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Religion, Science and Maurice Bucaille

By Syed Kamran Mirza

Syed_mirza@hotmail.com

Maurice Bucaille in his dishonest attempt tried to establish science in Quran. I

myself read the book written by Maurice Bucaille, but could not agree with him at
all. I have no clue why Islamists dishonestly claim science in Quran! There are
serious scientific problems when Muslim apologists attempt to claim the
presence of authentic scientific theories in Qur'an. For 1300 years, Muslim
mullahs, Maulanas, Qur'ane Hafez etc. could not see any scientific theory in
Qur'an. I never heard that before. It was only in eighties suddenly we heard some
mullahs are widely disseminating the EUREKA' of Quranic science.
Why, Who and Where?
All Mullahs are pointing their fingers to one person- Maurice Bucaille. We are
sick and tired of hearing about Maurice Bucaille again and again. Who is this
Maurice Bucaille? I will answer this question later in this essay. In early eighties, I
talked to one Islamic scholar (for privacy his name will be kept secret) who is
mastered in three languages (Bengali, English and Arabic). He thoroughly read
and memorized entire Qur'an. I asked him if there was any real scientific theory
in Qur'an. He answered, "No, there is nothing that we can call it a theory of
science." I asked him if there is any medicine given by God in Qur'an. He
answered, " Not really, only medicine we can think about is the HONEY." Then, in
the mean time, on hearing mullahs hue & cry' about that Bucaille's EUREKA, I
asked the same Islamic Scholar the same questions I asked him before. To my
astonishment, this time his answer was quite different. He said, yes there are
scientific theories in Qur'an and then he suggested me to read the book written
by Maurice Bucaille. Then I read this book of Maurice Bucaille in English and in
Bengali (translated by Akhterul Alam) couple of times. Then I read Qur'an entirely
several times (both in English and in Bengali). Alas! I found nothing in the Qur'an
that should be termed as science. Unfortunately, I could not agree myself with
even one word that Dr. Bucaille tried to explain with his wishful thinking. Not
because I did not like to agree, but could not agree, because of clear &
fundamental flaws in his quest of matching things with modern science.
Maurice Bucaille, not only tried to make ‘Ka' as Kalikatta, but he also some times
made ‘Ka' as Bombay, Madras, Delhi etc. in his wishful quest of matching
science.
Yes, there are verses that tried to answer some questions belonged to science
mainly: Embryological and Astronomical field. Because, 7th Century people must
have asked about the mystery of creation of human beings, Earth, Sun, moon,
Stars etc. BUT, were those answers/theories fit present day science? Maurice
Bucaille said it fits, so it fits for sure! Maurice Bucaille said, "I could not find a
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single error in the Qur'anic scientific theories", so there is no error in Quranic

sciences, and World has to believe it?
Actually, what I found and other scientists found are: Qur'anic scientific verses
matches with Aristotle and Galenic theories of Embryology and Ptolemic
Geocentric theory of Astronomy which were prevailing almost thousand
years before the arrival of Qur'an. HOWEVER, MODERN SCIENCE PROVED
ALLTHESE THEORIES MOSTLY WRONG TODAY.
MAURICE BUCAILLE
Who was Maurice Bucaille? Was he a world famous scientist? Or, Was he a
Nobel laureate? Or, was he an authority in theology, Embryology, or Astronomical
science? ANSWER IS NONE OF THE ABOVE. Maurice Bucaille was an
ordinary French Physician and lived in Saudi Arabia as an expatriate doctor to
Saudi King Family. He was not a better doctor than any of those hundreds of
Bangladeshi or Indian expatriate Physicians working in Saudi Arabia. But
because, he was the Physician for Saudi King Family he developed a special
relation with Saudi King. To keep Dharma Bebosha' (religious trade) booming,
Saudi king asked him to write a book highlighting Qur'anic science for which the
King offered him $6 million dollars. Clever French Doctor wrote the book "The
Bible, The Quran and Science", got $ 6 millions (from the Saudi King) and got
another $ 2 millions by selling his book (according to Dr. Campbell). This book
was sold in Islamic World like a hot cake. It was told that, this doctor distorted
the actual translation of Holy Qur'an by intentional/selective choosing of
various meanings of Arabic words in order to match his theory of scientific
explanation
DR. WILLIAM F. CAMPBELL
Who is Dr. William F. Campbell? William Campbell is an American Physician who
was an expatriate doctor for the family of the King of Tunisia for 20 years. After
learning about the book of Dr. Bucaille, he wrote a book of 300 pages
categorically rebutting Dr. Bucaille's book. I urge readers to read Dr.
Campbell's book and see for themselves.
SCIENCE IS NOT PROPERTY OF ANY RELIGION
No Religion (Islam, Christian, Judaism, Hinduism etc.) can claim Science as their
property. Religion should never claim any credit whatsoever, for the
advancement of science. Einstein was a great scientist because of his own
quality, not because of his Judaism. Ibn Sina was a scientist by virtue of his
quality and not because he was a son of Muslim. Al-Razi was the greatest
freethinker and greatest scientist not because he was a son of Muslim, but by
virtue of his freethinking quality. Galileo was a great scientist by his knowledge
and perseverance, and not because he was a son of Christian. During the reign
of General Ziaul Hoque of Pakistan, this ultra Islamic General in his bid to turn
the Country's clock backward, he established one Academy known as ISLAMIC
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SCIENCE ACADEMY. There he invited all Muslim "educated ignorant" scientists

