Ungrudging Tributes
Today, there are in these world some over one thousand Million Muslims who
Unhesitantly accept that the Holy Qur'an is the "Word of God" and
that is a "Miracle"
Why should they not, when even avowed enemies are paying unsolicited
tributes regarding the miraculous nature of this book of God. The Rev. R.
Bosworth-Smith in his book "Mohammed and Mohammedanism"1
opines about the Qur'an:
(a) "A MIRACLE OF PURITY, OF STYLE,OF WISDOM AND OF TRUTH.
Another Englishman - A. J. Arberry, in his preface of his English
translation of the Holy Quran - says:
(b) "WHENEVER I HEAR THE QUR'AN CHANTED, IT IS AS THOUGH I AM
LISTENING TO MUSIC, UNDERNEATH THE FLOWING MELODY, THERE IS SOUNDING ALL
THE TIME THE INSTANT BEAT OF A DRUM, IT IS LIKE THE BEATING OF MY
HEART,"
From these words and the rest of his preface he sounds like a Muslim,
but regrettfully he died outside the pale of Islam. And yet another
Briton, Marmaduke Picktall in the foreword to his translation of Holy
Qur'an describes it as:
(c) "THAT INIMITABLE SYMPHONY, THE VERY SOUND OF WHICH MOVE MEN TO
TEARS AND ECSTACY."
This Author embraced Islam before translating the Qur'an, and we are
not in aposition to verify whether he previous effect he wrote before or
after his conversion.
(d) "NEXT TO THE BIBLE2IT (The Quran) IS THE MOST ESTEEMED
AND THE MOST POWERFUL RELIGIOUS BOOK IN THE WORLD" - J.Christy Wilson in
"Introducing Islam" New York 1950
(e) "THE KORAN IS THE MOHAMMEDAN BIBLE, AND IS MORE REVERENCED THAN ANY
OTHER SACRED BOOK, MORE THAN THE JEWISH OLD TESTAMENT OR THE CHRISTIAN NEW
TESTAMENT." - J. Schillidy, D.D., in "The Lord Jesus in the Koran"
Surat 1913, p. 111
We can quite easily adduce a dozen more eulogies to the above list.
Friends and Foes alike pay tribute ungrudging commendations to the Last
and Final Revelation of God - the Holy Qur'an. The contemporaries of
Muhammed(pbuh) saw in its beauty and majesty, the nobility of its call and
magnanimity of its message, the Sign and Miracle of God's Handiwork, and
accepted Islam. to all the Tributes and Testimonies the unbeliever and the
sceptic might say that these are subjective feelings. He might further
seek refuge in the pretext that he does not know arabic. He is heard to
say, "I do not see what you see, nor do i feel as you feel. How am i to
know that God exists and that it is he who inspired his Messanger Muhammed
(pbuh) with that Beautiful message; the Qur'an?" He continues "I am not
averse to the beauty of its philosophy, its practical ethics and high
morality, i am prepared to concede thatMuhammed(pbuh) was a sincere man
and that he gave many beautiful percepts for Human Welfare. What i cannot
subscribe to is what you muslims claim 'a supernatural authority for
his dicta'."
To this kind of sympathetic, yet sceptical mentality, the author of the
book (Al-Qur'an) uses various types of Arguments to resolve his doubts. To
the atheists and agnostics, the cynics and the sceptics, who have
super-abundance of sceintific knowledge and who consider themselves to be
"Intellectual Giants", the point is driven home that they are in reality
like stunted "dwarfs". They are like the dwarf who may have acquired
abnormal development in any one particular direction at the expense of
other parts of his faculty, like an oversized head on a puny body, the
Supreme Creator Questions him.
But Before we pose God's question to him, let me satisfy my own
curiosity. "You men of science who have studied astronomy and who study
our universe through mighty telescpoes as if scrutinising an object in the
palm of your hand; tell me how did the universe came into being?" This man
of science though lacking in spiritual insight, is nevertheless most
generous in sharing his knowledge. He really responds, "Well," he begins,
"Billions of years ago our universe was a single peice of matter, and
there happened a "Big Bang" in the centre of that huge lump of
matter and mighty chunks of matter began flying in all directions. Out of
the big bang our solar system came into being as well as the galaxies, and
since there is no resistance in space to that primodal momentum generated
by the initial explosion, the stars and the planets swim along the
orbits..."
