Is Islam Incomplete?

I've been to the ESQ training, and it is quite impressive how the training incorporates a lot of Quranic verses throughout the programme. To a general extent, I think ESQ is a great success, worldwide. And a lot of the alumni are very pleased to have joined ESQ and believe it helps them a great deal in character building.

Unfortunately, I was quite, umm, unimpressed.

The first module was called, "The Outer Journey". It is what is says, an outer journey. It takes you off the Earth and into the heavens, elevating higher and higher up to the Solar System, the Milky Way and ultimately the Universe. It mentions about the Big Bang theory, and the red nebula. How we, as creatures of God, should be amazed at His vast capacity, of His incredible empire. And to make us realize just how amazing, how Mighty He actually is. In fact, that is not even His limits, he could even create something bigger, more complex and sophisticated than this if He wishes to. That He is the Almighty and the Most Powerful.

Theory of Big Bang. Recently (not so recent, but still in the last century) the theory has been proved true. They winded back the time to the period where humans still believed the Earth was flat. No so soon after that, humans started believing that Earth is the centre of the system where the Sun and the Moon revolves around us. Then came the breakthrough when Coppernicus claimed the Sun is in fact the centre, and we, the Earth, circulates around it. His idea was so radical, he was sent to the noose (although wikipedia seems to disagree with that, saying he died a peaceful death). Then Galileo Galilei backed him, he too faced the consequence and arrested in his own house for the rest of his life. Then he (the facilitator) asked us, what if any of them brought the theory of Big Bang? Surely that person will be accused of insanity.

But in fact, in Muhammad's (peace be upon him) book, the holy Quran, it was mentioned already. And that was more than 1400 years ago.

Do not the Unbelievers see that the heavens and the earth were joined together (as one unit of creation), before We ripped them apart? We made from water every living thing. Will they not then believe?
Al-Anbiya: 30

The mention of 'one unit' represents singularity, the point of which all energy and matter exists at t = 0, where the density and temperature was infinite. And every single thing that ever existed came from that singularity. And now that the Big Bang theory has been proved, do we ever dare to doubt the words of Allah that descended thousands of years ago?

The next verse is about the Rose Nebula.


When the sky is torn apart, and it becomes red like ointment;
Then which of the favours of your Lord will ye deny?
Ar-Rahmaan: 37-38

The technology that came to use to be able to see the outer space with such clarity only came very recently, but Allah had already descended pictures of His Universe fourteen hundred years ago.

Impressive, huh?

Unfortunately, I remained unimpressed.

True enough, what Allah has shown us in His words that was way ahead of the technological advancements at the time Quran was descended is nothing short of miraculous. After all, Quran is the greatest miracle of all. But what amazes me more is how most of us never even heard of these verses before. The Quran is true and will forever will be true, but to prove that it is the ultimate truth, Allah has decorated it with miracles of science so that we believe. And I've heard these verses numerous times in my life.

And I have even heard more.

Those whom Allah (in His plan) willeth to guide,- He openeth their breast to Islam; those whom He willeth to leave straying,- He maketh their breast close and constricted, as if they had to climb up to the skies: thus doth Allah (heap) the penalty on those who refuse to believe.
Al-An'aam: 125

Back in the seventh century (of Gregorian calendar), nobody had ever ascended, had ever elevated into heavens. There was not even a building with two levels. How could possibly humans know that up there in the skies, the air (oxygen) is much thinner? That when you are stranded up there, the lack of oxygen will constrict your breathing. Nobody had known at that time, but obviously He knows, and so he puts it in His Book, for us to be amazed with His power and His knowledge.

And the sun runs his course for a period determined for him: that is the decree of (Him), the Exalted in Might, the All-Knowing.
Yaa-Seen: 38

During that time, the belief was that Earth was at the centre of the system and everything else, Sun, Moon and stars revolve around us. The verse just now from Yaa-Seen seems to agree with that, saying that the Sun runs his course (orbit) for a period determined for him. But did Allah say the Sun was orbiting the Earth? Never. And what He left out, He left out purposely, because He knows better. Soon after, humans know that the Sun sits at the middle of the system with the planets orbiting it, but that seems contradictory to the verse above. Only later on do humans know that the Sun itself also has its own orbit, circulating the Milky Way just like all other stars.

