User:Saggy/Sandbox - Issues with Quran and Hadith

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Additions proposed and listed by articles.

Unclear errors/issues

Position of the Moon

Link [3]

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.

Ignore it for now. It may require a lot more explanation which is in the link, possibly an article.

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;

Contradictions in the Qur'an and Hadith

Misc Issues

Logical nonsense: Clear?

Alif Lam Ra. These are the Ayats of Revelation,- of a Qur'an that makes things clear.
Ha-Mim
By the Book that makes things clear,-
Qur'an 43:1-2

Changes in calendar

According to Qur'an 10:5 "It was He that gave the sun its brigtness and the moon its light ordaining its phases that you may learn to compute the seasons and the years .... " and 9:36 "God ordained the months twelve in number when He created the heavens and the earth. Of these, four are sacred, according to the true Faith ...," In 638, the caliph Umar established epoch of the Islamic era as the date the Prophet Muhammad and 70 Muslims left Mecca for Medina. His departure or hijra thus became the name for the Islamic calendar (AH, Anno Hegirae): 1 Muharram 1 hijra corresponds to Friday, 16 July 622 Julian. Entirely lunar, the Islamic synodic year of 354 days is 11 or 12 days shorter than the sideral year; the Islamic calendar ignores this difference with the result that the months retrogress fairly rapidly through all the seasons, making a complete circuit every 33 years. For example, in 2000 Ramadan 1421 AH began on 28 November and in 2001 it began on 17 November; Ramadann 1472 will begin on 22 May 2050. The Islamic calendar has no intercalary month and the net result is that there is no easy way to calculate the precise equivalence between Islamic lunar and Western solar calendars without using officially printed calendars or some other method of conversion.
Verily the transposing (of a prohibited month) is an addition to Unbelief: the Unbelievers are led to wrong thereby: for they make it lawful one year, and forbidden another year, in order to adjust the number of months forbidden by Allah and make such forbidden ones lawful. The evil of their course seems pleasing to them. But Allah guideth not those who reject Faith.

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."

Races and physical diversity in men are because of different materials from earth used to create Adam

[4] 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."

Temp

Forgive scholars

[5] 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.

Inanimate Objects Were Offered to Obey Allah but Feared Punishments

exp. yet to do, check tafsir [6]

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;-

Gender of the Baby is Decided After it Becomes a Clot

The Qur'an says that the embryo which is transforms from a sperm to a clot, then it is shaped and then the male or female sex is made. Modern genetics has shown that the sex of a human is decided at the moment of conception.[1] [2]

Was he not a small seed in the seminal elements, Then he was a clot of blood, so He created (him) then made (him) perfect. Then He made of him two kinds, the male and the female.

Mountains were Created in Four Days

Mountain formation has never happened in four days (or four long time periods). Ranges and lone mountains have each taken different timespans to form. For example, the Ural mountains were formed 250 to 300 million years ago over a period of nearly 90 million years.[3][4][5][6] The uplift of the Alps began 160 million years ago and it is ongoing.[7] The current volcano of Mount Fuji was formed 10000 years ago on top of another 100,000 years old volcano.[8]

He placed therein firm hills rising above it, and blessed it and measured therein its sustenance in four Days, alike for (all) who ask;

Fruits are in pairs

Most translations and commentaries of this verse claim that all fruits are found in pairs of male and female. But fruits are formed when pollen fertilizes ovules and they do not have any gender.

And it is He who spread out the earth, and set thereon mountains standing firm and (flowing) rivers: and fruit of every kind He made in pairs, two and two: He draweth the night as a veil o'er the Day. Behold, verily in these things there are signs for those who consider!

Some translations imply that all fruits give rise to male and female plants or gametes. There is, however, considerable diversity in the reproductive morphology of plants which involves combinations of male, female or both organs, in same or separate flowers, which can be found on the same or separate plants depending upon the species. A definite "pair" cannot be construed for all fruit-bearing plants.

Shadows prostrate to Allah

Have they not observed all things that Allah hath created, how their shadows incline to the right and to the left, making prostration unto Allah, and they are lowly?

Functions of Heart

In several verses, the Qur'an ascribes understanding and thinking to the heart instead of the brain.

Of them there are some who (pretend to) listen to thee; but We have thrown veils on their hearts, So they understand it not, and deafness in their ears; if they saw every one of the signs, not they will believe in them; in so much that when they come to thee, they (but) dispute with thee; the Unbelievers say: "These are nothing but tales of the ancients."
Many are the Jinns and men we have made for Hell: They have hearts wherewith they understand not, eyes wherewith they see not, and ears wherewith they hear not. They are like cattle,- nay more misguided: for they are heedless (of warning).
They prefer to be with (the women), who remain behind (at home): their hearts are sealed and so they understand not.
And We place upon their hearts veils lest they should understand it, and in their ears a deafness; and when thou makest mention of thy Lord alone in the Qur'an, they turn their backs in aversion.
Lo! now they fold up their breasts that they may hide (their thoughts) from Him. At the very moment when they cover themselves with their clothing, Allah knoweth that which they keep hidden and that which they proclaim. Lo! He is Aware of what is in the breasts (of men).

