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Scientific Errors in the Quran (view source)

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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.}}


===Moon Emits Light===
===Earth and Heavens Created in Six Days===
{{Main|Qur'an, Hadith and Scholars:Creation}}
 
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]].
 
{{Quote|{{Quran|50|38}}|
We created the heavens and the earth and all between them in Six Days, nor did any sense of weariness touch Us}}
 
The Earth specifically was created in two days according to the Qur'an, and in four days (on days three and four according to the tafsirs) were created mountains and the sustenance of the Earth.
 
{{Quote|{{Quran-range|41|9|10}}|Say: Is it that ye deny Him Who created the earth in two Days? And do ye join equals with Him? He is the Lord of (all) the Worlds. He set on the (earth), mountains standing firm, high above it, and bestowed blessings on the earth, and measure therein all things to give them nourishment in due proportion, in four Days, in accordance with (the needs of) those who seek (Sustenance).}}
 
Mountains in fact continue to rise and erode to this day. Similarly, living things and their sustenance continue to evolve, yet the Qur'an says that the creation of mountains and sustenance occurred in a specific period that ended two days before the creation of the universe was completed. See the next section regarding the final two of the six days in 41:11-12 which immediately follow the verses shown above.
 
===Earth Created before Stars===
 
The author of the Qur'an is also unaware that the [[w:Abundance of elements in Earth's crust|elements in the Earth's crust]] and core were first formed in stars by [[w:Nucleosynthesis|nucleosynthesis]]. When those stars exploded as [[w:Supernova|supernovas]], they expelled the elements that were used in future solar systems such as our own. Yet the Qur'an describes the Earth being formed before the 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 author's ignorance of the history of the formation of celestial objects.


The moon does not emit its own light but simply reflects light coming from the Sun. The Arabic word for reflected (in`ikaas) does not appear in the two Qur'anic verses that say the Moon is a "light". It instead uses the word "noor" (nooran نُورًا) which simply means a light, and in another verse, muneer (muneeran مُّنِيرًا), which means giving light and is from the same root as noor.
Verse 41:12 says that lamps (or more specifically, stars in the similar verse {{Quran|37|6}}) were placed in the lowest of the seven heavens. But before there were seven heavens, while heaven was just smoke, the Earth already existed according to verse 11, and the Earth's creation in the preceeding days is described in verses 9-10 already discussed in the previous section.


{{Quote|{{Quran|10|5}}|
{{Quote|{{Quran-range|41|11|12}}|
He it is Who appointed the sun a splendour and the moon a light, and measured for her stages, that ye might know the number of the years, and the reckoning. Allah created not (all) that save in truth. He detaileth the revelations for people who have knowledge.}}
Then turned He to the heaven when it was smoke, and said unto it and unto the earth: Come both of you, willingly or loth. They said: We come, obedient. '''Then He ordained them seven heavens in two Days''' and inspired in each heaven its mandate; '''and We decked the nether heaven with lamps''', and rendered it inviolable. That is the measuring of the Mighty, the Knower. }}


{{Quote|{{Quran|71|16}}|
The verse below further confirms that heaven was only made into seven heavens when the Earth already existed according to the Qur'an.
And hath made the moon a light therein, and made the sun a lamp?}}


Noor appears again (this time as a participle muneeran مُّنِيرًا) in a similar verse about the moon:
{{Quote|{{Quran|2|29}}|
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.}}


{{Quote|{{Quran|25|61}}|
Some websites attempt to reconcile the Qur'anic description with modern science by denying that the word 'Then' in the verses above indicate sequence, and instead claim that it means 'moreover'. They claim this despite the fact that these words (thumma in 41:11 and 2:29, and fa in 41:12 - all translated as 'Then') generally are used to indicate sequence. In other contexts thumma was sometimes used to mean 'moreover', which is generally clear from those contexts, but the passages quoted above describe a process - the creation of the heavens and Earth, and it would be ludicrous to use these words when describing such a process if they were not indicating sequence.
Blessed be He Who hath placed in the heaven mansions of the stars, and hath placed therein a great lamp and a moon giving light!"}}


