Introduction of the Lecturer
It is my great pleasure and honor to introduce to you Dr. Maurice Bucaille who is a prominent scientist. Dr. Maurice is a native of France who got interested in the study of the Quran at some time in his life and he read the Quran in French translation. Later he read the Quran also in English translation and he noticed the inadequacies of the translations. As a result he learned Arabic at the age of fifty and he, being a scientist, took upon himself to express biblical narratives, the Quran and the science. He wrote his first book in French back in 1971 which was later translated and published in English in late 70’s. The name of the book is “The Bible, The Quran and Science”. It is an excellent book. Then he came across the controversy of evolution and creation. He tackled that problem and wrote the book “What is the origin of man”. He has written a third book which is in the process of publication. That is “Medicine and the mummies of Pharos”. In which he has brought out the identification of Pharaoh at the time of Mosses (Mossah A.H), when he was born, and the Pharaoh at the time when he was exiled.
Lecture on “The Quran and Modern Science by Dr. Maurice Bucaille
Ladies and gentlemen Assalaam-o-Alikum. There is no human work prior to modern times that contains statements which equaled on the state of knowledge at the time they appeared and which might be compared to the Quran. There is perhaps no better example of close links between Islam and science than Prophet’s Hadees
(أطلب العلم ولو في الصين) “Seek after science (Knowledge) even in China”.
Which is an inevitable invitation to man to unleash his knowledge? More significant, if it is possible, is the famous Hadees
(مداد العلماء أفضل من دم الشهداء) “The scholar’s ink is more precious than the martyr’s blood.”
It comes as no surprise therefore that religion and science have been always considered as “twin sisters” in the Islam. Today at a time when science has taken such great strides, they still continue to be associated and furthermore the scientific data is now used for better understanding of the Quarnic text. What is more remarkable to see that in a century, where for many, science has dealt blows to religious beliefs; It is precisely the discoveries of science that have highlighted the supernatural character of all aspects of the Quran. Generally speaking, science now seems, in spite of what people may say, highly conducive to the existence of the God. Once we start to ask ourselves in an unbiased and unprejudiced way about the metaphysical lessons to be derived from today’s knowledge, for example the knowledge of the infinity, we indeed discover many reasons of thinking along these lines. When we think about the remarkable organization presiding over the birth and maintenance of life, it surely becomes that likelihood of it being the chance get less and less as our knowledge expands in this field. To me it seems that scientific progress, in understanding the fantastic complexity of human being, provides strong arrangements in the favor of opposite theory. In other words the existence of extreme methodical organization is presiding over the remarkable phenomena of life. In many parts of it, the Quran leads in simple terms to this kind of reflection. It contains more precise data which is directly related to the facts discovered by modern science. These are which attract the attention of today’s scientists. For many centuries man was unable to understand them because he did not possessed sufficient scientific means. It is only today that the understanding of the verses of the Quran, dealing with natural phenomena, has become comprehensive. Readings of all the commentaries shows the inability to grasp the total meanings of such verses in spite of the knowledge the authors of these commentaries may have in their times. I shall go even so far to say that in this 20th century, which has all its compartmentalization of ever increasing knowledge, it is not easy for an average scientist to understand what is in the Quran about such subjects without having recourse to specialized research. It means that in order to understand all such verses of the Quran, one (a person) is required to have absolutely an encyclopedic knowledge. By which I mean the one which impresses very many disciplines.
The Quran is a religious book which has no scientific purpose and whenever man is invited to reflect upon the works of creation and numerous natural phenomena, the appeared intention is to stress divine nepotism. In these reflections (verses) we find illustrations of data connected with firmly established scientific knowledge. These findings (scientific discoveries) clearly appeared in modern times. One must take in account carefully the meanings of Quranic text while making its comparison to scientific knowledge. There is an example of the common translation of a verse of Chapter Al Araaf about the creation of earth
(إِنَّ رَبَّكُمُ اللّهُ الَّذِي خَلَقَ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالأَرْضَ فِي سِتَّةِ أَيَّامٍ) “Your lord is who created the heavens and earth in 6 days.”
Never so less we know that the Arabic word الأيام, which is usually translated as days, appeared in the Quran as a very long period of time instead of twenty four hours. Other examples are mentioned in my book” the Bible, the Quran and Science.” What appears to be of fundamental importance to me is that, in contrast to the narration contained in the Bible, the Quran does not lay down a sequence for creation of the earth and heavens.
