The
Qur'an Challenge You
- Embryology -
The
Qur'an mentions man's origin and then tells the reader, "Research
it!" It gives the reader a hint where to look and then states that one
should find out more about it. This is the kind of thing that Muslims today
largely seem to overlook - but not always, as illustrated in the following
example. A few years ago, a group of men in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia collected all
if the verses in the Qur'an which discuss embryology - the growth of the human
being in the womb. They said, "Here is what the Qur'an says. Is it the
truth ?" In essence, they took the advice of the Qur'an: "Ask the men
who know." They chose, as it happened, a non-Muslim who is a professor of
embryology at the University of Toronto. His name is Keith Moore, and he is the
author of textbooks on embryology - a world expert on the subject. They invited
him to Riyadh and said, "This is what the Qur'an says about your subject.
Is it true ? What can you tell us ?" While he was in Riyadh, they gave him
all of the help that he needed in translation and all of the cooperation for
which he asked. And he was so surprised at what he found that he changed his
textbooks. In fact, in the second edition of one of his books, called (Before
we are born)... in the second edition about the history of embryology, he
included some material that was not in the first edition because of what he
found in the Qur'an. Truly this illustrates that the Qur'an was ahead of its
time and that those who believe in the Qur'an know what other people do not
know.
Dr.
Keith Moore mentioned that some of the
things that the Qur'an states about the growth of the human being were not
known until thirty years ago. In fact, he said that one item in particular -
the Qur'an's description of the human being as a "leech-like clot"
('alaqah) at one stage - was new to him; but when he checked on it, he found
that it was true, and so he added it to his book. He said, "I never
thought of that before," and he went to the zoology department and asked
for a picture of a leech. When he found that it looked just like the human
embryo, he decided to include both pictures in one of his textbooks. Dr. Moore
also wrote a book on clinical embryology, and when he presented this
information in Toronto, it caused quite a stir throughout Canada. It was on the
front pages of some of the newspapers across Canada, and some of the headlines
were quite funny. For instance, one headline read: "SURPRISING THING FOUND
IN ANCIENT BOOK !" ! It seems obvious from this example that people do not
clearly understand what it is all about. As a matter of fact, one newspaper reporter
asked Professor Moore, "Don't you think that maybe the Arabs might have
known about these things - the description of the embryo, its appearance and
how it changes and grows ? Maybe there were not scientists, but maybe they did
something crude dissections on their own - carved up people and examined these
things."
The
professor immediately pointed out to him that he [i.e., the reporter] had
missed a very important point - all of the slides of the embryo that had been
shown and had been projected in the film had come from pictures taken through a
microscope. He said, "It does not matter if someone had tried to discover
embryology fourteen centuries ago, they could not have seen it !". All of
the descriptions in the Qur'an of the appearance of the embryo are of the item
when it is still too small to see with the eye; therefore, one needs a
microscope to see it. Since such a device had only been around for little more
than two hundred years, Dr. Moore taunted, "Maybe fourteen centuries ago
someone secretly had a microscope and did this research, making no mistakes
anywhere. Then he somehow taught Muhammad and convinced him to put this
information in his book. Then he destroyed his equipment and kept it a secret
forever. Do you believe that ? You really should not unless you bring some
proof because it is such a ridiculous theory." In fact, when he was asked
"How do you explain this information in the Qur'an ?" Dr. Moore's
reply was, "It could only have been divinely revealed."!
Although
the aforementioned example of man researching information contained in the
Qur'an deals with a non-Muslim, it is still valid because he is one of those
who is knowledgeable in the subject being researched. Had some layman claimed
that what the Qur'an says about embryology is true, then one would not
necessarily have to accept his word. However, because of the high position,
respect, and esteem man gives scholars, one naturally assumes that if they
research a subject and arrive at a conclusion based on that research, then the conclusion
is valid. One of Professor Moore's colleagues, Marshall Johnson, deals
extensively with geology at the University of Toronto.
He
became very interested in the fact that the Qur'an's statements about
embryology are accurate, and so he asked Muslims to collect everything
contained in the Qur'an which deals with his specialty. Again people were very
surprised at the findings. Since there are a vast number subjects discussed in
the Qur'an, it would certainly require a large amount of time to exhaust each
subject. It suffices for the purpose of this discussion to state that the
Qur'an makes very clear and concise statements about various subjects while
simultaneously advising the reader to verify the authenticity of these
statements with research by scholars in those subjects. And as illustrated by
the Qur'an has clearly emerged authentic.
By Gary Miller