The Qur'an Leads the Way to Science: The Scientific Miracles of the Qur'an

The matchless style of the Qur'an and its superior wisdom are definitive proof that it is the word of God. In addition, the Qur'an has many miraculous attributes proving that it was sent down from God's Presence. One of these attributes is that scientific truths brought to light by 20th-century technology were stated in the Qur'an 1400 years ago.

Of course, the Qur'an is not a book of science. However, certain scientific truths stated in various verses in an extremely detailed and wise manner were discovered only with the technology of the 20th century. This information, which it was impossible to prove scientifically at the time the Qur'an was revealed, proves once again to the people of our time that the Qur'an is the word of God.

In order to understand the scientific miracle of the Qur'an, one must first look at the level of science at the time this Divine Book was revealed.

In the century in which the Qur'an was revealed, Arab society held many superstitions and false beliefs on scientific subjects. The Arabs, who did not possess the technology to study the universe and nature, believed in legends handed down from generation to generation. For example, they thought that the sky was held up by the mountains. According to this belief, the world was flat and there were high mountains at both ends of it. They thought that each of these mountains held up the vault of the sky like a pillar.

But all these false beliefs of Arab society were done away with by the verses revealed by God. For example, this verse states that the belief that the sky is held aloft by the mountains is not true:

On many more similar subjects, important information that no one of that time knew was given in the Qur'an.

The Qur'an, revealed at a time when people had very little knowledge of astronomy, physics or biology, contained precise and correct information on many subjects, from the creation of the universe to the creation of man, and from the structure of the atmosphere to the regularities on the earth.

Let us now look at a few of these scientific miracles in the Qur'an.

The Creation of the Universe

In the Holy Qur'an the creation of the universe is explained as follows:

This information that God gives in the Qur'an coincides entirely with modern scientific discoveries. The definitive conclusion that astrophysics has reached today is that the entire universe, together with the dimensions of matter and time, came into being at time zero through a great explosion. The "Great Explosion" theory, known by its original name as the "Big Bang", has proven that the entire universe came into being from nothingness about 15 billion years ago through the explosion of a single point. The Big Bang theory is today the scientific explanation commonly accepted by all scientific circles concerning the formation and beginning of the universe.

Before the "Big Bang" there was no such thing as matter. Matter, energy and time were created out of a state of nothingness, in which matter, energy and even time did not exist, and which can only be conceived of metaphysically. God informed us in the Qur'an 1400 years ago of this great truth that modern physics has discovered.

The Expansion of the Universe

In the Holy Qur'an, revealed 14 centuries ago at a time when the science of astronomy was still undeveloped, the expansion of the universe is described as follows:

The word "heaven" in the verse is used in many places in the Qur'an to mean "space" and "the universe". Here too it has this meaning. In other words, God stated in the Qur'an that the universe is expanding. This is also the conclusion that science has reached today.

Until the beginning of our century, the only view that prevailed in the world of science was that "the universe has a static structure and has existed for all eternity". In our time, however, research, observations and calculations carried out with the help of technology revealed that the universe had a beginning and is continuously "expanding".

The Russian physicist Alexander Friedmann and the Belgian astrophysicist Georges Lemaître calculated theoretically at the beginning of the 20th century that the universe is in constant motion and is expanding.

This truth was also proven by observation in 1929. While studying the sky with a giant telescope, the American astronomer Edwin Hubble discovered that the stars and galaxies are continuously moving away from one another. A universe in which everything is continuously moving away from everything else meant a continuously "expanding" universe. In the following years the fact that the universe is expanding was confirmed by further observations.

Yet this truth was revealed in the Qur'an when it was not yet known to any human being. For the Qur'an is the word of God, the Creator and Ruler of the entire universe.

Orbits

In giving information in the Qur'an about the Sun and the Moon, God also stated that each of them has a definite orbit:

The fact that the Sun is not stationary but moves in a definite orbit is stated in another verse as follows:

These truths stated in the Qur'an have been revealed by astronomical observations in our time. According to the calculations of astronomers, the Sun is moving at a speed of 720,000 kilometres an hour towards the star Vega along an orbit called the "Solar Apex". According to this calculation, the Sun travels 17,280,000 km a day. Together with the Sun, all the planets and satellites within its gravitational pull also travel the same distance. In addition, all the stars in the universe have a similar planned motion.

