Do scientific miracles really exist in the Quran?

The discussion about scientific ‘miracles’ of the Quran can be very argumentative. I generally try to stay away from it, mainly because I’m not a very big believer of the scientific miracles of the Quran.

Some of the verses in the Quran appear to be very insightful (like human conception, life beginning from water, the concept of atom etc) but overall I don’t think the Quran contains extraordinary revelation about any branches of sciences (physical, biological, astronomy, quantum, etc).

Perhaps some Muslims have found some very extraordinary claims (interesting or mysterious) from the Quran and so they see this as something very ‘magical’ and hence it must be from the God, otherwise how on earth can someone even possibly know all those ‘scientific’ facts, some of them that only came into existence as recent as the 19th and 20th century.

See, this is the part that has always confuses me. The so-called scientific verses from the Quran are very interesting, no doubt, but they don’t really translate well into real scientific statements/facts/theories that is contained in the modern scientific corpus.

For e.g, A verse from the Quran claims that that the life began/originate from water. I would of course agree because if we had no water then human being would die from thirst, the livestock and animals would die and no plants could grow to sustain life for the benefit of human and non-human. So without a doubt, water is the most crucial source of life. This is intuitive.

The folks who seem to believe in the scientific miracles of the Quran claim that we cannot just look at the most obvious interpretation of that verse but go one step further, at the creation of life itself (or the origin of every living being on earth). And this is where I think the whole argument falls apart.

Science of creation of living being doesn’t really give you a nice one sentence statement. It is a very complex chemical and biological process way beyond the comprehension of most folks in which water may have played a small/big role depending on how you choose to look at.

I’m also aware that a lot of these Quranic verses are twisted and tweaked to fit in the ‘scientific’ description. For, eg there’s one verse that talked about how ‘the earth and sky/heaven were initially joined together’ but then it was split apart. Someone actually think that this verse is talking about the big bang theory of the Universe! Can you believe that?!

Moving on.

I’m not entirely sure but I think this ‘looking for sciences in the Quranic verses’ is a recent phenomenon. I remember reading about a book written by a Muslim convert (ex-Christian?) who was soo impressed by what he was reading in the Quran that he started to read way more than he should have. Yep, he ‘discovered’ interesting ‘scientific facts’. His book became a bestseller of some sorts in the Muslim World. Muslims were convinced that the Quran contains many hidden proofs/gems that matched exactly with the modern science. Maybe the convert who wrote that book had the purest of intention but the people who came later didn’t have the purest of intentions. I’m not going to name names but I think you can guess who those folks are.

Let’s now look into the ancient and medieval Muslim scientists who were making breakthrough scientific discoveries. Did they have a deeper connection to the Quran than at the surface level as we know it? Perhaps they were inspired by the book to ponder on the environment/nature they are living in, be curious and seek knowledge. People who are considered as ‘Quran experts’ (translators, historian and exegists) don’t go beyond the traditional methods. They may have utilized scientific process in their work but they could care less about anything specific from the realm of natural sciences.

The Middle East doesn't contribute much in the way of science

The Middle East has very little scientific output/contribution. This report here states the total contribution for worldwide scientific literature from the Middle East is embarrassingly in a low single digit. The two countries cited having the largest scientific contributions are Iran and Turkey.

The Arabian, Persian and Turkish Middle East produces only 4% of the world's scientific literature but output is growing rapidly, exceeding Asia and Latin America in rate of increase.

I've not read the complete report, just a summary of it done by a person who has read it.

We all know that once upon a time, most sciences and ground-breaking work originate from the region currently known as the Middle East. Of course everyone wants to know why the 'Islamic' Sciences declined.

I don't think anyone can pinpoint to a single cause or reason. I'm guessing that wars, politics, social issues, lack of resources (wealth/money/investment), human exploitation, Islamic radicalism and other meaningless pursuit in life might have much to do with the decline.

Moving on.

My favorite medieval Muslim scientist is Ibn al-Haytham (also known as AlHazen). I believe he's probably one of the people who has made significant contribution but has gotten very little recognition or credit for his work. The Wikipedia article seems to be very extensive in regards to his scientific contribution

The article is also mentioning something very interesting about his theological background and a quote ascribe to him about why sometimes the scientists succeed or fails

His religious background, not that it matters, is either Sunni, Shia or Mutazilla. There's also an interesting quote ascribe to him about why sometimes the scientists succeed or fails

Truth is sought for its own sake ... Finding the truth is difficult, and the road to it is rough. For the truths are plunged in obscurity. ... God, however, has not preserved the scientist from error and has not safeguarded science from shortcomings and faults. If this had been the case, scientists would not have disagreed upon any point of science...[11]

Alhazen described his theology:

I constantly sought knowledge and truth, and it became my belief that for gaining access to the effulgence and closeness to God, there is no better way than that of searching for truth and knowledge.[113]