Maulana Wahiduddin Khan I New Age of Islam I February 27, 2015
Hazrat Abu Dharr al-Ghifari says that the Prophet would impart knowledge to his Companions even while observing a bird swaying its wings in the sky. (Ibn Sad)
For a bird to fly in the air is, of course, a major sign of God’s power. In ancient times, this sign of God’s power was simply a mysterious belief. But today it can be understood as a scientific phenomenon.
Airplanes fly in the air, from one place to another. To facilitate this, they require a huge external infrastructure, at their points of both take-off and landing. Without this infrastructure, they cannot fly.
Birds, however, do not require any such external infrastructure to fly from place to place. They fly on their own—a wonderful sign of God’s amazing power.
Modern science has provided us with a new framework to understand the reality of things. This framework has made it possible for us to understand things on a rationally-accepted basis, things that people earlier thought of as mysteries. This change of age has opened up new, unending expanses of knowledge for the realization of God and increasing one’s faith.
In the 7th century CE, the Quran (41:53) predicted the advent of this modern scientific age in the following words:
We shall show them Our signs in the universe and within themselves, until it becomes clear to them that this is the Truth.