The Quran not
only anticipated the philosophical trends of human mind in future ages, but it
has at times even forestalled certain writings of some great revolutionary
authors of the world. Judging from the pattern of such anticipative glimpses of
the Quran it may seem, as if the Quran did expect these questions and writings
and had placed the answers well prepared before-hand. Proofs of this nature have
already been found in the previous chapters concerning the comparative trends of
the two philosophies, that of the unscientific scientist and the Quran, and a
discerning eye might not have failed to observe, but we now intend to present a
few instances of extra-ordinarily conspicuous colour in this respect. At times
the point takes the form of a dialogue between the author of twelve pages and
the Quran, while the retorts, repartees, rebukes or consoling remarks of the
Quran throw the audience into surprise before the undeniable supremacy, never
fainting brilliance, unfathomable and infallible knowledge of the scriptures,
sparking amidst astonishingly oracular faculty of an unusual order. If all this
is not recognized and acknowledged as a miracle, a miracle of the highest order,
then indeed the characteristics of miracle have been misunderstood, misconstrued
and misjudged. I have found the highest intelligentsia, and the highest
intelligentsia only, spell-bound and amazed, whenever I discussed these topics,
and I find no reason why other intelligentsia should fail to be influenced by
the same. The effect may not penetrate into the lower strata of the general
humanity in its original form, but it may reasonably be expected that even the
lower strata may not be deprived of the reflective glimpses of the dazzle.
Allah's claim
regarding the Quran is:-
Quran
“Verily We
have coined for mankind in this Quran all kinds of similitudes, that haply they
may reflect".
(Quran
39 , 27)
And verily this
Quran of Allah never falls short of so great a claim, provided indeed, that
there is a discerning eye.
Unscientific
Philosopher says
“This vast
multitude of stars are wandering about in space. A few form groups which journey
in company, but the majority are solitary travellers. And they travel through a
universe so spacious that it is an event of almost unimaginable rarity for a
star to come anywhere near to another star. For the most part each voyages in a
splendid isolation, like a ship on an empty ocean".
(The Mysterious Universe page 1)
Unscientific
Philosopher
"For the
most part each voyages in splendid isolation like a ship on an empty ocean".
Quran says
“It is not
expedient that the sun should overtake the moon in her course, nor doth the
night overstrip the day, they float each in an orbit".
(Quran
36 , 39)
Unscientific
Philosopher says:-
“We believe
nevertheless, that some two thousand million years ago this rare event took
place, and that a second star, wandering blindly through space, happened to come
within hailing distance of the sun. Just as the sun and moon raise tides on the
surface of the earth, so this second star must have raised tides on the surface
of the sun. But they would be very different from the puny tides which the small
mass of the moon raises in our oceans; a huge tidal wave must have travelled
over the surface of the sun, ultimately forming a mountain of prodigious height,
which would rise ever higher and higher as the cause of the disturbance came
nearer and nearer. And, before the second star began to recede, its tidal pull
had become so powerful that this mountain was torn to pieces and threw off small
fragments of itself, much as the crest of a wave throws off spray. These small
fragments have been circulating around their parent sun ever since. They are the
planets great and small of which our earth is one".
(The Mysterious Universe page 1-2)
Now as far
as the creation of the earth is concerned, the Quran has its own theory, quite
different from this advanced by the scientist. The idea that of the separation
of earth from the sun through an explosion, is found enshrined at the same time
in the idea of the accidental type of a birth of the earth, but a careful study
of the Quran regarding the creation of earth, (and indeed a very careful study
is needed to from a correct concept thereof) , reveals, the earth having been
separated from the heaped up universe in a rough but fundamental form, a form
quite characteristic of its basic, and versatile features at the time of the
first eruption of the universe. It was then subjected to the process of its
preparation for the birth of life upon it. Life appeared later as the result of
a process in which the sun, moon, stars and perhaps the whole of the universe
cooperated. A characteristic difference between the view that of the scientist
and the Quran regarding the theory of the creation of the earth is that the
former has given it out as an accident, and hence without any implication of a
design or purpose, whereas the Quran has linked the creation of earth with a
preordained design and consequently a purpose. We however find an instance fit
to be placed against this notion of the scientist regarding the process involved
in the separation of the earth from the sun. The instance in question is to be
found in the Quran, and although concerned with a different occasion yet is
similar in respect of the mode of the process involved, as will be seen in the
similarity of the process involved either in the supposed separation of earth
from the sun through the agency of the star, or in the revelation of Allah's
message to the prophet through the agency of angel. Although this hypothesis of
earth's creation is doubtful in more than one ways, yet, the analogy between the
two occasions is very interesting in its own way.
