From: vu0208@bingvaxu.cc.binghamton.edu (!!)
Subject: Re: Can science come back to Islam [Part 2]
Organization: State University of New York at Binghamton
Date: Wed, 8 Apr 1992 11:24:41 GMT

In article <11962@tamsun.tamu.edu> gagrawal@cs.tamu.edu (Gopal Agrawal) writes:

>Let me try to rephrase the question in the context of the Hindu religion. 
>One of the epics in hindu culture (Ramayana) which was supposed to have
>been composed many eras ago, mentions objects such as Agni Vandn (fire arrow)
>and pushpak viman (air vehicle). People who swear by the Ramayana say that 
>these actually refer to what we call missiles and aeroplanes today. Similarly
>other exotic clues are mentioned in the Ramayana (like telepathy, anti-gravity
>etc).  

It could be possible!

Quran doesn't give clues in that sense that it predicts about future
scientific products and machinery (as Nastrodamus did in his
scriptures). However it does give *clues* (not full blown explaination
or theory as you may have expected) about natural phenomenons that
human being will have hard time to understand, it's basically about
search for the truth that why and how this universe was created this
way, and to separate real from virtual.

Mr. Gopal, we are not comparing here religions or holy books. As the
subject says, so was i refering to Quran and science. Mixing the two
is imperative as science has to deal with the life and Islam is the
way of life (at least for us muslims).

BTW, does Ramayana tells you to look for the signs and do research??
Yes, Quran explicitly tells us to go out and explore the mysteries of
the universe!!

>	    Would you consider these to be indicative of a highly advanced 
>(technologically) society some thousands of years ago, or would you tend to 
>consider them as fantasies of the person who composed Ramayana ? Isn't it 
>possible that people loved to fantasize in those days too and forerunners of 
>Issac Asimovs may have existed then. Please put aside for a second that you 
>are defending the Quran and consider objectively as to which of the two 
>alternatives would you consider to be more credible about the Ramayana. 

I restrain myself to answer you for the above question:
 a) because you ask for putting aside Quran - which i can't do! as i said
    earlier that it is Code of life for us, and secondly that's
    exactly what we are discussing Islam and science - aren't we?

 b) your statement implies that Quran is composed of fantasies!! (and
    that offends me)

>
>	What I'm trying to get at is that there are countless of ancient 
>scriptures all over the world mentioning all sorts of things that the 
>present day man has or has not been able to understand already.  But just
>because we discover some likely resemblance of todays technological wonders
>to something vaguely mentioned in scriptures, do we have to necessarily
>retrofit our arguments in support of the scriptures mentioning all knowledge
>available today.  I suppose, if the same logic abounds throuhout the coming 
>ages and if the humankind, some centuries from now, chance to dig up some of
>the sci-fi movies like starwars, they would say that the 20th century was 
>far more advanced then themselves. 

Of course I am not saying don't spend time and money into research as
Quran and other books have laid out the scientific details for us and
we don't need to think and explore further!!

>
>regards,
>
>E-mail - gagrawal@cs.tamu.edu       |   /   All Std. Disclaimers apply.

What you say might be true for other books and scriptures but not for
Quran, I think you must read it atleast from the angle of scientific
quest, and you will realize that it does not prophecise about
scientific feats that some one may achieve, or if there would be any
intergalactic travel in future and things like that, it simply gives
us pointers to natural phenomenons for us to ponder, wonder, and
explore further - for there lies some piece of truth for us to gather.

P.S. If time allows i will give you the references verse by verse
     phenomenon by phenomenon from Quran - but you have to wait!

regards.