From: imustafa@slate.mines.colorado.edu (MUSTAFA IBRAHIM )
Newsgroups: soc.culture.pakistan,soc.culture.indian,soc.culture.bangladesh
Subject: The Quran and the Modern Science
Date: 27 Dec 92 23:06:44 GMT
Organization: Colorado School of Mines

The above mentioned subject is infact a book written by Dr. Bucaille.
I am goint to present some of the excerpts from the same .

WHAT  THIS BOOK IS ALL ABOUT

In this book, Dr Bucaille narrates his encounter with the Quran.
"It is not faith in Islam," says Dr. Bucaille, " that first guided my 
steps, but simple research for the truth. This is how I see it today. It
was mainly fact which , by the time I had finished my study, had led me to
see in the Quran a text revealed to a prophet." What led him to this
conviction was the fact it would be unthinkable " for a man of Muhammad's
time to have been the author of such statements0n account of the state of
knowledge in his days.

For the purpose of his study, Dr. Bucaille grouped such Quranic
verses containing scientific data under general headings as 
creation , astronomy, the earth, etc.

Touching on Creation, he refutes the age old Western notion (deliberate or
through ignorance ) that Muhammad only copied the general outlines of the
Bible. He compares the version of the Bible and that of the Quran ands
concludes that the Bibnle version is scientifically unacceptable, whereas
the Quranic version, not only agrees perfectly with the data discovered by
modern science but also is remarkably free from the erroneous notions of
the time. How can we then, he asks, imagine that a man who drew his
inspiration from the Bible text to arrive at a general concept concerning
the formation of the Universe, when this concept was not formed until
centuries after his death.  
This book contains a precious message for todays' scientists in particular
and modern man in general, but it should not bne forgotten, as the author
himself warn, that the Quran is not interested to be a scientific book but
it is religious book,par excellence.

CREATION    OF   THE   UNIVERSE :

When talking of the Creation there is a strong tendency in the West to
claim that Muhammad only the general outlines of the Bible. It is indeed
possible to compare the six days of the Creation as described in the Bible,
plus an extra day of rest on God's sabbath, with this verse from Sura
A'raf (7:54)

"  Your Lord is Allah Who created the heavens and the earth in six days."

We must point out straight away that modern commentators stress the
interpretation of ayyam, one translation of which is ' days ', as meaning '
long periods' or 'ages' rather than periods of twenty-four hours. 
What to me appears to be of fundamental importance is that , in contrast to
the narration contined in the Bible, the Quran does not lay down a sequence
for the Creation of the Earth and Heavens. It refers both to the Heavens
before the Earth and the earth before the Heavens, when it talks of the
Creation in general, as in this vers of the Sura Taha (20:4).
"  God who created the earth and the high heavens. 
In fact, the notion to be derived from the Quran is one of a con-comitance
in the celestial and terrestrial evolultions. There are also absolultely
fundamental data concerning the existence of an initial gaseous mass
(dukhan) which is unique and whose elements, although at first  fused
together (ratq) subsequently became separated (fataq). Tthis notion is
expressed in the sura Fussilat (41:11)
" God turned to heaven when it was smoke ."

And the same is expressed in the sura Al-Anbiya (21:30).

" Donot the unbelievers see that the heavens and the earth were joined
together, the We clove them asunder"
 
The separation process resulted in the formation of multiple worlds, a 
notion which crops up dozens of times in the Quran, once it has formed the
first verse in the sura Al Fatiha(1:1).

" Prasie be to God the Lord of the Worlds. "

All this is in perfect agreement with modern ideas on the existence of
primary nebula and the process of secondary separation of the elements that
had formed the initial uniaque mass. This separation resulted in the
formation of galaxies and then, when these divided , of stars from which
the planets were to be born. 
Reference is also made in Quran to an intermediary Creation between the
Heavens and the Eath, as in the Sura Al - Furqan (25:59).

" God is the one . Who created the heavens, the earth and what is between
them".

It would seem that this intermediary Creation corresponds to the modern
discovery of bridges of matter which are present outside organised 
astronomical systems. 
This survey certainlyl shows us how modern data and statements in the Quran
agree on a large number of points. We have come a long way from, the
Biblical text with its successive phases that are totally unacvceptable;
especially  the one placing the Creation of the earth (on the 3rd day)
before that of the Heavens(on the 4th day) , when is is a known fact that
our planet comes from its own star, the Sun. In such circumstances, how can
we imagine that a man who drew his inspiration from the Bible could have 
been the author of the Quran and, of his own accord , have corrected the
Biblical text to arrive at a general concept concerning the formation of
the Universe, when this concept was not to be formed until centuries after
his death?

Next topic would be ASTRONOMY - LIGHT AND MOVEMENT


 
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