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Scientific Errors in the Quran: Difference between revisions
Scientific Errors in the Quran (view source)
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, 20 September 2016→Stars are Missiles Shot at Devils: Evidence confirming the confusion between stars and meteors
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===Stars are Missiles Shot at Devils=== | ===Stars are Missiles Shot at Devils=== | ||
{{Main|Mistranslations of Quran 67-5|l1=Mistranslations of Qur'an 67:5}} | {{Main|Mistranslations of Quran 67-5|l1=Mistranslations of Qur'an 67:5}} | ||
The Qur'an says that stars (kawakibi ٱلْكَوَاكِبِ) / lamps (masabeeha مَصَٰبِيحَ) adorn the heavens and guard against devils. | |||
The author of the Qur'an does not seem to know the difference between stars (giant balls of gas thousands of times larger than the earth) and meteorites which are small rocky masses of debris which brighten up after entering the earth's atmosphere. Many ancient people confused the two, as meteorites look like stars that are streaking across the sky; this is why there were often called [[w:Meteoroid|shooting stars]] or falling stars. In the following verse, the Qur'an claims that Allah uses stars as missiles to ward away devils. This repeats a common Arab myth at the time the Qur'an was first recited. | The author of the Qur'an does not seem to know the difference between stars (giant balls of gas thousands of times larger than the earth) and meteorites which are small rocky masses of debris which brighten up after entering the earth's atmosphere. Many ancient people confused the two, as meteorites look like stars that are streaking across the sky; this is why there were often called [[w:Meteoroid|shooting stars]] or falling stars. In the following verse, the Qur'an claims that Allah uses stars as missiles to ward away devils. This repeats a common Arab myth at the time the Qur'an was first recited. | ||
{{Quote|{{Quran-range|37|6|10}}| | |||
We have indeed decked the lower heaven with beauty (in) the stars, (For beauty) and for guard against all obstinate rebellious evil spirits, (So) they should not strain their ears in the direction of the Exalted Assembly but be cast away from every side, Repulsed, for they are under a perpetual penalty,Save him who snatcheth a fragment, Except such as snatch away something by stealth, and they are pursued by a flaming fire, of piercing brightness.}} | |||
The same Arabic words are used at the start of verse 67:5, except the stars are described as lamps. Clearly if they 'adorn the heavens', the author believes that meteors are a kind of star. The latter are always visible, but the former are generally not much larger than grains of sand and are only visible briefly when they burn up in the Earth's atmosphere after millions of years in darkness. | |||
{{Quote|{{Quran|67|5}}| | {{Quote|{{Quran|67|5}}| | ||
And verily We have beautified the world's heaven with lamps, and We have made them missiles for the devils, and for them We have prepared the doom of flame.}} | And verily We have beautified the world's heaven with lamps, and We have made them missiles for the devils, and for them We have prepared the doom of flame.}} | ||
In Sahih Muslim we have a hadith confirming that the verse refers to meteors which | In Sahih Muslim we have a hadith confirming that the verse refers to what we would call meteors which they saw shooting across the sky. | ||
{{Quote|{{Muslim|26|5538}}|'Abdullah. Ibn 'Abbas reported: | {{Quote|{{Muslim|26|5538}}|'Abdullah. Ibn 'Abbas reported: | ||