User:Saggy/Sandbox - Issues with Quran and Hadith

From WikiIslam, the online resource on Islam
Jump to navigation Jump to search

Scientific Errors in the Quran

Position of the Moon

The following verse is a compounded error since it mentions the position of the moon in the erroneous seven heavens. Verse 37:6 about stars in the first heaven must also be taken into consideration. The word "therein" does not reveal the exact position of the moon but any position above the first heaven would mean the moon is further away from the earth than stars which is not true. The moon is only 384,000 kilometres from earth whereas stars are light years away. Some translations say the moon is in the "midst" of all heavens which is a clear error.

See ye not how Allah has created the seven heavens one above another, And made the moon a light therein, and made the sun a Lamp?

"Therein" does not generally mean at the bottom or in an edge/corner. Even if the author meant that the moon is in the lowermost heaven, moonlight (reflected light from the sun) is noticeable only from the earth and it is insignificant compared to the much brighter stars which are sources of light. An all-knowing deity should not have termed the moon a light from a "heaven's" point of view.

Prophets of Islam were Sent to Every Nation

There is no evidence that prophets preaching Islam or similar beliefs were ever sent to China, Japan, Polynesia, Australia, South-East Asia, Central Asia, Scandinavia, the polar regions, most of Africa and the pre-Columbian Americas. Yet the Quran claims that every nation (or community) had a messenger.

And certainly We raised in every nation a messenger saying: Serve Allah and shun the Shaitan. So there were some of them whom Allah guided and there were others against whom error was due; therefore travel in the land, then see what was the end of the rejecters.

Contradictions in the Qur'an and Hadith

Did Muhammad perform miracles?

Yes

Narrated Anas bin Malik: I saw Allah’s Apostle when the ‘Asr prayer was due and the people searched for water to perform ablution but they could not find it. Later on (a pot full of) water for ablution was brought to Allah’s Apostle . He put his hand in that pot and ordered the people to perform ablution from it. I saw the water springing out from underneath his fingers till all of them performed the ablution (it was one of the miracles of the Prophet).

No

They say: "We shall not believe in thee, until thou cause a spring to gush forth for us from the earth, Or (until) thou have a garden of date trees and vines, and cause rivers to gush forth in their midst, carrying abundant water; Or thou cause the sky to fall in pieces, as thou sayest (will happen), against us; or thou bring Allah and the angels before (us) face to face: Or thou have a house adorned with gold, or thou mount a ladder right into the skies. No, we shall not even believe in thy mounting until thou send down to us a book that we could read." Say: "Glory to my Lord! Am I aught but a man,- a messenger?"

Misc Issues

Errors in the Quran

Constellations are Made by Allah

Constellations are essentially human observations of stars which are themselves many light years away from each other and from the earth. Light from a star takes as many years to reach us as its distance from earth in light years. So when we see a star of a constellation, or rather any star, it may not be in that location or it may have even ceased to exist. Thus, this verse reflects an observation by a naive author who simply credits Allah for the pattern of stars. Other translations say towers or mansions of stars instead of constellations but no such towers or mansions exist in the universe.

Blessed is He Who made constellations in the skies, and placed therein a Lamp and a Moon giving light;


Pending review

Scientific Errors in the Hadith

Sins of Mankind Darkened the Black Stone

Ibn Abbas narrated that: The Messenger of Allah said: "The Black Stone descended from the Paradise, and it was more white than milk, then it was blacked by the sins of the children of Adam."

Milky Way

'Abbas said, "The rainbow is security for the people of the earth that they will not be drowned. The Milky Way is the door of the heavens and forms a furrow through it."

Temp

Adam from earth

[1] Narrated Abu Musa Al-Ash'ari: that the Messenger of Allah said: "Indeed Allah Most High created Adam from a handful that He took from all of the earth. So the children of Adam come in according with the earth, some of them come red, and white and black, and between that, and the thin, the thick, the filthy, and the clean."

Forgive scholars

[2] It was narrated that Abu Dharr said: "I heard the Messenger of Allah say: 'Everyone in the universe, in the heavens and on earth, prays for forgiveness for the scholar, even the fish in the sea."

Scientific Errors in the Qur'an

Prophets of Islam were Sent to Every Nation

There is no evidence that prophets preaching Islam or similar beliefs were ever sent to China, Japan, Polynesia, Australia, South-East Asia, Central Asia, Scandinavia, the polar regions, most of Africa and the pre-Columbian Americas. Yet the Quran claims that every nation (or community) had a messenger.

And certainly We raised in every nation a messenger saying: Serve Allah and shun the Shaitan. So there were some of them whom Allah guided and there were others against whom error was due; therefore travel in the land, then see what was the end of the rejecters.

Earth Created before Stars

The author of the Qur'an is also unaware that the elements in the Earth's crust and core were first formed in stars. Modern science has proposed that all the elements that make up the earth (Oxygen, Nitrogen, Carbon, Iron, etc.) was originally formed by nucleosynthesis in stars and then expelled into the universe when those stars supernova. Yet the Qur'an describes the earth being formed before the stars and from "smoke" or material that pre-dates stars. All rocky and gaseous planets in the universe were formed in a similar manner to the earth and the Qur'an singling out the earth only further highlights the authors ignorance of the history of the formation of celestial objects.

He it is Who created for you all that is in the earth. Then turned He to the heaven, and fashioned it as seven heavens. And He is knower of all things.

Earth and Heavens were Ripped Apart

Do not the Unbelievers see that the heavens and the earth were joined together (as one unit of creation), before we clove them asunder? We made from water every living thing. Will they not then believe?

Universe was Made from Smoke by Contraction

Moreover He comprehended in His design the sky, and it had been (as) smoke: He said to it and to the earth: "Come ye together, willingly or unwillingly." They said: "We do come (together), in willing obedience."

Inanimate Objects Were Offered to Obey Allah but Feared Punishments

exp. yet to do, check tafsir [3]

We did indeed offer the Trust to the Heavens and the Earth and the Mountains; but they refused to undertake it, being afraid thereof: but man undertook it;- He was indeed unjust and foolish;-

Science and the Seven Earths

Seven Layers of Earth's Atmosphere

Secondly, this claim contradicts the Qur'an. The following verse says that stars are located in the lowermost heaven.

We have indeed decked the lower heaven with beauty (in) the stars,-

Stars are not located in the lowest layer of the atmosphere i.e. troposphere but are light years away from the earth.

Seven Universes

Another common apologetic claim is that these seven heavens are actually seven universes which we are yet to discover.

It seems that the huge universe that we live in, the one whose boundaries are not yet known to man, is just one of these heavens (universes) there are seven others, of which we -- with all our scientific developments -- do not know anything about.

The following verse contradicts such a claim since it says rain was made to fall from heaven. Certainly, rain does not come from outer space. The word used for heaven here is sama, the same as that for the seven heavens.

So We opened the gates of heaven, with water pouring forth.

Qur'an, Hadith and Scholars:Cosmology

Sirah