Although matter in all its forms serves Tawheed, how does science, which deals with all correct and logical knowledge about nature, thought and society based on matter, view this state of matter? Does science really continue its service against religion, as the enemies of Islam constantly compare it in their words, or on the contrary, while the service of science to religion is revealed with every new discovery, are these words the slander of people who are ignorant of science as well as religion? Let us analyse together, inshallah, whether science reveals the obsolescence of religion or religion reveals the delay of science.

Unfortunately, despite good intentions, most of the studies of this kind are in an effort to prove the existence of Allah in terms of the approach to the subject and the style of transmission. However, the communiqué should not be done to prove the existence, but to obey the existence. This is certainly not the aim of our study. Our study aims to compensate for the mistakes caused by the fact that people do not accept the Holy Qur’an as a basic source in the field of science as in any other field and the loss of time arising from these mistakes. For this purpose, at the end of each subject, the time before the discovery of the existence of the relevant substance was announced in the Holy Qur’an is stated by emphasising the year difference.

The reason why the western world comes to mind when we think of science is the intensive translation of the works written in Arabic by Islamic scholars, especially those in Andalusia and Sicily, into the Latin language in the 12th century. For this reason, this century was called “the century of translation”. It was only in the 16th century that the Western world began to systematically make observations and experiments on this knowledge and entered into a movement called Renaissance[179]. In other words, the western world today has gained momentum in science on the studies carried out by scholars who took their values from Islam. Although they received such basic knowledge, the fact that Islamic scholars caught the discoveries under very difficult conditions and late dates is due to the fact that they did not follow their guides properly. From this point of view, we have handled our study in three ways: technical knowledge, lost time and other verses in the context of the news.

The aims of these are as follows:

Although Islam is at the origin of all branches of good science, the fact that the majority of today’s Muslims do not have full knowledge of the past and the world because they have been kept ignorant for economic or political reasons has prompted us to conduct a study presented by conveying technical information.

The reason why we have dealt with the lost time is to reveal the loss of the people who do not accept the Holy Qur’an as a scientific value in the name of science, which is the leader of societies.

The reason for presenting the verses in the context of the news is to present the richness and subtlety of the subject in the Qur’an.

There are some wishes and small notes that we have added to our study. The first is that we have endeavoured to give the dates of the verses, which constitute a first in its field. These dates were determined as a result of studies on the science of siyar. It has been used for approximate time reporting in order to determine the loss of time between the invention and the invention. I take refuge in Allah (swt) for the possible mistake we have made. Allah (swt) knows the most accurate. The second is that the scientists compare the verses with the truths of science and carry out their further studies with the philosophy of “Whatever is lost is gained.” “It is better to do good than to do harm”, and to carry out their future work under the shadow of the Holy Qur’an for the sole purpose of serving good and morality. Since it is in a leading position, such an approach to science will also be instrumental in getting out of the heedlessness of mankind. With these wishes, let us begin our chapter with one of the tribes whose lives ended in suffering because they did not accept Allah and the Prophets.

THE TRIBE AD

ISLAM

LOCATION : Mecca

HISTORY : 612

NAME : Holy Quran, Surah Fajr, verses 6-8

NEWS: Did you not see what your Lord did to the people of Ad? And Irem, the owner of high pillars? And no like of it was created among the cities.

SCIENCE

LOCATION : Oman

DATE : 1990

NAME : Nicholas Clapp

NEWS : The city under the earth

Nicholas Clapp, the discoverer of the lost city, is an Arab specialist and documentary film-maker with an amateur interest in archaeology. During a research on Arab history, he came across a book called “Arabia Felix” written by a British researcher named Thomas Bertram Sidney[180] in 1932. This book, which means “Happy Arabia”, was the name given to the region covering Yemen and Oman in the south of the Arabian peninsula. This name shows the condition of the lands where the tribe of Ad lived. The English researcher Thomas had also tried hard to find this city, but his life was not enough.

Clapp used two ways to prove the existence of the city. Firstly, he found traces of footpaths rumoured by the Bedouins, the natives of the region. He applied to NASA and asked them to take pictures of the area via satellite. Secondly, he analysed old inscriptions and maps in California’s Huntington Library. As a result of this research, he found a map drawn by the Greek geographer Ptolemy in 200 AD. On the map, the location of an ancient city and the roads leading towards this city were shown quite clearly. The pictures from NASA also revealed some road tracks that were seen as a whole from the air. Clapp compared the pictures with the map and found a large area that appeared to be a city. At the end of the excavations in this area, the remains of the city were found 12 metres under the sand. The place where the tribe of Ad lived is located in the east of what is now Yemen and north of the Sea of Oman. Today this place is a desert, which is a pile of sand. When the Holy Qur’an mentions the place of the tribe of Ad, it says that it is in “Ahkaf”,[181] which means long and curved heaps of sand. The people of this tribe were from the tribe of Amalika and they were strong and powerful people. They built beautiful mansions on large and high hills. They lived in castles and houses on the banks of rivers with large gardens. They were blessed, but they took gods other than Allah, when they should have been grateful. Ibn Kathir says: “The people of ‘Ad had three idols. They were Sâdâ, 2. Thamûdâ, and 3. Herâ.”[182]

So Allah (swt) sent Hûd (a.s.), who had been engaged in trade, as a prophet to warn and frighten them. But they did not abandon their gods despite all the warnings.

