Baby with Qur'anic Verses

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This article discusses the alleged miracle of Qur'anic verses appearing on a baby's skin.

Original Source

In October 2009, the same newspaper which made the false publicly rejected claim that Michael Jackson had converted to Islam published a story reporting that Qur'anic verses appeared on a baby's skin in Dagestan. Here is the original news story in full.

A BABY boy has left doctors baffled after passages from the Koran were found on his skin.

The parents of nine-month-old Ali Yakubov were stunned when the word Allah appeared on his chin soon after his birth.

Since then scores of writings in Arabic script have emerged on his back, arms, legs and stomach.

Amazingly his family claim the old markings vanish before the new words arrive — twice a week.

Medics say they cannot explain his mysterious condition — but deny that the marks are from someone writing on the child's skin.

The baby with the alleged Quranic verses. Muhammad forbade tatooing in hadiths and said that Allah cursed those who get themselves tatooed (Sahih Bukhari 7:72:815).

His mother, Madina, said that she and her husband were not religious until the words started appearing on his skin.

Initially they did not show anyone the unexplained scribbles, but eventually revealed them to their doctor.

Now the boy has become a focus of Muslim homage in his troubled home province of Dagestan, close to war-ravaged Chechnya in the south of Russia.

Local MP Akhmedpasha Amiralaev said: "This boy is a pure sign of God. Allah sent him to Dagestan in order to stop revolts and tension in our republic."

The tot's mother said: "Normally those signs appear twice a week - on Mondays and on the nights between Thursdays and Fridays.

"Ali always feels bad when it is happening. He cries and his temperature goes up.

"It's impossible to hold him when it's happening, his body is actively moving, so we put him into his cradle. It's so hard to watch him suffering."
Koran boy's skin mystery
Lee Cain, The Sun, October 19, 2009

Most Likely Explanation

Skin Treated with Irritants

Another story published on the same day provides us with further information. What the tabloid story ignored was the fact that some local doctors believe that it is not a miracle from Allah, but a simple case of child abuse:

A representative of Dagestan Spiritual Governance for Muslims did not provide any comments. He said he was surprised like everyone else.

Medics do not believe in religious miracles, of course. Ludmila Luss, a local doctor, believes that the story with the inscriptions is masterminded by the boy’s parents, Utro.ru website wrote.

“They might have treated his skin with irritants, such as pepper and salt, or medications, which trigger skin inflammation and leave red traces in the shape of Arabic characters,” she said.

Devotion towards anything can blind a person, even a loving mother, into causing her child unnecessary suffering if it will help in validating or furthering her focus of devotion. Another possible explanation behind her motivation could be the Munchausen by proxy syndrome.

Munchausen by Proxy Syndrome (MBPS)

Munchausen by proxy syndrome (MBPS) is a relatively uncommon condition that involves the exaggeration or fabrication of illnesses or symptoms by a primary caretaker. One of the most harmful forms of child abuse, MBPS was named after Baron von Munchausen, an 18th-century German dignitary known for telling outlandish stories.

About MBPS

In MBPS, an individual — usually a mother — deliberately makes another person (most often his or her own preschool child) sick or convinces others that the person is sick. The parent or caregiver misleads others into thinking that the child has medical problems by lying and reporting fictitious episodes. He or she may exaggerate, fabricate, or induce symptoms. As a result, doctors usually order tests, try different types of medications, and may even hospitalize the child or perform surgery to determine the cause.
Munchausen by proxy syndrome (MBPS)
KidsHealth, The Nemours Foundation

Other Possible Explanations

Dermatographic Urticaria (Skin Writing)

Local doctors also suggested urticarial dermographism as another possibly explanation.

The parents may not have used any substances or medications, if the child suffers from urticarial dermographism, also known as skin writing, – a skin disorder that occurs with five percent of the nation’s population. It is one of the most common types of urticaria, in which the skin becomes raised and inflamed when stroked or rubbed with a dull object. Therefore, if the child has such a disorder, writing anything on his skin is a piece of cake.

“Some people suffering from gastric pathologies have extremely sensitive skin. If you draw something on their skin with a little stick, for example, the drawing will later appear,” Ludmila Luss [a local doctor] said.

Images of Skin Writing

Henna

Henna (Lawsonia inermis) is a flowering plant used since antiquity to dye skin, hair, fingernails, leather and wool. The name is also used for dye preparations derived from the plant, and for the art of temporary tattooing based on those dyes. Additionally, the name is misused for other skin and hair dyes, such as black henna or neutral henna, which do not derive from the plant.
Henna
Wikipedia

Images of Henna Burns

Reasons Why This Miracle is Not From Allah

Tatooing Forbidden by Muhammad

Even if this truly was a miracle from a deity, it is unlikely that this deity would be Allah because his messenger Muhammad had forbidden tatooing when he was alive. This fact has been recorded in multiple sahih hadith. One even states that Allah curses "those who get themselves tattooed".

Narrated Abu Huraira: "Allah's Apostle said, 'The evil eye is a fact,' and he forbade tattooing.
Narrated 'Aun bin Abu Juhaifa: "My father bought a slave who practiced the profession of cupping. (My father broke the slave's instruments of cupping). I asked my father why he had done so. He replied, 'The Prophet forbade the acceptance of the price of a dog or blood, and also forbade the profession of tattooing, getting tattooed and receiving or giving Riba, (usury), and cursed the picture-makers.'
Narrated 'Abdullah: "Allah has cursed those women who practice tattooing and those who get themselves tattooed, and those who remove their face hairs, and those who create a space between their teeth artificially to look beautiful, and such women as change the features created by Allah. Why then should I not curse those whom the Prophet has cursed? And that is in Allah's Book. i.e. His Saying: 'And what the Apostle gives you take it and what he forbids you abstain (from it).' (59.7)

Modified Qur'anic Verses

Another point that Muslims seem to have overlooked is the fact that these verses are written in modern Arabic script, not Qur'anic (Classical) Arabic. The Qur'an was originally revealed without any vowels/diacritical marks. Therefore it is blasphemous for a Muslim to say that Allah would tattoo a baby with these modified Qur'anic verses.

Conclusion

One wonders why the parents of this miracle child do not place him under scientific observation. Surely if they were not abusing the child by placing irritants on his skin or if he was not suffering from dermatographic urticaria they would have no qualms in doing so and proving the validity of their faith. Regardless, we have shown that even if this were a miracle, it is most certainly not an Islamic miracle.

See Also

  • Hoaxes - A hub page that leads to other articles related to Hoaxes

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