Scientific Errors in the Quran: Difference between revisions

Scientific Errors in the Quran (view source)

Revision as of 22:09, 23 January 2021

231 bytes added , 23 January 2021

no edit summary

(View all pending changes)

[checked revision]

IbnPinker

Editors, recentchangescleanup, Reviewers

6,632

edits

@@ Line 544: / Line 544: @@
 ===Four types of cattle===
-The Qur'an states that Allah has provided four kinds of cattle (eight including male and female) for use by humans and for eating. We know today, however, that there exist far more than four species of cattle. The word "cattle" in 39:6 is ''al-ana'ami'', meaning pasturing (i.e. grazing) animals.<ref>[http://www.studyquran.org/LaneLexicon/Volume8/00000289.pdf Lane's Lexicon أَنْعَٰمِ]</ref> The word ''azwajin'' ("kinds" in the translation of 39:6 below) generally means mate or member of a pair.<ref>[http://www.studyquran.org/LaneLexicon/Volume3/00000432.pdf Lane's Lexicon أَزْوَٰجٍ]</ref> {{Quran|6|143-144}} clarifies that this refers to male and female pairs of sheep, goats, oxes and camels, so in fact the author of the Qur'an is aware only of four kinds of cattle useful for humans (horses, mules and donkeys are considered distinct from cattle in {{Quran-range|16|5|8}}). This neglects other types of cattle from the regions outside of Arabia such as reindeer, which are important to people in northern latitudes.
+The Qur'an states that Allah has provided four kinds of cattle (eight including male and female). There exist, however, many more than four species of cattle. The word "cattle" in {{Quran|39|6}} is ''al-ana'ami'', meaning pasturing (i.e. grazing) animals.<ref>[http://www.studyquran.org/LaneLexicon/Volume8/00000289.pdf Lane's Lexicon أَنْعَٰمِ]</ref> The word ''azwajin'' ("kinds" in the translation of 39:6 below) generally means "mate" or "member of a pair".<ref>[http://www.studyquran.org/LaneLexicon/Volume3/00000432.pdf Lane's Lexicon أَزْوَٰجٍ]</ref> {{Quran|6|143-144}} clarifies that this refers to male and female pairs of sheep, goats, oxen, and camels, suggesting that the author of the Qur'an was aware of four kinds of cattle useful for humans (horses, mules and donkeys are considered distinct from cattle, see {{Quran-range|16|5|8}}). This does not include many other types of cattle from the regions outside of Arabia, such as reindeer, which were and remain important to people in northern latitudes.
 {{Quote|{{Quran|39|6}}|
@@ Line 553: / Line 553: @@
 ===Horses created as transportation===
-It took thousands of years of domestication and cross-breeding before horses were domesticated approximately 4,000 years ago in East Europe and Central Asia. Prior to this, horses were wild animals not yet suitably bred for this purpose. Even today [[w:Feral horse|feral horses]] are descendants of once domesticated horses that aren't tamed or used for human transportation.
+After thousands of years of domestication and cross-breeding, horses were domesticated approximately 4,000 years ago in East Europe and Central Asia. Prior to this, horses were wild animals not yet suitably bred for this purpose. Today feral horses are descendants of once domesticated horses that aren't tamed or used for human transportation. By contrast, the Qur'an appears to suggest that horses were created by Allah already prepared to serve human purposes.
 {{Quote|{{Quran|16|8}}|
@@ Line 560: / Line 560: @@
 ===All animals live in communities===
-The Qur'an is emphatic that ''all'' animals live in communities. Some animals such as the jaguar or leopard are well known for being solitary creatures, rarely meeting in pairs and only to mate. They do not live in communities and routinely fight each other over territory.
+The Qur'an emphatically states that all animals live in "communities". Many animals, such as the jaguar or leopard, are however well known for being solitary creatures, rarely meeting in pairs and then only to mate. Animals of these kinds do not live in communities and rather tend to resort to violence when their solitude is disturbed (the opposite, some argue, of what it means to live in a community). There also exist species whose young are not raised as family and which lay eggs and abandon them before hatching. Sea Turtles, for instance, bury their eggs on a beach and leave them. When an egg hatches the baby turtle must dig to the surface and make a sprint to the sea or perish. Some reptiles behave similarly. The Carolina anole, which is a lizard species, is another such example. These anoles lay a single egg every 2 weeks, around 10 in total, each taking 5 to 7 weeks to hatch. Anole hatchlings must fend for themselves and are by nature solitary creatures from birth.
-There are also species even whose young are not raised as a family, which lay eggs and abandon them before hatching. Sea Turtles bury their eggs on a beach and leave them. When an egg hatches the baby turtle must dig to the surface and make a sprint to the sea or perish. Some reptiles behave similarly. An even better example is the Carolina anole, which is a lizard species. They lay just a single egg every 2 weeks, around 10 in total, each taking 5 to 7 weeks to hatch. Anole hatchlings must fend for themselves and are by nature solitary creatures from birth.
+One translation attempts to interpret ''umamun'' (community / nation) to mean genus (group of species, plural: genera). Even supposing this to be the correct interpretation, it would represent the pre-scientific understanding in which every creature can be neatly categorised, ignorant of the on-going process in which sub-groups of many species are diverging and gradually evolving into new species.
-One translation attempts to interpret umamun (community / nation) to mean genus (group of species, plural: genera). Even supposing this to be the correct interpretation, it would represent the pre-scientific understanding in which every creature can be neatly categorised, ignorant of the on-going process in which sub-groups of many species are diverging and gradually evolving into new species.
 {{Quote|{{Quran|6|38}}|