Dhul-Qarnayn and the Alexander Romance and Scientific Miracles in the Quran: Difference between pages

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In recent times, many Muslim scholars have interpreted certain Quranic verses as being miraculously predictive of modern scientific discoveries and have presented these interpretations as evidence of the Quran's divine origin. Tellingly, no verse contained in the Quran has ever prompted a scientific discovery, and modern Muslim scholars have also generally not tried to argue that this has ever been the case. As such, all the purported instances of miraculous scientific foreknowledge in the Quran have been identified as such only after the science they are alleged to describe has been discovered by independent and unrelated means. Critics have pointed out this weakness and generally hold these so-called scientific miracles to be the product of theological sophistry whereby science is read back into the Quran upon discovery. Critics also maintain that there is no instance in the Quran where a scientific subject has been described with sufficient clarity, specificity, and accuracy as to qualify as anything Miraculous.

Even when the Islamic empires led the world in science in parts of the middle ages,^[1] classical Islamic scholars/exegetes on the Quran aware of these facts never put forward theories of scientific foreknowledge.^[2] Instead when science is inevitably discussed in verses relating to the natural world, they either confirm incorrect scientific worldviews at the time, and/or provide counter re-interpretations as new theories gain traction, and never before. In fact, in many cases the Quran has been cited directly as the reason to support traditional unscientific views against those of e.g. astronomers,^[3] (which hardly matches the idea of a book of scientific foreknowledge) and is still being used today to deny established scientific facts.^[4]

In the eyes of historians, the Quran's author(s) almost certainly made no pretensions about predicting modern science. In support of this perspective, there is no Islamic scripture that actually claims that the Quran (or Islamic scripture in general) contain allusions to future scientific discoveries. Consequently, where the Quran makes mention of what are today perceived as topics of scientific interest (such as the wonders of the day and night sky, fauna and flora, or the human spirit), historians suggest that these passages were originally intended to simply inspire awe in their audience by orienting that audience's attention towards the world's many marvels and especially those marvels accessible to individuals living in the harsh, arid, and rocky environment of early 7th century Arabia.

History of the scientific miracles movement and statements by Western Scientists

Main Article: Bucailleism

In 1976 the book The Quran, the Bible, and Science, by Dr. Maurice Bucaille was published. It purports to prove that the Qur'an, in contrast to the Bible, has always been in agreement with modern scientific discoveries. It was immensely popular "across the Muslim world" where it "sold millions of copies" and was "translated into several languages." ^[5]

During the 1980s and 1990s a Muslim scholar named Abdul Majeed al-Zindani organized various events to which scientists from around the world (mainly the west) were invited to talk. The ultimate result of these events was a documentary by Zindani, This is the Truth, in which some of these scientists were shown to be confirming the miraculous nature of the Quran, or were quoted as making statements off camera. This documentary was followed up in 1998 by a book of the same name, authored by Abdullah M al-Rehaili, which is now in its 3rd edition.

In a 2002 Wall Street Journal article and further interviews posted on Youtube in 2011, some of these scientists explained that they had been misled and manipulated by Zindani and do not endorse the Quran as scientifically accurate (see main article as well as the external links section of this article).

The most popular Islamic voices who have argued for the existence of scientific miracles in the Quran in the West include Harun Yahya, Zakir Naik, I.A. Ibrahim, and Hamza Tzortzis. Notably, in 2013, Hamza Tzortzis published an essay withdrawing his case for scientific miracles in the Quran and stating that the entire endeavor to prove such miracles "has become an intellectual embarrassment for Muslim apologists" and "has exposed the lack of coherence in the way they have formulated" their arguments, noting that "many Muslims who converted to Islam due to the scientific miracles narrative, have left the religion".^[6] Zakir Naik's preaching has been banned in India, Bangladesh, Canada, the UK, and Malaysia under anti-terrorism and anti-hate laws.^[7]^[8] On January 11th, 2020, Harun Yahya was sentenced to 1,075 years in prison for, among other charges, operating a sex cult, sexual assault, blackmail, and money laundering.^[9]^[10]

Methodology of Islamic theologians

A variety of theological methods are employed by modern Islamic scholars in making the case for any given scientific miracle in the Quran. These methods include what can be described and categorized as dehistoricization, pseudo-correlation, reinterpretation, disambiguation, elective literalism, elective esotericism, and data mining. While there exist any number of alternative approaches and combinations thereof to making the case for any given scientific miracle, the aforementioned methods are, in roughly descending order, the most common. These methods are not mutually exclusive and tend to employed in conjunction with one another in order to strengthen the case being made.

