CHAPTER II: The Miraculous Scientific Indications in the Quran

(1) The Quranic Methodology of Islamic Thought: (Night and Day) within the Miraculous Scientific Indications in the Quran

Introduction:

 One of our fellow Quranists who regularly contributes many articles within our Quranism website (www.ahl-alquran.com), Mr. Ibrahim Dadi, has discussed in one of his articles this Quranic phrase: "...Then complete the fast until nightfall..." (2:187) and he has urged readers to reflect on it regarding the the beginning of breaking the fast during Ramadan; he has assumed wrongly that it is at the night prayers and not at the sunset prayers; we have proved in an article of ours that in the Quranic phrase "...Then complete the fast until nightfall..." (2:187), the word (nightfall) refers to the time of sunset prayers and nothing else. This article of ours has been discussed for a long time within so many comments written underneath it by ourselves and by our dear fellow Quranists; the topic of the miraculous scientific indications in the Quranic text has been touched upon in some comments and we have mentioned that the backwardness of Arabs of the Middle-Ages is partially due to their neglecting these indications; this has inspired our person to write on the topic of (day and night) within the miraculous scientific indications in the Quran.    

The Quranic methodology of Islamic thought:

  The starting point of any human thought is the intellectual methodology on which it is based. This means that the methodology is the basis by which we can, from the very start, decide the validity and the scope of continuity of any human thought. In most cases, the methodology of any civilization is based on religion. We should bear in mind that all human beings are religious within their innate nature or inherent instincts regardless of their religious affiliations (monotheism/polytheism) or even their skepticism/agnosticism and atheism. The methodology of Islamic thought and civilization is found exclusively in the Quran, which is the Book containing the Lord God's Word which explains and clarify everything; thus, the Quranic methodology of Islamic Thought is derived from monotheism as the main tenet of Islam; it means to confine deification and sanctification to the Lord God; monotheists are never to deify/sanctify things or mortals; the Watchful, Dominant Lord God controls all His creatures (e.g., human beings, animals, angels, and inanimate things) in the universe, but no one can see Him or imagine what He looks like: "...There is nothing like Him. He is the Hearing, the Seeing." (42:11); "No vision can grasp Him, but His grasp is over all vision..." (6:103). Hence, there is nothing similar between creatures and their Dominant Lord the Creator; all things/creatures in the universe submit to the Lord and glorify/worship Him willingly or unwillingly: "Do they desire other than the religion of God, when to Him has submitted everything in the heavens and the earth, willingly or unwillingly, and to Him they will be returned?" (3:83). There is no mediators between the Lord God and His creatures; this is part of the meaning of monotheism from which the Quranic methodology is derived within the fields of thought, knowledge, and education; the Omniscient Lord God knows best about His creatures: "Would He not know, He Who created? He is the Refined, the Expert." (67:14). This Quranic methodology of Islamic thought is based on the wisdom behind the creation of the universe and the human beings; i.e., the Lord God has created human beings to be successors on earth who apply God's Way or Method which is based on Truth, goodness, right, charity, and elimination of corruption. Because human beings are made as successors on earth, we are to remember all the time that the Lord God has created things in the heavens and the earth (e.g., animals, plants, inanimate things, rays, and types of energy) while committing them to the service of humankind: "And He placed at your service whatever is in the heavens and whatever is on earth - all is from Him. In that are signs for a people who reflect." (45:13); "It is He who made the earth manageable for you, so travel its regions, and eat of His provisions. To Him is the Resurgence." (67:15). Hence, scientific studying, exploring, and discovering of all things reached by human senses in this universe are based on the human beings' endeavors to draw benefits and make use of things in the universe made in the service of humankind; this is why it is an Islamic duty/obligation to roam the earth to examine God's creatures in order see the grandeur and majesty of the Lord God the Creator: "Have they not seen how God originates the creation, and then reproduces it? This is easy for God. Say, "Roam the earth, and observe how He originated the creation." Then God will bring about the next existence. God has power over all things."" (29:19-20). This Islamic duty/obligation has its means (i.e., human senses, powers, and mental faculties) and objectives (i.e., to glorify, obey, and worship the Lord God the Creator and to make use of everything in the universe): "Say, "Look at what is in the heavens and the earth." But signs and warnings are of no avail for people who do not believe." (10:101); "We will show to them Our signs on the horizons, and inside themselves, until it becomes clear to them that it is the Truth..." (41:53); "Have they not observed the sky above them, how We constructed it, and decorated it, and it has no cracks? And the earth, how We spread it out, and set on it mountains, and grew in it all kinds of delightful pairs? A lesson and a reminder for every penitent worshiper." (50:6-8); "And on earth are signs for the convinced. And within yourselves. Do you not see?" (51:20-21). In fact, these verses which urge human beings to scientifically explore and study the earth and the universe contain a miraculous prediction; namely, human beings in the modern age have followed the scientific methodology to explore, study, and discover within Planet Earth and then the observable universe. The Lord God makes it among the features/descriptions of the pious ones with reasoning  faculty that they remember their Lord God and they reflect on His creatures/creations: "In the creation of the heavens and the earth, and in the alternation of night and day, are signs for people of understanding. Those who remember God while standing, and sitting, and on their sides; and they reflect upon the creation of the heavens and the earth: "Our Lord, You did not create this in vain, glory to You..."" (3:190-191). In contrast, the Lord God makes it among the features/descriptions of the polytheists/disbelievers to be heedless of miracles/signs within the universe: "How many a sign in the heavens and the earth do they pass by, paying no attention to them?" (12:105). In sum, Islam (i.e., the Quran) urges Muslims to engage into empirical, scientific research within the physical universe made in the service of humankind, with the purpose of worshiping and glorifying the Lord God the Creator and submitting to Him within monotheism; i.e., polytheism should be impossible when one perceives the wonders of the universe; the Lord God the Omnipotent Creator has no deities or 'holy' partners/allies besides Him. This is why several Quranic verses mention that we are to reflect, contemplate, see, and understand; in the following verse, knowledge is linked to piety and the fear of the Lord God: "Have you not seen that God sends down water from the sky? With it We produce fruits of various colors. And in the mountains are streaks of white and red-varying in their hue - and pitch-black. Likewise, human beings, animals, and livestock come in various colors. From among His servants, the knowledgeable ones fear God. God is Almighty, Oft-Forgiving." (35:27-28). Thus, reflection and scientific exploration/examination/discovery of God's creatures is part of descriptions/qualities of real, knowledgeable believers in Islam: "Is he who worships devoutly during the watches of the night, prostrating himself and standing up, mindful of the Hereafter, and placing his hope in the mercy of his Lord? Say, "Are those who know and those who do not know equal?" Only those possessed of reason will remember." (39:9). Thus, the people of the West, who mostly do not know anything about the Quran, have applied empiricism and explored the world and the universe; in contrast, 'Muslims' rarely do that and they are heedless of the Quranic commands about roaming the earth and exploring God's creatures; they are mostly Muhammadans who have abandoned the Quran and got busy inventing and fabricating hadiths/lies/falsehoods/narratives/myths while ascribing them forcibly to Muhammad after his death and disputing over their veracity, authenticity, and Isnad (i.e., series of narrators). This is why mythology and ignorance are the chief components of the earthly/terrestrial, man-made religions of the Muhammadans; the fanatics and hardliners among them persecute deniers and critics of hadiths and accuse them of hating Muhammad! They assume that one must never question or cast doubt on any hadiths because they are attributed to Muhammad after his death! Thus, the Muhammadans have abandoned the Quran got busy with their fabrications, myths, and silly narratives for centuries while the people of the West had their Renaissance and have explored the earth and later on the universe within empiricism, thus applying the Quranic commands in this respect unawares. The Muhammadan clergymen/sheikhs shamelessly applaud and hail any scientific discoveries made by the people of the West which echo certain Quranic scientific indications; they scream and shout loudly at the faces of non-Muslims that the Quran precedes modern civilization; yet, they never ask themselves why the Quranic miraculous scientific indications were not studied/examined by Arabs in the past 14 centuries; they never discern the fact that Arabs/Muhammadans have abandoned the Quran despite the fact that the Quran is in Arabic and that it urges all people to ponder its verses warns against discarding/abandoning it. Sadly, this is still the case of the Muhammadans until now as they have discarded the Quran while defending and sticking to myths/hadiths fabricated during the Middle-Age which have nothing to do with Muhammad; he never uttered even a single one of them. The people of the West have mostly ignored the purpose/objective of worshiping the Lord God the Creator within monotheism and piety leading to good deeds, charity, etc.; in some cases, scientific progress/advancement within the civilization of the West has been used to serve Satan by inventing weapons of mass destruction and other types of weapons which make human beings murder and annihilate one another within wars which spread destruction, terror, anxiety, losses, poverty, bloodshed, and physical and psychological pains. Thus, the human mind must put into good use (and not into the ways of evil and harm) all things in the universe committed to the service of humankind. This highlights the importance of purpose/objective; if it is to obey the Lord God, this means that inventions and discoveries will serve the wellbeing, comfort, happiness, prosperity, and welfare of human beings; evil people who disobey the Lord God typically do not hesitate to use inventions and discoveries to spread poverty, misery, and destruction. Another issue here related to examining/discovering the universe which is committed to the service of humankind is that the Lord God is NOT the object of study by mortals; no human beings or creatures can know/reach the nature of the Lord God the Creator; the human mind is qualified only to examine/study things committed to the service of humankind in this universe. The Lord God resembles nothing and no one among His creatures. No one is allowed to imagine/think how God looks like. We are only to reflect on how the Lord God describes Himself in the Quran; human senses cannot reach/perceive God. Besides, as per God's Will, there are certain creatures and inanimate things which cannot be seen by human beings. Of course, in the modern age, people know quite well that there are things he cannot see but they can use in many inventions and machines; e.g., electricity, radio-waves, and certain rays. The Lord God says the following in the Quran to all humanity: "Indeed, I swear by what you see. And by what you do not see." (69:38-39); the Lord God says that jinn and devils can see human beings and the opposite will not happen in this physical world: "...O children of Adam! Do not let Satan seduce you...He sees you, him and his tribe, from where you cannot see them..." (7:27). Thus, if some creatures are unseen by human beings, it is understandable that they cannot see the Lord God the Creator in this world and in the Hereafter; this is a Quranic fact (see our article, in English, found on this link:   http://www.ahl-alquran.com/English/show_article.php?main_id=16303). Besides, this means that the human beings cannot see/examine/study the metaphysical realm of the universe; this is beyond the scope of human knowledge; the human beings can see/examine/study things, creatures, and phenomena within the Planet earth and the physical, observable universe. Monotheists are to believe in the metaphysical, invisible aspects mentioned in the Quranic text; this is part of the belief in the Quran as the Lord God's Word: "This is the Book in which there is no doubt, a guide for the righteous. Those who believe in the unseen..." (2:2-3). The metaphysical, invisible aspects mentioned in the Quran are things related to the Lord God, the Upper Realm, angels, jinn, devils, the Hereafter, Judgment, Resurrection, Hell, and Paradise. We cannot see/perceive or examine/study the metaphysical realm but we must believe in what is mentioned about it in the Quran. Monotheists cannot combine between (1) the belief in the entirety of the Quranic text (including the details about the metaphysical realm), and (2) myths/lies of Sunnite, Sufi, and Shiite hadiths-fabricators and authors. Thus, the belief in God and in His Quranic Verses entails to disbelieve in books and anything else perceived by polytheists as 'holy'. The Lord God says the following in the Quran: "There shall be no compulsion in religion; the right way has become distinct from the wrong way. Whoever renounces evil and believes in God has grasped the most trustworthy handle; which does not break. God is Hearing and Knowing." (2:256). To talk about the metaphysical realm of the unseen and the future outside the Quran means to adhere to mythology; as per the Quran, Muhammad himself never knew or talked about the future and the invisible. The human mind has limited scope to ponder only on the metaphysical aspects mentioned by the Lord God in the Quran; yet, the human beings have boundless scope to invent, study, explore, etc. within the physical realm of the earth and the universe. We are talking here about what should be; this is what Muslims should do; yet, there is a huge gap, or rather an abyss, between what should be and what exists in real life of today's Muhammadans. Within history of 'Muslims', or rather the Muhammadans, we perceive that their civilization is not based on the Quranic methodology; rather, it is based on something which goes against the Quran; namely, the intellectual methodology of the Greek civilization whose thought has been translated into Arabic. The Arab conquests helped form a vast Arab empire which included many nations of Copts/Egyptians, Persians, Nabateans, Berbers/Amazigh, etc. When many people of these conquered nations converted to 'Islam', Arab conquerors considered and treated these 'Muslims' of non-Arab origin as second-class citizens/subjects. The scribes, translators, thinkers, and intellectuals among non-Arab 'Muslims' have their own contributions to the Arab civilization within this Arab empire; at one point, they dominated the Arab culture and civilization; it is naturally expected that they went on following the intellectual methodology they knew and applied before they learned Arabic and converted to the new religion; i.e., the intellectual methodology of the Greek civilization.                                                     