Existing errors

Non_existent Mosque in Jerusalem

Muslims claim that Al-Aqsa mosque is mentioned in the Qur'an as the furthest mosque, even though there was obviously no mosque in Jerusalem during Muhammad's time. See also: [7]

Glory to (Allah) Who did take His servant for a Journey by night from the Sacred Mosque to the farthest Mosque, whose precincts We did bless,- in order that We might show him some of Our Signs: for He is the One Who heareth and seeth (all things).

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.

Quran and Semen Production

Tahir Ul-Qadri

"So let man think from what he is created. He

is created from a gushing fluid that is issued

from between sacrum and symphisis pubis (86:5-7)"
Arabic words like many other languages often carry more than one meaning of a single word. For instance the Arabic word ‘salat’ has 60 meanings. ... Moreover the seminal passages do indeed lie between the sacrum referred to as sulb in the Qurā’nic verse and the symphisis pubis referred to as tarā’ib.

There is no evidence that tara'ib can be translated as pubic symphisis. Even if Qadri's claim of a single word having a large number of meanings were true, tara'ib would have meant many organs other than the pubic symphisis. Those organs would have no relationship with the place where semen flows. It is a typical Texas sharpshooter fallacy to focus only on similarities between two sets of information and draw a conclusion while ignoring the differences. Qadri also ignores the testicles which produce the essential sperms. They are not situated in the zone he mentioned but below the symphisis.[9]

The Quran and Mountains

Mountains Stabilize the Earth's Rotation About its Axis

The mass of the Earth is 5.97*1024 kilograms. The mass of mountains is of much lower order, hence they have an infinitesimally small effect on the earth's moment of inertia. The earth's rotational speed and axial tilt are affected more by the distance of the moon from earth and w:Post-glacial rebound since the ice ages.

Mountains Absorb Some Waves During Earthquakes

{{Quote|

We investigate the effects of large-scale surface topography on ground motions generated by nearby faulting. We show a specific example studying the effect of the San Gabriel Mountains, which are bounded by the Mojave segment of the San Andreas fault on the north and by the Los Angeles Basin on the south. By simulating a Mw 7.5 earthquake on the Mojave segment of the San Andreas fault, we show that the San Gabriel Mountains act as a natural seismic insulator for metropolitan Los Angeles. The topography of the mountains scatters the surface waves generated by the rupture on the San Andreas fault, leading to less-efficient excitation of basin-edge generated waves and natural resonances within the Los Angeles Basin. The effect of the mountains reduces the peak amplitude of ground velocity for some regions in the basin by as much as 50% in the frequency band up to 0.5 Hz. These results suggest that, depending on the relative location of faulting and the nearby large-scale topography, the topography can shield some areas from ground shaking.

Such studies are sometimes quoted by apologists to prove their point. It is clear however, that earthquakes are not prevented. Only the waves are somewhat affected by the presence of mountains as proven in the above simulation. If there were an earthquake larger than 7.5 or if a settlement were situated between its epicenter and a mountain range, there would be widespread destruction anyway.

Scientific Errors in the Hadith

Allah made Mecca Sacred when He Created Heavens and Earth

No human settlements existed when the Universe and Earth were forming.

Narrated Mujahid: Allah's Messenger got up on the day of the Conquest of Mecca and said, "Allah has made Mecca a sanctuary since the day He created the Heavens and the Earth, and it will remain a sanctuary by virtue of the sanctity Allah has bestowed on it till the Day of Resurrection. It (i.e. fighting in it) was not made lawful to anyone before me!, nor will it be made lawful to anyone after me, and it was not made lawful for me except for a short period of time. Its game should not be chased, nor should its trees be cut, nor its vegetation or grass uprooted, not its Luqata (i.e. Most things) picked up except by one who makes a public announcement about it." Al-Abbas bin `Abdul Muttalib said, "Except the Idhkhir, O Allah's Messenger, as it is indispensable for blacksmiths and houses." On that, the Prophet kept quiet and then said, "Except the Idhkhir as it is lawful to cut."

A Year was Equal to Twelve Lunar Months during the Creation of Heavens and Earth

Arabs measured months according to the orbit of the moon. But the moon was formed after the Earth and much after the Universe. It was much closer to the earth than it is today, and it orbited the Earth once in every five hours.[10] The length of its orbit and the time taken have been steadily increasing since then.[11] But the Earth's orbit around the Sun has not changed. Hence, a year had more than 12 lunar months in the past, had humans existed to count them.

