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Does the Holy Book allude to scientific develeopments? PDF Print E-mail
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Written by Bediuzzaman Said Nursi   
Tuesday, 24 January 2006
Scientific theories are usually like clothes, which, after being put on for some time, are worn out and discarded. Trying to show that every new scientific fact or theory, was predicted by the Holy Book is a display of inferiority complex and means giving priority to sciences over the Holy Book is a display of inferiority complex and means giving priority to sciences over the Holy Book.  Each verse and expression of the Holy Book has a universal content addressing each learning level of mankind at all times: any interpretation put forward during history points to only one aspect of that universal content. Every interpreter or every scientist and man of gnosis, depending either on his spiritual discovery or intuition, or the evidence he obtains, or his natural disposition, prefers one of those aspects. Besides, we accept both the physics of Newton and the physics of Einstein as 'science' and true. Although, in absolute terms, both may be false, there must certainly be some truth in both. Causality is a veil God Almighty has spread over the rapid flux of existence so that we could plan our lives to some degree, and therefore both the physics of Newton and the physics of Einstein are relatively true. In short, while pondering the Holy Book's verses, we should take into consideration the relative truths in existence and our lives, which are much more numerous than the unchanging absolute truths.
By way of an example of the multiple meanings of the Holy Book's expressions, consider the verses "He let forth the two seas that meet together, between them a barrier, they do not overpass (55:19-20)" which are ardently repeated by saintly people in their daily recitations. There is an indication to all of the pairs of 'seas' or realms, spiritual and material, figurative and actual, from the realms of Lordship and servanthood to the spheres of necessity and contingency, from this world to the Hereafter, including the visible corporeal world and the World of the Unseen, the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, the Mediterranean and Red Sea, salt water and sweet water in the seas and under the earth, and the big rivers such as the Euphrates and Tigris carrying sweet water and salty seas to which they flow. All of these, together with many others I do not deem necessary to mention here, are included in the content of the aforementioned Holy Book's verses, whether in a literal or figurative sense. Because of this, even if we see that a Holy Book's verse or expression exactly points to an established scientific fact, we should not restrict its meaning to that fact, rather, we should take all other possible meanings and interpretations into consideration.
However, this does never mean that the Holy Book does not point or allude to any scientific development and fact.
Being the Divine Revelation, which includes everything of wet or dry (6:59) , the Holy Book should certainly not exclude scientific developments and facts
Indeed, it refers to them directly or indirectly, but not in the manner of science and materialistic or naturalistic philosophy. It is not a book of science that it should speak of the cosmological or scientific matters elaborately. It is the eternal interpretation of the book of the universe and the interpreter of sciences dealing with the phenomena of creation. It comments upon the visible and invisible worlds, and discloses the spiritual treasures of the Divine Beautiful Names in the heavens and the earth. The Holy Book is the key with which the hidden realities behind the events taking place in both nature and human life may be perceived, and is the tongue of the hidden world in the manifest world. It is like the sun shining in the spiritual and intellectual sky of Islam, and is the sacred map of the next world. It is the expounder of the Divine Attributes, Names and acts, and the educator of mankind guiding them to truths and virtues. It is a book of law and wisdom, a book of worship and prayer, a book of Divine commands and prohibitions, and also a book, which contains everything to satisfy man's spiritual and intellectual needs. There is actually no problem of a theological, social, economic, political, or even scientific nature that the Holy Book does not deal with briefly or in detail, directly or by allusion or symbolically.
Also, the Holy Book considers the creation not on its behalf, but on behalf of knowledge of its Creator
By contrast, science, besides considering the creation only for its own sake, addresses particularly those specialized in it. The Holy Book addresses the whole of mankind, and since it uses creation as evidence and proof to guide mankind, and the majority of mankind are common people, the evidence should be manifest and obvious in order to be understood by the common people easily, and guidance requires that things of little importance should be touched on only and the subtle points be made understandable by means of parables and comparisons. In order not to mislead people into errors, it should not change things, which in their view are obvious in a way, which will be of no use or may even be harmful to them.
Essentially, like every other thing in existence, sciences have their sources in one of the Beautiful Names of God Almighty
It is the Name the All-Healing that shines on medicine; geometry and engineering depend on the Names the All-Just, the All-Shaping and the All-Harmonizing, and philosophy reflects the Name the All-Wise, and so forth. As was pointed out above, the Creator has referred in His Book, the Holy Book, to everything that He has allowed man to learn and a means to his material and spiritual progress. Since the Holy Book's primary aim is to make God Almighty known to man, to open the way to faith and worship, and organize man's individual and social life, thus guiding man to perfect happiness in both worlds, it makes references to things and events, as well as to scientific facts, to achieve this aim. So, it mentions each thing proportionally to its significance with respect to this aim: the more significant a thing is, the greater right it has to be mentioned in the Holy Book. Thus, the Holy Book, while elaborately explaining the pillars of faith, fundamentals of religion, and the foundations of human life and essentials of worship, hints at some other things according to their significance for human life. The meaning of a verse may be compared to a rosebud: successive layers of petals hide it. A new meaning is perceived as each petal unfolds, and everyone discovers one of those meanings according to his capacity and is satisfied with it.


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