Bible And Quran In The Light Of Science

"Qur'an and Bible in the light of Science" between Dr. William Campbell and Dr. Zakir Naik From the earliest days of Islam there have been numerous Christian-Muslim interactions, dialogues and debates. There are authentic reports about a Christian delegation's visit to Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) in Madinah where they were lodged in the Masjid-e-Nabawi. Then there were the written dialogues of Imam Ibn Taimiyya and Paul of Antioch. The 1800s saw the famous Agra debates between Maulana Rehmatullah Kairanwi and Rev. Paul Pffander. Of course debates of more recent times between Sheikh Ahmed Deedat vs. Jimmy Swaggart, Anis Shorrosh, Pastor Stainley Sjoberg, etc. are well known. Continuing this same spirit of interaction, two renowned scholars of these faiths, both medical doctors armed with an enormous amount of knowledge about each others' religions, agreed to hold talks on the topic "Qur'an and Bible in the light of Science". Dr. William Campbell, a medical doctor and a missionary, who has spent almost his whole life in North Africa and speaks fluent Arabic, has written a response to Dr. Maurice Bucaille's "The Bible, Qur'an and Science". Dr. Bucaille's book established that Qur'anic teachings are in conformity with modern scientific findings while the Biblical teachings are not. Dr. Campbell wrote a book with the title "The Qur'an and the Bible in the light of History and Science" in which he has asserted that Qur'anic verses are unscientific where as the passages from the Bible are scientific. In his book, Dr. Campbell also challenged the Muslims to refute his assertions. This challenge was accepted by Dr. Zakir Naik, President of Islamic Research Foundation, Mumbai, India. Dr. Naik, barely 34 years old, has sacrificed his medical practice and is actively involved in Da'wah work (conveying the Message of Islam) all over the world. He explains the teachings of Islam in the light of the teachings of the Qur'an, Sahih Hadith and reason, logic and science. Sheikh Ahmed Deedat has called Dr. Naik, 'Deedat Plus'. Dr. Naik has delivered numerous lectures and held many dialogues and trialogues with people belonging to other faiths. He has a great ability to quote verbatim verses from the Qur'an, Bible, and the Vedas in Arabic, Hebrew and Sanskrit respectively. His spontaneous and convincing answers to questions at the end of his talks have received universal acclaim by people belonging to all faiths. Both these renowned scholars had a public dialogue on the topic "The Bible and the Qur'an in the light of Science" on Saturday, April 01, 2000 in Skokie, Illinois, USA. In this historic event of epic proportions, Dr. Zakir Naik emerged as a winner in his dialogue with Dr. William Campbell. Dr. Zakir Naik literally took the air out of missionary assertions that Dr. Campbell is unsurpassable by any one. In this sold out event which was held in Skokie, a suburb of Chicago IL, people were fighting and trying all that they could do to gain admission in the 1500 capacity auditorium. Extra police had to be called outside the venue for crowd control. This kind of event has never happened in Chicago. For this dialogue, people actually paid to attend the program even when the admission fees did not include any food. Dr. Campbell in his presentation spoke for an hour on the alleged incompatibilities in Qur'an relating to embryology, hydrology, geology, zoology etc. Dr. Naik responded by first refuting the alleged mistakes in the Qur'an and then later proving the compatibilities of the Qur'an in other scientific fields like astronomy, hydrology, geology, oceanology, medicine, embryology, etc. He also gave a list of 22 scientific errors in the Bible. Dr. Campbell in his rebuttal however could attempt to answer only two of them and that too in a superficial manner. However these replies by Dr. Campbell were later refuted by Dr. Zakir. Dr. William Campbell in his complete presentation (including the talk and the rebuttal) only mentioned two scientific points in the Bible, both of which were proved to be unscientific later by Dr. Zakir Naik. Dr. Zakir Naik in his rebuttal, besides refuting the pending alleged mistakes in the Qur'an, pointed out an additional 10-15 scientific errors in the Bible for which there are no answers. During the rebuttal and subsequent question and answer sessions, Dr. Campbell repeatedly confessed that he was in trouble and that he had no answers to some questions that he was asked. On the other hand, Dr. Naik's convincing answers to each and every question that was posed to him was widely appreciated. On a humorous note, Dr. Naik challenged Dr. Campbell to prove himself a true Christian by just reading the phrase 'one hundred rupees' in the seventeen languages of India as is depicted on a hundred rupee note of India - in this context, Dr. Naik referred to the claim of the Bible that true Christians can speak in new foreign languages. Dr. Campbell was speechless at this. He later returned the hundred rupee note when Dr. Naik presented him with a copy of his newly released book, 'The Qur'an and Modern Science - Compatible or Incompatible?.' This book authored by Dr. Naik was released by noted Islamic Scholar from Canada, Dr. Jamal Badawi, who was also present at the event. Dr. William Campbell's use of overhead and video projection was

no match for Dr. Zakir Naik's charismatic and convincing oratory. A humble Dr. Naik attributed this success to Allah, the Most High. After watching Dr. Zakir Naik in action, many youth expressed a keen desire to attend the Mumbai-based Islamic Research Foundation's Da'wah workshops. Dr. Zakir is the President of this foundation and has designed, developed and conducted several Da'wah training workshops. Another unique feature of this program was that people of all ages, races and gender equally participated and lauded the superlative performance of Dr. Zakir Naik. Many people who had earlier expressed apprehensions about this dialogue came out supporting it in the end. All who witnessed this historic dialogue will not forget it for a long time to come. This dialogue was organised by the Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA). Released by ICNA, Chicago, USA