The Qur'an's Scientific and Social Theories, Part 1 By Javid Jamil

The Qur'an's Scientific and Social Theories, Part 1

By Javid Jamil

Al-Jazeerah, December 27, 2006

The Holy Qur'an: THE LIVING MIRACLE

For the followers of Islam, it is not a mere belief that the Qur’an is no ordinary work of no ordinary mortal; they are thoroughly convinced that it is a Singular, Supreme and Majestic Work of a Singular, Supreme and Majestic Author, the Creator and the Lord of the universe. The Qur’an itself declares, and does so categorically, that it is for all times to come, for all parts of the world and for all human generations. This, again, is by no means an ordinary declaration. This is indeed an outstanding and extraordinary claim—this is why the Qur’an is regarded as the greatest of all miracles, a "living miracle", bestowed by God on Muhammad, the Final Prophet of Islam — and this claim has been strengthening with every passing day in the onward march of the world civilisation. And the irrefutable truth is that the Qur’an contains much more than what human brain can imagine, ponder or discover. This book of the Creator of God is the Best Possible Guide for human beings. It does not only provide social and spiritual laws, as is universally believed, but it also indicates the fundamental universal laws (physical) that govern the universe in its entirety, fundamental biological laws that govern living beings and the health related laws that govern the human health. In the present book we will discuss all these and will try to formulate theories based on the Quran.

I would like to clarify at the outset that the theories to be formulated in this work represent my understanding of the Holy Book, and human understanding is bound to have errors. What I am trying to do is to describe in the language that we know in the modern world what God tells. With the passage of time, scholars will emerge who will understand things much better than what the current experts do.

My methodology will be to first describe what the contemporary theories are, to critically analyse them in the light of Quranic verses, to present alternative theories, to discuss their consistence with the word of God and finally to study their implications. I will discuss a number of theories, chiefly the theory of health, theory of Physics, theory of Economics, theory of Law, theory of Society, theory of Hereafter and the theory of Peace, not necessarily in the same order. Other theories are also likely to be added at a later stage.

Quran’s Theory of Health

Contents:

Development of Modern Sciences under the Umbrella of Economic Fundamentalism

Quran’s injunctions regarding Health: Fundamental Duties and Fundamental Prohibitions

Quran’s theory of Health: Therapeutic Sociology

The current health problems and their solution

Comprehensive Hygienes

Islamic Model for Control of AIDS

Islamic Model of Family Welfare

How to implement Quran’s theory of Health

Development of Modern Sciences under the Umbrella of Economic Fundamentalism

Economics is surely one of the essential constituents of human life. Without money, one cannot survive; we need coins for food, drinks, clothes, house, treatment, entertainment, marriage, bringing up of children and their education and even for funeral. But the problems begin to arise when money is assumed to be the only essential of life. Economics is stomach that supplies food for the body. It cannot and must not become heart and brain. For a wholesome living, good relations among members of family, and of society, proper spiritual and moral development and proper environment are also needed. Love for money is nice as far as it does not disturb mental, family and social peace. But as soon as it transforms into lust encroaching upon others’ spheres, it becomes a curse. When the lust for making money becomes organised, its effects on society are bound to be devastating. And when this organisation turns global and uses highly advanced information and technology available to it, mankind faces imminent ruin. This dominance of economics in the world affairs s what I call Economc Fundamentalism.