The intellectual methodology of the Greek civilization:

 The philosophies of India and Greece mixed when Alexander the Great conquered the East; many notions and tenets are found to resemble one another in the West and in the East; the Hellenistic culture, and its paganism/polytheism, includes the idea of making no distinction at all between God the Creator and the universe which He created. The Greek philosophy notions make the reasoning mind the basis of pondering on nature (i.e., the physical realm) and on the metaphysical realm (e.g., topics about divinity, fate, death, and the creation of the world). Of course, since it is impossible to study the metaphysical realm using one's mind, the Greeks, and other nations which had their own civilizations, developed so many mythical notions about God's nature and qualities; many philosophers assumed that nature, or the universe, is God (i.e., pantheism); the metaphysical ideas of the Greek-speaking philosopher Plotinus of Alexandria (grouped later on under the term Neo-Platonism) are influenced by those of Plato; these ideas include the notion that the human mind can be united with God to receive illuminations of knowledge or gnosis; i.e., pious men would be inspired by God the Creator of the universe; such ideas have influenced Christian theology and the masses began to deify clergymen and monks and to never disagree with or protest against them; the reasoning mind was set aside, and knowledge derived from it was despised in favor of 'divine' knowledge bestowed on those who are worthy of it (!). Hence, ignorance of worldly matters was welcomed and encouraged as if this would pave the way for the mind to receive the purported 'divine' knowledge. By the time when the Arab conquerors annexed many regions such as Iraq, the Levant, and Asia Minor, the Greek schools of thought and philosophy suffered from the dominance of Christian clergymen who propagated their own mythology. The intellectual methodology of the Greek philosophers led to nothing useful regarding contemplating the metaphysical realm; the same applies to those in the Arab empire and civilization who applied the same intellectual methodology of the Greek philosophers.           

The intellectual methodology of the Muslims/Muhammadans/Arabs:

 They never relied on the Quranic methodology discussed above; they focused their attention only on the intellectual methodology of the Greek civilization which dominated for centuries before and after the Arab conquest of several countries which formed an Arab empire. 

The influence of non-Arab 'Muslims':

 Those who converted to 'Islam' from among non-Arabs within the countries conquered by Arabs dominated the intellectual life of the Arab empire for centuries, whereas Arab conquerors and settlers focused their attention mainly on money, politics, rule affairs, wars, and civil strife. Arabs of Arabia had no civilization of their own and hardly any intellectual methodology. In contrast, non-Arab 'Muslims' or converts who were thinkers/philosophers had their own centuries-old civilization and intellectual methodology; they dominated the cultural life before and after the Arab conquest of their countries, and for a long while, they had no chance to join the ruling circles and the political life. Besides, they aimed at mixing their own cultural (religious and philosophical) heritage notions to the 'Islamic' ideas; they felt they were superior to Arab conquerors who had no civilization or intellectual methodology of their own. For sure, many of them hated the Quran (and hated the Arab conquerors) very much and decided to fight against it by distorting the Islamic faith tenets by introducing their own polytheistic tenets/notions through fabricated Sunnite, Shiite, and Sufi hadiths and formulated rules of fiqh. It is hardly surprising to know that the pioneers of hadiths, fiqh, and Sufism are authors of non-Arab origin and they were among the lower, poorer classes, especially craftsmen.

The negative stance of non-Arab 'Muslims' regarding the Quran:

 Of course, after mastering the Arab tongue, they led the Arab empire's civilization and dominated the culture life for centuries; within their good intentions and bad ones, their negative stance regarding the Quran led them to assume that its only miraculous feature is its eloquence; Quranic verses were quoted by grammarians and men of literature. Sadly, this wrong view of the Quran still persists until now. This resulted in ten centuries of disregarding the miraculous scientific indications of the Quran and its legislations, commands, and methodology. The grammarians and other authors were busy studying the unique, eloquent style and syntax of Arabic of the Quranic text and parsed its words; they never thought about pondering on the meanings of Quranic verses, let alone applying them. Another grave sin is to impose their own ideas/visions/notions on the Quran in order to distort the meanings of its verses and to twist/warp/change its sharia laws/legislations; this grave sin has been committed within their books of hadiths, fiqh, commentaries, interpretation, and exegeses. The Quran is a Clear Book which never needs to be explained or interpreted: "We made the Quran easy to remember. Is there anyone who would remember?" (54:17); "We made it easy in your tongue..." (19:97); "We made it easy in your tongue, so that they may remember." (44:58). One of the miraculous features of the Quran is that despite its unique, eloquent style, it is easy to understand by any ordinary persons. If one would read a love poem (in classical Arabic) which dates back to the pre-Islamic era, one would not be able to fully comprehend its difficult diction. The languages/tongues are like living organisms; they evolve and change in every eras as per the changes and conditions of communities which use them. The Arabic tongue of the Quran has been understood by Arab contemporaries of Muhammad and also by people of all eras until now. Besides, the Quran does not require any explanations, exegeses, or interpretations; the Quranic verses explain one another; the Lord God says in the Quran: "Whatever argument they come to you with, We provide you with the Truth, and a better explanation." (25:33). The Quranic verses contain some repetitions and detailed, similar verses which explain the concise, definitive ones (for more details about this Quranist methodology of understanding the Quran, see our article in English found on this link: http://www.ahl-alquran.com/English/show_article.php?main_id=16993). To know more about how Quranist researchers ponder on the Quranic verses, we refer readers to our book, in English, titled "How to Understand the Holy Quran" , found on this link: (http://www.ahl-alquran.com/arabic/book_main.php?main_id=121). Of course, pondering the Quran is a religious duty/obligation within Islam; yet, it is a grave sin to impose one's own prejudices, whims, desires, and preferences on the Quranic text which is God's Word; this is a form of distortion perpetrated by fabricators of hadiths who included in their narratives Talmudic notions, and other ideas of the ancient authors who belonged to the Jews/Israelites, as well as Judeo-Christian traditions. The fabrication of hadiths and filling books with lies under the name of 'interpreting' the Quran is a grave injustice committed against the Lord God and His Word. The introduction of such myths has spoiled and corrupted the ideas and the faith tenets of Muhammadans; until now, most of them never believe in any Quranic verses unless alongside with sheets and sheets of interoperations of it written by numerous authors; this is indeed a grave injustice committed against the Lord God and His Book. Most of the authors sanctified and revered by the Muhammadans were of non-Arab origin among the conquered nations; such men integrated their own cultural (religious and philosophical) heritage notions into their theological books and they discarded the Quran and never heeded its methodology, despite their being leaders of the cultural life within the Arab empire. Thus, they were mainly the imams/authors of books of fiqh, hadiths, and exegeses/interpretation, plus other books of philosophy and theology (e.g., the Kalam philosophy, mysticism, and eschatological writings by medieval philosophers). Those Muhammadan authors of non-Arab origin led the scientific movement during the Abbasid Era; their books were revered and made 'holy' in the later eras of imitation, obscurantism, stagnation, and backwardness. Of course, the Wahabism of the 18^th century A.D. and of today is the most extremist, fanatic, backward, and violent religion which has revived the Hanbali Sunnite religion of terrorism; using oil revenues, Saudi Arabia has imposed the Wahabi religion worldwide among the Sunnite Muhammadans and made it pose as if it were Islam; the Wahabis claim that their Wahabism contains the 'authenticated', 'verified', 'holy' Sunna hadiths attributed to Muhammad. The Wahabis impose their vision regarding all matters on today's Sunnite Muhammadans; e.g., they insist on applying a silly hadith about seeing the crescent with the naked eye, to mark the beginning of Ramadan which is the lunar/Hijri month of fasting, instead of trusting astronomical calculations and telescopes.                      

(2) The Debate about the Miraculous Scientific Indications in the Quran

Firstly:

1- In the 1960s, when the Arab nationalism or Pan-Arabism ideology was popular, some Egyptian scientists who have different backgrounds and fields of specializations began to write about numerical miracles in the Quranic text and the miraculous scientific indications found in the Quranic verses. Their endeavors have been very good because they have no background at all related to the Azharite Sunnite heritage (Sunna-hadiths, fiqh, etc.); they studied and examined the Quranic verses themselves as objectively and neutrally as possible while linking them to facts of modern science; they were pioneers in the field of examining the Quranic miraculous scientific indications.   

