{"id":823,"date":"2012-08-07T20:29:18","date_gmt":"2012-08-07T18:29:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bogvaerker.dk\/wordpress\/?p=823"},"modified":"2012-08-08T01:39:07","modified_gmt":"2012-08-08T00:39:07","slug":"qur%e2%80%99an-and-science-the-expansion-of-the-universe-%e2%80%93-abdassamad-clarke","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.bogvaerker.dk\/wordpress\/?p=823","title":{"rendered":"Qur\u2019an and Science: The Expansion of the Universe \u2013 Abdassamad Clarke"},"content":{"rendered":"

The following examination of the ayah of Qur\u2019an which is taken to refer to the expansion of the universe is a single example of what is becoming a burgeoning literature claiming that science proves the Qur\u2019an to be true. This literature can be said to date from the book of Maurice Bucaille: The Bible, the Qur\u2019an and Science<\/em>. As Hajj Idris Mears pointed out, it is implicit in the title that there are three successive stages of revelation: first, the Bible; second, the Qur\u2019an which the author regards as a great deal more scientific (although in the process he manages to undermine and indeed repudiate the hadith literature); and then thirdly and lastly, science, which is clearly in his view the judge and arbiter as to the truth or falsity of the previous two.<\/p>\n

This perspective is of course utterly unacceptable to us, since, as Thomas Kuhn showed, the modern scientific outlook is in his terminology \u2018a paradigm\u2019 which was preceded by the Aristotelian \u2018paradigm\u2019 and may thus clearly be succeeded by yet another. Thus it is impossible that we should tie the meanings of the Qur\u2019an to what is simply a paradigm.<\/p>\n

Ibn \u2018Abbas narrated that the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, \u201cBe wary of narrating hadith from me except what you know, for whoever lies about me deliberately then let him take his seat in the Fire. And whoever speaks about the Qur\u2019an from his own opinion, then let him take his seat in the Fire. (At-Tirmidhi)<\/p>\n

It is absolutely impermissible for anyone to interpret the Qur\u2019an simply by their own opinion or even according to the opinions of others even if those others are legion, native Arab speakers, and doctors in universities. Rather, there is a process for tafsir and there are conditions for doing it, which are best outlined in the introduction which Ibn Juzayy al-Kalbi makes to his tafsir at-Tashil li \u2018ulum at-tanzil<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Without going into the science of tafsir exhaustively, let us note that the least requirement of it is that any explanation be consistent with what is possible in the Arabic language, and here we mean the classical Arabic language and not Arabic as spoken by Arabs today, since it is clear that Arabic has altered considerably in its usages. This is not a new condition to place on the person making tafsir. It has always been one of its requirements that it should be consistent with the classical language and thus we have the scholarship of the Arabic-Arabic dictionaries and of the tafsir scholars.<\/p>\n

It might help if we look at one example which is widely touted as definitive proof of the scientific authenticity of the Qur\u2019an: the ayah in Surat adh-Dhariyat which many people take as predicting the twentieth-century discovery that the universe is expanding.<\/p>\n

In the Bewley translation this meaning is expressed as:<\/p>\n

As for heaven \u2013 We built it with great power <\/em><\/p>\n

and gave it its vast expanse.
\n<\/em>(Surat adh-Dhariyat 51:47)<\/p>\n

This is clearly not the same meaning as the \u2018expanding universe\u2019. Note also that the Bewley translation is one of the most careful of the translations in following the orthodox tafs?r literature and the meanings of the Arabic language.<\/p>\n

In Surat adh-Dhariyat, the key term musi\u2018un<\/em> is the masculine plural of the active participle of the fourth form of the verb wasi\u2018a<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Misconception<\/strong><\/p>\n

Let us first of all deal with the misconception of the meaning of this word. The modern person thinks of wasi\u2018a<\/em> as simply \u2018to be vast\u2019, and that thus the fourth form of the verb awsa\u2018a<\/em> would necessarily have the sense of \u2018to make [something] vast\u2019. Note here that even in modern Arabic, it does not immediately give the sense \u2018to make vaster\u2019 or \u2018to expand\u2019, which may be a subconscious confusion with the comparative form awsa\u2018u<\/em> \u2018vaster\u2019.<\/p>\n

However, in classical Arabic, the senses of the verb are utterly different from what we would be led to expect by a modern dictionary such as Hans Wehr\u2019s A Dictionary of Modern Written Arabic<\/em>, which, although an Arabic-German dictionary, is well known in English because of its translation by Cowan and there is no doubt about its excellence within its domain. However, it is in no sense reliable for translation of any classical work and does not make any such claim, and it is certainly no proof, or indeed of very much use, in translation of Qur\u2019an.<\/p>\n

