolution of the Universe; itcannot put into numbers the length of time that separates this periodfrom us.

At the earliest time it can provide us with, modernscience has every reason to maintain that the Universe was formed of agaseous mass principally composed of hydrogen and a certain amount ofhelium that was slowly rotating. This nebula subsequently split up intomultiple fragments with very large dimensions and masses, so largeindeed, that specialists in astrophysics are able to estimate theirmass from 1 to 100 billion times the present mass of the Sun (thelatter represents a mass that is over 300,000 times that of the Earth).These figures give an idea of the large size of the fragments ofprimary gaseous mass that were to give birth to the galaxies.

A new fragmentation was to form the stars. Therethen followed the intervention of a condensing process wheregravitational forces came into play, (since these bodies were movingand rotating more and more quickly), along with pressures and theinfluence of magnetic fields and of radiations. The stars became shinyas they contracted and transformed the gravitational forces intothermal energy. Thermonuclear reactions came into play, and heavieratoms were formed by fusion at the expense of others that were lighter;this is how the transition was made from hydrogen to helium, then tocarbon and oxygen, ending with metals and metalloids. Thus the starshave a life of their own and modern astronomy classifies them accordingto their present stage of evolution. The stars also have a death; inthe final stage of their evolution, the violent implosion of certainstars has been observed so that they become veritable ‘corpses’.

The planets, and in particular the Earth, originatedin a separation process starting from an initial constituent that inthe beginning was the primary nebula. A fact that has no longer beencontested for over twenty-five years is that the Sun condensed insidethe single nebula and that the planets did the same inside thesurrounding nebular. disc. One must stress-and this is of primeimportance for. the subject in hand-that there was no sequence in theformation of the celestial elements such as the Sun nor in theformation of an earthly. element. There is an evolutionary parallelismwith the identity of origin.

Here, science can give us information on the periodduring which the events just mentioned took place. Having estimated theage of our galaxy at roughly ten billion years, according to thishypothesis, the formation of the solar. system took place a little overfive billion years later’. The study of natural radio activity makes itpossible to place the age of the Earth and the time the Sun was formedat 4.5 billion years ago, to within a present-day accuracy of 100million years, according to some scientists’ calculations. Thisaccuracy is to be admired, since 100 million years may represent a longtime to us but the ratio ‘maximum error/total time-to-be-measured’ is0.1/4.5, i.e. 2.2%.

Specialists in astrophysics have therefore attaineda high degree of knowledge concerning the general process involved inthe formation of the solar system. It may be summarized as follows:condensation and contraction of a rotating gaseous mass, splitting upinto fragments that leave the Sun. and planets in their places, amongthem the Earth. [ As regards the Moon,its gradual separation from the Earth following the deceleration of itsrotation is an acknowledged probability.] The knowledge thatscience has gained on the primary nebula and the way it split up intoan incommensurable quantity of stars grouped into galaxies leavesabsolutely no doubt as to the legitimacy of a concept of the pluralityof worlds. It does not however provide any kind of certainty concerningthe existence in the Universe of anything that might, either closely orvaguely, resemble the Earth.

TheConcept of the Plurality of theWorlds

In spite of the above, modern specialists inastrophysics consider it highly likely that planets similar to Earthare present in the Universe. As far as the solar system is concerned,nobody seriously entertains the possibility of finding generalconditions similar to those on Earth on another planet in this system.We must therefore seek for them outside the solar system. Thelikelihood of their existing outside it is considered quite probablefor the following reasons:

It is thought that in our galaxy half of the 100billion stars must, like the Sun, have a planetary system. The fiftybillion stars do indeed, like the Sun, rotate very slowly. acharacteristic which suggests that they are surrounded by planets thatare their satellites. These stars are so far away that the possibleplanets are unobservable, but their existence is thought to be highlyprobable on account of certain trajectory characteristics ; a slightundulation of the star’s trajectory indicates the presence of acompanion planetary satellite. Thus the Barnard Star probably has atleast one planetary companion with a mass greater than that of Jupiterand may even have two satellites. As P. Guérin writes: “All theevidence points to the fact that planetary systems are scattered inprofusion all over the universe. The solar system and the Earth are notunique.” And as a corollary. “Life, like the planets that harbour it,is scattered throughout the universe, in those places where thephysico-chemical conditions necessary for its flowering and developmentare to be found.”

Interstellar Material

The basic process in the formation of the Universetherefore lay in the condensation of material in the primary nebulafollowed by its division into fragments that originally constitutedgalactic masses. The latter in their turn split up into stars thatprovided the sub-product of the process, i.e. the planets. Thesesuccessive separations left among the groups of principle elements whatone might perhaps call ‘remains’. Their more scientific name is’interstellar galactic material’. It has been described in variousways; there are bright nebulae that reflect the light received fromother stars and are perhaps composed of ‘dusts’ or ‘smokes’, to use theterminology of experts in astrophysics, and then there are the darknebulae that are less dense, consisting of interstellar material thatis even more modest, known for its tendency to interfere withphotometric measurements in astronomy. There can be no doubt about theexistence of ‘bridges’ of material between the galaxies themselves.Although these gases may be very rarefied, the fact that they occupysuch a colossal space, in view of the great distance separating thegalaxies, could make them correspond to a mass possibly greater thanthe total mass of the galaxies in spite of the low density of theformer. A. Boichot considers the presence of these intergalactic massesto be of prime importance which could “considerably alter ideas on theevolution of the Universe.”

We must now go back to the basic ideas on theCreation of the Universe that were taken from the Qur’an and look atthem in the light of modern scientific data.

CONFRONTATION WITH THE DATA IN THE QUR’AN CONCERNINGTHECREATION

We shall examine the five main points on which theQur’an gives information about the Creation.

1. The six periods of the Creation of the Heavensand the Earth covered, according to the Qur’an, the formation of thecelestial bodies and the Earth, and the development of the latter until(with its ‘sustenance’) it became inhabitable by man. In the case ofthe Earth, the events described in the Qur’an happened over fourperiods. One could perhaps see in them the four geological periodsdescribed by modern science, with man’s appearance, as we already know,taking place in the quaternary era. This is purely a hypothesis sincenobody has an answer to this question. It must be noted however, that the formation of the heavenly bodies andthe Earth, as explained in verses 9 to 12, sura 41 (see page 136)required two phases. If we take the Sun and its subproduct the Earth asan example (the only one accessible to us), science informs us thattheir formation occurred by a process of condensation of the primarynebula and then their separation. This is exactly what the Qur’anexpresses very clearly when it refers to the processes that produced afusion and subsequent separation starting from a celestial ‘smoke’.Hence there is complete correspondence between the facts of the Qur’anand the facts of science.
2. Science showed the interlocking of the twostages in the formation of a star (like the Sun) and its satellite(like the Earth). This interconnection is surely very evident in thetext of the Qur’an examined.
3. The existence at an early stage of the Universeof the ‘smoke’ referred to in the Qur’an, meaning the predominantlygaseous state of the material that composes it, obviously correspondsto the concept of the primary nebula put forward by modern science.
4. The plurality of the heavens, expressed in theQur’an by the number 7, whose meaning we have discussed, is confirmedby modern science due to the observations experts in astrophysics havemade on galactic systems and their very large number. On the other handthe plurality of earths that are similar to ours (from certain pointsof view at least) is an idea that arises in the text of the Qur’an buthas not yet been demonstrated to be true by science; all the same,specialists consider this to be quite feasible.
5. The existence of an intermediate creationbetween ‘the Heavens’ and ‘the Earth’ expressed in the Qur’an may becompared to the discovery of those bridges of material present outsideorganized astronomic systems.

Although not all the questions raised by thedescriptions in the Qur’an have been completely confirmed by scientificdata, there is in any case absolutely no opposition between the data inthe Qur’an on the Creation and modern knowledge on the formation of theUniverse. This fact is worth stressing for the Qur’anic Revelation,whereas it is very obvious indeed that the present-day text of the OldTestament provides data on the same events that are unacceptable from ascientific point of view. It is hardly surprising, since thedescription of the Creation in the Sacerdotal version of the Bible [ This text completely overshadows the fewlines contained in the Yahvist version. The latter is too brief and toovague for the scientist to take account of it.] was written bypriests at the time of the deportation to Babylon who had the legalistintentions already described and therefore compiled a description thatfitted their theological views. The existence of such an enormousdifference between the Biblical description and the data in the Qur’anconcerning the Creation is worth underlining once again on account ofthe totally gratuitous accusations leveled against Muhammad since thebeginnings of Islam to the effect that he copied the Biblicaldescriptions. As far as the Creation is concerned, this accusation istotally unfounded. How could a man living fourteen hundred yearsago have made corrections to the existing description to such an extentthat he eliminated scientifically inaccurate material and, on his owninitiative, made statements that science has been able to verify onlyin the present day? This hypothesis is completely untenable. Thedescription of the Creation given in the Qur’an is quite different fromthe one in the Bible.

ANSWERS TO CERTAIN OBJECTIONS

Indisputably, resemblances do exist betweennarrations dealing with other subjects, particularly religious history,in the Bible and in the Qur’an. It is moreover interesting to note fromthis point of view how nobody holds against Jesus the fact that hetakes up the same sort of facts and Biblical teachings. This does not,of course, stop people in the West from accusing Muhammad of referringto such facts in his teaching with the suggestion that he is animposter because he presents them as a Revelation. As for the proofthat Muhammad reproduced in the Qur’an what he had been told ordictated by the rabbis, it has no more substance than the statementthat a Christian monk gave him a sound religious education. One woulddo well to re-read what R. Blachère in his book, The Problemof Muhammad (Le Problème de Mahomet) [ Pub. Presses Universitaries de France, Paris, 1952.],has to say about this ‘fable’.

A hint of a resemblance is also advanced betweenother statements in the Qur’an and beliefs that go back a very longway, probably much further in time than the Bible.

More generally speaking, the traces of certaincosmogonic myths have been sought in the Holy Scriptures; for examplethe belief held by the Polynesians in the existence of primeval watersthat were covered in darkness until they separated when light appeared;thus Heaven and Earth were formed. This myth is compared to thedescription of the Creation in the Bible, where there is undoubtedly aresemblance. It would however be superficial to then accuse the Bibleof having copied this from the cosmogonic myth.

It is just as superficial to see the Qur’anicconcept of the division of the primeval material constituting theUniverse at its initial stage-a concept held by modern science-as onethat comes from various cosmogonic myths in one form or another thatexpress something resembling it.

It is worth analysing these mythical beliefs anddescriptions more closely. Often an initial idea appears among themwhich is reasonable in itself, and is in some cases borne out by whatwe today know (or think we know) to be true, except that fantasticdescriptions are attached to it in the myth. This is the case of thefairly widespread concept of the Heavens and the Earth originally beingunited then subsequently separated. When, as in Japan, the image of theegg plus an expression of chaos is attached to the above with the ideaof a seed inside the egg (as for all. eggs), the imaginative additionmakes the concept lose all semblance of seriousness. In othercountries, the idea of a plant is associated with it; the plant growsand in so doing raises up the sky and separates the Heavens from theEarth. Here again, the imaginative quality of the added detail lendsthe myth its very distinctive character. Nevertheless a commoncharacteristic remains, i.e. the notion of a single mass at thebeginning of the evolutionary process leading to the formation of theUniverse which then divided to form the various ‘worlds. that we knowtoday.