Perhaps the best example of a verse showing the noor simply means light and not reflected light can be found in 33:45-46 in which a lamp is shining light with the exact same Arabic word as in 25:61 above (muneeran مُّنِيرًا):
====Earth and Heavens were Ripped Apart====


{{Quote|{{Quran-range|33|45|46}}|
Some websites claim that the following verse is compatible with the [[w:Big Bang|Big Bang]] theory. But according to this theory, the Universe was formed about 13.8 billion years ago due to a [[w:Chronology of the universe|rapid expansion]] from singularity. The earth was formed 4.54 billion years ago from [[w:History of the Earth|accretion]] of debris that surrounded the precursor of the Sun. There was no "separation" of the "joined" earth and heavens as this verse suggests. It is, in fact, a repetition of [[w:World egg|cosmic egg]] myths in which an egg-like structure was split into two halves, the lower half forming the earth and the upper half forming the heaven.
O Prophet! Lo! We have sent thee as a witness and a bringer of good tidings and a warner. And as a summoner unto Allah by His permission, and as a lamp '''that giveth light'''.}}


In Lane's Lexicon of classical arabic, this word [http://www.studyquran.org/LaneLexicon/Volume8/00000120.pdf muneer] (مُّنِيرً) is defined as 'Giving light, shining bright, bright, or shining brightly'. Noor is defined on the [http://www.studyquran.org/LaneLexicon/Volume8/00000119.pdf previous page] as 'Light; whatever it may be; and the rays thereof'. In reference to Qur'an verse 10:5 (quoted above) that describe the moon with this word, he says, 'In the Kur. x. 5, the sun is termed ضياء and the moon نور and it is said that ضياء is ''essential'', but نور is ''accidental'' [light]'. It is important to note that this notion of essential and accidental light and its application to the sun and moon originates not from the Arabs at the time of the Qur'an, but rather from the book ''Kitab al-Manazir'', commonly known as 'Optics', published in 1572 by the great polymath and optics pioneer al-Hazen. Lane goes on to say, citing the highly regarded Taj al-Arus classical dictionary, 'it is of two kinds, the light of the present world and that of the world to come; and the former is either perceived sensibly, by the eye, and this is what diffuses itself from luminous bodies, as the sun and moon and stars, and is mentioned in the Kur. x. 5 referred to above'.
{{Quote|{{Quran|21|30}}|
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? }}


The word "Noor" is also used in this verse to show that Allah is the "light" of the universe. Clearly the author is not implying that Allah reflects light from another source but is the source of the light.
There is no scientific theory in which the Earth and heavens were split apart from each other. To imagine that this describes the big bang, the atomic particles that would later form the Earth would at the beginning have to be separated from those that would go on to form everything else in the universe. This bears no resemblance to scientific cosmology, wherein the material that forms the Earth passed through at least one earlier generation of star, and more recently was part of various asteroids, comets and planetesimals orbiting the sun (which could all be described as being in the 'heavens') that sometimes collided and merged with each other, sometimes split apart, and gradually coalesced under gravity to form the Earth and other planets.


{{Quote|{{Quran|24|35}}|
Moreover, the very next verse {{Quran|21|31}} speaks of mountains being placed on the Earth. Here 'the Earth' clearly means an actual world, so how do the Islamic websites expect anyone to believe that in the previous verse 'the Earth' refers merely to atomic particles at the time of the big bang that would billions of years later form the Earth?
Allah is the Light of the heavens and the earth. The Parable of His Light is as if there were a Niche and within it a Lamp: the Lamp enclosed in Glass: the glass as it were a brilliant star: Lit from a blessed Tree, an Olive, neither of the east nor of the west, whose oil is well-nigh luminous, though fire scarce touched it: Light upon Light! Allah doth guide whom He will to His Light: Allah doth set forth Parables for men: and Allah doth know all things.}}


