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Scientific Errors in the Quran: Difference between revisions
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Turns out the full verse 7:189 proves it refers to Adam. Moving the external evidence to evolution article to keep the page concise.
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Lightyears (talk | contribs) (Turns out the full verse 7:189 proves it refers to Adam. Moving the external evidence to evolution article to keep the page concise.) |
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Some modern Muslim scholars attempt to reconcile the Qur'anic description with modern science by arguing that the word 'Then' in the verses above indicate does not indicate sequence, but that it instead means 'moreover'. This argument collides with the fact that these words (thumma in {{Quran|41|11}} and {{Quran|2|29}}, and fa in {{Quran|41|12}} - all translated as 'then') are generally used to indicate sequence. In other contexts, thumma was sometimes used to mean 'moreover'. This alternative usage, however, would always be unambiguous and clear in context, unlike in the passages quoted above, which evidently describe a stepwise process - the creation of the heavens subsequent to that of the Earth. | Some modern Muslim scholars attempt to reconcile the Qur'anic description with modern science by arguing that the word 'Then' in the verses above indicate does not indicate sequence, but that it instead means 'moreover'. This argument collides with the fact that these words (thumma in {{Quran|41|11}} and {{Quran|2|29}}, and fa in {{Quran|41|12}} - all translated as 'then') are generally used to indicate sequence. In other contexts, thumma was sometimes used to mean 'moreover'. This alternative usage, however, would always be unambiguous and clear in context, unlike in the passages quoted above, which evidently describe a stepwise process - the creation of the heavens subsequent to that of the Earth. | ||
In another passage, {{Quran-range|79| | In another passage, {{Quran-range|79|27|33}}, the heaven (singular) has already been raised and proportioned as a ceiling before the earth is spread, pastures produced and mountains fixed. Ibn Kathir notes in his tafsir that ibn 'Abbas said the Earth was created first before each of these events and that scholars intepreted the Arabic word dahaha (دَحَىٰهَآ) in verse 79:30 to refer to a specific kind of spreading that occured after everything on Earth had been created.<ref>[https://quranx.com/tafsirs/2.29 Tafsir ibn Kathir 2:29]</ref> However, the passage nevertheless appears to contradict the sequence of {{Quran-range|41|9|12}}, in which the heaven is still "smoke" after Earth's sustinence and mountains have been placed. | ||
====Earth and heavens torn apart==== | ====Earth and heavens torn apart==== | ||
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The Arabic word translated as "are joined" is ''jumi'a'', a verb which means to collect together, gather together, bring together.<ref>[http://www.studyquran.org/LaneLexicon/Volume2/00000091.pdf Lane's Lexicon p. 455 جُمِعَ]</ref> | The Arabic word translated as "are joined" is ''jumi'a'', a verb which means to collect together, gather together, bring together.<ref>[http://www.studyquran.org/LaneLexicon/Volume2/00000091.pdf Lane's Lexicon p. 455 جُمِعَ]</ref> | ||
It is worth noting that this verse does not work as a reference to a lunar eclipse (when the sun occasionally casts a shadow of the moon on the earth). The moon is invisible during the portion of a month when a solar eclipse can occur since it must be on the daylit side of the earth, and hence the moon does not "darken" as it passes between observers and the sun but rather its silhouette becomes visible. | |||
===Moon split in two=== | ===Moon split in two=== | ||
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{{Quote|{{Quran-range|37|6|10}}| | {{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, Except such as snatch away something by stealth, and they are pursued by a flaming fire, of piercing brightness.}} | 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, 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 {{Quran|67|5}} as in {{Quran|37|6}} (زَيَّنَّا ٱلسَّمَآءَ ٱلدُّنْيَا), except that in {{Quran|67|5}} the word lamps is used instead of stars. The lamps that 'beautify the heaven' refer to stars (and perhaps also the 5 visible planets), which are always there. Meteors, on the other hand, are now known to be distinct from the distant stars. They are often not much larger than grains of sand and only become visible for a second when they burn up, generating light in the Earth's atmosphere. | The same Arabic words are used at the start of {{Quran|67|5}} as in {{Quran|37|6}} (زَيَّنَّا ٱلسَّمَآءَ ٱلدُّنْيَا), except that in {{Quran|67|5}} the word lamps is used instead of stars. The lamps that 'beautify the heaven' refer to stars (and perhaps also the 5 visible planets), which are always there. Meteors, on the other hand, are now known to be distinct from the distant stars. They are often not much larger than grains of sand and only become visible for a second when they burn up, generating light in the Earth's atmosphere. | ||
