Tafsir al Tustari: [7:172] And remember when your Lord took from the Children of Adam, from their loins, their seeds, and made them testify about themselves…

He [Sahl al Tustari] said: Allah, Exalted is He, took the prophets from the loins of Adam (while he was still in Heaven), and then He extracted from the back of each prophet his progeny in a molecular form [lit. in the shape of specks] possess- ing intellects (ʿuqūl). Then he took from the prophets their pledge (mīthāq), as is stated in His words, We took from the prophets their pledge: as (We did) from you and from Noah [33:7]. The Covenant that they were bound to was that they would convey from God, Exalted is He, His commandments and prohibitions. Then He called them all to affirm His lordship, with His words, Exalted is He: ‘Am I not your Lord?’ Then He manifested His omnipotence [to them], so They said: ‘Yes, we testify’ [7:172].25 Thus did God gather what He wanted (murād) from His creatures, and the beginning and end that was in store for them in their saying ‘Yes’, since this was in the manner of a trial (ibtilāʾ).26 Indeed, God, Exalted is He, said: And His Throne was upon the water, that He might try you [11:7]. He also made the prophets testify for themselves as a proof (ḥujjatan), as God, Exalted is He, has said, and made them testify concerning themselves (first).

Then He returned them to the loins of Adam, and subsequently He sent the prophets (to mankind) to remind them of His Pact and Covenant (on that day). Furthermore, within His knowledge on the day when they affirmed what they affirmed, were those who would deny it and those who would verify it,27 and the last hour will not arrive until every person who made the Covenant has appeared.

He (Imam Tustari) was asked, ‘What are the signs of happiness (saʿāda) and wretchedness (shaqāwa)?’28 He (Imam Tustari) said:

Truly, among the signs of wretchedness is the denial of His omnipotence, and truly among the signs of happiness is the expansiveness of your heart in faith,29 your being provided with riches in your heart, protection in obedience, and success in renouncing [the world] (zuhd). Whoever is inspired with propriety (adab) in that which is between him and God, Exalted is He, will be purified of heart, and bestowed with happiness. There is nothing more exacting than preserving propriety.

He was asked, ‘What is propriety?’ [He answered]:

[It is that you should] let your food be barley, your sweetmeat dates, your condiment salt, your fat yoghurt. You should let your clothes be of wool, your houses be mosques, your source of light the sun, your lamp the moon, your perfume water, your splendour cleanliness, and your adornment wariness (ḥadhr). Moreover, you should let your work consist in being content (irtiḍāʾ) — or he said contentment (riḍā) — , your journey’s provision (zād) be mindfulness of God (taqwā), your eating be at night, your sleep in the day, your speech be remembrance (dhikr), your resolve (ṣamma) and your aspiration (himma) be for contemplation (tafakkur),30 your reflective thought (naẓar) be to take example (ʿibra),31 and your refuge (maljaʾ) and the one who helps you (nāṣir) be your Lord. Persevere in this until you die.32

He also said:

Three of the signs of wretchedness (shaqāwa) are that a person misses the congregational prayer while he is close to the mosque; that he misses the congregational prayer while in Medina; and that he misses the Hajj while he is in Mecca.

[Returning to the interpretation of the verse 7:172], Imam Sahl al Tustari said:

There is no one who is not overcome by Iblīs, may God curse him, or captured by him, save the prophets, and the veracious (ṣiddīqūn), whose hearts bear witness to their faith according to their [different] stations (maqāmāt), and who know that God observes them in all their states. Furthermore, according to the measure of their witnessing (mushāhada), they experience trial[s] (ibtilāʾ), and according to the measure of their experience of trials, they seek protection. Likewise according to the measure of their poverty (faqr) and need (fāqa) for Him,34 they recognise harm (ḍurr) and benefit (naf ʿ), and increase in knowledge (ʿilm), understanding (fahm) and reflective thought (naẓar).

Then he said:

God has not placed a burden of service (khidma) upon any of the prophets as great as that which he placed upon our Prophet. Furthermore, there is not a position of service in which God, Exalted is He, has been served by the children of Adam up to the time when He sent our Prophet, in which our Prophet has not served God.

