Saturday, June 27, 2009

Miracles of the Qur'an (part 1)

About a year ago, a friend gave me something to read entitled "Miracle of the Qur'an" by Gary Miller, a Muslim convert. It was absolutely amazing and so I thought I'd post parts of it on here.

"Some years ago, the story came to us in Toronto about a man who was in the merchant marine and made his living on the sea. A Muslim gave him a translation of the Qur'an to read. The merchant marine knew nothing about the history of Islam but was interested in reading the Qur'an. When he finished reading it, he brought it back to the Muslim and asked, "This Muhammed, was he a sailor?" He was impressed at how accurately the Qur'an describes a storm on a sea. When he was told, "No as a matter of fact, Muhammed lived in the desert," that was enough for him. He embraced Islam on the spot. He was so impressed with the Qur'an's description because he had been in a storm on the sea, and he knew that whoever had written that description had also been in a storm on the sea. The description of "a wave, over it a wave, over it clouds" was not what someone imagining a storm on a sea to be like would have written; rather, it was written by someone who knew what a storm on the sea was like. This is one example of how the Qur'an is not tied to a certain place and time. Certainly, the scientific ideas expressed in it also do not seem to originate from the desert fourteen centuries ago."


"Many centuries before the onset of Muhammed's Prophethood, there was a well-known theory of atomism advanced by the Greek philosopher, Democritus. He and the people who came after him assumed that matter consists of tiny, indestructible, indivisible particles called atoms. The Arabs too, used to deal in the same concept; in fact, the Arabic word dharrah commonly referred to the smallest particle known to man. Now, modern science has discovered that this smallest unit of matter (i.e., the atom, which has all of the same properties as its element) can be split into its component parts. This is a new idea, a development of the last century; yet, interestingly enough, this information had already been documented in the Qur'an which states:

" He [i.e., Allah] is aware of an atom's weight in the heavens and on the earth and even anything smaller than that..."

Undoubtedly, fourteen centuries ago that statement would have looked unusual, even to an Arab. For him, the dharrah was the smallest thing there was. Indeed, this is proof, that the Qur'an is not outdated."


"If one assumes that the Qur'an is the product of a man's mind, then one would expect it to reflect some of what was going on in the mind of the man who "composed" it. In fact, certain encyclopedias and various books clam that the Qur'an was the product of hallucinations that Muhammed underwent. If these claims are true - if it indeed originated from some psychological problems in Muhammed's mind - then evidence of this would be apparent in the Qur'an. Is there such evidence? In order to determine whether or not there is, one must first identify what things would have been going on in his mind at that time and then search for these thoughts and reflections in the Qur'an.

It is common knowledge that Muhammad had a very difficult life. All of his daughters died before him except one, and he had a wife of several years who was dear and important to him, who not only proceeded him in death at a very critical period of his life. As a matter of fact, she must have been quite a woman because when the first revelation came to him, he ran home to her afraid. Certainly, even today one would have a hard time trying to find an Arab who would tell you, "I was so afraid that I ran home to my wife." They just aren't that way. Yet Muhammed felt comfortable enough with his wife to be able to do that. That's how influential and strong woman she was. Although these examples are only a few of the subjects that would have been on Muhammed's mind, they are sufficient in intensity to prove my point. The Qur'an does not mention any of these things - not the death of his children, not the death of his beloved companion and wife, not his fear of the initial revelations, which he so beautifully shared with his wife - nothing; yet, these topics must have hurt him, bothered him, and caused him pain and grief during periods of his psychological reflections, then these subjects, as well as others, would be prevalent or at least mentioned throughout."

I love how logical Miller is - the whole piece was written in order to logically and categorically prove that the Qur'an is of divine origin and not written by man. Instead of attacking anyone who claims this, he is using pure logic (in a very POLITE manner) to show that it is impossible that the Qur'an is man-made. More Muslims should use this approach, instead of going red in the face and shouting about "infidels" and "going to hell". This is not going to convince anyone to convert to, let alone respect, Islam.

I'll be posting more soon!

7 comments:

Sarah said...

That's really interesting! I look forward to more. It also encourages me to keep reading the Qur'an... I was trying to do one juz a day but one took me 3 hours (including footnotes) so I haven't. :(

Anonymous said...

ahahahaha I'm laughing at the "going red in the face and shouting about 'infidels' and 'going to hell'."
I think using logic and being polite is the best approach, as long as the person listening is willing to listen. :)

KittySigurdardottir. said...

Behind every great man you will find true love of a good woman.

Umm Omar said...

Beautiful! It seems these miracles of the Quran are neverending. The precision of the descriptions in the Quran are fascinating, just as you mentioned here. It really is impossible that any one could just come up with them. It's God's wisdom.
I am also looking forward to hearing more. and btw, I just posted something a little similar to this post on my blog.

Yasemin said...

Thank you for reminding us of Gary Miller! I had forgotten that name since 2000, and he also really helped me with my inner nafs. Maybe it's because he changed his name to Abdul-Ahad Omar, and uses that now? I wish that we had more scholars in Islam that come at the religion from a place of logic.

Of all the arguments, I love the last one about his wives and tragedies the most. It does point to not being man-made. How about you sweetie, which one is your favorite? This is such a nice post.

I love books like the Miracles of the Prophet. Sometimes we forget. Love you lots.

cairo, lusaka, amsterdam said...

Sarah: I think it's normal for it to take long. That's why I like the Khalidi translation - no footnotes! Sometimes I just want to read a surah by itself. I think reading that alongside a translation with footnotes is a good idea.

Aynur: I agree. I feel like many people are willing to listen, but are put off by cocky Muslims who are judgmental and arrogant, as well as ignorant.

Purekrystal: Amen! lol, Or behind every great man you will find an ever greater woman ;)

Umm Omar: I like how similar our posts are, great minds think alike :P The miracles are truly amazing, which is why so many people have converted on the spot after hearing a single miracle.

Lisa: ohh I didn't know that he had changed his name! Yes, more Islamic scholars should employ logic when arguing, it really would help.
My favourite story was the atom one - I mean how could someone have made that up?! Love you!

Thanks for posting everyone =)

nadia said...

SubhanAllah, love this post, Sis. Very interesting. I particularly like the story about the marine.