{{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.}} | ||
A hadith in [[Sahih Muslim]] confirms that the 'pursuant flames / missiles' in the two verses refer to meteors which they saw shooting across the sky. | A hadith in [[Sahih Muslim]] confirms that the 'pursuant flames / missiles' in the two verses refer to meteors which they saw shooting across the sky. | ||
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{{Quote|{{Muslim|26|5538}}|'Abdullah. Ibn 'Abbas reported: | {{Quote|{{Muslim|26|5538}}|'Abdullah. Ibn 'Abbas reported: | ||
A person from the Ansar who was amongst the Companions of Allah's Messenger (pbuh reported to me: As we were sitting during the night with Allah's Messenger (pbuh), a meteor shot gave a dazzling light. Allah's Messenger (pbuh) said: What did you say in the pre-Islamic days when there was such a shot (of meteor)? They said: Allah and His Messenger know best (the actual position), but we, however, used to say that that very night a great man had been born and a great man had died, whereupon Allah's Messenger pbuh) said: (These meteors) are shot neither at the death of anyone nor on the birth of anyone. Allah, the Exalted and Glorious, issues Command when He decides to do a thing. Then (the Angels) supporting the Throne sing His glory, then sing the dwellers of heaven who are near to them until this glory of God reaches them who are in the heaven of this world. Then those who are near the supporters of the Throne ask these supporters of the Throne: What your Lord has said? And they accordingly inform them what He says. Then the dwellers of heaven seek information from them until this information reaches the heaven of the world. In this process of transmission (the jinn snatches) what he manages to overhear and he carries it to his friends. And when the Angels see the jinn they attack them with meteors. If they narrate only which they manage to snatch that is correct but they alloy it with lies and make additions to it.}} | A person from the Ansar who was amongst the Companions of Allah's Messenger (pbuh reported to me: As we were sitting during the night with Allah's Messenger (pbuh), a meteor shot gave a dazzling light. Allah's Messenger (pbuh) said: What did you say in the pre-Islamic days when there was such a shot (of meteor)? They said: Allah and His Messenger know best (the actual position), but we, however, used to say that that very night a great man had been born and a great man had died, whereupon Allah's Messenger pbuh) said: (These meteors) are shot neither at the death of anyone nor on the birth of anyone. Allah, the Exalted and Glorious, issues Command when He decides to do a thing. Then (the Angels) supporting the Throne sing His glory, then sing the dwellers of heaven who are near to them until this glory of God reaches them who are in the heaven of this world. Then those who are near the supporters of the Throne ask these supporters of the Throne: What your Lord has said? And they accordingly inform them what He says. Then the dwellers of heaven seek information from them until this information reaches the heaven of the world. In this process of transmission (the jinn snatches) what he manages to overhear and he carries it to his friends. And when the Angels see the jinn they attack them with meteors. If they narrate only which they manage to snatch that is correct but they alloy it with lies and make additions to it.}} | ||
Other relevant verses are {{Quran-range|55|33|35}} (flame of fire and smoke, though a slightly different context) and {{Quran-range|72|8|9}}. | |||
===The sky/heaven as a ceiling=== | ===The sky/heaven as a ceiling=== | ||
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====Adam and Eve==== | ====Adam and Eve==== | ||
{{Main|Qur'an, Hadith and Scholars:Creation}} | {{Main|Qur'an, Hadith and Scholars:Creation|Evolution and Islam}} | ||
