The Qur'an Challenge You
- Good Guesses -
- Good Guesses -
It is surprising how authentic the Qur'an becomes when
one assembles what might be referred to as a list of good guesses.
Mathematically, it can be explained using guessing and prediction examples. For
instance, if a person has two choices (i.e., one is right, and one is wrong),
and he closes his eyes and makes a choice, then half of the time (i.e., one
time out of two) he will be right. Basically, he has a one in two chance, for
he could pick the wrong choice, or he could pick the right choice. Now if the
same person has two situations like that (i.e., he could be right or wrong
about situation number one, and he could be right or wrong about situation
number two), and he closes his eyes and guesses, then he will only be right one
fourth of the time (i.e., one time out of four). He now has a one in four
chance because now there are three ways for him to be wrong and only one way
for him to be right. In simple terms, he could make the wrong choice in
situation number one and then make the wrong choice in situation number two; OR
he could make the wrong choice in situation number one and then make the right
choice in situation number two; OR he could make the right choice in situation
number one and then make the wrong choice in situation number two; OR he could
make the right choice in situation number one and then make the right choice in
situation number two. Of course, the (only instance in which he could be
totally right is the last scenario where he could guess correctly in both
situations. The odds of his guessing completely correctly have become greater
because the number of situations for him to guess in have increased; and the
mathematical equation representing such a scenario is 1/2 x 1/2 (i.e., one time
out of two for the first situation multiplied by one time out of two for the
second situation).
Continuing
on with the example, if the same person now has three situations in which to
make blind guesses, then he will only be right one eighth of the time (i.e.,
one time out of eight or 1/2 X 1/2 X 1/2). Again, the odds of choosing the
correct choice in all three situations have decreased his chances of being
completely correct to only one time in eight. It must be understood that as the
number of situations increase, the chances of being right decrease, for the two
phenomena are inversely proportional.
Now
applying this example to the situations in the Qur'an, if one draws up a list
of all of the subjects about which the Qur'an has made correct statements, it
becomes very clear that it is highly unlikely that they were all just correct
blind guesses. Indeed, the subjects discussed in the Qur'an are numerous, and
thus the odds of someone just making lucky guesses about all of them become
practically nil. If there are a million ways for the Qur'an to be wrong, yet
each time it is right, then it is unlikely that someone was guessing. The
following three examples of subjects about which the Qur'an has made correct
statements collectively illustrate how the Qur'an continues to beat the
odds.
In
the 16th chapter the Qur'an mentions that the female bee leaves its home to
gather food. Now, a person might guess on that, saying, "The bee that
you see flying around - it could be male, or it could be female. I think I will
guess female." Certainly, he has a one in two chance of being right. So it
happens that the Qur'an is right. But it also happens that was not what most
people believed at the time when the Qur'an was revealed. Can you tell the
difference between a male and a female bee ? Well, it takes a specialist to do
that, but it has been discovered that the male bee never leaves his home to
gather food. However, in Shakespeare's play, Henry the Fourth, some of the
characters discuss bees and mention that the bees are soldiers and have a king.
That is what people thought in Shakespeare's time - that the bees that one sees
flying around are male bees and that they go home and answer to a king.
However, that is not true at all. The fact is that they are females, and they
answer to a queen. Yet it took modern scientific investigations in the last 300
years to discover that this is the case.
So,
back to the list of good guesses, concerning the topic of bees, the Qur'an had
a 50/50 chance of being right, and the odds were one in two.
In
addition to the subject of bees, the Qur'an also discusses the sun and the
manner in which it travels through space. Again, a person can guess on that
subject. When the sun moves through space, there are two options: it can travel
just as a stone would travel if one threw it, or it can move of its own accord.