===Moon was Split in Two===
====Universe was Made from Smoke====
{{Main|Moon Split Miracle}}
{{main|Quran and a Universe from Smoke}}


The Qur'an and Hadith claim that the moon was miraculously split into two pieces and then, presumably, put back together again. There is absolutely no scientific evidence whatsoever that the moon has ever been split into two. Since the moon is visible to half the planet at any given time, we should expect to see numerous accounts from different parts of the world attesting to this event if it actually happened. The Romans, Greeks, Egyptians, Persians, Chinese and Indians had avid astronomers who should have seen this event and recorded it in their histories. The absence of historical record from other civilizations, contemporary to Muhammad, is a strong indication that this event never happened.
Looking once again at the verses discussed above, neither was there any stage of formation of the Universe that involved smoke (carbon particles suspended as a result of combustion). Nor did the Earth and heavens each "come" as separate entites at any point of time. Earth is a part of this Universe and has developed within it.  


{{Quote|{{Quran|54|1-3}}|The hour drew nigh and the moon did rend asunder. }}
{{Quote|{{Quran-range|41|11|12}}|
Then turned He to the heaven when it was smoke, and said unto it and unto the earth: Come both of you, willingly or loth. They said: We come, obedient. Then He ordained them seven heavens in two Days and inspired in each heaven its mandate; and We decked the nether heaven with lamps, and rendered it inviolable. That is the measuring of the Mighty, the Knower. }}


{{Quote|{{Bukhari|4|56|831}}|Narrated Anas: "That the Meccan people requested Allah's Apostle to show them a miracle, and so he showed them the splitting of the moon."}}
Apologetics that try to reinterpret 'smoke' as the primordial state of the universe after the big bang should notice (aside from their poor grasp of science) that the Qur'an indicates a time when just the heaven, but not Earth is smoke.


===Seven Earths===
===Seven Earths===
Line 136: Line 153:
{{Quote|{{Quran|37|6}}| Surely We have adorned the nearest heaven with an adornment, the stars}}
{{Quote|{{Quran|37|6}}| Surely We have adorned the nearest heaven with an adornment, the stars}}


===Earth and Heavens Created in Six Days===
===The similar size and distance of the sun and moon===
{{Main|Qur'an, Hadith and Scholars:Creation}}
{{Main|Geocentrism and the Quran|l1=Geocentrism and the Qur'an}}


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 Qur'an has statements about the end of the world that are much as one would expect if the author believed the sun and moon to be of similar size and a similar distance from Earth.


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]].
{{Quote|{{cite quran|75|8|end=9|style=ref}}|And the moon darkens And the sun and the moon are joined,}}


{{Quote|{{Quran|50|38}}|
The word translated "are joined" is Arabic jumi'a, a verb which means to collect together, gather together, bring together. Given that this would actually require the moon to travel 98 million miles away from Earth and into the sun, which dwarfs it by over 600 times in diameter, it seems vastly less fitting as an apocalyptic event than if the ancient conception of the cosmos was correct.
We created the heavens and the earth and all between them in Six Days, nor did any sense of weariness touch Us}}


The Earth specifically was created in two days according to the Qur'an, and in four days (on days three and four according to the tafsirs) were created mountains and the sustenance of the Earth.
===Moon Emits Light===


{{Quote|{{Quran-range|41|9|10}}|Say: Is it that ye deny Him Who created the earth in two Days? And do ye join equals with Him? He is the Lord of (all) the Worlds. He set on the (earth), mountains standing firm, high above it, and bestowed blessings on the earth, and measure therein all things to give them nourishment in due proportion, in four Days, in accordance with (the needs of) those who seek (Sustenance).}}
The moon does not emit its own light but simply reflects light coming from the Sun. The Arabic word for reflected (in`ikaas) does not appear in the two Qur'anic verses that say the Moon is a "light". It instead uses the word "noor" (nooran نُورًا) which simply means a light, and in another verse, muneer (muneeran مُّنِيرًا), which means giving light and is from the same root as noor.


