Qur'anic Commentary & Analysis Through The Lens Of Modern Science [14]

"The content of the Qur'an varies greatly and converse a range of subjects from ethics to cosmology and metaphysics. According to Islamic teachings, The Qur'an contains the roots or principles of knowledge pertaining to both the domain of action and that of intellection and contemplation"

--- Translation of the Qur'an(Introductory Comment) by Yusuf Ali, Third Edition 1998

Historical Discoveries Vindicating the Holy Qur'an
The Qur'an, apart from making numerous scientific prophecies, is also replete with information and revelations about the amazing historic events and incidents of the ancient generations that had happened long before the emergence of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) . And below are few of them:

The people of the cave
"Have you considered that the people of the cave and the inscription were such marvelous signs of Ours? When those young men took refuge in the cave, they said: "Our Lord! Bestow on us mercy from Yourself, and facilitate for us our affairs in the right way. Accordingly We (Allah) sealed up their (sense of) hearing causing them to go in deep sleep in the cave for a number of years. Then We(Allah) raised them up (from their sleep)Such are among the signs of AllahSome say they wereseven, the dog being the eight." --- Q-18:12-22

Analysis: According to the commentators of the Qur'an, these verses refer to a group of youth, who took refuge in a cave to save their faith and lives against the persecution of a Roman king, who would throw people who rebel against his idol worship to the lions to feast on them. They therefore decided to flee the city, so on their way out from the city, Allah, the Exalted put them to sleep in a cave for hundreds of years. When they woke up, they sent one of their companions with a coin to buy some food. When this person entered the city, he found the whole city completely changed. When he gave his coin to a shopkeeper to buy the food, the shopkeeper was amazed to see an antique coin. He thought that the youth had discovered a hidden treasure, and he wanted to know the source of this coin. The youth was all the more amazed to encounter this experience.

The matter was finally brought before the king, who was amazed to hear the story of the youth. The king, along with the nobles of his court then went to the cave and asked the youths to pray for them. Later they lived and died in the same cave. Gibbon, in his "Rise and Fall of Roman Empire"(chapter 33), has given a few other details of this incident. According to him, this incident took place during the reign of the Roman emperor Decius who reigned from 249-251 .A.D. The youth then got up during the reign of the Roman emperor Theodosius who reigned from 407 to 450 A.D.

According the narrator of this story, Dr. Mazhar Kazi, "Sometime back, I visited a place in Jordan which most people consider the Capital city of Amman. The whole area is very rugged, brown, and hilly. Under one of the hills is buried in a hidden cave that leads to a big room. I entered the room and saw seven carved holes, I saw a chamber that contained a human skeleton. There was another hole, that had the skeleton of a dog.

One should recall that Muhammad(PBUH) did not have any means or source to know the least details of these people and the fact that they are still buried in a cave. It is yet another mystery and miracle of the Qur'an that it described a fact centuries before historians could discuss it or anthropologist could discover it.

Sealing of the ear of the people of the cave
"Accordingly We(Allah) sealed up their (sense of) hearing causing them to go into deep sleep in the cave for a number of years." --- Q-18:11

Analysis: This verse refers to the youth that slept in the cave for about 300 years. It is surprising to note that the Qur'an in this verse does not refer to any physical faculty of these youth except that of hearing. Scientists have now discovered that unlike all other sensory organs, the ear is the only organ that is active even in sleeping state. It is for this reason that we need a sound alarm to wake up from sleep. Since Allah wanted these men to sleep for a long time, he sealed up their faculty of hearing. Prophet Muhammad(PBUH) for sure did not know the physiology of sleep fourteen centuries back.

Turning of the bodies of the people of the cave
"And you would have thought them awake, while they were asleep, And We (Allah) turned them on their right and on their left sides." --- Q-18:8

Analysis: This verse relates to the sleeping pattern of the youth of the cave. The verse states that though they went to sleep for 309 years, Allah turned their bodies on right and left side. The verse thus acknowledges a very special health rule of those persons who are forced to lie in bed for long period of time. Such persons are advised to keep changing their positions in the bed, otherwise, they end up having various health problems such as circulatory complications, ulceration of the skin, and the clotting of blood in the lower regions of the body etc. Who besides Allah, the Exalted could have used such precise language to describe the sleeping pattern of these youth?

Husseini Yushau BabalWaiz, is the Research & Outreach Coordinator at the Center for Media & Peace Initiatives Inc. New York, Author of three books, including "Not good without God" & Tutor in Arabic & Islamic Studies in New York, [email protected]

Further Reading:
1-The Prophecies of the Holy Qur'an, by Sheikh Muhammad Ashraf.

2- 160 Mysteries & Miracles of the Holy Qur'an, by Dr. Mazhar Kazi.