The major notion to be derived from the Quran is a concomitance in the celestial and territorial notions with the fundamental details about an initial unique gaseous mass whose elements which were although fuse together but became subsequently separated. These notions are described in Chapter Fussilat
(ثُمَّ اسْتَوَى إِلَى السَّمَاء وَهِيَ دُخَانٌ) “then God turn to heaven when it was a smoke” and in Chapter Al-Anbiya
(أَوَلَمْ يَرَ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا أَنَّ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضَ كَانَتَا رَتْقًا فَفَتَقْنَاهُمَا) “Don’t the unbelievers see that heavens and earth were joined together, and then I spilt them apart.”
This separation process resulted in the formation of multiple worlds. This notion has appeared a dozen times in the Quran like in the second verse of Chapter Fatiha
(الْحَمْدُ للّهِ رَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ) “Praise be to the God, the lord of the worlds.”
All this is in prefect agreement with modern ideas on the existence of a primary nebula and process of secondary separation of elements which were in the initial unique mass. The separation resulted in formation of galaxies and then it divided into stars from which plants were to be born. All this is in perfect agreement to the modern notions concerning the history of universe. Moreover, a reference is made in the Quran about an intermediary creation between the heavens and the earth. In Chapter Furqaan
(وَمَا خَلَقْنَا السَّمَاء وَالْأَرْضَ وَمَا بَيْنَهُمَا) “We have created the heavens and the earth and what is between them.”
This intermediary creation corresponds to the modern discovery of matter which is described as “prisons” outside organized astronomical systems. Can we imagine that a man, much more than a thousand years ago, would have in a position to write such reflections which are in total agreement to general concepts, about the universe, formed centuries after his death? (Which means the Quran is a word of God.)
In the Quran we find notions about the nature and movement of celestial formations for example, the sun and the moon, which may have been previously defined as “laminar rays” in the Bible. They (The sun and the moon) have been distinguished in the Quran by using different terms like light (Noor) for the moon and torch (Siraaj) for the sun. Presently we know that moon is inert body which reflects light and sun is a celestial formation which is in a state of permanent combustion and is a source of heat and light. The word Najam (star) in the Quran is accompanied with another adjective which indicates that it burns and consume itself as it pears trough the shadows of the night. The word used (in the Quran) for this is “Saqib.” The word “Kokab “definitely means “planets” which are celestial formations that reflect light but do not produce it. Today we know that celestial organization is balanced by the position of the stars in defined orbits and interplay of gravitational forces related to the mass of the stars and speed of their movement. Each is with its own motion. Orbit and own motions are the foundation of this balance. They are precisely what the Quran describes in the Chapter Al-Anbiya
(وَهُوَ الَّذِي خَلَقَ اللَّيْلَ وَالنَّهَارَ وَالشَّمْسَ وَالْقَمَرَ كُلٌّ فِي فَلَكٍ يَسْبَحُونَ) “God is the one who created the night, the day, the sun and the moon. And each one is traveling in an orbit with its motion”.
These movements are expressed (in the Quran) with the word Yasbahoon. The primitive meanings of the word Yasbahoon carry the idea of movement which comes from any moving body for example, the movement of legs when one runs or swimming action in the water. The sequence of day and night is expressed (in the Quran) in terms that are highly significant nowadays. The Quran uses the verb kawwara in Chapter az-Zumar to describe the way the night ‘winds’ or ‘coils’ itself around the day and the day around the night. “He coils the night upon the day and the day upon the night.” The original meaning of the verb kis is to coil a turban around the head. This is a totally valid comparison; yet at the time the Quran was revealed, the astronomical data necessary to make this comparison were unknown.
The evolution of heavens and notions of a settled place for the sun are also mentioned in the Quran. All these notions are in perfect agreement with the well established modern ideas. More than that the Quran seems to have alluded to the expansion of the earth. The conquest of space is also mentioned in the Quran. This has been undertaken thanks to remarkable technological progress and has resulted in man’s journey to the moon. This surely springs to mind when we read chapter Ar-Rahmaan
(يَا مَعْشَرَ الْجِنِّ وَالْإِنسِ إِنِ اسْتَطَعْتُمْ أَن تَنفُذُوا مِنْ أَقْطَارِ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ فَانفُذُوا لَا تَنفُذُونَ إِلَّا بِسُلْطَانٍ) “O assembly of men and Jin if you can penetrate the reigns of heavens and earth, than penetrate them and you can not penetrate them except with the power. This power comes from the Almighty.”
The use of word Sultan is an invitation to recognize God’s blessing on man.
