The Quran on the Origin of the Universe: The science of modern cosmology, observational and theoretical, clearly indicates that, at one point in time, the whole universe was nothing but a cloud of ‘smoke’ (i.e. an opaque highly dense and hot gaseous composition).1  This is one of the undisputed principles of standard modern cosmology.  Scientists now can observe new stars forming out of the remnants of that ‘smoke’ (see figures 10 and 11).   Figure 10: A new star forming out of a cloud of gas and dust (nebula), which is one of the remnants of the ‘smoke’ that was the origin of the whole universe. (The Space Atlas, Heather and Henbest, p. 50.) Figure 11: The Lagoon nebula is a cloud of gas and dust, about 60 light years in diameter.  It is excited by the ultraviolet radiation of the hot stars that have recently formed within its bulk. (Horizons, Exploring the Universe, Seeds, plate 9, from Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc.)  (Click on the image to enlarge it.) The illuminating stars we see at night were, just as was the whole universe, in that ‘smoke’ material.  God has said in the Quran:  Then He turned to the heaven when it was smoke...  (Quran, 41:11) Because the earth and the heavens above (the sun, the moon, stars, planets, galaxies, etc.) have been formed from this same ‘smoke,’ we conclude that the earth and the heavens were one connected entity.  Then out of this homogeneous ‘smoke,’ they formed and separated from each other. God has said in the Quran:  Have not those who disbelieved known that the heavens and the earth were one connected entity, then We separated them?...  (Quran, 21:30) Dr. Alfred Kroner is one of the world’s renowned geologists.  He is Professor of Geology and the Chairman of the Department of Geology at the Institute of Geosciences, Johannes Gutenberg University, Mainz, Germany.  He said: “Thinking where Muhammad came from . . . I think it is almost impossible that he could have known about things like the common origin of the universe, because scientists have only found out within the last few years, with very complicated and advanced technological methods, that this is the case.”.  Also he said: “Somebody who did not know something about nuclear physics fourteen hundred years ago could not, I think, be in a position to find out from his own mind, for instance, that the earth and the heavens had the same origin.   Sobhan ALLAH

