Question and answer details
|As-salaamu alaikum, Recently I was doing research on scientific research on miracles of Quran because one Muslim scholar said that blind faith is haram (unlawful). I accidentally went to some anti-Islamic websites which showed contradictions and errors in the Quran and said that all the miracles of the Quran are either observable or borrowed from pagan mythology, e.g., Big Bang from Sumerians, etc . Another website claimed that Quran did not copy but it is possible for humans to write. Basically, they were saying that if it is possible for Aristotle and other ancient scientists why it isn't possible for Muhammed (peace be upon him). The claim that Muhammed (peace be upon him) was illiterate is not sufficient because other learned Arabs may have helped him in secret in copying or guessing (observable facts.) These are the claims of the website that have shattered my faith. I have visited various scholars that say just do zikr (remembrance of Allah). Secondly, if I listen to them and blindly follow Islam, then will I go to hell for ever because of kufr (disbelief) or doubt on truthfulness of Prophet or should I pray and do duties of Islam blindly?|
Salam Dear Muhammed,
Thank you for your question and for contacting Ask About Islam.
We do appreciate your confusion, a confusion you got yourself into by knocking the wrong door. In your dutiful endeavor to explore the intellectual basis of the truthful message of Islam, you consulted anti-Islamic propaganda sites, without having any basic background of what the Quran really says.
By 'really' I mean how the Quran is correctly understood in its original preserved Arabic form, and in the light of the accumulated established human knowledge.
It is the misfortune of yourself and of massive sectors of present day Muslims to have been deprived of even the scantest knowledge of the profoundly intellectual basis of their faith and the overwhelming proofs of the authenticity of the Quran.
Neither do they taste and comprehend the Quran in its genuine Arabic miraculous structure and style, nor appreciate the wisdom and greatness of their Prophet's life and Sunnah.
Illiteracy of Islam is behind most of the misconceptions, backwardness and intellectual vulnerability of Muslims to the propaganda of non-Muslims -- whether pagans, atheists or Judeo-Christians -- throughout history.
Failing to challenge or even imitate the truth of the divine wording of the Quran, non-Muslims invent all sorts of claims, even if they contradict logic, proper Arabic language, or proven historical facts.
By doing so, they keep the Muslims from appreciating the grandeur of their faith, and spreading the light of Islam everywhere. They trap the uninitiated Muslim into suspicions that, given their limited background, they can neither refute nor find an answer to.
In the meantime, Muslim scholars are dragged into giving answers to such endless stream of fallacies and anti-Islamic propaganda.
Amazingly, whenever the Quran refers to notions of modern science using such precise terms and expressions, as properly understood in Arabic, anti-Islamists arrogantly claim that such and such was known to ancient civilizations.
This is equivalent to saying that there is nothing new in such notions, discovered and established only recently through accumulated research by generations of scientists.
Saying that, 'if it is possible for Aristotle to write … why it is not possible for Muhammad,' is much like saying 'why cannot anybody else write anything?' What has this to do with proving or disproving that the Quran is the word of God?
Notwithstanding the detailed content of the Quran, examining its speech style continuously shift between direct to indirect address or addressing the Prophet or the believers, and so on, according to the situation and to what befits the sublimity of the Speaker, proves beyond doubt that the Quranic speech is the word of God, and that the role of the Prophet was no more than a receiver of the revelation and a messenger to all humanity.
Also the claims that 'Muhammad (peace be upon him) was helped by other humans to copy or guess observable facts' leads to the logical question 'why did not any of those claimed human sources write and publish their own Quran?'
Further, the miraculous inimitable nature of the glorious Quran does not stem from its reference to one or few pieces of scientific information –- known or not known at the time of revelation –- but rather to such a wide scope of evidence, covering different aspects and penetrating the whole Book from cover to cover.
The proofs that it was impossible for the Prophet to write the Book are overwhelming, obvious, and convincing, provided you examine the Quran itself.
The Quran carries within itself its own proof of being the word of the Creator of this universe, in terms of the inimitable language, divinely speech context, precise conformity of Quranic reference to facts of science and history, beyond the knowledge of the Prophet Muhammad or any human in the 7th century CE.
Having doubt in itself is not a sin, provided you seek the right logical truthful answer. Knock the proper door, and contemplate the Quran with an open mind and heart. In the meantime, keep yourself on the track of Muslim life, as your mind and soul are enlightened more and more by the certainty of faith.
I hope this answers your question. Please keep in touch.