The Prophet said. "(The division of time has turned to its original form which was current when Allah created the Heavens and the Earths. The year is of twelve months, out of which four months are sacred: Three are in succession Dhul-Qa' da, Dhul-Hijja and Muharram, and (the fourth is) Rajab of (the tribe of) Mudar which comes between Jumadi-ath-Thaniyah and Sha ban."

Graves of true Muslims get widened to 70 cubits and bodies of hypocrites are squeezed

Anas b. Malik reported Allah's Apostle having said: When the servant is placed in his grave and his companions retrace their steps arid he hears the noise of the footsteps, then two angels come to him and make him sit and say to him: What you have to say about this person (the Holy Prophet)? If he is believer, he would say: I bear testimony to the fact that he is a servant of Allah and His Messenger. Then it would be said to him: Look to your seat in the Hell- Fire, for Allah has substituted (the seat of yours) with a seat in Paradise. Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him) said: He would be shown both the seats. Qatada said: It was mentioned to us that his grave (the grave of a believer) expands to seventy cubits and is full with verdure until the Day when they would be resurrected.
Abu Hurairah narrated that: The Messenger of Allah said: "When the deceased - or he said when one of you - is buried, two angels, black and blue (eyed_ come to him. One of them is called Al-Munkar, and the other An-Nakir. They say: 'What did you used to say about this man?' So he says what he was saying (before death) 'He is Allah's slave and His Messenger. I testify that none has the right to be worshipped but Allah and that Muhammad is His slave and His Messenger.' So they say: 'We knew that you would say this.' Then his grave is expanded to seventy by seventy cubits, then it is illuminated for him. Then it is said to him: 'Sleep.' So he said: 'Can I return to my family to inform them?' They say: 'Sleep as a newlywed, whom none awakens but the dearest of his family.' Until Allah resurrects him from his resting place.""If he was a hypocrite he would say: 'I heard people saying something, so I said the same; I do not know.' So they said: 'We knew you would say that.' So the earth is told: 'Constrict him.' So it constricts around him, squeezing his ribs together. He continues being punished like that until Allah resurrects him from his resting place."

Sociology: Ethiopian Translation of Killing

Ethiopia has several languages. In Oromo, the word for kill is fita-fitta or ijeesa-fta.[12] In Amharic it is megedele.[13] In Somali, the verb kill is dilid and killing is dilka. In Tigrinya Al does not mean "the" (there is no word for "the"). But Muhammad claims that Al-Harj is an Ethiopian word for killing.

Narrated Abu Musa: The Prophet said, "Near the establishment of the Hour there will be days during which (religious) knowledge will be taken away (vanish) and general ignorance will spread, and there will be Al-Harj in abundance, and Al-Harj means killing."
Narrated Abu Musa: The Prophet said...(as above, 185). And Harj, in the Ethiopian language, means killing.

ref

  1. Harrison's principles of internal medicine. (17th ed. ed.). New York [etc.]: McGraw-Hill Medical. pp. 2339–2346. ISBN 978-0-07-147693-5, 2008. 
  2. Rey,Rodolfo, MD, PhD, Josso, Nathalie MD, PhD. (). Chapter 7. Sexual Differentiation. Available: http://www.endotext.org/pediatrics/pediatrics7/pediatrics7.html. Last accessed may 21, 2011.
  3. Brown, D. and Echtler, H. (2005) "The Urals". In: R. C. Selley, L. R. M. Cocks & I. R. Plimer (eds.), Encyclopedia of Geology, Vol. 2. Elsevier, pp. 86–95.
  4. Cocks, L. R. M. and Torsvik, T. H. (2006) "European geography in a global context from the Vendian to the end of the Palaeozoic". In Gee, D. G. & Stephenson, R. A. (eds), European Lithosphere Dynamics. Geological Society, London, Memoirs, 32, 83–95.
  5. Puchkov, V. N. (2009). "The evolution of the Uralian orogen". Geological Society, London, Special Publications 327: 161. doi:10.1144/SP327.9.
  6. Brown, D.; Juhlin, C.; Ayala, C.; Tryggvason, A.; Bea, F.; Alvarez-Marron, J.; Carbonell, R.; Seward, D.; Glasmacher, U.; Puchkov, V.; Perez-Estaun, A. (2008). "Mountain building processes during continent–continent collision in the Uralides". Earth-Science Reviews 89 (3–4): 177. doi:10.1016/j.earscirev.2008.05.001.
  7. Geology of the Alps Part 1: General remarks; Austroalpine nappes
  8. The Birth of Fuji
  9. See images here [1] [2]
  10. http://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2012/11/28/3642932.htm
  11. [http://www.planetary-science.com/content/pdf/s13535-014-0002-5.pdf The past and present Earth-Moon system: the speed of light stays steady as tides evolve] pp 2
  12. http://oromianews.wordpress.com/english-oromo-borana-dictionary/
  13. http://www.ethiopiandictionary.com/