2- When the Arab nationalism ideology collapsed in June 1967 (i.e., after the Six-Day War when Israel invaded the Egyptian Sinai peninsula, the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, and the Syrian Golan Heights) and was buried when Saddam's Iraq invaded Kuwait in 1990, the void created by its collapse was filled with Salafist Sunnite Wahabism sponsored by US$ billions of Saudi oil revenues; indeed, the epidemic of Wahabism has controlled Egyptian media, education, cultural life, and religious life. This led to adding the Wahabi colors/features (under the name of 'Islamization', which is a silly, meaningless term) forcibly to sciences, banks, clothes (e.g., hijab, niqab, and djellaba). This new, corrupt atmosphere has negatively influenced the field of study known as the miraculous scientific indications in the Quranic verses; many money-seeking obsequious ignoramuses who wished to please Saudi Arabia and get its money began to write many silly, illogical, unscientific articles/books about examining the miraculous scientific indications in the Quran and also in the so-called Sunna-hadiths and 'prophetic' medicine; i.e., hadiths attributed falsely to Muhammad after his death about healing human bodies with food, plants, and herbs. Of course, such writings aim at showing Saudi Wahabism as if it were the 'true' or 'authentic' Islam and that Arab Salafists/Wahabis have monopolized talking about 'Islam' as though they were its representatives deputized by the Lord God!    

3- The change in the quality and quantity of articles/books (about miraculous scientific indications in the Quran and Sunna-hadiths) authored by Sunnite Wahabis/Salafists has marked a separation between such Saudi-funded authors and both the scientific methodology and the Quranic methodology; they approached the Quran within the perspective of the sets of terminology of heritage books of Sunnite hadiths, fiqh, and traditions of Satan which have been heavily quoted by them when they offered their 'interpretations' of Quranic verses while mentioning scientific facts from West sources to lend fake credibility to their writings to validate and authenticate their so-called hadiths; meanwhile, they have distorted the meanings of the Quranic verses; their fatal mistake is never to realize the fact that trying to understand the Quran through the perspective of the sets of terminology of heritage books of traditions inevitably entails picking and choosing from among countless contradictory views and discrepancies. This repeats and revives the Middle-Ages accusation leveled against the Quran; i.e., its verses can convey different, unrelated, contradictory meanings/interpretations' from different angles examined by 'interpreters'; of course, this accusation goes against the Quranic fact that the Quran is a Clear Book with precise verses. The scientific methodology of research entails examining, studying, and researching the Quranic text through its own terminology and NOT through cultures and sets of terminology circulated centuries after the revelation/descent of the Quran. Besides, using Middle-Ages heritage books of Sunnite traditions and their sets of terminology destroys the idea of finding miraculous scientific indications in the Quranic text; imams/authors of Middle-Ages never pondered on the verses that contain scientific indications; rather, they imposed their hadiths, doctrines, prejudices, whims, preferences, and erroneous notions on the Quranic verses they 'interpreted' in their books of commentaries and exegeses; the hadiths they invented/fabricated have been ascribed by force to Muhammad two centuries after his death. Had such Abbasid authors understood, examined, and pondered on the clear Quranic verses which contain miraculous scientific indications, human history and history of science would have been changed by discoveries and explorations which would have been made by Arabs (which have been made by the people of the West in later eras) and this would have saved humanity about 1000 years of backwardness and obscurantism:

* had they focused their attention on understanding and applying the Quranic methodology and its call for empiricism, exploration, and discovery,

* had they examined and studied scientific indications in the Quranic verses,

* had they confined their belief in the metaphysical realm to Quranic facts about it, and

* had they obeyed the Quranic commands of reflecting and pondering on its insights within open-mindedness, deep faith, and reasoning while avoiding lies, falsehoods, and mythology.

 Of course, they never did anything of the above; on the contrary, they fabricated and invented many false narratives/hadiths and ascribed them forcibly to Islam; such imams/authors/fabricators became demigods for their followers in later eras until now. Proof: many accusations are leveled against Islam now because of crimes, terrorism, and atrocities committed by Salafists/Wahabis worldwide in the name of 'Islam'. In fact, when Salafists/Wahabis meddle and interfere in anything, they corrupt it and thus they always do; this is exemplified by imposing their faulty vision of finding miraculous scientific indications inside the so-called hadiths and leaving no room now for Arab scientists who focus their attention on the Quran only without Sunnite/Azharite heritage books of traditions of Satan.        

4- This rejection of the Quranic methodology, the scientific methodology, reason, and logic never stopped in the way of Saudi-funded Wahabis/Salafists who have published countless books/articles in print and online within many websites about the so-called scientific indications inside the so-called Sunna-hadiths; the Saudi influence have made this field of mythology popular among the masses and Saudi oil-money made such myths much spoken of within conferences, media (e.g., newspapers, magazines, and TV channels), and the cyberspace. Their illogical writings have imposed forcibly the existence of a link between hadiths and medicine as well as several other branches/fields of science.  

5- When the myths of 'prophetic' medicine grew popular among the naïve masses, tens of 'clinics' in Egypt opened to 'heal' sick people by charlatans who use the Quranic verses and hadiths (i.e., hadiths about herbs, plants, seeds, etc.); this phenomenon revived the backward, obscurantist ways of the Mameluke and Ottoman eras when the gullible masses sought benediction from mausoleums, bones, and remnants of 'saints' and from touching living sheikhs/saints or madmen! In contrast, the people of the West use healing herbs and alternative medicine and removing chemicals from food and pharmaceutical products as much as possible within a strict scientific research methodology. Each of the ancient nations from China and Chinese acupuncture to India, Europe, Arabia, and Africa has their traditions of healing with food items, herbs, plants, etc., but they never ascribe such traditions to God, His Religion, and His prophets/messengers; within modern science, the people of the West have examined such medicinal traditions to draw beneficial tips from them and to discard and expose hoaxes and faulty notions found in them as well. Sadly, in the Arab world, backwardness in the social and scientific aspects is covered with the cloak of the Sunnite religion of Satan which causes misery and death in this world (not only within terrorism and violence, but also by submissively drinking/consuming items/cures mentioned in hadiths) and make polytheistic Muhammadans who believe in such myths enter into Hell for eternity in the Hereafter. Any of the ancient medicinal traditions anywhere in the world has its good tips and wrong ideas; those of Arabia or any other locations must never be ascribed to Muhammad or to Islam.         

Secondly:

1- The dominance of the backward, conservative, traditional Wahabi/Salafist/Sunnite trend in Egypt has been opposed by a 'progressive', anti-religion, secular trend of those who admire too much the achievements of the modern West civilization; both polarized trends expressed opposite views within all issues related to politics, arts, etc., and people within both extremes typically ridicule one another's views; thus, as Wahabis insist on spreading writings about miraculous scientific indications in the Quran and in the so-called Sunna hadiths, secularists scoffed at them and denied the existence of any scientific indications in the Quran and attacked the Quran, seeking to undermine it because they do not believe in the Hereafter and the metaphysical realm. This means that the faulty views of Salafists/Wahabis have been opposed by another fault on the part of Quran-hating secular thinkers. Both trends reject the Quranic methodology and the scientific one simultaneously; the Wahabis have distorted meanings of the Quranic verses, whereas Quran-hating secularists have denied the fact that the Quran contains miraculous scientific indications.         

2- Some people who deny the fact that the Quran contains miraculous scientific indications hate the Quran and this verse applies to them: "That is because they hated what God revealed..." (47:9); some of the deniers do not hate the Quran; rather, they are heedless of it and of the Hereafter; they do not care to ponder on it within its terminology and methodology; they attribute themselves to science but they are too reluctant to apply scientific research methodology to the Quranic text in the way adopted by Quranist researchers. Indeed, those heedless persons are too arrogant with their measure of knowledge of the physical world and never pay attention to the metaphysical realm and the Hereafter.    

3- The Lord God says the following in the Quran about the superficiality of such people and their likes (who are, in fact, the vast majority of human beings in all eras): "...but most people do not know. They know an outer aspect of the worldly life, but they are heedless of the Hereafter." (30:6-7). Those superficial people admire too much the achievements of the modern West civilization while forgetting that human begins use energies (committed by the Lord God to their service) whose nature/essence is not fully comprehended by them or known to them. For instance, one cannot know the nature/essence of fire and where its energy would go after it is extinguished. Similarly, we cannot know the nature/essence of gravity, the magnetic fields, and electricity and we cannot see them though we use them in our lives now.     

4- Moreover, we cannot study, see, and examine souls which control human bodies and we never feel the temporary departure of souls while we are asleep. We cannot analyze living cells; we wait until they die so that we examine them in laboratories. Thus, we cannot reach the nature/essence of life in the human body and in all living organisms, from viruses, bacteria, germs, and fungi, to insects and other animals/creatures. Human beings cannot breathe life into inanimate things. The Omniscient Lord God knows all about His creatures: "Would He not know, He Who created? He is the Refined, the Expert." (67:14). When the Lord God the Creator has mentioned in the Quran some facts about life, death, and creatures, those who focus on the outer aspects of life (who deny the metaphysical realm and the Hereafter) have ridiculed the Quran; this is because most people are haters/enemies of the things they do not know.

5- Those people whose knowledge is confined to the physical realm are ignoramuses who are very arrogant and they readily mock and ridicule anything related to the Hereafter and the metaphysical realm. The ancient nations who disbelieved in messages of the Lord God conveyed by His prophets/messengers had their own knowledge and civilization (as per studying their ruins and as per archeological discoveries), and their arrogance drove them to ridicule God's messages and messengers/prophets until they have been destroyed by the Lord God: "When their messengers came to them with clear proofs, they rejoiced in the knowledge they had, and the very things they used to ridicule besieged them." (40:83). Likewise, haters of the Quran today (atheists or not) ridicule, for instance, the Quranic stories of Solomon with the ant, the hoopoe, and the throne of the Queen of Sheba and the Quranic prediction about the emergence of Gog and Magog. We discuss these Quranic topics in the coming sections of this BOOK; in the next section, we tackle the Quranic feature of the gradual revelation of scientific facts in relation to the miraculous scientific indications.   

(3) Deniers of the Miraculous Scientific Indications in the Quran and the Gradual Revelation of Scientific Facts

Firstly: the outer aspect of knowledge/science:

1- The following two verses apply to the deniers of the miraculous scientific indications in the Quran: "They know an outer aspect of the worldly life, but they are heedless of the Hereafter." (30:7); "When their messengers came to them with clear proofs, they rejoiced in the knowledge they had, and the very things they used to ridicule besieged them." (40:83). This means that their own measure of knowledge/science which is related only to outer aspect of life (i.e., the physical realm) made them too arrogant to accept the Quran; they reject, undermine, and ridicule the Quran and deny the existence of any miraculous scientific indications in it.

