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[[File:Maurice Bucaille.JPG|thumb|190px|right|Bucailleism is named after the French surgeon Dr. Maurice Bucaille.]] | [[File:Maurice Bucaille.JPG|thumb|190px|right|Bucailleism is named after the French surgeon Dr. Maurice Bucaille.]] | ||
'''Bucailleism''' is a term used for the movement to relate modern science with religion, principally [[Islam]].<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=raKRY3KQspsC&pg=PA456&dq=bucaillism&hl=en&ei=kdKPTcTLCpHEswatqPmKCg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=3&ved=0CDYQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&q=bucaillism&f=false Encyclopaedia of the history of science, technology, and medicine in non-western cultures], ed. [[Helaine Selin]], retrieved 28 March 2011</ref> | '''Bucailleism''' is a term used for the movement to relate modern science with religion, principally [[Islam]].<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=raKRY3KQspsC&pg=PA456&dq=bucaillism&hl=en&ei=kdKPTcTLCpHEswatqPmKCg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=3&ved=0CDYQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&q=bucaillism&f=false Encyclopaedia of the history of science, technology, and medicine in non-western cultures], ed. [[Helaine Selin]], retrieved 28 March 2011</ref> | ||
Named after the French surgeon Maurice Bucaille, author of ''The Bible, the Quran and Science'', Bucaillists have promoted the idea that the Quran is of divine origin, arguing that it contains scientifically correct facts,<ref name="auto">[https://books.google.com/books?id=uLjaAAAAMAAJ&q=bucaillism&dq=bucaillism&hl=en&ei=kdKPTcTLCpHEswatqPmKCg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4&ved=0CDsQ6AEwAw Explorations in Islamic science] Ziauddin Sardar, (1989), retrieved 28 March 2011</ref><ref>An illusion of harmony: science and religion in Islam (2007) [[Taner Edis]], retrieved 28 March 2011</ref> and that "one of the main convincing evidences" that lead many to convert to [[Islam]] "is the large number of [[Islam and Science|scientific facts in the Quran]]."<ref>Zaghloul El-Naggar, an Egyptian geologist, quoted in | Named after the French surgeon Maurice Bucaille, author of ''The Bible, the Quran and Science'', Bucaillists have promoted the idea that the Quran is of divine origin, arguing that it contains scientifically correct facts,<ref name="auto">[https://books.google.com/books?id=uLjaAAAAMAAJ&q=bucaillism&dq=bucaillism&hl=en&ei=kdKPTcTLCpHEswatqPmKCg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4&ved=0CDsQ6AEwAw Explorations in Islamic science] Ziauddin Sardar, (1989), retrieved 28 March 2011</ref><ref>An illusion of harmony: science and religion in Islam (2007) [[Taner Edis]], retrieved 28 March 2011</ref> and that "one of the main convincing evidences" that lead many to convert to [[Islam]] "is the large number of [[Islam and Science|scientific facts in the Quran]]."<ref>Zaghloul El-Naggar, an Egyptian geologist, quoted in {{cite news|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB1011738146332966760 |title=Strange Bedfellows: Western Scholars Play Key Role in Touting `Science' of the Quran |author=Daniel Golden |newspaper=Wall Street Journal |date=January 23, 2002}}</ref> | ||
Some of its claims include that "the [[Qur'an]] prophesied the Big Bang theory, space travel and other contemporary scientific breakthroughs," and that "there are more than 1200 verses (Ayat) which can be interpreted in the light of modern science."<ref>[http://www.irfi.org/articles/articles_1_50/all_things_in_pair.htm QUR'AN AND SCIENCE]</ref> It has been called "a fast-growing branch of Islamic fundamentalism." | Some of its claims include that "the [[Qur'an]] prophesied the Big Bang theory, space travel and other contemporary scientific breakthroughs," and that "there are more than 1200 verses (Ayat) which can be interpreted in the light of modern science."<ref>[http://www.irfi.org/articles/articles_1_50/all_things_in_pair.htm QUR'AN AND SCIENCE]</ref> It has been called "a fast-growing branch of Islamic fundamentalism." | ||
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According to ''The Wall Street Journal'', Bucailleism is "in some ways the Muslim counterpart to Christian creationism" and although "while creationism rejects much of modern science, Bucailleism embraces it."<ref name="StrBedfel">{{cite news|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB1011738146332966760 |title=Strange Bedfellows: Western Scholars Play Key Role in Touting `Science' of the Quran |author=Daniel Golden |newspaper=Wall Street Journal |date=January 23, 2002}}</ref> | According to ''The Wall Street Journal'', Bucailleism is "in some ways the Muslim counterpart to Christian creationism" and although "while creationism rejects much of modern science, Bucailleism embraces it."<ref name="StrBedfel">{{cite news|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB1011738146332966760 |title=Strange Bedfellows: Western Scholars Play Key Role in Touting `Science' of the Quran |author=Daniel Golden |newspaper=Wall Street Journal |date=January 23, 2002}}</ref> | ||
