Commission on Scientific Signs in the Quran and Sunnah

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The Commission on Scientific Signs in the Quran and Sunnah is an organization established by Sheikh Abdul Majeed al-Zindani with the backing of the Muslim World League in 1984 in Saudi Arabia. In AH 1423 (2002-2003) the commission changed its name to The World Commission on Scientific Signs of the Qur'an and Sunnah and Dr. Abdullah al-Muslih became its general secretary.^[1]

1 Aims and activities
2 Controversy
3 See also
4 Sources
5 References

[edit] Aims and activities

The commission describes its mission as "showing, verifying and publishing Scientific Signs" found in the Quran and Sunna,^[2] an endeavor that has also been described as attempting to prove that "the Qur'an prophesied the Big Bang theory, space travel and other contemporary scientific breakthroughs," or Bucailleism.^[3]

Among other activities the commission has organized eight International Conferences on Scientific Signs in the Qur'an and Sunnah as of 2006.^[4] The first held in Islamabad in 1987, attended by "200 Muslim delegates from all over the world" and funded "by the Pakistani state to the tune of a couple of million dollars."^[5] At the seventh conference in Dubai, "more than 150 scientists and researchers" attended.^[6] One of the highlights at the Eighth International Conference in Kuwait was the announcement of a possible cure for AIDS based on "a herbal extract that was prescribed in the Prophetic Sunnah for the treatment of other ailments."^[7]

The debut of a 14-volume Encyclopedia on the Scientific Signs in the Qur'an and Sunnah has also been announced by the International Commission on the Scientific Signs in the Qur'an and Sunnah. The encyclopedia has been "partially translated into English", with hopes for translation into "18 other languages."^[8]

[edit] Controversy

A criticism made of the commission is that in its enthusiasm to prove evidence in favor of Qur'anic scientific miracles “is clear and obvious, as it is testified by a group of eminent non-Muslim scholars in several fields”^[9] it has spread misleading, out-of-context statements by several of these non-Muslim scholars.^[3]

In 1984, a member of the commission, Mustafa Abdul Basit Ahmed, moved to the United States to recruit non-Muslim Western scientists to verify the miraculous signs of the Quran. However, in a 2002 story^[3] in the American newspaper Wall Street Journal, several non-Muslim scientists spoke of questionable practices used by the commission to coax statements from them, such as false promises to be “completely neutral,” or hard-sell interviews by Sheikh Abdul Majeed al-Zindani.

Marine scientist William Hay complained of having fallen into a "trap" in interviews, while embryologist Gerald Goeringer claimed "mutual manipulation" between the scientists and conference organizers. Embryologist Keith L. Moore who had an edition of his textbook financed by Saudi Bucailleists and "concluded that God had revealed the Quran to Muhammad," declined to be interviewed telling the newspaper, “it’s been 10 or 11 years since I was involved in the Quran.”^[3]