2- Some believers today deny the existence of the Quranic miraculous scientific indications after they felt alarmed by Salafist/Wahabi articles/books about the miraculous scientific indications in the Quranic text and in the so-called Sunna hadiths; they fear lest a scientific fact might be refuted or proven wrong and this would make Quran-hating persons assume that there are faults in the Quranic verses that contain miraculous scientific indications. They forget the fact that the Quran, the Lord God's Word, contains no faults; faults might exist in Quranist researchers' findings (when they ponder any topics in the Quran in the wrong manner) and never in the Quranic text itself. Of course, to err is human; we ourselves are not immune against making some mistakes and faults in our Quranist writings; any faults/mistakes in them have nothing to do with the Quran itself. Likewise, the Quran is innocent of the myths/fabrications invented by authors of books of exegeses, commentaries, interpretations, hadiths, fiqh, etc. 

3- We have mentioned previously that human beings use fire, electricity, magnetic fields, gravity, etc. without fully knowing their nature/essence; human knowledge cannot reach the nature/essence of souls; human senses are limited and people cannot see everything around them; e.g., infrared and ultraviolet rays, electricity, and radio-waves. The Lord God says the following in the Quran: "Indeed, I swear by what you see. And by what you do not see." (69:38-39). This means that we cannot see things which are located outside the visual field of the human eye. In the verses 69:38-39, the Lord God divides creatures/things into two types as per the human field of vision: visible and invisible. Of course, within empiricism and scientific methodology (advocated in the Quran more than 1400 years ago), human beings make use of things committed by the Lord God to the service of humankind to make up for the limitations of the human senses. This is exemplified by the Quranic story of Solomon (in the verse 27:40) by the scientific miracle of transporting the throne of the Queen of Sheba from Yemen to Palestine faster than the speed of light; this miracle was worked by a man who had knowledge from a Divine Book. More on this topic in the next section of this BOOK.    

Secondly: the gradual revelation of scientific facts within history of humanity:

1- The Quranic methodology of mentioning scientific facts will be tackled later within this BOOK. Yet, we tackle briefly here one of its features; i.e., the gradual revelation of scientific facts within Quranic contexts; this is the basis of the Quranic miraculous scientific indications. The gradual revelation of scientific facts in history of human civilization and history of science is not linear; besides, some nations/civilizations were advanced (before they went extinct or got ruined/destroyed) and some were not as they remained backward and primitive. Some other nations/civilization have survived for centuries until now within progress/advancement or backwardness, but the difference is that the revolution in telecommunications made the whole planet a global village and most human beings now get to know about all progress/advancement in science and knowledge; this has made most human being move forward and no longer live in isolation and primitiveness as they draw benefits from science.        

2- Some ancient civilizations which no longer exist are mentioned in the Quranic text; e.g., the Pharaonic civilization whose ruins, remains, monuments, etc. still defy time and fill people with deep awe and admiration. Of course, the destruction of such ancient civilizations led to the fact that human beings have not drawn any benefits from the scientific and technological achievements of the ancient nations (even if human beings have some knowledge about these ancient nations). Some of the destroyed ancient civilizations existed in Arabia; namely, the nations/tribes of Aad and Thamood whose ruins are buried beneath the sand of the Arabian desert. Of course, today's modern scientific progress/advancement can help discover more about the civilizations of Aad and Thamood. The Lord God says the following about the arrogance and tyranny of Aad: "As for Aad, they turned arrogant on earth, and opposed justice, and said, "Who is more powerful than us?" Have they not considered that God, who created them, is more powerful than they? And they went on denying Our Verses." (41:15); the prophet Hud said the following to Aad: "Do you build a monument on every height for vanity's sake? And you set up fortresses, hoping to live forever? And when you strike, you strike mercilessly?" (26:128-130). These Quranic verses, and the ones following them, indicate the fact that the Aad people had their own civilization and level of progress/advancement in the agricultural, military, and manufacturing fields. Similarly, the prophet Saleh said the following to the Thamood people: "Will you be left secure in what is here? In gardens and springs? And fields, and palm-trees whose fruits are delicious? And you skillfully carve houses in the mountains? So, fear God within piety and follow me." (26:146-150). The Lord God says the following about Aad, Thamood, and other destroyed and ruined ancient nations: "Have you not seen how your Lord dealt with Aad? Erum of the pillars. The like of which was never created on earth. And Thamood - those who carved the rocks in the valley. And Pharaoh of the Stakes. Those who were tyrants on earth. And spread much corruption therein." (89:6-12). Long centuries after their destruction by the Lord God, He commands people in the Quran (which was revealed in the 7^th century A.D.) to roam the earth to examine their monuments and ruins and see their powerful civilizations to draw moral lessons of them; they were mightier than the tribe of Qorayish (to which Muhammad belonged) though they lived centuries before the emergence of Qorayish: "Have they not travelled through the earth, and seen the consequences for those before them? They were stronger than them, and they left more impact on earth. But God seized them for their sins, and they had no defender against God." (40:21); "Have they not roamed the earth and seen how those before them ended up? They were more powerful than them, and they cultivated the land and developed it more than they developed it, and their messengers came to them with clear signs. God would never wrong them, but they used to wrong themselves." (30:9). Ancient civilizations which were contemporary to one another rarely had any form of contact leading to passing down of scientific knowledge; in contrast, our modern era of the global village and the revolution in telecommunications has allowed most human beings to partake of the benefits of progress/advancement in scientific explorations and inventions made anywhere on earth.

3- The revelation of the Quran is a Sign/Miracle for all humanity in all eras; the Quran has announced or ushered the commencement of this universal stage of civilization and scientific progress/advancement for all humanity before the Hour (i.e., the end of days when the universe will be destroyed); this is because (1) the Quran is the Last Message from the Lord God to all humanity from the era of Muhammad till the end of days, and (2) the Quran contains miraculous scientific indications which will continue to be examined and studied until the end of days. Consequently, some Quranic miraculous scientific indications are not fully understood now; they will be understood in the future. Hence, the heedless ignoramuses who deny the Hereafter should not ridicule the Quranic miraculous scientific indications which have not been fully comprehended yet; the gradual stages of the revelation of scientific facts in history (and future) of humanity will allow in every decade (until the end of days) a greater measure of knowledge and understanding the Quranic miraculous scientific indications as per the different progress/advancement stages of human civilization.       

4- Because the Quran is the Last Message/Word of the Lord God to all humanity until the end of days, it mentions the stories of ancient nations; these Quranic histories/stories are part of the metaphysical realm of the past; i.e., human beings would never have known about them if it had not been mentioned in the Quranic text. Of course, the Quran narrates some future events as well; e.g., the Hour and the destruction of the universe and the signs of the advent of the Hour. The Quran tells us that shortly before the advent of the Hour, human beings will reach the summit of scientific progress/advancement and they will be very vain/arrogant as they will wrongly assume that they control Planet Earth: "The likeness of the present life is this: water that We send down from the sky is absorbed by the plants of the earth, from which the people and the animals eat. Until, when the Earth puts on its fine appearance, and is beautified, and its inhabitants think that they have mastered it, Our command descends upon it by night or by day, and We turn it into stubble, as if it had not flourished the day before. We thus clarify the Verses for people who reflect." (10:24). This stage has not been reached yet; i.e., human beings still suffer from (1) the pollution of the environment and disturbing of its balance, (2) climate change and the depletion of the ozone layer, (3) famines, epidemics, poverty, tyranny, and corruption, and (4) natural disasters: tsunamis, hurricanes, earthquakes, and volcano eruptions. This means that the unreached-yet stage of mastering and controlling Planet Earth as per the Quranic verse 10:24 requires controlling nature fully; this will occur shortly before the Hour takes place; this false impression or feeling that all human beings control the earth/nature means that when they will assume they can predict earthquakes and avoid their aftermaths, they will suddenly feel the tremendous earthquake of the Hour of destruction of the universe: "When the earth is shaken with its quake. And the earth brings out its loads. And man says, "What is the matter with it?" On that Day, it will tell its tales." (99:1-4). We infer from the Quranic verse 10:24 that the stage of the summit of scientific progress/advancement means that all human beings on earth, on equal footing in all areas within all continents, will share such summit of knowledge and control without differences in civilizational level, modernity, advancement, and lifestyle. By the way, this means that when the Arab nations become modernized and acquire advancement in all fields like the rest of all human beings at that stage, the Hour will take place! How horrible! Quelle horreur!  

5- Of course, ancient civilizations which were contemporary to one another rarely had any form of contact leading to passing down of scientific knowledge, and many of them went extinct or were destroyed and the secret of their measure of scientific knowledge was buried with them. In contrast, the global village of today allows all human beings to enjoy and benefit from scientific progress/advancement and this will go on within the future; shortly before the Hour, human beings will feel they control the Planet Earth: with its deserts, winds, oceans, atmosphere, etc. Since this stage or summit of scientific progress/advancement has not been reached yet, we conclude that more explorations, discoveries, and inventions will be made in the future; this also means that there are miraculous scientific indications in the Quran which are not understood fully now but will be comprehended by the future generations in later eras; thus, those who disbelieve in the Hereafter should not mock and ridicule Quranic verses (which contain miraculous scientific indications) for merely not being able to understand them. 

6- The Lord God says the following about Himself: "...He knows what is before them, and what is behind them; and they cannot grasp any of His knowledge, except as He wills..." (2:255). This means that the Omniscient Lord knows everything about the past, present, and future of humanity (including their deeds and levels of scientific knowledge); in contrast, human beings acquire permissible measure of knowledge allowed only within God's Will within certain times preordained by Him. Accordingly, the Divine Will includes the fact that humanity experiences the gradual revelation of scientific facts within its history; this is because history of humanity is not linear; rather, it is filled with alternating and intermittent drawbacks, backwardness, stops, progress, forward moving, etc. The Lord God has preordained gradual revelation of scientific facts within predestined measure/amount of knowledge within each era. The Quranic miraculous scientific indications assert this idea of gradualism, i.e.,knowledge accumulated incrementally over time within the course of the existence of human beings on earth. This also applies to the future eras of humanity as per the Quran, which is the Divine Word of the Omniscient Lord God: the Witness Who knows everything about the past, present, and future. The Quranic scientific indications are granted to humanity to stimulate and motivate them to (1) ponder the Quranic verses in general and (2) draw benefits from the Quran in terms of science, knowledge, and technology so that human beings would deserve to acquire and gain a measure of knowledge (regarding the universe) as per what is preordained by the Lord God the Omnipotent Creator of the universe Who allows humanity at several stages/eras to know a measure of His Knowledge which is the basis on which the universe has been created by Him.       

Thirdly: the metaphysical realm of the unknown/invisible and the gradual revelation of scientific facts within history of humanity:

1- The Lord God says the following in the Quran: "Indeed, I swear by what you see. And by what you do not see." (69:38-39). In these verses, the Omniscient, Omnipresent Lord God divides creatures/things into two types as per the human field of vision: visible and invisible. This division does NOT apply to the Omniscient Lord God the Creator Who describes Himself here: "The Knower of the Invisible and the Visible; the Grand, the Supreme." (13:9). As we have mentioned before, the invisible sphere of unseen items includes the things we do not see but we use (e.g., electricity, waves, and magnetic fields), because everything in the universe is committed, by the Lord God's permission, to the service of humankind.