The Quran says
“By the
Star when it setteth ...... when (the angel Gabriel) drew clear to view, when he
was on the uppermost horizon. Then he drew nigh and came down, till he was
(distant) two bows length or even nearer. And he revealed unto his servant that
which he ravealed".
(Quran: In
the beginning of the Chapter: The Star 53)
Please mark
the beginning oath "By the Star". A fact which establishes in a way, apparent
relevance of the two descriptions of a phenomenon, that is the one given by the
scientist and the other given by the Quran. And though there be basic disparity
between the two occasions, there clearly exists an unmistakable resemblance
between the two processes even to the minute details. The unscientific scientist
philosopher mentions the star. The Quran swears by the star. The star of the
scientist appears on the uppermost horizon with all its blinding dazzle and
unimaginable power. The angel of the Quran also appears like a dazzling star on
the uppermost horizon. The star of the scientist gradually draws nearer and
nearer to the sun. The Angel of the Quran also draws nearer and nearer to the
heart of the prophet. The star of the scientist eventually approaches near the
sun, at a point where it is exerting a particular amount of gravitational pull
on the sun. The angel of the Quran also has approached within a distance of two
bows length or even nearer, where it can exert the spiritual influence to the
desired degree. The star of the scientist has raised huge tides on the surface
of the sun. The angel of the Quran has raised huge spiritual tides in the soul
of the Prophet. The tide of the sun was thrown in every direction in the form of
spray, a little before the second star began to recede. The spiritual tides, of
the soul of the Prophet were also thrown in all directions all over the earth in
the form of revelations consisting of the will of the creator for mankind after
the angel returned. Beads of sweat like shining stars it is said, used to appear
on the forehead of the prophet always when the process of revelation was over.
It also can be assumed that a relief in the scripture to some extent might have
as a rule been experienced by the sun after the fragments of the tide were
thrown away into space, and the exerting influence of the stars was over. A new
world in the form of earth is supposed to have appeared after the visit of the
second star to the sun. Similarly another world appeared as a result of the
message imparted by the angel of God to the prophet. Yet this Hypothesis
regarding the separation for earth from the sun is a mere hypothesis and not at
all an ascertained fact of science. The process however which the scientist has
narrated in his hypothesis though not a fact, yet is a scientific plausibility
and hence we have attempted this analogy. The Quran has quite a different theory
of earth's creation indeed a wonderful one.
Unscientific
philosopher says
“Standing
on our microscopic grain of sand, we attempt to discover the nature and purpose
of the universe which surrounds our home in space and time. Our first impression
is something akin to terror. We find the universe terrifying because of its
inconceivably long vistas of time which dwarf human history to the twinkling of
an eye".
(The Mysterious Universe page 2-3)
Unscientific
Philosopher says:-
“The
twinkling of an eye".
The Quran says
' Lo! We
have created every thing by measure. And our commandment is but one
(commandment) as the twinkling of an eye".
(Quran 54
, 49 to 50)
Quran
“And the
matter of the Hour of (doom) is but as a twinkling of the eye, or it is nearer
still".
(Quran
16 , 77)
Unscientific
Philosopher says
“This
rarity of planetary system is important, because so far as we can see, life of
the kind we know on earth, could only originate on the planets like the earth.
It needs suitable physical conditions for its appearance, the most important of
which is a temperature at which substances can exist in a liquid state".
(The Mysterious Universe page 4)
Unscientific
Philosopher says
“Liquid
state".
Quran says
“We made
every living thing of water, will they not then believe?".