At this juncture, my memory tickles me - Our materialist friends appear
to have been secretly imbibing their knowledge from the Sura
Yaa-Seen3;
AND THE SUN RUNS HIS COURSE
FOR A PERIOD DETERMINED FOR HIM
THAT IS THE DECREE OF (HIM) THE EXALTED IN MIGHT THE ALL-KNOWING
AND THE MOON, WE HAVE MEASURED FOR HER MANSIONS (TO TRAVERSE)
TILL SHE RETURNS LIKE THE OLD (AND WITHERED) LOWER PART OF A DATE -
STALK.
IT IS NOT PERMITTED TO THE SUN TO OVERTAKE THE MOON,
NOR CAN A NIGHT OUTSTRIP A DAY
EACH (JUST) SWIMS ALONG IN (ITS OWN) ORBIT (ACCORDING TO LAW).
Holy Qur'an - 36:38-40
The atheistic sceintist continues. "Ours is an 'expanding'
Universe. The galaxies are receding away from us at a faster and faster
rate, and once they have reached the speed of light,4 we will
not be able to see them anymore. We must construct bigger and better
telescopes as quickly as possible to study the sights, if not we will miss
the bus!"
"When did you discover these fairy tales?" we ask. "No, these are not
fairy tales but sceintific facts!" our friend assures us. "All right, we
accept your facts for what they are, but when did you really stumble upon
these facts?" "Only Yesterday!" he replies. Fifty years, after all, is
only yesterday in the history of human race. "An unlettered Arab in the
deesert over 1400 years ago could have never had the knowledge of 'Big
Bang' and of your Expanding universe, could he ?" we ask, "No Never!"
says he boastingly. "Well, then listen to what this ummi
5 Prophet uttered under inspiration:"
DO NOT THE UNBELIEVERS
(THE ATHEISTS AND THE AGNOSTICS) SEE
THAT THE HEAVENS AND THE EARTH
WERE JOINED TOGETHER
(AS ONE UNIT OF CREATION)
BEFORE WE CLOVE THEM ASUNDER?
Holy Quran 21:30
AND IT IS HE (GOD ALMIGHTY)
WHO CREATED THE NIGHT AND THE DAY
AND THE SUN AND THE MOON
ALL (THE CELESTIAL BODIES) SWIM ALONG,
EACH IN ITS ROUNDED COURSE
Holy Quran 21:33
'BIG BANG THEORY'
Can't you see that the words "The Unbelievers" in the first
quote above are specifically addressed to You - the men of science
- the geographers, the astronomers, who after having made amazing
discoveries and conveyed these discoveries to mankind, still remain so
BLIND as not to SEE its AUTHOR? "With our Sciences and Encyclopedias,
we are apt to forget the Divineness, in those laboratories of ours."
6 says Thomas Carlyle.
Where on earth could a camel driver in the desert have gleaned 'Your
facts' fourteen hundred years ago except from the maker of 'Big
Bang' Himself?
ORIGIN OF LIFE
"And You biologists who seem to have your fingers on all organic
life, and yet have the tendency to deny the existance of the Source of
that life, i.e., God: tell me, according to your vaunted research:
where and how did life originate?"
Like his 'unbeleiving' astronomer companion in sceince, he too begins -
"Well, billions of years ago primaeval matter in the sea began to generate
protoplasm out of which came the ameoba; and out of all the mire in the
sea came all living things. In one word all life came from
Water!"
"And when did you discover this fact that all living beings are came
from water ?" The answer is no different from that of his fellow
sceintist tha astronomer = "Yesterday". "No man of learning, no
Philosopher or poet would have guessed your biological discovery fourteen
centuries back, could he?" we ask, and our biologist is as emphatic as the
astronomer. "No Never!" says he. "Well then, you just listen to
this untutored son of the desert!"