Mountains in fact continue to rise and erode to this day. Similarly, living things and their sustenance continue to evolve, yet the Qur'an says that the creation of mountains and sustenance occurred in a specific period that ended two days before the creation of the universe was completed. See the next section regarding the final two of the six days in 41:11-12 which immediately follow the verses shown above.
{{Quote|{{Quran|10|5}}|
He it is Who appointed the sun a splendour and the moon a light, and measured for her stages, that ye might know the number of the years, and the reckoning. Allah created not (all) that save in truth. He detaileth the revelations for people who have knowledge.}}


===Earth Created before Stars===
{{Quote|{{Quran|71|16}}|
And hath made the moon a light therein, and made the sun a lamp?}}


The author of the Qur'an is also unaware that the [[w:Abundance of elements in Earth's crust|elements in the Earth's crust]] and core were first formed in stars by [[w:Nucleosynthesis|nucleosynthesis]]. When those stars exploded as [[w:Supernova|supernovas]], they expelled the elements that were used in future solar systems such as our own. Yet the Qur'an describes the Earth being formed before the 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 author's ignorance of the history of the formation of celestial objects.
Noor appears again (this time as a participle muneeran مُّنِيرًا) in a similar verse about the moon:


Verse 41:12 says that lamps (or more specifically, stars in the similar verse {{Quran|37|6}}) were placed in the lowest of the seven heavens. But before there were seven heavens, while heaven was just smoke, the Earth already existed according to verse 11, and the Earth's creation in the preceeding days is described in verses 9-10 already discussed in the previous section.
{{Quote|{{Quran|25|61}}|
Blessed be He Who hath placed in the heaven mansions of the stars, and hath placed therein a great lamp and a moon giving light!"}}


{{Quote|{{Quran-range|41|11|12}}|
Perhaps the best example of a verse showing the noor simply means light and not reflected light can be found in 33:45-46 in which a lamp is shining light with the exact same Arabic word as in 25:61 above (muneeran مُّنِيرًا):
Then turned He to the heaven when it was smoke, and said unto it and unto the earth: Come both of you, willingly or loth. They said: We come, obedient. '''Then He ordained them seven heavens in two Days''' and inspired in each heaven its mandate; '''and We decked the nether heaven with lamps''', and rendered it inviolable. That is the measuring of the Mighty, the Knower. }}


The verse below further confirms that heaven was only made into seven heavens when the Earth already existed according to the Qur'an.
{{Quote|{{Quran-range|33|45|46}}|
O Prophet! Lo! We have sent thee as a witness and a bringer of good tidings and a warner. And as a summoner unto Allah by His permission, and as a lamp '''that giveth light'''.}}


{{Quote|{{Quran|2|29}}|
In Lane's Lexicon of classical arabic, this word [http://www.studyquran.org/LaneLexicon/Volume8/00000120.pdf muneer] (مُّنِيرً) is defined as 'Giving light, shining bright, bright, or shining brightly'. Noor is defined on the [http://www.studyquran.org/LaneLexicon/Volume8/00000119.pdf previous page] as 'Light; whatever it may be; and the rays thereof'. In reference to Qur'an verse 10:5 (quoted above) that describe the moon with this word, he says, 'In the Kur. x. 5, the sun is termed ضياء and the moon نور and it is said that ضياء is ''essential'', but نور is ''accidental'' [light]'. It is important to note that this notion of essential and accidental light and its application to the sun and moon originates not from the Arabs at the time of the Qur'an, but rather from the book ''Kitab al-Manazir'', commonly known as 'Optics', published in 1572 by the great polymath and optics pioneer al-Hazen. Lane goes on to say, citing the highly regarded Taj al-Arus classical dictionary, 'it is of two kinds, the light of the present world and that of the world to come; and the former is either perceived sensibly, by the eye, and this is what diffuses itself from luminous bodies, as the sun and moon and stars, and is mentioned in the Kur. x. 5 referred to above'.
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.}}


