Inayat-Ullah Al Mashriqi[1] once said, “It
happened on a Sunday in the year 1909. It was
intensely raining when I left home to do some of
my business. Suddenly I noticed the prominent
scientist of physics Sir James Jeans, a lecturer
at Cambridge University, who was heading to the
church with a copy of the Bible and an umbrella
under his armpit. I drew nearer to him and
greeted him but he gave no response. I greeted
him again, and then he asked me, 'What is it
that you want from me?'
I said to him, 'Two things, Sir! Firstly, your
umbrella is under your armpit though it's
heavily raining!' He, Sir James, smiled and
instantly opened his umbrella. Then I continued
saying, 'As for the other matter, it is this:
What would make a prominent person, such as you,
head for the church?'
Sir James paused for a while at that question,
and then said, 'You must have tea at my place
this evening.'
When I reached his place in the evening, his
wife was just leaving at exactly four o'clock,
and told me that Sir James was waiting for me.
When I entered his room I found him at a small
desk with the tea set on it. The professor was
in deep thought. Once he noticed my presence, he
asked me, 'What was your question?' Without
giving me a chance to answer, he started to
lecture me on the formation of heavenly bodies,
on their amazing systems, on their never-ending
dimensions, their orbits and on the amazing
floods of cosmic light, to the extent that I
felt that my heart was shuddering before the
majesty of God. As for Sir James, I found his
hair standing on end and tears flowing from his
eyes and his hands shuddering from fearing God.
Suddenly, he stopped to say, 'Inayat-Ullah!
Whenever I have a look at the beauty of God's
creation, my whole body starts to shudder before
the Divine Majesty, and when I prostrate before
God and say, 'You truly are Great!', I discover
that every part of me agrees with me in that
matter, thus I experience immense tranquillity
and happiness. I experience happiness a thousand
times greater than that of other people. Now do
you know, Inayat-Ullah Khan, why I go to the
church?'”
Inayat-Ullah finishes off the story by saying,
“This lecture caused me to have a brainstorm, so
I told him, 'Sir, I have really been touched by
the precise scientific facts which you have
mentioned, it has caused me on this occasion to
recall one of the verses of my Holy Book. I you
like, I could recite it.'
He nodded his head, saying, 'with pleasure, go
ahead.'
With that, I started to recite the following
verses:
{... And in the mountains are tracts, white and
red of varying shades and [some] extremely
black. * And among people and moving creatures
and grazing livestock are various colours
similarly. Only those fear God, from among His
servants, who have knowledge. Indeed, God is
Exalted in Might and Forgiving. [2]...} 35:27-28
Suddenly Sir James cried out saying, 'What did
you say? That: it is only those who have
knowledge among His slaves that fear God?
Amazing! Weird and very amazing! That is the
very conclusion I reached to after study and
observation over a period of fifty years. Who
told that to Mohamed? Is that verse really
present in the Qur'an? If that is so, then take
this testimony from me; the Qur'an is a book
sent down by God.'”
This article has been translated with slight
modifications to the original text. Translations
of Qur'anic verses were quoted from the Saheeh
International translation.
Original text from 'Al I`jaz Al `ilmi' magazine,
Issue 18, Page 64
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[1] He is a revered Indian scholar.
[2] The word "Allah" has been replaced with
"God" for the sake of eliminating any
misunderstanding which might arise with
non-Muslims readers.
