جدید علم کلام کے عالمی اثرات — Page 121
were contradictory and scientifically unacceptable۔Examples have been provided which reveal this attitude very clearly۔John's Gospel has been given special attention because there are very important differences between it and the other three Gospels, especially with regard to the fact that his Gospel does no describe the institution of the Eucharist: this is not generally known۔The Qur'anic Revelation has a history which is funda- mentally different from the other two۔It spanned a period of some twenty years and, as soon as it was transmitted to Muhammad by Archangel Gabriel, Believers learnt it by heart۔It was also written down during Muhammad's life۔The last recensions of the Qur'an were effected under Calif Uthman starting some twelve years after the Prophet's death and linishing twenty-four years after it۔They had the advant- age of being checked by people who already knew the text by heart, for they had learnt it at the time of the Revelation itself and had subsequently recited it constantly۔Since then, we know that the text has been scrupulously preserved۔It does not give rise to any problems of authenticity۔The Qur'an follows on from the two Revelations that preceded it and is not only free from contradictions in its narrations, the sign of the various human manipulations to be found in the Gospels, but provides a quality all of its own for those who examine it objectively and in the light of science i۔e۔its complete agreement with modern scientific data۔What more, statements are to be found in it (as has been shown) that are connected with science: and yet it is un- thinkable that a man of Muhammad's time could have been the author of them۔Modern scientific knowledge therefore allows us to understand certain verses of the Qur'an which, until now, it has been impossible to interpret۔The comparison of several Biblical and Qur'anic narra- tions of the same subject shows the existence of fundamental differences between statements in the former, which are scientifically unacceptable, and declarations in the latter which are in perfect agreement with modern data; this was