Chapter One

       Nearly fourteen centuries ago, over a period of nearly two decades, the Creator of this universe kept on unveiling His "Signs" to mankind. The Signs that would remain compelling and valid for all time. He inspired those who were chosen to receive these Signs to memorize them. And, when compiled at a later date, one of names suggested by Him was the "Wise Book" (A Book of Wisdom). The Creator also foretold within these Sublime Verses that as time marches on mankind will become aware of His personal signature within this Book.

To every prophecy is its set time, and bye-and-bye
ye shall know it!  "Wise Book" 6:67

         In His infinite Wisdom the Creator chose a tribe of people who were then living in small mud brick towns set in arid mountains backed by desert to be its first recipients. This tribe with largely illiterate population had this unique honour for some mysterious reason or reasons. These desert dwellers of Western Arabia had never before received any Messenger from God to guide them and as such they were pagans and idolators. However strange it may seem it is not a safe assumption for the purpose of scientific investigation and in fact it is not a safe historical assumption that these uneducated towns people and Bedouin of the desert were totally isolated from the rest of the world. Geographically Western Arabia had a long-standing relationship with the outside world well prior to the Revelation of these Signs. For a thousand years it had been a main trading route, above all the routes by which caravans from South East Arabia brought frankincense, essential for embalming and hence the after life, to Egypt and Mediterranean world. These caravans used to travel to distant places and meet peoples of various cultures. However these merchants and nomads of seventh century Arabia were neither educated nor scholarly. 

       There were also Jewish and Christian communities dotted up and down Western Arabia, for example in Tema (Tayma), Yathrib (Medina) and Najran. There had been a Jewish king of Yemen in the sixth century A.D. and original Jews exist there even now. There is a marked Greco-Roman influence in some of the Himyaritic carvings of the period 0-200 A.D. The Roman Tenth Legion went on an expedition to Yemen (and perished in the process). The Egyptians mounted military reconnaissance into the Hejaz (the area of Western Arabia in which the text was revealed). So we should assume that scientific knowledge and culture that was then available or known to the world could have infiltrated into this uneducated tribe however unlikely in fact this might be. But the Sublime Signs that we are going to examine in detail were not even known to the leading scientists of the world who lived nearly a thousand years after the compilation. This revealed scientific knowledge far exceeds that of the period of the Revelations. Therefore the Revealed Signs must be divine.

Say: What think ye?  If this Book be from God and ye believe it not, who will have gone further astray than he who is at a distance from it ?  We will shew them our signs in different countries and among themselves, until it become plain to them that it is the truth.  Is it not enough for thee that thy Lord is witness of all things? Wise Book 41:52/53

           Before one explores the scientific discoveries that are found in this "Wise Book", a brief survey of the historical details involving the acts of revelation, compilation and preservation of this Holy Writ would not be out of place. Less than six centuries after the conclusion of the earthly ministry of Jesus Christ (peace be upon him), a caravan conductor named Muhammad bin Abdullah (peace be upon him), was reflecting and contemplating in a mountain cave near Mekkah in Arabia. Muhammad probably wished to withdraw himself from the pagan world that was engrossed in all kinds of abominations based upon age old superstitions. It was an age of wizardry, wickedness and ignorance. While Muhammad was meditating on the mountain, the pagans below were busy worshipping the idols of Ka'bah - an ancient sanctuary built by the prophet Abraham and his son Ishmael (peace be upon them). Every year in the ninth month of the lunar calendar known as Ramadhan, this noble descendant of Abraham used to visit this secluded cave for a few days.  Today, the month of Ramadhan has a dual significance in Islam. It is the holy month of fasting as well as of the sacred revelation.

        It was the year 610 C.E., when the Angel Gabriel brought the first five verses of a Divine Message to Muhammad in this isolated cave. One would normally expect to find these inaugural five verses at the beginning of the compiled text. But they are not. These initial five verses appear at the beginning of chapter number ninety-six, entitled Iqraa (Recite! or, Proclaim!). A Muslim would explain that the book being not a human composition, has its own pattern of compilation. It is neither by the themes, neither by the historical events nor by the sequence in which the verses were received. The reader will find the chapters being placed in the descending order of their lengths. But that trend is also not rigidly adhered to.