The Proper Linguistic Sense<\/strong><\/p>\n

So our point of departure as English speaking Arabic students for the classical language must be E. W. Lane\u2019s Arabic-English Lexicon<\/em>. But we must understand what this book is before we proceed. Lane\u2019s Lexicon<\/em> is simply his extremely careful translation of the entries from the classical dictionaries of Arabic which the Muslims drew up in order to have access to the classical language, in particular to understand the Qur\u2019an, the hadith literature and the classical works of poetry. Lane put little of his own understanding in his book. So it is our point of departure but if we are serious we must have recourse to the Arabic-Arabic dictionaries and the lexicographical understandings of the Qur\u2019anic commentators.<\/p>\n

The Translation<\/strong><\/p>\n

First, let us look at an existing translation of the ayah, in this case the Bewleys\u2019, simply because of their also having wrestled with the major tafsir collections in order to come forward with the correct sense.<\/p>\n

The Bewleys translate the ayat thus: \u2018As for heaven \u2013 We built it with great power and gave it its vast expanse<\/em>.\u2019 It is clear from this translation that the meaning they have taken is to give heaven its vastness or great expanse, something that is evident to the human senses and has been from the beginning of time to all people whether educated or not. Thus they have translated it in a sense that is immediately obvious to any people at any time in history and not just to people who have a degree in cosmology.<\/p>\n

A part of our problem with giving the meaning to the ayah of expanding the universe is that this is something utterly concealed from our senses and only available to our intellects through an abstract process, whereas the \u2018vast expanse\u2019 of the universe is something evident to anyone who has ever been out of the city and under an open sky at night.<\/p>\n

The idea of the expanding universe is a theoretical mathematical idea which can never be seen and theoretically is deduced from Einstein\u2019s General Theory of Relativity and practically from Hubble\u2019s observations of the red-shift.<\/p>\n

However, what is most striking in our dictionary sources is that most of the meanings of wasi\u2018a<\/em> and awsa\u2018a<\/em> have no sense of physical vastness but indeed of encompassing in knowledge, or being endowed with sufficient and ample wealth, etc., as you can see from the numerous examples below.<\/p>\n

Please note that almost all of the commentators see the only other usage of this word (in its singular form) in the Qur\u2019an in Surat al-Baqarah 236 \u2018from the musi\u2018i [wealthy person] according to his capacity<\/em>\u2019 as a decisive proof of its meaning in this ayah in adh-Dhariyat. It is clear that the singular of the word in question has certainly no sense at all of expanding here but means a wealthy person, which is the sense that almost all of the commentators give to it in the ayah in Surat adh-Dhariyat.<\/p>\n

Ibn Kathir<\/strong><\/p>\n

He sees the ayah as meaning, \u2018We encompassed [wasi\u2018na<\/em>] its extremities or made them vast [wassa\u2018na<\/em>], and We raised it without any pillars until it became independent [or possibly \u2018raised itself\u2019] as it is.\u2019<\/p>\n

Al-Jalalayn <\/strong><\/p>\n

Jalal ad-Din al-Mahalli\u00a0 said, \u2018the man awsa\u2018a<\/em>\u2019 means \u2018he became possessor of ample wealth and strength.\u2019<\/p>\n

Al-Asbahani<\/strong><\/p>\n

Ar-Raghib al-Asbahani said in Mufradat Alfadh al-Qur\u2019an:<\/em><\/p>\n

\u2018We are musi\u2018un<\/em>\u2019 (Adh-Dhariyat 51: 47) indicates something similar to His saying, \u2018The One who gave everything its creation and then guided<\/em>.\u2019 (Ta-Ha: 50) ‘So-and-so awsa\u2018a<\/em>‘ if he has wealth and becomes possessor of ample provision\u2026<\/p>\n

Al-Qurtubi <\/strong><\/p>\n

Ibn \u2018Abbas said it \u2013 musi\u2018un<\/em> \u2013 means \u2018able\/powerful\u2019.<\/p>\n

Some say [that \u2018We are musi\u2018un<\/em>\u2019 means], \u2018We are possessors of ample wealth, and in its creation [the heaven\u2019s] and the creation of other than it, nothing of that which We wish is hard for Us.\u2019<\/p>\n

Some say, \u2018We give provision abundantly to Our creation.\u2019 Also [narrated] from Ibn \u2018Abbas.<\/p>\n