The reason these cosmogonic myths are mentioned hereis to underline the way they have been embroidered by man’s imaginationand to show the basic difference between them and the statements in theQur’an on the same subject. The latter are free from any of thewhimsical details accompanying such beliefs; on the contrary, they aredistinguished by the sober quality of the words in which they are madeand their agreement with scientific data.

Such statements in the Qur’an concerning theCreation, which appeared nearly fourteen centuries ago, obviously donot lend themselves to a human explanation.

Astronomy in the Qur’an

The Qur’an is full of reflections on the Heavens. Inthe preceding chapter on the Creation, we saw how the plurality of theHeavens and Earths was referred to, as well as what the Qur’an calls anintermediary creation ‘between the Heavens and the Earth’, modernscience has verified the latter. The verses referring to the Creationalready contain a broad idea of what is to be found in the heavens,i.e. of everything outside the earth.

Apart from the verses that specifically describe theCreation, there are roughly another forty verses in the Qur’an whichprovide information on astronomy complementing what has already beengiven. Some of them are not much more than reflections on the glory ofthe Creator, the Organizer of all the stellar and planetary systems.These we know to be arranged according to balancing positions whosestability Newton explained in his law of the mutual attraction ofbodies.

The first verses to be quoted here hardly furnishmuch material for scientific analysis: the aim is simply to drawattention to God’s Omnipotence. They must be mentioned however to givea realistic idea of the way the Qur’anic text described theorganization of the Universe fourteen centuries ago.

These references constitute a new fact of divine Revelation. Theorganization of the world is treated in neither the Gospels nor the OldTestament (except for a few notions whose general inaccuracy we havealready seen in the Biblical description of the Creation). The Qur’anhowever deals with this subject in depth. What it describes isimportant, but so is what it does not contain. It does not in factprovide an account of the theories prevalent at the time of theRevelation that deal with the organization of the celestial world,theories that science was later to show were inaccurate. An example ofthis will be given later. This negative consideration must however bepointed out. [ I have often heard thosewho go to great lengths to find a human explanation-and no other-to allthe problems raised by the Qur’an Bay the following: “if the Bookcontains surprising statements on astronomy, it is because the Arabswere very knowledgeable on this subject.” In so doing they forget thefact that, in general, science in Islamic countries is very muchpost-Qur’an, and that the scientific knowledge of this great periodwould in any case not have been sufficient for a human being to writesome of the verses to be found in the Qur’an. This will be shown in thefollowing paragraphs.]

A. GENERAL REFLECTIONS CONCERNING THE SKY

–sura 50, verse 6. The subject is man in general.”Do they not look at the sky above them, how We have built it andadorned it, and there are no rifts in it.”

–sura 31, verse 10:”(God) created the heavens without any pillars that you can see…”

–sura 13, verse 2:”God is the One Who raised the heavens without any pillars that you cansee, then He firmly established Himself on the throne and He subjectedthe sun and moon . . .”

These two verses refute the belief that the vault ofthe heavens was held up by pillars, the only things preventing theformer from crushing the earth.

–sura 55, verse 7:”the sky (God) raised it . . .”

–sura 22, verse 65:”(God) holds back the sky from falling on the earth unless by His leave. . .”

It is known how the remoteness of celestial massesat great distance and in proportion to the magnitude of their massitself constitutes the foundation of their equilibrium. The more remotethe masses are, the weaker the force is that attracts one to the other.The nearer they are, the stronger the attraction is that one has to theother: this is true for the Moon, which is near to the Earth(astronomically speaking) and exercises an influence by laws ofattraction on the position occupied by the waters of the sea, hence thephenomenon of the tides. If two celestial bodies come too close to oneanother, collision is inevitable. The fact that they are subjected toan order is the sine qua non for the absence of disturbances.

The subjection of the Heavens to divine order isoften referred to as well:

–sura 23, verse 86. God is speaking to the Prophet.”Say: Who is Lord of the seven heavens and Lord of the tremendousthrone?”

We have already seen how by ‘seven heavens’ what ismeant is not 7, but an indefinite number of Heavens.

–sura 45, verse 13:”For you (God) subjected all that is in the heavens and on the earth,all from Him. Behold! In that are signs for people who reflect.”

–sura 55, verse 5:”The sun and moon (are subjected) to calculations”

–sura 6, verse 96:”(God) appointed the night for rest and the sun and the moon forreckoning.”

–sura 14, verse 33:”For you (God) subjected the sun and the moon, both diligently pursuingtheir courses. And for you He subjected the night and the day.”

Here one verse completes another: the calculationsreferred to result in the regularity of the course described by theheavenly bodies in question, this is expressed by the word da’ib,the present participle of a verb whose original meaning was ‘to workeagerly and assiduously at something’. Here it is given the meaning of’to apply oneself to something with care in a perseverant, invariablemanner, in accordance with set habits’.

–sura 36, verse 39: God is speaking:”And for the moon We have appointed mansions till she returns like anold shriveled palm branch.”

This is a reference to the curled form of the palmbranch which, as it shrivels up, takes on the moon’s crescent. Thiscommentary will be completed later.

–sura 16, verse 12:”For you (God) subjected the night and the day, the sun and the moon;the stars are in subjection to His Command. Verily in this are signsfor people who are wise.”

The practical angle from which this perfectcelestial order is seen is underlined on account of its value as an aidto man’s travel on earth and by sea, and to his calculation of time.This comment becomes clear when one bears in mind the fact that theQur’an was originally a preaching addressed to men who only understoodthe simple language of their everyday lives. This explains the presenceof the following reflections.

–sura 6, verse 97:”(God) is the One Who has set out for you the stars, that you may guideyourselves by them through the darkness of the land and of the sea. Wehave detailed the signs for people who know.”

–sura 16, verse 16:”(God sets on the earth) landmarks and by the stars (men) guidethemselves.”

–sura 10, verse 5:”God is the One Who made the sun a shining glory and the moon a lightand for her ordained mansions, so that you might know the number ofyears and the reckoning (of the time). God created this in truth. Heexplains the signs in detail for people who know.”

This calls for some comment. Whereas the Bible callsthe Sun and Moon ‘lights’, and merely adds to one the adjective’greater’ and to the other ‘lesser’, the Qur’an ascribes differencesother than that of dimension to each respectively. Agreed, this isnothing more than a verbal distinction, but how was one to communicateto men at this time without confusing them, while at the same timeexpressing the notion that the Sun and Moon were not absolutelyidentical ‘lights’?

B. NATURE OF HEAVENLY BODIES

The Sun and the Moon

The Sun is a shining glory (diya’) and theMoon a light (nur). This translation would appear to be morecorrect than those given by others, where the two terms are inverted.In fact there is little difference in meaning since diya’belongs to a root (dw’) which, according to Kazimirski’sauthoritative Arabic/French dictionary, means ‘to be bright, to shine'(e.g. like a fire). The same author attributes to the substantive inquestion the meaning of ‘light’.

The difference between Sun and Moon will be madeclearer by further quotes from the Qur’an.

–sura 25, verse 61:”Blessed is the One Who placed the constellations in heaven and placedtherein a lamp and a moon giving light.”

–sura 71, 15-16:”Did you see how God created seven heavens one above an other and madethe moon a light therein and made the sun a lamp?”

–sura 78, verses 12-13:”We have built above you seven strong (heavens) and placed a blazinglamp.”

The blazing lamp is quite obviously the sun.Here the moon is defined as a body that gives light (munir) fromthe same root as nur (the light applied to the Moon). The Sunhowever is compared to a torch (siraj) or a blazing (wahhaj)lamp.

A man of Muhammad’s time could easily distinguishbetween the Sun, a blazing heavenly body well known to the inhabitantsof the desert, and the Moon, the body of the cool of the night. Thecomparisons found in the Qur’an on this subject are therefore quitenormal. What is interesting to note here is the sober quality of thecomparisons, and the absence in the text of the Qur’an of any elementsof comparison that might have prevailed at the time and which in ourday would appear as phantasmagorial.

It is known that the Sun is a star that generatesintense heat and light by its internal combustions, and that the Moon,which does not give of flight itself, and is an inert body (on itsexternal layers at least) merely reflects the light received from theSun.

There is nothing in the text of the Qur’an thatcontradicts what we know today about these two celestial bodies.

The Stars

As we know, the stars are heavenly bodies like theSun. They are the scene of various physical phenomena of which theeasiest to observe is their generation of light. They are heavenlybodies that produce their own light.

The word ‘star’ appears thirteen times in the Qur’an(najm, plural nujum); it comes from a root meaning toappear, to come into sight. The word designates a visible heavenly bodywithout saying of what kind, i.e. either generator of light or merereflector of light received. To make it clear that the object sodesignated is a star, a qualifying phrase is added as in the followingsura:

–sura 86, verses 1-3:”By the sky and the Night-Visitor, who will tell thee what theNight-Visitor is, the Star of piercing brightness.” [ Here, the sky and a star are used to bearwitness to the importance of what is to come in the text.]

The evening star is qualified in the Qur’an by theword takib meaning ‘that which pierces through something’ (herethe night shadows) . The same word is moreover used to designateshooting stars (sura 37, verse 10): the latter are the result ofcombustion.

The Planets

It is difficult to say whether these are referred toin the Qur’an with the same exact meaning that is given to the heavenlybodies in the present day.

The planets do not have their own light. Theyrevolve around the Sun, Earth being one of them. While one may presumethat others exist elsewhere, the only ones known are those in the solarsystem.

Five planets other than Earth were known to theancients: Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn. Three have beendiscovered in recent times: Uranus, Neptune and Pluto.

The Qur’an would seem to designate these by the wordkaukab (plural kawakib) without stating their number.Joseph’s dream (sum 12) refers to eleven of them, but the descriptionis, by definition, an imaginary one.

A good definition of the meaning of the word kaukabin the Qur’an Seems to have been given in a very famous verse. Theeminently spiritual nature of its deeper meaning stands forth, and ismoreover the subject of much debate among experts in exegesis. It isnevertheless of great interest to offer an account of the comparison itcontains on the subject of the word that would seem to designate a’planet’.

Here is the text in question: (sura 24, verse 35)

“God is the light of the heavens and the earth. Thesimilitude of His light is as if there were a niche and within it aluminary. The luminary is in a glass. The glass is as if it were aplanet glittering like a pearl.”

Here the subject is the projection of light onto abody that reflects it (glass) and gives it the glitter of a pearl, likea planet that is lit by the sun. This is the only explanatory detailreferring to this word to be found in the Qur’an.

