A Questionable Trend!
Glorious Qur’aan is a Book of Guidance NOT Science.
By:
Shahid Bin Waheed شاهد
بن وحيد
بسم الله الرحمن
الرحيم
الحمدلله
رب العالمين والصلوة
والسلام على اشرف
الانبياء وسيدالمرسلين
نبينا محمد صل
ا لله عليه وعلى
آله واصحابه وازواجه
اجمعين - امابعد
All the praises and thanks
be to Allaah, Sustainer of the Universe, and blessing and salutation to be the
most distinguish of the Messengers and foremost among the Prophets, our Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings of
Allaah be on him and on his wives, children and Companions.
I am deeply trouble by a dangerous trend that some Muslims have
adopted for quite some time about so-called scientific proof in the Glorious
Qur’aan and/or science in the Glorious Qur’aan. Many web sites are full of such
rhetoric, it seems that a competition is going on that who can outsmart the
next person and/or web site. An example of such claims can be found by clicking
here.
The claim and/or article begin with: “The Noble Quran confirms that the earth is
rotating around itself:” I am
not a scientist, but this claim is beyond me that how something let alone earth
can rotate around itself? I can understand that earth is
rotating, but “around” itself is beyond me. Perhaps I am too dumb to
comprehend this.
The author goes on and states:
“The mistranslation of Noble Verse 27:88:
Let us look at what Allah Almighty said in the Noble Quran:
"Thou seest the mountains and thinkest them firmly fixed: but they shall pass away as the clouds pass away: (such is) the artistry of God, who disposes of all things in perfect order: for he is well acquainted with all that ye do. (The Noble Quran, 27:88)"
There is a little mistranslation of this Noble Verse. The Arabic version of "....but they shall pass away as the clouds pass away...." says "....wahiya tamurru marra alsahabi....."
wa = and, but.
hiya = it, she, they.
tamurru = pass.
marra = "like the passing of", "pass like", "pass
as".
al = the.
sahabi = clouds.
Noble Verse 27:88 should literally read as: "Thou
seest the mountains and thinkest them firmly fixed: but they pass
like the passing of the clouds: (such is) the artistry of God, who
disposes of all things in perfect order: for he is well acquainted with all
that ye do. (The Noble Quran, 27:88)"
I am an Arabic speaking person, and I testify that my translation is 100% accurate and Truthful. This is actually further verified and proved in other literal translations:
Translation of Pickthall:
And thou seest the hills thou deemest solid
flying with the flight of clouds: the doing of Allah Who
perfecteth all things. Lo! He is Informed of what ye do.
Translation of Khalifa:
When you look at the mountains, you think that they are
standing still. But they are moving, like the clouds.
Such is the manufacture of GOD, who perfected everything. He is fully Cognizant
of everything you do.
Translation of Palmer:
And thou shalt see the mountains, which thou dost deem
solid, pass away like the passing of the clouds;- the
work of God who orders all things; verily, He is well aware of what ye do!
My comments!
Within the context (Ayaah 83 to Ayaah 88) Surah Al-Naml talks about the hereafter and the day of Judgment.
Now, we can see that the Surah Al-Naml
(Ayaat 83-90) are about the Day of Judgment, not about some kind of science or
rotation etc. The Surah
Al-Naml introduces a number of intriguing aspects taken from the animal
kingdom, some of which are yet to be discovered by man. The Surah concludes
affirming this fact, saying,
And say (O
Muhammad صلى الله
عليه وسلم) to these polytheists and pagans.): "All the praises and
thanks be to Allâh. He will show you His Ayât (signs,
in yourselves, and in the universe or punishments), and you shall recognize
them. And your Lord is not unaware of what you do."
Misunderstanding
the Qur’aanic subject!
I am
not sure that why people try to find such subjects in the Glorious Qur’aan,
which are outside of its narrations, while trying to prove all scientific and
physical realities and laws. Perhaps they think that Glorious Qur’aan will be
defective if these scientific realities could not be proved from it. This
notion prompts them to sincerely try to prove scientific facts from the
Glorious Qur’aan. I have said many times before that Glorious Qur’aan is not
a Book of science. Thus, the facts remain that science is not the real
subject of the Glorious Qur’aan. Mention of realities of this universe,
wherever found in the Qur’aan, Muslims must believe in it. However, try to
deduce a scientific fact or rule from Glorious Qur’aan is like attempting to
find details of medicine in the books of law.