Islamic Beliefs

1) Belief in God: Muslims believe in one, unique, incomparable God, Who has no son nor partner, and that none has the right to be worshipped but Him alone.  He is the true God, and every other deity is false.  He has the most magnificent names and sublime perfect attributes.  No one shares His divinity, nor His attributes.  In the Quran, God describes Himself:  Say, “He is God, the One.  God, to Whom the creatures turn for their needs.  He begets not, nor was He begotten, and there is none like Him.”  (Quran, 112:1-4) Chapter 112 of the Quran written in Arabic calligraphy. No one has the right to be invoked, supplicated, prayed to, or shown any act of worship, but God alone. God alone is the Almighty, the Creator, the Sovereign, and the Sustainer of everything in the whole universe.  He manages all affairs.  He stands in need of none of His creatures, and all His creatures depend on Him for all that they need.  He is the All-Hearing, the All-Seeing, and the All-Knowing.  In a perfect manner, His knowledge encompasses all things, the open and the secret, and the public and the private.  He knows what has happened, what will happen, and how it will happen.  No affair occurs in the whole world except by His will.  Whatever He wills is, and whatever He does not will is not and will never be.  His will is above the will of all the creatures.  He has power over all things, and He is able to do everything.  He is the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful, and the Most Beneficent.  In one of the sayings of the Prophet Muhammad , we are told that God is more merciful to His creatures than a mother to her child.1  God is far removed from injustice and tyranny.  He is All-Wise in all of His actions and decrees.  If someone wants something from God, he or she can ask God directly without asking anyone else to intercede with God for him or her. God is not Jesus, and Jesus is not God.2  Even Jesus himself rejected this.  God has said in the Quran:  Indeed, they have disbelieved who have said, “God is the Messiah (Jesus), son of Mary.”  The Messiah said, “Children of Israel, worship God, my Lord and your Lord.  Whoever associates partners in worship with God, then God has forbidden Paradise for him, and his home is the Fire (Hell).  For the wrongdoers,3 there will be no helpers.”  (Quran, 5:72) God is not a trinity.  God has said in the Quran:  Indeed, they disbelieve who say, “God is the third of three (in a trinity),” when there is no god but one God.  If they desist not from what they say, truly, a painful punishment will befall the disbelievers among them. Would they not rather repent to God and ask His forgiveness?  For God is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful.  The Messiah (Jesus), son of Mary, was no more than a messenger... (Quran, 5:73-75) Islam rejects that God rested on the seventh day of the creation, that He wrestled with one of His angels, that He is an envious plotter against mankind, or that He is incarnate in any human being.  Islam also rejects the attribution of any human form to God. All of these are considered blasphemous.  God is the Exalted.  He is far removed from every imperfection.  He never becomes weary.  He does not become drowsy nor does he sleep. The Arabic word Allah means God (the one and only true God who created the whole universe).  This wordAllah is a name for God, which is used by Arabic speakers, both Arab Muslims and Arab Christians.  This word cannot be used to designate anything other than the one true God.  The Arabic word Allah occurs in the Quran about 2700 times.  In Aramaic, a language related closely to Arabic and the language that Jesus habitually spoke,4 God is also referred to as Allah. 2) Belief in the Angels: Muslims believe in the existence of the angels and that they are honored creatures.  The angels worship God alone, obey Him, and act only by His command.  Among the angels is Gabriel, who brought down the Quran to Muhammad . 3) Belief in God’s Revealed Books: Muslims believe that God revealed books to His messengers as proof for mankind and as guidance for them.  Among these books is the Quran, which God revealed to the Prophet Muhammad .  God has guaranteed the Quran’s protection from any corruption or distortion.  God has said:  Indeed, We have sent down the Quran, and surely We will guard it (from corruption). (Quran, 15:9) 4) Belief in the Prophets and Messengers of God: Muslims believe in the prophets and messengers of God, starting with Adam, including Noah, Abraham, Ishmael, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, and Jesus (peace be upon them).  But God’s final message to man, a reconfirmation of the eternal message, was revealed to the Prophet Muhammad .  Muslims believe that Muhammad  is the last prophet sent by God, as God has said:  Muhammad is not the father of any one of your men, but he is the Messenger of God and the last of the prophets...  (Quran, 33:40) Muslims believe that all the prophets and messengers were created human beings who had none of the divine qualities of God. 5)Belief in the Day of Judgment:  Muslims believe in the Day of Judgment (the Day of Resurrection) when all people will be resurrected for God’s judgment according to their beliefs and deeds. 6) Belief in Al-Qadar: Muslims believe in Al-Qadar, which is Divine Predestination, but this belief in Divine Predestination does not mean that human beings do not have freewill.  Rather, Muslims believe that God has given human beings freewill.  This means that they can choose right or wrong and that they are responsible for their choices. The belief in Divine Predestination includes belief in four things: 1) God knows everything.  He knows what has happened and what will happen.  2) God has recorded all that has happened and all that will happen.  3) Whatever God wills to happen happens, and whatever He wills not to happen does not happen.  4) God is the Creator of everything.

