Scientific Errors in the Quran: Difference between revisions

Jump to navigation Jump to search
(View all pending changes)
[checked revision][checked revision]
(→‎Astronomy: Better ordering of the sections, with stronger ones moved up, and related ones grouped together more)
Line 72: Line 72:
The Earth first formed around 9 billion years after the Big Bang. The Qur'an, however, repeats the prevailing Middle-Eastern myth that the Earth and universe were formed in six days.  
The Earth first formed around 9 billion years after the Big Bang. The Qur'an, however, repeats the prevailing Middle-Eastern myth that the Earth and universe were formed in six days.  


Islamic websites try and rescue the Qur'an by pointing to an alternative meaning of the Arabic word 'yawm', which typically means 'day', but can sometimes mean 'time period'. However, the predominant meaning of the word is day and when a specific number is used, in this case six, the word almost always means a literal 24-hour day. Again, nothing in the context of the verses, nor the Qur'an in general, suggests awareness that the universe or Earth were formed over long time periods. Secondly, neither the universe nor Earth were formed in six distinct long periods of time. It would have been trivial for an all-knowing diety to have indicated the vast duration in which the universe has developed, which has taken place over the past [[w:Age of the universe|13.8 billion years]].
In the hundreds of other Qur'anic verses where the Arabic word 'yawm' appears, everyone understands it to mean day. Yet Islamic websites try and rescue the Qur'an by pointing to an alternative meaning of yawm, which almost always means 'day', but can sometimes mean 'time period'. Curiously, and rather conveniently, yawm is only claimed to mean time period in the verses about the creation of the world. Clearly, the predominant meaning of the word is day and when a specific number is used, in this case six, the word almost always means a literal day. Again, nothing in the context of the verses, nor the Qur'an in general, suggests awareness that the universe or Earth were formed over long time periods. The author makes precisely zero attempt to distingish his description from the prevailing Middle-Eastern creation myths in this regard.
 
Secondly, neither the universe nor Earth were formed in six distinct long periods of time. It would have been trivial for an all-knowing diety to have indicated the vast duration in which the universe has developed, which has taken place over the past [[w:Age of the universe|13.8 billion years]].


{{Quote|{{Quran|50|38}}|
{{Quote|{{Quran|50|38}}|
Retrieved from "http://wikiislam.net/wiki/Scientific_Errors_in_the_Quran"