(Quran
21 ,30)
Unscientific
Philosopher says
"Life can
only exist inside a narrow temperate zone which surrounds each of these fires
(stars) at a very definite distance. Outside these zones life would be frozen;
inside, it would be shriveled up. At a rough computation, these zones within
which life is possible, all added together, constitute less than a thousand
million millionth part of the whole of space. And even inside them, life must be
of very rare occurrence for it is so unusual an accident for suns to throw off
planets as our own sun has done, that probably only about one star in 100,000
has a planet revolving round it in the small zone in which life is possibl.
Just for
this reason, it seems incredible that the universe, can have been designed
primarily to produce life like our own; had it been so, surely we might have
expected to find a better proportion between the magnitude of the mechanism and
the amount of the product. At first glance at least, life seems to be an utterly
unimportant by-product; we living things are somehow off the main line".
(The Mysterious Universe page 4-5)
Now
apparently the scientist philosopher by presenting a diminutive picture of earth
and the life upon it from strictly a material point of view indeed quite
obviously means to show its apparent insignificance, in order to further show
its purposelessness, and hence, all this endeavour to show lack of proportion.
But the Quran is of a different view. To the Quran the whole universe is an
impact entity. Life is its fruit. And no disproportion anywhere to occur in the
works of Allah. The unscientific philosopher says in this context:-
“At first
glance at least life seems to be an utterly unimportant by-product".
The Quran
says:- Then have another look!
Quran
“Lift up
thine eyes, again to heaven and look whether thou seest any flaw: then take two
other views; and thy sights shall return unto thee dul and fatigued. Thou canst
not see a flaw in the creation of the beneficent".
(Quran 67
, 4 to 5
)
Unscientific
Philosopher says
“We do
however know that while living material consists of quite ordinary atoms, it
consists in the main of atoms which have a special capacity for coagulating into
extraordinary large bunches or molecules".
(The Mysterious Universe page 6)
Quran says
“Created
man from a clot (of coagulated blood)".
(Quran 96
, 2)
In an
endeavour to exemplify the triviality of life in comparison with the immensity
of the universe, and further, puny material activity of life against the huge
material activity of the universe, for the purpose of proving the insignificance
of life and hence the lack of the interest of the Creator therein, the
unscientific and scientific philosopher goes as far as to produce an analogy
representing therein the unimaginativeness of the sailor quite wrongly though,
and says:-
"A trivial
analogy may exhibit the situation in a clearer light. An un-imaginative sailor,
accustomed to tying knots might think it would be impossible to cross the ocean
if tying knots were impossible. Now the capacity for tying knots is limited to
space of three dimensions, no knot can be tied in a space of 1,2,4,5, or any
other number of dimensions. From this fact our unimaginative sailor may reason
that a beneficent Creator must have had sailors under his special patronage, and
have chosen that space should have three dimensions in order that tying knots
and crossing the oceans should be possibilities in the universe he had created
--in brief, space was of three dimensions, so that there could be sailors. This
and the argument outlined above (the argument about the insignificance of the
material activity of life as compared with that of the universe) seem to be much
on a level, because life as a whole and the tying of knots are pretty much on a
level in that neither of them forms more than an utterly insignificant fraction
of the total activity of the material universe".
(The Mysterious Universe page 9-10)
Now the
unscientific scientist philosopher, who, due to his blindness in the realm of
mind and spirit, has reproached the believing sailor with so ill-beseeming an
epithet, quite unjustifiably though, as may justify an appropriate taunt of the
Quran meant for those who denied divine order of the world and the existence of
a spirit, and the possibility of resurrection, or existence in the other world.
They who refuse to admit a possibility of existence of anything except the
substantial matter that essentially is subject to three dimensions, and thus
deny the existence of resurrection and the reward and punishment in the other
immaterial world, shall be led to a strange site which in this world had seemed
to them, as an utter impossibility, namely a mere shade, a mere spiritual thing,
yet having assumed in the next world three dimensions, a characteristically of
a material substance in this world, and not only this, but also it is seen there
to shoot up sparks as huge as their material castles on earth, this also being a
quality of matter and these sparks looking like tawny camels. This they will not
only be obliged to observe, but will be further hurled into it to practically
experience the true qualities thereof. This will be a shade but a shade of
different kind, for it will neither afford a shade, or will it give protection
against the flame.