The Qur’an contains stories concerning the 'first humans' which detail, among other matters, how all people are descended from Adam and Eve (called ''Hawa'' in Arabic), the two earliest ancestors. These humans were created in a garden (the word for paradise in Arabic is ''jannah'', which literally means 'garden') and then brought to Earth fully formed (Sahih Hadiths say Adam was 60 cubits - or 90 feet - tall). This view of the origins of human life is directly challenged by overwhelming DNA evidence and the numerous fossils of pre-Homo sapiens species that lived on earth for millions of years prior to the evolution modern humans.<ref>http://humanorigins.si.edu/evidence</ref> Powerful DNA evidence that humans have common ancestry with other primates include endogenous retroviruses<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oXfDF5Ew3Gc DNA Evidence That Humans & Chimps Share A Common Ancestor: Endogenous Retroviruses] - Youtube.com</ref> and the fusion of chromosomes<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dK3O6KYPmEw Professor Ken Miller on DNA fusion events]- Youtube.com</ref> in the exact same genetic locations. | The Qur’an contains stories concerning the 'first humans' which detail, among other matters, how all people are descended from Adam and Eve (called ''Hawa'' in Arabic), the two earliest ancestors. These humans were created in a garden (the word for paradise in Arabic is ''jannah'', which literally means 'garden') and then brought to Earth fully formed (Sahih Hadiths say Adam was 60 cubits - or 90 feet - tall). This view of the origins of human life is directly challenged by overwhelming DNA evidence and the numerous fossils of pre-Homo sapiens species that lived on earth for millions of years prior to the evolution modern humans.<ref>http://humanorigins.si.edu/evidence</ref> Powerful DNA evidence that humans have common ancestry with other primates include endogenous retroviruses<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oXfDF5Ew3Gc DNA Evidence That Humans & Chimps Share A Common Ancestor: Endogenous Retroviruses] - Youtube.com</ref> and the fusion of chromosomes<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dK3O6KYPmEw Professor Ken Miller on DNA fusion events]- Youtube.com</ref> in the exact same genetic locations. | ||
{{Quote|{{Quran|7|189}}| | {{Quote|{{Quran|7|189}}| | ||
It is He who created you from one soul and created from it its mate that he might dwell in security with her. And when he covers her, she carries a light burden and continues therein. And when it becomes heavy, they both invoke Allah, their Lord, "If You should give us a good [child], we will surely be among the grateful."}} | |||
Another verse describes the literal descent of humanity from one man with reference to the sexual means by which it was achieved (i.e. | In the above verse the poetic allusion to sex and pregnancy and the couple's invocation to Allah leaves no doubt that the first sentence is a reference to common descent from Adam (in similar verses this is less explicit). All the classical exegetes state that this “single being” (نَّفْسٍ وَٰحِدَةٍ ) refers to Adam. Both classical Sunni and Shia Tafsirs confirm this and there are even mutawatir hadith narrations (mass transmitted reports) implying that all humans descend from Adam (for details, see [[Evolution_and_Islam|Evolution and Islam]]). | ||
Another verse describes the literal descent of humanity from one man with reference to the sexual means by which it was achieved ("despised fluid" i.e. semen) after Allah had created that first man out of clay. | |||
{{Quote|{{Quran-range|32|7|8}}|Who made all things good which He created, and He began the creation of man from clay; Then He made his seed from a draught of despised fluid;}} | {{Quote|{{Quran-range|32|7|8}}|Who made all things good which He created, and He began the creation of man from clay; Then He made his seed from a draught of despised fluid;}} | ||
The word translated “seed” in the Pickthall translation is nasl نسل, which means progeny (i.e. descendants).<ref>[http://www.studyquran.org/LaneLexicon/Volume8/00000286.pdf Lane's Lexicon p. 3032 نسل]</ref> | The word translated “seed” in the Pickthall translation is nasl نسل, which means progeny (i.e. descendants).<ref>[http://www.studyquran.org/LaneLexicon/Volume8/00000286.pdf Lane's Lexicon p. 3032 نسل]</ref> | ||