2- As per the Quran, there are two types of the metaphysical realm of the invisible and the unknown: the totally invisible and the partially invisible.

* The totally invisible items are things related or linked to the Lord God Himself; human beings will never see God, neither in this world nor in the Hereafter: "No vision can grasp Him, but His grasp is over all vision..." (6:103).

* The partially invisible items include ethereal beings/creatures (i.e., angels, jinn, and devils) who are never seen by human beings in this world but they will be seen on the Last Day in the Hereafter; of course, the souls of dying people see the angels of death coming to take their souls. "O Children of Adam! Do not let Satan seduce you...he sees you, him and his tribe, from where you cannot see them..." (7:27); "As the two receivers receive, seated to the right and to the left. Not a word does he utter, but there is a watcher by him, ready." (50:17-18); "And every soul will come forward, accompanied by a driver and a witness. "You were in neglect of this, so We lifted your screen from you, and your vision today is keen."" (50:21-22); "Whoever shuns the remembrance of the Dominant Lord, We assign for him a devil, to be his companion. They hinder them from the path, though they think they are guided. Until, when he comes to Us, he will say, "If only there were between me and you the distance of the two Easts." What an evil companion!" (43:36-38); "On the Day when He gathers them all together: "O assembly of jinn, you have exploited multitudes of humans." Their adherents among the humankind will say, "Our Lord, we have profited from one another, but we have reached the term that you have assigned for us."..." (6:128).

* The partially invisible items include things humanity could not know/see in the past but which they can experience now because of scientific progress/advancement; e.g., because of today's telecommunications, a man living in Cairo, Egypt, can know/see and hear of events happening at the same time in Japan, Russia, the USA, etc. In the past, news of Mecca would reach Morocco after months of travel; the barrier of time is surmounted and surpassed now in our modern era. Of course, we talk here about news of events and not events themselves; moving/transmitting events/things in the literal, physical sense entails to neutralize gravity; however, this will be possible within the future technology, but our present technology has not yet reached that stage. The Quran indicates this possibility within the story of Solomon and how the throne of the Queen of Sheba (in Yemen) was transported into his palace (in Palestine) faster than the speed of light. Such partially invisible items within the metaphysical realm of the unknown/unseen is the field of the gradual revelation of scientific facts to human beings; of course, many scientific inventions/discoveries and technological applications have turned impossible actions linked to the metaphysical realm of the unseen/ unknown into possible actions. The Omniscient Lord God knows all about the visible and the invisible; He knows beforehand the stages of the procession of the human civilization in each generation/era. The Lord God has told us in the verse 10:24 that the end of days will occur once the scientific progress/advancement reaches its summit within the human civilization. All humanity marches towards this inevitable end and will pass through several stages until this summit of knowledge is reached; as for our modern era of today, we have already reached the level of the global village, the international community, the worldwide concern for the future of Planet Earth, and the United Nations, and let us not forget the persistent dream of globalists who aspire to form one-world government ruling the entire earth within one law and one money unit. This means that within an unreached-yet stage, Planet Earth will put on its fine appearance and will be beautified; this means there are other powers, energies, and discoveries will be reached and used one day within scientific progress/advancement beyond the nuclear energy and the renewable environment-friendly types of energy. At one future time-point, predestined by the Lord God, the dwellers/inhabitants of the Planet Earth (i.e., all living human beings) will feel the illusion that they have fully mastered and controlled the earth before the Hour; this means that we infer from 10:24 that (1) many dreams of scientists will come true one day, and (2) there are still undiscovered scientific facts which will be revealed, by the Lord God's permission first, to the next generations; once this stage is reached as per 10:24, the Hour of destruction of the universe will take place. The Quranic verses that contain miraculous scientific indications were not understood by the Middle-Ages generations; they are largely understood now in our modern age after the accumulation of certain scientific knowledge; other Quranic verses that contain miraculous scientific indications that are not fully understood will be comprehended in the future as scientific progress/advancement increases.          

Fourthly: the gradual revelation of scientific facts within history of humanity and signs/miracles granted to prophets/messengers:

1- Some miraculous scientific indications are mentioned within the contexts of the Quranic stories of prophets/messengers and the miracles (or "signs", to use the Quranic term) granted to them by the Lord God. These signs/miracles are divided into two types: (2) the signs employed to challenge deniers and disbelievers; i.e., the Quran itself granted to Muhammad and the signs granted to Moses and shown inside the palace of Pharaoh, and (2) the signs granted to save prophets; e.g., when Abraham was saved from being burned in the pyre prepared for him by the polytheists: "We said, "O fire, be coolness and safety upon Abraham."" (21:69), or the signs granted to  honor the prophets; e.g., (A) the Night Journey of Muhammad from the Sacred Kaaba Mosque in Mecca to Mount Al-Tur in Sinai, Egypt, which is the Farthest Mosque, and (B) some of the signs granted to David and Solomon.

2- Some of the signs/miracles granted to some prophets are within the metaphysical sphere of possible things which preceded their eras; if one would journey back in time while having one's bicycle, car, or computer, this will seem miraculous to the people of ancient times. We mean to say that Muhammad's Night Journey from Mecca to Sinai and his return in one night is a sign/miracle in 7^th century A.D., but it is possible now in our era by any human beings who travel by plane; yet, some other signs/miracles such as the one mentioned in the verse 21:69 has not been made possible yet; no man would throw himself into a fire and get out of it unharmed, but we maintain that more scientific progress/advancement in the future may make this possible one day. The sign/miracle of healing lepers by Jesus Christ is possible in our era; Jesus told his contemporaries of things unknown; i.e., their food and stored items (i.e., he was granted a measure of knowledge about the metaphysical aspect of the unknown/unseen), but this is possible in our era within methods and tools of espionage typical of the CIA and other similar apparatuses worldwide. That Jesus healed those born blind and made them have eyesight may be possible in the very near future; it is possible now in many cases. The Lord God says the following about Jesus: "A messenger to the Israelites: "I have come to you with a sign from your Lord. I make for you out of clay the figure of a bird; then I breathe into it, and it becomes a bird by God's leave. And I heal the born-blind and the leprous, and I revive the dead, by God's leave. And I inform you concerning what you eat, and what you store in your homes. In that is a sign for you, if you are believers." (3:49).     

3- The signs/miracles in the verse 3:49 which are impossible for human beings to achieve through scientific progress/advancement in our era (and, in fact, in all eras) are to revive/resuscitate the dead people and to create living birds out of mud; these signs granted by the Lord God to Jesus cannot be done by human beings at all; the same applies to the sign granted to Moses when the Lord God turned his staff into a real serpent; this was no magic trick.

4- Away from signs/miracles which are impossible for human beings to achieve through any stage of scientific progress/advancement before the advent of Hour, we focus on the possible ones; some of them have been achieved in our era (e.g., healing lepers, long-distance traveling in the least possible amount of time, and neutralizing fire within certain limits), and some have not been achieved yet, but they will be achieved within the future generations as per the Quranic predictions within certain miraculous scientific indications; namely, some of the signs/miracles granted by the Lord God to David and Solomon, which are discussed in the next section.

(4) The Miraculous Scientific Indications in the Quran: the Signs/Miracles of David and Solomon

The nature of the message:

 David was the king who ruled the Israelites and his successor was his son, Solomon. Both David and Solomon are among the Lord God's messengers/prophets, and their test in life was not within ordeals/hardships but within having many bounties and signs/miracles granted to them by the Lord God. The monotheistic call of (There is no God but Allah) within the Israelites centered on sending several prophets/messengers and Scriptures from the era of Moses and Aaron to the eras before the kingdom of the Israelites in the Levant ruled by David and Solomon. Within the era of David, the Scripture or Divine Book granted to him is known as Zabur, and it does not focus much on calling others to adhere to the monotheism of (There is no God but Allah), as its main focus is on scientific aspects manifesting themselves within signs/miracles granted to David and then to his son and successor Solomon who inherited Zabur and the throne and kingdom of his father. 

Zabur granted to David:

 The Lord God says the following in the Quran: "We have inspired you, as We had inspired Noah and the prophets after him. And We inspired Abraham, and Ishmael, and Isaac, and Jacob, and the Tribes, and Jesus, and Job, and Jonah, and Aaron, and Solomon. And We gave David Zabur." (4:163);this verse distinguishes David and the Book granted to him as something exceptional and outstanding when compared to other Books/Scriptures granted to other messengers/prophets. The same meaning is repeated here: "Your Lord knows well everyone in the heavens and the earth. We have given some prophets advantage over others; and to David We gave Zabur." (17:55); this means that the Lord God has distinguished David by granting him a very special Celestial Book known as Zabur.

The Quranic terms (Zabur) and (Zubur):

 This term (Zabur) in the Quranic tongue (and the Arabic one) is a singular-form word which literally means (the book) and its plural form (i.e., books) in the Arabic and Quranic tongues is the term (Zubur). Within the Quranic terminology, the term (Zubur) is used within the following contexts.   

1- The term (Zubur) describes Celestial Books or Divine Scriptures in general granted by the Lord God to His messengers/prophets: "If they accuse you of lying, messengers before you were accused of lying. They came with the proofs, and the Books/Zubur, and the Illuminating Scripture." (3:184); "We did not send before you except men whom We inspired. So ask the people of knowledge, if you do not know. With the clarifications and the Scriptures/Zubur. And We revealed to you the Reminder, that you may clarify to the people what was revealed to them, and that they may reflect." (16:43-44). The "Reminder" is the Quran itself; the following verse is about the Quran containing the teachings mentioned in the previous Scriptures revealed by the Lord God: "And it is in the Scriptures/Zubur of the ancients." (26:196); this Quranic fact is explained further here: "Nothing is said to you but was said to the messengers before you..." (41:43).

2- The term (Zubur) refers also to books of falsehoods and lies which are the bases of earthly/terrestrial religions whose followers are divided into sects and doctrines, and each of these sects has its own set of 'holy' books. The Lord God says the following about the fact that all monotheists in all eras (as the nation of the Lord God) have one religion and the same Scripture/Book: "O messengers, eat of the good things, and act with integrity. I am aware of what you do. This nation of yours is one nation, and I am your Lord, so fear Me." (23:51-52); this is about the essence of the content of all celestial messages granted by the Lord God to all prophets/messengers; polytheists differ regarding the Divine Book and splinter into sects and factions while each of them has 'holy' books: "But they tore themselves into sects with books/Zubur; each party happy with what they have." (23:53); this is mentioning briefly the repeated history of religion in all eras; namely, the True Religion comes in the Celestial Book from the Lord God, once messengers/prophets died, polytheists readily reject the Divine Scripture and form their devilish, earthly doctrines within several 'holy' books authored by men. The same meaning is repeated in the following context: "This nation of yours is one nation, and I am your Lord, so worship Me. But they splintered themselves into factions. They will all return to Us." (21:92-93). The Muhammadans within their earthly/terrestrial man-made religions have many 'holy' books replacing the Quran which is discarded and rejected by them; e.g., Al-Bokhary book of hadiths. 

