A comparative study between Said Nursi’s approach to scientific interpretation of the Holy Quran in his Rasale-i Nur and Maulana Ashraf Ali Thanvi’s in his Bayanul Quran
By Md. Obaidullah urf Mohiuddin Qasmi*
Distinguished guests, esteemed colleagues, ladies and gentlemen!
It gives me immense pleasure to be here today, and participate in this seminar on a very important topic of our time. It also gives me great pleasure and honour to extend my heartfelt thanks to the Honourable Convener of the seminar for inviting me to address this gathering of intellectuals and men of literature on the topic “A comparative study between Said Nursi’s approach to scientific interpretation of the Holy Quran in his Rasale-I Nur and Maulana Ashraf Ali Thanvi’s in his Bayanul Quran.
My paper will deal with a comparative study between Bediuzzaman Said Nursi ‘s((1873–1960) approach to scientific interpretation of the Holy Quran in the light of his scholarly Tafseer entitled Rasale-I Nur and Maulana Ashraf Ali Thanwi’s (1863 –1943) approach in his famous Tafseer Bayanul Quran and his book al-Intibahat al-Mufidah ‘an al-Ishhtibahat al-Jadidah.
The two, Said Nursi, a Turkish influential scholar of Islam, and Maulana Ashraf Ali Thanwi, an Indian reformist scholar of Islam are towering personalities, great reformers and noted commentators of the Holy Quran in their times. Many similarities as well as differences are found in their approaches to the interpretation of the Quran and presentation of Islam to modern society. Both are held in great esteem in the Muslim world, and their contributions to Islamic sciences are unmatched.
During his lifetime, Nursi was often accused by his opponents of being totally opposed to progress and the advancement of civilization. On allegations leveled against him, he stated in the court that scientific and technological achievements were conciliated with Islam and blessings from Allah, but instead of thanking Allah wholeheartedly for guiding men to invent such modern wonders, men have used them to attack and destroy one another.
Similar accusations were made against Maulana Ashraf Ali Thanwi, which he clarified in his book ‘al-Intibahat al-Mufidah ‘an al-Ishhtibahat al-Jadidah ‘ He presented a sound analysis of the approach to scientific interpretation of the Quran.
In short, my seminar paper will address the issues of scientific interpretation of the Quran and presentation of Islam on scientific basis according to Said Nursi and Ashraf Ali Thanwi in their Rasale-I Nur and Bayanul Quran respectively.
Said Nursi’s brief intellectual profile
Said Nursi was one of the most famous Turkish Islamic scholars of the last century, who had a great influence on Turkish people, wrote over 50 books and spent most of his life behind bars. Today, his teachings are admired by Turkey’s young generation and millions of Muslims all over the world.
Said Nursi, also widely known as Bediuzzaman (the Wonder of the Age), was born in 1876 in Eastern Turkey (the Village of Nurs) and died in 1960 in Urfa in Turkey. Here I shall mention just a few points which are relevant to the Risale-i Nur. With this same aim, some general points about the Risale-i Nur are mentioned and his approach to comparative study between the Holy Quran and modern science has been presented.
Bediuzzaman displayed an extraordinary intelligence and ability to learn from an early age, completing the normal course of Madrasa (religious school) education at the early age of fourteen, when he obtained his diploma. He became famous for both his prodigious memory and his unbeaten record in debating with other religious scholars. Another characteristic Bediuzzaman displayed from an early age was an instinctive dissatisfaction with the existing education system, which when older he formulated into comprehensive proposals for its reform.
The heart of these proposals was the bringing together and joint teaching of the traditional religious sciences and the modern sciences, together with the founding of a university in the Eastern Provinces of the Empire, the Medresetü'z-Zehra, where this and his other proposals would be put into practice. In 1907 his endeavours in this field took him to Istanbul and an audience with Sultan Abdulhamid. Although subsequently he twice received approval of the funds for the construction of his university, and its foundations were laid in 1913, it was never completed due to war and the vicissitudes of the times.
Contrary to the practice of religious scholars at that time, Bediuzzaman himself studied and mastered almost all the physical and mathematical sciences, and later studied philosophy, for he believed that it was only in this way that Islamic theology (Kalâm) could be renewed and successfully answer the attacks to which the Qur'an and Islam were then subject.
When the British Secretary for the Colonies, Gladstone's stated intention to discredit the Qur'an, Bediuzzaman decided to prove the truth of the Quran.