Let us now come back to earth and among many verses let us quote the verses of the Quran concerning the mountains. Modern geography has told us the phenomena of folding which form the mountain ranges. The stability of mountains is linked with phenomena since the folds provide foundation for the reliefs that constituted the mountains. In the chapter an-Naba you find
(أَلَمْ نَجْعَلِ الْأَرْضَ مِهَادًا {78/6} وَالْجِبَالَ أَوْتَادًا {78/7}) “Have we not made the earth an expanse and the mountains stakes?”
These “stakes” (أوتاد in the Quran), which are put into the ground like those who are used to anchor the tents, are deep foundations of geological folds. The same harmony with modern scientific knowledge is noticed in the case of numerous reflections in the Quran concerning with the water cycle in the nature. This is a topic which is very well known today and the verses of the Quran referring to it seems to express ideas which are now totally self evident. But if we consider the ideas prevalent at the time of the revelation (the Quran) fourteen centuries ago, these ideas (in the Quran about water cycle) appear to be philosophical and superstitions than facts. But now those, who study and observe these ideas and similar other topics as well, admit that any wrong notion on such ancient ideas never appeared in the Quran. Let us quote the verse of chapter Az-Zumar
أَلَمْ تَرَ أَنَّ اللَّهَ أَنزَلَ مِنَ السَّمَاء مَاء فَسَلَكَهُ يَنَابِيعَ فِي الْأَرْضِ ثُمَّ يُخْرِجُ بِهِ زَرْعًا مُّخْتَلِفًا أَلْوَانُهُ)
“God send down water from the sky and led it through the ground and then he causes crops of different colors to grow.”
We must compare one of the aspect of water cycle, to which this verse alludes and other details about it in the Quran, with the other ideas (about water cycle) prevailing long ago. The first coherent description of water cycle dated back to 16th century with Bernard Palissy. Prior to this people talk theory whereby the water of ocean under the effective winds was thrust to the interior of the continents. They then returned to the oceans via the great abyss, which, since Plato’s time was called the Tartarus .In the seventeenth century, great thinkers such as Descartes still believed in this myth. Even in the nineteenth century there was talk of a theory according to which water was condensed in cool mountain caverns and formed underground lakes that fed springs. Today, we know that it is the infiltration of rain water into the ground that is responsible for this. If one compares the facts of modern hydrology with the data found in numerous verses of the Quran on this subject, one cannot fail to notice the remarkable degree of agreement between the two.
More than anything I was impressed by the statements in the Quran relating the human beings, the animal and vegetable kingdoms especially with the origin of man and reproduction. It is a blessing of our time that scientific progress has made the context of many verses of the Quran comprehensive to us. The ancient commentators (of the Quran) presented them according to their apparent meanings, which of course was very important since it invokes divine nepotism, but they could give a review of their real meanings due to their lack of scientific knowledge which is necessary to understand these verses of the Quran. Even today numerous translations and commentaries, made by men with only a literary background, give a mistaken view of their real meanings. Only a scientist can give their explanation. The biological expressions given in the Quran are highly significant. Such is the case with the verse of chapter Al-Anbiya
(أَوَلَمْ يَرَ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا أَنَّ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضَ كَانَتَا رَتْقًا فَفَتَقْنَاهُمَا وَجَعَلْنَا مِنَ الْمَاء كُلَّ شَيْءٍ حَيٍّ أَفَلَا يُؤْمِنُونَ {21/30}) “Do the unbelievers not realize that the heavens and the earth were joined together, then I clove them asunder and I made every living thing out of water. Will they still not believe?”
It is the affirmation of modern idea that the origin of life is aquatic.
Progress in botany at the time of Muhammad (PBUH) was not advanced enough in any country for scientists to know that plants have both male and female parts. Nevertheless, we may read the following in the chapter Taa Haa
(الَّذِي جَعَلَ لَكُمُ الْأَرْضَ مَهْدًا وَسَلَكَ لَكُمْ فِيهَا سُبُلًا وَأَنزَلَ مِنَ السَّمَاء مَاء فَأَخْرَجْنَا بِهِ أَزْوَاجًا مِّن نَّبَاتٍ شَتَّى {20/53}) “(God is the One who) sent down rain from the sky and with it brought forth a variety of plants in pairs.”
Today we know that fruit comes from plants that have sexual characteristics even when they come from unfertilized flowers, like bananas. In the chapter Ar-Ra‘d we read the following
(وَمِن كُلِّ الثَّمَرَاتِ جَعَلَ فِيهَا زَوْجَيْنِ اثْنَيْنِ) “and of all fruits (God) placed (on the earth) two elements of a pair.”
