The Ancient Rivers of Egypt – A New Qur’anic Miracle

Let’s contemplate this new invention about ancient Egypt and the rivers and plants it had and how the Qur’an precisely talks about them…..

Scientists have recently proven that the historical places where the pyramids are found in Egypt were one day rich in rivers and forests and this scientific fact hasn’t been proven until the mid of 2012 according to a scientific study that lasted for several years. Amazingly, however, the holy Qur’an precisely talks about this fact 1,400 years ago; all glory to Allah, The Almighty.

Scientists’ Beliefs about Ancient Egypt

Scientists believed that the Pharaohs built the pyramids in dessert regions same as today’s region. This belief, however, has been proven wrong for scientists have long searched for the secrets of the pharaohs as well as the secrets behind building the pyramids and have studied and analyzed many inscriptions and manuscripts, but they haven’t found a scientific proof to reveal the type of environment that prevailed then.

It’s known that the pharaohs built their civilization more than five thousand years ago and they had great power and advanced techniques. They also studied chemistry, mummification, architecture, and astrology. Historical studies also reveal that people at that time lived in luxury, delight,and welfare and had a convenient environment for progress and prosperity.

New Historical and Scientific Studies

Researchers say that for the first time they have discovered that climate change is a key ingredient in the collapse of civilizations such as the pharaohs’ civilization in ancient Egypt 4,000 years ago (according to the Daily Mail, edition 29 May 2012). Professor LiviuGiosan together with a team of researchers conducted a thorough study that lasted for five years. Through satellite data, they discovered that the availability of rivers contributed to the establishment of these ancient civilizations and due to the demise of such rivers, the civilizations also demised and gradually disappeared over thousands of years.

In this study, archeologists connected the prosperity of civilizations to the availability of rivers in a certain region. The Arabian Desert, for instance, which stretches from Egypt to Libya and Algeria for thousands of kilometers, was one day prosperous and rivers flew in it.

Professor Michael Petraglia of Oxford University says that beneath these sands, there’s an enormous network of rivers which once fed the Egyptian civilization and which enabled the pharaohs to establish a great kingdom almost five thousand years ago.

In a recent study, (according to the Daily Mail, edition 17th August, 2012), researchers analyzed 7,000-year-old ancient pollen and charcoal samples and found that climate change and the drought of rivers led to the demise of the ancient Egyptian civilization.

The US Geological Survey USGS has revealed that even the mighty builders of the ancient pyramids and despite their strong civilization were unable to respond to a changing climate. The researchers have noticed the increase in charcoal levels at the time of drought due to fires. They also found large reductions of pollen signifying far fewer plants grew in that area.

Recent scientific studies tell us that the pharaohs carved these statues in a land that’s full of life and rich in water and trees, but the drought and climate change factors caused the displacement of its inhabitants and its desertification as well as the demise of most life forms.

Professor Benjamin Horton of Pennsylvania University confirms that the events that underwent ancient Egypt including civilization prosperity, climate change, the demise of rivers as well as the demise of this civilization, all such events are accurately recorded on the coal atoms and pollen grains and other microscopic creatures and if it weren’t for these records, we wouldn’t have been able to know all these past events.

All glory to Allah, The Exalted who preserved this information on the charcoal and pollen atoms and if it weren’t for them, we could have never been able to know the history of this region, but Allah who entrusted this data in the charcoal atoms is the same God who talks about it in the holy Qur’an.

A Great Qur’anic Indication

Now, having examined theses scientific studies which were first presented in 2012, let’s contemplate the holy Qur’an and the hadith, sayings, of Prophet Mohammad, PBUH, and how the holy Qur’an talked about this scientific fact fourteen centuries ago and see whether the holy Qur’an is in consistent with science or not? Let’s read…

1-The holy Qur’an talks about the story of the Pharaoh of Egypt and the luxury he enjoyed and the graces and good that Allah granted him in more than one verse, but the Pharaoh disbelieved in Allah, the almighty and was arrogant. Thus, Allah punished him for his sins and drowned him; Allah says in the holy Qur’an:

“And Pharaoh proclaimed among his people, saying: “O my people! does not the dominion of Egypt belong to me, (witness) these streams flowing underneath my (palace)? What! See ye not then?”Zukhruf: 43: 51

The miracle is in Allah’s saying: “these streams flowing…” which is an indication to the rivers of ancient Egypt, a fact that wasn’t known at the time of Qur’anic revelations.

