We’re taught from a young age that each and every one of us is unique in our own ways. From our facial features, to our height and weight, to even our mind, we have characteristics that differ us from everyone else. Yet, one of our most unique identifiers is our fingertips, which are completely unlike any other person’s fingerprints.

In fact, the odds of having identical fingerprints with someone is 1 in 64 trillion.

This body part is also mentioned in the Qur’an for its special ability. During the early years of Muhammad’s (Peace Be Upon Him) gift of prophethood, he was mocked by many Meccan pagans and disbelievers for his belief in Allah. They couldn’t understand how the Muslims believed in a Day of Judgement where everyone would be resurrected after they had all died.

These two verses in Surah Al-Qiyamah were responses to this pre-Islamic ignorance, in which Allah says:

Here, the use of the fingertips is very deliberate. The fingertips are obviously very small organs, so Allah is claiming here that if He is able to resurrect even the smallest of body parts, then it only makes sense that He can recreate the rest of the body, too.

However, the fingertips are also used in this verse because of their uniqueness. When you are resurrected, Allah claims, you will be remade identical—down to your very fingertips. The smallest and most differentiable features will be what makes the disbelievers realize that they have been brought back deliberately by their Lord.

This verse, which was revealed in the 7th century, actively claims that there is a connection between one’s identity and their fingerprints.

Some people claim that the uniqueness of the fingerprints would have easily been discovered by Muhammad if he had just compared his finger to someone else's. However, the differences between human prints are so small that they can only be noticed through the use of more developed technology.

Although many ancient societies used fingerprints as a form of authentication, they most likely had not realized their uniqueness. Moreover, Rashid-al-Din Hamadani and Johann Christophe Andreas Mayer were among the first few scientists to claim the uniqueness of fingerprints in the 14th century and 1788, respectively.

Comparing these scientific discoveries to the revelation of the Qur'an, which was revealed in the 7th century, it can only be logically concluded that the Qur'an’s knowledge of unique fingerprints could not have been based on scientific knowledge, but rather divine revelation.