The Bible, The Quran and Science by Maurice Brucaille

Maurice Bucaille was a scientist, he had examined/studied the Quran and the Bible for his project, this project was aimed at producing a book. While researching about Islam, and the scientific evidence, he had embraced Islam as a true muslim.

Maurice Bucaille (born July 19, 1920) in Pont-L'Eveque, France; son of Maurice and Marie (James) Bucaille is a French medical doctor, member of the French Society of Egyptology, and author. Bucaille practiced medicine from 1945-82 and was a specialist in gastroenterology. In 1973, Bucaille was appointed family physician to King Faisal of Saudi Arabia. Other of his patients at the time included members of the family of President Anwar Sadat of Egypt. In 1976, while still in the service of the king, he published his book, The Bible, The Qur'an and Science which argued that the Quran contains many scientific discoveries. In 1991, another book by Bucaille, Mummies of the Pharoahs: Modern Medical Investigations, was published in English.

Bucaille is best known in the Muslim world where his book The Bible, The Qur'an and Science, book was immensely popular, sold millions of copies, and was translated into several languages. The popularity of the book, as well as the TV programs, conferences and websites that it helped inspire, gave rise to the neologism Bucailleism, a term used to refer the belief that "the Qur'an prophesied the Big Bang theory, space travel and other contemporary scientific breakthroughs.


The Bible, The Qur'an and Science



In his book, The Bible, The Qur'an and Science, Bucaille aims to prove the Qur'an is in agreement with scientific facts, while the Bible is not. He claims that in Islam, science and religion have always been "twin sisters" (vii). According to Bucaille, there are monumental errors of science in the Bible and not a single error in the Quran, whose descriptions of natural phenomena make it compatible with modern science. Bucaille concludes that the Qur'an is the reliable word of God.

Bucaille argues that the Old Testament was distorted because of numerous translations and corrections as it was transmitted orally. He highlights, in his words, "numerous disagreements and repetitions", in the Old Testament and the Gospels. In his analysis, Bucaille makes use of many propositions of Biblical criticism, such as the Documentary hypothesis.

With regard to the Qu'ran, Bucaille however follows the Islamic tradition that the Quranic scrolls were collected during Muhammad's lifetime and were deemed accurate by the archangel Gabriel himself.

In his opinion, the first of the examples of the consistency of the Quran and science is presented by the creation of the heavens and the earth.

Bucaille's criticism of the Bible focuses on the creation account found in the Genesis, which in his view contains the most glaring inconsistencies between religion and science. He criticizes verses 1:1-2 as stating that the earth was first a gaseous mass and then water was placed on it, 1:20-25 as letting the "beasts of the earth" appear after the birds, which he contrasts with the theory of evolution, and 2:4-5 as claiming that "when God created man, there was no vegetation on Earth (it had not yet rained)".

Bucaille also makes use of the case of Galileo, who was condemned by the Catholic church.

Bucaille points out that the Qur'an, unlike the Bible, does not have a specific sequence for the creation of the heavens and earth, and argues that this leaves the entire process of creation open to interpretation according to the current scientific theories.

Still, Bucaille interprets various Quranic verses to mirror scientific findings:

* He interprets the smoke mentioned in aya [Qur'an 41:11] as referring to the "gaseous state of the matter that made up the early Universe", which according to science was a primary Nebula.
* He interprets aya [Qur'an 36:40] to refer to the moon travelling around the earth in an orbit. He contrasts this with Harlow Shapley's calculation of the distance between the Sun and the center of the galaxy and with his calculation that the sun travels at "roughly 150 miles per second" along its orbit. Boucailles claims that these discoveries, made only in 1917, were already contained in the Quran.
* He argues that aya [Qur'an 51:47] could be translated as "The heaven, We have built it with power. Verily, We are expanding it." He sees this as confirmation of the theory of the Expansion of the universe.
* He considers the Water Cycle to be referred to in aya [Qur'an 23:18] and the following verse.
* He also proposes that ayat [Qur'an 75:37], [Qur'an 86:6], [Qur'an 32:8], [Qur'an 77:20] refer to the existence of the sperm and that ayat [Qur'an 40:67] and [Qur'an 23:14] refer to its importance in conception. He argues that, based on the interpretation of these verses, the knowledge of Islamic scholars was superior to that of Western embryology, which he alleges until 1651 held that "all life initially comes from an egg".
* He interprets aya [Qur'an 6:125] to refer to the discomfort in breathing experienced at high altitudes due to lack of oxygen, a situation early Arabs are unlikely to have known about.

Authenticity of the Quran, How it came To Be Written

This is a very nice book, you should read the page 133

its the first page that starts talking about the Quran, and its unique place among the books of revelation