Some websites attempt to reconcile the Qur'anic description with modern science by denying that the word 'Then' in the verses above indicate sequence, and instead claim that it means 'moreover'. They claim this despite the fact that these words (thumma in 41:11 and 2:29, and fa in 41:12 - all translated as 'Then') generally are used to indicate sequence. In other contexts thumma was sometimes used to mean 'moreover', which is generally clear from those contexts, but the passages quoted above describe a process - the creation of the heavens and Earth, and it would be ludicrous to use these words when describing such a process if they were not indicating sequence.
The word "Noor" is also used in this verse to show that Allah is the "light" of the universe. Clearly the author is not implying that Allah reflects light from another source but is the source of the light.


====Earth and Heavens were Ripped Apart====
{{Quote|{{Quran|24|35}}|
Allah is the Light of the heavens and the earth. The Parable of His Light is as if there were a Niche and within it a Lamp: the Lamp enclosed in Glass: the glass as it were a brilliant star: Lit from a blessed Tree, an Olive, neither of the east nor of the west, whose oil is well-nigh luminous, though fire scarce touched it: Light upon Light! Allah doth guide whom He will to His Light: Allah doth set forth Parables for men: and Allah doth know all things.}}


Some websites claim that the following verse is compatible with the [[w:Big Bang|Big Bang]] theory. But according to this theory, the Universe was formed about 13.8 billion years ago due to a [[w:Chronology of the universe|rapid expansion]] from singularity. The earth was formed 4.54 billion years ago from [[w:History of the Earth|accretion]] of debris that surrounded the precursor of the Sun. There was no "separation" of the "joined" earth and heavens as this verse suggests. It is, in fact, a repetition of [[w:World egg|cosmic egg]] myths in which an egg-like structure was split into two halves, the lower half forming the earth and the upper half forming the heaven.
===Moon was Split in Two===
{{Main|Moon Split Miracle}}


{{Quote|{{Quran|21|30}}|
The Qur'an and Hadith claim that the moon was miraculously split into two pieces and then, presumably, put back together again. There is absolutely no scientific evidence whatsoever that the moon has ever been split into two. Since the moon is visible to half the planet at any given time, we should expect to see numerous accounts from different parts of the world attesting to this event if it actually happened. The Romans, Greeks, Egyptians, Persians, Chinese and Indians had avid astronomers who should have seen this event and recorded it in their histories. The absence of historical record from other civilizations, contemporary to Muhammad, is a strong indication that this event never happened.
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? }}


There is no scientific theory in which the Earth and heavens were split apart from each other. To imagine that this describes the big bang, the atomic particles that would later form the Earth would at the beginning have to be separated from those that would go on to form everything else in the universe. This bears no resemblance to scientific cosmology, wherein the material that forms the Earth passed through at least one earlier generation of star, and more recently was part of various asteroids, comets and planetesimals orbiting the sun (which could all be described as being in the 'heavens') that sometimes collided and merged with each other, sometimes split apart, and gradually coalesced under gravity to form the Earth and other planets.
{{Quote|{{Quran|54|1-3}}|The hour drew nigh and the moon did rend asunder. }}


Moreover, the very next verse {{Quran|21|31}} speaks of mountains being placed on the Earth. Here 'the Earth' clearly means an actual world, so how do the Islamic websites expect anyone to believe that in the previous verse 'the Earth' refers merely to atomic particles at the time of the big bang that would billions of years later form the Earth?
{{Quote|{{Bukhari|4|56|831}}|Narrated Anas: "That the Meccan people requested Allah's Apostle to show them a miracle, and so he showed them the splitting of the moon."}}
 
====Universe was Made from Smoke====
{{main|Quran and a Universe from Smoke}}
 
Looking once again at the verses discussed above, neither was there any stage of formation of the Universe that involved smoke (carbon particles suspended as a result of combustion). Nor did the Earth and heavens each "come" as separate entites at any point of time. Earth is a part of this Universe and has developed within it.
 