God again informs us in the Qur'an of the fact that orbits have been determined in this way for the entire universe:

There are approximately 200 billion galaxies in the universe, and in each galaxy there are about 200 billion stars. Most of these stars have planets, and these planets have satellites. All these heavenly bodies have very precisely determined orbits, and for millions of years each has been moving in its own orbit in flawless harmony and order with the others. Apart from these, there are many comets, which also move along determined orbits.

The orbits in the universe do not belong only to the heavenly bodies. Galaxies too move at amazing speeds along planned and precise orbits. As they move in this way, they do not collide with any heavenly body and their paths do not cross. Indeed, it has been observed that some galaxies pass through one another without touching each other.

Of course, at the time the Qur'an was revealed, humanity did not possess telescopes observing space over distances of millions of kilometres as today, advanced observation technologies, or modern physical and astronomical knowledge. Consequently, it was impossible at that time to establish scientifically that the universe, as stated in the verse, has "(various star) paths". Only in the Holy Qur'an, revealed at that time, was this truth clearly made known to us, because the Qur'an is the word of God.

The Protective Roof

In the Qur'an God draws attention to an interesting attribute of the sky as follows:

This attribute of the sky was proven by scientific research in the 20th century.

The atmosphere surrounding the Earth on all sides performs extremely vital functions for the continuation of life. It melts and destroys a great many meteors, large and small, approaching the Earth, and prevents them from falling to the earth and doing great harm to living things.

At the same time, the atmosphere also filters the rays coming from space that are harmful to living things. Interestingly, the atmosphere lets through only rays in harmless amounts, that is, light, infrared rays and radio waves. For these are the rays needed for life. The ultraviolet rays that the atmosphere lets through in a certain amount are of great importance for the process of photosynthesis in plants and, consequently, for the survival of all living things. Most of the strong ultraviolet rays emitted by the Sun are filtered out in the ozone layer of the atmosphere, and only the small portion needed for life reaches the Earth.

The protective attribute of the atmosphere does not end there. The Earth is also protected by the atmosphere from the freezing cold of space, about -270 degrees.

It is not only the atmosphere that protects the Earth from harmful effects. Together with the atmosphere, a layer called the "Van Allen belts", formed in the Earth's magnetic field, also serves as a shield against harmful rays coming to our planet. These rays, which are continuously emitted by the Sun and other stars, have a lethal effect on human beings. In particular, the bursts of energy called "flares", which frequently occur on the Sun, are powerful enough to destroy all life on earth were it not for the "Van Allen belts".

It has been determined that the energy released in a flare that occurred in recent years was 100 billion times more powerful than the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima. 58 hours after the flare, excessive movements were observed in the needles of compasses, and at an altitude of 250 km in the Earth's atmosphere the temperature suddenly leapt to 2500°C.

In short, a perfect system operates above the Earth, surrounding it and protecting it against external dangers. God informed us centuries ago in the Qur'an of this protective-shield attribute of the sky.

The Returning Sky

In the Holy Qur'an, the 11th verse of Surat at-Tariq speaks of the "returning" attribute of the sky.

The word translated in the verse as "returning" means "sending back" or "causing to go round".

Interestingly, this attribute of the sky stated in the Qur'an was established scientifically centuries after the revelation of the Qur'an.

It is known that the atmosphere surrounding the Earth consists of several layers. Each layer has an important function serving the protection of life. When studied, it was determined that each layer has the property of returning the matter or rays that fall upon it to space or to the earth.

For example, the troposphere, at an altitude of 13-15 km, enables the water vapour rising from the earth to condense and return as rain.

The ozonosphere, at an altitude of 25 km, reflects the radiation and harmful ultraviolet rays coming from space and ensures that they return to space before reaching the earth.

The ionosphere layer, acting like a satellite, reflects the radio waves broadcast from the earth back to different regions of the earth, enabling wireless telephone, radio and television broadcasts to be received over long distances.

