Revelation, Rationality, Knowledge & Truth — Page 344
THE QURAN AND EXTRATERRESTRIAL LIFE approval for a major search for extraterrestrial intelligence. . Other scientists of international fame like Professor Sagan, are also strong supporters of this cause. ". MAZING IS IT NOT that what the Quran asserted as a. A fact, around fourteen hundred years ago, is just beginning to appear as a feasible reality to the scientists of today! The Quran goes a step further when it predicts that man shall one day make contact with extraterrestrial life. . The time for the full realization of this prophecy has not yet arrived, but its signs are appearing on the horizon. . This demonstrates that the prophecies of the Quran run ahead of human scientific progress. Every new era witnesses the fulfilment of some more revelations which previous eras had no means to testify. Hence it should be clearly understood here that Quranic prophecies are intrinsically different in nature from those implied in science fiction. . It has never been uncommon for human fancy to take flight from the springboard of the known facts of nature in the direction of things to be. But seldom does the future testify to the predictions implied in such fictional flights. . Moreover, all works of fiction invariably remain confined to the possibilities created by the knowledge of the age. . Fiction writers always take their take their cue from current knowledge to visualize what may emerge tomorrow. Most often however, their guesses prove to be as wild as wild can be. The future as it is carved, does not follow the dictates of their vision. This can only lead to the inevitable conclusion that the exercise of human imagination in relation to the unknown has its limitations. . To illustrate the limitation of any particular era with regard to its imaginative scope, the genius of Leonardo da. Vinci can be quoted as a befitting example. He attempted to 333