Some modern Muslim scholars argue that the notion of two ancestral “parents” is consistent with recent scientific findings that show a common female and male ancestor of all modern humans. This results, however, from a confusion with the nicknames (Mitochondrial Eve and Y-chromosomal Adam) by which scientists have referred to human's earliest genetic ancestors. These two individuals, however, are distinct from the Quranic characters as they are simply the last common male and female ancestors of everyone alive today and not of all humans in history. More | Some modern Muslim scholars argue that the notion of two ancestral “parents” is consistent with recent scientific findings that show a common female and male ancestor of all modern humans. This results, however, from a confusion with the nicknames (Mitochondrial Eve and Y-chromosomal Adam) by which scientists have referred to human's earliest genetic ancestors. These two individuals, however, are distinct from the Quranic characters as they are simply the last common male and female ancestors of everyone alive today and not of all humans in history. More importantly, whereas the Qur'an describes Eve as Adam's wife (who, notably, was created ''after'' him), Mitochondrial Eve lived some 50,000 to 80,000 years earlier than Y-chromosomal Adam.<ref>http://biologos.org/blog/does-genetics-point-to-a-single-primal-couple</ref> Genetic evidence also overwhelmingly indicates that humans diverged from earlier species as a population rather than as a single couple.<ref>http://whyevolutionistrue.wordpress.com/2011/09/18/how-big-was-the-human-population-bottleneck-not-anything-close-to-2/</ref> | ||
===Embryology=== | ===Embryology=== | ||
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{{Quote|{{Quran|3|33-36}}| Lo! Allah preferred Adam and Noah and the Family of Abraham '''and the Family of 'Imran''' above (all His) creatures. They were descendants one of another. Allah is Hearer, Knower. (Remember) when the '''wife of 'Imran''' said: My Lord! I have vowed unto Thee that which is in my belly as a consecrated (offering). Accept it from me. Lo! Thou, only Thou, art the Hearer, the Knower! And when she was delivered she said: My Lord! Lo! I am delivered of a female - Allah knew best of what she was delivered - the male is not as the female; and lo! I have named her Mary, and lo! I crave Thy protection for her and for her offspring from Satan the outcast.}} | {{Quote|{{Quran|3|33-36}}| Lo! Allah preferred Adam and Noah and the Family of Abraham '''and the Family of 'Imran''' above (all His) creatures. They were descendants one of another. Allah is Hearer, Knower. (Remember) when the '''wife of 'Imran''' said: My Lord! I have vowed unto Thee that which is in my belly as a consecrated (offering). Accept it from me. Lo! Thou, only Thou, art the Hearer, the Knower! And when she was delivered she said: My Lord! Lo! I am delivered of a female - Allah knew best of what she was delivered - the male is not as the female; and lo! I have named her Mary, and lo! I crave Thy protection for her and for her offspring from Satan the outcast.}} | ||
"Wife of 'Imran" is here im'ra-atu ʿim'rāna, literally woman of Imran, though the same construction certainly means "wife" a few verses later ({{Quran|3|40}}), and in several other verses. | |||
Some modern academic scholars cite evidence that this could be a case of typology (deliberate literary allusion between characters - see main article). This may be the best explanation, although the verses would still be misleading as historical statements. {{Muslim|25|5326}} seeks to explain the coincidence based on alleged customary forms of address (to explain "sister of Aaron") or naming customs (to explain why Imran named his daughter Mary), depending on interpretation of the hadith. Either interpretation only reduces part of the coincidence. Even if a naming custom could increase the odds that this father-daughter pair would share names with some earlier biblical family, a further coincidence would still be required if her father happened to be named the same as the father (Imran) in the particular biblical family alluded to when his daughter is addressed as "sister of Aaron". Another attempted explanation is that this Imran actually had a son called Aaron as well as a daughter named Mary. | |||
===Ezra as the son of God in Jewish doctrine=== | ===Ezra as the son of God in Jewish doctrine=== | ||
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(Thus it was) till, when Our commandment came to pass and the oven gushed forth water, We said: Load therein two of every kind, a pair (the male and female), and thy household, save him against whom the word hath gone forth already, and those who believe. And but a few were they who believed with him.}} | (Thus it was) till, when Our commandment came to pass and the oven gushed forth water, We said: Load therein two of every kind, a pair (the male and female), and thy household, save him against whom the word hath gone forth already, and those who believe. And but a few were they who believed with him.}} | ||
== Sociology == | ==Sociology== | ||
===Linguistics=== | ===Linguistics=== | ||