It can be seen that economic fundamentalism is becoming increasingly aggressive with every passing day. What has facilitated its stupendous growth is the outstanding ability of its generals to deal with the hurdles coming in their way. The truth is that they have been marching towards their ultimate destination without facing any appreciable resistance. They had studied and recognised all the possible sources of obstruction well in advance and prepared a meticulous plan to thwart them. All possible weapons were and are being employed for this purpose: persuasion, advertising, misinformation, defamation, bribing, manoeuvring and use of power. The ballistic missiles of their money-power have proved to be too destructive for the resistant elements to withstand. Through persuasion or threats they are either overpowered or purchased. The opposing forces have failed owing not only to the lack of resources but also to the glaring deficiency of will and spirit. What further paralysed them are innumerable divisions in their ranks, based on religion, region, race, ideology and language. The economic fundamentalists have used this lassitude to gain on them; they are now virtual rulers of the world. Their trumpet blows everywhere — from the north to the south and from the west to the east. There is little evidence in sight to foretell that their dominion will shrink to any remarkable extent in the foreseeable future. Whatever few areas or fields have till now remained beyond their reach will soon be ransacked by their visible or invisible forces. How long they will be able to retain their hold, only time will tell. But presently, no signs of the emergence of a messiah or mahdi are visible.

Thus, the rise and growth of economic fundamentalism has been, from historical standards, rather rapid taking hardly a few centuries. The think-tank of the world of economic fundamentalism has taken innumerable steps to strengthen their hold. They have sacrificed the goddess of justice before the eyes of Statue of Liberty. They have transformed through political manoeuvres the state into their estate. They have incessantly and relentlessly been trying to organise a grand farewell for religion. They have captivated the imagination of the people through the media. They have got the attire of society redesigned so that it looks gorgeous and inviting to their eyes. They have industrialised sex, in which they have discovered the hen that always lays golden eggs. They have relocated the entire educational set-up on the Wall Street. They have monopolised the tree of economy whose fruits and shadows are only theirs; others can only admire its beauty from a safe distance. They have taken science and technology as their mistresses who are always keen to offer their glorious best to them. They have nipped all the challenges in the buds by masterminding popular movements. They have lynched ‘civilisation’, which has been given a new incarnation; and now Bohemians are called civilised. Last but not the least, they have been busy colonising the good earth in the name of globalisation.

In the nineteenth and the early twentieth century, science achieved preponderance in the affairs of the world. But, with the march of the twentieth century, economics outsmarted sciences. This was an ominous development as it led to misuse, in extremely dangerous proportions, of the various disciplines of science. The scientific spirit is no longer visible anywhere. Scientific researches are being misused to exploit the masses in order to attain the economic and political supremacy. The outcome of the misappropriation of sciences and medicine has been that a large number of life-threatening diseases are increasing in incidence at an alarming pace; people are killing one another; and family peace and social order are conspicuous by their virtual non-existence. It is therefore high time now that the vessel of scientific and medical spirit were set into motion without any further demurrage. Let us see what science means.

Science is the name given to the efforts for arriving at the truth and knowing the realities. It unfolds the mysteries of nature and explains how scores of natural forces combine to maintain perfect harmonious equilibrium that is essential for the sustenance of the universe and for the survival of all living beings. It teaches us how to avail ourselves the materials and energies for different purposes. It would however be dangerous to presuppose that science is merely an informer and has nothing to do with our morals. What is incontrovertible is that science too, like religion, has been and is being misused by the vested interests. The dagger of blame falls not on science but on those who misappropriate it. Scientists themselves have often tended to refute the greatest truth of the universe. A general empathy towards religion that was the outcome of maledictory campaigns against it by the forces of economic fundamentalism influenced scientists too, who strove to present science as an antidote to religion. Religion had already been equated with orthodoxy and retrogression. It was therefore natural for the emerging edifice of science to maintain a safe distance from the Faith. Hence, when science discovered that there exists a most wonderful equipoise in the universe that keeps life intact, that there seems to be a common cause of all the causes (a common force behind all the forces), and the common cause has to be cognisant of the needs of all the creatures, they named this common cause Nature. Had it been called God, the avowed antagonism of religion by science would have suffered a major setback. The acceptance of the One by science could have been a big boost for moralists. Materialists could have faced encumbrances in their naked pursuit of money. Thus numerous laws governing the vast universe were labelled not as God’s or Creator’s Laws but the laws of Nature. The laws of gravitation and motion, for instance, were called Newton’s Laws of Gravitation and Motion rather than the Creator’s Laws, as if Newton created these laws, who in fact only tried to elucidate them. Despite all these attempts to banish God from the realm of science, the truth is that science cannot move an inch without assuming the presence of a being who is all-seeing, all-knowing, all-powerful, eternal, wise, calculating and all-pervading. It has only tried to infatuate itself by calling this omnipotent, omnipresent and omniscient being as Nature. Can science enlighten us how the particles, or the space, or the waves forming "Nature" possess faculties of intelligence and wisdom? Can it explain why all the physical laws remain the same everywhere in the universe. (Einstein’s theory of relativity postulates that physical laws are the same in all co-ordinate frames all over the universe.) Science claims itself to be the truth and nothing but the truth, or an effort to arrive at the truth. But its signal failure has been its inability to recognise the greatest truth of the Universe. It is not that science transformed its exponents into atheists. In fact, the greatest scientists of the world including Einstein, Darwin and Newton had an unshakeable belief in the presence of the One. But what their hearts were cognisant of, their pens could not describe in a scientific jargon. It was less perhaps because they found their belief scientifically untenable and more because they were scared of becoming targets of anti-religion elements that had a dominating presence in society. Both capitalism and socialism, the two great faces of economic fundamentalism had anathema for God whose fear and love created "unnecessary" impact on human morals.

