- Commission on Scientific Signs in the Quran and Sunnah
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The Commission on Scientific Signs in the Quran and Sunnah is an organization established by Sheikh Abdul Majeed al-Zindani with the backing of the Muslim World League in 1984 in Saudi Arabia. The commission is also known as The International Commission,[1] or World Commission on Scientific Signs of the Qur'an and Sunnah[2] Abdullah al-Muslih has been the general secretary of the commission since 2002-2003 AD (1423 AH).[2]
Contents
Aims and activities
The commission describes its mission as "showing, verifying and publishing Scientific Signs" found in the Quran and Sunna,[2] an endeavor that has also been described as attempting to prove that "the Qur'an prophesied the Big Bang theory, space travel and other contemporary scientific breakthroughs," or Bucailleism.[3]
As of 2006 the commission has organized eight International Conferences on Scientific Signs in the Qur'an and Sunnah.[4] The first, held in Islamabad in 1987, was attended by "200 Muslim delegates from all over the world" and funded "by the Pakistani state to the tune of a couple of million dollars."[5] At the seventh conference in Dubai, "more than 150 scientists and researchers" attended.[6] One of the highlights at the Eighth International Conference in Kuwait was the announcement of a possible cure for AIDS based on "a herbal extract that was prescribed in the Prophetic Sunnah for the treatment of other ailments."[7]
The debut of a 14-volume Encyclopedia on the Scientific Signs in the Qur'an and Sunnah has also been announced by the Commission. The encyclopedia has been "partially translated into English", with hopes for translation into "18 other languages."[7]
Controversy
A criticism made of the commission is that in its enthusiasm to prove that evidence in favor of Qur'anic scientific miracles “is clear and obvious" and that "a group of eminent non-Muslim scholars in several fields” has testified to this,[8] the commission has spread misleading, out-of-context statements by several of these non-Muslim scholars.[3]
In 1984, a member of the commission, Mustafa Abdul Basit Ahmed, moved to the United States to recruit non-Muslim Western scientists to verify the miraculous signs of the Quran. However, in a 2002 story[3] in the American newspaper Wall Street Journal, several non-Muslim scientists spoke of questionable practices used by the commission to coax statements from them, such as hard-sell interviews by Sheikh Abdul Majeed al-Zindani, and false promises to be “completely neutral.”
The commission drew the scientists to its conferences with first-class plane tickets for them and their wives, rooms at the best hotels, $1,000 honoraria, and banquets with Muslim leaders — such as a palace dinner in Islamabad with Pakistani President Mohammed Zia ul-Haq shortly before he was killed in a plane crash. Ahmed also gave at least one scientist a crystal clock.[3]
Marine scientist William Hay complained of having fallen into a "trap" in interviews, while embryologist Gerald Goeringer claimed "mutual manipulation" between the scientists and conference organizers. Retired Geologist Professor Alfred Kröner of the Universität Mainz has a standard e-mail reply clarifying his "out of context" remarks during one of the conferences and has described the proceedings which resulted in his remarks being used by Muslim apologists. In a video-taped interview he clarified his situation and that he did not feel he was represented realistically and was quote-mined in the religion based video made by Muslim apologists. [9]
A further interview has been obtained with William W. Hay where he describes the events and explains how he was asked to answer purely hypothetical questions and it was from these answers that he was subsequently quote-mined and misrepresented.[10]
See also
Sources
- Commission on Scientific Signs in the Quran and Sunnah website
- Kuwait Hosts 8th Science in Qur'an Conference
References
- ^ Online Project Spotlights Science in Qur’an, Sunnah
- ^ a b c Commission on Scientific Signs in the Quran and Sunnah website
- ^ a b c d Strange Bedfellows: Western Scholars Play Key Role in Touting `Science' of the Quran by Daniel Golden Wall Street Journal, Jan 23, 2002. pg. A.1, posted on the website of California State University, Fullerton by Dr. James Santucci
- ^ Kuwait Hosts 8th Science in Qur'an Conference
- ^ When Science Teaching Becomes A Subversive Activity By Pervez Hoodbhoy
- ^ Dubai Meet to Highlight Scientific Facts in the Qur’an
- ^ a b Miracle Drug Announced, Scientific Evidence Still Hazy
- ^ Abdul Majeed al-Zindani in an interview in May 2001 issue of a magazine published by the Commission on Scientific Signs
- ^ YouTube video with A. Kröner by TheRationalizer
- ^ YouTube video with William W. Hay by TheRationalizer
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