3- The term (Zubur) refers here to the Books of Deeds of human beings recorded by the Lord God's angels: "Everything they have done is in the Books/Zubur." (54:52).

4- The term (Zubur) is mentioned in the context of the Quranic story of Gog and Magog who are entrapped beneath the crust of the earth by Zu Al-Qarnayn who used all powers and potentials bestowed on him by the Lord God: ""Bring me Zubur of iron" So that, when he had leveled up between the two mounds, he said, "Blow." And having turned it into a fire, he said, "Bring me copper to pour over it."" (18:96); this means that Zu Al-Qarnayn had book(s) that made him control and shape/mold the atoms of iron and copper (and may be other metals as well); this miracle is a level of technology unreached yet within our era. The topic of Gog and Magog is tackled in detail in a coming section of this BOOK. 

5- The term (Zabur) is employed here to name the Book granted to David and Solomon; it is a book containing scientific knowledge and also verses about monotheism/piety and some predictions: "We have written in Zabur, after the Remembrance, that the earth will be inherited by My righteous servants. Indeed, in this is a message for people who worship." (21:105-106).

Zabur and the signs/miracles of David and Solomon:

 The Lord God mentions in the Quran the signs/miracles that He granted to David and Solomon within four contexts as follows: (A) "And so We made Solomon understand it, and to each We gave wisdom and knowledge. And We subjected the mountains along with David to sing Our praises, and the birds as well - surely We did. And We taught him the making of shields for you, to protect you from your violence. Are you, then, thankful? And to Solomon the stormy wind, blowing at His command towards the land that We have blessed. We are aware of everything. And of the devils were some that dived for him, and performed other, lesser tasks. But We kept them restrained." (21:79-82); (B) "And We gave David and Solomon knowledge. They said, "Praise God, who has favored us over many of His believing servants."" (27:15); (C) "We bestowed upon David favor from Us: "O mountains, and birds: echo with him." And We softened iron for him. "Make coats of armor, and measure the succession well; and work righteousness. I am Observant of everything you do." And for Solomon the wind - its outward journey was one month, and its return journey was one month. And We made a spring of copper flow for him. And there were sprites that worked under him, by the leave of his Lord. But whoever of them swerved from Our command, We make him taste of the torment of Hell. They made for him whatever he wished: sanctuaries, statues, bowls like pools, and heavy cauldrons. "O House of David, work with thankfulness," but a few of My servants are thankful." (34:10-13); and (D) "...and mention Our servant David, the resourceful. He was obedient. We committed the mountains to glorify with him, in the evening and at daybreak. And the birds, gathered together. All obedient to him. And We strengthened his kingdom, and gave him wisdom and decisive speech." (38:17-20). This means that the Book/Scripture named as Zabur allowed such miracles/signs to occur as David and Solomon controlled iron, copper, the wind, the jinn, etc. and knew the tongues of birds, mountains, etc. Some miracles/signs will never occur again (regarding knowing the tongues of birds and mountains and controlling jinn), but some other miracles/signs can take place later on within a higher level of scientific knowledge; i.e., controlling the atoms of metals such as iron and copper. Within the context of the story of Solomon, we know that Solomon extended the use of Zabur and that some others around him had knowledge of Zabur and used it; e.g., the man who had knowledge from Zabur managed to transport the throne of the Queen of Sheba faster than the speed of light; this means that this man neutralized gravity; this miracle/sign is the hope of scientists now; they desire to reach this stage of scientific progress/advancement in the near future.

The throne of the Queen of Sheba was miraculously transported from Yemen to the Levant:

 We read the following verses within the context of the Quranic story of Solomon and the Queen of Sheba: "He said, "O notables, which one of you will bring me her throne before they come to me in submission?" An imp of the sprites said, "I will bring it to you before you rise from your seat. I am strong and reliable enough to do it."He who had knowledge from the Book said, "I will bring it to you before your glance returns to you." And when he saw it settled before him, he said, "This is from the grace of my Lord, to test me, whether I am grateful or ungrateful. He who is grateful, his gratitude is to his own credit; but he who is ungrateful - my Lord is Independent and Generous."" (27:38-40); this means that this man among the courtiers of king Solomon who had knowledge from the Book known as Zabur neutralized gravity and brought before Solomon the throne of the Queen of Sheba faster than the speed of light. This miracle/sign of transporting items in such a speed is possible within a later stage of scientific progress and technological advancement. We do not specialize in natural sciences; we specialize in analyzing the Quranic text; we hope very much that scientists would comment on the Quranic verses (discussed in this BOOK) that contain miraculous scientific indications, especially in relation to gravity and centrifugal force and how human beings (and matter in general) can be transported one day faster than the speed of light without being destroyed.   

Zabur and the Lord God's authorization:

 We infer that the Book of David and Solomon, Zabur, was the Lord God's authorization through which they neutralize gravity and time; this type of authorization (in our view) is the one intended here: "O communities of jinn and humans! If you can pass through the bounds of the heavens and the earth, go ahead and pass. But you will not pass except with authorization." (55:33); thus, without this authorization from the Lord God, this attempt will destroy them: "You will be bombarded with flares of fire and brass, and you will not succeed." (55:35); this exception of (authorization) means that this is not impossible as per the Lord God's Will when He allows a certain measure of knowledge to be bestowed on human beings before the end of days: "...He knows what is before them, and what is behind them; and they cannot grasp any of His knowledge, except as He wills..." (2:255); this authorization by the Lord God mentioned in 55:33 will come shortly before the end of days, when the human beings feel they mastered/controlled the entire earth: "The likeness of the present life is this: water that We send down from the sky is absorbed by the plants of the earth, from which the people and the animals eat. Until, when the Earth puts on its fine appearance, and is beautified, and its inhabitants think that they have mastered it, Our command descends upon it by night or by day, and We turn it into stubble, as if it had not flourished the day before. We thus clarify the Verses for people who reflect." (10:24). Anyway, this is part of miraculous scientific indications that will be realized in the future, proving that the Quran is God's Word to all humanity; these scientific indications in the Quran indicate what will be possible in the future and they should encourage scientists to try and achieve in later eras what seems to be impossible today.

"...and measure the succession well..." (34:11):

  Transporting the throne of the Queen of Sheba faster than the speed of light cannot be achieved now by human beings within the current modern scientific knowledge at this stage; this means that it was a marvelous sign/miracle that occurred during the era of Solomon more than 25 centuries ago. Apart from signs/miracles of Zabur which can never be repeated, there are possible signs/miracles which will occur in the future with more advances in science and technology; e.g., the one mentioned here: "...We made the eye of copper flow for him..." (34:12); this means Solomon controlled atoms of copper, and they flowed and were molded without heating the copper with fire; the same applies to David in relation to iron molded by him (when it is cold) to make light clothes/armor to protect people without hindering their movement: "...And We softened iron for him." (34:10); "We bestowed upon David favor from Us: "O mountains, and birds: echo with him." And We softened iron for him. "Make coats of armor, and measure the succession well..." (34:10-11). This will be possible in the future as per what we infer from the miraculous scientific indications in the Quran and as per the Lord God's Will when He bestows such knowledge to humanity later on after giving it to David and Moses as a miracle/sign within the Lord God's Book known as Zabur. So as to understand the gradual revelation of scientific facts within the history of humanity, let us ponder on this phrase uttered by the Lord God to David: "...and measure the succession well..." (34:11). The idea of measure here is about planning to execute or apply a certain process based on  a scientific fact; this is like today's feasibility studies of any projects within the complications and circumstances of reality. The idea of succession here is about sequence of events taking place on earth; we infer from this Quranic phrase "...and measure the succession well..." (34:11) that the Lord God has commanded David that when he applied verses from Zabur, he was to measure the time and culture/circumstances of people of his era as they never understood this huge leap in scientific or technological advancement; it is destined (a per what we infer from the Quranic predictions) that humanity one day (not in our era, but later on) will achieve this control of metals as the case was with David and Solomon. We should heed this lesson very carefully; sadly, Arabs (we mean specifically the Muhammadans) misuse modern technology; e.g., through the cyberspace, anonymous ignoramuses write comments and emails to insult our person as they hate us for being a Quranist thinker who offers unprecedented ponderings on the Quran.   

The laughter-inducing discourses/narratives of 'interpreters':

 The Middle-Ages Sunnite authors of 'exegeses', 'commentaries', and 'interpretations' of the Quran authored laughter-inducing, silly, and nonsensical discourses and narratives which have nothing to do with the Quran, of course. In order to undermine, refute, and ridicule the polytheistic ignoramuses who sanctify and venerate Sunnite heritage books of traditions (hadiths, fiqh, exegeses, etc.), with or without reading them, and insult our person via cyberspace within YouTube, the social media networks, and Wahabi/Salafist websites, we quote below three passages from the book of exegeses by Al-Qurtubi concerning the Quranic stories of David and Solomon.

 Al-Qurtubi writes the following 'interpretive' comment about this Quranic verse: "And Solomon succeeded David. He said, "O people, we were taught the language of birds, and we were given from everything. This is indeed a real blessing."" (27:16).