Aren't God's words great? They're incredible. Unbelievable. Thing is, why don't we even notice these things?

Al Quran has been descended for humankind for more than a thousand years already. Uthman, may Allah bless him, compiled the Quran for the convenience of the later generations. Now, Quran is readily available to be bought anywhere around the world, and it is even available in softcopies. But how ignorant we are, that we always read it, but we never know what we are reading.

In my culture, the Islamic life in Malaysia, I think it is normal for teenagers to complete the recitation of Quran (khatamul Quran) at least once. If you're a university/college student and still you haven't completed the recitation of Quran, it is a shame in our culture. However, very few of us have actually completed reading the translation of the Quran, let alone the interpretation (tafsir). I admit that I am part of the vast majority of ignorant people.

So maybe that is why there are people who never know those magical verses about Big Bang and Rose Nebula.

But even if you have never completed reading the whole Quranic translation, in Islam we have this unique culture that I doubt any other religion ever practices it to our extent. It is called the Friday sermons and prayers. Khutbah is sort of a class that is compulsory to all muslim men and moreover it is free. Every single day, we commit sins that will add a black dot to our heart, and by listening to good advices, it cleanses the heart bit by bit. By going to the Friday khutbah, one's heart is cleansed with reminders, and with addition to that, there are knowledge to be gained. In khutbah, it is compulsory to include verses of Quran and citations of hadith to strengthen the points. What more can you ask? Compare that to the ESQ training that incorporates Quranic verses, is the weekly khutbah inferior to the exclusive training? (For females, the Friday khutbah may not be compulsory, and I still seek the reasoning behind that, but I am very sure that Allah must have a good purpose for that. In an ideal situation, the knowledge extracted from the sermon can be retrieved from your father, or in this modern age, presentation slides should be made available for download.)

And I am absolutely sure that all of the verses above, I have heard it in khutbah. But how untouched, how ignorant are the listeners, that without the extravagant big screens and deep-bass speakers, we just seem to ignore those scientific proofs and doze off in our not-so-comfy sleep in the mosque. Or for some, why don't just skip the sermons and go straight to the prayers?

It is this ignorance of us (including me) that the theory of Big Bang, the Rose Nebula, the invention of flying devices and the discovery of Sun's orbit skipped us. Why these discoveries are made by non-muslims? And we are proud that their discovery was actually in our Book more than a millenium ago, when in fact we should be ashamed that we never discovered it. Praises to Islamic heroes like al-Khawarizmi the founder of algebra or Jabir the pioneer of chemistry and many others, may Allah bless them just like their knowledge keeps on flowing on the Earth, but why we are never even close to their achievements? Because we are ignorant.

The Quran is the basis of genius. When Imam Shafii was a little kid, probably around Standard Two or Three, he completed the recitation of Quran twice a day. When he was studying, he scribbled notes, and when his room is too messy with his notes, he memorize every single page of it so he can dispose the notes. My God I could never imagine how brilliant he really was. If he were to study mathematics or physics I'm sure he would do as good, but he decided to study religion (fiqh to be more specific) and how great is his work to us, may Allah bless him, may Allah bless all these great contributers.

is Islam incomplete? Why do we need these trainings? It is because of our incompleteness and our fragile faith of the late age of Muhammad's (peace be upon him) ummah, that we pay to get our hearts opened, when we can get free sermons and free knowledge from the Quran.

This is not a condemnation to ESQ. In fact, I think it is very refreshing to have a motivational training based on spiritual values and guided by Quranic verses. But what I'm condemning is us (including me) the ignorant muslims of the late age. For those who attended ESQ, may Allah makes this as a starter for us to open our hearts and receive more knowledge, and to commit every single action of our life to Him.

May Allah bless us with His will, that by opening our hearts, now we can open it even wider, that one day, before we die, the very least we could do is understand the Book that He has sent down for us. Aamiin.