The doctrine is "widely taught" in Islamic secondary schools, promoted on at least one popular weekly television program in the Arab world<ref>Zaghloul El-Naggar, an Egyptian geologist </ref> and is advanced by "a well-funded campaign" led by the Commission on Scientific Signs in the Quran and Sunnah, based in Saudi Arabia and founded by Sheikh Abdul Majeed Zindani, a leading militant Islamist and "Specially Designated Global Terrorist".<ref name="Loyalist">[{{Reference archive|1=http://web.archive.org/web/20100314033922/http://www.treasury.gov/press/releases/js1190.htm|2=2013-04-10}} United States Designates bin Laden Loyalist], United States Department of the Treasury, JS-1190, February 24, 2004</ref> Although Bucailleism is said to be "disdained by most mainstream scholars", it has been valuable in fostering "pride in Muslim heritage", and reconciling conflicts that Muslim "students may feel between their religious beliefs and secular careers in engineering or computers."<ref name="StrBedfel" | The doctrine is "widely taught" in Islamic secondary schools, promoted on at least one popular weekly television program in the Arab world<ref>Zaghloul El-Naggar, an Egyptian geologist </ref> and is advanced by "a well-funded campaign" led by the Commission on Scientific Signs in the Quran and Sunnah, based in Saudi Arabia and founded by Sheikh Abdul Majeed Zindani, a leading militant Islamist and "Specially Designated Global Terrorist".<ref name="Loyalist">[{{Reference archive|1=http://web.archive.org/web/20100314033922/http://www.treasury.gov/press/releases/js1190.htm|2=2013-04-10}} United States Designates bin Laden Loyalist], United States Department of the Treasury, JS-1190, February 24, 2004</ref> Although Bucailleism is said to be "disdained by most mainstream scholars", it has been valuable in fostering "pride in Muslim heritage", and reconciling conflicts that Muslim "students may feel between their religious beliefs and secular careers in engineering or computers."<ref name="StrBedfel" /> | ||
==Background== | ==Background== | ||
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===Accuracy=== | ===Accuracy=== | ||
Gamal Soltan, a political scientist at Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies protests that the approach of starting with a conclusion from the Qur'an or Sunna (e.g. | Gamal Soltan, a political scientist at Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies protests that the approach of starting with a conclusion from the Qur'an or Sunna (e.g. a hadith says the body has 360 joints) and then work toward proving that conclusion, corrupts the scientific method. In the case of the belief in the body having 360 joints, it has meant counting "things that some orthopedists might not call a joint."<ref name="DiscovSciIsl" /> | ||
Other critics protest against claims by Bucailleists such as that the body has 360 joints<ref>[http://www.ummah.com/forum/showthread.php?t=118422 Islam's claim about the 360 joints in the human body was proven to be true!]</ref> or that the [[Science and the Seven Earths|earth has seven layers]]:<ref>[http://www.missionislam.com/science/earthsevenlayers.html Earth’s Seven Layers]</ref> | Other critics protest against claims by Bucailleists such as that the body has 360 joints<ref>[http://www.ummah.com/forum/showthread.php?t=118422 Islam's claim about the 360 joints in the human body was proven to be true!]</ref> or that the [[Science and the Seven Earths|earth has seven layers]]:<ref>[http://www.missionislam.com/science/earthsevenlayers.html Earth’s Seven Layers]</ref> | ||
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Others unconvinced of a Qur’an as dispenser of scientific truths, argue some of these scientific facts were known in the Middle East centuries before the revelation of the Qur'an - for example found in passages that they argue are rephrasings of the Hebrew Bible - or were also "predicted" by non-scientists with no claims of divine inspiration. Criticisms are also presented based on the translations and context of the verses presented as scientific facts.<ref>Richard Carrier (2001). [http://www.infidels.org/library/modern/richard_carrier/islam.html ''Cosmology and the Koran: A Response to Muslim Fundamentalists''].</ref><ref>Richard Carrier (2004). [http://www.secweb.org/index.aspx?action=viewAsset&id=362 ''Predicting Modern Science: Epicurus vs. Mohammed''].