(Gun-pappi) to illustrate Qur'anic sciences. To see this madness (Pagla'mi) of this
fanatic General, Dr. Parvez Hoodboy (M.I.T. educated Nuclear Physicist) wrote
a book ridiculing Islamic Science Academy's caricature with pure science. In this
book's forwarding letter, Pakistani Nobel laureate Physicist DR. ABDUS SALAM
wrote: "There is only one Universal Science; its problems and modalities
are international and there is no such thing as Islamic Science just as there
is no Hindu Science, nor Jewish Science, no Confucian Science, nor
Christian Science".
Was Dr. Bucaille a greater scientist than Dr. Abdus Salam? Many Muslims
sometimes claim/mention the names of Arab-Muslim scientist's achievement but
they fail to mention from whom scientific knowledge were carried over to those
Arab Nationals. I do not consider these Arab Muslim scientists as Mullah.
Mullahs with their utter closed mindsets can never be a scientist. Nobel
laureate Dr. Abdus Salam was not a Mullah. Among those ancient Muslim
scientists, most of them were secular-freethinkers, and many of them were non-
Arab (Central Asian) Muslims. Quite obviously they did not get science from the
Religion. BECAUSE RELIGION AND SCIENCE IS LIKE OIL AND WATER,
NEVER CAN MIX TOGETHER. History does not testify that any of those Arab
scientists got scientific theory from Quran at all. Lots of scientists lost their lives
for telling the truth. Even today, Religion is like a clutch in the neck of Science,
and frequently tries to stop advancement of science. Religious Orthodoxy always
confronts Science. For the last 100 years or so, biological science galloping
advancement is purely on the basis of EVOLUTION THEORY OF Darwin and
definitely not on the basis of CREATION THEORY of Religion. Science does
not believe in CREATION theory and Religion does not believe in
EVOLUTION theory. Am I correct folks?
Truth is, if Religion wants to mix-up with evolution then, we shall have to
consider Adam as Ape-like Neanderthal or Homo erectus early human, and
not a perfect human having all the intelligential qualities, as the Bible or
Quran described.
Some Examples of Quranic science:

In the early 1980s, Prof. Keith Moore, formerly an anatomist at the University of
Toronto, Canada produced a special edition of his embryology textbook, known
as ‘The Islamic edition’ which was available only in some Middle Eastern
Countries. Critics think, he wrote this Islamic version of his book to make quick
money by selling it to the Islamic world. This Islamic edition is not available in the
western world presumably because he is aware that not only do the Islamic
contributions in it contradict known science, but they also contradict what he has
written in the standard version of his textbook. However, his standard version of
embryology textbook has been widely used in medical schools of the west
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Man are created from Clotted blood ?

