CHAPTER ONE The Quran: The Book of God

the third world also possesses the potential to produce food for 33 billion-ten times the present population. According to F.A.O. estimates, if the increase in the population of the third world continues unabated, reaching over the 4 billion mark by the year 2000 A.D., there will still be no cause for alarm. The increase in population will be accompanied by an increase in production: the means will be available to provide food for 1 ½ times more than the number of people who have to be fed. And this increase in food production will be possible without deforestation. So, there is no real danger of a food crisis, either on a regional or on a universal scale. Gwynne Dwyer concludes his report with the following words: ‘Malthus was wrong. We are not doomed to breed ourselves into famine.’ Where Malthus’s book on population and sustenance – the work of a human mind working within the confines of time and place – was very far out in its predictions for the human race, (and this was proved to the world just 150 years after the author’s death) the Quran, on the other hand – the work of a superhuman mind – still bears out external realities to this very day. Historical Inaccuracy In the 20th century B.C., during the time of the Prophet Joseph, the Children of Israel entered Egypt. Seven centuries later they left Egypt along with Moses, crossing over into the Sinai Peninsula. These events are mentioned in both the Bible, and the Quran. But, while the account in the Quran is entirely consistent with external history, the Bible relates several incidents which do not correspond to historical records. This has created problems for believers in the Bible. Should they accept what is written in the Bible, or should they go by history? Since the two contradict one another, they cannot accept both at the same time. On January 12, 1985, a gathering was held in the Indian Institute of Islamic Studies at Tughlaqabad in New Delhi, which was addressed by Ezra Kolet, president of the Council of Indian Jewry. His topic was: ‘What is Judaism?’ Naturally, he dealt with Jewish history in his talk, mentioning, among other things, the Jew’s entrance into and exodus from Egypt. The names of both Joseph and Moses figured in his talk as well as the kings who were ruling in Egypt in their respective times. For both kings, the contemporaries of Joseph and Moses, he used the term ‘Pharaoh.’ As everyone acquainted with the period knows, this nomenclature is historically incorrect. The reign of the kings known as Pharaohs did not begin until the time of Moses: in Joseph’s day, a different line of monarchs ruled in Egypt. When Joseph entered Egypt, the kings of a dynasty known as the Hyksos were in power. They were