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Quran and a Universe from Smoke: Difference between revisions
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==Analysis== | ==Analysis== | ||
===Definition of Smoke=== | ===Definition of Smoke=== | ||
Since the entire argument rests on the Qur'anic description of the "heavens" as "smoke", it is claimed this word is the best possible way to describe the early Universe:{{Quote|{{cite web quotebox|url= http://www.miraclesofthequran.com/scientific_04.html|title= Creation from Hot Smoke|publisher= Miracles of the Qur'an|author= Harun Yahya|date= accessed December 19, 2013|archiveurl= http://www.webcitation.org/query?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.miraclesofthequran.com%2Fscientific_04.html&date=2013-12-19|deadurl=no}}|The Arabic word for "smoke" in the above verse is "''dukhanun''," which describes the hot, cosmic smoke in question. This word in the Qur'an, in pinpoint fashion, describes this smoke very accurately for it is a warm body of gas containing mobile particles connected to solid substances. Here, the Qur'an has employed the most appropriate word from the Arabic language for describing the appearance of this phase of the universe. Let us note that only in the 20<sup>th</sup> century have scientists discovered that the universe emerged from a hot gas in the form of smoke.}}This claim is based on a logical fallacy; a false equivalence between "smoke" and their definition of the early universe: "an opaque highly dense and hot gaseous composition" or just "hot gas". The actual definition of smoke is presented below:{{Quote||'''smoke''' ''noun'' \ˈsmōk\ | Since the entire argument rests on the Qur'anic description of the "heavens" as "smoke", it is claimed this word is the best possible way to describe the early Universe:{{Quote|{{cite web quotebox|url= http://www.miraclesofthequran.com/scientific_04.html|title= Creation from Hot Smoke|publisher= Miracles of the Qur'an|author= Harun Yahya|date= accessed December 19, 2013|archiveurl= http://www.webcitation.org/query?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.miraclesofthequran.com%2Fscientific_04.html&date=2013-12-19|deadurl=no}}|The Arabic word for "smoke" in the above verse is "''dukhanun''," which describes the hot, cosmic smoke in question. This word in the Qur'an, in pinpoint fashion, describes this smoke very accurately for it is a warm body of gas containing mobile particles connected to solid substances. Here, the Qur'an has employed the most appropriate word from the Arabic language for describing the appearance of this phase of the universe. Let us note that only in the 20<sup>th</sup> century have scientists discovered that the universe emerged from a hot gas in the form of smoke.}}This claim is based on a logical fallacy; a false equivalence between "smoke" and their definition of the early universe: "an opaque highly dense and hot gaseous composition" or just "hot gas". There is no such thing as ''<nowiki/>'cosmic smoke'<nowiki/>'' as stated by Harun''.'' The actual definition of smoke is presented below:{{Quote||'''smoke''' ''noun'' \ˈsmōk\ | ||
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. . .<BR> | . . .<BR> | ||
:the gaseous products of burning materials especially of organic origin made visible by the presence of small particles of carbon.<ref>{{cite web|url= http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/smoke|title= Smoke|publisher= Merrian-Webster|author= |date=accessed December 19, 2013 |archiveurl= http://www.webcitation.org/query?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.merriam-webster.com%2Fdictionary%2Fsmoke&date=2013-12-19|deadurl=no}}</ref>}}There is no | :the gaseous products of burning materials especially of organic origin made visible by the presence of small particles of carbon.<ref>{{cite web|url= http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/smoke|title= Smoke|publisher= Merrian-Webster|author= |date=accessed December 19, 2013 |archiveurl= http://www.webcitation.org/query?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.merriam-webster.com%2Fdictionary%2Fsmoke&date=2013-12-19|deadurl=no}}</ref>}}There is no similarity between the early universe and smoke. There was no burning of material, especially of organic compounds in the early universe. Organic molecules would not exist for another 10 billion years. Even carbon did not exist at this stage and it would not exist for millions of years until it was first fused in the center of giant stars. The early universe was extremely dense and smoke is not dense at all; in fact smoke is completely vaporous. Smoke can be hot, but often is not. It is the hot gas close to the burning material that can make smoke hot, but the carbon particles that linger in the air can be quite cool. | ||
''(Separately the apologist's claim also relies on the word for the sky/heaven(s) (al-samaa السماء) meaning our Universe, which is itself highly problematic; see the analysis in:'' [[Science and the Seven Earths#Seven Universes]]'').'' | |||