The word is quoted in other verses. In some of themit is difficult to distinguish which heavenly bodies are meant (sura 6,verse 76; sura 82, verses 1-2).

In one verse however, when seen in the light ofmodern science, it would seem very much that these can only be theheavenly bodies that we know to be planets. In sura 37, verse 6, we seethe following:

“We have indeed adorned the lowest heaven with anornament, the planets.”

Is it possible that the expression in the Qur’an’lowest heaven’ means the ‘solar system’? It is known that among thecelestial elements nearest to us, there are no other permanent elementsapart from the planets: the Sun is the only star in the system thatbears its name. It is difficult to see what other heavenly bodies couldbe meant if not the planets. The translation given would therefore seemto be correct and the Qur’an to refer to the existence of the planetsas defined in modern times.

The Lowest Heaven

The Qur’an mentions the lowest heaven several timesalong with the heavenly bodies of which it is composed. The first amongthese would seem to be the planets, as we have just seen. When howeverthe Qur’an associates material notions intelligible to us, enlightenedas we are today by modern science, with statements of a purelyspiritual nature, their meaning becomes obscure.

Thus the verse quoted could easily be understood,except that the following verse (7) of the same sura 37 speaks of a’guard against every rebellious evil spirit’, ‘guard’ again beingreferred to in sura 21, verse 32 and sura 41, verse 12, so that we areconfronted by statements of quite a different kind.

What meaning can one attach moreover to the’projectiles for the stoning of demons’ that according to verse 5, sura67 are situated in the lowest heaven? Do the ‘luminaries’ referred toin the same verse have something to do with the shooting starsmentioned above? [ It is known thatwhen a meteorite arrives at the upper layers of the atmosphere, it mayproduce the luminous phenomenon of a ‘shooting star’.]

All these observations seem to lie outside thesubject of this study. They have been mentioned here for the sake ofcompleteness. At the present stage however, it would seem thatscientific data are unable to cast any light on a subject that goesbeyond human understanding.

C. CELESTIAL ORGANIZATION

The information the Qur’an provides on this subjectmainly deals with the solar system. References are however made tophenomena that go beyond the solar system itself: they have beendiscovered in recent times.

There are two very important verses on the orbits ofthe Sun and Moon:

–sura 21, verse 33:”(God is) the One Who created the night, the day, the sun and the moon.Each one is travelling in an orbit with its own motion.”

–sura 36, verse 40:”The sun must not catch up the moon, nor does the night outstrip theday. Each one is travelling in an orbit with its own motion.”

Here an essential fact is clearly stated: theexistence of the Sun’s and Moon’s orbits, plus a reference is made tothe travelling of these bodies in space with their own motion.

A negative fact also emerges from a reading of theseverses: it is shown that the Sun moves in an orbit, but no indicationis given as to what this orbit might be in relation to the Earth. Atthe time of the Qur’anic Revelation, it was thought that the Sun movedwhile the Earth stood still. This was the system of geocentrism thathad held sway since the time of ptolemy, Second century B.C., and wasto continue to do so until Copernicus in the Sixteenth century A.D.Although people supported this concept at the time of Muhammad, it doesnot appear anywhere in the Qur’an, either here or elsewhere.

TheExistence of the Moon’s and the Sun’sOrbits

The Arabic word falak has here beentranslated by the word ‘orbit’. many French translators of the Qur’anattach to it the meaning of a ‘sphere’. This is indeed its initialsense. Hamidullah translates it by the word ‘orbit’.

The word caused concern to older translators of theQur’an who were unable to imagine the circular course of the Moon andthe Sun and therefore retained images of their course through spacethat were either more or less correct, or hopelessly wrong. Sir HamzaBoubekeur in his translation of the Qur’an cites the diversity ofinterpretations given to it: “A sort of axle, like an iron rod, that amill turns around; a celestial sphere, orbit, sign of the zodiac,speed, wave . . .”, but he adds the following observation made byTabari, the famous Tenth century commentator: “It is our duty to keepsilent when we do not know.” (XVII, 15). This shows just how incapablemen were of understanding this concept of the Sun’s and Moon’s orbit.It is obvious that if the word had expressed an astronomical conceptcommon in Muhammad’s day, it would not have been so difficult tointerpret these verses. A Dew concept therefore existed in the Qur’anthat was not to be explained until centuries later.

1. The Moon’s Orbit

Today, the concept is widely spread that the Moon isa satellite of the Earth around which it revolves in periods oftwenty-nine days. A correction must however be made to the absolutelycircular form of its orbit, since modern astronomy ascribes a certaineccentricity to this, so that the distance between the Earth and theMoon (240,000 miles) is only the average distance.

We have seen above how the Qur’an underlined theusefulness of observing the Moon’s movements in calculating time (sura10, verse 5, quoted at the beginning of this chapter.) This system hasoften been criticized for being archaic, impractical and unscientificin comparison to our system based on the Earth’s rotation around theSun, expressed today in the Julian calendar.

This criticism calls for the following two remarks:a) Nearly fourteen centuries ago, the Qur’an was directed at theinhabitants of the Arabian Peninsula who were used to the lunarcalculation of time. It was advisable to address them in the onlylanguage they could understand and not to upset the habits they had oflocating spatial and temporal reference-marks which were neverthelessquite efficient. It is known how well-versed men living in the desertare in the observation of the sky. they navigated according to thestars and told the time according to the phases of the Moon. Those werethe simplest and most reliable means available to them.

b) Apart from the specialists in this field, mostpeople are unaware of the perfect correlation between the Julian andthe lunar calendar: 235 lunar months correspond exactly to 19 Julianyears of 365 1/4 days. Then length of our year of 365 days is notperfect because it has to be rectified every four years (with a leapyear) .

With the lunar calendar, the same phenomena occurevery 19 years (Julian). This is the Metonic cycle, named after theGreek astronomer Meton, who discovered this exact correlation betweensolar and lunar time in the Fifth century B.C.

2. The Sun

It is more difficult to conceive of the Sun’s orbitbecause we are so used to seeing our solar system organized around it.To understand the verse from the Qur’an, the position of the Sun in ourgalaxy must be considered, and we must therefore call on modernscientific ideas.

Our galaxy includes a very large number of starsspaced so as to form a disc that is denser at the centre than at therim. The Sun occupies a position in it which is far removed from thecentre of the disc. The galaxy revolves on its own axis which is itscentre with the result that the Sun revolves around the same centre ina circular orbit. Modern astronomy has worked out the details of this.In 1917, Shapley estimated the distance between the Sun and the centreof our galaxy at 10 kiloparsecs i.e., in miles, circa the figure 2followed by 17 zeros. To complete one revolution on its own axis, thegalaxy and Sun take roughly 250 million years. The Sun travels atroughly 150 miles per second in the completion of this.

The above is the orbital movement of the Sun thatwas already referred to by the Qur’an fourteen centuries ago. Thedemonstration of the existence and details of this is one of theachievements of modern astronomy.

Referenceto the Movement of the Moon and the Sun in Space With Their Own Motion

This concept does not appear in those translationsof the Qur’an that have been made by men of letters. Since the latterknow nothing about astronomy, they have translated the Arabic word thatexpresses this movement by one of the meanings the word has: ‘to swim’.They have done this in both the French translations and the, otherwiseremarkable, English translation by Yusuf Ali. [ Pub. Sh. Muhammad Ashraf, Lahore (Pakistan)]

The Arabic word referring to a movement with aself-propelled motion is the verb sabaha (yasbahuna inthe text of the two verses). All the senses of the verb imply amovement that is associated with a motion that comes from the body inquestion. If the movement takes place in water, it is ‘to swim’; it is’to move by the action of one’s own legs’ if it takes place on land.For a movement that occurs in space, it is difficult to see how elsethis meaning implied in the word could be rendered other than byemploying its original sense. Thus there seems to have been nomistranslation, for the following reasons.-The Moon completes its rotating motion on its own axis at the sametime as it revolves around the Earth, i.e. 291/2 days (approx.), sothat it always has the same side facing us.-The Sun takes roughly 25 days to revolve on its own axis. There arecertain differences in its rotation at its equator and poles, (we shallnot go into them here) but as a whole, the Sun is animated by arotating motion.

It appears therefore that a verbal nuance in theQur’an refers to the Sun and Moon’s own motion. These motions of thetwo celestial bodies are confirmed by the data of modern science, andit is inconceivable that a man living in the Seventh centuryA.D.-however knowledgeable he might have been in his day (and this wascertainly not true in Muhammad’s case) -could have imagined them.

This view is sometimes contested by examples fromgreat thinkers of antiquity who indisputably predicted certain datathat modern science has verified. They could hardly have relied onscientific deduction however; their method of procedure was more one ofphilosophical reasoning. Thus the case of the pythagoreans is oftenadvanced. In the Sixth century B.C., they defended the theory of therotation of the Earth on its own axis and the movement of the planetsaround the Sun. This theory was to be confirmed by modern science. Bycomparing it with the case of the Pythagoreans, it is easy to putforward the hypothesis of Muhammad as being a brilliant thinker, whowas supposed to have imagined all on his own what modern science was todiscover centuries later. In so doing however, people quite simplyforget to mention the other aspect of what these geniuses ofphilosophical reasoning produced, i.e. the colossal blunders thatlitter their work. It must be remembered for example, that thePythagoreans also defended the theory whereby the Sun was fixed inspace; they made it the centre of the world and only conceived of acelestial order that was centered on it. It is quite common in theworks of the great philosophers of antiquity to find a mixture of validand invalid ideas about the Universe. The brilliance of these humanworks comes from the advanced ideas they contain, but they should notmake us overlook the mistaken concepts which have also been left to us.From a strictly scientific point of view, this is what distinguishedthem from the Qur’an. In the latter, many subjects are referred to thathave a bearing on modern knowledge without one of them containing astatement that contradicts what has been established by present-dayscience.

The Sequence of Day and Night

At a time when it was held that the Earth was thecentre of the world and that the Sun moved in relation to it, how couldany one have failed to refer to the Sun’s movement when talking of thesequence of night and day? This is not however referred to in theQur’an and the subject is dealt with as follows:

–sura 7, verse 54:”(God) covers the day with the night which is in haste to follow it . ..”

–sura 36, verse 37:”And a sign for them (human beings) is the night. We strip it of theday and they are in darkness.”

–sura 31, verse 29:”Hast thou not seen how God merges the night into the day and mergesthe day into the night.”

–sura 39, verse 5:”. . . He coils the night upon the day and He coils the day upon thenight.”

The first verse cited requires no comment. Thesecond simply provides an image.

It is mainly the third and fourth verses quotedabove that provide interesting material on the process ofinterpenetration and especially of winding the night upon the day andthe day upon the night. (sura 39, verse 5)

‘To coil’ or ‘to wind’ seems, as in the Frenchtranslation by R. Blachère, to be the best way of translatingthe Arabic verb kawwara. The original meaning of the verb is to’coil’ a turban around the head; the notion of coiling is preserved inall the other senses of the word.

