 INTRODUCTION
FROM THE ORIGIN OF MAN
MISCONCEPTIONS
SCIENTIFIC ERRORS
TEXT OF QUR'AN UNCORRUPTED
UNEXPECTED DISCOVERIES
INTEREST TO MEN OF SCIENCE
INTRODUCTION
Dr. Maurice Bucaille is an eminent French
surgeon, scientist, scholar and author of "THE BIBLE, THE QUR'AN AND
SCIENCE" which contains the result of his research into the Judeo-Christian
Revelation and the Qur'an. It is a unique contribution in the field of religion
and science.
Being an outstanding Scientist, he was selected
to treat the mummy of Merneptah (Pharaoh) which he did. During his visit to
Saudi Arabia he was shown the verses of the Holy Qur'an in which Allah says that
the dead body of the Pharaoh will be preserved as a "Sign" for
posterity. An impartial scientist like Dr. Bucaille, who (being also a
Christian) was conversant with the Biblical version of Pharaoh's story as being
drowned in pursuit of Prophet Moses. He was pleasantly surprised to learn that
unknown to the world till only of late, the Holy Qur'an made definite prediction
about the preservation of the body of that same Pharaoh of Moses' time. This led
Dr. Bucaille to study the Holy Qur'an thoroughly after learning the Arabic
language. The final conclusion of his comparative study of Qur'an and the Bible
is that the statements about scientific phenomena in the Holy Qur'an are
perfectly in conformity with the modern sciences whereas the Biblical
narration's on the same subjects are scientifically entirely unacceptable.
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FROM THE ORIGIN OF MAN
As most people in the West have been brought up on misconceptions concerning
Islam and the Qur'an; for a large part of my life, I myself was one such person.
Let me cite one or two specific examples to indicate the kind of inaccurate
ideas generally current.
MISCONCEPTIONS
As I grew up, I was always taught that 'Mahomet' was the author of the Qur'an; I
remember seeing French translations bearing this information. I was invariably
told that the 'author' of the Qur'an simply compiled, in a slightly different
form, stories of sacred history taken from the Bible; the 'author' was said to
have added or removed certain passages, while setting forth the principles and
rules of the religion he himself had founded. There are moreover Islamic
scholars today in France whose duties include teaching and who express exactly
these views, although perhaps in a more subtle form.
This description of the origins of the Qur'anic
text, which is so out of touch with reality, might lead one immediately to
assume that if there are scientific errors in the Bible, there must also be
errors of this kind in the Qur'an! This is the natural conclusion to be drawn in
such circumstances, but it is based on a misconception. We are well aware that
at the time of Muhammad - the Qur'anic Revelation took place between 610 and 632
A.D - scientific obscurantism prevailed, both in the Orient as well as in the
West.
In France, for example, this period corresponded
roughly to the reign of King Dagobert, the last of the Mrovingians. This
approach to what was supposedly the Qur'anic text may on first sight seem
logical, but when one examines the text with an informed and impartial eye, it
becomes clear that this approach is not at all in keeping with reality. We shall
see in a moment the truth of this statement, which is obvious from the texts.
Whenever there is textual proof of the existence
in the Qur'an of statements that are in agreement with modern knowledge, but
which in the Bible are related in a manner that is scientifically unacceptable,
the stock response is that, during the period separating the two Scriptures,
Arab scientists made discoveries in various disciplines which enabled them to
arrive at these supposed adaptations. This approach takes no account whatsoever
of the history of the sciences. The latter indicates that the great period of
Islamic civilizations, during which, as we know, science made considerable
progress, came several centuries after the communication of the Qur'an to the
communication of the Qur'an to man.
Furthermore, scientific history informs us that,
as far as the subjects dealt with in this present book are concerned, no
discoveries were made during, the period separating the Bible from the Qur'an.
When this aspect of the Qur'an is mentioned in
the West, however, we are likely to hear it said that while this may indeed be
so, nowhere is this fact referred to in the translations of the Qur'an which we
possess today, or in the prefaces and commentaries that accompany them.
This is a very judicious remark. Muslim - and
indeed non-Muslim -
translators who have produced a French version of
the Qur'an are basically men of letters. More often than not, they mistranslate
a passage because they do not possess the scientific knowledge required to
understand its true meaning. The fact is, however, that in order to translate
correctly, one must first understand what one is reading. A further point is
that translators - especially those mentioned above - - may have been influenced
by notes provided by ancient commentators often came to be regarded as highly
authoritative, even though they had no scientific knowledge - nor indeed had
anybody else at that time. They were incapable of imagining that the texts might
contain allusions to secular knowledge, and thus they could not devote attention
to a specific passage by comparing it to other verses in the Qur'an dealing with
the same subject - a process that often provides the key to the meaning of a
word or expression. From this results the fact that any passage in the Qur'an
that gives rise to a comparison with modern secular knowledge is likely to be
unreliably translated.
Very often, the translations are peppered with
inaccurate - if not totally nonsensical - statements. The only way to avoid such
errors is to possess a scientific background and to study the Qur'anic text in
the original language.
