The Qur’an An Abiding Wonder
The Qur’an: The Book of God
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with the astronomical growth in human population.
The only solution to this problem, according to
Malthus, was for mankind to control its birth-rate.
The population should not be allowed to exceed a
certain limit, failing which the number of people on
earth would become disproportionate to the
amount of sustenance available, thereby ushering in
an age of famine in which countless people would
starve to death.
Malthus’s book made a powerful impression,
winning substantial support among writers and
thinkers, and leading to the launching of birth
control and family-planning schemes. Recently,
however, researchers have come to the conclusion
that Malthus was quite wrong in his calculations.
Gwynne Dwyer has summarized this research in an
article, provocatively entitled ‘Malthus: The False
Prophet,’ which appeared in
The Hindustan Times
(New Delhi) on December 28, 1984:
It is the 150th anniversary of Malthus’ death,
and his grim predictions have not yet come
true. The world’s population has doubled and
redoubled in a geometrical progression as he
