Qur’anic Integrity And Scientific Advancement (9/9)

Scientists Acceptance of the Truths in the Qur’an

Professor Emeritus Keith L. Moore is one of the world’s most prominent scientists in the fields of anatomy and embryology and is the author of the book entitled ‘The Developing Human’, which has been translated into eight languages. Dr. Keith Moore is Professor Emeritus of Anatomy and Cell Biology at the University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada. There, he was Associate Dean of Basic Sciences at the Faculty of Medicine and for 8 years was the Chairman of the Department of Anatomy. In 2007, Professor Moore became the first recipient of the Henry Gray/Elsevier Distinguished Educator Award, The American Association of Anatomists’ (AAA) highest award for human anatomy education. Most recently in 2012, Prof. Moore received the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Medal – a commemorative medal to honour significant contributions and achievements by Canadians.

Professor Moore said,

“....Because the staging of human embryos is complex, owing to the continuous process of change during development, it is proposed that a new system of classification could be developed using the terms mentioned in the Qur’an and Sunnah. The proposed system is simple, comprehensive, and conforms with present embryological knowledge. The intensive studies of the Qur’an and Hadith [reliably transmitted reports of the Prophet Muhammad] in the last four years have revealed a system for classifying human embryos that is amazing since it was recorded in the 7th Century C.E. Although Aristotle, the founder of the science of embryology, realised that chick embryos developed in stages from his studies of hen’s eggs in the fourth century B.C., he did not give any details about these stages. As far as it is known from the history of embryology, little was known about the staging and classification of human embryos until the twentieth century. For this reason, the descriptions of the human embryo in the Qur’an cannot be based on scientific knowledge in the seventh century. The only reasonable conclusion is: these descriptions were revealed to Muhammad from God. He could not have known such details because he was an illiterate man with absolutely no scientific training.”[1]

Consequently, Professor Moore was asked the following question: “Does this mean that you believe that the Qur’an is the word of God?” He replied: “I find no difficulty in accepting this.” [2]

Professor Moore consulted a number of embryologists for their opinions:

 “…I was invited to Saudi Arabia to lecture on embryology at King Abdul Azziz University in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia… and while I was there, at my suggestion, invited Dr. [T.V.N] Persaud and Dr. [E. Marshall] Johnson to come to Saudi Arabia. And they [the Embryology Committee] asked them the same questions, and I purposefully didn’t tell them my interpretations, I wanted them to give their own. So they did and their answers were similar to mine…Dr. Johnson is one of the most outstanding embryologist and teratologist in the United States. We didn’t just pick anyone, I picked the best. And in Canada, Dr. Persaud at the University of Manitoba, where I spent twenty years, is also an outstanding embryologist who has three doctors’ degrees… so I picked the very best. And then, when I started thinking about other embryologists around the world, we brought in Dr. [Robert] Edwards from Cambridge [world-renowned for his early work on in vitro fertilization]… so we invited him to Saudi Arabia and again he was asked the same questions and they [the Embryology Committee] got essentially the same answers.… [and] one of my colleagues in Kyoto, Japan.…he didn’t go to Saudi Arabia, [and] he has been consulted and so on. So we have consulted embryologists around the world for their opinions on these statements in the Qur’an, and it’s clear from what Dr. Persaud has said and from all of our work in this area that these statements [in the Qur’an] are correct.” [3]

Professor Emeritus T. V. N. Persaud is Professor of Anatomy, Professor of Pediatrics and Child Health and Professor of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences at the University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. There, he was the Chairman of the Department of Anatomy for 16 years. He is well-known in his field. He is the author or editor of 22 textbooks and has published over 181 scientific papers. In 1991, he received the most distinguished award presented in the field of anatomy in Canada, the J.C.B. Grant Award from the Canadian Association of Anatomists. Henry Gray/Elsevier Distinguished Educator Award, American Association of Anatomists, 2010.