 (... The narrator Muqatil said that king Solomon was sitting outdoors one day, and he saw a bird flying near him; Solomon said to his entourage men to guess what this bird said to him; they told him they could never know; he told them that the bird greeted him with the greetings of peace as the Prophet of God and the mighty king of the Israelites; the bird told him further that God granted him many miracles besides the eminent victory all the time over his enemies whenever he fought them. Solomon told them that the bird excused itself to tend its small ones for a short while and that it shall return to him. Soon enough, the bird returned to Solomon, greeted him with the greetings of peace, and it offered Solomon to be with him all the time to inform him of many secrets, but only after its small ones would grow up and depend on themselves; Solomon gave the bird permission to go and to later on live in his palace for the rest of its life; Solomon told his entourage men about this conversation ... Another narrator, Farqad Al-Sabikhy, said that Solomon was walking in his vast orchard along with his entourage men and courtiers; he came across a nightingale shaking its head and tail on a tree branch; Solomon said to his entourage men to try to guess what this nightingale said; they told him they could never know; they told Solomon that he should know because he was the Prophet of God endowed with miracles; he told them that the nightingale said that it ate half of a grape; it does not want anything else in this life to feel happy and chirp ... When Solomon passed by a hoopoe sitting on a tree branch, he realized that a boy had set a trap to catch the hoopoe; when Solomon told the hoopoe to beware of such a trap, the hoopoe laughed and told the Prophet of God to calm down; the hoopoe just ridiculed the brainless boy. Hours later, Solomon passed by the same tree and found that the hoopoe was entrapped by the boy who caught it in his hands; Solomon asked the hoopoe how come that he fell into the trap so easily despite being cautious and despite its sharp eyesight that makes it see water miles away; the hoopoe told Solomon that everything is ordained by Fate and everyone is blindly marching to one's death ... The hadiths-narrator Al-Kaab said that the king Solomon, son of David, was once sitting in a lush, verdant garden with his courtiers and entourage men; he listened attentively to the conversation between a hoopoe and a peacock; Solomon asked his men if they can guess the conversation, and when they answered him in the negative, he told them that the hoopoe and the peacock told each other that it is silly that human beings, who are destined to die anyway, establish grand edifices that will turn into ruins eventually; it is very sad that human beings never know why they are created; they should have wished they were never created; human beings fall into the traps they set for one another and are judged by the scales they use to judge and weigh words of others; the miserable human beings who are merciless shall never have mercy unless they sincerely repent ... A hadith of our Holy Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings of God descend upon him, is narrated by Abou Hurayrah about not to kill any hoopoes because they are wise birds who perform the act of worship of fasting; a hoopoe told Adam about the location of the Sacred Kaaba ... Solomon continued telling his men about the conversation between the hoopoe and the peacock; he told them that they said that repentant sinners who sincerely implore God for forgiveness shall be forgiven; all living mortals are bound to die eventually and all novelty wears off; pious human beings should perform good deeds to find mercy ... We are not to kill hoopoes; Adam, after being expelled from Paradise, felt lonely and a hoopoe was the only company he had after he complained to God about his feeling lonely and miserable ... The conversation went on between the hoopoe and the peacock, and Solomon told his men that both birds glorified God's Name and cursed sinners and greedy, stingy men; this transient world will come to an end eventually; it's silly to hoard money/gold or anything else; talking is made of silver and silence is made of gold; only the wise men are mostly silent; cursed in Hell are those who care only about this transient world and forget about the Eternal Abode in the Hereafter ... Another narrator, Maqhool, said that Solomon, king of the Israelites, heard the voice of a rooster at dawn; he asked his men to guess what the rooster said; when they told him they never know the tongues of God's creatures, Solomon told him that the rooster praises the Dominant Lord and His Throne ... This reminds me of the hadith of our Holy Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings of God descend upon him, narrated by Al-Hassan Ibn Ali Ibn Abou Talib, about that when the voice of roosters, cock-a-doodle-do, is heard, believers must glorify the Holy Name of God as roosters can see angels descending on earth ... This reminds me also of the hadith of our Holy Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings of God descend upon him, narrated by Al-Hassan Ibn Ali Ibn Abou Talib, about falcons which curse the haters of the Holy Prophet Muhammad and his holy descendants and family members, whereas eagles remind human beings that they are mortals who will inevitably die and be resurrected and judged by God, but hawks advise others to be recluses and hermits, as getting away from people is a blessing and a source of comfort, while the swallows recite the Quranic Chapter One every dawn like imams of mosques ...).

 Al-Qurtubi writes the following 'interpretive' comment about these Quranic verses: "Until, when they came upon the Valley of Ants, an ant said, "O ants! Go into your nests, lest Solomon and his troops crush you without noticing." He smiled and laughed at her words, and said, "My Lord, direct me to be thankful for the blessings you have bestowed upon me and upon my parents, and to do good works that please You. And admit me, by Your grace, into the company of Your righteous servants."" (27:18-19).

 (... The narrator named as Al-Sha'aby said that in ancient times, ants had wings and were among the flying beasts, as ants are the wisest among God's creatures, but later on, ants lost their wings and they have to walk on their legs now like insects; when Solomon was in Arabia during his conquests, he passed the valley of Sadeer which is filled with thousands of ants in a huge colony; Solomon heard the words of a lame ant when it was three miles away from the location of the camp of his troops, as per the hadith narrated by Al-Zamakhshary who also asserted that the name of this female ant was Takhya; yet, Al-Sahly, another hadiths-narrator, said that the name of the ant was Hermia, as per several hadiths narrated by a series of narrators....... The narrator named as Wahb said that the wind was at the command of king Solomon and consequently it carried the words of the ant to him; this ant was inside a valley in Yemen, where Solomon's troops settled in a camp, and the ants in Yemen at these times of antiquity were as big as wolves or sheep; if the horses of the huge troops of Solomon would have passed by them, these ants would have been crushed and torn to pieces, but only God knows how this might have been possible. Narrators of hadiths asserted that the ant talked in the human tongue familiar to Solomon and his Israelite people at the time and that Solomon reproached the ant for fearing him and his military troops since the wise ant must have known that he was God's prophet who adhered to justice all his life; the ant told Solomon that it desired to make other ants keep praising and glorifying God's Name and never be distracted by the troops and the procession of king Solomon, the greatest monarch on earth. Solomon commanded the wise ant to teach him some pearls of wisdom; she asked him why his father was named David and he as Solomon.......  ... The ant advised Solomon to adhere to Zabur, the Book he inherited from David; it told him that God made the wind obey his commands so as to remind him that in this transient world, all was vanity and a chasing after wind. Solomon smiled at the ant and admired its wisdom; the ant excused itself for a moment and returned to the colony to ask other ants if they can bring a gift for king Solomon; the ants said that they had nothing but one small grape; the ant carried it and the wind carried the ant while she carried the grape; the wind was faster than the speeds of human beings, prophets, birds, and jinn; thus, the ant reached Solomon and let the grape from its mouth to make it fall into his hands; Solomon thanked the Lord God and thanked the ant, telling her it was a precious gift since the ants had nothing else to eat and to give; the happy ant recited these lines of poetry to Solomon: The Lord God accepts the offerings given by the pious needy ones, though He does not need anything / No offerings can be deemed as equal to God's Majesty and Greatness  /This is why thankful people who love one another love giving and receiving gifts /Otherwise, The Generous Lord God will not bestow His mercy upon them ... This reminds me of the hadith narrated by Abou Hurayrah who said that Holy Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings of God descend upon him, said that within an ancient era, an ant had bitten a prophet of God; he was so furious that he commanded his followers to burn the entire colony of ants; God came to this prophet, in a vision/dream, to reproach him for burning thousands of ants which glorified His Holy Name, telling him that he should have punished one ant which had bitten him ...).

 These blasphemous last lines in the false hadith within the above passage are very insulting to the Lord God. Here is another laughter-inducing passage from the mythology authored by Al-Qurtubi within his 'interpretive' comment about these Quranic verses: "An imp of the sprites said, "I will bring it to you before you rise from your seat...He who had knowledge from the Book said, "I will bring it to you before your glance returns to you."..."Disguise her throne for her, and we shall see whether she will be guided, or remains one of the misguided." When she arrived, it was said, "Is your throne like this?" She said, "As if this is it."...It was said to her, "Go inside the palace." And when she saw it, she thought it was a deep pond, and she bared her legs. He said, "It is a palace paved with glass." She said, "My Lord, I have done wrong to myself, and I have submitted with Solomon, to God, Lord of the Worlds."" (27:39-44).

 (...  The hadiths-narrator, Wahb, said that this imp or sprite was named Coden, but Al-Sahly, another narrator, mentions that it was named Zequan; other narrators asserted in their hadiths that its name was Daawan; yet, the narrator Abdullah Ibn Abbas mentions that its name was Sakhr ... This reminds me of the hadith of our Holy Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings of God descend upon him, narrated by Abou Hurayrah, in the book by Al-Bokhary, as he said that the Holy Prophet Muhammad said that an imp of sprites tried to distract him during prayers, but God allowed the Holy Prophet to chase this sprite away forever ... Another hadith in the book titled (Al-Mowata') by the Holy Imam, Malik, mentions that a series of narrators said that Yahya Ibn Saeed said that the Holy Prophet Muhammad said that during the Night-Journey, he saw an evil sprite of the jinn chasing him everywhere while carrying a torch of fire, but eventually, Gabriel taught him words to use in his supplications to God to make evil sprites of jinn avoid him forever; when he uttered these words, this evil sprite flew away ... This imp of the sprites promised Solomon to bring the throne of the Queen of Sheba in a very short time; this imp could have carried it and fly through the sky; Ibn Abbas mentions that bringing her throne to Jerusalem symbolizes the dominance of Solomon over the Queen of Sheba as he married her later on; but Solomon commanded those around him to get her throne in the least amount of time possible; the knowledgeable man who memorized Zabur, the Book/Scripture given by God to David, managed to summon more power to bring her throne in a blink of the eye. Hadiths-narrators said that this Israelite man's name was Asef Ibn Berkhiyya, and he also knew the Holiest Name of the Lord God, which when used by anyone during any supplications, one's wishes/prayers will be granted/answered by God immediately ... Aisha, wife of our Holy Prophet Muhammad, said that her husband said that God's Holy Name used by Asef Ibn Berkhiyya, the son of the maternal aunt of Solomon, was The Living, the Watchful Lord, mentioned in the Quranic verse 2:255, which is pronounced in Hebrew like this:....... Muslims are advised to use it in their supplications...... As for disguising the throne of the Queen of Sheba, this means that Solomon commanded his men to change it by turning it upside down or to put its decorations, which were in the higher part it, within the lower part of the throne, while putting the decorations which were in the lower part in its higher part. Some other hadiths-narrators asserted that changing her throne means to remove the precious stones encrusted on it. This is because Solomon followed the advice of sprites, devils, and jinn serving him when they told him to test the Queen of Sheba to see if she was a woman of reason or not; some of the devils told Solomon that she was lame and her mind was not very sharp. This is why Solomon had to make the Queen of Sheba feel as if she had to pass through a pond, paved with transparent glass above its surface inside the palace, to force her to bare her legs to see if she one of them is deformed or not before he would ask her hand in marriage ... Many hadiths-narrators mentioned that this palace of Solomon in Jerusalem was the most magnificent edifice on earth at the time. Wahb, the narrator, said that Solomon tested her intelligence and desired also to refute the claims of devils/jinn that the Queen of Sheba had a hairy leg of a she-ass. When the Queen of Sheba saw the pond at first, she felt frightened as she thought that Solomon desired to drown her to rule Sheba, in Yemen, instead of her; Solomon heard his jinn/devils claim that her mother was a jinn and not a human being; he had to refute their claim by testing the Queen of Sheba ... Before proposing to her, Solomon made sure that her legs are human ones; yet, he noticed that her legs are hairy; Solomon sought the advice of his faithful jinn regarding how to remove hair from her legs without hurting her; they told him to build a huge bath of very hot water so that she would bathe alone; this is the origin of the public baths of today in the Levant and elsewhere ... When she became the wife of Solomon, she had not settled in the Levant as she ruled over Sheba, in Yemen, as its Queen; Solomon visited her once a month, for three days, and he came to her while being carried with fast winds under his command; she bore him a son, named David, which died during his infancy ... Some hadiths-narrators, as per the narrator named Al-Qosheiry, asserted that our Holy Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings of God descend upon him, said that the name of the Queen of Sheba was Bilqis, a woman with a reputed rare beauty and a pair of very beautiful, white legs, and that in the Hereafter, she will be Solomon's wife in Paradise as she was during his lifetime. When Aisha heard this, she felt jealous and asked her husband if the legs of Bilqis will be prettier than hers in Paradise; her husband assured her that inside Paradise, she and her legs will be more beautiful than Bilqis ... Al-Thaalaby said that Abou Moussa said that our Holy Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings of God descend upon him, said that king Solomon was the first man on earth to build public baths, in the Levant, while advising his people to remember the Inferno of the Hereafter whenever they felt the hotness of the water of such baths, as he felt extreme hotness when he entered into this bath once the builders finished it and heated the furnace; this reminded Solomon of Hell ... Solomon loved the Queen of Sheba very much; after they were married, she told him that she must rule Sheba, in Yemen, once more as a Queen; he could never refuse her anything; Solomon traveled faster than the wind, from the Levant to Yemen, to visit her once a month to spend three nights with her. Besides, he made his jinn under his command build her three massive citadels to deter the enemies against conquering Sheba .... Other hadiths-narrators mentioned that Solomon did not marry the Queen of Sheba; he merely asked her to choose a husband if she insisted on retrieving her throne and her rule in Sheba, and she chose, as a husband, the king of Hamadan, and Solomon promised her to make the king and queen of the jinn inside Yemen to obey her only if she would convert to Islam, and she agreed. The jinn served her and built many factories and edifices for her; yet, the jinn left her and vanished from her sight once Solomon died. Many hadiths-narrators asserted that Solomon never proposed to the Queen of Sheba who was the descendants of 40 leaders and kings within the lineage of Qahtan in Arabia, whose ancestry reached Sam the son of Noah; many of her ancestors ruled Yemen for centuries; the father of Bilqis was one of the kings of Yemen and he married Rihanna, a she-jinn who was the daughter of the king of jinn tribes inside Yemen, as per the hadith of our Holy Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings of God descend upon him, narrated by Abou Hurayrah; since Bilqis had no brothers or sisters, she was the only heir who should have ascended to the throne of Yemen easily once her father died; yet, at first, the affluent notables among the people of Yemen chose a man as their king instead of Bilqis, but this king was very corrupt and bad; he even raped many married and unmarried women inside his kingdom; when people sought the help of the rightful heir, Bilqis, to get rid of this sinful king, she schemed to kill him and retrieve her usurped crown and throne; she proposed to him and promised to be his faithful wife; he readily agreed because he was infatuated with her beauty; within the bridal night of consummation of the marriage, she refused to share his bed unless he would drink from her wine prepared specially for him; when he became very drunk, she drew her sword, which was hidden beneath the bed, and cut his head off; she put his severed head, with a string, on the gate of the palace; people felt overjoyed as the tyrant was dead and they pledged loyalty and swore fealty to Bilqis as their Queen  ...).