Al-Hasan said [that \u2018We are musi\u2018un<\/em>\u2019 means], \u2018We are capable.\u2019<\/p>\n

He also said [it means], \u2018We give provision abundantly by the rain.\u2019<\/p>\n

Ad-Dahhak said [it means], \u2018We enrich you\u2019 his proof being [the ayah] 236 in Surat al-Baqarah \u2018from the musi\u2018<\/em> [wealthy person] according to his capacity\u2019.<\/p>\n

Al-Qutbi said [it means], \u2018Abundantly generous to Our creation.\u2019<\/p>\n

And the [above previous two] meanings are close.<\/p>\n

Some said [it means], \u2018We made between the two of them [possibly a mistake, and should read \u2018between it\u2026\u2019] and the earth ample space\/ample provision.\u2019<\/p>\n

Al-Jawhari said, \u2018The man awsa\u2018a<\/em> i.e. he became the possessor of ample provision and wealth, an example of which is \u201cAs for heaven \u2013 We built it with great power and We are musi\u2018un<\/em>\u201d (Surat adh-Dhariyat: 47) i.e. [We are]? Wealthy and Powerfully capable\u2019 so that his statement comprises all of the statements.<\/p>\n

At-Tabari <\/strong><\/p>\n

In His saying, \u2018We are musi\u2018un<\/em>\u2019, He is saying, \u2018Possessor of vast capacity\/power\/wealth for its creation and the creation of what We wish to create, and powerfully capable to do it,\u2019 and an example of it is His saying in Surat al-Baqarah 236 \u2018from the musi\u2018 [wealthy person] according to his capacity<\/em>\u2019.<\/p>\n

Ibn Zayd said about that: Yunus narrated to me saying, \u2018Ibn Wahb informed us saying, \u201cIbn Zayd said concerning His words \u2018We are musi\u2018un<\/em>\u2019 [that it means] \u2018I make it vast and expansive,\u2019 or \u2018I make its means of subsistence ample and abundant\u2019 [see the meaning in Lane\u2019s Lexicon<\/em> wherein awsa\u2018ahu<\/em> and wassa\u2018ahu<\/em> mean He (Allah) made his means of subsistence ample and abundant], majestic is His majesty.]<\/p>\n

Ibn Juzayy al-Kalbi<\/strong><\/p>\n

Concerning \u2018We are musi\u2018un<\/em>\u2019 there are three statements:<\/p>\n

first that it means Capable\/Powerful, which is from wus\u2018<\/em> [capacity], and an example of which is \u2018from the musi\u2018 [wealthy person] according to his capacity<\/em>\u2019 (Surat al-Baqarah 2:236) meaning the person who has the strength to spend;<\/p>\n

and the other is \u2018We made the heaven vast\u2019 or \u2018We made between it and the earth vastness [possibly wealth or abundant provision];<\/p>\n

and the third is \u2018We expanded provisions by means of the rain from the sky.\u2019<\/p>\n

Summary<\/strong><\/p>\n

That concludes what the classical commentators and Arabic linguists have said. As you can see, the sense given the ayat in the majority of the above cases has nothing even remotely to do with space, and where it does have, it is in the sense of making heaven spacious and vast, but not with the sense of expanding it and making it more<\/em> vast and more<\/em> expansive. That is absolutely clear from all of the tafsirs and dictionaries which I have consulted and quoted. Therefore, there is certainly insufficient evidence to warrant introducing this commentary for this ayah.<\/p>\n

The sense of wasi\u2018a<\/em> and wasa\u2018a<\/em> being \u2018wide and spacious\u2019 is only a part of the story, since many of the meanings of the Arabic are much more subtle than this and do not have a spatial sense at all, but relate to ample provision or knowledge or capability. The fourth form of the verb \u2013 awsa\u2018a<\/em> \u2013 may well be the causative form of the verb, but then in this very restricted case of the physical meaning of first form of the verb \u2013 wasi\u2018a<\/em> \u2013 meaning being wide and spacious, the fourth form has the sense of causing the thing [in this case heaven] to be wide and spacious, and not the sense of making it expand. Therefore, I differ with those who automatically extend the meaning to \u2018to extend or expand\u2019. This is not correct, in my view.<\/p>\n

The ayah does not rule out the expansion of the universe, but it certainly does not say unequivocally that the universe is expanding and nothing that I have seen in the works I have confirm that meaning, and after a very thorough and exhaustive research I cannot see that any of the above tafsirs say this and I have not found a single classical scholar of Islam who even hints at this meaning being a possible meaning of awsa\u2018a<\/em> or a possible meaning of the tafsir of this ayat.<\/p>\n