The
Glorious Qur’aan is not
vague and/or ambiguous on its purpose. It has rather clarified in many Ayaat
the purpose of its revelation. For example following need readers attention in
the context.
2:2;
5:15-16; 5:19; 5:48; 6:55; 7:1; 7:63; 31:1-4; 32:1-3; 36:5-6; 39:2; 42:7;
45:18-20; 39:23.
The
above cited references are just the few examples, and if one ponders on them it
will be clear that the real purpose of Glorious Qur’aan is to exhort man to
prepare for the Hereafter, and to teach him to pass this life in accordance to
the Will of Allaah.
Please be advised that I do not mean to imply that it is wrong to
deduce a scientific fact from the Glorious Qur’aan. I also admit that there is
a mention of scientific realities in the Glorious Qur’aan as a passing
reference. Therefore, if a scientific fact is found in the Glorious Qur’aan,
there is nothing wrong is narrating it. But one must avoid making errors in
deducing the lessons from the Glorious Qur’aan.
We must also
be careful while drawing conclusions and/or in the exegesis of the Glorious
Qur’aan that the subject is clearly understood. Another thing about which we
must be very careful is the allegoric meanings in the Glorious Qur’aan.
Since sometimes a word is not used in its literal sense but in allegorical
sense.
Example of such meaning is that “lion” is a wild animal, but
sometimes it is used to describe a brave man. Like the title of Ali {RA} as Asad
ullâh or “Richard the lion heart.” The latter does not means that Richard
had the heart of a lion in his body.
Let us examine an example from the Glorious Qur’aan.
And they say, "Our hearts
are wrapped (i.e. do not hear or understand Allâh’s Word)." Nay, Allâh has
cursed them for their disbelief, so little
is that which they believe.
Sometimes the style of the Qur’aanic phrase may not allow for the literal meaning to be read, Glorious Qur’aan says,
And say: "The truth is from your Lord." Then whosoever wills, let him believe; and whosoever wills, let him disbelieve. Verily, We have prepared for the Zâliműn (polytheists and wrong-doers.), a Fire whose walls will be surrounding them (disbelievers in the Oneness of Allâh). And if they ask for help (relief, water), they will be granted water like boiling oil that will scald their faces. Terrible is the drink, and an evil Murtafaq (dwelling, resting place.)!
The exact literal meaning of these words would be that {Allaah forbid} this is a permission from Allaah to man
to believe or disbelieve as he chooses. But later on it says إِنَّا
أَعْتَدْنَا لِلظَّالِمِينَ
نَارًا {Verily,
We have prepared for the Zâliműn (polytheists and
wrong-doers.), a Fire}.
These words make it obvious that the Ayaah does not permit man to choose belief
or disbelief as his will, but that after having known the consequences of either path, man
is at liberty to remain in a state of disbelief or adopt the way of belief.
The author of the article goes on in his zeal and cites many more
Ayaat and attempts to make a link among them while emphasizing on the notion of
“the earth was scientifically proven to rotate around itself.”
This is followed by author’s claim:
“So, why did Allah Almighty say in the Noble Quran 1500 years ago that the earth is moving like the clouds?”
The claim of 1500 years ago is stretching the truth. Because it is
about 1,4 25 years ago to be exact, I am not sure why it is rounded to next century?
At the end of the article we find a mention of so-called miraculous number 19 along with a
hyper link. It is claimed that the web site is not a submitter or Rashad
Khalafa’s site. I like to point this out after the repeated failures the pseudo
Islaamic cults have adopted another rhetoric in form of a disclaimer, which is:
·
We are non-
sectarian, or
·
We don’t
believe in sectarianism, or
·
We are not
Qadyanis
·
We are not
etcetera…
These disclaimers provide the opportunity to blend in with the
Muslims without being detected and/or spotted. That follows by preying on naďve
and ignorant Muslims.