The
unscientific scientist philosopher in his above quoted passage regarding the
unimaginative sailor and three-dimensional space, means to show, that, just as
the tying knots is a matter of no significance in vast activity of sailing on
the oceans, so is the material activity of life, against the vast activity of
the material universe, and utterly insignificant in comparison with the total
material activity of the whole universe. These are the meanings apparent and
outward as found on the outer surface of the analogy presented by the
unscientific scientist philosopher. But further, a keen observation, reveals
meanings implied and essentially namely that:-
“We cannot
believe that there could be any significant link between such factors as three
space dimensions, tying of knots, crossing the oceans, unimaginative sailors and
the patronage of the Creator".
The Quran
says:- (and it must be understood as alluding to the Day of Judgment)
“Depart
unto that (doom) which ye used to deny; depart unto the shadow falling
threefold, (which yet is) no relief nor shelter from the flame. Lo! it throweth
up sparks, like the castles, as if they be camels of bright yellow hue. This is
a day wherein they speak not. Nor are they suffered to put forth excuses. Woe
unto the repudiators that day".
(Quran 77
, 29 to 37)
Now please
read this passage of the Quran. The shade falling three fold means, a shade of
three dimensional space, and something against the rules of this material world,
wherein the shade could not as a rule assume three dimensions. Further, it is to
be seen to throw up sparks, and sparks as large as the castles of the
materialists, and strangely enough as if to increase the surprise and
frustration of the unbelieving materialists, the sparks assume the form of
camels, the very camels which they in the world had despised and left off and
substituted by mechanical vehicles, the marvellous productions of science, the
science for which they had forsaken belief in the spiritual and immaterial
things and so also the resurrection and the life in Heaven. After the reader has
completely understood this subject, he shall very well enjoy the retort of the
Quran against those disbelievers in the spiritual world, and then only he shall
realize the appropriateness of our presenting this passage of the Quran against
this analogy of the unscientific scientist philosopher with real, heartfelt
appreciation of the fact, and will then understand the mistake of imputing so
inapt an epithet as, unimaginative to so imaginative a person as our sailor, and
will on the contrary dawn upon him the real lack of imagination on the part of
our unscientific scientist philosopher who called the sailor as unimaginative
due merely to his own deficiency of that quality.
Unscientific
Philosopher says:
So much
for the surprising manner in which, so far science can at present inform us, we
came into being. And our bewilderment is only increased when we attempt to pass
from our origins to and understanding of the purpose of our existence, or to
foresee the destiny which fate has in store for our race".
(The Mysterious Universe page 10)
Unscientific
Philosopher says
"Our
bewilderment is only increased".
Quran says
"Like one
bewildered whom the devils have infatuated in the earth".
(Quran 6
, 71)
Unscientific
philosopher says
"Primitive
man living in the temperate zone of the earth, must have watched the ice-age
descending on his home with some thing like terror; each year the glaciers came
farther down into the valleys, each winter, the sun seemed less able to provide
the warmth necessary for life. To him as to us the Universe must have seemed
hostile to life".
(The Mysterious Universe page 10)
Quran says
“We know
those primitive among you and we know those that modern are "Lo! thy Lord will
gather them together. Lo! He is wise and aware".
(Quran 15
, 24-25)
Quran
“Those are
a people who have passed away. Theres is that which they earned, and yours is
that, which ye earn. And ye will not be asked of what they used to do".
(Quran 2
,134)
Unscientific
Philospher says
" We of these
later days, living in the narrow temperate zone surrounding our sun and peering
into the far future, see an ice-age of a different kind threatening us. Just
like *Tantalus standing in a lake so deep that he only just escaped drowning,
was yet destined to die of thirst, so it is the tragedy of our race that it is
probably destined to die of cold, while the greater part of the substance of the
universe still remains too hot for life to obtain or retain a footing".
(The Mysterious Universe page 10)
The Quran produces
a Tantalus too:-
“Those unto whom
they pray besides Allah respond to them not at all, save as (is the response to)
one who stretcheth forth his hands towards water (asking) that it may come upto
his
mouth and it will
never reach it. The prayer of the disbelievers goeth (for) astray".