What actually happens however in space? Americanastronauts have seen and photographed what happens from theirspaceships, especially at a great distance from Earth, e.g. from theMoon. They saw how the Sun permanently lights up (except in the case ofan eclipse) the half of the Earth’s surface that is facing it, whilethe other half of the globe is in darkness. The Earth turns on its ownaxis and the lighting remains the same, so that an area in the form ofa half-sphere makes one revolution around the Earth in twenty-fourhours while the other half-sphere, that has remained in darkness, makesthe same revolution in the same time. This perpetual rotation of nightand day is quite clearly described in the Qur’an. It is easy for thehuman understanding to grasp this notion nowadays because we have theidea of the Sun’s (relative) immobility and the Earth’s rotation. Thisprocess of perpetual coiling, including the interpenetration of onesector by another is expressed in the Qur’an just as if the concept ofthe Earth’s roundness had already been conceived at the time-which wasobviously not the case.

Further to the above reflections on the sequence ofday and night, one must also mention, with a quotation of some versesfrom the Qur’an, the idea that there is more than one Orient and oneOccident. This is of purely descriptive interest because thesephenomena rely on the most commonplace observations. The idea ismentioned here with the aim of reproducing as faithfully as possibleall that the Qur’an has to say on this subject.

The following are examples:

–In sura 70 verse 40, the expression ‘Lord ofOrients and Occidents’.–In sura 55, verse 17, the expression ‘Lord of the two Orients and thetwo Occidents’.–In sura 43, verse 38, a reference to the ‘distance between the twoOrients’, an image intended to express the immense size of the distanceseparating the two points.

Anyone who carefully watches the sunrise and sunsetknows that the Sun rises at different point of the Orient and sets atdifferent points of the Occident, according to season. Bearings takenon each of the horizons define the extreme limits that mark the twoOrients and Occidents, and between these there are points marked offthroughout the year. The phenomenon described here is rathercommonplace, but what mainly deserves attention in this chapter are theother. topics dealt with, where the description of astronomicalphenomena referred to in the Qur’an is in keeping with modern data.

D. EVOLUTION OF THE HEAVENS

Having called modern concepts on the formation ofthe Universe to mind, reference was made to the evolution that tookplace, starting with primary nebula through to the formation ofgalaxies, stars and (for the solar system) the appearance of planetsbeginning with the Sun at a certain stage of its evolution. Modern datalead us to believe that in the solar system, and more generally in theUniverse itself, this evolution is still continuing.

How can anybody who is aware of these ideas fail tomake a comparison with certain statements found in the Qur’an in whichthe manifestations of divine Omnipotence are referred to.

The Qur’an reminds us several times that: “(God)subjected the sun and the moon: each one runs its course to anappointed term.”

This sentence is to be found in sura 13, verse 2.sura 31, verse 29; sura 35, verse 13 and sura 39, verse 5.

In addition to this, the idea of a settled place isassociated with the concept of a destination place in sura 36, verse38: “The Sun runs its course to a settled place. This is the decree ofthe All Mighty, the Full of Knowledge.”

‘Settled place’ is the translation of the word mustaqarrand there can be no doubt that the idea of an exact place is attachedto it.

How do these statements fare when compared with dataestablished by modern science?

The Qur’an gives an end to the Sun for its evolutionand a destination place. It also provides the Moon with a settledplace. To understand the possible meanings of these statements, we mustremember what modern knowledge has to say about the evolution of thestars in general and the Sun in particular, and (by extension) thecelestial bodies that automatically followed its movement throughspace, among them the Moon.

The Sun is a star that is roughly 4½ billionyears old, according to experts in astrophysics. It is possible todistinguish a stage in its evolution, as one can for all the stars. Atpresent, the Sun is at an early stage, characterized by thetransformation of hydrogen atoms into helium atoms. Theoretically, thispresent stage should last another 5½ billion years according tocalculations that allow a total of 10 billion years for the duration ofthe primary stage in a star of this kind. It has already been shown, inthe case of these other stars, that this stage gives way to a secondperiod characterized by the completion of the transformation ofhydrogen into helium, with the resulting expansion of its externallayers and the cooling of the Sun. In the final stage, its light isgreatly diminished and density considerably increased; this is to beobserved in the type of star known as a ‘white dwarf’.

The above dates are only of interest in as far asthey give a rough estimate of the time factor involved, what is worthremembering and is really the main point of the above, is the notion ofan evolution. Modern data allow us to predict that, in a few billionyears, the conditions prevailing in the solar system will not be thesame as they are today. Like other stars whose transformations havebeen recorded until they reached their final stage, it is possible topredict an end to the Sun.

The second verse quoted above (sur’a 36, verse 38)referred to the Sun running its course towards a place of its own.

Modern astronomy has been able to locate it exactlyand has even given it a name, the Solar. Apex: the solar. system isindeed evolving in space towards a point situated in the Constellationof Hercules (alpha lyrae) whose exact location is firmlyestablished; it is moving at a speed already ascertained at somethingin the region of 12 miles per. second.

All these astronomical data deserve to be mentionedin relation to the two verses from the Qur’an, since it is possible tostate that they appear to agree perfectly with modern scientific data.

The Expansion of the Universe

The expansion of the Universe is the most imposingdiscovery of modern science. Today it is a firmly established conceptand the only debate centres around the way this is taking place.

It was first suggested by the general theory ofrelativity and is backed up by physics in the examination of thegalactic spectrum; the regular movement towards the red section oftheir spectrum may be explained by the distancing of one galaxy fromanother. Thus the size of the Universe is probably constantlyincreasing and this increase will become bigger the further away thegalaxies are from us. The speeds at which these celestial bodies aremoving may, in the course of this perpetual expansion, go fromfractions of the speed of light to speeds faster than this.

The following verse of the Qur’ an (sura 51, verse47) where God is speaking, may perhaps be compared with modern ideas:

“The heaven, We have built it with power. Verily. Weare expanding it.”

‘Heaven’ is the translation of the word sama’and this is exactly the extra-terrestrial world that is meant.

‘We are expanding it’ is the translation of theplural present participle musi’una of the verb ausa’ameaning ‘to make wider, more spacious, to extend, to expand’.

Some translators who were unable to grasp themeaning of the latter provide translations that appear to me to bemistaken, e.g. “we give generously” (R. Blachère). Others sensethe meaning, but are afraid to commit themselves: Hamidullah in histranslation of the Qur’an talks of the widening of the heavens andspace, but he includes a question mark. Finally, there are those whoarm themselves with authorized scientific opinion in their commentariesand give the meaning stated here. This is true in the case of the Muntakab,a book of commentaries edited by the Supreme Council for IslamicAffairs, Cairo. It refers to the expansion of the Universe in totallyunambiguous terms.

E. THE CONQUEST OF SPACE

From this point of view, three verses of the Qur’anshould command our full attention. One expresses, without any trace ofambiguity, what man should and will achieve in this field. In the othertwo, God refers for the sake of the unbelievers in Makka to thesurprise they would have if they were able to raise themselves up tothe Heavens; He alludes to a hypothesis which will not be realized forthe latter.

1) The first of these verses is sura 55, verse 33:”O assembly of Jinns and Men, if you can penetrate regions of theheavens and the earth, then penetrate them! You will not penetrate themsave with a Power.” [ This verse isfollowed by an invitation to recognize God’s blessings. It forms thesubject of the whole of the sura that bears the title ‘The Beneficent’.]

The translation given here needs some explanatorycomment:a) The word ‘if’ expresses in English a condition that is dependantupon a possibility and either an achievable or an unachievablehypothesis. Arabic is a language which is able to introduce a nuanceinto the condition which is much more explicit. There is one word toexpress the possibility (ida), another for the achievablehypothesis (in) and a third for the unachievable hypothesisexpressed by the word (lau). The verse in question has it as anachievable hypothesis expressed by the word (in). The Qur’antherefore suggests the material possibility of a concrete realization.This subtle linguistic distinction formally rules out the purely mysticinterpretation that some people have (quite wrongly) put on this verse.

b) God is addressing the spirits (jinn) andhuman beings (ins), and not essentially allegorical figures.

c) ‘To penetrate’ is the translation of the verb nafadafollowed by the preposition min. According to Kazimirski’sdictionary, the phrase means ‘to pass right through and come out on theother side of a body’ (e.g. an arrow that comes out on the other side).It therefore suggests a deep penetration and emergence at the other endinto the regions in question.

d) The Power (sultan) these men will have toachieve this enterprise would seem to come from the All-Mighty.

There can be no doubt that this verse indicates thepossibility men will one day achieve what we today call (perhaps ratherimproperly) ‘the conquest of space’. One must note that the text of theQur’an predicts not only penetration through the regions of theHeavens, but also the Earth, i.e. the exploration of its depths.

2) The other two verses are taken from sura 15,(verses14 and 15). God is speaking of the unbelievers in Makka, as thecontext of this passage in the sura shows:

“Even if We opened unto them a gate to Heaven andthey were to continue ascending therein, they would say. our sight isconfused as in drunkenness. Nay, we are people bewitched.” The above expresses astonishment at a remarkable spectacle, differentfrom anything man could imagine.The conditional sentence is introduced here by the word lauwhich expresses a hypothesis that could never be realized as far as itconcerned the people mentioned in these verses.

When talking of the conquest of space therefore, wehave two passages in the text of the Qur’an: one of them refers to whatwill one day become a reality thanks to the powers of intelligence andingenuity God will give to man, and the other describes an event thatthe unbelievers in Makka will never witness, hence its character of acondition never to be realized. The event will however be seen byothers, as intimated in the first verse quoted above. It describes thehuman reactions to the unexpected spectacle that travellers in spacewill see. their confused sight, as in drunkenness, the feeling of beingbewitched . . .

This is exactly how astronauts have experienced thisremarkable adventure since the first human spaceflight around the worldin 1961. It is known in actual fact how once one is above the Earth’satmosphere, the Heavens no longer have the azure appearance we see fromEarth, which results from phenomena of absorption of the Sun’s lightinto the layers of the atmosphere. The human observer in space abovethe Earth’s atmosphere sees a black sky and the Earth seems to besurrounded by a halo of bluish colour due to the same phenomena ofabsorption of light by the Earth’s atmosphere. The Moon has noatmosphere, however, and therefore appears in its true colors againstthe black background of the sky. It is a completely new spectacletherefore that presents itself to men in space, and the photographs ofthis spectacle are well known to present-day man.

Here again, it is difficult not to be impressed,when comparing the text of the Qur’an to the data of modern science, bystatements that simply cannot be ascribed to the thought of a man wholived more than fourteen centuries ago.

The Earth

As in the case of the subjects already examined, theverses of the Qur’an dealing with the Earth are dispersed throughoutthe Book. It is difficult to classify them, and the scheme adopted hereis a personal one.

To explain them more clearly, one might begin bysingling out a certain number of verses that deal with more than onesubject at a time. These verses are largely general in theirapplication and constitute an invitation extended to men to reflect ondivine Beneficence by pondering on the examples provided.