</ref> | Others unconvinced of a Qur’an as dispenser of scientific truths, argue some of these scientific facts were known in the Middle East centuries before the revelation of the Qur'an - for example found in passages that they argue are rephrasings of the Hebrew Bible - or were also "predicted" by non-scientists with no claims of divine inspiration. Criticisms are also presented based on the translations and context of the verses presented as scientific facts.<ref>Richard Carrier (2001). [http://www.infidels.org/library/modern/richard_carrier/islam.html ''Cosmology and the Koran: A Response to Muslim Fundamentalists''].</ref><ref>Richard Carrier (2004). [http://www.secweb.org/index.aspx?action=viewAsset&id=362 ''Predicting Modern Science: Epicurus vs. Mohammed''].</ref> | ||
Alleged Qur'anic predictions have also been called "vague descriptions of natural phenomena" employing "stretched or arbitrary" interpretations.<ref>Turkish physicist and philosopher Taner Edis. [http://www2.truman.edu/~edis/writings/articles/quran-science.html ''"Quran-science": Scientific miracles from the 7th century?'']</ref> Alleged Quranic references in particular to the | Alleged Qur'anic predictions have also been called "vague descriptions of natural phenomena" employing "stretched or arbitrary" interpretations.<ref>Turkish physicist and philosopher Taner Edis. [http://www2.truman.edu/~edis/writings/articles/quran-science.html ''"Quran-science": Scientific miracles from the 7th century?'']</ref> Alleged Quranic references in particular to the expanding universe, parallel universes, and cosmic structural hierarchies have been called "blatantly wrong."<ref name="edis2">Taner Edis. ''Ghost in the Universe.'' Quotes from page 14. Prometheus Books.</ref> Anti-Bucailleist arguments do not necessarily argue in favor of unbelief, since as one says, "[[God]] does not stand or fall depending on whether our scriptures know their physics."<ref name="edis2">Taner Edis. ''Ghost in the Universe.'' Quotes from page 14. Prometheus Books.</ref> | ||
===Methods=== | ===Methods=== | ||
Complaints about the methods of "Bucailleists" include the use of endorsements by Western non-Muslim scientists. One of the Bucailleists most widely circulated works is the book " | Complaints about the methods of "Bucailleists" include the use of endorsements by Western non-Muslim scientists. One of the Bucailleists most widely circulated works is the book "A Brief Illustrated Guide to Understanding Islam," which quotes several non-Muslim scientists in praise of the predictive power, divinity, etc. of the Qur'an. However, in a 2002 story<ref name="StrBedfel" /> in the American newspaper 'Wall Street Journal', several non-Muslim scientists spoke of questionable practices used by Bucailleists to cultivate scientists and coax statements from them, including lavish entertaining, untrue promises to be “completely neutral,” and hard sell interviews by Sheikh Abdul Majeed Zindani. | ||
{{Quote||The commission drew the scientists to its conferences with first-class plane tickets for them and their wives, rooms at the best hotels, $1,000 honoraria, and banquets with Muslim leaders — such as a palace dinner in Islamabad with Pakistani President Mohammed Zia ul-Haq shortly before he was killed in a plane crash. Ahmed also gave at least one scientist a crystal clock.<ref name="StrBedfel"/> }} | {{Quote||The commission drew the scientists to its conferences with first-class plane tickets for them and their wives, rooms at the best hotels, $1,000 honoraria, and banquets with Muslim leaders — such as a palace dinner in Islamabad with Pakistani President Mohammed Zia ul-Haq shortly before he was killed in a plane crash. Ahmed also gave at least one scientist a crystal clock.<ref name="StrBedfel"/> }} | ||
Scientists complained of having fallen into a "trap" in interviews, or of "mutual manipulation" by the scientists and fundamentalists. Even the man who had been the Bucailleists most enthusiastic supporter, embryologist [[Dr. Keith Moore|Keith L. Moore]] who had an edition of his textbook financed by Bucailleists and co-written with Sheikh Abdul Majeed Zindani, declined to be interviewed and told the newspaper, “it’s been 10 or 11 years since I was involved in the Quran.” <ref name="StrBedfel" /> | Scientists complained of having fallen into a "trap" in interviews, or of "mutual manipulation" by the scientists and fundamentalists. Even the man who had been the Bucailleists most enthusiastic supporter, embryologist [[Dr. Keith Moore|Keith L. Moore]] who had an edition of his textbook financed by Bucailleists and co-written with Sheikh Abdul Majeed Zindani, declined to be interviewed and told the newspaper, “it’s been 10 or 11 years since I was involved in the Quran.” <ref name="StrBedfel" /> He (Keith L. Moore) also confirmed that he was not a Muslim.<ref>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IObOzMAQ3hI</ref> | ||
