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BIBLE, QUR’AN AND SCIENCE
We have now come to the last subject I would like to present in this shortpamphlet: it is the
comparison between modern knowledge and passages in the Qur’an that are alsoreferred to in the Bible.
Creation
We have already come across some of the contradictions between scripture andscience regarding the creation of the universe. When dealing with that topic, Istressed the perfect agreement between modern knowledge and verses in theQur’an, and pointed out that the Biblical narration contained statements thatwere scientifically unacceptable. This is hardly surprising if we are awarethat the narration of the creation contained in the Bible was the work ofpriests living in the sixth century BC, hence the term ‘sacerdotal’ ( priestly) narration is officially used to refer to it. The narration seems to have beenconceived as the theme of a sermon designed to exhort people to observe theSabbath. The narration was constructed with a definite end in view, and asFather de Vaux (a former head of the Biblical School of Jerusalem) has noted,this end was essentially legalist in character.
The Bible also contains a much shorter and older narration of Creation, theso-called ‘Yahvist’ version, which approaches the subject from a completelydifferent angle. They are both taken from Genesis, the first book of thePentateuch or Torah. Moses is supposed to have been its author, but the text wehave today has undergone many changes.
The sacerdotal narration of Genesis is famous for its whimsical genealogies,that go back to Adam, and which nobody takes very seriously. Nevertheless, suchGospel authors as Matthew and Luke have reproduced them, more or lessword-for-word, in their genealogies of Jesus. Matthew goes back as far asAbraham, and Luke to Adam. These writings are scientifically unacceptable,because they set a date for the age of the world and the time humans appearedon Earth, which most definitely contradicts what modern science has firmlyestablished. The Qur’an, on the other hand, is completely free of dates of thiskind.
Earlier on, we noted how perfectly the Qur’an agrees with modern ideas onthe formation of the Universe. On the other hand, the Biblical narration ofprimordial waters is hardly, nor is the creation of light on the first daybefore the creation of the stars which produce this light; the existence of anevening and a morning before the creation of the earth; the creation of theearth on the third day before that of the sun on the fourth; the appearance ofbeasts of the earth on the sixth day after the appearance of the birds of theair on the fifth day, although the former came first. All these statements arethe result of beliefs prevalent at the time this text was written and do nothave any other meaning.
Age of the Earth
As for the Biblical genealogies which form the basis of the Jewish calendarand assert that today the world is 5738 years old, these are hardly admissibleeither. Our solar system may well be four and a quarter billion years old, andthe appearance of human beings on earth, as we know him today, may be estimatedin tens of thousands of years, if not more. It is absolutely essential,therefore, to note that the Qur’an does not contain any such indications as tothe age of the world, and that these are specific to the Biblical text.
The Flood
There is a second highly significant subject of comparison between the Bibleand the Qur’an; descriptions of the deluge. In actual fact, the Biblicalnarration is a fusion of two descriptions in which events are relateddifferently. The Bible speaks of a universal flood and places it roughly 300years before Abraham.
According to what we know of Abraham, this would imply a universal cataclysmaround the twenty-first or twenty-second century BC This story would beuntenable, in view of presently available historical data. How can we acceptthe idea that, in the twenty-first or twenty-second century BC, all civilizationwas wiped off the face of the earth by a universal cataclysm, when we know thatthis period corresponds, for example, to the one preceding the Middle Kingdomin Egypt, at roughly the date of the first Intermediary period before theeleventh dynasty? It is historically unacceptable to maintain that, at thistime, humanity was totally wiped out. None of the preceding statements isacceptable according to modern knowledge. From this point of view, we canmeasure the enormous gap separating the Bible from the Qur’an.
In contrast to the Bible, the narration contained in the Qur’an deals with acataclysm that is limited to Noah’s people. They were punished for their sins,as were other ungodly peoples. The Qur’an does not fix the cataclysm in time.There are absolutely no historical or archaeological objections to thenarration in the Qur’an.
The Pharaoh
A third point of comparison, which is extremely significant, is the story ofMoses, and especially the Exodus from Egypt of the Hebrews. Here I canonly give a highly compressed account of a study on this subject that appearsin my book. I have noted the points where the Biblical and Qur’anic narrationsagree and disagree, and I have found points where the two texts complement eachother in a very useful way.
Among the many hypotheses, concerning the historical time-frame occupied bythe Exodus in the history of the pharaohs, I have concluded that the mostlikely is the theory which makes Merneptah, Ramesses II’s successor, thepharaoh of the Exodus. The comparison of the data contained in the Scriptureswith archeological evidence strongly supports this hypothesis. I am pleased tobe able to say that the Biblical narration contributes weighty evidence leadingus to situate Moses in the history of the pharaohs. Moses was probably bornduring the reign of Ramesses II. Biblical data. are therefore of considerablehistorical value in the story of Moses. A medical study of the mummy ofMerneptah has yielded further useful information on the possible causes of thispharaoh’s death. The fact that we possess the mummy of this pharaoh is one ofparamount importance. The Bible records that pharaoh was engulfed in the sea,but does not give any details as to what subsequently became of his corpse. TheQur’an, in chapter Yoonus, notes that the body of the pharaoh would be savedfrom the waters:
“Today I will save your dead body so that you may be a sign for those whocome after you.” Qur’an, 10:92
A medical examination of this mummy, has, shown that the body could not havestayed in the water for long, because it does not show signs of deteriorationdue to prolonged submersion. Here again, the comparison between the narrationin the Qur’an and the data provided by modern knowledge does not give rise tothe slightest objection from a scientific point of view.
Such points of agreement are characteristic of the Qur’anic revelation. But,are we throwing the Judeo-Christian revelation into discredit and depriving itof all its intrinsic value by stressing the faults as seen from a scientificpoint of view? I think not because the criticism is not aimed at the text as awhole, but only at certain passages. There are parts of the Bible which have anundoubted historical value. I have shown that in my book, The Bible, The Qur’anand Science, where I discuss passages which enable us to locate Moses in time.
The main causes which brought about such differences as arise from thecomparison between the Holy Scriptures and modern knowledge is known to modernscholars. The Old Testament constitutes a collection of literary works producedin the course of roughly nine centuries and which has undergone manyalterations. The part played by men in the actual composition of the texts ofthe Bible is quite considerable.
The Qur’anic revelation, on the other hand, has a history which is radicallydifferent. As we have already seen, from the moment it was first commto humans,it was learnt by heart and written down during Muhammad’s own lifetime. It isthanks to this fact that the Qur’an does not pose any problem of authenticity.
A totally objective examination of the Qur’an, in the light of modernknowledge, leads us to recognize the agreement between the two, as has alreadybeen noted on repeated occasions throughout this presentation.
It makes us deem it quite unthinkable for a man of Muhammad’s time to havebeen the author of such statements, on account of the state of knowledge in hisday. Such considerations are part of what gives the Qur’anic revelation itsunique place among religious and non-religious texts, and forces the impartialscientist to admit his inability to provide an explanation based solely uponmaterialistic reasoning.
Such facts as I have had the pleasure of exposing to you here, appear torepresent a genuine challenge to human explanation leaving only onealternative: the Qur’an is undoubtedly a revelation from God.
[Holy] Quran : Top Scientists Comments on Scientific Miracles in the Quran * # Faith and Science #
