Introduction
Some say that the Quran is a timeless and universal message because it addresses fundamental human needs and values that transcend culture and time period, while others claim it is neither timeless nor universal. If it was universal it would have come before the Torah and the Gospel, so it is much harder for them to say universal, and there is certainly timeless verses, but it is a phrase that even those who proclaim probably haven’t thought too deeply about. It is like a meme, kind of like “every letter of the Quran is preserved!” They think people who preach this are trying to force it onto people and make the claim as some sort of authority. It is what you think it is, what is in your heart is what matters.
However, here is a discussion to address this dispute from the Quran having answers of any questions and concern bringing science into consideration, which is an aspect of investigation and observation to find evidence to have clear understanding:
- There are signs in the creation of the heavens and the earth, while He has created the heavens and the earth in six days, while recent discovery indicates the age of universe to be 13.77 billion years and the age of earth to be 4.5 billion years. A day to God may be interpreted to be hundreds of millions, and even billion years of human reckoning, and the Quran has no conflict with science, rather the scientific data support us to increase our belief in the divine message:
[3:190] In the creation of the heavens and the earth, and the alternation of night and day, there are signs for those who possess intelligence.
[7:54] Indeed, your Lord is God who has created the heavens and the earth in six days; then He has established Himself on the Thorne. The night covers the day pursuing it being consistent; and the sun, and the moon, and the stars are committing by His command. No doubt, to Him belongs the creation and the command. Blessed is God, Lord of the worlds.
- The Big Bang theory is the prevailing cosmological modem for the birth of the universe. The model postulates that at some moment all of space was contained in a single point from which the universe has been expanding ever since. Modern measurements place this moment at approximately 13.8 billion years ago, which is thus considered the age of the universe. After the initial expansion, the universe cooled sufficiently to allow the formation of subatomic particles, and later simple atoms. Giant clouds of these primordial elements later coalesced through gravity to form stars and galaxies. The Big Bang theory does not provide any explanation for the initial conditions of the universe; rather it describes and explains the general evolution of the universe going forward from that point on. But in 1929 Edwin Hubble discovered the universe is expanding, which has been mentioned in the Quran in 609:
[21:30] Do the unbelievers not realize that the heaven and the earth used to be one solid mass that we exploded into existence? And from water we made all living things. Would they believe?
[21:31] And we placed on earth stabilizers (mountains), lest it tumbles with them, and we placed straight roads therein, that they may be guided.
[21:32] And we rendered the sky a guarded ceiling. Yet, they are totally oblivious to all the portents therein.
[51:47] We constructed the sky with our hands, and we will continue to expand it.
- God has sent down the Quran with the truth is a guidance for mankind and the statute book that they can be righteous confirming what was before it the Torah and the Gospel:
[2:2] That is the scripture, there is no doubt in it, is a guidance for the righteous.
[2:185] Ramadan which is a month, has been sent down in it the Quran as a guidance for mankind and clear proofs of the guidance and the statute book. So, whoever has witnessed the month from you, then he should fast in it, and whoever has been sick or on a journey, then a specified number from other days. God intends the ease for you, He does not intend the hardship for you, and that you may complete the specified number, and that you may glorify God through which He has guided you, and that you may appreciate.
[3:3] He has sent down to you (Muhammad) the scripture with the truth confirming that which was before of it, and He has sent down the Torah and the Gospel.
- God has sent down Quran to guide mankind to the truth and to a straight path bringing them from the darkness into the light until the end of the world, and He wants the believers to explore it to find the truth in it as well as to derive fact from it to strengthen their faith and perfect their practices to be sure when they are in the Hereafter they have found what God has promised in it understanding the true meaning of a messenger is reciting the clear verses of God to us to bring out the believers from the darkness to the light:
[46:30] They (Jinns) said, “O our people, we have heard a scripture (Quran) has been sent down after Moses confirming that which was before of it (Injeel) to guide to the truth and to a straight path.”