The magnetosphere layer of the atmosphere returns to space the harmful radioactive particles emitted by the Sun and other stars before they reach the earth.

The Layers of the Atmosphere

One of the pieces of information that God gives about the universe in the verses of the Qur'an is that the sky is arranged as seven layers:

Just as the word "heaven" is used in the Qur'an to express the whole universe, it is also used to express the sky above the Earth. Taking this meaning of the word, it follows that the sky above the Earth, in other words the atmosphere, consists of 7 layers.

Indeed, it is known today that the Earth's atmosphere is made up of different layers lying one on top of the other. Moreover, as stated in the verse, of exactly seven main layers...

Scientists have discovered that the atmosphere consists of many layers. The layers differ from one another in definite physical properties, such as their pressure and the combination of gases that make them up... The layer of the atmosphere closest to the Earth is the "TROPOSPHERE". It contains 90% of the total mass of the atmosphere... The layer above the troposphere is the "STRATOSPHERE"... The layer in the stratosphere where ultraviolet rays are absorbed is called the "OZONOSPHERE"... The layer above the stratosphere is called the "MESOSPHERE"... Above the mesosphere lies the "THERMOSPHERE"... Ionised gases form a layer within the thermosphere called the "IONOSPHERE"... The uppermost layer of the Earth's atmosphere extends from 450 km to 960 km. This layer is called the "EXOSPHERE".⁴⁶

When we count the layers mentioned in this source, we see that the atmosphere consists of exactly 7 layers, as stated in the verse:

1- TROPOSPHERE 2- STRATOSPHERE 3- OZONOSPHERE 4- MESOSPHERE 5- THERMOSPHERE 6- IONOSPHERE 7- EXOSPHERE Another important miracle on this subject is stated in the sentence in the 12th verse of Surah Fussilat, "and revealed, in every heaven, its own mandate". In other words, it is revealed that God has assigned a definite function to each layer. Indeed, as we saw in the previous sections, each of the layers we have listed above performs very vital functions for the benefit of human beings and all living things on earth. Every layer has a definite function of its own, from the formation of rain to the blocking of harmful rays, and from the reflection of radio waves to the neutralising of meteors.

That this information, which it would have been impossible to obtain without 20th-century technology, is clearly stated in the Holy Qur'an, revealed 1400 years ago, is a very great miracle.

The Function of the Mountains

The Qur'an draws attention to the important geological function of the mountains:

If one pays attention, it is revealed that mountains have a property that prevents shaking on the earth.

This truth, which was not known to any human being at the time the Qur'an was revealed, became known as a result of the discoveries of modern geology. According to geological discoveries, mountains are formed as a result of the movements and collisions of the huge plates that make up the earth's crust.

When two plates collide, the stronger one slides under the other. The plate that remains on top rises and forms the mountains. The plate underneath moves beneath the ground and forms a deep extension downwards. In other words, mountains have roots extending down under the ground as large as the parts we see above the ground.

In this way, at the junction points of the earth's plates, the mountains extend both above and below the ground and fasten these plates to one another. Thus, by making the earth's crust stable, they prevent it from sliding over the magma layer or among its own plates. In short, we can liken mountains to nails holding pieces of wood together.

In another verse, God likens the mountains to "pegs" because of this function, as follows:

This stabilising property of mountains is expressed in the scientific literature by the term "isostasy". The meaning of isostasy is as follows:

"Isostasy: in geology, the maintenance of the general equilibrium of the earth's crust by means of the gravitational force of the earth that mountains create below the earth's surface."⁴⁷

As can be seen, a very important function of the mountains, discovered as a result of modern geological and seismic research, was stated in the Holy Qur'an, revealed centuries ago, as an example of the supreme wisdom that proves the existence of God. In another verse it is said:

Fingerprints

In the Qur'an, while it is stated that it is very easy for God to bring people back to life after death, attention is drawn especially to people's fingertips:

The emphasis on the fingertips is extremely wise. For the fingerprints of all people are entirely their own. The fingerprint of every person living in the world is different from everyone else's. Likewise, those of the people who have lived throughout history are also different from one another.