Quran-23: 14: Then fashioned We the drop (semen) a CLOT, then fashioned We
the Clot a little lump, fashioned We the little lump into bones, then clothed the
bones with flesh, and then produced it another creation. So blessed be Allah, the
Best of Creators.
Quran-75: 38: Then he becomes a CLOT; then (Allah) shaped and fashioned…
Quran-96: 2: Created man, out of a mere clot of congealed blood
Blood clot cannot grow into anything. This idea also came from the Greek.
Aristotle erroneously believed that, humans are originated from the action of
male semen upon female menstrual blood, which is absolutely an incorrect
assumption. Quran’s assertion on Clot (alaqa) is completely wrong about human
development, since there is absolutely no stage during which the embryo
consists of a clot. The only situation in which an embryo might appear like a clot
is during a miscarriage, in which case the clotted blood that is seen to emerge
(much of which comes from mother) is solidified and by definition no longer alive.
Therefore, if ever an embryo appeared to look like a clot it would never develop
any further into a human; it would be a dead mass of bloody miscarrying flesh.
Since Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) had some thirteen wives it is entirely possible
that he would be very familiar with miscarriages.

Modern science tells us that, the formation of human embryo is a seamless

continuation from conception to birth; hence there is no hard- and- fast boundary
of stages as Quran described. Quran described 4 stages, which matches exactly
with Galenic description of development of human embryo.
EVOLUTION:
Some Islamists often try to ridicule about Evolution in order to protect the
obvious fallacies of the creation theory of religion. EVOLUTION is the
greatest triumphs of human discovery. Evolution is not a peripheral subject
but the central organizing principle of all biological science. So no one
ignorant of Evolution can understand science. Secondly, Evolution is as
well documented as any phenomenon in science, as strongly as the Earth's
revolution around the sun rather than vice versa. Therefore, we can call
Evolution a "Fact". Today’s biological sciences are directly propagating on
the basis of Evolution theory of Darwin. Without believing in evolution one
cannot understand and agree with the modern miracles of organ
transplanting, test tube bay, cloning, and sperm cells/eggs making from
stem cells.
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Life from WATER:

Hindu Religious book Veda' (1500 B. C) described origin of Earth and life from
WATER of the SEA. The Great Greek Philosopher and Scientist THALES (640-
546 B. C.) was the first Humankind who theorized that, everything in this
Universe was created from WATER OF THE SEA. Problem was, Thales
could not provide any scientific proof. After that, ARISTOTLE (384-322 B.C.)
the pupil of Plato and Tutor of Alexander the Great) concluded: "Because of
the fact that, Plants & Animal body contains plenty of WATER and life
needs WATER that was why THALES thought WATER WAS THE ORIGIN OF
LIFE". Therefore, Mankind did not have to wait until 7th Century for Allah to
say importance of WATER for life.
HONEY:
Wish full Islamists demand that Quran predicted Honey as the good
medicine. Honey although it is not a great medicine by today's context, it
was used by Ancient people as medicine and food for tens of thousands of
years. Physicians of Pharaoh King used to prescribe Honey for diseases. In
pre-Islamic Arab, PAGANS used to use HONEY widely as medicine. In India,
Ayurbedic medicine widely used HONEY as the ingredients of medicine
thousands of years before the arrival of Qur'an. Honey was known as
Grandma's Medicine' throughout the Ancient World for thousands of years.
References:
1. William F. Campbell: The Quran and the Bible in the light of history & Science.
2. The World Book Encyclopedia: Volume 19, world book, inc., Chicago, London,
Sydney, Toronto
3. Time Magazine: Evolution Vs. Creationism: Up From the Apes.; August 23,
1999
4. Dr. Pervez Hoodbhoy: Islam and Science; Zed Books Ltd., 1991, ISBN
5. A History of the Arab peoples, by Albert Hourani, the Belknap press of Harvard
University press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1991
6.Roots of the Western Tradition, (a short history of ancient world) by C.Warren
Hollister, Library of congress cataloguing-in-publication data, 6th edition, 1996
7.Bible, Koran and Science, Dr. Maurice Bucaille, translated by Akhterul Alam,
Published by the Rangpur Publications, Bangladesh, 1986.