Methodology

While modern Islamic theologians have employed the various methods discussed here in order to develop cases of scientific miracles in the Quran, philosophical and/or religious justification for the employment of these methods has been scant if at all forthcoming. Critics who have pointed out the problems inherent in the use of some/all of these methods have generally not been responded to or taken seriously by establishment theologians.

Mistranslations

In many cases the scientific miracles simply involve mistranslations from Arabic to English, or from Classical Arabic to Modern Arabic. For example, the claim that daḥā/daḥāhā دَحَا /دَحَاهَا means ostrich-egg-shaped, used to make the claim that the author of the Qur'an knew the state the Earth is an oblate sphere, showing it's divinity - when it actually means 'spreading' the earth out, and can also be used for the (flat spread-out) place where an ostrich makes a nest in the ground, but not it's eggs^[11] (the shape of an ostrich egg is also not like that of the earth, see: Islamic Views on the Shape of the Earth). Or that yasbaḥoona / يَسْبَحُونَ means 'rotating on it's own axis' (applied to the sun in e.g. verse 21:33), of which there is no such meaning (it simply means 'swimming').^[12] Or that sulb / ﺻُﻠﺐ (which means backbone)^[13] or tara'ib / تَّرَآئِب (rib or other chest bones)^[14] means sexual areas of the man or women as to not contradict modern embryology (see: Semen Production in the Quran).

Dehistoricization

The most common practice in making the case for a scientific miracle in the Quran is dehistoricization. Dehistoricization is the process whereby a historical event (in this case a verse of the Quran) is removed from its historical context. Since no Islamic scripture claims to be predictive of modern science, the great majority of scientific miracle cases require a degree of dehistoricization. Muhammad did not, after all, appeal directly to his companions by telling them he could forecast scientific discoveries that would be made more than a thousand years hence, in a future they would not live to see. Similarly, Muhammad did not appeal to his companions by forecasting historical events would be uncovered by future archaeological research. If he had done either, the miracle would have been ineffective and gone over the heads of his contemporaries who would not have known what Muhammad was talking about. Indeed, if his contemporaries could have verified the scientific or historical remark made by Muhmmad, it would not have been a miracle (as this would mean that Muhammad could also have learned of the fact through similar means).

As a result, verses have to be dehistoricized and subsequently reframed as forecasts of future scientific (or archaeological) discoveries. For instance, when the Quran states the Earth has been 'spread out' as a 'bed' and that mountains have been cast down upon the Earth as stabilizing 'stakes', it intends to inspire its contemporary audience's awe by directing its attention to a common mythological notion that this audience held to be true. Islamic theologians thus take this and similar verses and reframe them as predictions.

In cases where the scientific or historical fact to which Muhammad is alluding is described accurately, modern Islamic theologians are required to engage in a double dehistoricization: firstly, the description must be reconceived as a prediction, and, secondly, the possibility of Muhammad acquiring the relevant fact through other than divine means must be precluded.

To achieve the latter, Islamic theologians will variously argue that the relevant fact was not known to anyone in the 7th century, that Arabia was prohibitively isolated from global currents of knowledge, that Muhammad in particular was isolated from knowledge in general, that Muhammad was illiterate and therefore incapable of accessing knowledge even if it were available to him, and/or that the mental capabilities of ancient persons were significantly less than those of modern persons.