When he was asked about the scientific miracles in the Qur’an, he stated the following:

“The way it was explained to me is that Muhammad was a very ordinary man. He could not read, didn’t know [how] to write. In fact, he was an illiterate. And we’re talking about twelve [actually about fourteen] hundred years ago. You have someone illiterate making profound pronouncements and statements and that are amazingly accurate about scientific nature. And I personally can’t see how this could be a mere chance. There are too many accuracies and like Dr. Moore, I have no difficulty in my mind that this is a divine inspiration or revelation which led him to these statements.”[4]

Professor Persaud has included some Qur’anic verses and sayings of the Prophet Muhammad in some of his books.

Dr. E. Marshall Johnson is Professor Emeritus of Anatomy and Developmental Biology at Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. There, for 22 years he was Professor of Anatomy, the Chairman of the Department of Anatomy, and the Director of the Daniel Baugh Institute. He was also the President of the Teratology Society. He has authored more than 200 publications. In 1981, during the Seventh Medical Conference in Dammam, Saudi Arabia, Professor Johnson said in the presentation of his research paper:

“Summary: The Qur’an describes not only the development of external form, but emphasises also the internal stages, the stages inside the embryo, of its creation and development, emphasising major events recognised by contemporary science.”

Also he said: “As a scientist, I can only deal with things which I can specifically see. I can understand embryology and developmental biology. I can understand the words that are translated to me from the Qur’an. As I gave the example before, if I were to transpose myself into that era, knowing what I knew today and describing things, I could not describe the things which were described.

I see no evidence for the fact to refute the concept that this individual, Muhammad, had to be developing this information from some place. So I see nothing here in conflict with the concept that divine intervention was involved in what he was able to write.” [5]

Dr. Yoshihide Kozai is Professor Emeritus at Tokyo University, Hongo, Tokyo, Japan, and was the Director of the National Astronomical Observatory, Mitaka, Tokyo, Japan. He said: “I am very much impressed by finding true astronomical facts in [the] Qur’an, and for us the modern astronomers have been studying very small pieces of the universe. We’ve concentrated our efforts for understanding of [a] very small part. Because by using telescopes, we can see only very few parts [of] the sky without thinking [about the] whole universe. So, by reading [the] Qur’an and by answering the questions, I think I can find my future way for investigation of the universe.”[6]

Professor Tejatat Tejasen is the Chairman of the Department of Anatomy at Chiang Mai University, Chiang Mai, Thailand. Previously, he was the Dean of the Faculty of Medicine at the same university. During the Eighth Saudi Medical Conference in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Professor Tejasen stood up and said: “During the last three years, I became interested in the Qur’an . . . . From my study and what I have learned from this conference, I believe that everything that has been recorded in the Qur’an fourteen hundred years ago must be the truth, that can be proved by the scientific means. Since the Prophet Muhammad could neither read nor write, Muhammad must be a messenger who relayed this truth, which was revealed to him as an enlightenment by the one who is eligible [as the] creator. This creator must be God. Therefore, I think this is the time to say La ilaha illa Allah, there is no diety to worship except God, Muhammadur rasoolu Allah, Muhammad is Messenger [Prophet] of Allah [God]. Lastly, I must congratulate for the excellent and highly successful arrangement for this conference . . . . I have gained not only from the scientific point of view and religious point of view but also the great chance of meeting many well-known scientists and making many new friends among the participants. The most precious thing of all that I have gained by coming to this place is La ilaha illa Allah, Muhammadur rasoolu Allah, and to have become a Muslim.”[7]

After all these examples we have seen about the scientific miracles in the Holy Qur’an, let us ask ourselves these questions:

Could it be just a coincidence that all this recently discovered scientific information from different fields was mentioned in the Qur’an, which was revealed fourteen centuries ago? Could this Qur’an have been authored by Muhammad or by any other human being? How could Prophet Muhammad have possibly known all this 1,400 years ago, when scientists have only recently discovered this using advanced equipment and powerful microscopes which did not exist at that time?

The only answer is that the Qur’an is the word of God Almighty.