The ethical denudation turned science amoral. Scientists started thinking that science was above religion and ethics. It had no role to play in the on-going course of social history except providing or striving to provide means of comfort or supremacy to those who seek them. They have continued their work despite the fact that self-seekers misuse their inventions and discoveries to rob common people of their hard-earned money, or to kill humans for political supremacy in the world. Scientists have incarcerated themselves in laboratories, computers, books and journals; the barons of economic fundamentalism roam free. Seldom do the beacons of science protest against the on-going desecration of nature and life. The few who display some determination and conviction to vent their feelings, like environmentalists or epidemiologists, are tackled either diplomatically or through lucrative offers.

Thus there is little to doubt that the scientific spirit does not govern the present world. It is the economic spirit that prevails and pervades everywhere. The question may here be put forward: what does the scientific spirit actually mean? Sciences can be broadly divided into material sciences and life sciences. Material sciences explain the phenomena occurring in nature and inform how precisely the matter follows certain principles. Thus the laws of physics remain the same in all the frames of reference throughout the universe. The laws of motion, the law of gravitation, the laws relating to light, magnetism, electricity, nuclear physics and chemistry never change. Rules are the rule, and exceptions are exceptional. These laws are not only universal but also eternal having continued unchanged from time immemorial. Thus every particle of the atom follows with uncompromising precision the duties imposed on it. It has no individual rights. It has to stick to the duties and prohibitions applied by "Nature". It is because of adherence to the principles that the huge universe maintains an incredible equilibrium that sustains billions of mammoth planetary bodies that too in their turn follow the prescribed course. They all are having peaceful coexistence because each one of them knows its specified boundaries, which it never infringes. When one studies living sciences, one finds that it is life that brings billions of billions of atoms together into one single entity. The living cells also follow the rules but the precision of material sciences is not visible here. Instead, they work within certain boundaries. Blood pressure, respiratory rate, cardiovascular impulses, etc. are not pinpointed, (as in the case of material sciences) but have upper and lower limits. No pulse count can be termed as exactly normal. The range of 60 to 80 is taken as normal. Similarly, the systolic blood pressure normally ranges between 110 and 140 mm Hg and the diastolic between 60 and 90. There are also normal ranges for the time and amplitude of different waves appearing normally in an electrocardiogram, viz., P, Q, R, S, T and U waves. The same is true for total leukocyte count, red blood cell count, differential leukocyte count, haemoglobin percentage, serum bilirubin, blood sugar, cholesterol, creatinine, globulin, albumin, T3, T4, TSH, insulin and thousands of other indicators. An individual remains healthy till all these remain within the normal ranges. As soon as any of them either shoots up beyond the upper limit, or falls below the lower limit, deterioration in health begins. And these indices tend to remain in the normal range, if the individual’s routine activities including eating, drinking, physical work, sleeping, etc. remain normal. No sooner does one engage in an abnormal activity, one’s body starts exhibiting signs of weakness and disease. Excessive or deficient eating and drinking, swallowing of such materials as have no role to play in the functioning of the physical system, extraordinarily exacting or sedentary work, uninhibited sex, or no sex at all—all these pose threats to the normal functioning of the body.