Archeologists affirm that the ancient Egypt was rich in farms, plants, and fruit trees at the time of the pharaohs and they have come to this conclusion through the huge and miscellaneous amounts of pollen which they found hidden in the desert sands for seven thousand years.

Such scientific fact is also revealed in the holy Qur’an in the verses that talk about the story of the pharaoh and how Allah, the great expelled him from the luxury he enjoyed. Allah, the almighty says:

“So We expelled them from gardens, springs * Treasures, and every kind of honourable position;” Shur’araa or Poets: 26: 57-58

If we contemplate the above verse where it says “gardens, springs”, we’ll find a very obvious indication to the existence of springs and gardens, a fact that has been proven today by archeologists.

2-The new study affirms that the Arabian Desert in North Africa isn’t the only place where civilizations prospered due to rivers, forests, and meadows for there’s a region in the Empty Quarter desert in the Arabian Peninsula that had a network of rivers and civilizations that were buried beneath the desert’s sand.

There’s a great hadith, saying, for Prophet Mohammad, PBUH, which constitutes a prophetic miracle in which he asserts that the Arabian Peninsula was rich in rivers and meadows; Prophet Mohammad, PBUH, said: “the Day of Judgment won’t take place until the land of the Arabs returns to being pastures and rivers.”narrated by Imam Muslim.Scientific research says that climate cycle moves form one region to another and after a certain period of time, it will rain heavily in the Empty Quarter region which will make the rivers to be formed and the plants to grow just as they were five thousand years ago.

3-Scientists say that one of the key events that had a negative impact on ancient Egypt was the drought which struck Egypt 4,200 years ago and caused famines and played a role in the demise of the Kingdom of ancient Egypt. The waves of drought started to prevail in ancient Egypt continuously until they exhausted people. The beginning of such waves might have been almost 4,200 years ago.

Here, we recall the story of Prophet Joseph, PBUH, as it’s told in the holy Qur’an and the famine he predicted when he interpreted the king’s dream; Allah, the exalted says in the holy Qur’an:

“Then will come after that (period) seven dreadful (years), which will devour what ye shall have laid by in advance for them,— (all) except a little which ye shall have (specially) guarded.”Yusuf or Joseph: 12: 48

The question that needs be answered is how did Prophet Mohammad, PBUH, know about this famine which took place thousands of years ago and talked about it if he weren’t the messenger of Allah.

Professor Benjamin P. Horton carried out a geological survey in the pyramids region as well as Sphinx and found that the dessert in which such ancient monuments are found was one day full of life and rich in rivers, forests, plants, and various kinds of fruits. All Glory to Allah who told us about this scientific fact in the holy Quran in the verses that talk about the downfall of the Pharaoh, Allah says:

“How many were the gardens and springs they left behind, * And corn-fields and noble buildings,”Dukhan: 44:25-26

The above verse talks about plants, rivers, and fruits, but who could have told Prophet Mohammad, PBUH, of all this?

Finally, let’s wonder

How did Prophet Mohammad, PBUH, know that the Pharaoh lived in a non-desert environment although the environment in which Prophet Mohammad, PBUH, lived was a desert in the Arabian Peninsula and even the environment of the pyramids was also a desert at the time of Qur’anic revelations? How did he know that this region was rich in rivers?

In fact, these verses prove the Qur’anic inimitability at this time and in today’s world and constitutes a scientific response to all those who claim that the holy Qur’an is a book of legends. This also raises the question of why did Prophet Mohammad, PBUH,discuss such intricate scientific issues while he didn’t really need to do so. This means one thing which is that the holy Qur’an is the word of Allah in which He revealed these facts to serve as a practical evidence of the truthfulness of the message of Islam.

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References:

1- EcoAlert: Satellite Images Reveal an Ancient Network of Rivers in Arabian Desert, http://www.dailygalaxy.com/my_weblog/2012/05/ecoalert-satellite-images-reveal-an-ancient-network-of-rivers-in-arabian-desert-.html

2- Climate change wiped out one of the world’s first, great civilisations more than 4,000 years ago, http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2151143/Climate-change-wiped-worlds-great-civilisations-4-000-years-ago.html

3- Death on the Nile: Researchers believe climate change brought ‘mega drought’ that ended an Egyptian kingdom 4,200 years ago, http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2189802/Egyptian-kingdom-died-4-200-years-ago-following-mega-drought-caused-climate-change.html

4- Bernhardt, Christopher E.; Horton, Benjamin P.; Stanley, Jean-Daniel , Nile Delta vegetation response to Holocene climate variability, Geology -40 – 2012.