Day of Judgment? Like Christians, Muslims believe that the present life is only a trial preparation for the next realm of existence.  This life is a test for each individual for the life after death.  A day will come when the whole universe will be destroyed and the dead will be resurrected for judgment by God.  This day will be the beginning of a life that will never end.  This day is the Day of Judgment.  On that day, all people will be rewarded by God according to their beliefs and deeds.  Those who die while believing that “There is no true god but God, and Muhammad is the Messenger (Prophet) of God” and are Muslim will be rewarded on that day and will be admitted to Paradise forever, as God has said:  And those who believe and do good deeds, they are dwellers of Paradise, they dwell therein forever.  (Quran, 2:82) But those who die while not believing that “There is no true god but God, and Muhammad is the Messenger (Prophet) of God” or are not Muslim will lose Paradise forever and will be sent to Hellfire, as God has said:  And whoever seeks a religion other than Islam, it will not be accepted from him and he will be one of the losers in the Hereafter.  (Quran, 3:85) And as He has said:  Those who have disbelieved and died in disbelief, the earth full of gold would not be accepted from any of them if it were offered as a ransom.  They will have a painful punishment, and they will have no helpers. (Quran, 3:91) One may ask, ‘I think Islam is a good religion, but if I were to convert to Islam, my family, friends, and other people would persecute me and make fun of me.  So if I do not convert to Islam, will I enter Paradise and be saved from Hellfire?’ The answer is what God has said in the preceding verse,“And whoever seeks a religion other than Islam, it will not be accepted from him and he will be one of the losers in the Hereafter.” After having sent the Prophet Muhammad  to call people to Islam, God does not accept adherence to any religion other than Islam.  God is our Creator and Sustainer.  He created for us whatever is in the earth.  All the blessings and good things we have are from Him.  So after all this, when someone rejects belief in God, His Prophet Muhammad , or His religion of Islam, it is just that he or she be punished in the Hereafter.  Actually, the main purpose of our creation is to worship God alone and to obey Him, as God has said in the Holy Quran (51:56). This life we live today is a very short life.  The unbelievers on the Day of Judgment will think that the life they lived on earth was only a day or part of a day, as God has said:  He (God) will say, “How many years did you stay on the earth?”  They will say: “We stayed a day or part of a day....”  (Quran, 23:112-113) And He has said:  Did you then think that We had created you in jest (without any purpose), and that you would not be returned to Us (in the Hereafter)?  So, God is exalted, the True King.  None has the right to be worshipped but Him...  (Quran, 23:115-116) The life in the Hereafter is a very real life.  It is not only spiritual, but physical as well.  We will live there with our souls and bodies. In comparing this world with the Hereafter, the Prophet Muhammad  said: {The value of this world compared to that of the Hereafter is like what your finger brings from the sea when you put it in and then take it out.}1  The meaning is that, the value of this world compared to that of the Hereafter is like a few drops of water compared to the sea.   .

HAPPINESS FOREVER

Real Happiness and Inner Peace

Real happiness and peace can be found in submitting to the commands of the Creator and the Sustainer of this world.  God has said in the Quran:  Truly, in remembering God do hearts find rest. (Quran, 13:28) On the other hand, the one who turns away from the Quran will have a life of hardship in this world.  God has said:  But whoever turns away from the Quran,1he will have a hard life, and We will raise him up blind on the Day of Judgment.  (Quran, 20:124) This may explain why some people commit suicide while they enjoy the material comfort money can buy.  For example, look at Cat Stevens (now Yusuf Islam), formerly a famous pop singer who used to earn sometimes more than $150,000 a night.  After he converted to Islam, he found true happiness and peace, which he had not found in material success.2