(Quran
13 , 14)
Unscientific
Philosopher says
"Physics
tells the same story, as astronomy. For, independently of all astronomical
considerations, the general physical principle known as the second law of
thermodynamics predicts that there can be but one end, to the universe --a
"Heat-death" in which the total energy of the universe is uniformly distributed,
and all the substance of the universe is at the same temperature. This
temperature is going to be so low as to make life impossible. It matters little
by what particular road this final state is reached; all roads lead to Rome, and
the end of the journey cannot be other than universal death".
(The Mysterious Universe page 11)
Unscientific
Philosopher says
"Universal
death".
Quran says
"Every one
,who liveth on earth will pass away, but the glorious and the honorable
countenance of thy Lord shall remain forever".
(Quran 55
, 26 to 27)
Unscientific
Philosopher says
"Is this
then, all that life amounts to- to stumble, almost by mistake, into a universe
which was clearly not designed for life, and which, to all appearance is either
totally indifferent or definitely hostile to it, to stay clinging on to a
fragment of a grain of sand until we are frozen off, to strut our tiny hour on
our tiny stage with the knowledge that our aspirations are all doomed to final
frustration, and that our achievements must perish with our race, leaving the
universe as though we have never been".
(The Mysterious Universe page 11-12)
Unscientific
Philosopher says
"As though we had
never been".
Quran says
"As thought
they had never been".
(Quran 11
, 67)
Quran
“When our
commandment came to pass, we saved Saleh, and those who believed with him, by a
mercy from Us, from the ignominy of that day. Lo! Thy Lord He is the strong, the
Mighty. And the aweful cry overtook those who did wrong, so that morning found
them prostrate in the dwellings, as though they had not dwelt there".
(Quran 11
, 66-67)
Quran
"And when
our commandment came, we saved Shoaib and those who believed with him by a mercy
from Us; and the (aweful) Cry seized those who did injustice, and morning found
them prostrate in their dwellings as though they had not dwelt there".
(Quran 11
, 94-95)
Quran
" The
similitude of the life of the world is only as water which We send from the sky,
then the earth's growth of which men and cattle eat, mingleth with it, till,
when the earth hath taken on her ornaments and is embellished, and her people
deem that they are masters of her, our commandment cometh by night or by day,
and we make it as reaped corn, as if it had not flourished yesterday".
(Quran
10 , 24)
On the
title page of " The Mysterious Universe" is found quoted with much
appropriateness respecting that book, the world-famous and history-honored
simile, Plato's Simile of the cave. I wondered if the Quran also contained a
counterpart of that beautiful simile.
The Quran
has never disappointed me in such matters. In the following I quote Plato's
Simile of the Cave, and thereafter that of the Quran:-
Plato's Simile
"And now, I
said, let me show in a figure how far our nature is enlightened or
un-enlightened:-
Behold
human beings living in an underground cave, which has a mouth open towards the
light and reaching all along the cave, here they have been from their childhood
and have their legs and necks chained so that they cannot move, and can only
see before them, being prevented by the chains from turning round their heads.
Above and behind them a fire is blazing at a distance, and between the fire and
the prisoners there is a raised way, and you will see, if you look a low wall
built along the way, like the screen which marionette players have in front of
them, over which they show the puppets.
I see:-
And do you
see, I said, men passing along the wall carrying all sorts of vessels and
statues and figures of animals made of wood and stone and various materials,
which appear over the wall?
You have
shown me a strange image and they are strange prisoners.
Like
ourselves, I replied; and they see only their own shadows, or the others,
shadows which the fire throws on the opposite wall of the cave?
True, he
said; how could they see anything but the shadows if they were never allowed to
move their heads?
And of the
objects which are being carried in the like manner they would only see the
shadows?
Yes, he
said.
To them, I
said, the truth would be literally nothing but the shadows of the images".
(Plato's Republic Book VII).
Plato's
description of the inmates of the Cave
"Human
beings living in an underground cave, which has a mouth open towards the light
and reaching all along the cave, here they have been from their childhood and
have their legs and necks chained so that they cannot move, and can only see
before them, being prevented by the chains from turning round their heads. Above
and behind them a fire is blazing at a distance, and between the fire and the
prisoners there is a raised way, and you will see, if you look a low wall built
along the way, like the screen which marionette players have in front of them,
over which they show the puppets".