He vowed:
(لأبرهنن للعالم أن القرآن شمس معنوية لا يخبو سنـاها ولا يمكن إطفاء نورها)
“I shall prove and demonstrate to the world that the Qur'an is an undying, inextinguishable Sun!"
From that time he strove to employ his superior knowledge of both the traditional religious and the modern sciences in the service of the Qur'an; to prove its miraculousness, defend it against the attacks in the name of science and progress, and relate its truths in the light of modern advances in knowledge. He tried to prove that contrary to the claims of its enemies, the Qur'an was the source of true progress and civilization, and in addition, since this was the case, Islam would dominate the future, despite its relative decline and regression at that time.
In the course of time, the physical sciences had been dropped from Medrese education, which had contributed directly to the Ottoman Empire decline relative to the advance of the West. Now, in the 19th and early 20th centuries, Europe had got dominance over the Islamic world, and in efforts to expand its dominance, was attacking the Qur'an and Islam in the name of science and progress in particular, falsely claiming them to be incompatible with science.
Thus, all Bediuzzaman's endeavour was to prove and demonstrate the falseness of these accusations, and that far from being incompatible with science and progress, the Qur'an was the source of true progress and civilization, and in addition, since this was the case, Islam would dominate the future.
The years up to the end of the First World War were the final decades of the Ottoman Empire and were, in the words of Bediuzzaman, the period of the 'Old Said'. He strove to serve the cause of the Empire and Islam through active involvement in social life and the public domain.
In the War, he commanded the militia forces on the Caucasian Front against the invading Russians, for which he as later awarded a War Medal. To maintain the morale of his men he himself disdained to enter the trenches in spite of the constant shelling, and it was while withstanding the overwhelming assaults of the enemy that he wrote his celebrated Qur'anic commentary, Signs of Miraculousness, dictating to a scribe while on horseback. Stating that the Qur'an encompasses the sciences which make known the physical world, the commentary is an original and important work which brings together the religious and modern sciences in the way Bediuzzaman proposed and explains the Miraculousness of the order of the verses, words and letters of the Quran.. Bediuzzaman was taken prisoner in March 1916 and held in Russia for two years before escaping in early 1918, and returning to Istanbul via Warsaw, Berlin, and Vienna.
New Said
The defeat of the Ottomans saw the end of the Empire and its dismemberment, and the occupation of Istanbul and parts of Turkey by foreign forces. These bitter years saw also the transformation of the Old Said into the New Said, the second main period of Bediuzzaman's life
Despite the acclaim he received and services he performed as a member of the Dar-ül-Hikmet-il-Islâmiye, and combatting the British, Bediuzzaman underwent a profound mental and spiritual change in the process of which he turned his back on the world, and realizing the inadequacy of the 'human' science and philosophy he had studied as a means of reaching the truth, took the revealed Qur'an as his "Sole Guide".
In recognition of his services to the Independence Struggle, Bediuzzaman was invited to Ankara by Mustafa Kemal (Ataturk), but on arrival there, found that at the very time of the victory of the Turks and Islam, Atheistic and unislamic ideas were being propagated among the officials, and many were lax in performing their religious duties. He published various works which successfully countered this.
Remaining some eight months in Ankara, Bediuzzaman understood the way Mustafa Kemal and the new leaders were going to take, and on the one hand that he could not work alongside them, and on the other that they were not to be combatted in the realm of politics. After contemplating, he concluded that those destructive Anti-Islamic Forces can be defeated only by the Spiritual Diamond Sword of the Quran. And so, when offered various posts and benefits by Mustafa Kemal, he declined them and left Ankara for Van, where he withdrew into a life of worship and contemplation and teaching; he was seeking the best way to proceed.
In early 1925 there was a rebellion in the east in which Bediuzzaman did not play any role, but as a consequence of which was sent into exile in western Anatolia along with many hundreds of others.
Thus unjustly began twenty-five years of exile, imprisonment, and unlawful oppression for Bediuzzaman. However, the attempt to entirely isolate and silence him had the reverse effect, for Bediuzzaman was prepared to face the new challenge.
It should be stated here that Bediuzzaman was not anti-Western as such, - indeed, he differentiated between harmful and beneficial philosophy, and hoped for the salvation of all mankind - but was uncompromising against the unbelief and atheism which is opposed to religion; in recent times the weapon of this has mostly been materialist philosophies such as Positivism and Naturalism, which use science to justify their ideas.
