Islam and Science: Difference between revisions

This article examines the evidence for Qur'anic geocentric cosmology. Some may confuse geocentricism with the the idea that the Earth is flat. This is not the case. These are two different ideas. Geocentrism simply is the notion that the earth is the (immovable) center of our universe, thus all celestial bodies mover around it. According to the Qur'an, the Sun (and the moon and the five known planets) follow a curved (rounded) course (a Falak). This falak starts in the east (where the sun goes up), goes high above the earth and ends after sunset with the Sun resting at night at a hidden place. All this took place around an earth that was spread out and had a firmament built on invisible pillars above it. This was a common belief at the time. Sahih (authentic) hadiths affirm this geocentric cosmology (so Muhammad or at least the people around him agree with it), and great ancient, and even modern-day, Muslim astronomists agree that the Qur'an is geocentric. In ancient times, many people - but certainly not all - did not know any better than what they seemed to observe everyday: the sun appeared to be going around the earth through our skies. We cannot blame a 7^th century Bedouin for not knowing this, but should not the omnipresent, omnipotent, omniscient creator of the universe know better?

Islamic apologists attempt to claim that the “Big Bang” is actually described by the Qur’an in one of many miraculous displays of scientific precocity in text. However on closer examination, Muslim claims of miraculous scientific information in the Qur’an are shown to be, yet again, in error. In reality, the Qur’an is completely silent on the “big bang” because it clearly has no awareness whatsoever of a universe that preexisted the creation of the planet Earth, or extended outwards into infinite space. It has no understanding of galaxies, or clusters of galaxies, or quasars or pulsars or any of the other things that could have easily been mentioned by an omniscient Allah, and left us no room for quibbling.

Many Muslims use the recent scientific hypothesis of clay particles as catalysts for abiogensis as evidence of the veracity of their scripture. However, the scientific hypothesis postulates that the clay merely 'match-makes' RNA and membrane vesicles - and therefore does not form a building block. This is contrary to the Islamic Faith which postulates that human beings were created from clay, implying clay was a building block. Notwithstanding this key distinction, is Islam the only religion which postulated the creation of human beings from clay? The answer is no.