The Quran Miracles
10:45
23 Sep 2007
Miracles / Ijaz
Yusuf Estes
In this video, apparently a clip from a longer lecture now labeled for The Deen Show, Yusuf Estes in his usual homey style discusses prophecy and the role of miracles in the Qurʾān (i’jaz), claiming that Dr. Maurice Bucaille proved that “every scientific claim in the Qurʾān … is correct.”
Topics mentioned: Pharaoh, Antioch, Romans, prophecy, the Prophet Moses, evolution.
Original air date is unknown.
Evaluation:
The material on Islam is within the bounds of what Muslims have historically understood as acceptable.
Many statements in the Qurʾān may be interpreted in a number of ways. Bucaille was of the opinion that the Quran conformed with his scientific understanding. However, science is also constantly engaged in questioning the unknown and applying what is learned. Therefore it would seem that scientific interpretations of the Qurʾān would be constantly required in order to keep up with science.
At the time the Qurʾān was being received, both the Persian and Roman/Byzantine empires were falling into disarray. Given that the Qurʾān was not fixed until after 632 CE, these “prophecies” require understandings based on faith more than on historical documentation.
About Yusuf Estes
Yusuf Estes, born Joseph Edward Estes in 1944, is a Muslim convert who became a popular Islamic speaker. Born into a fiercely Protestant Christian and musical family, Estes became a part of the Disciples of Christ Church in 1956 and worked as a musical minister and owner of several music stores from the 1970s through the early 1990s. He also delved into local politics with his father in Texas. In 1991, a few months after meeting an Egyptian Muslim and watching a family friend who was a Catholic priest at the time convert to Islam, Estes himself converted to Islam.
Estes is now known for traveling the world and giving lectures on topics relating to Islam. According to his autobiography, he served as a chaplain for prison inmates and as the Muslim delegate to the United Nations World Peace Summit for Religious Leaders in August 2000. Estes claims to have received higher education in Islamic theology, a Ph.D. specifically, and to have studied under various Islamic teachers, yet it is unclear where he received this degree, and no information about his education has been corroborated. Estes frequently appears on Peace TV, Guide Us, and various other Islamic TV channels.
As of 2015, Estes operates a personal website (though he claims to operate close to 3000 websites), and a Facebook page with around half a million followers.
Selected Bibliography:
“Biography of Yusuf Estes.” Yusuf Estes And the Quran. WordPress, 25 Aug. 2012. Accessed 18 June 2015.
Estes, Yusuf. Facebook. Facebook, n.d.
Estes, Yusuf. “Yusuf Estes Biography.” Yusuf Estes Blogspot. Blogspot, n.d. Accessed 18 June 2015.
Estes, Yusuf. Yusuf Estes. N.p., n.d. Accessed 18 June 2015.