===Single-Word Description=== | ===Single-Word Description=== | ||
The claim presupposes that the Qur'anic author must describe the earliest phase of the universe using a single word. However, no one would be convinced if a scientist, purporting to be an expert in cosmology, put together a paper on the formation of stars and only described it in a single word. Even apologists realize that a single-word description is not adequate to convey such a complex topic, which is why they use multiple words to describe this state of the universe and even a short paragraph to make their point. One has to wonder why the Qur'anic description is so sparse and inadequate given how easy it would have been for [[Allah]] to have conveyed such information. | The claim presupposes that the Qur'anic author must describe the earliest phase of the universe using a single word. However, no one would be convinced if a scientist, purporting to be an expert in cosmology, put together a paper on the formation of stars and only described it in a single word. Even apologists realize that a single-word description is not adequate to convey such a complex topic, which is why they use multiple words to describe this state of the universe and even a short paragraph to make their point. One has to wonder why the Qur'anic description is so sparse and inadequate given how easy it would have been for [[Allah]] to have conveyed such information. | ||
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</ref> | </ref> | ||
===Support from Scientists=== | ===Support from Scientists=== | ||
The final piece of evidence is the claim that a renowned geologist supports the view that the information in the Qur'an could not have been of human origin:{{quote||Dr. Alfred Kroner is one of the world’s renowned geologists. He is Professor of Geology and the Chairman of the Department of Geology at the Institute of Geosciences, Johannes Gutenberg University, Mainz, Germany. He said: “Thinking where Muhammad came from . . . I think it is almost impossible that he could have known about things like the common origin of the universe, because scientists have only found out within the last few years, with very complicated and advanced technological methods, that this is the case.” Also he said: “Somebody who did not know something about nuclear physics fourteen hundred years ago could not, I think, be in a position to find out from his own mind, for instance, that the earth and the heavens had the same origin.”}}While Dr. Alfred Kroner was a geology professor in Germany, he never endorsed the Qur'an as being an accurate source of scientific information. A video interview conducted with Kroner in 2011 confirms that his comments from the 80s were taken out of context.<ref>{{cite web|url= http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ClHuG880pqU|title= Alfred Kröner - Quote mined scientist denounces Quran miracle claims|publisher= YouTube (video)|author= TheRationalizer|date= March 21, 2011|archiveurl= |deadurl=no}}</ref> He currently does not endorse the Qur'anic view of creation nor did he at the time of the original interview. He affirms that parts of the Qur'an are not supported by modern scientific evidence and are completely unscientific and mythical. | The final piece of evidence is the claim that a renowned geologist supports the view that the information in the Qur'an could not have been of human origin:{{quote||Dr. Alfred Kroner is one of the world’s renowned geologists. He is Professor of Geology and the Chairman of the Department of Geology at the Institute of Geosciences, Johannes Gutenberg University, Mainz, Germany. He said: “Thinking where Muhammad came from . . . I think it is almost impossible that he could have known about things like the common origin of the universe, because scientists have only found out within the last few years, with very complicated and advanced technological methods, that this is the case.” Also he said: “Somebody who did not know something about nuclear physics fourteen hundred years ago could not, I think, be in a position to find out from his own mind, for instance, that the earth and the heavens had the same origin.”}}While Dr. Alfred Kroner was a geology professor in Germany, he never endorsed the Qur'an as being an accurate source of scientific information. A video interview conducted with Kroner in 2011 confirms that his comments from the 80s were taken out of context.<ref>{{cite web|url= http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ClHuG880pqU|title= Alfred Kröner - Quote mined scientist denounces Quran miracle claims|publisher= YouTube (video)|author= TheRationalizer|date= March 21, 2011|archiveurl= |deadurl=no}}</ref> He currently does not endorse the Qur'anic view of creation nor did he at the time of the original interview. He affirms that parts of the Qur'an are not supported by modern scientific evidence and are completely unscientific and mythical. | ||