[65:10] God has prepared a severe punishment for them. So, you shall fear God, O you possessors of the understanding those who have believed. Certainly, God has sent down to you a message,
[65:11] a messenger (Quran) to recite to you clear verses of God that it may bring out those who have believed and have done the righteous deeds from the darknesses into the light. And whoever believes in God and does as righteous, He will admit him into gardens flowing the rivers of their underneath as dwellers therein forever. Certainly, God has been good for him as provision.
[39:18] Those who listen to the Word (Quran), then they follow best of it; those are whom God has guided them; those – they are possessors of the understanding.
- Quran is a complete and the final scripture and God has let us know that He has revealed it being aware that when one revelation is replaced with the other:
[3:23] Do you not see to those who have been given a part of the scripture? They are invited to a scripture of God to judge between themselves, then a party of them turns away and they are the averse.
[33:40] Muhammad has not been a father of anyone of your men, but has been a messenger of God and a seal of the prophets. And God has done as Knower of everything.
[16:101] And when we have substituted one revelation in place of another revelation and God is Knower of what He sends down, they said, “You (Muhammad) are only an fabricator.” Nay, most of them do not know.
- Quran is a Word of God and He has taught us with an exact number of words, not less or not more, while He has counted the number of everything. The references of seven seas as ink and the trees on earth as pens in the Quran being a significant analogy for us to put trust upon God that He has given us guidance with an exact number of words to find a right path for us.:
[18:109] Say, “If the ocean had been ink for my Lord’s words, surely, the ocean would have run out before that my Lord’s words would run out, even if we had brought with like of it as (ink) supplement.”
[31:27] And if that whatever is in the earth of trees were pens, and the sea were (ink) adding to it after of it to seven seas, God’s words would not have run out. Indeed, God is Almighty, Wise.
[72:28] That He knows that certainly, they have conveyed their Lord’s messages, and He has encompassed of what is with them, and He has counted number of all things.
- Studies of marine characteristics revealed the separation between neighboring seas which maintained the distinctive properties of each sea with respect to density, salinity, marine life, temperature and solubility of oxygen in water:
[25:53] He is One who has made to flow the two seas; one is palatable and sweet, while one is salty and bitter. And He has made between of them a barrier and an inviolable partition.
[27:61] Who has made the earth habitat, and has made rivers in midst of it, and has made mountains on it, and has made a barrier between the two seas? Is there any god with God? Nay, most of them do not know.
[55:19-20] He has let to flow the two seas to meet, having a barrier between of them not to violate.
- Quran is a powerful scripture, which has come from God, and He has confirmed that there is misinterpretation of its verses but there is no falsehood in it:
[41:40] Indeed, those who misrepresent about our revelations cannot hide from us. So, is he whoever is thrown into Hell better or is he whoever comes secure on a day of the Resurrection? Do whatever you wish. Indeed, He is Seer of what you do.
[41:41] Indeed, those who have disbelieved in the reminder when it has come to them, and indeed, it is surely a powerful scripture.
[41:42] The falsehood cannot come to it before of it, nor after of it, a revelation from Wise, Praiseworthy.
- God is the author of the Quran, while He has so efficiently designed it to serve as our guidance assigning so many attributes such as examples, allegories, proofs, wonders, knowledge and wisdom that it is not possible to produce it or a part of it even if the human and the Jinn were united together to do that:
[2:23] And if you have been in doubt from what we have sent down to our servant, then bring of a chapter (surah) of like of it, and call upon your witnesses other than God if you have been truthful.
[10:38] Or do they say, he (Muhammad) has invented it? Say: “Then bring of a chapter (surah) like of it, and call upon whoever you have other than God if you have been truthful!”
[11:13] Or do they say, he has invented it?” Say: “Then bring often invented chapters (surahs) like of it, and call on whoever you have other than God if you have been truthful.”
[17:88] Say, “Surely, if the human and the Jinn had gathered together in order for that they would bring of like this – the Quran, they could not bring of like of it, even if they had been supporters of them to other.”
- The Quran is a reminder (dhik’run) in the masculine form for the people of the world, while its mathematical coding is also a reminder (dhik’raa) in the feminine form embedded in its Arabic text to a people destined it to better understand the Quran, to eliminate any disputes and misinterpretation of many verses of it, and to perfect the practices of the God-given religious rites when most people do not ascertain His revelations or away from them:
[12:104] And you do not ask them for a wage for it; it is but a reminder for the world.
