This research article looks at the basics of physics (natural events and how we understand them) from the point of view of the Quran by M.M. Qurashi. It presents well-justified arguments on how the Quran reconciles the two extremes, one considering it as spiritual guide only while other considering as scientific compass. In addition to offering guidance for living life to the fullest from a holistic perspective, the author astutely argues that the Quran accurately describes the description of natural phenomena and their context.
The author argues that as science advances in the future, the way we look at natural phenomena will evolve, helping to strengthen Islam’s logical foundation. The author provides verses from the Quran that, for instance, may be understood in the context of contemporary scientific knowledge.
While referring to the verse of the Quran, the writer relates, Almighty’s words the fire of the green tree with contemporary scientific discoveries that fire originates from fossil fuels. As evidenced by science today, the verse about the iron bar retaining power also alludes to early applications of meteoric iron. This strengthens the idea that science and Islam have a connection.
The writer observes quite logically that whereas many occurrences in the Qur’an can be clarified by established natural rules, others might be miraculous as well. Scientists might become closer to the Quranic perspective as science progresses. But, he rightly notes, it is important for a believer to discern between miraculous and natural phenomena and Allah’s power over both.
Critical Analysis of Research Paper’s Sections
- The author states in the section Conditions for Obtaining Guidance from the Quran that the Quran does not advocate blind trust in science or the worship of material objects. The author goes on to quote relevant verses from Quran where Allah Almighty declares that the Quran provides direction for those who believe in the unseen, in the Quran and the Holy Books both now and in the future, and pray and spend in the way of God.
The author also emphasizes how the Quran often recounts tales of powerful individuals, such as the Pharaoh, who were destroyed in spite of their wealth. It highlights the idea that chances for growth both in material and spiritual worlds are found in employing resources in line with Allah’s instructions and practicing Sunnah.
Islam and research logically support the author’s assertions. All in all, covering the point that the Almighty Allah has asked that we consider and reflect upon regarding the cosmos. Above everything, though, what matters most is our confidence in Allah’s might and our obedience to his commands. - The author examines how the scientific method has changed through time in the section “The Scientific Method.” He provides a concise summary of the scientific method, which comprises the elements of observation, hypothesis, experiment, proof/disproof, and induction/deduction.
As evident by the scientific practices, the author writes that these procedures can be repeated as many times as necessary to approximate an observable phenomenon. Currently, Roger Bacon is credited with discovering the scientific method; however, new research indicates that Muslim physicist Ibn al-Haytham was using and discussing it as early as the fifth century Hijrah. This part of research paper also covers how the ideas presented in the Quran serve as the cornerstone of the scientific temperament. While some of them have been discovered, others have yet to be discovered, hinting at the connectivity between science and Islam.
The writer’s research and speculations are indeed true because the subjectivity of a part of the scientific world (hypothesis and deduction/induction method) finds strong ground in the teachings of Islam. The Quran asks its adherents to consider the ways in which the cosmos continues its patterns, like in turning day into night and in creating alive from dead and dead from alive, for example. - The author opens the section “The Nature of Physics” by defining physics as the study of matter, energy, and how they interact and is concerned with measurement, and experiments on ideas like mass, force, motion, time, distance, and acceleration are all involved.
Next, he goes on to explain how the well-established physics eventually became incoherent. For instance, the author points out that in the eighteenth century, physics was empirical research presented as mathematical formulas and laws.
New methods like quantum mechanics and wave mechanics, however, were the result of more research. These ideas departed from the determinist theory of the cosmos. By attributing disparities to the space-time continuum, Einstein’s theory of relativity brought about a conceptual shift.
The author makes a very valid point that we cannot claim to be certain about all of our universal principles. This is the essence of physics, which is always growing with emerging conceptions. The author also includes a picture showing how the spiritual and material worlds merge and provides Quranic references to foster a growing and positive attitude toward science. - The notion of miracles and their connection to physical laws are covered by the author in the section “Physical Laws and the Nature of Miracles.”. This section draws attention to the mechanical perspective that permeates Western thought. It rejects the notions of a living creator and free will. The anecdote he told was from Reader Digest (1965), in which the youngster said, “You will not believe what they tell us in Sunday School,” in response to his mother asking him about what he had learned.
Additionally, to make his point clear and logical, the author provides examples of well-known miracles in this section, like Moses splitting the Red Sea and Abraham escaping a fire. This is to assert that miracles are experienced and understood within a religious framework, something that cannot always be comprehended through the scientific mindset.
The marvels depicted in the Quran continue to be confirmed and do not conflict with the rules of nature, says the writer quite reasonably, even if at present science is not able to fathom that part of history and universe. - (i) In the section “On gravity from Quran,” the author cites a verse from the Quran confirming that the earth draws together (pulls) the living and the dead. The gravitational field serves as an attraction for all of the world and the living and nonliving things in it. The Quran states in this same verse that everything is normally travelling in the direction of the earth due to this attraction, centuries before Newton discovered the concept of gravity. This constitutes the essence of precise Quranic understanding, much before humans were able to decipher it.
(ii) In the section titled “Expansion of the Universe, the author references the Quran, where Allah Almighty declares that He is the creator of the heavens and expands them. The latest scientific findings have proven that the universe is expanding. It has been noted that the galaxies are receding; more pronounced for distant galaxies. The use of the term ‘with hands’ further implies a direct intervention by God in this regard.
Scientists have concluded that the universe is currently expanding in all directions based on the recession of distant galaxies. Naturally, this growth would ultimately result in a contraction, as some researchers even now believe. Thus, the writer’s arguments are based on well-established research and words of Allah, both of which beckon towards the expansion of universe.