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SCIENTIFIC ERRORS
On the subject of man, as well as the other topics mentioned earlier, it is not
possible to find any corresponding data in the Bible. Furthermore the scientific
errors contained in the Bible - such as those describing man's first appearance
on earth, which, as we have seen, may be deduced from the Genealogies that
figure in Genesis are not to be found in the Qur'an. It is crucial to understand
that such errors could not have been 'edited out' of the Qur'an since the time
they first became apparent: well over a thousand years have elapsed since the
most ancient manuscripts and today's texts of the Qur'an, but these texts are
still absolutely identical. Thus, if Muhammad were the author of the Qur'an (a
theory upheld by some people), it is difficult to see how he could have spotted
the scientific errors in the Bible dealing with such a wide variety of subjects
and have proceeded to eliminate every single one of them when he came to compose
his own text on the same themes. Let us state once again, that no new scientific
facts had been discovered since the time the Bible was written that might have
helped eliminate such errors.
In view of the above, it is imperative to know
the history of the texts, just as it is essential to our understanding of
certain aspects of the Bible for us to be aware, of the conditions in which it
was written.
As we have noted earlier, experts in Biblical
exegesis consider the books of Old and New Testaments to be divinely inspired
works. Let us now examine, however, the teachings of Muslim exegetes, who
present the Qur'an in quite a different fashion.
When Muhammad was roughly forty years old, it was
his custom to retire to a retreat just outside Mecca in order to meditate. It
was here that he received a first message from God via the Angel Gabriel, at a
date that corresponds to 610 A.D. After a long period of silence, this first
message was followed by successive revelations spread over some twenty years.
During the Prophet's lifetime, they were both written down and recited by heart
among his first followers. Similarly, the revelations were divided into suras
(chapters) and collected together after the Prophet' death (in 632 A.D.) in a
book: the Qur'an. The Book contains the Word of God, to the exclusion of any
human additions. Manuscripts dating from the first century of Islam authenticate
today's text, the other form of authentication being the recitation by heart of
the Qur'an, a practice that has continued unbroken from the time of the Prophet
down to the present day.
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UNCORRUPTED NATURE OF THE QUR'AN
In contrast to the Bible, therefore, we are presented with a text that is none
other than the transcript of the Revelation itself; the only way it can be
received and interpreted is literally. The purity of the revealed text has been
greatly emphasized, and the uncorrupted nature of the Qur'an stems from the
following factors:
First, as stated above, fragments of the text
were written down during the Prophet's lifetime; inscribed on tablets,
parchments and other materials current at the time. The Qur'an itself refers to
the fact that the text was set down in writing. We find this in several suras
dating from before and after the Hejira (Muhammad's departure from Mecca to
Medina in 622 A.D.) In addition to the transcription of the text, however, there
was also the fact that it was learned by heart. The text of the Qur'an is much
shorter than the Old Testament and slightly longer than the New Testament. Since
it took twenty years for the Qur'an to be revealed, however, it was easy for the
Prophet's followers to recite it by heart, sura by sura. This process of
recitation afforded a considerable advantage as far as an uncorrupted text was
concerned, for it provided a system of double-checking at the time the
definitive text was written down. This took place several years after the
Prophet's death; first under the caliphate of Abu Bakr, his first successor, and
later under the caliphate of Omar and in particular that of Uthman (644 to 655
A.D.) The latter ordered an extremely strict recension of the text, which
involved checking it against the recited versions.
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TEXT OF QUR'AN UNCORRUPTED
After Muhammad's death, Islam rapidly expanded far beyond the limits of the area
in which it was born. Soon, it included many peoples whose native language was
not Arabic. Very strict steps were taken to ensure that the text of the Qur'an
did not suffer from this expansion of Islam: Uthman sent copies of his entire
recension to the principal centers of the vast Islamic empire. Some copies still
exist today, in more or less complete form, in such places as Tashkent (U.S.S.R)
and Istanbul. Copies have also been discovered that date from the very first
centuries after the Hejira; they are all identical, and all of them correspond
to the earliest manuscripts.
Today's editions of the Qur'an are all faithful
reproductions of the original copies. In the case of the Qur'an, there are no
instances of rewriting or corruption of the text over the course of time.
If the origin of the Qur'an had been similar to
those of the Bible, it would not be unreasonable to suppose that the subjects it
raised would be presented in the light of the ideas influenced by certain
opinions of the time, often derived from myth and
superstition. If this were the case, one might argue that there were untold
opportunities for inaccurate assertions, based on such sources, to find their
way into the many and varied subjects briefly summarized above. In actual fact,
however, we find nothing of the kind in the Qur'an.
But having said this, we should note that the
Qur'an is a religious book par excellence. We should not use statements that
have a bearing on secular knowledge as a pretext to go hunting after any
expression of scientific laws. As stated earlier, all we should seek are
reflections on natural phenomena, phrases occasioned by references to divine
omnipotence and designed to emphasize that omnipotence in the eyes of mankind
throughout the ages. The presence of such reflections in the Qur'an has become
particularly significant in modern times, for their meaning is clearly explained
by the data of contemporary knowledge. This characteristic is specific to the
Qur'an.
