The Consistency of the Qur'an

The Qur'an is truly remarkable in
many ways, many of these are in the power, subtlety and clarity
of the language itself. However, for someone who doesn't know
Arabic these subtleties are not easy to appreciate so I shall
concentrate on bringing to light aspects that don't depend on a
great knowledge of Arabic. Firstly I shall consider the
consistency of the Qur'an:

Surah 4 Verse 82


[font=Arial][size=12]Do they not consider the Qur'an
(with care)? Had it been from other than Allah they would surely
have found therein much discrepancy.[/size][/font]


[font=Arial][size=12]There are a number of important
aspects of this consistency. Firstly, it is consistent within
itself -i.e. it doesn't contradict itself. Secondly it confirms
the essential teachings of previous revelation. Thirdly and most
impressive is that it is consistent with known scientific facts -
including the facts that have only recently been recognised. It
would be impressive enough if there were simply no errors
considering the facts known at the time because there were many
things which people believed and fully accepted as facts which
have been proven wrong. That none of these things got into the
Qur'an is quite remarkable


To demonstrate the internal
consistency would require me to go through the whole of the
Qur'an and consider all the verses and their relation to one
another. This would be too much for the current effort and I
leave it up to the reader to do that on their own. The
confirmation of previous revelation is also a subject where to
demonstrate the case would require a great deal of work in
identifying all the basic teachings of previous revelations. This
would require a critical analysis of the teachings of previous
revelations (including for example a disproof of the teachings of
Christianity on Trinity). To show the Qur'an is consistent with
known scientific facts is in principle also hard to do since that
would require a thorough search through the Qur'an for anything
contradicting scientific fact. What can be done however, is to
identify a number of passages in the Qur'an where there is
surprising consistency with relatively recent scientific
discoveries.

The Qur'an is a book which
contains several references to natural phenomena but these
references have clear purpose in explaining the deeper meaning to
life and existence in general. The Qur'an leaves room for a
variety of interpretations but the consistency with recent
science within those acceptable interpretations is still
astounding.





ARE THEN, they who are bent on
denying the truth not aware that the heavens and the earth were
[once] one single entity, which We then Parted Asunder? - and
[that] we made from water every living thing? Will they not then
believe?
]This verse should be re-read a
couple of times. In it we see that the whole of material
existence was once as one thing before it was exploded apart.
This appears to be a clear reference to the "Big Bang"
- the widely accepted theory of the origins of the universe. In
the very same verse we see a reference to the origins of life
being in water (see also origins of life section). This is also a
key finding of science. Both of these points must have been
somewhat puzzling to the early readers of the Qur'an. Now these
statements are seen in the full light of modern knowledge and are
recognised as astonishingly accurate. Moreover, the last question
of the verse is now doubly potent.

There are several places where the
Qur'an describes aspects of the creation.[/

[font=Arial][size=12]The Bible describes the creation
as having taken place in six days followed by a day of rest. In
the Bible a 'day' is explicitly the interval between two
successive sunrises or sunsets. There can be no question that
this story is wrong. The very mechanism of the Earth rotating
around its axis was not fixed in the earliest stages of creation
as were described in the Bible.
In contrast to this the Qur'an
while also describing creation as taking place in 6 'days' never
connects this word with a set period. In fact, in the Qur'an a
day in the sight of Allah (in this instance judgement day) is
described as 50,000 human years. (Surah 70: Verse 4) The use of
the word yawm in Arabic can equally well 'mean period of time' as
it can mean 'day'.


A significant passage of the
Qur'an is Surah 41, Verses 9 to 12


(Muhammad Asad translation)


[font=Arial][size=12]"Say: Would you indeed deny
Him who has created the earth in two aeons? And do you claim that
there is any power that could rival Him, The Sustainer of all the
worlds?"

[font=Arial][size=12]For He [it is who after creating
the earth,] placed firm Mountains on it [towering] above its
surface, and bestowed [so many] blessings on it, and equitably
apportioned its means of subsistence to all who would seek it:
[and all this He created] in four aeons.

And He [it is who] applied His
design to the skies, which were [yet but] smoke; and He [it is
who] said to them and to the earth, "come willingly or
unwillingly!" - to which both responded, We do come in
obedience."

To me this is obviously a
reference to the fact that we are in the second cycle of solar
evolution. The earth is made up of material that resulted from
the first life cycle of a sun and our sun is a 'second
generation' sun- two periods. The last of the verses quoted above
confirms this point by referring to the what the sky and earth
was made from - smoke. A simple but absolutely accurate
description of the remains of the burnt out first generation sun!
This description of the coming together of matter in forming the
solar system is a very fundamental part of the concept of the
current understanding of how it actually happened.

]The expansion of the
universe


Surah 51, Verse 47:


And it is We who have built the
universe with [Our creative] power; and verily, it is We who are
expanding it.

The expansion of the universe was
only discovered in the last few decades and the theories that
describe the universe in cosmology only began to be developed
after Einstein discovered General Relativity Early in the 20th
century. This verse is from a book that was completed 1400 years
ago. How could Muhammad have known this if he wasn't receiving
revelation from the All-Knowing?

The origins of life
Are, then, they who are bent on
denying the truth not aware that the heavens and the earth were
[once] one single entity, which We then Parted Asunder? - and
[that] we made from water every living thing? Will they not then
[begin to] believe?
(see Also Big Bang section)This
quote clearly says that all life comes from water. There are two
possible meanings to this and both agree exactly with scientific
knowledge. One is that every living thing is made from Water (as
its essential ingredient) and the other that all life originates
from Water. The first meaning is true since in all living cells
water is the major component. The latter is true since all life
known about had its origins in water.