=== Responses === | |||
''Main article: [[Scientific Miracles in the Quran]]'' | |||
"Bucailleists" also present these claims as if there are no objections, counter arguments or other interpretations. For example in his article '[http://www.islam101.com/science/space.html The conquest of space]' Bucaillie presents the following verses as 'proof' the Quran predicted space travel: | |||
{{Quote|{{quran|55|33}}|O assembly of Jinns and Men, if you can penetrate regions of the heavens and the earth, then penetrate them!}}{{Quote|{{Quran|15|14-15}}|14. If We were even to open for them a way to the heavens, and they could continually climb up to it in broad daylight, | |||
15. they would still have said: "Surely our eyes have been dazzled; rather, we have been enchanted."}} | |||
Going as far to say '<nowiki/>''.''.''one expresses, without any trace of ambiguity, what man should and will achieve in this field..''<nowiki/>' and '''..it is difficult not to be impressed, when comparing the text of the Qur'an to the data of modern science, by statements that simply cannot be ascribed to the thought of a man who lived more than fourteen centuries ago..''<nowiki/>' Ignoring all previous [https://quranx.com/tafsirs/55.33 commentaries] on the verse with much simpler explanations. A full analysis can be found [https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/The_Conquest_of_Space#cite_note-9 here]. | |||
And even outright making up new meanings to fit modern science. For example in his response book '[https://archive.org/details/quran-bible-campbell/%5BDr_William_Campbell%5D_The_Qur%27an_and_the_Bible_in_%28z-lib.org%29/page/183/mode/2up The Quran and the Bible in the light of history and science]', Dr William Campbell, a Christian apologist defending the Gospels, here writing what he believes is a full refutation of Maurice's books and methods, and points out that Maurice argues against the standard translation of [https://quranx.com/86.5 Quran 86:5-7]: | |||
{{Quote|{{Quran|86|5-7}}|5. So let man observe from what he was created. | |||
6. He was created from a fluid, ejected, | |||
7. Emerging from between the backbone and the ribs.}} | |||
Which seemingly repeats incorrect theories about reproduction at the time, by quoting a high-ranking Muslim doctor for the 'correct' way to understand the verse, giving Arabic words a new meaning not containing any previous dictionary or literature, as William Campbell states below: | |||
{{Quote|'The Quran and the Bible in the light of history and science'. William F. Campbell. Middle East Resources. 1993. PP183 - 184.|<i>'...and am indebted to Doctor A. K Giraud, Former Professor at the Faculty of Medicine, Beruit, for the following: | |||
' (Man was fashioned from a liquid poured out. it issued (as a result) of the conjunction of the sexual area of the man and the sexual area of the woman.' | |||
"The sexual area of the man is indicated in the text of the Qur'an by the word 'sulb' (singular). The sexual areas of the woman are designated in the Qur'an by the word 'tara'ib' (plural). | |||
"This is the translation which appears to be the most satisfactory." </i> | |||
When compared however, with the five translations quoted above, it is clear that Dr Bucaille's suggestion is not a translation, nor even a paraphrase. it is an 'explanation' and 'interpretation' which rests on the following basic assumptions: | |||
a. <b>That the world 'sulb' can stand for the male sexual area. Though no examples of such as usage from the 1st century for Islam have been given.</b> | |||
b. That the phrase '(as a result) of the conjunction' can be found in the two Arabic words 'min ban' which literally mean 'from between'. | |||
c. That the word 'tara'ib' can mean 'the sexual areas of the woman'. | |||
This last word occurs exactly one time in the Qur'an and you cannot establish a meaning with one usage. The dictionaries of Wehr, Abdel-Nour and Kasimirski mentions (a) the chest, (b) the upper part of the chest between the breasts and clavicles, and (c) the ribs, and Abdel-Nour includes (d) the euphemistic extension to the breasts. It can also include the neck up to the chin and speak poetically of the area for a woman's necklace. | |||
<b>No dictionary includes the female genital area, and Dr Bucaille has given no examples from literature to support his idea.</b> He seems to be fulfilling his own complain against other. he is trying to 'camouflage' (his problems) with dialectical acrobatics".}} | |||
==See Also== | ==See Also== | ||