[38:87] This is not but a reminder for the worlds.
[68:52] And this is not but a reminder for the worlds.
[81:27] This is not but a reminder for the worlds.
[74:30] Over it is nineteen.
[74:31] And we have not made guardians of the Fire except angels, and we have not made their number except a warning for those who disbelieved, that it may ascertain those who have been given the scripture (Jews and Christians) and may increase faith of those who have believed (Muslims), and may not doubt those who have been given the scripture (Jews and Christians) and the believers (Muslims). And that may say those in their hearts there is a disease (hypocrites) and the disbelievers, “What has God meant by this allegory?” Thus, God misguides whomever He wills and He guides whomever He wills. And none knows your Lord’s soldiers except He. And it is not except a reminder for the human race.
[74:36] A warning to the human race.
[74:37] For whoever has willed among you that he may advance, or he may stay behind.
[27:82] And when has fulfilled the punishment upon them, we have brought forth for them a creature from the earth to speak to them that the people have been with our revelations do not ascertain.
- God has cited many examples in the Quran having the wondrous nature so that people may use the Quran to be the only source of religious teachings and laws to worship Him alone doing the righteous deeds being righteous:
[13:31] And if that there had been a Quran, the mountains would have been moved by it, or the earth would have been cloven asunder by it, or the dead would have been made to speak by it. Nay, to God belongs all the matter. Does it then not know those who have believed that if God had willed, surely, He would have guided all the people? And it will not cease those who have disbelieved to strike them a disaster for what they have done, or it settles close to their homes, until God’s promise comes. Indeed, God does not break the promise.
[59:21] If we had revealed this – the Quran on a mountain; surely, you would have seen it humbled being asunder from fear of God. And that is of the examples we cite it for the people, so that they may reflect.
- To God belongs the kingship of the heavens and the earth, and the control of all matters belongs to Him as well (57:5). Thus, the falling of a large amount of hails may cause a disaster to a people of certain parts of the earth while He gathers the clouds together to come out of rain from them:
[24:43] Do you not see that God drives the clouds, then He gathers them together, then He piles them upon each other, then you see the rain coming out of them? And He sends down from the sky, the mountains of hail out of it to afflict whomever He wills, and He diverts it from whomever He wills. The flash of its lighting almost takes away the sight.
- It may seem to us that the earth is standing still. But it moves around the sun, which takes 365 days to return to the same point while it rotates on its axis, which takes 24 hours to do the same. The scientific data confirms that the earth moves around the sun at the speed of approx. 67,000 miles per hour while it rotates on its axis at the speed of approx. 1,000 miles per hour:
[27:88] And you see the mountains appearing them standing still, while they move as moving of the clouds, is God’s system, Who has perfected everything. Indeed, He is Cognizant of what you do.
- Until the 18th century, the prevailing notion in human embryology was “preformation” but with the improvement of microscope, biologists could see that embryos took shape in a series of progressive steps, and epigenesis displaced preformation as the favored explanation among embryologists. In the 1980s Keith Moore worked with the Embryology Committee of King Abdul Aziz University (Saudi Arabia) on a comparative study of the Qur’an and the steps in the following verses:
[23:13] Then we have placed him as a drop of semen in a protected repository.
[23:14] Then we developed the drop into a hanging (embryo), then developed the hanging (embryo) into a bite-size (fetus), then created the bite-size (fetus) into bones, then covered the bones with flesh. We thus produce a new creature. Most blessed is God, the best Creator.
- God has narrated the histories in the Quran in which we have a lesson for us, while He has cited all kinds of examples and the warning so that people can take heed or they may fear God:
[12:3] We narrate through you the best history of what we have revealed to you this – the Quran; even though you have been of its before certainly, with the unaware.
[17:41] And certainly, we have explained in this – the Quran that they may take heed, while it does not increase except aversion.
[17:89] And certainly, we have explained for the people of every example in this – the Quran, while most of the people had refused except disbelief.