Columbus is viewed as the discoverer of the New World, the Americas in 1492. On his voyage he brought with him a copy of Al-Idrissi’s works that mentioned the discovery of a new continent by eight Muslim explorers.

“Christopher Columbus embarked on four journeys to the New World, between 1492 and 1502. This was the period between the fall of the Islamic Andalus city of Granada and the final expulsion of Muslims from Spain between 1492 and 1609. During this period there where an estimated 500,000 Muslims and Moriscos, that is, Muslims who had been forcibly converted to Christianity under the Spanish inquisition to purge Spain of Islam. It is not surprising that quite a few found their way to the New World who had Knowledge of earlier Islamic Maps.”

“On his first voyage he had two captains of Muslim origin in charge of ships traveling with him, Martin Alonso Pinzon, the captain of the Pinta, and his brother Vicente Pinzon the captain of the Nina. The Pinzon family were related to Abuzayan Muhammad III, the Moroccan Sultan of the Marinid Dynasty (1196 – 1465). Franciso Pinzon was the third of the Pinzon brothers to sail with Columbus in 1492, Franciso served as the pilot of the Pinta”

“Rodrigo de Trana also known as Rodrigo de Lepe after a town in Al Andalus sailed with Columbus on his first voyage. He was recorded as being the first on the ship to sight land. Rodrigo was born a Christian, but on his return to Spain in 1493 he converted to Islam, and this was against the backdrop of the Spanish Inquisition and the persecution of Moriscos and Muslims.”

Al-Idrisi whose full name was Abu Abd Allah Muhammad al-Idrisi was born in Ceuta Spain in 1099, He received his education in Cordoba, then flourished at the Norman court in Palermo (Italy). He combined his own findings with the available knowledge of his time and became famous for his comprehensive knowledge of all parts of the world.

“Al-Idrisi constructed a circular world map of pure silver that weighed approximately 400 kilograms and precisely recorded on it the seven continents with trade routes, lakes and rivers, major cities, plains and mountains.” Christopher Columbus used Al-Idrisi’s work and relied on Muslim knowledge of the Globe on his voyage.

“The great Muslim historian and geographer, Abu al-Hasan al-Masudi wrote in 956 of a voyage in 889 from al-Andalus (Muslim Spain). The voyage left from the port of Delba (the same place Columbus’’s voyage would begin) and sailed for months westward. They eventually found a large landmass across the ocean where they traded with the natives, and then returned to Europe. Al-Masudi records this land across the ocean in his famous map and refers to it as “the unknown land”.”

Through history two more voyages from Muslim Spain to the Americas are recorded. One was in 999 and was led by Ibn Farrukh, from Granada. The other is recorded by al-Idrisi, He wrote of a group of Muslims who sailed west from Lisbon for 31 days and landed on an island in the Caribbean. They were taken prisoner by the Native Americans on that island for a few days. Eventually, they were freed when a translator who lived among the natives, that spoke Arabic, arranged for their release. They eventually sailed back to al-Andalus and told their tale. The important part of this account is the existence of an Arabic speaker among the natives, indicating that there must have been more unrecorded contact between the Arab world and the Americas.”

“There is another part of the Muslim world that had contact with the Americas before Columbus. In West Africa in the 1300s, a powerful and incredibly wealthy empire called Mali existed. The most famous leader of this empire was Mansa (king) Musa, and the most memorable event of his reign was his epic hajj journey in 1324.”

“Mansa Musa had passed through Cairo making his pilgrimage to Mecca with thousands of slaves and soldiers, wives and officials. One hundred camels each carried one hundred pounds of gold. Mansa Musa performed many acts of charity and “flooded Cairo with his kindness.” So much gold was spent in the markets of Cairo that it actually upset the gold market around the world well into the next century. Mali’s gold was important all over the world, in the later Medieval period, West Africa may have been producing almost two-thirds of the world’s supply of gold!” which gave rise to legends such as king solomon’s mines.

“The caravan of over 60,000 people made an impression everywhere they went, including Egypt, where Mansa Musa told the story of how he came to power. His brother, Abu Bakr was the Mansa before he was. During his reign, Abu Bakr sent a fleet of 400 ships to explore the Atlantic Ocean. Only 1 ship returned, but reported that they found a land across the ocean. Mansa Abu Bakr then outfitted a fleet of 2000 ships, which he sailed with personally, they sailed west into the ocean, and were never heard from again, this may have been the origins of the africans now found in the Caribbean.”

