Allah has sent down the Qur’an in the month of Ramadan, the month in which every able Muslim is required to fast.

The Qur’an was given to Prophet Muhammad ﷺ to lead people from darkness into light and to move humanity to a higher level of righteousness and piety. The commands of Allah contained in the great meaningful content of the Qur’an tell human beings to do good deeds, establish justice, and end corruption and injustice.

The Qur’an was received over 23 years by Prophet Muhammad ﷺ. It was brought by Arch Angel Gabriel to Prophet Muhammad ﷺ because Allah chose him to lead the prophetic mission for the salvation of mankind. Allah Mighty God tells us in the Qur’an about the Qur’an in many ayahs saying there is no doubt about the Qur’an.

There is no ambiguity in the Qur’an, and it gives the message in clear terms; directing humanity towards enlightenment from the state of utter darkness; for the elucidation of faith. The most powerful ayat or the verse about the Qur’an itself is in Sura Hashr in which Allah says, “Had We sent down the Qur’an on a mountain, verily you would have seen it humble itself and cleave asunder for fear of God. Such are the similitudes which We propound to men that they may reflect.” (59:21)

This Ayat provides us with information about the enormous energy it possesses and says if the Qur’an was sent down from the heavens to the earth with great speed and a great force, then it would slice and slash a mountain. Allah is commanding us to look at the Qur’an in a different light because the Quran has an enormous potential to release its energy. He is ordering us to grasp the powerful meaning of the ayat and to think, ponder, and reflect about the power, strength, and energy of the Quran, and in the process try to understand the powerful message it is carrying with it.

Allah majestically calls Himself in the Ayat: ‘We sent down; We propound’. In this world of gods and goddesses, where statues, stones, and natural phenomena have been declared as gods, God himself says in the Quran, “There is nothing like unto HIM.” Muslims believe in the One and only God who has no partners and He is Allah.

Muhammad Asad has expressed very powerfully and movingly what Allah has called Himself in the Qur’an. Muhammad Asad says, “Arabic is the Semitic tongue which has remained uninterruptedly alive for thousands of years. The Qur’an frequently makes references to God – often in the same phrase – as “He”, “God”, “We”, or “I” with the corresponding changes of the pronoun from “his” to “Our” or “My” or from “Him” to “Us” or “Me”. These changes are not accidental and not even what one might describe as “poetic license”, but are deliberate; a linguistic device meant to stress the idea that God is not a “person” and cannot, therefore, but circumscribed by the pronouns applicable to finite human beings.”

The Ulema and learned scholars have given commentary on the above-referenced ayat for centuries. At present, we can conveniently say the Qur’an possesses a higher level of power and has enormous energy, maybe possessing nuclear energy – and carrying a very strong message for mankind.

The new awareness and understanding of the world and the universe, because of the availability of a large wealth of knowledge, discoveries, and scientific achievements, is making it easier to understand this ayat through the scientific dimension, a new and fresh perspective, an additional way.

Recently, scientists have concluded that the wealth of knowledge available in the last three thousand years has doubled just in the last two hundred years – 19th and 20th centuries. This is three thousand years vs. two centuries of knowledge comparison showing the explosion of knowledge in the last two hundred years that has changed the world forever. The whole progress and knowledge explosion are amazing and incredible.

The wealth of knowledge has given us a new way to look at the above-referenced Quranic ayat. In the last quarter of the 19th century, scientists gathered in Paris for a conference and discussed scientific achievements and even the atom.

They agreed that after the discovery of the smallest particle in nature – the atom – there is nothing more left to be discovered. A few years later, the splitting of atoms was achieved and the whole concept of the smallest particle changed, making us realize that an atom has a universe of its own and that splitting of atoms releases energy that can be harnessed for peaceful purposes or to destroy this planet.

This tells us, from the scientific perspective, that the Quran has energy and can cleave a mountain with its nuclear energy when released. In the 1950s this writer remembers the teachers telling us, the students, that the Quran was sent down in the hearts of the people. The next picture that comes to mind is about the Quran coming down with great speed on the heart of a human being and exploding the heart.

There are many examples to explain scientifically the phenomenon of the Quran coming down on the heart, but the following example might provide the right answer. In November 2018 a robotic exploration probe mission named “Insight” was sent to Mars at a speed of 12,300 MPH.

After a journey of seven months and 301 million miles (483 million km) travel between Earth and Mars, the InSight probe entered the Martian atmosphere. It took seven minutes for it to land after entering the Martian atmosphere during which time the Insight went from a speed of 12,300 MPH to a complete stop.

This was to achieve a Soft Landing on the surface of Mars. It makes us visualise the Holy Quran equipped with enormous energy came down by the command of Allah with great speed and making a Soft Landing on the heart of a human being. Science teaches us how heaven goes, and the QURAN teaches us how to go to heaven.

The scientific achievements include looking at the heavens, stars, planets, and celestial bodies; making discoveries, doing research resulting in great inventions, then going to the other side of the scientific spectrum and conducting research in the minute atoms and its electron-neutron universe, meaning teaching how universe goes.

The powerful message of the Quran tells us that everything in the heavens and the earth and what is in between belongs to Allah; Allah is One, has no partners and we must always glorify Him and remember Him. The Quran helps us understand the difference between Halal and Haram, good and bad, acceptable and unacceptable, good deed and sinful act. It urges us to stay away from haram and sinful things and to live, morally and spiritually, a clean, pure life.

The good deeds in our account in this world will help save us in the afterlife. Allah commands us to strive to establish peace and justice on earth and work for the welfare and improvement of human lives. We must involve ourselves in doing good deeds and staying away from bad deeds.
Our good deeds will help us in getting us on the superhighway – the straight path – that goes straight to heaven.

[Mohammad Yacoob is a retired industrial engineer and an engineering proposals analyst who lives in Los Angeles, California]