AND WE MADE FROM WATER7
EVERY LIVING THING
WILL THEY (THE UNBELIEVERS, THE ATHEISTS AND THE AGNOSTICS)
THEN NOT BELIEVE
Holy Quran 21:30
AND ALLAH HAS CREATED
EVERY ANIMAL FROM WATER
OF THEM ARE SOME THAT CREEP ON THEIR BELLIES
SOME THAT WALK ON TWO LEGS
AND SOME THAT WALK ON FOUR
ALLAH CREATES WHAT HE WILLS;
FOR VERILY ALLAH HAS POWER OVER ALL THINGS.
Holy Quran 24:45
It will not be difficult for you to note that these words of the
Omnipotent, Omniscient Creater of Universe were addressed to YOU men of
knowledge in answer to your skepticism today. Their real import was beyond
the dwellers of the desert fourteen centuries ago. The Author ( God
Almighty ) is reasoning with YOU, you man of science, how can
YOU not believe in God? YOU should be the last to deny
his existence and yet you are the first! What sickness has overtaken
You that you allow your ego's to overshadow your sense of
logic?
And to the botanists and the zoologists and the physists who, despite
their amazing insite into the nature of things, refuse to acknowledge a
Master Creator. Let them then account for these utterances of Muhummad
(PBUH) the mouth peace of God.
GLORY BE TO HIM ( GOD ALMIGHTY )
WHO CREATED IN PAIRS* ALL THINGS
THAT WHICH THE EARTH PRODUCES
( THE VEGETABLE KINGDOM )
AS WELL AS THEIR OWN (HUMAN)
KIND (THE ANIMAL KINGDOM)
AND (OTHER) THINGS OF WHICH THEY HAVE NO
KNOWLEDGE (LIKE OF PHYSICS).
Holy Quran 36:36
* "CREATED IN PAIRS" "The mystery of sex runs through all cretion, - in
man, in animal life, in vegetable life, and in other things of which we
have no knowledge. Then there are pairs of opposite forces in nature, e.g.
positive and negative electricity, etc. The atom itself consists of a
positively charged nucleus or proton, surrounded by negatively charged
electrons. The constitution of matter itself is thus referred to as pairs
of opposite energies." (Comment by A. Yusuf Ali).
SIGNS OF GOD
The verses of this "Perspicuous Book," the Holy Qur'an are
evidently self-explanatory. Students of hte Qur'an saw the unmistakable
Finger of God in every discovery that man made. These were the
"Signs," the "Miracles" from his Beneficent Lord and
Cherisher so as to remove his doubts and strengthen his faith.
... IN THESE ARE SIGNS FOR
A PEOPLE OF LEARNING.
Holy Quran 30:22
What an irony! It is the 'people of learning' who are actually
rebellious! Their vast material knowledge has inflated them with pride.
They lack the genuine humility which goes together with all true
knowledge.
In the words of modern Frenchman:
"THE ABOVE OBSERVATION (HIS OWN THESIS) MAKES THE HYPOTHESIS ADVANCED BY
THOSE WHO SEE MUHAMMAD AS THE AUTHOR OF THE QUR'AN UNTENABLE. HOW COULD A
MAN, FROM BEING ILLITERATE, BECOME THE MOST IMPORTANT AUTHOR, IN TERMS OF
LITERARY MERITS, IN THE WHOLE OF ARABIC LITERATURE?
"HOW COULD HE THEN PRONOUNCE TRUTHS OF A SCIENTIFIC NATURE THAT NO
OTHER HUMAN BEING COULD POSSIBLE HAVE DEVELOPED AT THAT TIME, AND ALL THIS
WITHOUT ONCE MAKING THE SLIGHTEST ERROR IN HIS PRONOUNCEMENT OF THE
SUBJECT?"
See "The Bible, the Quran and Sceince" p.125 by Maurice
Brucaille
EARLY INSPIRATION
The seeds of this booklet, "AL-QUR'AN - The Miracle of
Miracles," was probably sown by the Roving Ambassador of Islam, the
silver-tongues orator -- Maulana Abdul Aleem Siddiqui. I was only a
schoolboy when he visited South Africa on a lecture tour in 1934. Among
his man erudite speeches, I heard him talk on 'Cultivation of Science by
the Muslims." Subsequently, a booklet under the same title was published
by the World Federation of Islamis Missions, Karachi, Pakistan, which
brings back the earlier joy and thrill of the discourse I heard in my
teens. In memory of that great servant of Islam, I reproduce here, for
posterity, a few words of what the Maulana had to say on the relationship
between the Holy Quran and the branches of scientific knowledge:
EXHORTATOINS OF THE SCIENCES
"The stress which the Holy Quran has laid on the scientific study of
the universe is a phenomenon unique in the religious literature of the
world. Repeatedly it calls our attention to the multifarious phenomena of
nature occuring around us. Repeatedly it exhorts the Muslims that the
pursuid of scientific knowledge is one of their religious duties.