Other groups of verses may be singled out which dealwith more specific subjects, as follows:

–the water cycle and the seas.–the Earth’s relief.–the Earth’s atmosphere.

A. VERSES CONTAINING GENERAL STATEMENTS

Although these verses provide arguments intended tolead man to meditate on the Beneficence of God towards His creatures,here and there they contain statements that are interesting from thepoint of view of modern science. They are perhaps especially revealingby virtue of the fact that they do not express the varied beliefsconcerning natural phenomena that were current at the time of theQur’anic Revelation. These beliefs were later to be shown by scientificknowledge to be mistaken.

On the one hand, these verses express simple ideasreadily understood by to those people to whom, for geographicalreasons, the Qur’an was first directed: the inhabitants of Makka andMadina, the Bedouins of the Arabian Peninsula. On the other hand, theycontain reflections of a general nature from which a more cultivatedpublic of any time and place may learn something instructive, once itstarts to think about them: this is a mark of the Qur’an’s universality.

As there is apparently no classification of suchverses in the Qur’an, they are presented here in the numerical order ofthe suras:

–sura 2, verse 22:”(God) is the One who made the earth a couch for you and the heavens anedifice, and sent down water from the sky. He brought forth therewithfruits for your sustenance. Do not join equals with God when you know.”

–sura 2, verse 164:”Behold! In the creation of the heavens and the earth, In the disparity of night and day, In the ship which runs upon the sea for the profit of mankind, In the water which God sent down from the sky thereby reviving theearth after its death, In the beasts of all kinds He scatters therein, In the change of the winds and the subjected clouds between the sky andearth, Here are Signs for people who are wise.”

–sura 13, verse 3:”(God) is the One who spread out the earth and set therein mountainsstanding firm and rivers. For every fruit He placed two of a pair. Hecovers the day with the night. Verily in this there are Signs forpeople who reflect.”

–sura 15, verses 19 to 21. God is speaking:”The earth, We spread it out and set thereon mountains standing firm.We caused all kind of things to grow therein in due balance. Therein We have provided you and those you do not supply with means ofsubsistence and there is not a thing but its stores are with Us. We donot send it down save in appointed measure.”

–sura 20, verses 53 and 54:”(God is) the One Who has made for you the earth like a cradle andinserted roads into it for you. He sent water down from the sky andthereby We brought forth pairs of plants, each separate from the other.Eat! Pasture your cattle ! Verily in this are Signs for people enduedwith intelligence.”

–sura 27, verse 61:”He Who made the earth an abode and set rivers in its interstices andmountains standing firm. He placed a barrier between the two seas. Isthere any divinity besides God? Nay, but most people do not know.”

Here a reference is made to the general stability ofthe Earth’s crust. It is known that at the early stages of the Earth’sexistence before its crust cooled down, the latter was unstable. Thestability of the Earth’s crust is not however strictly uniform, sincethere are zones where earthquakes intermittently occur. As to thebarrier between the two seas, it is an image which signifies that thewaters of the great rivers and the waters of the sea do not mix at thelevel of certain large estuaries.

–sura 67, verse 15:”(God is) the One Who made the earth docile to you. So walk upon itsshoulders! Eat of His sustenance! Unto Him will be the Resurrection.”

–sura 79, verses 30-33:”After that (God) spread the earth out. Therefrom He drew out its waterand its pasture. And the mountains He has firmly fixed. Goods for youand for your cattle.”

In many such verses, emphasis is laid upon theimportance of water and the practical consequences of its presence inthe earth’s soil, i.e. the fertility of the soil. There can be no doubtthat in desert countries, water is the most important element governingman’s survival. The reference in the Qur’an however goes beyond thisgeographical detail. According to scientific knowledge the characterthe Earth has of a planet that is rich in water is unique to the solarsystem, and this is exactly what is highlighted in the Qur’an. Withoutwater, the Earth would be a dead planet like the Moon. The Qur’an givesfirst place to water among the natural phenomena of the Earth that itrefers to. The water cycle is described with remarkable accuracy in theQur’an.

B. THE WATER CYCLE AND THE SEAS

When the verses of the Qur’an concerning the role ofwater in man’s existence are read in succession today. they all appearto us to express ideas that are quite obvious. The reason for this issimple: in our day and age, we all, to a lesser or greater extent, knowabout the water cycle in nature.

If however, we consider the various concepts theancients had on this subject, it becomes clear that the data in theQur’an do not embody the mythical concepts current at the time of theRevelation which had been developed more according to philosophicalspeculation than observed phenomena. Although it was empiricallypossible to acquire on a modest scale, the useful practical knowledgenecessary for the improvement of the irrigation, the concepts held onthe water cycle in general would hardly be acceptable today.

Thus it would have been easy to imagine thatunderground water could have come from the infiltration ofprecipitations in the soil. In ancient times however, this idea, heldby Vitruvius Polio Marcus in Rome, 1st century B.C., was cited as anexception. For many centuries therefore (and the Qur’anic Revelation issituated during this period) man held totally inaccurate views on thewater cycle.

Two specialists on this subject, G. Gastany and B.Blavoux, in their entry in the Universalis Encyclopedia (EncyclopediaUniversalis) under the heading Hydrogeology (Hydrogéologie),give an edifying history of this problem.

“In the Seventh century B.C., Thales of Miletus heldthe theory whereby the waters of the oceans, under the effect of winds,were thrust towards the interior of the continents; so the water fellupon the earth and penetrated into the soil. Plato shared these viewsand thought that the return of the waters to the oceans was via a greatabyss, the ‘Tartarus’. This theory had many supporters until theEighteenth century, one of whom was Descartes. Aristotle imagined thatthe water vapour from the soil condensed in cool mountain caverns andformed underground lakes that fed springs. He was followed by Seneca(1st Century A.D.) and many others, until 1877, among them O. Volger .. . The first clear formulation of the water cycle must be attributedto Bernard Palissy in 1580. he claimed that underground water came fromrainwater infiltrating into the soil. This theory was confirmed by E.Mariotte and P. Perrault in the Seventeenth century.

In the following passages from the Qur’an, there isno trace of the mistaken ideas that were current at the time ofMuhammad:

–sura 50, verses 9 to 11:

“We [ Whenever thepronoun ‘We’ appears in the verses of the text quoted here, it refersto God.] sent down from the sky blessedwater whereby We caused to grow gardens, grains for harvest, tallpalm-trees with their spathes, piled one above the other-sustenance for(Our) servants. Therewith We gave (new) life to a dead land. So will bethe emergence (from the tombs).”

–sura 23, verses 18 and 19:”We sent down water from the sky in measure and lodged it in theground. And We certainly are able to withdraw it. Therewith for you Wegave rise to gardens of palm-trees and vineyards where for you areabundant fruits and of them you eat.”

–sura 15, verse 22:”We sent forth the winds that fecundate. We cause the water to descendfrom the sky. We provide you with the water-you (could) not be theguardians of its reserves.”

There are two possible interpretations of this lastverse. The fecundating winds may be taken to be the fertilizers ofplants because they carry pollen. This may, however, be a figurativeexpression referring by analogy to the role the wind plays in theprocess whereby a non-raincarrying cloud is turned into one thatproduces a shower of rain. This role is often referred to, as in thefollowing verses:

–sura 35, verse 9:”God is the One Who sends forth the winds which raised up the clouds.We drive them to a dead land. Therewith We revive the ground after itsdeath. So will be the Resurrection.”

It should be noted how the style is descriptive inthe first part of the verse, then passes without transition to adeclaration from God. Such sudden changes in the form of the narrationare very frequent in the Qur’an.–sura 30, verse 48:”God is the One Who sends forth the winds which raised up the clouds.He spreads them in the sky as He wills and breaks them into fragments.Then thou seest raindrops issuing from within them. He makes them reachsuch of His servants as He wills. And they are rejoicing.”

–sura 7, verse 57:”(God) is the One Who sends forth the winds like heralds of His Mercy.When they have carried the heavy-laden clouds, We drive them to a deadland. Then We cause water to descend and thereby bring forth fruits ofevery kind. Thus We will bring forth the dead. Maybe you will remember.”

–sura 25, verses 48 and 49:”(God) is the One Who sends forth the winds like heralds of His Mercy.We cause pure water to descend in order to revive a dead land with itand to supply with drink the multitude of cattle and human beings Wehave created.”

–sura 45, verse 5:”. . . In the provision that God sends down from the sky and thereby Herevives the ground after its death and in the change (of direction) ofwinds, there are Signs for people who are wise.”

The provision made in this last verse is in the formof the water sent down from the sky, as the context shows. The accentis on the change of the winds that modify the rain cycle.

–sure 13, verse 17:”(God) sends water down from the sky so that the rivers flow accordingto their measure. The torrent bears away an increasing foam.”

-sura 67, verse 30, God commands the Prophet:”Say. Do you see if your water were to be lost in the ground, who thencan supply you with gushing water?”

-sura 39, verse 21:”Hast thou not seen that God sent water down from the sky and led itthrough sources into the ground? Then He caused sown fields ofdifferent colors to grow.”

–sura 36, verse 34:”Therein We placed gardens of palm-trees and vineyards and We causedwater springs to gush forth.”

The importance of springs and the way they are fedby rainwater conducted into them is stressed in the last three verses.It is worth pausing to examine this fact and call to mind thepredominance in the Middle Ages of views such as those held byAristotle, according to whom springs were fed by underground lakes. Inhis entry on Hydrology (Hydrologie) in the UniversalisEncyclopedia (Encyclopedia Universalis) M.R. Remenieras, ateacher at the French National School of Agronomy (Ecole nationale duGenie rural, des Eaux et Forêts), describes the main stages ofhydrology and refers to the magnificent irrigation works of theancients, particularly in the Middle East. He notes however that anempirical outlook ruled over everything, since the ideas of the timeproceeded from mistaken concepts. He continues as follows:

“It was not until the Renaissance (between circa1400 and 1600) that purely philosophical concepts gave way to researchbased on the objective observation of hydrologic phenomena. Leonardo daVinci (1452-1519) rebelled against Aristotle’s statements. BernardPalissy, in his Wonderful discourse on the nature of waters andfountains both natural and artificial (Discours admirable de lanature des eaux et fontaines tant naturelles qu’artificielles (Paris,1570)) gives a correct interpretation of the water cycle and especiallyof the way springs are fed by rainwater.”

This last statement is surely exactly what ismentioned in verse 21, sura 39 describing the way rainwater isconducted into sources in the ground.

The subject of verse 43, sura 24 is rain and hail:”Hast thou not seen that God makes the clouds move gently, then joinsthem together, then makes them a heap. And thou seest raindrops issuingfrom within it. He sends down from the sky mountains of hail, Hestrikes therewith whom He wills and He turns it away from whom Hewills. The flashing of its lightning almost snatches away the sight.”The following passage requires some comment:

–sura 56, verses 68-70:”Have you observed the water you drink? Do you bring it down from therainclouds? Or do We? If it were Our will, We could make it salty. Thenwhy are you not thankful?”