The Risale-i Nur and Scientific approach
The Risale-i Nur collection is a six-thousand-page commentary on the Quran written by Bediuzzaman Said Nursi in accordance with the mentality of the age. Since in our age faith and Islam have been the objects of the attacks launched in the name of so called science and logic, Bediuzzaman Said Nursi therefore concentrated in the Risale-i Nur on proving the truths of faith in conformity with modern science through rational proofs and evidence, and by describing the miraculous aspects of the Quran that relate primarily to our century.
In this work, he devoted himself to defending and explaining Islam’s main principles of thought, belief, worship, morality, and way of life through writing. His words reached millions of people through the 600,000 copies handwritten by him and his students. And this at a time when any religious undertaking was extremely difficult.
In his Risale-i Nur, written during 1926-1934, considered a classic of Turkish religious literature, he identified the cause of the Muslim world’s decline: the weakening of belief’s foundations. When joined with the unceasing attacks of materialism, atheism, science, and progress, he saw a great cloud of denial hovering over the Muslim world. To neutralize it, he undertook a “jihad of the word with the diamond principles of Islam” designed to strengthen – even save—belief by reconstructing Islam from its foundations of belief.
The Risale-i Nur explains Islam and belief to modern people in their own terms and according to their own worldview. Analyzing both belief and unbelief, he used clearly reasoned arguments to prove that the Quranic conception of God and His Unity, Prophethood and bodily resurrection, and all others are the only rational explanations for existence, humanity, and the universe. It was written to expound and explain the truths of the Qur'an and belief to modern man, bewildered as he is by the assaults of materialist philosophy. In explaining these truths, the Risale-i Nur demonstrates the Qur'an's superiority in every respect. As the New Said, Bediuzzaman had immersed himself in the Qur'an, searching for a way to relate its truths to modern man. In Barla in his isolation he began to write treatises explaining and proving these truths, for now the Qur'an itself and its truths were under direct attack. The first of these was on the Resurrection of the Dead, which in a unique style, proves bodily Resurrection rationally, where even the greatest scholars previously had confessed their impotence. Thus, rather than being a Qur'anic commentary which expounds all its verses giving the immediate reasons for their revelation and the apparent meanings of the words and sentences, the Risale-i Nur is what is known as a Tafseer-i Manawi, or commentary which expounds the truths of the Qur'an, that is, explains and proves the verses containing the Qur'anic teachings.
In numerous of its verses, the Holy Qur'an invites man to observe the universe and reflect on the Divine activity within it; following just this method, Bediuzzaman provides proofs and explanations for the truths of belief. He likens the universe to a book, and looking at it in the way shown by the Qur'an, that is, 'reading' it for its meaning, learns of the Divine Names and attributes and other truths of belief. The book's purpose is to describe its Author and Maker; beings become evidences and signs to their Creator.
Indeed, far from contradicting them, in uncovering the order and working of the universe, science broadens and deepens knowledge of the truths of belief. In the Risale-i Nur many descriptions of the Divine activity in the universe are looked at through the eyes of science, and reflect Bediuzzaman's knowledge of it. The Risale-i Nur shows that there is no contradiction or conflict between religion and science.
The proofs of the Qur'an's miraculousness have been given in the Twenty-Fifth Word, which answers in particular criticisms made by atheists and scientists;
The way the Risale-i Nur was written and disseminated was unique, like the work itself. Bediuzzaman would dictate at speed to a scribe, who would write down the piece in question with equal speed; the actual writing was very quick. Bediuzzaman had no books for reference and the writing of religious works was of course forbidden. They were all written therefore in the mountains and out in the countryside. Handwritten copies were then made, these were secretly copied out in the houses of the Risale-i Nur 'Students', as they were called, and passed from village to village, and then from town to town, till they spread throughout Turkey.
Using easily understood stories, comparisons, and explanations, Said Nursi produced categorical proofs showing that modern scientific discoveries actually support and reinforce the truths of religion. He used the Quranic methodology of addressing each person’s intellect, and all inner and outer facilities, to encourage people to study the universe and its functioning in order to understand creation’s true nature and purposes. This, in turn, leads to learning the One Creator’s attributes and their own duties as God’s servants.
