Islam and Science:

Allah (SWT) says: “And He taught Adam all the names.” (II: 31) In contrast, The Torah mentions in Genesis that Adam’s sin that resulted in dismissing him from Paradise was the pursuit of knowledge.

Allah (SWT) says: “He taught man that which he knew not.” (XCVI: 5)  But the limited knowledge of man is incomparable to the absolute knowledge of Allah. Allah (SWT) says: “Nor shall they compass aught of His knowledge except as He wills.” (II: 255) Allah (SWT) also says: “The knowledge given to you is minute.” (XVII: 85)

In the Holy Book of Allah (SWT) and the Sunnah of His Prophet (peace be upon him) there are such scientific facts as have astounded scholars and researchers, which caused some of them to embrace Islam because of hearing and seeing a scientific miracle that challenges the present age.

“Few of the subjects dealt with in the Old Testament, and likewise in the Gospels, give rise to a confrontation with the data of modern knowledge. When incompatibility does occur between the Biblical text and science, however, it is on extremely important points.”[1] Let us briefly compare what is said about the creation of the universe in the Holy Qur’an with what is said in the Old Testament—the New Testament says nothing on the creation of the universe. In this respect we may quote the comparison held by Professor Maurice Bucaille in his book “The Bible, the Qur’an and Science”.[2]

In Genesis we find some texts pertaining to the creation of the universe. In verses 1/1-2 of Genesis we read: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep; and the Spirit of God was moving over the face of the waters.”

Comment: To mention the existence of water at this period is however quite simply pure imagination.

In verses 3 to 5 we read: "And God said, 'Let there be light', and there was light. And God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness. God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, one day."

Comment: The light circulating in the Universe is the result of complex reactions in the stars. We shall come back to them in the third part of this work. At this stage in the Creation, however, according to the Bible, the stars were not yet formed. The "lights' of the firmament are not mentioned in Genesis until verse 14, when they were created on the Fourth day, "to separate the day from the night", "to give light upon earth"; all of which is accurate. It is illogical, however, to mention the result (light) on the first day, when the cause of this light was created three days later. The fact that the existence of evening and morning is placed on the first day is moreover, purely imaginary; the existence of evening and morning as elements of a single day is only conceivable after the creation of the earth and its rotation under the light of its own star, the Sun!

In verses 6 to 8 we read: "And God said, ‘Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters.' And God made the firmament and separated the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament. And it was so. And God called the firmament Heaven. And there was evening and there was morning, a second day."

Comment: This image of the division of the waters into two masses is scientifically unacceptable.

In verses 9 to 13 we read: "And God said, ‘Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear.' And it was so. God called the dry land Earth, and the waters that were gathered together he called Seas. And God saw that it was good. And God said, ‘Let the earth put forth vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind upon the earth.' And it was so. The earth brought forth vegetation, plants yielding seed according to their own kinds, and trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. And there was evening and there was morning, a third day."

Comment: The fact that continents emerged at the period in the earth's history, when it was still covered with water, is quite acceptable scientifically. What is totally untenable is that a highly organized vegetable kingdom with reproduction by seed could have appeared before the existence of the sun (in Genesis it does not appear until the fourth day), and likewise the establishment of alternating nights and days.

In verses 14 to 19 we read: "And God said, 'Let there be lights in the firmaments of the heavens to separate the day from night; and let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and years, and let them be lights in the firmament of the heavens to give light upon the earth.' And it was so. And God made the two great lights, the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night; he made the stars also. And God set them in the firmament of the heavens to give light upon earth, to rule over the day and over the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good. And there was evening and there was morning, a fourth day."

Comment: To place the creation of the Sun and Moon after the creation of the Earth is contrary to the most firmly established ideas on the formation of the elements of the Solar System.

Thus Maurice Bucaille presents the texts that deal with the creation of the universe and comments on them showing the clashes between them and scientific discoveries. The story of creation then concludes with the first three verses of the second chapter: “Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all of the host (sic) of them. And on the seventh day God finished his work which he had done. So God blessed the seventh day and hallowed it, because on it God rested from all his work which he had done in creation; these are the generations of the heavens and the earth when they were created.”

Comment: It is quite clear that the ‘rest’ that God is said to have taken after the sixth day’s work is a legend… We have already seen how the priests took the Yahvist and Elohist versions of Genesis and remolded them after their own fashion in accordance with their own preoccupations. (end of quotation)

But Allah (SWT) says: “And verily We created the heavens and the earth, and all that is between them, in six days, and naught of weariness touched Us.” (L: 38) Allah (SWT) is too Exalted and Superior to be tired.