Maurice Bucaille, who came from a Christian background in France, wrote a book on the Quran which was first published in French in 1976. This was later translated into 10 languages, the title of the English version being: The Bible the Qur'an and Science. Dr. Bucaille has shown in this book that the statements of the Qur'an on matters of science are astonishingly accurate when compared with modern findings. Although the Qur'an was pre-sented to the world long before the scientific age, it contains exact descriptions of academic truths which were not discovered until much later. This fact proves that the Qur'an is the creation of a superior mind. It was not in fact, the work of a human author. Another book by Dr. Bucaille deals with the origin of man and foetal development, that being the main subject of interest to him. He has shown in this book that all the statements of the Qur'an on the origin of man are perfectly in consonance with the results of modern investigation, although the final conclusions were not arrived at until the latter half of the 20th century. The French edition of this book was published in Paris in 1984. Comprising 220 pages, the English version is titled; What is the Origin of Man? (Published by Seghers, 6 Place Saint-Sulpice, 75006, Paris). Dr. Bucaille states in this work that he had been told that the Qur'an was authored by Muhammad, who compiled the scrip-tures by making certain additions to, or subtractions from the Bible. "I therefore started out with the preconception that the sci-entific errors contained in the Bible must also figure in the Qur'an." (p. 157) Moreover, since the period of the revelations to Muhammad dates from 610 to 632 - an age of scientific obscurantism all over the world - a book belonging to that period would necessarily reflect the scientific shortcomings of the age. However in the course of his research, it occurred to him that although the Qur'an and the Bible had much in common, those scientific errors, which may be found to this day in the Bible, are notably absent from the Qur'an. This so aroused his curiosity that he took up the study of Arabic, at the age of fifty, in order to have direct access to the Qur'an. Then when he had sufficient mastery of Arabic to read the Qur'an in the original, he was able to con-firm, astonishingly enough, that whereas the Bible was marred by innumerable scientific errors, the Qur'an was totally free from them. If Muhammad was actually the author of the Qur'an which, as some would have it, he compiled by drawing on the Bible and con-temporary knowledge, then what was the reason for the Qur'an having omitted all those scientific errors to be found in the Bible and still given currency in Muhammad's time? For instance, the Jewish calendar, which follows the data contained in the Old Tes-tament, places the dates very precisely. The second half of the Christian year 1975 corresponds to the beginning of the 5,736th year of the creation of the world. (This does not of course, tally with the estimates made by modern evolutionists.) Meaningless errors of this sort are nowhere to be found in the Qur'an (p. 15). The scientific errors in the Bible are so great in number that refuting them is manifestly impossible. Jean Guilton, admitting these errors, writes: "The scientific errors in the Bible are the errors of mankind, for long ago man was like a child, as yet ignorant of science" (p. 152). This being the state of human knowledge, how did it become possible for Muhammad in his compilation of the Qur'an to omit the errors of the Bible, or the misconceptions prevalent in those time? How was it possible for him to prepare a book which was exceptionally free from all scientific errors? (p. 160) The writer then remarks that this fact is sufficient to prove that the Qur'an is not the creation of Muhammad, but the creation of a supernatural mind: "The history of science leads us to conclude that there can be no human explanation for the existence of these verses in the Qur'an." (p. 188) This argument to prove the veracity of the Qur'an testifies to the truth of this verse, revealed fourteen hundred years ago in the Quran: "We will show them our signs in all the regions of the earth and in their own souls, until they clearly see that this is the truth. Does it not suffice that your lord is watching over all things?"(41:53). The Qur'an is not, of course, a book of science in the technical sense of the word. But, as regards the beliefs that the Qur'an seeks to inculcate, it presents the signs of nature as testimony. What is meant here by 'nature'? It is that very same nature which is the subject of study in the field of science. Nature forms the subject of the Quran as weIl as of science. The difference between the two, however, is that the Qur'an refers to some aspects of nature only by way of argument. Science studies nature as a permanent discipline; whenever the Qur'an makes a reference to nature, it is corroborated by the scientific investigations of modern times. No explanation can be offered for this compatibility except that the Qur'an is the book of God, who knows all visible and invisible things, whose knowledge encompasses, at the same time, past, present and future. Those who want to have scientific proofs before they will believe in the Qur'an as a book of God would do well to study both of the above mentioned books by Dr. Maurice Bucaille.

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