This reference to the fact that God could have madefresh water salty is a way of expressing divine Omnipotence. Anothermeans of reminding us of the same Omnipotence is the challenge to manto make rain fall from the clouds. In modern times however, technologyhas surely made it possible to create rain artificially. Can onetherefore oppose the statement in the Qur’an to man’s ability toproduce precipitations?

The answer is no, because it seems clear that onemust take account of man’s limitations in this field. M.A. Facy, anexpert at the French Meteorological Office, wrote the following in theUniversalis Encyclopedia (Encyclopedia Universalis) under theheading Precipitations (Precipitations): “It will never bepossible to make rain fall from a cloud that does not have the suitablecharacteristics of a raincloud or one that has not yet reached theappropriate stage of evolution (maturity)”. Man can never thereforehasten the precipitation process by technical means when the naturalconditions for it are not present. If this were not the case, droughtswould never occur in practice-which they obviously do. To have controlover rain and fine weather still remains a dream therefore.

Man cannot willfully break the established cyclethat maintains the circulation of water in nature. This cycle may beoutlined as follows, according to modern ideas on hydrology.

The calories obtained from the Sun’s rays cause thesea and those parts of the Earth’s surface that are covered or soakedin water to evaporate. The water vapour that is given off rises intothe atmosphere and, by condensation, forms into clouds. The winds thenintervene and move the clouds thus formed over varying distances. Theclouds can then either disperse without producing rain, or combinetheir mass with others to create even greater condensation, or they canfragment and produce rain at some stages in their evolution. When rainreaches the sea (70% of the Earth’s surface is covered by seas), thecycle is soon repeated. When rain falls on the land, it may be absorbedby vegetation and thus aid the latter’s growth; the vegetation in itsturn gives off water and thus returns some water to the atmosphere. Therest, to a lesser or greater extent, infiltrates into the soil, whenceit is either conducted through channels into the sea, or comes back tothe Earth’s surface. network through springs or resurgences.

When one compares the modern data of hydrology towhat is contained in the numerous verses of the Qur’an quoted in thisparagraph, one has to admit that there is a remarkable degree ofagreement between them.

The Seas

Whereas the above verses from the Qur’an haveprovided material for comparison between modern knowledge about thewater cycle in nature, this is not the case for the seas. There is nota single statement in the Qur’an dealing with the seas which could beused for comparison with scientific data per se. This does notdiminish the necessity of pointing out however that none of thestatements in the Qur’an on the seas refers to the beliefs, myths orsuperstitions prevalent at the time of its Revelation.

A certain number of verses deal with the seas andnavigation. As subjects for reflection, they provide indications ofdivine Omnipotence that arise from the facts of common observation. Thefollowing verses are examples of this:

–sura 14, verse 32:”(God) has made the ship subject to you, so that it runs upon the seaat His Command.”

–sura 16, verse 14:”(God) is the One Who subjected the sea, so that you eat fresh meatfrom it and you extract from it ornaments which you wear. Thou seestthe ships plowing the waves, so that you seek of His Bounty. Maybe, youwill be thankful.”

–sura 31, verse 31:”Hast thou seen that the ship runs upon the sea by the Grace of God, inorder to show you His signs. Verily in this are Signs for all who arepersevering and grateful.”

–sura 55, verse 24:”His are the ships erected upon the sea like tokens.”

–sura 36, verse 41-44:”A sign for them is that We bore their offspring in the loaded Ark. Wehave created for them similar (vessels) on which they ride. If We will,We drown them and there is no help and they will not be saved unless byMercy from Us and as a gratification for a time.”

The reference here is quite clearly to the vesselbearing man upon the sea, just as, long ago, Noah and the otheroccupants of the vessel were carried in the Ark that enabled them toreach dry land.

Another observed fact concerning the sea stands out,because of its unusual nature, from the verses of the Qur’an devoted toit: three verses refer to certain characteristics shared by greatrivers when they flow out into the ocean.

The phenomenon is well known and often seen wherebythe immediate mixing of salty seawater and fresh riverwater does notoccur. The Qur’an refers to this in the case of what is thought to bethe estuary of the Tigris and Euphrates where they unite to form whatone might call a ‘sea’ over 100 miles long, the Shatt Al Arab. At theinner parts of the gulf, the effect of the tides is to produce thewelcome phenomenon of the reflux of fresh water to the interior of thedry land, thus ensuring adequate irrigation. To understand the textcorrectly, one has to know that the English word ‘sea’ conveys thegeneral meaning of the Arabic word bahr which designates alarge mass of water and is equally used for both the sea and the greatrivers: the Nile, Tigris and Euphrates for example.

The following are the three verses that describethis phenomenon:

–sura 25, verse 53:”(God) is the One Who has let free the two seas, one is agreeable andsweet, the other salty and bitter. He placed a barrier between them, apartition that it is forbidden to pass.”

–sura 35, verse 12:”The two seas are not alike. The water of one is agreeable, sweet,pleasant to drink. The other salty and bitter. You eat fresh meat fromit and you extract from it ornaments which you wear.”

–sura 55, verses 19, 20 and 22:”He has loosed the two seas. They meet together. Between them there isa barrier which they do not transgress. Out of them come pearls andcoral.”

In addition to the description of the main fact,these verses refer to what may be obtained from fresh water andseawater: fish, personal adornment, i.e. coral and pearls. With regardto the phenomenon whereby the river water does not mix with seawater atthe estuary, one must understand that this is not peculiar to theTigris and Euphrates; they are not mentioned by name in the text, butit is thought to refer to them. Rivers with a very large outflow, suchas the Mississippi and the Yangtze, have the same peculiarity. themixing of their fresh water with the salty water of the sea does notoften occur until very far out at sea.

C. THE EARTH’S RELIEF

The constitution of the Earth is highly complex.Today, it is possible to imagine it very roughly as being formed of adeep layer, at very high temperature, and especially of a central areawhere rocks are still in fusion, and of a surface layer, the Earth’scrust which is solid and cold. The crust is very thin; its thickness isestimated in units of miles or units of ten miles at the most. TheEarth’s radius is however slightly over 3,750 miles, so that its crustdoes not represent (on average) one hundredth of the of the sphere’sradius. It is upon this skin, as it were, that all geological phenomenahave taken place. At the origin of these phenomena are folds that wereto form the mountain ranges; their formation is called ‘orogenesis’ ingeology. the process is of considerable importance because with thedevelopment of a relief that was to constitute a mountain, the Earth’scrust was driven in proportionately far down: this process ensures afoundation in the layer that underlies it.

The history of the distribution of the sea and landon the surface of the globe has only recently been established and isstill very incomplete, even for the most recent and best known periods.It is likely that the oceans appeared and formed the hydrosphere circahalf a billion years ago. The continents were probably a single mass atthe end of the primary era, then subsequently broke apart. Somecontinents or parts of continents have moreover emerged through theformation of mountains in maritime zones (e.g. the North Atlanticcontinent and part of Europe).

According to modern ideas, the dominating factor inthe formation of the land that emerged was the development of mountainranges. The evolution of the land, from the primary to the quaternaryera, is classed according to ‘orogenic phases’ that are themselvesgrouped into ‘cycles’ of the same name since the formation of allmountains reliefs had repercussions on the balance between the sea andthe continents. It made some parts of the land disappear and othersemerge, and for hundreds of millions of years it has altered thesurface distribution of the continents and oceans: the former atpresent only occupying three tenths of the surface of this planet.

In this way it is possible to give a very roughoutline of the transformations that have taken place over the lasthundreds of millions of years.

When referring to the Earth’s relief, the Qur’anonly describes, as it were, the formation of the mountains. Seen fromthe present point of view, there is indeed little one can say about theverses that only express God’s Beneficence to man with regard to theEarth’s formation, as in the following verses:

–sura 71, verses 19 and 20:”For you God made the earth a carpet so that you travel along its roadsand the paths of valleys.”

–sura 51, verse 48:

“The earth, We have spread it out. How excellentlyWe did that.”

The carpet which has been spread out is the Earth’scrust, a solidified shell on which we can live, since the globe’ssub-strata are very hot, fluid and hostile to any form of life.

The statements in the Qur’an referring to themountains and the references to their stability subsequent to thephenomenon of the folds are very important.

–sura 88, verses 19 & 20. The context invitesunbelievers to consider certain natural phenomena, among them:”. . . the mountains, how they have been pitched (like a tent).The Earth how it was made even.”

The following verses give details about the way inwhich the mountains were anchored in the ground:

–sura 78, verses 6 & 7:”Have We not made the earth an expanse and the mountains stakes.”

The stakes referred to are the ones used to anchor atent in the ground (autad, plural of watad).

Modern geologists describe the folds in the Earth asgiving foundations to the mountains, and their dimensions go roughlyone mile to roughly 10 miles. The stability of the Earth’s crustresults from the phenomenon of these folds.

So it is not surprising to find reflections on themountains in certain passages of the Qur’an, such as the following:

–sura 79, verse 32:”And the mountains (God) has fixed them firmly.”

–sura 31, verse 10:”(God) has cast into the ground (mountains) standing firm, so that itdoes not shake with you.”

The same phrase is repeated in sura 16, verse 15;and the same idea is expressed with hardly any change in sura 21, verse31:”We have placed in the ground (mountains) standing firm so that it doesnot shake with them.”

These verses express the idea that the way themountains are laid out ensures stability and is in complete agreementwith geological data.

D. THE EARTH’S ATMOSPHERE

In addition to certain statements specificallyrelating to the sky, examined in the preceding chapter, the Qur’ancontains several passages dealing with the phenomena that occur in theatmosphere. As for the comparison between them and the data of modernscience, it is to be noted here, as elsewhere, that there is absolutelyno contradiction between today’s modern scientific knowledge and thephenomena described.

Altitude

A familiar feeling of discomfort experienced at highaltitude, which increases the higher one climbs, is expressed in verse125, sura 6:”Those whom God wills to guide, He opens their breast to Islam. Thosewhom He wills lose their way, He makes their breast narrow andconstricted, as if they were climbing in the sky.”

Some commentators have claimed that the notion ofdiscomfort at high altitude was unknown to the Arabs of Muhammad’stime. It appears that this was not true at all: the existence on theArabian Peninsula of peaks rising over two miles high makes itextremely implausible that they should not have known of the difficultyof breathing at high altitude. [ 1. Thecity of Sanaa, the capital of the Yemen, was inhabited in Muhammad’stime. It lies at an altitude of nearly 7,900 feet above sea level.]Others have seen in this verse a prediction of the conquest of space,an opinion that appears to require categorical denial, at least forthis passage.

Electricityin theAtmosphere

Electricity in the atmosphere and the consequencesof this, i.e.

lightning and hail, are referred to in the followingverses:

–sura 13, verses 12-13:”(God) is the One Who shows you the lightning, with fear andcovetousness. He raised up the heavy clouds. The thunder glorifies HisPraise and so do the angels for awe. He sends the thunder-bolt andstrikes with them who He wills while they are disputing about God. Heis All Mighty in His Power.”