For this very reason, the fingerprint is regarded as a very important "identity card" peculiar to each person, and it is used for this purpose all over the world.

The important thing here, however, is that the fingerprint was discovered only at the end of the 19th century. Before that, people regarded fingerprints as lines with no particular feature or meaning. Yet the Qur'an emphasises fingerprints, which attracted nobody's attention at that time, and draws attention to the significance of these prints, which has become known only in our time.

The Movement of the Mountains

One verse states that the mountains are not stationary as they appear, but are constantly moving:

The movement of the mountains is due to the movement of the earth's crust on which they are located. The earth's crust moves as if floating on the mantle layer, which is denser than itself. At the beginning of this century, a German scientist named Alfred Wegener was the first to state that the continents on earth had been joined together in the earliest periods of the world and had later moved in different directions, separating and drifting away from one another.

However, geologists were able to prove that Wegener was right only 50 years after his death, that is, in the 1980s. As Wegener stated in an article he published in 1915, the land masses on earth were joined to one another about 500 million years ago, and this great land mass, called Pangaea, covered the South Pole.

About 180 million years ago Pangaea split into two parts. One of these two giant continents, which moved in different directions, became Gondwana, which included Africa, Australia, Antarctica and India. The other was Laurasia, consisting of Europe, North America and Asia without India. After this break-up, over a period of about 150 million years, Gondwana and Laurasia broke up at various times into smaller parts.

These continents, formed by the break-up of Pangaea, are drifting over the Earth's surface at a rate of a few centimetres a year, continuously changing the boundary between land and sea.

This movement of the earth's crust, discovered as a result of geological research carried out at the beginning of the 20th century, is explained in scientific sources as follows:

"The earth's surface, 100 km thick, consisting of the crust and the upper mantle, is made up of segments called 'plates'. There are six major plates and a great many smaller plates making up the earth's surface. According to the theory called 'plate tectonics', these plates move over the earth, carrying the continents and the ocean floor along with them... The movement of the continents has been calculated at 1-5 cm a year. As the plates move in this way, changes occur in the geography of the world. For example, the Atlantic Ocean becomes a little wider every year."⁴⁸

One important point must be specially noted here: God has described the movement of the mountains in the verse as "going past". Indeed, the English term that scientists use today for this movement is "Continental Drift".⁴⁹

That this scientific truth, newly discovered by science, is stated in the Qur'an is, without doubt, one of the miracles of the Qur'an.

The Fertilising Winds

In one verse of the Qur'an, attention is drawn to the "fertilising" property of the winds and to the formation of rain as a result of this:

The verse draws attention to the fact that the first stage in the formation of rain is the winds. In fact, until the beginning of this century it was not known that there was any connection between the wind and the falling of rain. That winds play an important "fertilising" role in the formation of rain was revealed by modern meteorological studies.

This fertilising property of the winds comes about as follows:

On the surface of the oceans and seas, as a result of foaming, countless air bubbles form at every moment. When these bubbles burst, they throw thousands of particles, about one hundredth of a millimetre in size, into the air. These particles, called "aerosols", mix with dust carried by the winds from the land and are carried to the upper layers of the atmosphere. The particles carried aloft in this way by the winds combine there with water vapour. The water vapour gathers around these particles, grows heavier and turns into water droplets. These water droplets first combine to form clouds and, after a while, fall to the earth as rain.

As can be seen, the winds "fertilise" the water vapour floating freely in the air with the particles they carry from the seas, and thus enable rain clouds to form.

If the winds did not have this property, water droplets would not form in the upper atmosphere and there would be no such thing as rain.

The essential point here is that this decisive role that the winds play in the formation of rain was stated centuries ago in a verse of the Qur'an. And that at a time when people had no knowledge of natural phenomena...

The Measure in Rain

Another piece of information given in the Qur'an about rain is that rain is sent down in a certain measure. In Surat az-Zukhruf it is said:

This measure in rain has again been determined by research in our time. According to calculations, 16 million tons of water evaporate from the earth every second. This amount of evaporated water comes to 513 trillion tons of water a year. This is at the same time the amount of rain that falls on the Earth. In other words, water continuously circulates in a balance, "in a measure". The continuation of life on earth is also ensured by this water cycle. Even if man were to use all the technological means at his disposal, he could never reproduce this cycle artificially.

