It was Monday, September 8, at exactly 2 O’clock in the afternoon when I was scrolling through X, the platform once called Twitter. Suddenly, a post appeared that made me stop. It was from one of the richest men in the world, someone whose name is tied to power and wealth, yet his words carried only a deep human struggle:
“We cannot understand the true nature of the Universe unless we question deeply. I want to know what is real, even if the answer is total obliteration of my consciousness.”
I read it again. The sentence felt heavy, almost like a cry from a man who has achieved everything material yet still searches for meaning. Out of curiosity, I opened the comments. They were as mixed as humanity itself—some were deeply religious, others philosophical, some were mocking and tasteless. But one reply caught my full attention.
It said: “Did you then think that We had created you without purpose, and that you would never be returned to Us?” (23:115).
The words struck me like a question directed at my own soul. What is real? What is good and what is evil? Is this book truly divine, or just another piece of literature? For a while, I felt torn. Part of me wanted to ignore it. But another part whispered: what if this book has something that no other book carries?
So, I began looking into it—not to believe blindly, but to see for myself. What I found surprised me. The Qur’an does not silence reason. Instead, it constantly asks us to think, to reflect, to look at the world around us. And when I compared some of its verses with modern science, I was amazed.
When I came across the verse, “Do the disbelievers not realize that the heavens and earth were once one mass then We split them apart? And We created from water every living thing. Will they not then believe?” (Qur’an 21:30), I paused. It felt as though these words, revealed more than fourteen centuries ago, echoed what science would discover much later.
Cosmologists such as Edwin Hubble (1929) showed that the galaxies are moving apart, evidence of an expanding universe born from a single mass, while Arno Penzias and Robert Wilson (1965) detected the faint cosmic background radiation left from that very beginning—the Big Bang.
At the same time, biology confirms the Qur’anic reminder that water is life’s cornerstone; experiments like those of Miller and Urey (1959) proved that water, along with simple chemicals, can give rise to organic compounds essential for life. In one verse, the Qur’an bridges two of the greatest scientific truths: the origin of the cosmos and the foundation of life itself.
The Qur’an speaks of the heavens expanding: “And the heaven We constructed with strength, and indeed, We are [its] expander.” (51:47). In 1929, Edwin Hubble discovered that galaxies are moving apart—the universe is expanding.
It describes the stages of human development: “Then We made the sperm-drop into a clinging clot, and We made the clot into a lump, and We made the lump bones, and We clothed the bones with flesh…” (23:14). Centuries later, Professor Keith Moore, a leading embryologist, confirmed that human embryos develop exactly in these stages.
It tells of two seas meeting but not mixing: “He released the two seas, meeting side by side; between them is a barrier they do not transgress.” (55:19–20). Modern oceanography, studied deeply by scientists like H.U. Sverdrup, shows that waters of different salinity and density remain separated by barriers.
It describes mountains as “pegs”: “And the mountains as pegs?” (78:7). Geologists like Peter Kearey later showed that mountains have deep roots under the earth’s surface, stabilizing it like stakes.
It speaks of the water cycle: “And We sent down from the sky water in measure, and settled it in the earth…” (23:18). Hydrology, explained by Chow and Maidment, shows exactly this process of evaporation, rainfall, and storage.
It mentions darkness in the deep sea: “…darkness in a deep sea, covered by waves, upon which are waves, over which are clouds…” (24:40). Scientists like Garrett and Munk confirmed the existence of internal waves under the ocean surface and the complete darkness of its depths.
It says: “And of all things We created pairs…” (51:49). Modern botany shows plants have male and female parts for reproduction.
It says iron was “sent down”: “…And We sent down iron, wherein is mighty power…” (57:25). Science explains that iron came to Earth from supernova explosions in space, carried by meteorites.
It even points to pain being in the skin: “Every time their skins are roasted through, We will replace them with other skins so they may taste the punishment.” (4:56). Modern physiology, confirmed by scholars like Guyton and Hall, shows pain receptors are located in the skin, not deeper tissues.
These discoveries made me pause. How could a book, revealed more than 1,400 years ago, contain words that align so closely with what scientists like Hubble, Keith Moore, and many others only found in recent centuries?
And yet, even with all of this, the bigger questions remain. These verses and their connections to science do not fully answer what reality is. They do not alone decide for us what is virtue and what is evil, nor do they provide a final definition of morality and justice in a way the human mind can close the file and stop asking. But what they do is open a window. They invite us to think, to search, to not dismiss life as meaningless. They nudge us toward the possibility that there is a greater purpose behind existence.
As I thought back to the billionaire’s words, I realized that maybe the goal is not to obliterate our consciousness in search of answers, but to awaken it. Perhaps reality is not hidden in despair, but in the courage to keep questioning, keep searching, and keep looking for meaning.
The Qur’an, at the very least, keeps that search alive. And maybe that is why billions follow it—not blindly, but because in its words they find both reason and revelation, both science and soul, both a world to observe and a purpose to live for.
References
Hubble, E. (1929). A relation between distance and radial velocity among extra-galactic nebulae. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 15(3), 168–173. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.15.3.168
Miller, S. L., & Urey, H. C. (1959). Organic compound synthesis on the primitive Earth. Science, 130(3370), 245–251. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.130.3370.245
Pasteur, L. (1861). Experiments on the germ theory of fermentation. Comptes Rendus Chimie, 52, 344–347.
Penzias, A. A., & Wilson, R. W. (1965). A measurement of excess antenna temperature at 4080 Mc/s. The Astrophysical Journal, 142, 419–421. https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1965ApJ…142..419P/abstract
Sadler, T. W. (2012). Langman’s medical embryology (12th ed.). Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.
Moore, K. L., & Persaud, T. V. N. (2002). The developing human: Clinically oriented embryology (7th ed.). Saunders. https://koracademy.com/sites/default/files/inline-files/Embryology%20KLM.pdf
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