Allah (swt) informs us of this incident as follows:

“And We sent Hud, their brother, as a prophet to the people of ‘Ad, and Hud said to them: “O my people, worship Allah, you have no god but Him. Do you not fear Him?” The disbelievers of his people said to him: “We consider you a fool and think that you are a liar.” Hud said to them, “There is no foolishness in me; on the contrary, I am a prophet sent by the Lord of all beings. I convey to you the messages of my Lord and I am a trustworthy counsellor for you. Do you find it strange that you have a message from your Lord through one of you to warn you? Remember that Allah has made you a substitute for the people of Noah and made you stronger in body than them. Remember the favours of Allah so that you may be saved.” His kinsmen said to him: Have you come to us that we may worship Allah alone and leave the gods which our fathers worshipped? If what you say is true, then bring upon us now the punishment which you say we shall suffer in the future. Hud said to them, “The chastisement and the anger of your Lord have been finalised against you. Do you dispute with me about some names that you and your fathers have called yourselves and your fathers, for which Allah has not sent down any proof? Then wait, and I wait with you.” [183]

The idea of abandoning other intermediaries seemed “unwise” to the people of Ad, even though they knew the Creator, who is One.

Here is the portrait of the groups who are ignorant of Allah (swt) and His message… In which time and place has this portrait been given a different status anyway… The contradiction between living with the power of doing the legitimised action in a group and expecting the consent of the owner of the religion…

Although Hûd (a.s.) warned his people of Allah’s punishment, they still persisted in their disbelief. He gives the example of the people of Noah (a.s.) and they continue their thoughts. He invites them to be grateful by reminding them of the blessings, but the result does not change. He says that he does not ask for a fee from them in return for all this advice and that he does not need thanks, but the result is still negative. Despite all this, they resisted the invitation of Hûd (a.s.), belittled his words and began to oppress him, accusing him of being senile and insane. They accused him of speaking nonsense because their gods had inflicted an evil upon him. And when the message to them became a matter of ridicule, Allah (swt) sent His punishment.

They were not surprised when they first saw the cloud which they expected to rain on them. Then a dry wind blew on them. This wind blew horribly on them for seven nights and eight days without stopping for a moment and the people perished. The Holy Qur’an has informed us about this event 1378 years ago. The verse explains the event as follows.

Allah (swt) says:

Remember Hud, the brother of the people of ‘Ad, who warned his people in the region of Ahkaf when many warners had come before him and after him, saying: “Do not serve other than Allah”, and he said: “Verily, I fear for you the punishment of a great day”. They said: “Have you come to turn us away from our gods? Bring us what you threaten us with if you are truthful.” Say: “The knowledge of when the punishment will come is only with Allah. I announce to you what I have been commissioned to announce, but I see you as a people who are ignorant.” Finally, when they saw the torment coming towards their valley as a large cloud on the horizon, they said: “This is a cloud that will give us rain. Nay, that which you want to hasten is a wind in which is a painful torment. It destroys everything by the command of its Lord. Then they became in such a state that nothing could be seen except their houses. Thus do We punish the people who commit offences.[184]

All the prophets who called to the belief that there is only one God of the Worlds were subjected to accusations such as senility, insanity, witchcraft, ridicule and irrationality, even though they warned of Allah’s punishment, gave examples from past generations and did not demand any remuneration for their advice. This situation shows us the horror caused by ignorance, but it also shows us that there is no god but Allah Himself and that it is ordered to live with this consciousness and that it is necessary to struggle for this to be lived.

The modern mindset does not look at these events as exemplary events that are likely to occur as a result of the ignorance of mankind, but as historical information presenting the lives of people who lived in the past. This is an approach that is far from the wisdom of Allah’s verses to inform us. Even if one knows the meaning of these verses and memorises them, if one does not know the essence of religion, such as the acceptance of God as one and obedience to the Prophets, one will remain away from the purpose of the verses by approaching the events with the psychology of “except me”.

[179] During the 15th and 16th centuries in Europe, there was a renewal in the fields of literature, art, philosophy and science.

[180] (b.1892- d.1950)

[181] Name of the 46th Surah of the Holy Quran

[182] Ibn Kathir, al-Bidāya wa’n-Nihāya, 1/121

[183] Surat al-Araf, Verses 65-71

[184] Surat al-Ahqaf, Verses 21-25