If a small change were to occur in this amount, a great ecological imbalance would arise within a short time, and this would put an end to life. But this never happens: as stated in the Qur'an, rain continues to fall on the earth in the same amount every year.

The Seas Not Mixing with One Another

A property of the seas determined by researchers only in the very recent past is stated in the following verse of the Qur'an:

This property of the seas stated in the verse was discovered by oceanographers some time ago. It has emerged that, because of a physical force called "surface tension", the waters of neighbouring seas do not mix. Surface tension, arising from the different densities of the seas, prevents the waters from mixing with one another as if it were a wall.

What is interesting, of course, is that this truth was stated in the Qur'an at a time when people had no knowledge of physics, of surface tension or of the science of oceanography.

The Sex of the Child

Until recent times people thought that the sex of a child was determined by the mother's cells, or supposed that the cells coming from the mother and the father determined the sex together. In the Qur'an, however, different information was given on this matter, and it was stated that maleness and femaleness are created from "a sperm-drop when it is ejaculated":

The truth of this information that God gives in the Qur'an was also proven scientifically with the development of such sciences as genetics and microbiology. It became known that sex is determined entirely by the sperm cells coming from the man, and that the woman has no role in this.

The main factor in the determination of sex is the chromosomes. Two of the 46 chromosomes that determine the human structure are called sex chromosomes. These two chromosomes are XY in the man and XX in the woman. The reason for this is that the chromosomes resemble these letters. The Y chromosome carries the male genes, and the X chromosome the female genes.

The formation of a human being begins with the combination of one each of these chromosomes, which are found in pairs in the man and the woman. In the woman, both halves of the cell that divides in two on the eve of the fertilisation of the ovum carry the X chromosome. In the man, the cell that divides in two produces two different sperm, carrying the X and Y chromosomes. If the X chromosome in the woman combines with a sperm from the man carrying the X chromosome, the child to be born will be a girl. If it combines with a sperm carrying the Y chromosome, the child to be born will be a boy.

In other words, the sex of the child to be born depends on which of the man's chromosomes combines with the woman's ovum.

Without doubt, none of this was known until the science of genetics came into being, that is, until the 20th century. On the contrary, among many peoples it was believed that the sex of the child to be born was determined by the woman's body. Indeed, for this reason women who gave birth to girls were reproached.

In the Qur'an, however, people were given information refuting this false belief 13 centuries before the discovery of genes, and it was stated that the origin of sex is not the woman but the sperm-drop coming from the man.

The "Alaq" That Clings to the Womb

As we continue to study the information that God gives about the creation of man, we again come across very important scientific miracles.

When the sperm coming from the man and the ovum in the woman combine, the first nucleus of the child to be born is formed. This single cell, called a "zygote" in biology, divides and multiplies without losing any time and gradually becomes a small "lump of flesh".

The "zygote", however, does not grow in a void; it clings to the wall of the womb. It attaches itself there by means of its protrusions, like roots settling into the soil. By means of these roots it is able to draw from the mother's body the substances it needs for its development.

It is precisely here that a very important miracle of the Qur'an emerges. When speaking in the Qur'an of the "zygote" that attaches itself to the mother's womb and begins to grow, God uses the word "alaq".

Translated from Arabic, the meaning of the word "alaq" is "something that clings to a place". Indeed, this word is also used for leeches, which attach themselves to the skin and suck blood from it.

Without doubt, the use of a word that points to this property of the "zygote" growing in the mother's womb proves once again that the Qur'an was revealed by God, the Lord of the worlds.

The Covering of the Bones with Muscle

Another important piece of information stated in the verses of the Qur'an is the stages of man's development in the mother's womb. The verses reveal that in the mother's womb the bones form first, and that the muscles then form and cover these bones:

The field of science that studies development in the mother's womb is embryology. In the field of embryology, until recently it was thought that the bones and muscles formed and developed together. For this reason some people claimed for a long time that these verses were contrary to science. However, microscopic research carried out with the help of advanced technologies has proven that what is stated in the Qur'an is entirely correct.