–sura 24, verse 43 (already quoted in this chapter):”Hast thou not seen that God makes the clouds move gently, then joinsthem together, then makes them a heap. And thou seest raindrops issuingfrom within it. He sends down from the sky mountains of hail, Hestrikes therewith whom He wills and He turns it away from whom Hewills. The flashing of its lightning almost snatches away the sight.”

In these two verses there is the expression of anobvious correlation between the formation of heavy rainclouds or cloudscontaining hail and the occurrence of lightning. the former, thesubject of covetousness on account of the benefit it represents and thelatter, the subject of fear, because when it falls, it is at the willof the All-Mighty. The connection between the two phenomena is verifiedby present-day knowledge of electricity in the atmosphere.

Shadows

The phenomenon of shadows and the fact that theymove is very simply explained today. It forms the subject of thefollowing observations:

-sura 16, verse 81:”Out of the things He created, God has given you shade . . .”

–sura 16, verse 48:”Have (the Unbelievers) not observed that for all the things Godcreated, how their shadow shifts right and left, prostating themselvesto God while they are full of humility.”

–sura 25, verses 45 and 46:”Hast thou not seen how thy Lord has spread the shade. If He willed, Hecould have made it stationary. Moreover We made the sun its guide andWe withdraw it towards Us easily.”

Apart from the phrases dealing with the humilitybefore God of all the things He created, including their shadow, andthe fact that God can take back all manifestations of His Power, as Hewills, the text of the Qur’an refers to the relationship between theSun and the shadows. One must bear in mind at this point the fact that,in Muhammad’s day, it was believed that the way a shadow moved wasgoverned by the movement of the sun from east to west. This principlewas applied in the case of the sundial to measure the time betweensunrise and sunset. In this instance, the Qur’an speaks of thephenomenon without referring to the explanation current at the time ofthe Revelation. It would have been readily accepted for many centuriesby those who came after Muhammad. In the end however, it would havebeen shown to be inaccurate. The Qur’an only talks moreover of thefunction the sun has as an indicator of shadow. Evidently there is nocontradiction between the way the Qur’an describes shadow and what weknow of this phenomenon in modern times.

The Animal and Vegetable Kingdoms

Numerous verses describing the origins of life havebeen assembled in this chapter, along with certain aspects of thevegetable kingdom and general or specific topics relating to the animalkingdom. The grouping of verses scattered throughout the Book affords ageneral view of the data the Qur’an contains on these subjects.

In the case of the subject of this and the followingchapter, the examination of the Qur’anic text has sometimes beenparticularly delicate on account of certain difficulties inherent inthe vocabulary. These have only been overcome through the fact thatscientific data which have a bearing on the subject have been takeninto consideration. It is particularly so in the case of living beings,i.e. animal, vegetable and human, where a confrontation with theteachings of science is shown to be indispensable in the search for themeaning of certain statements on these topics contained in the Qur’an.

It will become clear that numerous translations of these passages inthe Qur’an, made by men of letters, must be deemed inaccurate by thescientist. The same holds true for commentaries made by those who donot possess the scientific knowledge necessary for an understanding ofthe text.

A. THE ORIGINS OF LIFE

This question has always preoccupied man, both forhimself and for the living things around him. It will be examined herefrom a general point of view. The case of man, whose appearance onEarth and reproduction processes are the subject of lengthyexposés, will be dealt with in the next chapter.

When the Qur’an describes the origins of life on avery broad basis, it is extremely concise. It does so in a verse thatalso mentions the process of the formation of the Universe, alreadyquoted and commented on:

–sura 21, verse 30:

“Do not the Unbelievers see that the heavens and theearth were joined together, then We clove them asunder and We got everyliving thing out of the water. Will they then not believe?”

The notion of ‘getting something out of something’does not give rise to any doubts. The phrase can equally mean thatevery living thing was made of water (as its essential component) orthat every living thing originated in water. The two possible meaningsare strictly in accordance with scientific data. Life is in fact ofaquatic origin and water is the major component of all living cells.Without water, life is not possible. When the possibility of life onanother planet is discussed, the first question is always: does itcontain a sufficient quantity of water to support life?

Modern data lead us to think that the oldest livingbeing must have belonged to the vegetable kingdom: algae have beenfound that date from the pre-Cambrian period, i.e. the time of theoldest known lands. Organisms belonging to the animal kingdom probablyappeared slightly later. they too came from the sea.

What has been translated here by ‘water’ is the wordma’ which means both water in the sky and water in the sea, plus anykind of liquid. In the first meaning, water is the element necessary toall vegetable life:

–sura 20, verse 53.”(God is the One Who) sent water down from the sky and thereby Webrought forth pairs of plants each separate from the other.”

This is the first reference to the notion of a pairin the vegetable kingdom. We shall return to this later.

In the second meaning, a liquid without any furtherindication of what kind, the word is used in its indeterminate form todesignate what is at the basis of the formation of all animal life:

-sura 24, verse 45:”God created every animal from water.”

We shall see further on how this word may also beapplied to seminal fluid [ It issecreted by the reproductive glands and contains spermatozoons.].

Whether it deals therefore with the origins of lifein general, or the element that gives birth to plants in the soil, orthe seed of animals, all the statements contained in the Qur’an on theorigin of life are strictly in accordance with modern scientific data.None of the myths on the origins of life that abounded at the time theQur’an appeared are mentioned in the text.

B. THE VEGETABLE KINGDOM

It is not possible to quote in their entirety allthe numerous passages in the Qur’an in which divine Beneficence isreferred to concerning the salutary effect of the rain which makesvegetation grow. Here are just three verses on this subject:

–sura 16, verses 10 and 11:”(God) is the One Who sends water down from the sky. For you this is adrink and out of it (grow) shrubs in which you let (cattle) grazefreely. Therewith for you He makes sown fields, olives, palm-trees,vineyards and all kinds of fruit grow.”

–sura 6, verse 99:”(God) is the One Who sent water down from the sky. Therewith Webrought forth plants of all kinds and from them the verdure and Webrought forth from it the clustered grains, and from the palm-tree itsspathes with bunches of dates (hanging) low, the gardens of grapes,olives and pomegranates similar and different. Look at their fruit,when they bear it, and their ripening. Verily, in that there are signsfor people who believe.”

–sura 50, verses 9-11:”We sent down from the sky blessed water whereby We caused to growgardens, grains for harvest, tall palm-trees with their spathes, piledone above the other-sustenance for (Our) servants. Therewith We give(new) life to a dead land. So will be the emergence (from the tombs).”

The Qur’an adds to these general data others thatrefer to more specialized subjects:

Balance in the VegetableKingdom

–sura 15, verse 19:”The earth . . . We caused all kinds of things to grow therein in duebalance.”

The DifferentQualities of Various Foods

–sura 13, verse 4:”On the earth are adjacent parts; vineyards, sown fields, palm-trees,similar and not similar, watered with the same water. We make some ofthem more excellent than others to eat and verily in this are signs forwise people.”

It is interesting to note the existence of theseverses because they show the sober quality of the terms used, and theabsence of any description that might highlight the beliefs of thetimes, rather than fundamental truths. What particularly attracts ourattention however, are the statements in the Qur’an concerningreproduction in the vegetable kingdom.

Reproduction in theVegetable Kingdom

One must bear in mind that there are two methods ofreproduction in the vegetable kingdom: one sexual, the other asexual.It is only the first which in fact deserves the term ‘reproduction’,because this defines a biological process whose purpose is theappearance of a new individual identical to the one that gave it birth.

Asexual reproduction is quite simply multiplication.It is the result of the fragmentation of an organism which hasseparated from the main plant and developed in such a way as toresemble the plant from which it came. It is considered by Guilliermondand Mangenot to be a ‘special case of growth’. A very simple example ofthis is the cutting. a cutting taken from a plant is placed in suitablywatered soil and regenerated by the growth of new roots. Some plantshave organs specially designed for this, while others give off sporesthat behave like seeds, as it were, (it should be remembered that seedsare the results of a process of sexual reproduction).

Sexual reproduction in the vegetable kingdom iscarried out by the coupling of the male and female parts of the genericformations united on a same plant or located on separate plants.

This is the only form that is mentioned in theQur’an.

-aura 20, verse 53:”(God is the One Who) sent water down from the sky and thereby Webrought forth pairs of plants each separate from the other.”

‘One of a pair’ is the translation of zauj(plural azwaj) whose original meaning is: ‘that which, in thecompany of another, forms a pair’; the word is used just as readily fora married couple as for a pair of shoes.

–sura 22, verse 5:”Thou seest the grounds lifeless. When We send down water thereon itshakes and grows and puts forth every magnificent pair (of plants).”

–sura 31, verse 10:”We caused to grow (on the earth) every noble pair (of plants).”

–sura 13, verse 3:”Of all fruits (God) placed (on the earth) two of a pair.”

We know that fruit is the end-product of thereproduction process of superior plants which have the most highlydeveloped and complex organization. The stage preceding fruit is theflower, which has male and female organs (stamens and ovules). Thelatter, once pollen has been carried to them, bear fruit which in turnmatures and frees it seeds. All fruit therefore implies the existenceof male and female organs. This is the meaning of the verse in theQur’an.

It must be noted that for certain species, fruit cancome from non-fertilized flowers (parthenocarpic fruit), e.g. bananas,certain types of pineapple, fig, orange, and vine. They cannevertheless also come from plants that have definite sexualcharacteristics.

The culmination of the reproductive process comeswith the germination of the seed once its outside casing is opened(sometimes it is compacted into a fruit-stone). This opening allowsroots to emerge which draw from the soil all that is necessary for theplant’s slowed-down life as a seed while it grows and produces a newplant.

A verse in the Qur’an refers to this process ofgermination:

–sura 6, verse 95:”Verily, God splits the grain and the fruit-stone.”

The Qur’an often restates the existence of thesecomponents of a pair in the vegetable kingdom and brings the notion ofa couple into a more general context, without set limits:

–sura 36, Verse 36:”Glory be to Him Who created the components of couples of every kind:of what the ground caused to grow, of themselves (human beings) and ofwhat you do not know.”

One could form many hypotheses concerning themeaning of the ‘things men did not know’ in Muhammad’s day. Today wecan distinguish structures or coupled functions for them, going fromthe infinitesimally small to the infinitely large, in the living aswell as the non-living world. The point is to remember these clearlyexpressed ideas and note, once again, that they are in perfectagreement with modern science.

C. THE ANIMAL KINGDOM

There are several questions in the Qur’an concerningthe animal kingdom which are the subject of comments that call for aconfrontation with modern scientific knowledge. Here again, however,one would gain an incomplete view of all that the Qur’an contains onthis subject if one were to leave out a passage such as the extractwhich follows. In this passage, the creation of certain elements in theanimal kingdom is described with the purpose of making man reflect uponthe divine Beneficence extended to him. It is quoted basically toprovide an example of the way in which the Qur’an describes theharmonious adaptation of Creation to man’s needs; it relates inparticular the case of those people who live in a rural setting, sincethere is nothing that could be examined from a different point of view.