(iii) The writer shrewdly points out that Allah has employed distinct terms for sight from the sun and moon in the section “Lighting from the Sun and Moon.” This implies that light emitted by the Sun and the Moon differ. The light from the Sun is its own original light, while that from the moon is the reflected light, as evident by the universe. Allah Almighty’s use of words demonstrates the degree of clarity in the description as given by Quran. The writer, while encompassing more aspects of the word light, goes on to say that term nur has a distinct meaning in other places in the Qur’an, such as “Allah is the light (nur) of the heavens and the earth.
All in all, the writer reminds us how important it is to remember that our knowledge of natural and supernatural occurrences is so insufficient that an attitude of overconfidence and stubbornness is ridiculous. This assertion by the writer is accurate and also validates the concept that Allah Almighty has prompted us to consider; the prerequisite is faith in God. To put it another way, human experience and reason restrict our understanding, but Allah alone possesses absolute knowledge. - The author investigates the dimensions of time and length as given in the Quran and Hadith in the section, Scales of Time and Length in the Quran. He narrates the relevant incident from Islamic history about how the Prophet’s Companions believed the descriptions of paradise and hell presented to them even though they had not seen them. In that regard, wherever the Qur’an and Hadith include numerical specifics in the text, they should be taken as exact declarations of truth about natural phenomena and not just as symbolic interpretations of the ultimate truth.
The author also discusses Quranic texts that say a day for Allah is equivalent to a thousand years for humans. This yields a scale factor of 360,000, or about 0.35 million, as ratio between the heavily and human time-scale. From midnight to dawn calculation of blessed night of Ramadan, the calculations give about 0.18 million as a ratio between the two time scales. Twice of which will give us the value of whole day and night.
This writing also highlights the verses in the Quran and Hadith concerning space or distance. Such verses assert that the distance between levels in heaven is equivalent to the distance between the earth and the sky. According to the author, there is a scale factor of about a million between the length scales in heaven and on Earth, which corresponds to the time-scale scale factor. The author relates how this can be viewed as a space-time contraction analogous to Einstein’s Special Theory of Relativity.
The citation of Quranic texts by the author aptly relates the relativity of time. Furthermore, the words from Maulana Rumi’s Mathnavi further add depth and relevance to the topic this section covers. While exploring the scales of time and length from the Quran, the writer acknowledges the accuracy and relevance of Allah’s given dimensions with what scientists have found as of today Einstein’s theory of relativity, for example. In conclusion, this section implies that what appears lengthy to humans may be brief to Allah. - The section “Physical Concepts in Cosmology” covers the Quranic notion of the ‘seven skies in cosmology’, and ‘creation and doomsday’.
The author highlights that the concept of “seven skies” were drawn from Greek belief. The Quran also evidences it. At first, the number seven included the earth, moon, and known planets that were five in number. When up to nine planets were discovered, the link between “seven skies” and planets became improbable.
Writer includes the logical explanation by a recent research that layer upon layer represents actuality of cosmos. The first, second and third skies depict our solar system, the sphere of closest fixed stars, and galaxy respectively. The fourth sky contains many galaxies, a relativistic limit of the 4-dimensional cosmos. There are three such skies that have yet to be identified.
The author authentically claims that the fourth and fifth entity correspond to the atomic and nuclear radius respectively. The sixth and seven relate to sub-nuclear concepts such as Quarks, a topic of ongoing Physics research. These articulations describe how Allah Almighty, the all-knowing, precisely cover the macro and micro-entities of the universe.
Furthermore, the notion of “creation and doomsday” is also analyzed by the author. As of today, universe is expanding. Predictions tell that at some point the entire universe will compress, hinting at the Ultimate doomsday. This shrinking universe will also serve as the birth of a new universe. The Quran also promises a process of reconstruction after the final doomsday. The newly constructed world, as described by Islam, would be larger and different than that of today.
Most scientists believe in a finite universe based on cosmology. The author also narrates the scientist Stephen Hawking who said that universe will achieve the high yet not infinite density time just like big bang after going through its expansion phase. The author also explains that the rules of physics are not absolute.
While noting the Fred Hoyle’s research, which hints at existence of higher power because of creation of small amounts of hydrogen, the author optimistically asserts that if we abide by Allah’s commands, the natural laws are promising regardless of their constraints. In conclusion, the author astutely writes that knowledge comes from both physical/material and intuitive/spiritual sources which can be further enhanced by Quran and Hadith.
In Conclusion
This research paper is a well-thought-out and well-justified investigation on how the Quran incorporates both spiritual principles and a scientific approach to understanding the universe. It delves deeply into the prerequisites necessary from a Quranic perspective for scientifically contemplating the universe. His narrative then shifts to the scientific method, emphasizing that the subjectivity of hypotheses and the induction/deduction technique is what Allah Almighty’s directives about contemplating the nature state.
The next section includes that even physics researchers have discovered flaws in the deterministic approach to explaining the concepts. This implies that there is more to the universe than what humans can comprehend with existing scientific knowledge. The author then goes on to say that, in addition to scientific understanding, our weapon is our confidence in God’s supernatural power. He also argues the gravity, expansion of the cosmos, and difference between the brightness of the sun and moon, all of which have been demonstrated by researchers but are already portrayed in the Quran many centuries ago.
In addition, the author discusses how the Quran describes relative ideas, time scales, and length scales. Research on cosmological themes like as creation, the end of the world, and the seven skies attests to what God has to say about them. While some of them have been found, others are yet to be discovered.
Overall, the author’s explanations on the subject are thorough, accurate, and integrate the scientific and spiritual teachings of the Quran. It precisely describes the perspective of Quran on physics conceptions while encompassing the current researchers and their possible direction.