The exploration of
space


Surah 55, Verse 33


[font=Arial][size=12]O assembly of Jinns and Men, if
you can penetrate regions of the heavens and the earth then
penetrate them! You will not penetrate them save with a power.[/size][/font]


[font=Arial][size=12]This verse needs a little
explanation. In Arabic, there are different words for 'if'. One
expresses the possibility, another expresses an achievable
hypothesis and another expresses an unachievable hypothesis. In
this case the 'if' is for an achievable hypothesis. Man will
penetrate through into the heavens 'if' he has the power to do
so!

[Descriptions of the
foetus


[font=Arial][size=12]This is one of the most remarkable
areas of description in the Qur'an. The development of the foetus
is spoken of in the Qur'an in some detail. The early stages of
which could not have been known at the time of the prophet
Muhammad (peace be upon him) because the size of the foetus at
these stages is too small to see with the naked eye, rather a
microscope is needed.

]Surah 71 Verses 13-14

What is the matter with you, that
ye are not conscious of Allah's majesty, Seeing that it is He who
has created you in successive stages?
Surah 23 Verses 12-14


[font=Arial][size=12]We did create human beings out of
the essence of clay, and thereafter We cause him to remain as a
drop of sperm in [the womb's] firm keeping. Thereafter we
fashioned the sperm into something that clings (Alaqah), which we
then fashioned into a chewed lump (Modgha). The chewed lump is
then fashioned into bones that are then covered with flesh. Then
we nurse him unto another act of creation. Blessed is God, the
best of artisans.


The use of 'essence of clay' here
is to say in other words that what we are made of comes from the
earth. The word used for semen here literally means a 'small
drop'.


The description of the next stage
as 'something that clings' accurately represents the stage where
the fertilised cell attaches itself to the inner most layer of
the uterus by hair-like projections. Another meaning for the word
alaqah is 'leech like'. This describes the process of
implantation in the first few days entirely correctly and is so
concise as to use just one word.


The word "Alaqa" has
been translated as ‘something that clings’. This only
identifies part of the descriptive accuracy of this word. The
word has a number of meanings, which I shall now elaborate. It's
root meaning is from the verb 'aliqa which means "to hang,
be suspended, dangle; to stick, cling, cleave adhere to; to
catch, get caught or stuck; to be attached, affixed,
subjoined" Other forms of the verb have related meanings
such as to be affectionately attached to someone. (dictionary
definitions from Hans Wehr )

[font=Arial][size=12]The meanings apply ideally to the
process through which the fertilised ovum becomes lodged in the
womb.


[font=Arial][size=12]If we look at the noun 'alaqa we
find this meanings of "medical leech" and "blood
clot". The leech is an interesting little creature. The
creature is a parasite, which lives on blood, which it sucks out
of the body of, it's host. Not only is this a similar process to
what happens to an embryo in the earliest stages, but also a
leech looks remarkably like the earliest stages of the embryo.
The meaning of a clinging thing can easily be seen in this use of
the verbal noun. As for blood clot it is first necessary to point
out that it is the process of clotting or coagulating which
brings the idea of clinging to this word and not blood. There is
a quite different word for blood in Arabic 'damm' and this is not
meant. When blood coagulates the material is primarily known to
be sticky which explains the use of 'alaqa for this material.
What we have is also a living fluid half way to becoming a soft
solid which is an accurate description of the embryo as the cells
which have multiplied until they form a fluid now begin to form
tissue structures.

[font=Arial][size=12]The description of the chewed
flesh implies something like teeth marks. This accurately
describes the Somite development. The Somites as Hamilton Boyd
and Mossman say " are conspicuous features of embryos in the
period under consideration and are readily seen in the surface
contour. They are bases from which the greater part of the axial
skeleton and musculature are developed". The age of the
embryo is referred to by the number of these Somites since
"they form one of its characteristic external features"
these features along with the pharyngeal arches which also appear
at this period (4 weeks) give the embryo the clear appearance of
a chewed lump in which the indentations of teeth are present.

The structure of the embryo as it
develops and gains its form is primarily skeletal at and before 5
weeks. That is - what you see in pictures of embryos this age is
the bones and a number of semi-translucent organs. The bones at
this stage have structure and form and are easily the most marked
and visible feature of the embryo but they are of course not
fully calcified (many bones are still in the final calcifying
stage through into adulthood). Over the next couple of weeks a
quite definite change takes place in the way that an embryo
looks. Instead of seeing bones and organs, all that can be seen
now, is (the flesh of) a naked body. The embryo begins to look
much more human. It is a reference to this, which to me seems
most fitting with the general tone and meaning of (this part of)
the verse: "we clothed the bone with flesh "

Other bits for you to
investigate ...

]Geology of mountains (78:6-7,
31:10++) The gender of worker bees (16:68) Near death experiences
(50:19) The nerves being in the skin (4:56) Life on other
planets? (42:29) The Water Cycle (23:18-19, 15:22, 35:9, 30:48)
++ more which depend on specialist knowledge.
]This gives a number of key
indications which, together with a more thorough investigation
establishing the consistency of all statements in the Qur'an,
show that the Qur'an is a remarkably accurate book when it comes
to describing reality. In the next section on structure of the
Qur'an I consider some evidence where the whole of the Qur'an is
discussed and therefore the evidence is doubly clear since there
is no excuse of saying "but somewhere in the Qur'an there
might be a verse that says ..."