The Pleasures of Paradise in Brief

Description: A glance at the nature of Paradise as described in the Quran and the saying of Prophet Muhammad.

God has said in the Quran: “And give good news (O Muhammad) to those who believe and do good deeds, that they will have gardens (Paradise) in which rivers flow....” (Quran 2:25) God has also said: “Race one with another for forgiveness from your Lord and for Paradise, whose width is as the width of the heavens and the earth, which has been prepared for those who believe in God and His messengers....” (Quran 57:21)

The Pleasures of Paradise (part 2 of 2)

Description: The second of a two-part article defining the fundamental differences between Paradise and the life of this world.  Part 2: The superiority of its joys and delights in comparison to this life.

The Eternalness of the Hereafter The Pleasures of this world are transient whilst the joys of the hereafter are lasting and eternal.  In this life when a person enjoys something, it is only a short while before they get bored with it and proceed to search for something they feel is better, or they may not feel a need for it altogether.  As for the delights of Paradise, a person will never feel bored with anything, but rather, its goodness will increase each time they indulge in it. Also, the life of this world is very short.  Humans only live on this earth for a short while, and very few people reach the age of seventy. “…Say: Short is the enjoyment of this world.  The Hereafter is (far) better for him who fears God...” (Quran 4:77) As for Paradise, people will live forever.  God says: “...its provision is eternal and so is its shade…” (Quran 13:35) “What is with you must vanish, and what is with God will endure …” (Quran 16:96) “(It will be said to them): This is Our Provision, which will never finish” (Quran 38:54) Superior Delights

The Quran on the Origin of the Universe

Description: A Scientific and Quranic explanation about the creation of the universe.

The science of modern cosmology, observational and theoretical, clearly indicates that, at one point in time, the whole universe was nothing but a cloud of ‘smoke’ (i.e. an opaque highly dense and hot gaseous composition).[1]  This is one of the undisputed principles of standard modern cosmology.  Scientists now can observe new stars forming out of the remnants of that ‘smoke’ (see figures 1 and 2). Figure 1: A new star forming out of a cloud of gas and dust (nebula), which is one of the remnants of the ‘smoke’ that was the origin of the whole universe. (The Space Atlas, Heather and Henbest, p. 50.) Figure 2: The Lagoon nebula is a cloud of gas and dust, about 60 light years in diameter.  It is excited by the ultraviolet radiation of the hot stars that have recently formed within its bulk. (Horizons, Exploring the Universe, Seeds, plate 9, from Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc.)

The Quran on Mountains

Description: Both the Quran and science agree to the structural makeup of mountains and the role they play in maintaining the stability of the Earth.

A book entitled Earth is a basic reference textbook in many universities around the world.  One of its two authors is Professor Emeritus Frank Press.  He was the Science Advisor to former US President Jimmy Carter, and for 12 years was the President of the National Academy of Sciences, Washington, DC. His book says that mountains have underlying roots.[1]  These roots are deeply embedded in the ground, thus, mountains have a shape like a peg (see figures 1, 2, and 3). Figure 1: Mountains have deep roots under the surface of the ground. (Earth, Press and Siever, p. 413.) Figure 2: Schematic section.  The mountains, like pegs, have deep roots embedded in the ground. (Anatomy of the Earth, Cailleux, p. 220.) Figure 3: Another illustration shows how the mountains are peg-like in shape, due to their deep roots. (Earth Science, Tarbuck and Lutgens, p. 158.)

The Quran on Human Embryonic Development

Description: The miracle of embryonic development is mentioned in the Quran in such minute detail, much of which was unknown to scientists until only recently.  It mentions the first stages of life after conception, the second stage of life after conception, and witnesses of scientists about these scientific facts of the Quran.

In the Holy Quran, God speaks about the stages of man’s embryonic development: “We created man from an extract of clay.  Then We made him as a drop in a place of settlement, firmly fixed.  Then We made the drop into an alaqah (leech, suspended thing, and blood clot), then We made the alaqah into a mudghah (chewed substance)…” (Quran 23:12-14) Literally, the Arabic word alaqah has three meanings: (1) leech, (2) suspended thing, and (3) blood clot. In comparing a leech to an embryo in the alaqah stage, we find similarity between the two[1]  as we can see in figure 1.  Also, the embryo at this stage obtains nourishment from the blood of the mother, similar to the leech, which feeds on the blood of others.[2] Figure 1: Drawings illustrating the similarities in appearance between a leech and a human embryo at the alaqah stage. (Leech drawing from Human Development as Described in the Quran and Sunnah, Moore and others, p. 37, modified from Integrated Principles of Zoology, Hickman and others.  Embryo drawing from The Developing Human, Moore and Persaud, 5th ed., p. 73.)

The Earth’s Atmosphere

Description: Modern science has discovered facts about the atmosphere mentioned in the Quran over 1400 years ago.

“By the sky which returns.” (Quran 86:11) “[He] who made for you the earth a bed [spread out] and the sky a ceiling…” (Quran 2:22) In the first verse God swears by the sky[1]  and its function of ‘returning’ without specifying what it ‘returns.’  In Islamic doctrine, a divine oath signifies the magnitude of importance of a special relation to the Creator, and manifests His majesty and the supreme Truth in a special way. The second verse describes the Divine Act that made the sky a ‘ceiling’ for the dwellers of earth. Let us see what modern atmospheric science has to say about the role and function of the sky. The atmosphere is a word which denotes all the air surrounding the earth, from the ground all the way up to the edge from which space starts.  The atmosphere is composed of several layers, each defined because of the various phenomena which occur within the layer.