“While there is no record in Mali of the result of that voyage, there is evidence of their arrival in the Americas. There are numerous archaeological sites in North and South America that attest to that Malian presence. Early Spanish explorers and pirates recorded abandoned cities in Brazil that had inscriptions identical to the language of the Mandinka (the people of Mali). More inscriptions in the Mandinka language were found in the United States as well. ”

“Once he got to the Americas, Columbus records numerous examples of Muslims already present. He commented on the gold that the natives had, which was made the same way, in the same alloy, as the Muslims of West Africa. Furthermore, Columbus records that the native word in that area for gold is guanin, which is very similar to the Mandinka word for gold, ghanin, and probably comes from the Arabic word for wealth, ghina’.”

“In 1498, Columbus recorded seeing a ship loaded with goods, heading towards America, filled with Africans who were probably on their way to trade with Native Americans. Columbus also records in his own personal journal that Native Americans told him of black Africans who came regularly to trade with them.Columbus knew that he was not the first to cross the Atlantic Ocean” and the Idea of being first was not his priority, it was to enrich his country and the rule of his Queen.

In 1929, a discovery was made in Istanbul, Turkey, of a map drawn in the year 1513 by the Ottoman cartographer Ahmed Muhiddin Piri (d.1553). “Piri wrote that his map was based on earlier sources, including ancient Greek and Arabic maps, including maps by Christopher Columbus, who had sailed only 21 years earlier. What is remarkable about this map is the level of detail of the map, which forced historians to re-evaluate the Columbus theory of exploration.”

“The map clearly shows the eastern coast of South America, which is in the correct position with regards to Africa. The coast of Brazil is shown in incredible detail, with many rivers accurately placed on the map. Although Piri used Columbus’s maps as a source, Columbus never went to South America, so Piri must have gotten that from earlier Muslim maps that he used as sources. Furthermore, Piri’s map includes the Andes Mountains, which were not even explored by Europeans until the 1520s, a full decade after the drawing of Piri’s map!”

“The part played by Muslims in the development of the social sciences has been very important. A remarkable characteristic of Muslim science is the rapidity of its development. The Qur’an was the first book ever written in the Arabic language. Scarcely two hundred years later, this language of the illiterate Bedouins developed into one of the richest in the world, later to become not only the richest of all languages of the time, but also an international language for all sorts of sciences.”

“The first Muslims were almost all Arabs, yet with the exception of their language, which was the repository of the Word of Allah and of His Prophet, they effaced their own personality, under the influence of Islam, in order to receive in Islam all races on the basis of absolute equality. Therefore it is that all races have participated in the progress of the “Islamic” sciences: Arabs, Iranians, Greeks, Turks, Abyssinians, Berbers, Indians, and others, who have embraced Islam. Their religious tolerance was so great, and the patronage of learning so perfect, that Christians, Jews, Magians, Buddhists and others collaborated with a view to enrich the Muslim sciences, not only in the domain of their respective religious literature, but also in other branches of learning. Arabic had spread more widely than any other language of the world, since it was the official language of the Muslim State whose territory extended from China to Spain.”

As man progressed through time He began to notice aspects about creation which caused him to investigate them further, in the current time we live in, an age where everything is investigated for the sake of exploitation the wonderment that existed in previous ages has ceased to be, and the age in which man needed guidance on what part of creation to study, has since passed, the major discoveries regarding the old beliefs of the world have already been made. So the verses of the Quran encouraging man to investigate the world, should be understood in that light, they were a cause for initially directing man to what he should investigate in creation. The world was seen in a general sense before the revelation of the Qur’an, a tree was a tree and water was water, but these verses made specific mention of dimensions not commonly considered before and the impact on society this had would be world changing.

How these great minds of the Islamic Ummah contemplated Allah’s signs in creation, an old manner of seeing the science behind the Universe can’t be illustrated better than in the works of Imam al Ghazali (died 1111) who combined many fields of knowledge to understand Allah and His creation.

