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Quran and modern science compatible or incompatible

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3. PHYSICS<br />

ATOMS CAN BE DIVIDED<br />

In ancient times a well-known the<strong>or</strong>y by the name<br />

of ‘The<strong>or</strong>y of Atomism’ was widely accepted. This<br />

the<strong>or</strong>y was <strong>or</strong>iginally proposed by the Greeks, in<br />

particular by a scholar called Democritus, who lived<br />

about 23 centuries ago. Democritus <strong>and</strong> the people<br />

that came after him, assumed that the smallest unit<br />

of matter was the atom. The ancient Arabs used to<br />

believe the same. The Arabic w<strong>or</strong>d zarrah most<br />

commonly meant an atom. In recent times <strong>modern</strong><br />

<strong>science</strong> has discovered that it is possible to split<br />

even an atom. That the atom can be split further is<br />

a development of the 20th century. Fourteen<br />

centuries ago this concept would have appeared<br />

unusual even to an Arab. F<strong>or</strong> him the zarrah was<br />

the limit beyond which one could not go. The<br />

following Qur’anic verse however, refuses to<br />

acknowledge this limit:<br />

“The Unbelievers say,<br />

‘Never to us will come<br />

The Hour’:<br />

say, ‘Nay! but most surely,<br />

by my L<strong>or</strong>d,<br />

it will come upon you –

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