       The compilation of the revealed verses into a book is entitled in Arabic as "al-Qur’an". Literally, it means “the Recitation”. Upon these verses rests the foundation of Islam. One cannot possibly understand Islam unless one has the basic knowledge of "Allah's Will" that is placed within these six thousand two hundred or so verses. The Qur'an (Koran) is regarded as the final Scripture because no other Scripture has since been revealed. Muslims believe, none will be revealed in the future. The Messages of this Final Testament are universal. The Qur'an is not revealed exclusively for any particular community, nation or generation. The Message cannot be modified or revised and is not ephemeral but eternal. The interpretations may vary but not the text itself. The Qur'an expounds; within it are two kinds of verses. The verses that are clear in their meaning (gist, essence) are the foundation and nucleus of the Scripture. Others that are not entirely clear. Hence, the interpretations may vary. Only Allah knows its true explanation. (3:7). In the Concise Encyclopedia of Islam, the editor Cyril Glasse writes:

If the Koran were to contain facts from the 'point of view' of God Himself, by what measure could a modern commentator comprehend it? Or an ancient commentator? Or any human commentator? How could he understand it? Being himself imperfect. and with the necessarily 'confused' notion of history that mortal man possesses in any case, how could he understand a Koran entirely from God's point of view?

     It is not to be expected that all the transcendant excellencies and miraculous beauties discovered in the Koran by its commentators and others should immediately unveil themselves to our cold and unsympathizing gaze; beauties there are, many and great; ideas highly poetical are clothed in rich and appropriate language, which not unfrequently rises to a sublimity far beyond the reach of any translation; but it is unfortunately the case that many of those graces which present themselves to the admiration of the finished scholar are but so many stumbling-blocks in the way of the beginner; the marvellous conciseness which adds so greatly to the force and energy of its expressions cannot fail to perplex him, while the frequent use of the ellipse leaves in his mind a feeling of vagueness not altogether out of character in a work of its oracular and soi-distant prophetic nature.

      Muhammad, who was aroused from his meditation, was told by Gabriel, to ‘Recite’ the revealed text. Although the verses were in the pure Arabic dialect of the tribe to which Muhammad belonged, he expressed his inability to recite. Opinions are divided as to why Muhammad, who initially declined, did recite them later. Some have tried to indicate that the caravan conductor was illiterate and could not read or write. Others differ. The Qur'an calls himUmmi. What does that phrase signify? In his book, A Dictionary and Glossary of the Koran, author John Penrice translates this word as; 

One who can neither read nor write, illiterate, an epithet of Mohammad, ignorant, Pagan, one who is ignorant of the Scriptures.

     The archangel repeated his request and encouraged the Ummi to "Recite, in the name of his Lord and Cherisher". Muhammad obeyed the Divine Will and began reciting. After this initial encounter Muhammad could easily recite as well as memorise whatever was later brought to him by Allah's Angel. The divine revelations continued to arrive in bits and pieces over a period of  twenty-two years until his last days in 632 C.E. Whenever these revelations were received the prophet would memorize them. At the first available opportunity he would recite them before his chosen companions. These intimate helpers and friends of his would write the dictated message on the pieces of parchment, skins of animals, dried animal bones, wooden tablets, soft stones, leaves of palm trees and so forth. Many of his dedicated companions memorized as many of the revealed verses as they could. From time to time these companions used to review the revealed verses with their prophet. One of the better known young scribe and the secretary to Muhammad in taking dictations was Zayd ibn Thabit. He also used to arrange the bits and pieces of the revealed verses under the direct supervision of the prophet. Every year the prophet would recite the entire Message. This practice of the recitation of the entire text, verse by verse, has been preserved till this day. It has prevented the text from being corrupted in the past and will also safeguard it in the future.
The definitive canon was established within twenty three years of the death of the prophet by a Commission appointed by the third Caliph and headed by the secretary to Muhammad - Zayd ibn Thabit. Copies of the Quran in Arabic that are in circulation today are identical to the one established by the Commission in the seventh century.

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 INDEX