In Surah Yunus (10:61), the Quran declares: "And there is nothing concealed from your Lord [so much as] the weight of an atom within the earth or within the sky, or [anything] smaller than that or greater but that it is in a clear register" (ููู ูุง ููุนูุฒูุจู ุนูู ุฑููุจูููู ู ูู ู ููุซูููุงูู ุฐูุฑููุฉู ููู ุงููุฃูุฑูุถู ููููุง ููู ุงูุณููู ูุงุกู ููููุง ุฃูุตูุบูุฑู ู ูู ุฐููฐูููู ููููุง ุฃูููุจูุฑู ุฅููููุง ููู ููุชูุงุจู ู ููุจูููู).
The Arabic term dharra (ุฐูุฑููุฉ) designates the smallest conceivable particle, traditionally translated as "atom". The verse affirms that God's knowledge encompasses even this infinitesimal unit, as well as everything smaller or larger.
Historical context
In the 7th century, the concept of the atom was purely philosophical. The Greek philosophers Democritus and Leucippus had proposed the idea of indivisible atoms in the 5th century BC, but this theory was mere speculation without experimental basis, rejected by Aristotle and largely forgotten.
The Quran, by mentioning the "weight of an atom" (ู ูุซูููุงูู ุฐูุฑููุฉู), introduces a remarkable notion: not only the existence of the atom, but also its weight (mithqal), that is, its measurable mass.
The scientific discovery
It was only in the 19th century that atomic theory was formulated on solid scientific grounds. In 1803, John Dalton proposed his atomic theory. In 1897, J.J. Thomson discovered the electron. In 1911, Ernest Rutherford discovered the atomic nucleus, and in 1913, Niels Bohr proposed his planetary model of the atom.
20th-century quantum physics revealed an even finer structure: protons, neutrons, quarks and other subatomic particles. The verse mentions "nor anything smaller than that nor greater", which corresponds to the modern discovery of subatomic particles smaller than the atom (quarks, electrons) and larger structures (molecules, cells).
The same idea appears in Surah Saba (34:3): "...and there does not escape from Him the weight of an atom within the heavens or within the earth, or anything smaller than that or greater, except that it is in a clear register." Surah Az-Zalzalah (99:7-8) states that "whoever does an atom's weight of good will see it".