-sura 16, verses 5 to 8:”(God) created cattle for you and (you find) in them warmth, usefulservices and food, sense of beauty when you bring them home and whenyou take them to pasture. They bear your heavy loads to lands you couldnot reach except with great personal effort. Verily, your Lord isCompassionate and Merciful; (He created) horses, mules and donkeys foryou to ride and for ornament. And He created what you do not know.”

Alongside these general remarks, the Qur’an sets outcertain data on highly diversified subjects:–reproduction in the animal kingdom.–references to the existence of animal communities.–statements concerning bees, spiders and birds.–remarks on the source of constituents of animal milk.

1. Reproduction in theAnimalKingdom

This is very summarily dealt with in verses 45 and46, sura 53:”(God) fashioned the two of a pair, the male and the female, from asmall quantity of liquid when it is poured out.”

The ‘pair’ is the same expression that we havealready encountered in the verses which deal with reproduction in thevegetable kingdom. Here, the sexes are given. The detail which isabsolutely remarkable is the precision with which it is stated that asmall quantity of liquid is required for reproduction. The word itselfsignifying ‘sperm’ is used. The relevance of this remark will becommented upon in the next chapter.

2.References to the Existence of AnimalCommunities

–sura 6, Verse 38: “There is no animal on earth, no bird which flies on wings, that (doesnot belong to) communities like you. We have not neglected anything inthe Book (of Decrees). Then to their Lord they will be gathered.”

There are several points in this verse which requirecomment. Firstly, it would seem that there is a description of whathappens to animals after their death: Islam does not apparently, haveany doctrine on this point. Then there is predestination in general [ We saw in the Introduction to the thirdpart of this book what one was expected to believe about predestinationin its application to man himself.] which would seem to bementioned here. It could be conceived as absolute predestination orrelative, i.e. limited to structures and a functional organization thatcondition modes of behaviour: the animal acts upon various exteriorimpulses in terms of a particular conditioning.

Blachère states that an older commentator,such as Razi, thought that this verse only referred to instinctiveactions whereby animals worship God. Sheik Si Boubakeur Hamza, in thecommentary to his translation of the Koran, speaks of “the instinctwhich, according to Divine Wisdom, pushes all beings to group together,so that they demand that the work of each member serve the wholegroup.”

Animal behaviour has been closely investigated inrecent decades, with the result that genuine animal communities havebeen shown to exist. Of course, for a long time now the results of agroup or community’s work have been examined and this has led to theacceptance of a community organization. It has only been recentlyhowever, that the mechanisms which preside over this kind oforganization have been discovered for certain species. The most studiedand best known case is undoubtedly that of bees, to whose behaviour thename von Frisch is linked. Von Frisch, Lorenz and Tinbergen receivedthe 1973 Nobel Prize for their work in this field.

3.Statements Concerning Bees, Spiders andBirds

When specialists on the nervous system wish toprovide striking examples of the prodigious organization directinganimal behaviour, possibly the animals referred to most frequently arebees, spiders and birds (especially migratory birds). Whatever thecase, there is no doubt that these three groups constitute a model ofhighly evolved organization.

The fact that the text of the Qur’an refers to thisexemplary trio in the animal kingdom is in absolute keeping with theexceptionally interesting character that each of these animals has froma scientific point of view.

Bees

In the Qur’an, bees are the subject of the longestcommentary:

–Sura 16, verses 68 and 69: [ One might note in passing, that this last verse is the onlyone in the Qur’an that refers to the possibility of a remedy for man.Honey can indeed be useful for certain diseases. Nowhere else in theQur’an is a reference made to any remedial arts, contrary to what mayhave been said about this subject.] “Thy Lord inspired the bees: Choose your dwelling in the hills, in thetrees and in what (man) built. Eat of all fruit and follow the ways ofyour Lord in humility. From within their bodies comes a liquor ofdifferent colours where is a remedy for men.”

It is difficult to know what exactly is meant by theorder to follow the ways of the Lord in humility, unless it is to beseen in general terms. All that may be said, with regard to theknowledge that has been gained of their behaviour, is that here-as ineach of the three animal eases mentioned as examples in theQur’an-there is a remarkable nervous organization supporting theirbehaviour. It is known that the pattern of a bee’s dance is a means ofcommunication to other bees; in this way, bees are able to convey totheir own species the direction and distance of flowers from whichnectar is to be gathered. The famous experiment performed by von Frischhas shown the meaning of this insect’s movement which is intented totransmit information between worker bees.

Spiders

Spiders are mentioned in the Qur’an to stress theflimsiness of their dwelling which is the most fragile of all. Theyhave a refuge that is as precarious, according to the Qur’an, as thedwelling of those who have chosen masters other than God.

–sura 29, verse 41:”Those who choose masters other than God are like the spider when ittakes for itself a dwelling. Verily, the flimsiest dwelling is thedwelling of the spider. If they but knew.”

A spider’s web is indeed constituted of silkenthreads secreted by the animal’s glands and their calibre is infinitelyfine. Its fragility cannot be imitated by man. Naturalists areintrigued by the extraordinary pattern of work recorded by the animal’snervous cells, which allows it to produce a geometrically perfect web.

Birds

Birds are frequently mentioned in the Qur’an. Theyappear in episodes in the life of Abraham, Joseph, David, Solomon andJesus. These references do not however have any bearing on the subjectin hand.

The verse concerning the existence of animalcommunities on the ground and bird communities in the sky has beennoted above:

–sura 6 verse 38:”There is no animal on the earth, no bird which flies on wings, that(does not belong to) communities like you. We have not neglectedanything in the Book (of Decrees) . Then to their Lord they will begathered.”

Two other verses highlight the birds’ strictsubmission to God’s Power.

–sura 16, verse 79:”Do they not look at the birds subjected in the atmosphere of the sky?None can hold them up (in His Power) except God.”

–sura 67, verse 19:

“Have they not looked at the birds above themspreading their wings out and folding them? None can hold them up (inhis Power) except the Beneficent.” The translation of one single wordin each of these verses is a very delicate matter. The translationgiven here expresses the idea that God holds the birds up in His Power.The Arabic verb in question is amsaka, whose original meaningis ‘to put one’s hand on, seize, hold, hold someone back’.

An illuminating comparison can be made between theseverses, which stress the extremely close dependence of the birds’behavior on divine order, to modern data showing the degree ofperfection attained by certain species of bird with regard to theprogramming of their movements. It is only the existence of a migratoryprogramme in the genetic code of birds that can account for theextremely long and complicated journeys which very young birds, withoutany prior experience and without any guide, are able to accomplish.This is in addition to their ability to return to their departure pointon a prescribed date. Professor Hamburger in his book, Power andFragility (La Puissance et la Fragilité) [ Pub. Flammarion, 1972, Paris.],gives as an example the well-known case of the ‘mutton-bird’ that livesin the Pacific, with its journey of over 16,500 miles in the shape ofthe figure 8 [ It makes this journeyover a period of six months, and comes back to its departure point witha maximum delay of one week.]. It must be acknowledged that thehighly complicated instructions for a journey of this kind simply haveto be contained in the bird’s nervous cells. They are most definitelyprogrammed, but who is the programmer?

4. TheSource of the Constituents of AnimalMilk

This is defined in the Qur’an in strict accordancewith the data of modern knowledge (sura 16, verse 66). The translationand interpretation of this verse given here is my own because evenmodern translations habitually give it a meaning which is, in myopinion, hardly acceptable. Here are two examples:

–R. Blachère’s translation: [ Pub. G. P. Maisonneuve et Larose, 1966,Paris,] “Verily, in your cattle there is a lesson for you! We give you a puremilk to drink, excellent for its drinkers; (it comes) from what, intheir bellies, is between digested food and blood.”

–Professor Hamidullah’s translation: [ Pub. Club Français du Livre, 1971,Paris.] “Verily, there is food for thought in your cattle. From what is intheir bellies, among their excrement and blood, We make you drink puremilk, easy for drinkers to imbibe.”

If these texts were shown to a physiologist, hewould reply that they were extremely obscure, the reason being thatthere hardly appears to be much agreement between them and modernnotions, even on a very elementary level. These translations are thework of highly eminent Arabists. It is a well known fact however, thata translator, even an expert, is liable to make mistakes in thetranslation of scientific statements, unless he happens to be aspecialist in the discipline in question.

The most valid translation seems to me to be thefollowing:”Verily, in cattle there is a lesson for you. We give you to drink ofwhat is inside their bodies, coming from a conjunction between thecontents of the intestine and the blood, a milk pure and pleasant forthose who drink it.” (sura 16, verse 66)

This interpretation is very close to the one givenin the Muntakab, 1973, edited by the Supreme Council forIslamic Affairs, Cairo, which relies for its support on modernphysiology.

From the point of view of its vocabulary, theproposed translation may be justified as follows:

I have translated «inside their bodies’ andnot, as R. Blachère and Professor Hamidullah have done, ‘insidetheir bellies’. This is because the word batn also means’middle’, «interior of something’, as well as ‘belly’. The worddoes not here have a meaning that is anatomically precise. ‘Insidetheir bodies’ seems to concur perfectly with the context.

The notion of a ‘primary origin’ of the constituentsof milk is expressed by the word min (in English ‘from’) andthe idea of a conjunction by the word baini. The latter notonly signifies «among’ but also ‘between’ in the othertranslations quoted. It is however also used to express the idea thattwo things or two people are brought together.

From a scientific point of view, physiologicalnotions must be called upon to grasp the meaning of this verse.

The substances that ensure the general nutrition ofthe body come from chemical transformations which occur along thelength of the digestive tract. These substances come from the contentsof the intestine. On arrival in the intestine at the appropriate stageof chemical transformation, they pass through its wall and towards thesystemic circulation. This passage is effected in two ways: eitherdirectly, by what are called the ‘lymphatic vessels’, or indirectly, bythe portal circulation. This conducts them first to the liver, wherethey undergo alterations, and from here they then emerge to join thesystemic circulation. In this way everything passes through thebloodstream.

The constituents of milk are secreted by the mammaryglands. These are nourished, as it were, by the product of fooddigestion brought to them via the bloodstream. Blood therefore playsthe role of collector and conductor of what has been extracted fromfood, and it brings nutrition to the mammary glands, the producers ofmilk, as it does to any other organ.

Here the initial process which sets everything elsein motion is the bringing together of the contents of the intestine andblood at the level of the intestinal wall itself. This very preciseconcept is the result of the discoveries made in the chemistry andphysiology of the digestive system. It was totally unknown at the timeof the Prophet Muhammad and has been understood only in recent times.The discovery of the circulation of the blood, was made by Harveyroughly ten centuries after the Qur’anic Rev elation.

I consider that the existence in the Qur’an of theverse referring to these concepts can have no human explanation onaccount of the period in which they were formulated.