Said Nursi explains the universe’s true nature as being a comprehensive sign of its Creator, and showed via clear arguments that all fundamentals of belief can be proven rationally when the universe is read in this way. As belief is then grounded in modern science, it remains firm and immune to materialism, naturalism, and atheism.
Such believers view all scientific and technological advances as merely uncovering the cosmos’ workings. Viewing the cosmos as vast and infinitely complex and meaningful unified book describing its Single Author, all discoveries and advances reinforce, deepen, and expand belief. Thus their most fundamental needs --- to worship God by recognizing His Most Beautiful Names and Attributes, and to obey His laws --- are met.
Said Nursi’s Concept of Science
Said Nursi used religious and scientific terminology together, as indicated by his usage of ulum-u musbete (positive sciences). Given this, and his emphasis on contemporary scientific achievements, we can say that he accepted the existence of positive and metaphysical sciences. He states that the “Risale-i-nur uses demonstrative proof,” which for him is the scientific method, and thus addresses the human mind convincingly. He argues that all phenomena in the universe give as much certainty for the truths of belief as science gives for any established fact. He accepted and then tried to modify the prevalent concept of science by joining religious and modern scientific knowledge, and then justifying this theoretically:
“The light of the conscience is religious sciences (ulum-u diniye). The light of the mind is modern sciences (funun-u medeniye). Combining both manifests the truths. The student’s skills develop further with these two (sciences). When they are separated, the former breeds superstition and the latter breeds corruption and skepticism.1”
Classical Muslim scholars join scientific and religious knowledge during the Islamic world’s Golden Age (Ninth to mid thirteenth centuries). Although Said Nursi stated that Islamic metaphysics must remain Islamic, he approved of such attempts in being related to certain religious issues, with the result that the scientific theory is believed to be part of the religion. He stressed that the knowledge of these two fields must not be mixed, and that great care must be taken when using scientific theories to interpret religious issues.
Said Nursi's views on the relation between faith and science were formulated at a time when the rude positivism of the late 1900s was made the official ideology of the newly established Turkish republic. Unlike many of his contemporaries, Nursi had a considerable knowledge of the scientific findings of his time. His method in confronting Western science was a simple yet highly influential one: instead of taking a position against it, he incorporated its findings within the theistic perspective, thus preempting any serious confrontation between science and religion. Since Nursi, like many of his contemporaries, was acutely aware of the power of modern natural sciences, and, as we see in his great work Risale-i Nur, he certainly believed in the universal objectivity of their discoveries.2
For him, reading the verses of the Qur'an through the eyes of modern physical sciences had not only an instrumental value for protecting the faith of the youth who were coming under the sway of the 19th century positivism and empiricism. It was also the beginning of a new method of substantiating the Islamic faith on the basis of the certainties of modern physical sciences, and reading the cosmic verses of the Qur'an within the matrix of scientific discoveries.
The Role of Knowledge
Said Nursi emphasized that knowledge yields happiness of this world and the one to come, and that humanity came to this world to be perfected through knowledge and supplication. Thus “knowledge without the heart’s inside is ignorance,”3 for our minds need to absorb religious truths with Revelation’s help, to which our heart---- not our mind or reason -------- is a mirror. Moreover, “revealed truth is reasonable, but reason on its own cannot attain it.” 4
The heart’s insight comes from the Quran; the minds insight comes from the other sciences. He writes:
“The reality of the universe and all beings is based on the Divine Names. The reality of every being is based on one or many Names. All sciences and arts are based on and rely upon a Name. The true science of philosophy is based on the Name Al-Wise (al-Hakim), true medicine on the Name Healer (al-Shafi), geometry on the Name Determiner (al-Muqaddir) and so on. Just as each science is based on and ultimately ends in a Name, the realities of all arts, sciences, and human perfections are based on the Divine Names”5
Said Nursi concludes that knowledge gained by studying the universe in God’s name is true knowledge, while knowledge gained in other ways is ignorance. Science interprets the universe, which is a symbolic creation of God pointing to a Truth beyond itself.
Expressing Scientific Truth
Said Nursi’s conclusion leads us to how science should express its discoveries and theoretical formulations. He suggests the language of the Quran as a model, on the grounds that since the Divine language guides all aspects of our social life, it should guide us in this matter as well.
