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... the science of peace |
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BIOLOGY
More than anything else, I was struck by statements in the Qur'an dealing with
living things, both in the animal and vegetable kingdoms, especially with regard
to reproduction. We should really devote much more time to this subject, but,
due to the limited scope of this presentation, I can only give a few examples.
I must once again stress the fact that it is only in modern times that
scientific progress has made the hidden meaning of some Qur'anic verses
comprehensible to us. Numerous translations and commentaries on the Qur'an have
been made by learned men who had no access to modern scientific knowledge. It is
for this reason that scientists find some of their interpretations unacceptable.
There are also other verses whose obvious meanings are easily understood, but
which conceal
scientific meanings which are startling, to say the least. This is the case of a
verse in chapter al-Anbiyaa, a part of which has already been quoted:
"Do the unbelievers not realize that the heavens and the earth were joined
together,
then I clove them asunder and I made every living thing out of water. Will they
still not believe?" Qur'an, 21:30
This is a dramatic affirmation of the modern idea that the origin of life is
aquatic.
Botany
Progress in botany at the time of Muhammad (S) was not advanced enough in any
country for scientists to know that plants have both male and female parts.
Nevertheless, we may read the following in the chapter Taa Haa:
"(God is the One who) sent down rain from the sky and with it brought forth a
variety of plants in pairs." Qur'an, 20:53
Today we know that fruit comes from plants that have sexual characteristics even
when they come from unfertilized flowers, like bananas. In the chapter ar-Ra‘d
we read the following:
"... and of all fruits (God) placed (on the earth) two pairs." Qur'an, 13:3