{{Quote|{{Quran-range|41|11|12}}|
Then turned He to the heaven when it was smoke, and said unto it and unto the earth: Come both of you, willingly or loth. They said: We come, obedient. Then He ordained them seven heavens in two Days and inspired in each heaven its mandate; and We decked the nether heaven with lamps, and rendered it inviolable. That is the measuring of the Mighty, the Knower. }}
 
Apologetics that try to reinterpret 'smoke' as the primordial state of the universe after the big bang should notice (aside from their poor grasp of science) that the Qur'an indicates a time when just the heaven, but not Earth is smoke.
 
===The Cause of Shadows Changing Length===
Shadows are produced when the sun's light is blocked by an obstacle. It is the Earth's rotation that causes these shadows to change size and lengthen. However, verse 25:45 seems to say that the reason that shadows lengthen rather than being stationary is because Allah has made the sun their guide. Yet if the Earth did not rotate (so shadows were stationary) and then the Earth was made to rotate (so that they could lengthen and draw in) the sun would not need to be made to do anything different in either case. Thus the most likely explanation is that the verse represents a geocentric worldview where the sun moves across the sky, guiding the shadows.
 
{{Quote|{{Quran|25|45-46}}|
Hast thou not turned thy vision to thy Lord?- How He doth prolong the shadow! If He willed, He could make it stationary! then do We make the sun its guide; Then We draw it in towards Ourselves,- a contraction by easy stages.}}
 
Then the next verse, 25:46, says that shadows are drawn towards Allah which has no scientific meaning.
 
===The similar size and distance of the sun and moon===
{{Main|Geocentrism and the Quran|l1=Geocentrism and the Qur'an}}
 
The Qur'an has statements about the end of the world that are much as one would expect if the author believed the sun and moon to be of similar size and a similar distance from Earth.
 
{{Quote|{{cite quran|75|8|end=9|style=ref}}|And the moon darkens And the sun and the moon are joined,}}
 
The word translated "are joined" is Arabic jumi'a, a verb which means to collect together, gather together, bring together. Given that this would actually require the moon to travel 98 million miles away from Earth and into the sun, which dwarfs it by over 600 times in diameter, it seems vastly less fitting as an apocalyptic event than if the ancient conception of the cosmos was correct.


===Sky is a Tent/Dome===
===Sky is a Tent/Dome===
Line 248: Line 240:


The structure of space-time is such that nothing, not even stars, can move faster than the velocity of light. Even if stars were to somehow move close to light speed across the sky their motion would be imperceivable to the naked eye as many visible stars are hundreds of light years away. Neither would we be able to see anything that the stars are doing recently (when we see a star 100 light years away, we are seeing it as it was 100 years ago).
The structure of space-time is such that nothing, not even stars, can move faster than the velocity of light. Even if stars were to somehow move close to light speed across the sky their motion would be imperceivable to the naked eye as many visible stars are hundreds of light years away. Neither would we be able to see anything that the stars are doing recently (when we see a star 100 light years away, we are seeing it as it was 100 years ago).
===The Cause of Shadows Changing Length===
Shadows are produced when the sun's light is blocked by an obstacle. It is the Earth's rotation that causes these shadows to change size and lengthen. However, verse 25:45 seems to say that the reason that shadows lengthen rather than being stationary is because Allah has made the sun their guide. Yet if the Earth did not rotate (so shadows were stationary) and then the Earth was made to rotate (so that they could lengthen and draw in) the sun would not need to be made to do anything different in either case. Thus the most likely explanation is that the verse represents a geocentric worldview where the sun moves across the sky, guiding the shadows.
{{Quote|{{Quran|25|45-46}}|
Hast thou not turned thy vision to thy Lord?- How He doth prolong the shadow! If He willed, He could make it stationary! then do We make the sun its guide; Then We draw it in towards Ourselves,- a contraction by easy stages.}}
Then the next verse, 25:46, says that shadows are drawn towards Allah which has no scientific meaning.


===Ignorance of the North and South Poles===
===Ignorance of the North and South Poles===
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