ask those who have knowledge

another interesting attitude that exists in the quran

repeatedly deals with its advice to the reader. the quran informs the reader about different facts and then gives the advice: "if you want to know more about this or that, or if

you doubt what is said, then you should ask those who

have knowledge." this too is a surprising attitude. it is not usual to have a book that comes from someone without training in geography, botany, biology, etc., who discusses these subjects and then advises the reader to ask men of

knowledge if he doubts anything. yet in every age there have been muslims who have followed the advice of the quran and made surprising discoveries. if one looks to the

works ofmuslim scientistsof many centuries ago, one

will find them full of quotations from the quran. these

works state that they did research in such a place, looking for something. and they affirm that the reason they looked in such and such a place was that the quran

pointed them in that direction.

for example, the quran mentions man's origin and then

tells the reader, "research it!" it gives the reader a hint where to look and then states that one should find out

more about it. this is the kind of thing that muslims today

largely seem to overlook - but not always, as illustrated in

the following example