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Finally, in an attempt to provide some much needed credibility, the apologist makes an appeal to authority by claiming that a renowned geologist supports their views, when in fact he has never endorsed the Qur'an as being an accurate source of scientific information and was simply quote mined. | Finally, in an attempt to provide some much needed credibility, the apologist makes an appeal to authority by claiming that a renowned geologist supports their views, when in fact he has never endorsed the Qur'an as being an accurate source of scientific information and was simply quote mined. | ||
== Additional Points == | |||
=== Creation of the Earth === | |||
In many of these verses, along with the creation of the heavens, the Quran also describes the creation of the Earth as a process in which it was 'spread out' in a number of different ways. Other than describing a flat earth ''(see: [[Islamic Views on the Shape of the Earth]])'', this is also at odds with the scientific view on the creation/formation of the earth. | |||
{{Quote|{{Quran|79|27-33}}|Are you a more difficult creation or is the heaven? Allah constructed it. He raised its ceiling and proportioned it. And He darkened its night and extracted its brightness. And after that He spread the earth. He extracted from it its water and its pasture, And the mountains He set firmly As provision for you and your grazing livestock.}}{{Quote|{{Quran|91|5-6}}|And the heaven and Him Who built it, | |||
And the earth and Him Who spread it,}}{{Quote|{{Quran|50|6-7}}|Have they not looked at the heaven above them - how We structured it and adorned it and [how] it has no rifts? | |||
And the earth - We spread it out and cast therein firmly set mountains and made grow therein [something] of every beautiful kind,}}{{Quote|{{Quran|71|15-19}}|‘Do you not see how Allah has created the seven heavens atop each other?’ | |||
and has made therein the moon for a light and the sun for a lamp? | |||
Allah made you grow from the earth, with a [vegetable] growth. | |||
Then He makes you return to it, and He will bring you forth [without fail]. | |||
And Allah has made the earth for you as a carpet (spread out),}} | |||
See also {{Quran|20|53}}, {{Quran|15|19}}, and {{Quran|13|3}}. | |||
The current scientific consensus is when the solar system settled into its current layout about 4.5 billion years ago, Earth formed when gravity pulled swirling gas and dust in to become the third planet from the Sun.<ref>''[https://science.nasa.gov/earth/facts/ Earth Facts.]'' Science. NASA.</ref> | |||
The Earth, like all the other planets in the solar system, started out its life as a disc of dust and gas orbiting the young sun. The dust particles were brought together by the forces of drag to form clumps of rock that grew into what scientists call “planetesimals,” which are tens to hundreds of miles across, and then to Mars-sized “protoplanets” by colliding with each other. Earth grew to its final size through one last major collision with another Mars-sized object. This last collision, also known as the “moon-forming impact,” was so large that—in addition to adding lots of material to the Earth—there was enough energy to vaporize some of the rock and metal from both the proto-Earth and the impacting object. This vapor formed a disc around the Earth that eventually cooled and clumped together to become the moon.<ref>''[https://news.uchicago.edu/explainer/formation-earth-and-moon-explained How the Earth and moon formed, explained.]'' Explainer Series. Sasha Warren. University of Chicago News. </ref> | |||
Therefore this coming together of dust and rock pieces smashing into each other to grow in size and form the Earth, does not match the various descriptions of 'spreading' in the Quran. | |||
==See Also== | ==See Also== | ||
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*{{external link| url = http://www.answer-islam.org/Smoke.html| title = Does Science really prove the Quran? Heavens created as 'Smoke'| publisher = Answer-Islam| author = | date = | archiveurl = http://www.webcitation.org/query?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.answer-islam.org%2FSmoke.html&date=2013-12-18| deadurl = no}} | *{{external link| url = http://www.answer-islam.org/Smoke.html| title = Does Science really prove the Quran? Heavens created as 'Smoke'| publisher = Answer-Islam| author = | date = | archiveurl = http://www.webcitation.org/query?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.answer-islam.org%2FSmoke.html&date=2013-12-18| deadurl = no}} | ||
*[https://theislamissue.wordpress.com/2023/12/22/islamic-astronomical-miracles/ Islamic Astronomical miracles - The Islam Issue] | |||
==References== | ==References== | ||
{{reflist}} | {{reflist}} | ||
[[Category:Sacred history]] | [[Category:Sacred history]] | ||