In the field of physiology, there is one verse which appears extremely significant to me. To understand this verse, it must first be known that chemical reactions occur inside the intestines releasing substances (nutrients) extracted from food into the blood stream. Blood stream then transports the nutrients to all the organs of the body, among which are the milk-producing mammary glands. This is precisely what is said in this verse taken from the chapter an-Nahl
(وَإِنَّ لَكُمْ فِي الأَنْعَامِ لَعِبْرَةً نُّسْقِيكُم مِّمَّا فِي بُطُونِهِ مِن بَيْنِ فَرْثٍ وَدَمٍ لَّبَنًا خَالِصًا سَآئِغًا لِلشَّارِبِينَ {16/66}) :“Verily in cattle there is a lesson for you. I give you drink from their insides, coming from a conjunction between the digested contents ( of the intestines ) and the blood, milk pure and pleasant for those who drink it.”
The constituents of milk are secreted by the mammary glands which h are nourished by the product of food digestion brought to them by the bloodstream. The initial event which sets the whole process in motion is the conjunction of the contents of the intestine and blood at the level of the intestinal wall itself.
The Quran Considerably enriched the man whit data about himself as we shall see. But its teachings have been clearly understood in modern times. As a medical doctor, I was naturally attracted to natural sciences and physiology. I must confirm that when I read in its original text for the first time, these data about man was among those which impressed me the most. It is why that as soon I finished my study (of the Quran) I delivered a lecture in French academy of medicine with a special reference to the (verses about) human production in the Quran. In order to carry out a valid comparison it must be remembered that a lot of superstitions and myths were present in old times about this topic (human reproduction). Still we don’t find any such myth or superstition is the Quran. Let us now isolate, from all these verses, precise ideas concerning the complexity of male fertilizing liquid (the semen) and the fact that an infinitely small quantity of it is required to ensure fertilization. This can also be expressed by Quintessence, if I have correctly translated the Arabic word Sulalah. The Implementation of egg inside the female genetic organ is perfectly described in many verses by the word Alaq (علق). As in the chapter Alaq
(خَلَقَ الْإِنسَانَ مِنْ عَلَقٍ {96/2}) “God fashioned the man from something which clings.”
I do not think there is any reasonable translation of the word ‘alaq other than to use it in primitive meanings. It is a mistake to speak of a ‘blood clot’ here. It is a derivative meaning which is not as appropriate in this context
The evolution of the embryo inside the maternal uterus is only briefly described, but the description is accurate, because the simple words referring to it correspond exactly to fundamental stages in its growth. This is what we read in a verse from the chapter al-Mu’minoon
(ثُمَّ خَلَقْنَا النُّطْفَةَ عَلَقَةً فَخَلَقْنَا الْعَلَقَةَ مُضْغَةً فَخَلَقْنَا الْمُضْغَةَ عِظَامًا فَكَسَوْنَا الْعِظَامَ لَحْمًا) “I fashioned you into something which clings into a chewed lump of flesh and I fashioned the chewed flesh into bones and I clothed the bones with intact flesh.”
The term ‘chewed flesh’ (mudghah) corresponds exactly to the appearance of the embryo at a certain stage in its development. It is known that the bones develop inside this mass and that they are then covered with muscle. This is the meaning of the term ‘intact flesh’ (lahm).We know today that the embryo passes through a stage where some parts are in proportion and others out of proportion with what is later to become the individual. This is the obvious meaning of a verse in the chapter al-Hajj, which reads as follows
(مِن نُّطْفَةٍ ثُمَّ مِنْ عَلَقَةٍ ثُمَّ مِن مُّضْغَةٍ مُّخَلَّقَةٍ وَغَيْرِ مُخَلَّقَةٍ) “I fashioned you from something which clings, then into a lump of flesh in proportion and out of proportion.”
In the chapter Sajda there is a reference to the senses and internal organs of the body
(وَجَعَلَ لَكُمُ السَّمْعَ وَالْأَبْصَارَ وَالْأَفْئِدَةَ) “God appointed for you senses of hearing, sight and hearts.”
All these illustrations are in complete harmony with what was to be discovered centuries after the death of prophet Muhammad (PBUH). It is inconceivable that many statements in the Quran, which are connected with science, could be a work of a man. It is therefore perfectly legitimate to not only regard the Quran as an expression of revelation but also to be awarded very special place on account of guarantee of authenticity it provides and reflections present in it , when studied even today appear as a challenge to human knowledge.
