PREFACE

PREFACE Fourteen centuries ago, Allah sent down the Qur'an. This book of guidance and wisdom calls man to the truth and instructs all human beings to adhere to the values which this mighty revelation contains. From the day of its revelation to the Day of Judgement, this last Divine book will remain as the sole guide for humanity. The book of Allah states, "But it is nothing less than a Reminder to all the worlds." (Qur'an, 68:52) Ever since the Qur'an was revealed, it has possessed an easily understandable language and tone, accessible to all people and in all times. Allah tells us of this style in the Qur'an: "We have made the Qur'an easy to remember..." (Qur'an, 54:22) The perfection of the literary language of the Qur'an, the incomparable features of its style and the superior wisdom contained within it are some of the definitive proofs that it represents the word of our Lord. In addition, the Qur'an contains within its words many miracles which prove it to be Allah's word. One of these attributes is the remarkable number of scientific truths which are contained in the Book of Islam. In this book which was revealed over fourteen centuries ago to the Prophet Muhammad (saas), there are innumerable examples of information humanity have only been able to uncover by the technology of the 20th and 21st centuries. Of course, we should not view the Qur'an as a book of science for it is primarily a book of moral and spiritual guidance. However, many scientific facts that are expressed in an extremely concise and profound manner, within the verses of the Qur'an, have only been discovered by scientists with the aid of the technological advancement of the 20th and 21st centuries. Quite simply, these facts which we now point out to the reader could not have been known at the time of the Qur'an's revelation, and this is still more proof that the Qur'an is the word of Allah. In order to understand the scientific miracles contained in the Qur'an, we must first look at the level of scientific knowledge which existed at the time when this holy book was revealed. When one understands the context in which the Qur'an was revealed, one can understand more clearly how extraordinary the book of Islam actually is. In the 7th century, when these sacred verses were sent down, Arab society was awash with many superstitious and groundless notions. Lacking the technology to examine the universe and nature, these early Arabs believed in uncorroborated tales inherited from past generations and did not question them. For example, they supposed that mountains supported the sky above. They believed that the Earth was flat and that mountains acted as pillars that kept the vault of heaven high above us. Into this atmosphere of legend and myth, the Qur'an came down. It replaced ignorance with knowledge and illogical conjecture with guidance and certainty. One verse of the Qur'an states, "Allah is He Who raised up the heavens without any support..." (Qur'an, 13:2) This verse invalidated the belief that the sky remains above because of support from the mountains. The Qur'an is filled with important facts which were revealed at a point in human history when no man could possibly have known them. The Qur'an-which was revealed at a time when people knew very little about astronomy, physics, or biology-contains key facts on a variety of subjects all of which point to the fact that it is revealed by Allah, the Lord of the Worlds. Some of the subjects explained and dealt with in the Qur'an are: the creation of the universe, the creation and miraculous development of the human being from miniscule embryo to grown adult, the structure of the atmosphere in which we live and the delicate balances that make life on Earth possible. In order to understand some of these points more fully, let us look at some of these scientific miracles revealed in the Qur'an together.