Imam al Ghazali wrote about the possibility of an afterlife using Fluid Dynamics, he said, “It is not necessary that every preceding revolution of the heavenly bodies should resemble the one following it…If we throw a stone in water, a circular wave is produced, if we throw another stone immediately after the first one, it is not necessary that the same form of the wave would follow, since we threw the first stone in the standing water, and the second in the moving water. Decidedly the second form (the way the water now looks) would be different from the first. In this case, the cause is the same (a thrown stone), but the effect is different, because some of the properties of the standing water mixed with those of the moving water.

Therefore, it can be safely inferred that a time may come which is different from all other times which have passed. So we can easily comprehend what Resurrection really means. Religion teaches us to believe in it which will be accompanied by the resurrection of life. You should, therefore, believe in the resurrection of the dead and the Day of Judgment, both of which have been mentioned in the traditions. They are real and belief in them is obligatory, because, according to reason, they are possible. They signify restoration to life after death, which, like the first act of creation, is within the power of Allah.” (Taken from Mysteries of the Human Soul).

The Imam illustrated that it isn’t necessary that creation has no end since change is always occurring and the consequences of similar actions will result in different effects because the environment they occur in is always changing.

Because the Qur’an caused Muslim Scholars to contemplate these signs and all the Phenomena of nature, sciences like astronomy and mathematics became important throughout the Islamic World in a manner never seen before on Earth. The Qur’an made a connection between Mathematics and astronomy about which Allah revealed;

“We made the night and the day as two signs, then darkened the night and made the daylight for seeing, for you to seek your Lord’s bounty and to know how to count the years and calculate. We have explained everything in detail.” (Al Qur’an 17:12)

“He is the Rabb (Lord) of Ash-Shera (the mighty star, Sirius)”,53:49.

“The sun and the moon run their courses according to a fixed reckoning and calculation.” (Al Qur’an 55:6)

The Arabic word used in this verse is “Bi Hisabun” the word for mathematics in Arabic has the same root as this word.

Islamic scholars took ideas from the Qur’an and investigated them, they then developed and discovered areas of knowledge never considered before.

An example of scientific development under Islam can be seen from the life of Muhammad Ibn Al Khwarzimi (d.840) one of Islam’s and the Worlds Greatest Mathematicians and Scientist, He was the founder of several branches and basic concepts of mathematics, he is also famous as an astronomer and geographer, He developed Algebra (derived from the word al Jabr) in his book Hisab al-jabr w’al-muqabala to solve problems posed by the Islamic laws of Inheritance. Al-Khwarizmi influenced mathematical thought around the world to a greater extent than any other medieval writer. He is recognized as the founder of Algebra, as he not only initiated the subject in a systematic form but also developed it to the extent of giving analytical solutions of linear and quadratic equations.

Algebra is one of the foundations of Modern Mathematics which almost all calculations use in order to develop and design anything from Computers and software to Buildings, Planes and Cars it is used extensively in all fields of Engineering whose role in the modern world is to invent, design and create most things we use. He developed in detail trigonometric tables containing the sine functions, which were later extrapolated to tangent functions. Al-Khwarizmi also developed the calculus of two errors, which led him to the concept of differentiation, and He also refined the geometric representation of conic sections.

The influence of Al-Khwarizmi on the growth of mathematics, astronomy and geography is well established in history as his work was widely adopted throughout the world. His approach was systematic and logical, and not only did he bring together the then prevailing knowledge on various branches of science but also enriched it through his original contributions. He adopted the use of zero, a numeral of fundamental importance, leading up to the so-called arithmetic of positions and the decimal system, prior to this Zero was not known around the world and decimal numbers did not exist limiting mans understanding of what Mathematics can do.

His pioneering work on the system of numerals is well known as “Algorithm,” or “Algorizm.” In addition to introducing the Arabic numerals, he developed several arithmetical procedures, including operations on fractions.

The foundation of modern computers is software which uses computer language to instruct the computer on how the software should behave, people who write this software use a method for this known as algorithms without which no complex software in the world toady can exist, Al-Khwarizmi wrote a treatise on Hindu-Arabic numerals, the Arabic text is lost but a Latin translation, Algoritmi de numero Indorum (in English Al-Khwarizmi on the Hindu Art of Reckoning) gave rise to the word algorithm derived from his name.