The Qur'an states the latter - that it moves as a result of its own motion. To do such, the Qur'an uses a form of the word sabaha to describe the sun's
movement through space. In order to properly provide the reader with a comprehensive
understanding of the implications of this Arabic verb, the following example is
given. If a man is in water and the verb sabaha is applied in reference to his
movement, it can be understood that he is swimming, moving of his own accord
and not as a result of a direct force applied to him. Thus when this verb is
used in reference to the sun's movement through space, it in no way implies
that the sun is flying uncontrollably through space as a result of being hurled
or the like. It simply means that the sun is turning and rotating as it
travels. Now, this is what the Qur'an affirms, but was it an easy thing to
discover ? Can any common man tell that the sun is turning ? Only in modern
times was the equipment made available to project the image of the sun onto a
tabletop so that one could look at it without being blinded. And through this
process it was discovered that not only are there three spots on the sun but
that these spots move once every 25 days. This movement is referred to as the
rotation of the sun around its axis and conclusively proves that, as the Qur'an
stated 1400 years ago, the sun does, indeed turn as it travels through
space.
And
returning once again to the subject of good guess, the odds of guessing
correctly about both subjects - the sex of bees and the movement of the sun -
are one in four !
Seeing as back fourteen centuries ago people probably did not understand much
about time zones, the Quran's statements about this subject are considerably
surprising. The concept that one family is having breakfast as the sun comes up
while another family is enjoying the brisk night air is truly something to be
marveled at, even in modern time. Indeed, fourteen centuries ago, a man could
not travel more than thirty miles in one day, and thus it took him literally
months to travel from India to Morocco, for example. And probably , when he was
having supper in Morocco, he thought to himself, "Back home in India they
are having supper right now." This is because he did not realize that, in
the process of traveling, he moved across a time zone. Yet, because it is the
words of Allah, the All-Knowing, the Qur'an recognizes and acknowledges such a
phenomenon. In an interesting verse it states that when history comes to an end
and the Day of Judgment arrives, it will all occurring an instant; and this
very instant will catch some people in the daytime and some people at night.
This clearly illustrates Allah's divine wisdom and His previous knowledge of
the existence of time zones, even though such a discovery was non-existent back
fourteen centuries ago. Certainly, this phenomenon is not something which is
obvious to one's eyes or a result of one's experience, and this fact, in
itself, suffices as proof of the Qur'an's authenticity.
Returning one final time to the subject of good guesses for the purpose of the present example, the odds that someone guessed correctly about all three of the aforementioned subjects - the sex of bees, the movement of the sun and the existence of time zones - are one in eight !
Returning one final time to the subject of good guesses for the purpose of the present example, the odds that someone guessed correctly about all three of the aforementioned subjects - the sex of bees, the movement of the sun and the existence of time zones - are one in eight !
Certainly,
one could continue on and on with this example, drawing up longer and longer
list of good guesses; and of course, the odds would become higher and higher
with each increase of subjects about which one could guess. But what no one can
deny is the following; the odds that Mohammed an illiterate, guessed correctly
about thousands and thousands of subjects, never once making a mistake, are so
high that any theory of his authorship of the Qur'an must be completely
dismissed - even by the most hostile enemies of Islam !
Indeed,
the Qur'an expects this kind of challenge. Undoubtedly, if one said to someone
upon entering a foreign land, "I know your father. I have met him,"
probably the man from that land would doubt the newcomer's word, saying,
"You have just come here. How could you know my father ?" As a
result, he would question him, "Tell me, is my father tall, short, dark,
fair ? What is he like ?" Of course, if the visitor continued answering
all of the questions correctly, the skeptic would have no choice but to say,
"I guess you do know my father. I don't know how you know him, but I guess
you do !" The situation is the same with the Qur'an. It states that it
originates from the One who created everything. So everyone has the right to
say, "Convince me ! If the author of this book really originated life and
everything in the heavens and on the earth, then He should know about this,
about that, and so on." And inevitably, after researching the Qur'an,
everyone will discover the same truths. Additionally, we all know something for
sure: we do not all have to be experts to verify what the Qur'an affirms. One's
iman (faith) grows as one continues to check and confirm the truths contained
in the Qur'an. And one is supposed to do so all of his life.
By Gary Miller
By Gary Miller