Economic fundamentalism banks on change. Change, they do assert, is the essence of a successful life; and society must continue to change with the time. Their emphasis on change is the obvious outcome of their conspiracy to rob the masses by luring them to buy new fashionable clothes and household items and to adopt new social mores. But science has different ideas to disseminate altogether. Natural laws always remain precisely the same and do not change with time and place. Living beings, if at all they change, do so extremely slowly and for the better; these changes are aimed at adapting in accordance with the new environmental conditions. The corporate world, on the other hand, insists on rapid changes. In fact it deliberately brings transformations in the surroundings for its own interests, and then pressurises the masses to follow suit. The new changes often bring disaster, not any real betterment in life. Magnates want the organs of the body to perform functions that they have not been created for. They want stomach to digest the indigestible, lungs to inhale what is unworthy of inhalation, mouth and tongue to lick or suck what is unworthy of licking or sucking, anus to receive what is not worthy of receiving, and brain to think what is unworthy of thinking. Yet, they harangue fantastic arguments to allow these in the name of personal freedom.

Science, it can therefore be confidently concluded, instructs that it is more important to perform duties and avoid prohibitions than asserting rights. Life sciences tell us that it is more important for the living being to work within the boundaries and never overstep limitations. This follows that the scientific spirit in synonymous with discipline, probity, truth and self-restraint. The economic spirit, on the other hand, which is so assiduously propelled by the modernists especially the corporate, asserts that rights have to prevail upon duties. Absolute freedom is the most cherished goal, whatever its consequences on society. Discipline is important only as far as it helps the business. It also follows that the scientific spirit adores health, peace and order, and detests anything that jeopardises any one of these. The modern world has the body of science ruled by the ghost of commercialism.

Science, in general, is the name given to understanding the truths of the universe and to utilise them in the best possible way for the peace, progress and prosperity of mankind. Medical sciences, in particular, aim at alleviating the sufferings of men and to create conditions favourable for a disease-free and tension-free life. Montgaine (Essays, II) says: "Health is a precious thing, and the only one, in truth, which deserves that we employ in its pursuit not only time, sweat, trouble, and worldly goods, but even life; inasmuch as, without it life comes to be painful and oppressive to us. Pleasure, wisdom, knowledge and virtue, without it, grow tarnished and vanish away." It is therefore essential, in keeping with the scientific and medical spirit, that all the developmental, political and administrative activities must be aimed at ensuring health, family peace and social order.

In the coming pages, we will study the basic approach of Quran towards health. Then we will study the impact of Fundamental Duties and Prohibitions on Health. Later we will develop the alternative Islamic Model of Health for the world, and will specifically discuss the alternative Islamic models for Control of AIDS and Family Welfare

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Next Chapter:

Fundamental Duties: Anatomical analysis of Wudu

Dr Javed Jamil

Executive Chairman

International Centre for Applied Islamics, India.

Suggestions and opinions should be emailed to javedjamil@rediffmail.com

Earth, a planet hungry for peace

Apartheid Wall


The Israeli Land-Grab Apartheid Wall built inside the Palestinian territories, here separating Abu Dis from occupied East Jerusalem. (IPC, 7/4/04).

The Israeli apartheid (security) wall around Palestinian population centers in the West Bank, like a Python. (Alquds,10/25/03).

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