conclusion

returning one final time to the subject of good guesses for

the purpose of the present example, the odds that someone

guessed correctly about all three of the aforementioned

subjects - the sex of bees, the movement of the sun and the

existence of time zones - are one in eight!

certainly, one could continue on and on with this

example, drawing up longer and longer list of good guesses; and of course, the odds would become higher and higher with each increase of subjects about which one

could guess. but what no one can deny is the following:

the odds that muhammad (saw), an illiterate, guessed correctly about thousands and thousands of subjects,

never once making a mistake, are so high that any theory

of his authorship of the quran must be completely

dismissed - even by the most hostile enemies of islam!

indeed, the quran expects this kind of challenge.

undoubtedly, if one said to someone upon entering a foreign land, "i know your father. i have met him," probably the man from that land would doubt the

newcomer's word, saying, "you have just come here. how could you know my father?" as a result, he would question him, "tell me, is my father tall, short, dark, fair?

what is he like?" of course, if the visitor continued

answering all of the questions correctly, the skeptic would

have no choice but to say, "i guess you do know my

father. i don't know how you know him, but i guess you do!"

the situation is the same with the quran. it states that it

originates from the one who created everything. so everyone has the right to say, "convince me! if the author

of this book really originated life and everything in the

heavens and on the earth, then he should know about

this, about that, and so on." and inevitably, after researching the quran, everyone will discover the same truths. additionally, we all know something for sure: we

do not all have to be experts to verify what the quran

affirms. one's iman (faith) grows as one continues to check

and confirm the truths contained in the quran. and one is

supposed to do so all of his life.

may god (allah) guide everyone close to the truth.

addendum

an engineer at the university of toronto who was

interested in psychology and who had read something on

it, conducted research and wrote a thesis on efficiency of

group discussions. the purpose of his research was to

find out how much people accomplish when they get

together to talk in groups of two, three, ten, etc. the graph of his findings goes up and down at places, but it reaches the highest point at the variable of two. the findings: people accomplish most when they talk in groups of two.

of course, this discovery was entirely beyond his

expectations, but it is very old advice given in the quran

(surah saba 34:46):

"say, 'i exhort you to one thing - that you stand for

allah, [assessing the truth] by twos and singly, and

then reflect...'"