[39:27] And certainly, we have cited for the people of every example in this – the Quran, so that they may take heed.
- God has used two distinct methods to send down the Quran: the Quran all at once, which has been recited to the people over a period of time:
[44:3] Indeed, we have sent down it (Quran) in a Night of Blessing; indeed, we have been warners.
[44:4] In it (a Night of Blessing), every matter of wisdom is clarified.
[97:1] Indeed, we have sent down it (Quran) in a Night of the Power.
[17:106] And a Quran we have divided it that you may recite it to the people over a period of time; and we have sent down it a gradual sending down.
[25:32] And said those who have disbelieved, “Why has not been sent down to him (Muhammad) the Quran all at once?” Thus that we can strengthen your heart with it, and we have recited it a gradual recitation.
[76:23] Indeed, we have sent down to you (Muhammad) the Quran a gradual sending down.
- God has promised in the Quran that He will protect it if attempts are made to change in it and He will bring forth a creature to bring people back to it when they are away from it. Here there is a reference of building computer system to discover the mathematical coding of Quran to confirm the message in the Quran is coded with the prime number 19 as mentioned in (74:30) providing a powerful verifiable evidences for divine authorship of Quran:
[15:9] Indeed, we have sent down the reminder, and indeed, we will surely be protectors of it.
[27:82] And when the punishment has fulfilled upon them, we have brought forth for them a creature from the earth to speak to them that the people have been with our revelations do not ascertain.
- The Quran has confirmed Islam to be a universal religion being practice of Monotheism, an instinct of God on which mankind is created, and we are monotheists by birth but to be Muslims by practicing the God given rites of Islam:
[30:30] So, you (Muhammad) shall establish yourself to the religion of Monotheism, an instinct of God which on it He has created mankind. There is no change of God’s creation. That is the established religion, but most of the people do not know.
[3:19] Indeed, the religion with God is Submission; and has not differed those who have been given the scripture except after what has come to them the knowledge out of jealousy between them. And whoever disbelieves in God’s revelations, then indeed, God is swift in the reckoning.
[3:85] And whoever seeks other than Submission as religion, will not be accepted from him, and in the Hereafter, he will be with the losers.
[41:33] And who is better in utterance than whoever has invited to God, and has done as righteous, and has said: “Indeed, I am one of the submitters.”
- God is One who has created the heavens and the earth has given 7 pairs or the 14 sets of Quranic initials in the Quran, which are not only the foundation of the authenticity of the Quran from God but the total of the gematrical values of these Quranic initials are also the foundation to pinpoint the year of the end of the world to be in the year 1710 A.H corresponding to 2280 A.D:
[15:85] And we have not created the heavens and the earth, and whatever is between them except with the truth. And indeed, the Hour is surely coming, so you shall overlook the excessive achievement.
[15:86] Indeed your Lord, He is the Creator, the Knower.
[15:87] And certainly, we have given you seven of the pairs and the great Quran.
Conclusion
This review gives us sufficient proofs to believe that there is one God, one religion and one scripture for the mankind, and God has sent down the reminder from it from time to time to control His religion being the Quran is the final scripture. It is a message from God that guides humanity to a right path in the life of the world to receive the best reward in the eternal life of the Hereafter including the descent of humans from the heavenly life to the earth. It advocates the universal religion to practice with an opportunity to perfect our beliefs and practices deriving facts from it as we all are born with monotheism irrespective of faiths but no one is Muslim by born and we have to practice it to become Muslims turning to God. He has sent down it with tool to protect it from any distortions to exist the pure message until the end of the world. It describes the birth of the universe and the end of it can be confirmed from scientific data applying our knowledge, logic and proofs.
Thus, when we have explicitly with the texts supported by the scientific information, then it is not a meme, nor is it a matter of what is in our hearts that the Quran is a timeless and universal message, but it has meet all human needs from the time of its revelation until the end of the world confirming all messages/reminders sent down prior to it. What should we call it except a timeless and universal message if we want to be grateful to our Creator when He is aware of replacing one revelation with the other?
Peaceful Friday, salaam and God bless.
Tafazzal (06/28/2024)