Repeatedly it emphasises the great truth unknown to the pre-Quranic world
that everything in nature is for the service of man and should be
harnessed by him for his use. It exhorts us to study the structure and
functrion fo the human organism, the structure, functions and distribution
fo animals, the form, structure, functions, classification and
distribution of plants, and these are problems of BIOLOGY.
"It exhorts us to study the orde rof nature and the general properties
of matter as affected by energy, which is the problem of modern
PHYSICS.
"It exhorts us to study the properties of substances both elementary
and compound and the laws of their dcombination and action one upon
another which is the problem of modern CHEMISTRY.
"It exhorts to us the study the structure and mineral constitution of
the globe, the different strate of which is composed, the changes that
take place in its organic and inorganic matter, etc, etc., which are the
problem fo modern GEOLOGY.
"It exhorts us to study the general description fo the earth, its
phyusical divisions into seas, rivers, mountains, plains, etc., and the
minerals, plants and animals in each, and its political divisions which
are the problems fo modern GEOGRAPHY.
"It exhorts us to study the causes which bring about the alternation fo
day and night, the variation of the seasons, the movement of the planets
and other celestial phenomena, which are the problems fo modern
ASTRONOMY."
"It exhorts us to study the movements of winds, the formation and
evolution of clouds and the production of rain, and other similar
phenomena, which are the problems of modern METEROLOGY."
For centuries, Muslims were world leaders in the field of scientific
learning. Then slowly, the leadership began to slip away from their hands.
Muslims had failed in their leadership role and materialistic Europe moved
forward to fill the vacuum in leadership created by the Muslims.
Further, the Maulana records tha contribution made by the Muslims as
follows:
"The intellectual upheaval created by Islam was a gigantic one. There
is not a single department of learning which they have not carved out a
high position for themselves.
"In truth, Islam intends the Muslim community to be a community of
intellectuals, and hte cultivation of science and all other forms of
learning is one of the primary aims of Islam. Had it not been for the
Muslims, Europe would never have seen its way to the Renaissance and the
modern scientific era would never have dawned. Those nations who have
received their knowledge of science from Europe are in fact indirectly the
disciples of the Islamic community fo the past. Humanity owes to Islam a
debt which it can never repay and gratitude which it can neever
forget."
The silver tongues orator (the Maulana) ended his masterful exposition
of the topic -- "CULTIVATION OF SCIENCE BY THE MUSLIMS," with the
words:
"Before I conclude, let me affirm once more that the Muslim community
is out and out a creation of Islam which in its turn is rooted in Divine
revelation. Nothing but belief in and the practice of Islam can make an
individual a Muslim. Islam has laid it down as a religious duty that a
Muslim should enquire inot the reality of objects around him, so that his
scientific enquiry may lead him to the knowledge of his Creator.
Scientific enquiry in Islam is not an end but a means to the attainment of
higher end. And this is really the true end of humanity. "TO ALLAH WE
BELONG AND TO ALLAH IS OUR RETURN"
Holy Quran 2:156
Notes:
1. There is no such thing as "Mohammedanism", and no such thing
as a "Mohammedan". The name of the Religion is Islam and the
followers are Muslims.
2. Coming from a Christian critic of Islam, we will not take exception
to his placing Qur'an in the second place.
3. Yaa-Seen: is the 36th chapter of the Holy Qur'an. The verses
here are laid down for you to memorize in a very easy form, together with
their meanings. Take advantage of it!
4. Light is said to be travelling at the speed of hundred and eighty
six thousand miles per second.
5. Ummi: means unlettered, unlearned.
6. From "Heroes and Hero Worship by Thomas Carlyle.
7. Protoplasm is the basis of all living matter and vital power of
protoplasm seems to depend on the constant presence of water
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