The Quran on Human Embrryonic Development

In the Holy Quran, God speaks about the stages of man’s embryonic development:  We created man from an extract of clay.  Then We made him as a drop in a place of settlement, firmly fixed.  Then We made the drop into an alaqah (leech, suspended thing, and blood clot), then We made the alaqahinto a mudghah (chewed substance)... 1(Quran, 23:12-14) Literally, the Arabic word alaqah has three meanings: (1) leech, (2) suspended thing, and (3) blood clot. In comparing a leech to an embryo in the alaqah stage, we find similarity between the two2 as we can see in figure 1.  Also, the embryo at this stage obtains nourishment from the blood of the mother, similar to the leech, which feeds on the blood of others.3 Figure 1: Drawings illustrating the similarities in appearance between a leech and a human embryo at thealaqah stage. (Leech drawing from Human Development as Described in the Quran and Sunnah, Moore and others, p. 37, modified from Integrated Principles of Zoology, Hickman and others.  Embryo drawing from The Developing Human, Moore and Persaud, 5th ed., p. 73.) The second meaning of the word alaqah is “suspended thing.”  This is what we can see in figures 2 and 3, the suspension of the embryo, during the alaqah stage, in the womb of the mother. Figure 2: We can see in this diagram the suspension of an embryo during the alaqah stage in the womb (uterus) of the mother. (The Developing Human, Moore and Persaud, 5th ed., p. 66.)  (Click on the image to enlarge it.)     Figure 3: In this photomicrograph, we can see the suspension of an embryo (marked B) during the alaqah stage (about 15 days old) in the womb of the mother.  The actual size of the embryo is about 0.6 mm. (The Developing Human, Moore, 3rd ed., p. 66, from Histology, Leeson and Leeson.) The third meaning of the word alaqah is “blood clot.”  We find that the external appearance of the embryo and its sacs during the alaqah stage is similar to that of a blood clot.  This is due to the presence of relatively large amounts of blood present in the embryo during this stage4 (see figure 4).  Also during this stage, the blood in the embryo does not circulate until the end of the third week.5  Thus, the embryo at this stage is like a clot of blood. Figure 4: Diagram of the primitive cardiovascular system in an embryo during the alaqah stage.  The external appearance of the embryo and its sacs is similar to that of a blood clot, due to the presence of relatively large amounts of blood present in the embryo. (The Developing Human, Moore, 5th ed., p. 65.)  (Click on the image to enlarge it.) So the three meanings of the word alaqah correspond accurately to the descriptions of the embryo at the alaqahstage. The next stage mentioned in the verse is the mudghahstage.  The Arabic word mudghah means “chewed substance.”  If one were to take a piece of gum and chew it in his or her mouth and then compare it with an embryo at the mudghah stage, we would conclude that the embryo at the mudghah stage acquires the appearance of a chewed substance.  This is because of the somites at the back of the embryo that “somewhat resemble teethmarks in a chewed substance.”6 (see figures 5 and 6). Figure 5: Photograph of an embryo at the mudghahstage (28 days old).  The embryo at this stage acquires the appearance of a chewed substance, because the somites at the back of the embryo somewhat resemble teeth marks in a chewed substance.  The actual size of the embryo is 4 mm. (The Developing Human, Moore and Persaud, 5th ed., p. 82, from Professor Hideo Nishimura, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan.)     Figure 6: When comparing the appearance of an embryo at themudghah stage with a piece of gum that has been chewed, we find similarity between the two. A) Drawing of an embryo at the mudghah stage.  We can see here the somites at the back of the embryo that look like teeth marks. (The Developing Human, Moore and Persaud, 5th ed., p. 79.) B) Photograph of a piece of gum that has been chewed. (Click on the image to enlarge it.) How could Muhammad  have possibly known all this 1400 years ago, when scientists have only recently discovered this using advanced equipment and powerful microscopes which did not exist at that time?  Hamm and Leeuwenhoek were the first scientists to observe human sperm cells (spermatozoa) using an improved microscope in 1677 (more than 1000 years after Muhammad ).  They mistakenly thought that the sperm cell contained a miniature preformed human being that grew when it was deposited in the female genital tract.7 Professor Emeritus Keith L. Moore8 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.  This book is a scientific reference work and was chosen by a special committee in the United States as the best book authored by one person.  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 1984, 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.  He has directed many international associations, such as the Canadian and American Association of Anatomists and the Council of the Union of Biological Sciences. In 1981, during the Seventh Medical Conference in Dammam, Saudi Arabia, Professor Moore said: “It has been a great pleasure for me to help clarify statements in the Quran about human development.  It is clear to me that these statements must have come to Muhammad from God, because almost all of this knowledge was not discovered until many centuries later.  This proves to me that Muhammad must have been a messenger of God.”9  (To view the RealPlayer video of this comment click here ). Consequently, Professor Moore was asked the following question: “Does this mean that you believe that the Quran is the word of God?”  He replied: “I find no difficulty in accepting this.”10 During one conference, Professor Moore stated: “....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 Quran and Sunnah (what Muhammad  said, did, or approved of).  The proposed system is simple, comprehensive, and conforms with present embryological knowledge.  The intensive studies of the Quran and hadeeth(reliably transmitted reports by the Prophet Muhammad’s  companions of what he said, did, or approved of) in the last four years have revealed a system for classifying human embryos that is amazing since it was recorded in the seventh century A.D.  Although Aristotle, the founder of the science of embryology, realized 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 Quran 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.”11  (View the RealPlayer video of this comment ).