Science

Calling the Qur'an amazing is not something done only by Muslims, who have an appreciation for the book and who are pleased with it; it has been labeled amazing by non-Muslims as well. In fact, even people who hate Islam very much have still called it amazing. One thing which surprises non_muslims who are examining the book very closely is that the Qur'an does not appear to them to be what they expected.

The following extracts are from the well-known book, The Bible, The Quran and Science
by Dr. Maurice Bucaille.
The Qur'an presents in two verses a brief synthesis of the phenomena that constituted the basic process of the formation of the Universe.
"Do not the Unbelievers see that the heavens and the earth were joined together (as one unit of creation), before we clove them asunder? We made from water every living thing. Will they not then believe?" (21:30) God orders the Prophet to speak after inviting him to reflect on the subject of the earth's creation: "Moreover (God) turned to the Heaven when it was smoke and said to it and to the earth..." (41:11)

The information the Qur'an provides on Celestial Organization mainly deals with the solar system. References are however made to phenomena that go beyond the solar system itself: they have been discovered in recent times.

The Qur'an gives an end to the Sun for its evolution and a destination place. It also provides the Moon with a settled place. To understand the possible meanings of these statements, we must remember what modern knowledge has to say about the evolution of the stars in general and the Sun in particular, and (by extension) the celestial bodies that automatically followed its movement through space, among them the Moon.

When talking of the conquest of space therefore, we have two passages in the text of the Qur'an: one of them refers to what will one day become a reality thanks to the powers of intelligence and ingenuity God will give to man, and the other describes an event that the unbelievers in Makkah will never witness, hence its character of a condition never to be realized. The event will however be seen by others, as intimated in the first verse quoted above. It describes the human reactions to the unexpected spectacle that travelers in space will see: their confused sight, as in drunkenness, the feeling of being bewitched...