Brainwashing
A Muslim colleague came back from his pilgrimage trip to Mecca, with a book, for me. He said he got it in defense of a statement I had made few months back. Basically I had simply told him that the Koran didn’t appeal to me because it has no science in it (surprise surprise), and that anything without science is irrational (surprise again). The Koran, I felt it was driven more by the dictum that you have to submit to and believe in blindly, rather than appealing to one’s sense of reasoning (again surprise, surprise). By the way I use the term “science” in the broader Hindu sense, which encompasses and includes the science of spirituality.
So he comes back with this book showing that the Koran does have science in it. He placed the book on my desk, said he bought it just for me, and insisted that I read it. I was puzzled, about why he was so bent on convincing me, but I’m open to this sort of interaction… and I read it.
The book is “A Brief Illustrated Guide to Understanding Islam” (I’ll just refer to it as the book), by I. A. Ibrahim (Second Edition, Darussalam publications). I believe it is also online, at www.islam-guide.com.
I found it to be one of the most ridiculous books I’ve come across. You have to be stupendously ignorant (or absolutely gullible, illiterate, or desperate) to buy into it. Unfortunately there are plenty of such people in this world (both in developed and underdeveloped countries), and it is these people that radical Muslims prey upon and prance around in jubilation for every person they succeed in converting. I can clearly see how young children and the illiterate masses in the world can be so easily brainwashed by such propaganda material, thus believing that the Koran is everything and that there is nothing greater than the Koran. After reading this book, I felt perhaps this guy was one of them. Yes, even in the workplace, in the USA, in a high profile company, you find such people. Now that’s scary.
One note before you read on… I’ve heard of some people being called a racist for criticizing someone’s religion. Well, I’ve got news for anyone who shares this view: criticizing religion is not racism. Everyone has the right to, and should criticize religion – any religion, until all the dogma is stripped and flushed away — leaving the golden kernel of spirituality (which has no one founder, prophet, holy book, etc.). True spirituality sharpens one mind to ask critical questions. Anything which suppresses free thinking is not spirituality, not even a religion, but a cult.
Here are the quotes from the Koran that were used in the book to illustrate science in the Koran:
Proof of the science of plate tectonics
“Have we not made the earth as a bed, and the mountains as pegs?” (Qur’an, 78:6-7)
“And He has set firm mountains in the earth so that it would not shake with you…” (Qur’an, 16:15)
After quoting that, the book takes pages of material from a modern science text book to describe the science of plate tectonics and formation of mountains. Question: if you compare the Koran verses to the pages it cited from the modern science text book, ask yourself, which one is science? which is fanciful poetry?
Proof of the science of cosmology
“Then He turned to the heaven when it was smoke…” (Qur’an, 41:11)
“Have not those who disbelieved known that the heavens and the earth were one connected entity, then We separated them?…” (Qur’an, 21:30)
After quoting that, the book takes pages of material again from a modern science text book to describing the origins of the universe, with a brief reference to “interstellar dust” (so as to lend credibility to the “smoke”). Question: if you compare the Koran verses to the pages it cited from the modern science text book, ask yourself, which one is science? which is fanciful poetry?
In contrast for example, in Hinduism we don’t have to resort to modern science, we have plenty of material dating over 5000 year old on cosmology dealing in mind-bogglingly abstract levels (see a summary in Hindu Cosmology article). In fact, the concept of zero originated from the Hindu text Brahmasphuta-siddhanta (The Opening of the Universe). The zero (and the decimal notation) was invented in order to represent calculations on scales that rival that of todays modern cosmology.
Proof of the science of the workings of the brain
“No! If he does not stop, We will take him by the naseyah (front of the head), a lying sinful naseyah (front of the head)!” (Qur’an, 96:15-16)
After quoting that, the book, takes pages of material again from a modern science text book to illustrate the mapping of the brain, with the prefrontal lobe circled (to lend credibility to the act of hitting a person on the forehead, that they knew about the prefrontal lobe). Question: if you compare the Koran verses to the pages it cited from the modern science text book, ask yourself, which one is science? which is fanciful poetry?
Cavemen smacked themselves on the front of the head if they did anything stupid, heck even Homer Simpson does that, doh! Does that mean they were aware of the science of the brain?
Proof of the science of meteorology
“Have you not seen how God makes the clouds move gently, then joins them together, then makes them into a stack, and then you see the rain comes out of it…” (Qur’an, 24:43)
After quoting that, the book takes pages of material again from a modern science text book to illustrate the various types of clouds and how they carry and form rain. Question: if you compare the Koran verses to the pages it cited from the modern science text book, ask yourself, which one is science? which is fanciful poetry?
Well I’ve got news for them. Many indigenous cultures had a very good understanding of meteorology not only also before modern science, but long before Mohammed as well (various Hindu subcultures, the Native Americans, aboriginals of various continents (Australia, Polynesia,…)).
Proof of the science of pregnancy
Sayings of Mohammad (not in Koran):
“In every one of you, all components of your creation are collected together in your mother’s womb by forty days…”
“If forty-two nights have passed over the embryo, God sends an angel to it, who shapes it and creates its hearing, vision, skin, flesh, and bones…”
After quoting that, the book takes pages of material again from a modern science text book to illustrate the various stages of pregnancy. Question: if you compare the Koran verses to the details it pages from the modern science text book, ask yourself, which one is science? which is fanciful poetry?
Umm… not to mention, “God sends an angel to it, who shapes it and creates its hearing, vision, skin, flesh, and bones,…” — they call that science? Symbolism is great, but this verse does not say anything. It simply says God or an angel created you in the womb. Had it described the stages (like that described in a modern science text book), then there would be some merit.
In contrast for example, Hinduism had very deep knowledge of the stages of pregnancy, including not just at the embryo level but also descriptions of fetal development in the metaphysical plane (various layers of consciousness), at least 4,000 years before Mohammed was even born. Not to mention concepts of in-vitro fertilization has also been described. There are several indigenous cultures (Tibetan Buddhists, Native Americans, Australian Aborigines) that also possessed very good knowledge about stages of pregnancy far more than the 1-2 weak quotes mentioned above from the Koran.
Bottom line is, there is nothing spectacular or worthy of science in the Koran worth writing a book about (well at least, that’s what the book has just proven).