Now the
descriptive part of the Quran's Simile, which we will hereafter quote in full:-
"We have put yokes
on their necks, which (come) upto (their) chins, and they are forced to hold up
their heads: and we have set a bar before them and a bar behind them, and thus
have covered them with darkness, wherefore they shall not see".
(Quran Chapter -36,8-9
YASIN)
Both these
similes are almost identical in their descriptive parts. Full text of the
Simile of the Quran is as follows:-
" Yasin (I
swear) by the instructive Quran that thou art (one) of the messengers (of Allah
sent to show) the right way. This is a revelation of most mighty, the Merciful
(Allah) that thou mayest warn a people whose fathers were not warned and who
live in negligence. (Our) sentence has justly been pronounced against a greater
part of them, wherefore they shall not believe. We have put yokes on their
necks, which (come) upto (their) chins, and they are forced to hold up their
heads; and we have set a bar before them and a bar behind them, and thus have
covered them with darkness, wherefore they shall not see. It shall be equal unto
them whether thou preach unto them, or do not preach unto them, they shall not
believe. But thou shalt preach (with effect) unto him only who follwoeth the
admonition, and feareth the Merciful in secret. Wherefore bear good tidings unto
him of mercy and honourable reward. Lo! We it is who bring the dead to life. We
record that which they send before (them) and their footprints. And all things
we kept in a clear register".
(Quran 36
, 1 to 12)
A comparison
between the two Similes:-
Plato
"And now, I said,
let me show in a figure, how far our nature is enlightened or unenlightened".
Quran
" Yasin (I swear)
by the instructive Quran that thou (O Muhammad) art (one) of the Messengers (of
Allah) sent (to show) the right way. This is a revelation of the Most Mighty,
the Merciful Allah".
Plato
"Behold! Human
beings living in an underground cave, which has a mouth open towards the light
and reaching all along the cave, here they have been from their childhood".
Quran
"That thou mayest
warn a people whose fathers were not warned and who live in negligence (Our)
sentence hath justly been pronounced against a greater part of them".
Plato
"And have their
legs and necks chained so that they cannot move, and can only see before them,
being prevented by the chains from turning round their heads".
Quran
"We have put yokes
on their necks which (come) upto (their) chins, and they are forced to hold up
their heads".
Plato
" Above and behind
them a fire is blazing at a distance, and between the fire and the prisoners
there is a raised way, and you will see, if you look a low wall built along the
way, like the screen which marionette players have in front of them, over which
they show the puppets".
Quran
"And we have set a
bar before them and a bar behind them, and (thus) have covered them with
darkness, wherefore they shall not see".
Plato
“To them, I said,
the truth would be literally nothing but the shadows of the images".
Quran
"It shall
be equal unto them, whether thou preach unto them, or do not preach unto them,
they shall not believe. But thou shalt preach (with effect) unto him only who
follwoeth the admonition, and feareth the Merciful in secret".
Plato has
assayed the intellectual level of mankind regarding their ability in
comprehending the ultimate reality, whereas the Quran has alluded to their
ability to accept faith, although the ability of accepting faith may also be
taken to mean the ability to judge the ultimate reality, for faith itself is the
truth of ultimate reality. Plato has shown no exception, and has judged them all
appropriately quite unable to know anything but shadows as the nature of his
topic implied. The Quran has shown exceptions although some of them may not be
endowed with the quality to accept faith , yet some there are. There seems to be
difference of application only between the view expressed by Plato, and that by
the Quran. In the last resort indeed man's knowledge even of the most certain
kind is only a shadow of the true reality. A reality which will appear to man
only after he has expired and is outside this walled fortress of material body,
this cave Great indeed is the Quran and marvellous. Never in a book so much
knowledge was found packed in so few pages. The best answers to the modern
complex problems of humanity could be had from this book, the Quran. And now
before we bring our discussion of the unscientific philosophy of the scientist
to a close, we consider it our duty to warn that such a philosophy shall surely,
work the destruction of science, and indeed much sooner than generally is
expected, and that of Mankind along with it.
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