According to him, in most cases the Quran speaks of certain scientific phenomena in an allegorical style, for it addresses all levels at all times and seeks only to make our Creator known to us through His creations and establish the pillar of belief and good conduct in minds and hearts. 6 Thus it speaks in terms of our relationship to the Creator, whereas, Western philosophy and science use language to encourage people to look at things only in relation to the things themselves. In addition, Western language is directed toward specialists, whereas the Quranic language addresses everyone and so must be general to ensure understanding.
For example, the Quran presents the universe as a huge kingdom, Earth as a palace, the sun as a lamp, the moon as a nightlight, and the stars as decorations. People are to reflect upon all of these to grasp what they can of their Creator. Western science and philosophy present the sun and other beings as things on their own and without an owner. It inspires awesome dread and fearful wonder, and gives the spirit no perfection of knowledge or moral lesson. Said Nursi considers such philosophy to be divorced from religion.
During his time, there were three main branches of educational institutions, namely, the medreses or traditional religious schools, the mektebs or new secular schools, and the tekkes or Sufi disciplines, existed in the society. 7 The heart of Bediuzzaman’s proposals lay in reconciling the three main branches into one. The embodiment of this rapprochement was the Medresetü’z-Zehra. Bediuzzaman attached the greatest importance to establishing this university where the religious sciences and modern sciences would be taught side by side and “combined”, and pursued it till the end of his days. 8
Maulana Asraf Ali Thanwi’s brief profile
Mawlana Ashraf ‘Ali Thanawi was born in the village of Thana Bhawan, a village in the Muzaffarnagar district of the Uttar Pradesh of India in 1863. He passed away in 1943.
Mawlana Ashraf ‘Ali Thanawi is referred to by many South Asian Muslims as Hakim al-Umma (“Spiritual Physician of the Muslim Umma”) and Mujaddid al-Milla (“Reformer of the Nation”). He is a towering figure of Islamic revival and reawakening of South Asia in the twentieth century. Mawlana Thanawi was one of the most eminent religious figures of his time, a prolific author, and believed to be the greatest Sufi of modern India.
“He led a very active life, teaching, preaching, writing, lecturing, and making occasional journeys”. 9 The distinguishing mark and guiding principle that led to the vast success of his message was a remarkable sense of balance and straightforwardness in his speeches and writings.
Mawlana Thanawi’s profound knowledge and insight in the Qur’an is reflected in his Urdu translation of the meanings of the Qur’an. His twelve volume exegesis, Bayan al-Qur’an, can only be appreciated by a scholar who studies it after having read more than twenty commentaries on the Qur’an. 10 Sayyid Sulayman Nadwi said, “His commentary relies heavily on Ruh al-Ma‘ani of ‘Allama Alusi al-Baghdadi, and because it was written in the mid-thirteenth century ah, it encompasses all previous explanations of the Qur’an”. 11
Maulana Ashraf Ali Thanwi’s approach to scientific interpretation of the Quran with special reference to his Tafseer Baynaul Quran and Al Intibahatul Mufeedah an al-Ishtibahat al-jadeedah:
With respect to the issue of interpreting the Quran through science, the correct approach to Maulana Ashraf Ali Thanwi is not to take an aggressive approach to such matters and try to “prove” the Qur’an through modern scientific knowledge. Muslims do believe for a fact that the Qur’an does correspond to actual truth since the Qur’an is the Speech of Allah and it is impossible for Allah to be attributed with a lie.
Empirical observations and the scientific method as a whole do not provide us with the absolute truth of a certain phenomena. While the Muslim view is contrary to what many people in the past and present believe about science, it is easily verified by the fact that any given scientific theory is subject to modifications and even outright abandonment if the interpretations for the results of experiments lead to a better explanation than what is currently available.
In fact, the attempts to show that the Qur’an contained scientific discoveries not known to man until recent times is not something that sprung up only in the present age. Rather, this phenomenon came about when certain well-meaning Muslims who did not possess the proper qualifications in Quranic exegesis saw the apparent conformation of the text of the Qur’an by the pronouncements coming out of scientific circles.
However, many of the traditional scholars did not take this approach, since they considered it to be an unauthorized over-extension of the true purpose of the Quranic text.
Maulana Ashraf ‘Ali Thanvi discussed this craze in his book “al-Intibahat al-Mufidah ‘an al-Ishhtibahat al-Jadidah”, 12 were he mentions:
The second error [concerning the Qur’an] is the attempt to show that the Qur’an contains themes of science as one comes across nowadays in many journals and reviews. As soon as some people hear or see any new finding of science by the Europeans, they try in one way or the other to posit such finding as a connotation of some verse of the Qur’an. They reckon this as a great service to Islam, a cause of pride for the Qur’an, and a sign of their own ingenuity. Many an educated person is found involved in this error.