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UNEXPECTED DISCOVERIES
It was not until I had learnt Arabic and read the Qur'an in the original that I realized
the precise meaning of certain verses. Only then did I make certain discoveries
that were astounding. With my basic ideas on the Qur'an - which to begin with
were inaccurate, just as those of most people in the West - I certainly did not
expect to find in the text the statements that I in fact uncovered. With each
new discovery, I was beset with doubt lest I might be mistaken in my translation
or perhaps have provided an interpretation rather than a true rendering of the
Arabic text.
Only after consultations with several specialists
in linguistics and exegesis, both Muslim and non-Muslim, was I convinced that a
new concept might be formed from such a study: the compatibility between the
statements in the Qur'an and firmly established data of modern science with
regard to subjects on which nobody at the time of Muhammad - not even the
Prophet himself - could have had access to the knowledge we possess today. Since
then, I have not found in the Qur'an any support given to the myths or
superstitions present at the time the text was communicated to man. This is not
the case for the Bible, whose authors expressed themselves in the language of
their period.
In 'La Bible le Coran et la Science' (The Bible,
the Qur'an and Science), which first appeared in the original French in 1976 and
which subsequently appeared in English in 1978, I set forth the main points of
these findings. On November 9, 1976, I gave a lecture to the Academia de
Medecine (French academy of Medicine) in which I explored the statements of the
origins of man contained in the Qur'an; the title of the lecture was 'Donnees
physiologiques et embryologiques de Coran'(Physiological and Embryological Data
in the Qur'an). I emphasised the fact that these data - which I shall summarize
below - formed part of a much wider study. The following are some of the points
which arise from a reading of the Qur'an:
* a concept of the creation of the world which,
while different from the ideas contained in the Bible, is fully in keeping with
today's general theories on the formations of the universe;
* statements that are in perfect agreement with
today's ideas concerning the movements and evolution of the heavenly bodies;
* a prediction of the conquest of space;
* notions concerning the water cycle in nature
and the earth's relief, which were not proven correct until many centuries
later.
All of these data are bound to amaze anyone who
approaches them in
an objective spirit. They add a much wider
dimension to the problem studied in the present work. The basic point remains
the same , however: we must surely be in the presence of facts which place a
heavy strain on our natural propensity for explaining everything in
materialistic terms, for the existence in the Qur'an of these scientific
statements appears as a challenge to human explanations.
That does not mean to say, however, that the
statements in the Qur'an - especially those concerning man - may all of them be
examined in the light of the findings of modern science. The creation of man as
described in both the Bible and the Qu'ran totally eludes scientific
investigation of the event per se.
Similarly, when the New Testament or the Qur'an
informs us that Jesus was not born of a father, in the biological sense of the
term, we cannot counter this Scriptural statement by saying that there is no
example in the human species of an individual having been formed without
receiving the paternal chromosomes that make up one half of its genetic
inheritance. Science does not explain miracles, for by definition miracles are
inexplicable, thus, when we read in both the Qur'an and the Bible that man was
moulded from the ground, we are in fact learning a fundamental religious
principle: Man returns from where he came, for from the place he is buried, he
will rise again on the judgment.
Side by side with the main religious aspect of
such reflections on man, we find in the Qur'an statements on man that refer to
strictly material facts. They are quite amazing when one approaches them for the
first time. For example, the Qur'an describes the origins of life in general and
devotes a great deal of space to the morphological transformation undergone by
man, repeatedly emphasizing the fact that God fashioned him as He willed. We
likewise discover statements on human reproduction that are expressed in precise
terms that lend themselves to comparison with the secular knowledge we today
possess on the subject.
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INTEREST TO MEN OF SCIENCE
The many statements in the Qur'an that may thus be compared with modern
knowledge are by no means easy to find. In preparing the study published in
1976, I was unable to draw on any previous works known in the West, for there
were none. All I could refer to were a few works in Arabic dealing with themes
treated in the Qur'an that were of interest to men of science - there was,
however, no overall study. Over and above this, research of this kind requires
scientific knowledge covering many different disciplines. It is not easy,
however, for Islamologists to acquire such knowledge, for they possess a mainly
literary background. Indeed, such questions hardly seem to occupy a place in
their field of classic Islamology, at least as far as the West is concerned.
Only a scientist, thoroughly acquainted with Arabic literature, can draw
comparisons between the Qur'anic text - for which he must be able to read Arabic
- and the data supplied by modern knowledge.
There is another reason why such statements are
not immediately apparent: Verses bearing on a single theme are scattered
throughout the Qur'an. The book is indeed a juxtaposition of reflections on a
wide variety of subjects referred to one after the other and taken up again
later on, often several times over. The data on a precise theme must therefore
be collected from all over the Book and brought together under a single heading.
This requires many hours' work tracking down verses, in spite of the existence
of thematic indexes provided by various translators, for such lists may perhaps
be incomplete and indeed, in many cases, they often are.
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