“In addition to an important treatise on Astronomy, Al-Khwarizmi wrote a book on astronomical tables. Several of his books were translated into Latin in the early l2th century. The treatises on Arithmetic, Kitab al-Jam’a wal-Tafreeq bil Hisab al-Hindi, and the one on Algebra, Al-Maqala fi Hisab-al Jabr wa-al-Muqabilah, are known only from Latin translations. It was this later translation which introduced the new science to the West “unknown till then” and who were stuck with roman numerals for a long time, which hindered even basic accounting. This book was used until the sixteenth century as the principal mathematical text book of European universities. His astronomical tables were also translated into European languages and, later, into Chinese.”

“The contribution of Al-Khwarizmi to geography is also outstanding. He not only revised Ptolemy’s views on geography, but also corrected them in detail. Seventy geographers worked under Khwarizmi’s leadership and they produced the first map of the globe (known world) in 830 C.E. He is also reported to have collaborated in the degree measurements, ordered by the Khalif Mamun al-Rashid, they were aimed at measuring the volume and circumference of the earth. His geography book entitled “Kitab Surat-al-Ard,” including maps, was also translated into other languages around the world from which many latter maps of the world would rely on.

Abu Huraira related that Allah’s Apostle said referring to the Quran, “I have been sent with the shortest expressions bearing the widest meanings, and I have been made victorious with ru’b (awe and fear, cast into the hearts of the enemy), and while I was sleeping, the keys of the treasures of the world were brought to me and put in my hand.” Abu Huraira added: Allah’s Apostle has left the world and now you, people, are bringing out those treasures. (Bukhari)

If intellectual strength was solely what gave mankind the ability to judge truth from falsehood, then uneducated people would be incapable of judging the truth and knowing right from wrong, yet the Qur’an is for all mankind not just the intelligent. The truth and essence of any matter is felt in a persons heart and it is what guides all mankind towards their actions. This is why Rasul Allah (saws) said “I have been sent with the shortest expressions bearing the widest meanings”, the simple minded can understand the expressions and the essence of what they mean through the descriptive imagery they employ, and the knowledgable people can derive knowledge from them as they understand their depths, in this way all society benefited from the Quran’s guidance.

Over the last 1400 years of Islam, Muslim Scholars took from the Qur’an, which was revealed in stages over 23 years, between 609 AD and 632 AD, knowledge that helped shape the Islamic and Modern world.

Until the mid 19^th century When the last Islamic Khalifah, the Ottomans, began to decline and Europe began referring to it as a sick man, in anticipation of one day finally surpassing it technologically having spent centuries in it’s shadow, Islam had advanced the entire world in all areas of knowledge lifting it from the dark ages much of it was in.

By only the 9^th century muslim scientist’s had discovered the world was round and in comparison to Europe, the masses embraced the notion and took it for granted, Ibn Hazm said its proof was “that the Sun is always vertical to a particular spot on Earth”, meaning if you where to follow the sun to where you perceived it to be setting, you would always find it vertical (up in the sky) to that location even though from your original location it may appear to be setting, that notion dawned on Galileo 500 years later.

“The debate in those days, was about, exactly how large was the earth. In the early 800s, the Abbasid Caliph al-Ma’mun assembled the brightest minds of the day (including al-Khawarizmi) in Baghdad who calculated the earth’s circumference and were off by only 4% of it’s actual size.”

Muslim scientist measured its circumference at 40,253.4 Km, less than 200 Km from the exact figure in accuracy, many scientific advances in the Islamic world occurred because of this, and hence over the years one scientific discovery built upon another scientific discovery, for almost 1300 years.

Many verses in the Quran point to the nature of things in the Universe, “He it is who has made the sun a

Islam methodically encouraged people to think about creation and its creator, Allah mentions all the laws of creation, which He has encouraged us to think about in the Qur’an;

“And He imparted unto Adam the names of all things; then He brought them within the ken of the angels and said: “Declare unto Me the names of these [things], if what you say is true.”

They replied: “Limitless art Thou in Thy glory! No knowledge have we save that which Thou hast imparted unto us. Verily, Thou alone art all-knowing, truly wise.”

