Islam and Science: Difference between revisions

As recently as 1993 the supreme religious authority of Saudi Arabia ''Sheik Abdul-Aziz Ibn Baaz'' declared "The earth is flat. Whoever claims it is round is an atheist deserving of punishment." and in a televised debate aired on Iraqi Al-Fayhaa TV (October 31, 2007), Muslim Researcher on Astronomy Fadhel ''Al-Sa'd'' also declared that the Earth is flat as evidenced by Qur'anic verses and that the sun is much smaller than the Earth and revolves around it. As devout Muslims, they have good reason to conclude the Earth is flat; the Qur'anic verses 15:19, 20:53, 43:10, 50:7, 51:48, 71:19, 78:6, 79:30, 88:20 and 91:6 all clearly state this. While many have attempted to explain away this oddity, they prey on their listeners ignorance of the Arabic language. As such, their apologetic claims have been easily refuted by native Arabic speakers. There is no escaping the fact that, according to the Qur'an, the earth is flat.

The ''Arab transmission of the classics'' is a common and persistent myth that Arabic commentators such as Avicenna and Averroes 'saved' the work of Aristotle and other Greek philosophers from destruction.  According to the myth, these works would otherwise have perished in the long European dark age between fifth and the tenth centuries.  Thus the versions of Aristotle used in the West were translations from the Arabic, which came from the South West of Europe in the reconquest of Spain from the Muslims during the twelve and thirteenth centuries.  

The new Mullahs and other Islamists feel very happy whenever they find an occidental (western white person) who talks in favor of their faith (Islam). This is especially true when these western people try to associate the Qur'an and Hadith with anything resembling an inkling of scientific truth. For the last 25 years or so, Muslims have found several non-Muslim supporters (pseudo) of their faith. One of the results of such liaisons is ''Bucailleism'', the belief that "the Qur'an prophesied the Big Bang theory, space travel and other contemporary scientific breakthroughs," and that "there are more than 1200 verses (Ayat) which can be interpreted in the light of modern science." It has been called "a fast-growing branch of Islamic fundamentalism." Named after none-other than the French (Catholic) surgeon Maurice Bucaille, its proponents believe that "one of the main convincing evidences" that lead many to convert to Islam "is the large number of scientific facts in the Quran." These articles take a critical look at this fairly recent phenomena.

This article lists and refutes all the various Islamic attempts to show that the Qur'an correctly describes semen production from between the ''sulb'' and the ''tara’ib'' in verse 86:7. There are at least seven distinct classes of Islamic explanations, and these propositions are frequently conflicting. For example, Ibn Kathir refers to ''tara’ib'' as a female organ, while other tafsirs claim it belongs to the man. Another conflict is the definition of ''sulb'' to mean either the backbone or the ‘hardening’ of the loins.