According to Islamic tradition, the Quran was first revealed to Muhammad in 609 CE. Over the next two decades, new surahs were dictated to Muhammad by the angel Gabriel, who was delivering the exact words of God himself. Muhammad’s final meeting with Gabriel came in 632 CE. He died in June of that year. Despite being revealed in a time and place where scholarship was of little concern, the Quran contains a number of interesting scientific facts. These scientific facts were not known to the people of Muhammad’s era. In fact, a number of them have only been discovered in the past 100 years. Many people present the Quran’s advanced scientific knowledge as undeniable proof of Muhammad’s prophethood. However, we don’t want to make that decision for our readers. Instead, we will present you with the most noteworthy scientific facts discussed in the Quran – a book produced 14 centuries ago – and allow you to draw your own conclusions. Here are seven scientific facts mentioned in the Quran.

1. The Origins of the Universe

We are all familiar with the Biblical account of creation. God created the world in six days and rested on the seventh. He assigned Adam, the first man, to rule over all of his earthly creations. While most of this account is accepted within Islam, the Quran goes one step further and details the creation of the universe itself. Quran, 41:11 reads: “Then He turned to the heaven when it was smoke and said unto it and unto the earth: Come both of you, willingly or loth.” The description of pre-creation heaven as “smoke” is significant as modern cosmologists agree that the universe once existed as a mere opaque cloud. Scientists continue to observe new stars forming out of similar smoky clouds today. It is noteworthy that Dr. Alfred Kroner was baffled upon learning of the above Quran verse. Kroner is the Chairman of the Department of Geology at the Institute of Geosciences, Johannes Gutenberg University in Germany. This means his knowledge of cosmology is virtually unparalleled. Speaking of Muhammad and the true source of the Quran, Dr. Kroner stated: “It is almost impossible that he could have known about things like the common origin of the universe, because scientists have only found out within the last few years, with very complicated and advanced technological methods, that this is the case.”

2. Prenatal Development

The Quran’s passages on the stages of prenatal development are masterfully intricate. Furthermore, when read in Arabic, they feature complex wordplay becoming of a divine humorist. Discussing the evolution of the embryo, Quran, 23:12-14 states: “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.” The first thing we must look at to understand the above passage is the use of the word “alaqah”. In Arabic, “alaqah” is a homograph with three different meanings. It can refer to a leech, a blood clot, or something that has been suspended. All three are relevant when talking about embryonic development. In utero, a fetus obtains nutrients and oxygen from the blood of the mother. In this way, it is not unlike a leech, which survives by sucking blood from other creatures. In the early stages of its development, an embryo’s blood does not circulate. This means large amounts of blood remain stationary, rendering the fetus similar to a blood clot. The translation of “alaqah” as something which has been suspended is particularly interesting. When in the womb, an embryo is “suspended” from the uterine wall by the placenta and umbilical cord. Much of what we now know about human embryonic development is documented in Professor Emeritus Keith L. Moore’s scientific reference book The Developing Human. Moore is an authority in anatomy and embryology and in 1981 he visited Saudi Arabia to lecture on the topic. When discussing the Quran’s teachings on prenatal development, Moore declared: “It is clear to me that these statements must have come to Muhammad from God, because almost all 0of this knowledge was not discovered until many centuries later.”

3. Brain Anatomy

Little was known about the human brain in 7th-century Saudi Arabia, which is what makes the Quran’s verses on brain anatomy so fascinating. In Quran, 96:15-16, you will find verses reading: “Let him beware! If he does not stop, We will take him by the naseyah, a lying, sinful, naseyah!” This passage was revealed at a time when Muslims were being mocked and persecuted by more powerful religious sects. When it was delivered to Muhammad, it was intended to advise him on how to deal with one particular non-believer who was making it difficult for Muslims to pray at the Kaaba. However, it is the surah’s use of the Arabic word “naseyah” that is of