One aspect of their error is that they think that it was a proof of Qur’an’s perfection to contain themes of science. The source of this error is that their attention was diverted from the real subject-matter of the Qur’an… Since the Qur’an essentially contains a spiritual healing, its being free from these themes does not divest this Book of its inherent value. Rather than that, this fact proves its perfectness in a way.
… However, if by the demands of this spiritual treatment, a part of these themes finds mention in the Qur’an, then this is also meant to fulfill the real purpose of this Book. However, going by the principle: ‘the necessary is measurable by the degree of the necessity’, this part will not be mentioned beyond the limits of necessity. …For instance to establish tawhid, which is the greatest source of the guidance of spirits, the easiest and nearest means is the analogy of creatures. Occasional mention, therefore, is to be found of the creation of the skies, earth, man and animal. Since this did not warrant any detail, it was not mentioned.
… In short, the themes of science are not among the aims of the Qur’an per se. However, by the necessity of supporting the aim, whatever is mentioned here in the form of a manifest and clear connotation is certainly and evidently true. It would be wrong to believe otherwise by some other reasoning. If any argument is against it, then that will be assailable after investigation or would give rise to a conflict. Nevertheless, it is possible that the connotation of the verse is not explicit and manifest and there is some other valid argument which is admissible against it, then the text of the Qur’an could be interpreted in such a way that its direct connotation is abandoned in favour of the other interpretation supported by a valid argument.
The second error, as indicated above, is that such issues are not the objects per se of the Qur’an, but these are merely auxiliaries for the object and it is obvious that the argument should contain premises acceptable to the listener or these should be self-evident or could be proved to him by reasoning
…When this much is evident, then it should not escape the mind that if these modern discoveries are contented to be the connotations of the Qur’an, then certainly the Arab people who were the first addresses of the Qur’an, were not aware of these discoveries. This leads, as a corollary, to the conclusion that the whole argument is founded on unacceptable, unobvious and unknown premises. Hence, the argument becomes void on this very basis. And this kind of reasoning would seriously injure the mode of Qur’anic argument.
A third major difficulty is that the findings of science keep changing. There are many findings which have remained true for a while and were unanimously accepted by all scientists in the world but are no longer accepted by the scientific community. For example, it was once held that a body which emanates light progressively becomes less and diminishes. On the strength of this theory it was said that the sun is also gradually extinguishing. By means of telescopes this was established to such an extent that the rate of this phenomenon was measured and some intellectuals predicted that after a certain period of time the sun will be no more. Since the existence of the world is very much dependent on the heat of the sun this occurrence would then also herald the end of the world.
Those of our brothers who are impressed by scientific advances would say that the end of the world in this way is the qiyamah [Last Day] predicted by the Qur’an more than 1300 years ago. The theory that a body which emanates light diminishes with time was acceptable to all until the discovery of radium proved this wrong. It was discovered that despite the fact that radium emanated light it did not diminish. If this is the position with such a widely accepted theory, one can well imagine the situation when it comes to other discoveries and scientific findings. Now scientists and those who support science should for a moment consider that if they make scientific findings part of the Qur’an and give it a place in the tafsīr [exegetical] literature and they make claims as some do today that the Qur’anic verses prove certain scientific facts then when at some point in the future the theory is disproved, opponents of the Qur’an can easily point out that the Qur’an is wrong and contains errors. Once this has been proved in one or two instances then the veracity of the entire Qur’an is questionable. Due to this possibility the entire corpus of the Qur’an will be regarded as incorrect and there will be no way in which to defend the authenticity of the Qur’anic revelation.
The fourth flaw in this approach is that it is against the dignity of the Muslims that the scholars of Europe should claim that the Qur’an which was revealed long time ago, yet its contents were not comprehended even by the Prophet (peace be on him) himself, and you owe it to us that you have understood its tafsir because of us, then what is going to be our answer?”