Lastly:

  There is a huge gap (or rather an abyss) between the greatness of the Quran and the myths of the so-called Quran 'interpreters' who wrote exegeses and commentaries during the Middle-Ages; their myths harken back to the oral traditions dominant during the Umayyad era; the Umayyad caliphs hired them to fabricate hadiths ascribed by force to Muhammad so that they serve certain political ends by shaping religious ideas of the masses; within such a historical context, orators/narrators in mosques fabricated many stories about prophets/messengers to captivate hearts of their audiences and catch their attention all the time; those liars narrated hadiths as if they were present (as contemporaries!) with Adam, Solomon, David, Noah, Moses, etc. The gullible people believed in such myths/hadiths for their merely being attributed to Muhammad after his death. During the Abbasid Era, such myths were written down within many books; the hadiths increased exponentially as many fabricators/narrators aimed to please the Abbasids who paid them handsomely to serve political ends and establish their theocracy. This is how hadiths and fiqh emerged in order to form the full-fledged terrestrial/earthly Sunnite religion later on. Despite our endeavors to raise the awareness of people about the Only True Islam (i.e., Qurnaism) within our website, most of them adhere to Sunnite and non-Sunnite myths; if they die within such heedlessness and naivety, they will be inconsolable inside Hell in the Hereafter. 

(5) "It is He who transports you across land and sea..." (10:22)

Firstly:

 In the mid-1970s, at one day, we were running in one of the streets in Cairo, Egypt, and we sprained one of our ankles and felt a searing pain in our foot; we kept limping for days; we reflected on our previous state of excellent health and how we moved swiftly; we remembered that many people suffer blindness, deafness, paralysis, etc., and we pondered deeply on these two Quranic verses: "And He has given you something of all what you asked. And if you were to count God's bounties, you would not be able to enumerate them. The human being is unjust and disbelieving." (14:34); "And if you tried to enumerate the bounties of God, you will not be able to count them. God is Forgiving and Merciful." (16:18); hence, most people are not thankful for blessings/bounties (including good health and the ability to move about) bestowed on them by the Lord God; He can withdraw these bounties anytime from anyone, temporarily or forever. Thus, we have understood one of the meanings of this Quranic verse: "It is He who transports you across land and sea. Until, when you are on ships, sailing in a favorable wind, and rejoicing in it, a raging wind arrives. The waves surge over them from every side, and they realize that they are besieged. Thereupon they pray to God, professing sincere devotion to Him: "If You save us from this, we will be among the thankful ones."" (10:22). This Quranic phrase "It is He who transports you across land and sea..." (10:22) has set our mind a-thinking; why do we find here equality between moving across the land and across the sea? One can walk in the land or take any means of transportation; yet, this is not linked only to the ability of the human body to move at certain speeds; this is also linked to calculations of gravity and the relation between time, place, and motion. For instance, let us imagine that there is a flea on a man's head who is inside a train; the flea moves inside his head while not feeling the movement of the train; the man himself cannot feel the movement of the earth around its axis and around the sun; he (inside the train and otherwise) cannot feel the movement of the solar system around the center of the Milky Way galaxy and that this galaxy (with it planets, moons, stars, black holes, etc.) moves within an unimagined speed around the center of the universe. Science tells us about the counter-universe, moving in the opposite direction of ours, which will collide with our universe and will destroy it. Within such movements within unimagined speeds, the overlapping metaphysical realm moves along, and of course, science tells us only about the observable universe; we know nothing about the peripheries or 'borders' of the universe and we know little, for instance, about the dark matter. We conclude that the Quranic phrase "It is He who transports you across land and sea..." (10:22) refers to the Lord God's laws which allow movement on earth within limits of air, gravity, space, time, and speed.           

Secondly:

 We are not a specialist in astronomy; we hope astronomers would analyze and reflect on Quranic verses about the heavens and the earth (i.e., the universe) in relation to their knowledge within their field of specialization. From our general knowledge, we know that if the sun moves away from its distance from the Planet Earth (or if it gets closer!), life on earth will cease and human beings would not be able to move across the land or across the sea. Sadly, it is typical that most human beings seldom ponder on the bounties bestowed on them by the Lord God (especially good health) and they take them for granted. As we have mentioned in a previous section of this BOOK, the Quranic miraculous scientific indications come within the context of urging people to guide themselves within monotheism by the Quranic Truth; thus, the Quranic phrase "It is He who transports you across land and sea..." (10:22) comes within the context of warning and preaching the readers of the Quran. Sadly, most human beings are ungrateful to the Lord God for the bounties He has bestowed on them, including the ability to move (within different means of transportation) by land, by sea, and by air. Most heedless people never remember the Lord God unless when they face life-threatening situations which drive them to implore Him for deliverance. Think of The Titanic when it sank within its maiden voyage; screams of joy, drinking, romp, dancing, and promiscuity turned into screams of fright; the arrogant men on board thought it was unsinkable and did not bring enough lifeboats; most passengers drowned. No doubt that most of those who survived this tragedy forgot that they beseeched and supplicated to the Lord God fervently for deliverance (as per the monotheism instinct inculcated into the human souls and even into our DNA), and yet, they continued their heedlessness and disregard vis-à-vis the Hereafter when they attained safety: "When adversity touches the human being, he calls on Us. But then, when We favor him with a blessing from Us, he says, "I have attained this by virtue of my knowledge." However, it is a test, but most of them do not know." (39:49); "Whenever adversity touches the human being, he prays to Us - reclining on his side, or sitting, or standing. But when We have relieved his adversity from him, he goes away, as though he had never called on Us for trouble that had afflicted him. Thus the deeds of the transgressors appear good to them." (10:12); "It is He who transports you across land and sea. Until, when you are on ships, sailing in a favorable wind, and rejoicing in it, a raging wind arrives. The waves surge over them from every side, and they realize that they are besieged. Thereupon they pray to God, professing sincere devotion to Him: "If You save us from this, we will be among the thankful ones." But then, when He has saved them, they commit violations on earth, and oppose justice. O people! Your violations are against your own souls. It is the enjoyment of the present life. Then to Us is your return, and We will inform you of what you used to do." (10:22-23). Being thankful/grateful to the Lord God means to adhere to piety and monotheism for the rest of one's lifetime and to correct one's faith by excluding polytheistic notions. The Quran is the Book of Guidance and not of history or science; scientific indications aim to make believers ponder and be guided. This is the aim of all Celestial Books or Scriptures granted to all prophets/messengers in all eras. But have we fully grasped the meanings of the phrase "It is He who transports you across land and sea..." (10:22)? What is the aim of the human body's freedom of movement? Simply put, this is the test of being free to (dis)obey the commands of the Lord God; one may use one's time and body in good deeds, acts of worship, etc. or in promiscuity, sinning, etc. Freedom is the basis of the Lord God's testing human beings on earth. Hence, being forced by others to do something bad/sinful will not be punished by the Lord God: "...There is no blame on you if you err therein, barring what your hearts premeditates. God is Forgiving and Merciful." (33:5). The scientific facts summarized in a single phrase "It is He who transports you across land and sea..." (10:22), followed by the graphic scenes in 10:22-23, aim at making people guide themselves within monotheism by the Quran and to avoid being among the heedless ones; the test of life is based on responsibility through freedom of action; as per 33:5, one is judged by the Lord God if one commit sins willingly and intentionally. Of course, believers who seek Paradise in the Hereafer and wish to avoid Hell choose on their own accord to obey (body and soul) the Quranic commands of the Lord God; souls control human bodies, of course. Having read this section, one is free to choose to reject/accept and to (dis)believe in the fact that the Quran contains miraculous scientific indications.