These fallacious views in the formulation of thoughts and ideology
are a major cause of coming to incorrect conclusions. This is because such
flaws are a path to shortcomings and results that are based on that flawed
thinking. The scholars of Islaam have played a very important role in
establishing Islaamic legal theory (ilm usool al-fiqh). It acts as the standard for the methodology
that one must follow in deriving laws from the evidences and sources. They
emphasized two important aspects:
1
The sources of law;
2
The manner
and methodology of derivation of laws (from the sources).
Upon
examining the work of many Islaamic web sites and many Muslims’ I find there is
definitely a shortcoming in the formation of ideology among their kind.
Ignorance! The most glaring and influential
aspects of this ignorance are found in the following realms:
·
Ignorance of the Glorious Qur’aan,
·
Ignorance of
Sunnah,
·
Ignorance of
the goals of Shariah,
·
Ignorance
of what is to be considered a proof and the tools used in deriving conclusions,
·
Ignorance of
the statements of scholars and their legacies,
·
Ignorance of
the Arabic language and its stylistic nuances,
·
Ignorance of history
and societal laws of Allaah in this creation,
·
Ignorance of reality and their environment and perspectives,
·
Ignorance of
the different levels of people and the different levels of deeds to be done,
Methodology:
Lacking in the methodology! The most glaring and influential aspects of this ignorance are found in the following realms:
·
Taking a very
literal approach to understanding the texts of Glorious Qur’aan and Hadith,
·
Failure to
see the “big picture’ and understand things in a comprehensive fashion,
·
Reinterpreting
the texts [to fit their preconceived notions],
·
Taking
directly from the texts themselves [without the proper background],
·
Following the
equivocal evidences [while ignoring the un equivocal
ones],
·
Failure to
reconcile seemingly contradictory evidences,
·
Lack of
objectivity (or in other words ulterior motives and/or following desires],
·
Making Ijtihaad
while not being qualified to do so and failing to take from the respected
sources of law,
The above are some most important reasons in brief that
breed all kind of extremism involving some Muslims, who are in fact ignorant of
Islaamic teachings. The individuals certainly defy the Divine Decree that is
found in Glorious Qur’aan 3:7!
هُوَ الَّذِي
أَنْزَلَ عَلَيْكَ
الْكِتَابَ مِنْهُ
آيَاتٌ مُحْكَمَاتٌ
هُنَّ أُمُّ الْكِتَابِ
وَأُخَرُ مُتَشَابِهَاتٌ
فَأَمَّا الَّذِينَ
فِي قُلُوبِهِمْ
زَيْغٌ فَيَتَّبِعُونَ
مَا تَشَابَهَ
مِنْهُ ابْتِغَاءَ
الْفِتْنَةِ وَابْتِغَاءَ
تَأْوِيلِهِ وَمَا يَعْلَمُ
تَأْوِيلَهُ إِلَّا
اللَّهُ وَالرَّاسِخُونَ
فِي الْعِلْمِ
يَقُولُونَ آمَنَّا
بِهِ كُلٌّ مِنْ
عِنْدِ رَبِّنَا
وَمَا يَذَّكَّرُ
إِلَّا أُولُو
الْأَلْبَابِ
It is He Who has sent down to you (Muhammad صلى الله عليه
وسلم)
the Book (this Qur’ân). In it are Verses that are entirely clear, they are the foundations of the Book (and those are the Verses of Al-Ahkâm (commandments), Al-Fara’id (obligatory
duties) and Al-Hudud (legal laws for the punishment of
thieves, adulterers)); and
others not entirely clear.
So as for those in whose hearts there is a deviation (from the truth) they
follow that which is not entirely clear thereof, seeking Al-Fitnah
(polytheism and trials), and seeking for its hidden meanings, but none knows its hidden
meanings save Allâh. And
those who are firmly grounded in knowledge say: "We believe in it; the
whole of it (clear and unclear Verses) are from our Lord." And none
receive admonition except men of understanding.
(Tafsir At-Tabarî).