Yet this very widespread view of this ayah is only the tip of an iceberg: that literature that thinks that somehow the Qur\u2019an predicted scientific discoveries, and that thus \u2018science\u2019 proves the Qur\u2019an to be true, ignoring the very serious philosophical dilemmas and contradictions within science. What can one say about people who have still not confronted the near century-old discovery that matter is both particle and wave, that the results of experiment are affected by the observation of the observer and depend on what the experiment is set up to explore?<\/p>\n

Please note that I take no objection intrinsically to the thought that the Qur\u2019an might indicate some scientific truths. My own background is in maths and physics, and I grew up with a particular love for both cosmology and the world of sub-atomic particles. Indeed, there are a number of ayat in the Qur\u2019an which are of some interest to me in this respect, such as:<\/p>\n

Do those who are kafir not see <\/em><\/p>\n

that the heavens and the earth were sewn together<\/em><\/p>\n

and then We unstitched them<\/em><\/p>\n

and that We made from water every living thing<\/em>? (Surat al-Anbiya: 30)<\/p>\n

and:<\/p>\n

Glory be to Him who created all the pairs: <\/em><\/p>\n

from what the earth produces<\/em><\/p>\n

and from themselves <\/em><\/p>\n

and from things unknown to them<\/em>. (Surah Yasin: 35)<\/p>\n

What is unnecessary is that we be overawed by scientists to such an extent that we try and find scientific theories in the Qur\u2019an.<\/p>\n

Conclusion<\/strong><\/p>\n

This may appear to the reader as rather arcane and obscure and he may legitimately wonder why so much energy has been expended on this issue. In itself it is serious enough, but it is when we decode the real position of science in our world today that it makes real sense.<\/p>\n

Modern science is arguably the \u2018theological\u2019 underpinning of a new political and commercial order with which it grew through the centuries from its birth in Renaissance Italy at the time of Galileo. Every scientific \u2018theory\u2019 has different political and social consequences when decoded. The ingenious thing is that the scientist can quite correctly hold up his hands in horror and distance himself from the political and social consequences of his theory and say that they are nowhere to be found in his theory.<\/p>\n

Thus Darwinists abjure \u2018social Darwinism\u2019, the concept that society is the realm of survival of the fittest, which has been used to justify rapacious capitalism. Nevertheless, capitalists certainly used this interpretation of Darwin to advance their own interests and justify themselves to themselves, just as great masses of others accepted their sorry lot in the world for the same reason.<\/p>\n

Similarly, \u2018determinism\u2019 which is the underpinning of classical pre-quantum physics, created a fatalistic acceptance of one\u2019s lot: \u2018the world is merely a huge machine working inexorably along its way and there is little that can be done about it\u2019.<\/p>\n

And \u2018relativity\u2019 became in the popular mind the idea that values are all relative, whereas it was all a matter of clocks and rulers and near-speed-of-light travel, resulting in a world situation in which, as Yeats said:<\/p>\n

The best lack all conviction, while the worst
\nAre full of passionate intensity.<\/p>\n

So the Qur\u2019an is simply unapproachable by those who wish to find in it something that will accord with the dominant paradigm of the world today. This approach mirrors that of the scholars who justify \u2018Islamic banking\u2019 since in essence the attitude is the same: \u2018the world order we are faced with is too powerful and as Muslims we simply have to learn how to fit in with it.\u2019 Well might the Companions of the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, have said the same when confronted with the Byzantine and Persian Empires; but they didn\u2019t.<\/p>\n

The proper approach is that we say: \u2018We are slaves of Allah who are obliged to obey Him and His Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, and to find ways to make the Word of Allah and the Deen uppermost.\u2019 For that we have to approach the Qur\u2019an by its own lights and not try to impose on it what we want to take from it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The following examination of the ayah of Qur\u2019an which is taken to refer to the expansion of the universe is a single example of what is becoming a burgeoning literature claiming that science proves the Qur\u2019an to be true. This literature can be said to date from the book of Maurice Bucaille: The Bible, the … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Qur\u2019an and Science: The Expansion of the Universe \u2013 Abdassamad Clarke”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[56],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-823","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.bogvaerker.dk\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/823","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.bogvaerker.dk\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.bogvaerker.dk\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.bogvaerker.dk\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.bogvaerker.dk\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=823"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/www.bogvaerker.dk\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/823\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":826,"href":"http:\/\/www.bogvaerker.dk\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/823\/revisions\/826"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.bogvaerker.dk\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=823"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.bogvaerker.dk\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=823"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.bogvaerker.dk\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=823"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}