So from the above discussion we know that there is a lot of skepticism and of many of the claims brought forth by those people (Muslims and non-Muslims alike) who try to compare the Quranic text with whatever scientific theories are in circulation at a particular time. The knowledgeable Muslim then, knows that the most important purpose of the Quranic Verse is to provide guidance to people, and that the mention of humans, animals, the skies, clouds, etc, is definitely mentioned in the Quran, but it is mentioned only in a general sense without many details being provided, since there was no need for such particulars to be incorporated into the text of the Quran. We also need to mention that while some well-meaning Muslims with improper knowledge may get carried away with the correlations between science and Islam, our opponents from the non-Muslim side may also overreach in their ambitious desire to “prove the Qur’an wrong” through modern science. So this point has to be considered as well whenever we look at discussions concerning the Quranic Verses in general.
Having mentioned the quote from Maulana Thanvi, it is still possible that some of the Verses in question do mention scientific data only discovered very recently by modern scientists. However, the elucidations for this should be brought forth from the Islamic scholars of Tafsir (Quranic exegesis) and the scholars of Islam in general, since they have the knowledge required to know if a certain Quranic phrase lends itself to an explanation in harmony with current scientific explanations. Thus, our explanation concerning the objections brought up concerning certain Verses of the Qur’an will be based on what the contemporary traditional scholars of Islam say concerning such passages, and whether they see the possibility of them having such scientific connotations, as various aspects have to be considered before making a claim that a certain Verse contains “miraculous” information that was not known until today. As mentioned above, if such information is not mentioned it is not a blemish on the Qur’an but rather a confirmation that its message is primarily for man to recognize who his Lord is and how he should submit to the Lord of the Worlds, and that the scientific details are only mentioned as necessary.
Examples of defending the Quran against objections based on some faulty scientific interpretations by his disciples:
Objection #1: Verse 21:33
وهو الذي خلق الليل والنهار والشمس والقمر كل في فلك يسبحون )،
says the sun and the moon yasbahun. This means both of them navigate or rotate around the earth and not around their own axis as some advocates of scientific interpretation claim.
Answer: We were not able to find references to the movement of the sun and moon around their own axis as a possible explanation for this Verse among the contemporary traditional scholars, so it could be true that the scientific interpretation may be an overextension of the intended meaning. The traditional scholars mention that the Verse refers to the orbits of the sun and the moon. A noted disciple of Maulana Thanwi, Mufti Muhammad Shafi says in his Maariful Quran: The word (falak) is used for circle or anything round. For this reason the word (falak) is also used sometimes for sky. In this verse it means the orbits of the sun and the moon in which they revolve. The Qur'anic words do not specify the location of the orbits in the space but space research has now established that these orbits are located in the space much below the sky. This verse apparently indicates that the Sun also moves around an orbit. The scientists previously did not believe in the rotation of the Sun, but the most modern research has now accepted it.
Other contemporary interpretations place the emphasis on the type of movement that is being described in this Verse. For example, Shaykh Mutawali ash-Shi’rawi mentions that the movement being described in here is that of a continuous motion like that of a fish in gentle waters (hence the mention of the word “yashabun”, as opposed to motion is spurts. This of course is something clearly visible and does not correlate directly to scientific discoveries.
The late Shaykh of Al-Azhar, Ali at-Tantawi says that the movement being attributed to the sun and the moon is the same is the movement of thinking beings, and is of the same category as when Allah the Exalted mentions the story of Prophet Yusuf (Alayhi Salaam) where he mentions seeing the Sun and Moon prostrating before him in a dream.
Having said this, the comment from the non-Muslim that this refers specifically to the sun and moon rotating around the Earth is not something mentioned by any of the contemporary Tafsirs. While it is true that many of the classical exegesists had taken such a meaning from the Verse in question, the only thing that this Verse mentions is the motion of the Sun and the Moon itself without mentioning the specific orbits- something which can be seen above in the interpretation of Mufti Shafi Usmani (RA).
Even if we were to take the meaning as being that the Sun and Earth rotate around a fixed Earth this still would not be a problematic issue, since (a) the Qur’an generally describes things as seen by common people, and (b) motion of bodies can only be described if we have a stationary point from which to make such observations, since it is an issue of different bodies moving relative to a stationary point of reference. Even though there are reasons why scientists may choose to place bodies other than the Earth as the point of reference when explaining any given model, the choice of which body is moving and which one is relative depends on the situation and the model that is being presented, and there is no such thing as an “absolute stationary point of reference” in the Universe.
Objection #2: Verse 51:47 says the universe is vast and not “expanding”. Dr. Naik is wrong on that.