This microscopic research shows that in the mother's womb a process takes place exactly as described in the verses. First, the cartilage tissue in the embryo turns into bone. Then the muscle cells separate from the tissue around the bones, combine and cover these bones.

This is explained as follows in the scientific publication entitled Developing Human:

"In the sixth week, as a continuation of chondrification, the first ossification takes place in the clavicle. By the end of the seventh week, ossification also begins in the long bones. While the bones continue to form, the muscle cells separate from the tissue surrounding the bone and form the muscle mass. In this way the muscle tissue around the bone divides into anterior and posterior muscle groups."⁵⁰

In short, the stages of human development described in the Qur'an coincide entirely with the discoveries of modern embryology.

The Three Stages of the Child's Development in the Mother's Womb

The Qur'an states that man is created in the mother's womb through a three-stage creation:

If we pay attention, the verse indicates that man is created in the mother's womb by passing through three separate stages of development, different from one another.

Indeed, modern biology today has revealed that the embryological development of the child in the mother's womb takes place in three different stages. This subject is among the most basic knowledge in all the embryology books used as textbooks in faculties of medicine today. For example, in Basic Human Embryology, regarded as one of the main sources on embryology, this truth is expressed as follows:

"Life in the uterus has three stages: pre-embryonic (the first two and a half weeks), embryonic (until the end of the eighth week) and fetal (from the eighth week to birth)."⁵¹

These stages, called "trimesters", that is, "three periods", in medical language, are the different stages of the child's development. The main features of these three stages of development are as follows:

• The pre-embryonic stage:

In this first stage, more often called the "1st trimester", the "zygote" divides and multiplies and, after becoming a mass of cells, attaches itself to the wall of the womb. As the cells continue to multiply, they are organised into three layers.

• The embryonic stage:

The second stage, also called the "2nd trimester", lasts only five and a half weeks, and during this period the creature is called an "embryo". In this stage the main organs and systems of the body form from the cell layers.

• The fetal stage:

In the stage called the "3rd trimester" of pregnancy, the embryo is now called a "fetus". This stage begins from the eighth week of pregnancy and continues until birth. What distinguishes it from the previous stage is that it is a creature with the outward appearance of a human being, recognisable by its face, hands and feet. Although it is only 3 cm long at the beginning of this stage, all its organs have formed. The characteristic of this 30-week stage is growth and change in size in the fetus up to the week of birth.

This information concerning development in the mother's womb was obtained only as a result of observations carried out with modern technological devices. Yet, as can be seen, this information, like many other scientific truths, was revealed in a miraculous way in the verses of the Qur'an.

"We have instructed man concerning his parents. Bearing him caused his mother great debility and the period of his weaning was two years:

That such detailed and correct information was given in the Qur'an at a time when humanity had no detailed knowledge in the field of medicine is, of course, clear proof that the Qur'an is the Word of God.

Mother's Milk

Mother's milk is a matchless food created by God to meet the child's need for nourishment completely and to protect the child against possible infections. Even baby foods prepared with the technology of our time cannot replace this miraculous food.

The benefits of mother's milk for the child are being identified more and more. One of the truths that science has discovered concerning mother's milk is that it is extremely beneficial for the child to be fed on mother's milk for 2 years. God informed us of this important information, newly discovered by science, 14 centuries ago with the verse "...and the period of his weaning was two years...".

Conclusion

All the information we have examined shows us one truth clearly. The Qur'an is such a book that all the tidings given in it have proved true, and truths that were known to no human being at that time were revealed in its verses. Of course, this is clear proof that the Qur'an is not the word of man. The Qur'an is the word of God Most High, Who created everything from nothing and encompasses all beings with His knowledge.

In a verse God says the following concerning the Qur'an:

Just as there is no contradiction in the Qur'an, every piece of information given in it reveals ever more new miracles of this Divine Book. What falls to man is to hold fast to this Divine Book sent by God and to accept it as his guide. In one of His verses God tells us: