Contradictions in the Quran: Difference between revisions

{{QualityScore|Lead=3|Structure=4|Content=4|Language=3|References=4}}A recurring [[:Category:Criticism of Islam|criticism]] of the [[Qur'an|Quran]] is that it contains contradictory pronouncements, as is argued of many other religious scriptures. The occurrence of these contradictions, critics argue, is particularly problematic in the case of the Quran because the Islamic tradition holds it to be the direct, unmediated word of [[Allah]], or God. Indeed, {{Quran|4|82}} makes the confident assertion: "Then do they not reflect upon the Qur'an? If it had been from [any] other than Allah, they would have found within it much contradiction."  

Moreover, a contradiction was thereby created regarding the timing of Adam's forgiveness by Allah. In Surah 20, Adam is forgiven before the command to descend from paradise (part of a longer section narrated chronologically). In Surah 7 Adam requests forgiveness from Allah, but it does not say whether Allah did forgive him. Instead, it immediately proceeds to the command to descend in 7:24. Surah 2 appears to fix the ambiguity in surah 7 by inserting the descent command seen in surah 7:24 into 2:36 (the whole verse is used word for word by 2:36 in the Arabic text) before Allah's forgiveness which "Then" follows immediately afterwards (Arabic: fa<ref name="LanesLexiconFa">fa - [http://www.studyquran.org/LaneLexicon/Volume6/00000105.pdf Lane's Lexicon pp. 2321-2323]</ref>). However, the first part of the command, to descend as enemies of one another is also in 20:123 where the forgiveness has already occurred in the previous verse.

4) In 11:70 the angels calm Abraham's fear by telling him that they have been sent to the people of Lot. Later, in verse 74, he argues with them on behalf of the people of Lot (qawmi lūṭin, again) perhaps having already understood their intention earlier. In surahs 15 and 51 the angels instead respond to Abraham's fear by giving him the good tidings, and it is only later in 15:57 and 51:31 that he seems to learn of their mission to the people of Lot when he asks “Then what” (famā) is their next business.

{{Quote|{{Quran|53|1-18}}|I swear by the star when it goes down.Your companion does not err, nor does he go astray; Nor does he speak out of desire. It is naught but revelation that is revealed, The Lord of Mighty Power has taught him, The Lord of Strength; so he attained completion, And he is in the highest part of the horizon. Then he drew near, then he bowed. So he was the measure of two bows or closer still. And He revealed to His servant what He revealed. The heart was not untrue in (making him see) what he saw. What! do you then dispute with him as to what he saw? And certainly he saw him in another descent, At the farthest lote-tree; Near which is the garden, the place to be resorted to. When that which covers covered the lote-tree; The eye did not turn aside, nor did it exceed the limit. Certainly he saw of the greatest signs of his Lord.}}

The vision in the first part of surah al-Najm (53) quoted above was traditionally associated with the beginning of Muhammad's night journey. While there was debate among Muslim scholars as to whether the object of the vision was Allah or an angel, the general consensus of modern academic scholars is that Allah is the object of the vision in this passage, especially considering that it says in {{Quran|53|10}} "And he revealed to His Servant what he revealed". Furthermore, the use of the verb "see" (raʾā) in verses 11-13 and 18 regarding the vision, is used also in the next verse 19 when the opponents are challenged as to whether they have seen their own pagan deities "al-Lāt and al-ʿUzzā and Manāt". Some of the subsequent verses may suggest that the Quranic mushrikun considered these three to be angels rather than gods, though many academic scholars have observed that these are among the long verses (23 and 26-32) which seem to have been inserted later (whether by Muhammad or an editor) into a surah of otherwise short verses. As Tommaso Tesei notes, these long verses also coincide with the textual location in the surah where the [[Satanic_Verses_(Gharaniq_Incident)|Satanic verses]] were said to have originally appeared.<ref>Tommaso Tesei, [https://www.academia.edu/75302962/THE_QUR_%C4%80N_S_IN_CONTEXT_S_1 The Qurʾān(s) in Context(s)] Journal Asiatique 309.2 (2021): 185-202 (open access; see pp. 192-196)</ref>

The Quran responds to the mushrikun who associated partners with Allah including sons and daughters. In one response it says this is impossible as Allah has no consort, but in another it responds by conceding it would be possible for him take a son from among his creation but he simply choses not to do so.