For this Verse we would say that the key phrase does not linguistically directly relate to the Universe, so it cannot be said that this Ayah is explicitly mentioning either the vastness or the expansion of the Universe. The Verse in question is:
وَالسَّمَاءَ بَنَيْنَاهَا بِأَيْدٍ وَإِنَّا لَمُوسِعُونَ
In this Verse the key word is “مُوسِعُونَ”. According to many of the interpretations, this refers to the ability of Allah in expanding His Creation. This is attested to by the translation made by Mufti Taqi Usmani, who renders the translation as: “And the sky was built by Us with might, and indeed, We are the One who expands.
Likewise, Shaykh at-Tantawi mentioned that this phrase refers to the power of Allah to expand it (“it” means the skies, or the provisions of the people on Earth). ( http://www.altafsir.com/Tafasir.asp?tMadhNo=7&tTafsirNo=57&tSoraNo=51&tAyahNo=47&tDisplay=yes&UserProfile=0&LanguageId=1)
While it may be noted that there are different sayings as to whether the expansion is of the skies or of the provisions of the people on Earth, the position forwarded by Dr. Zakir Naik is one of the possibilities that is encompassed in this Verse. Indeed, the fact that the Quran mentions the skies in conjunction with saying that Allah is the One who expands or is able to expand is perhaps a pointer alluding to the “expanding Universe”.
From our side, we will not pursue this angle too aggressively since it is only a possible meaning among other probable meanings that can be inferred from this Verse, in addition to the fact that the science surrounding such a theory is not absolute and we as Muslims cannot say that the meaning of a certain Verse of the Qur’an is definitely tied to a scientific theory which could (at least in principle) be overturned, or explained in very different terms years down the line.
So we only say that the Universe itself is not the direct subject of this Verse, and the theory of the “expanding Universe” may or may not be alluded to in this Ayah.
Objection #3: about the verse
أولم ير الذين كفروا أنّ السماء و الأرض كانتا رتقاً ففتقناهما و جعلنا من الماء كل شيء حي أفلا يؤمنون
Dr. Naik says verse 21:30 talks about the Big Bang. This verse is actually about a pagan mythology.
Answer: We are not sure which “pagan mythology” is being referred to in here, but we can deduce a lot from the explanation given in Maariful Quran, which says
Different exegesists have explained differently the sense of the words "closing" and "opening", but the meanings which the companions of the Holy Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم and the majority of the exegesists have adopted are that closing of sky and earth means shutting off rainfall from the sky and vegetation from the earth, and opening means the opening of these two i.e. the rainfall and vegetation.
Further in this interpretation, there is one note from Mufti Taqi Usmani, the disciple of the disciple of Maulana Thanwi which says the following:
But the miraculous style of the Holy Qur’an is that the words used by it may have different possibilities for interpretation. The words ratq and fatq used here have another meaning which is 'being compact' and 'being separated'. If these words are taken in this sense, the verse may also be translated as, "The heavens and the earth were compact, then We separated them." In this case the verse will refer to an event of the early creation, meaning thereby that the heavens and the earth were originally a single body. Thereafter Allah separated the earth from the heavens. The contemporary research about the Big Bang is close to this description. But it should always be kept in mind that the Qur'anic descriptions are independent of any scientific theory and the Qur'an should not be made subject to ever-changing theories.
To conclude my talk, I wish the seminar full success and all participants every success and good health. Thank you for your kind attention.
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*Md. Obaidullah urf Mohiuddin Qasmi, Assist. Professor (Ad Hoc)
Dept. of Arabic, Zakir Husain Delhi College, University of Delhi
FOOTNOTES
1. Munazarat,(The Discussions) 2:1956
2. Said Nursi, Munazarat (Istanbul: Tenvir Nesriyat, p. 81
3 Said Nursi, The Letters, 2 vols, Kaynak, Izmir:1998
4. Nursi, The Words, The Light, Inc., New Jersy:2005
5. Nursi, The Thirty-second Word’s third station
6. Nursi, The Thirty-second Word’s third station
7. Sukran, 44, see also Munazarat, 43
8 Ibid
9. Naeem 94
10. Ma‘athir-e Hakim al-Ummat 323
11. Ma‘athir-e Hakim al-Ummat 299
al-Intibahat al-Mufidah ‘an al-Ishhtibahat al-Jadidah, pp. 124-126