Said He: “O Adam, convey unto them the names of these [things].” And as soon as [Adam] had conveyed unto them their names, [Allah] said: “Did I not say unto you, `Verily, I alone know the hidden reality of the heavens and the earth, and know all that you bring into the open and all that you would conceal’?”(2:31-33)

“And He taught Adam the names, that is, the names of things named, all of them, by placing knowledge of them into his heart; then He presented them…the majority of which concerned intellectual beings, to the angels and said, to them in reproach, ‘Now tell Me, inform Me, the names of these, things named, if you speak truly’, in your claim that I would not create anything more knowledgeable than you (Angels), or that you are more deserving of this vicegerency (responsibility); the response to the conditional sentence is intimated by what precedes it.” (Tafsir al Jalalayn)

Allah says to his Angels who live in the Unseen part of our world and see what is veiled to us, “Did I not say unto you, `Verily, I alone know the hidden reality”, Ghayb al Samawati wal Ard, “of the Heavens and the Earth”, in other words how the heavens and the earth work and the laws they run by, Allah was referring to a type of Ghayb (Unseen reality) the Angels did not see which was the Laws of the Heavens and the Earth.

At that time, in response the Angels referred to their understanding of Mans nature when Allah mentioned He would make Man His Khalifah (vicegerent) on earth, but in reply to them Allah referred to the Nature of the Universe when He Answered them regarding Man, saying to them there is a connection between mans physiology, his body, that you are objecting about and the nature of the Universe, which you haven’t learnt yet, what this connection is lies in what Allah had granted Adam at that time, the names of all things, and had just shown the Angels.

“AND LO! Thy Sustainer said unto the angels: “Behold, I am about to establish upon earth (a Khalifah) one who shall inherit it.” They said: “Wilt Thou place on it such as will spread corruption thereon and shed blood -whereas it is we who extol Thy limitless glory, and praise Thee, and hallow Thy name?” [Allah] answered: “Verily, I know that which you do not know.”(2:30) Said He: “O Adam, convey unto them the names of these [things].” And as soon as [Adam] had conveyed unto them their names, [Allah] said: “Did I not say unto you, `Verily, I alone know the hidden reality of the heavens and the earth, and know all that you bring into the open and all that you would conceal’?”(2:31-33)

The Angels understood they where a perfect creation, this was their reality as flawless beings, because they where perfect they thought they were complete, they could not perceive how a creation more exalted than them could be created, so they came to believe they where the Highest of Allah’s creations and took this as a given, having seen none of his other creatures surpass them. In response to this Allah said to them I have created Man and in regards to him, you do not know the Hidden realities of the Heavens and the Earth, implying Mans connection to the hidden Laws of the universe, which through them He would surpass the Angels in worth, but not strength and ability.

This same shortsightedness Iblis (Satan) suffered from in regards to man, when He objected to Adam surpassing him, Allah asked him why He objected, He replied he was stronger than him, fire being able to burn clay, but the example Allah had just set was regarding knowledge not strength, Adam would become more knowledgeable than him while Satan was limited in what he was capable of understanding, He was a lessor creation, so He replied in terms of strength while the point Allah was making to the Angels and Jinn was regarding knowledge. Adam had a higher rank than the Angels because of knowledge, the one with more knowledge is better capable of knowing Allah, and that is the reason why Allah created the Universe, to know him.

This entire affair is regarding man’s body in relation to the Angels and Jinn’s bodies, Allah makes this clear in the Quran, “It is We Who created you and gave you shape; then We bade the angels bow down to Adam, and they bowed down; not so Iblis (Satan); He refused to be of those who bow down. (Allah) said: “What prevented thee from bowing down when I commanded thee?” He said: “I am better than he: Thou didst create me from fire, and him from clay.” (Allah) said: “Get thee down from this: it is not for thee to be arrogant here: get out, for thou art of the meanest (of creatures).” (7: 11–13)

In another verse Allah mentions the command (laws) in His creation, “VERILY, your Sustainer is Allah, who has created the heavens and the earth in six aeons, and is established on the throne of His almightiness. He covers the day with the night in swift pursuit, with the sun and the moon and the stars subservient to His command (Laws): oh, verily, His is all creation and all command (they are mentioned separately). Hallowed is Allah, the Sustainer of all the worlds! (In the Universe)” (7:54)

When Allah mentioned “all creation” along with “all command” the rules of tafsir say the matters relate to each other, so in fact Allah is referring to the Laws of creation which are his command in creation.