the smallest thing

many centuries before the onset of muhammad’s prophethood, there was a well-known theory of atomism advanced by the greek philosopher, democritus. he and the people who came after him assumed that matter consists of tiny, indestructible, indivisible particles called atoms. the arabs too, used to deal in the same concept; in fact, the arabic word “dharrah” commonly referred to the smallest particle known to man. now, modern science has discovered that this smallest unit of matter (i.e., the atom, which has all of the same properties as its element) can be split into its component parts. this is a new idea, a development of the last century; yet; interestingly enough, this information had already been documented in the quran (surah saba’, 34:3) which states:

“he [i.e., allah] is aware of an atom’s weight in the heavens and on the earth and even anything smaller than that...”

undoubtedly, fourteen centuries ago that statement would have looked unusual, even to an arab. for him, the dharrah was the smallest thing existing. indeed, this is proof, that the quran is not outdated.