Maurice Bucaille, French Doctor Al Quran Researcher

 

Maurice Bucaille, French Doctor Al Quran Researcher

Maurice Bucaille. This French surgeon was born on July 19, 1920 AD in Pont-L'Eveque. He is the son of Maurice and Marie (James) Bucaille. He was head of the surgical clinic at the University of Paris, Member of the French Medical Society and writer on Ancient Egypt. Bucaille started his career as a doctor in 1945 with his expertise in gastroentology. In 1973, Bucaille was appointed as a personal physician by the King Faisal Family of Saudi Arabia. Anwar Sadat, the President of Egypt at that time, was also known to be included in the list of patients who had used his services

In 1974 he visited Egypt at the invitation of President Anwar Sadat and had the opportunity to examine the Pharaoh's Mummy in the Cairo Museum. He published the results of his research under the title Mummies of the Pharaohs, A Modern Medical Research ( Momies des Pharaon; Investigations medicales modernes ). Thanks to this book he received the Prix d'histoire (Award in History) from the Academie Francaise and the Prix General (General Award) from the Academie Nationale de Medecine, France. Another book is the Bible, the Qur'an and Modern Science original title in French La Bible, le Coran et la Science (1976).

As the title suggests, this book compares the teachings of the Bible and the Koran with Science and concludes that compared to the Bible, the teachings of the Koran are more in line with modern science. No wonder this book has become an international best-seller in the Muslim world and has been translated into almost all the major languages ​​of Muslims in the world. However, this book has also drawn criticism from various parties who think that science is neutral, so Maurice's attempts to compare the teachings of the holy books with the findings of modern science seem far-fetched.

Critical voices do not only come from non-Muslim circles. Many Muslim scholars also rejected Maurice's idea. One of them is Ziauddin Sardar, this British Muslim scholar said that it is ironic that Muslims need non-Muslim experts to prove the truth of a book that they believe is the word of God.

Sardar considers this attitude nothing more than a feeling of inferiority by Muslims towards the scientific achievements of Western civilization. He called this attitude Bucaillism, which since then this term has been popularly used to ridicule those who argue that the teachings of the Qur'an are proven to be in accordance with scientific discoveries.

Even though he received criticism, it did not dampen Maurice's enthusiasm to study the text of the Qur'an. He proved this by his seriousness in studying Arabic in order to really be able to understand the text of the Qur'an. So in 1984 he republished the book What is the Origin of Man? The Answers of Science and the Holy Scriptures. This book has been translated into Indonesian under the title Where Do Humans Come From? Between Science, the Bible and the Qur'an .

In his book, Maurice wants to provide an answer for believers in this modern age who want to hold on to their faith without being hostile to the progress of Science. At the same time he answered secular claims that wanted to separate completely between science and religion. And in 1995 he also published the book Pharaoh in the Bible and the Qur'an: Interpreting the Historical Story of Pharaoh in the Scriptures Based on Archaeological Findings from the French title Moise et Pharaon; Les Hebreux en Egype: Quelles concordance des livres saints avec I'Histoire? .

Maurice Bucaille died in Paris February 16, 1998 at the age of 77. Although during his life he acknowledged the truth of the teachings of the Qur'an with scientific evidence, many parties acknowledged that he never officially declared himself a Muslim. So that there are parties who accuse him that his statements in favor of the Qur'an are only intended to make his book sell among Muslims and he gets funds from the Middle East. The scientific interpretation proposed by Maurice Bucaille should be seen as a modern human effort to appreciate the teachings of the scriptures.

In addition, it must be accompanied by humility, the awareness that human science will never be able to cover all the meanings contained in God's word, this is to avoid blaming the Qur'an when it is not in accordance with the findings of science. In addition, we also need to reflect on the following statement by Maurice Bucaille: "Asking questions about the suitability of religious teachings with data obtained by modern science is a natural attitude of the human soul." Wa Allahu A'lam bi al-Shawab.