Critics and historians have been unaccepting of either of these forms of dehistoricization and assiduously maintain that historical texts can only be understood in their historical context, that there is no fact accurately described in the Quran that was not also known in the 7th century, that Arabia evidently had access to global currents of knowledge, that there is no reason to believe that Muhammad was uniquely isolated from knowledge, that Muhammad was probably not illiterate, that if Muhammad was illiterate he would still be capable of significant learning in what was a primarily oral culture, and that there is no scientific evidence that ancient persons circa the 7th century were drastically less intelligent than modern persons.

Pseudo-correlation

Another common practice employed by Islamic theologians in making the case for scientific miracles in the Quran is drawing what are best described as pseudo-correlations between the Quran and scientific fact. This is achieved through: the use of decontextualized quotations from scientific publications, scientific and grammatical jargon in a confounding manner, metaphorical interpretations of science, equating the common historical observation of a phenomenon with its modern scientific explanation, as well as inaccurate or incorrect understandings of the relevant scientific fact.

In the case of the Quran 'predicting the stabilizing role of mountains', for instance, Islamic theologians suppose that the thickened continental crust or "roots" beneath mountain ranges in some sense stabilize the Earth's crust, whereas modern science does not hold this to be the case.

Critics suggest that where the science correlated to Quranic verses by Islamic theologians has been misunderstood, misapplied, or misrepresented, the case made for the scientific miracle is invalid.

Reinterpretation

It is also generally necessary for Islamic theologians to flout interpretive tradition (classical tafsirs) in their reading of the portion of the verse said to describe a scientific fact. The interpretations flouted sometimes include those provided by Muhammad himself and, much more frequently, those provided by Muhammad's companions (the Sahabah).

Specific examples of the types of shifts involved in this type of rereading include: taking verses from passages descriptive of the hereafter and interpreting them as descriptive of the modern era, taking verses from passages descriptive of supernatural or miraculous events and interpreting them as descriptive of eternal laws of nature, and taking verse from passages descriptive of particular historical events and interpreting them as eternal laws of human society.

This type of reinterpretation is particularly common in the West, where translations of scripture are often reworded in a manner that is distinct from the original Arabic text and which better accommodates or, at times, directly endorses the desired reinterpretation.

Critics and historians hold that this type of rereading strains credulity for its neglect of textual and historical context and, where it influences translations, have often condemned it as a form of academic and intellectual dishonesty. Critics also point out that flouting the early exegetical tradition, especially where it relies on and reiterates the perspective found in the narrations of Muhammad (hadiths) or the sayings of his companions (aqwal al-sahabah), undermines traditional Islamic doctrine which holds the word of Muhammad as final and which very often elevates the theological and exegetical statements of Muhammad's companions to status comparable to Muhammad's own words.

Disambiguation

The verses that appear to be best suited as candidates for scientific miracles are those verses comprised of words and phrases whose meaning is opaque and cryptic or whose meaning has simply been lost to time. Islamic theologians have most often used verse of this variety in order to make cases for scientific miracles in the Quran.

Critics have argued that if there is no justification for the highly specific reading projected upon an essentially ambiguous verse, then this cannot be considered miraculous.

Elective literalism

Sometimes, the verses presented by Islamic theologians as scientific miracles are verses containing a metaphor which taken literally appears to describe some scientific phenomenon. In many such cases, the same or similar metaphor or metaphorical word is used elsewhere in the Quran in a context which clarifies its meaning and where a literal reading results in no sensible interpretation.

Critics have argued that this effectively arbitrary and rare reading of metaphors in literal terms is tendentious and a practice which capitalizes on chance usage rather than anything that could seriously be described as an intended meaning on the part of the author(s).

Data mining

One recurring category of scientific miracles presented by Islamic theologians derive from compiling counts of individual root-words set in various grammatical forms throughout the text of the Quran. Words which happen to appear an equal number of times or in some interesting ratio are then presented as scientific miracles of a mathematical sort. Many variations on this sort of miracle case exist, with some theologians going to extraordinary ends to compile larges quantities of numbers calculated using various aspects of verses including their letter count, position in the surah, position the Quran, and other such aspects in order to find relationships.

Critics have argued that these purported miracles draw on the laws of probability and reveal nothing supernatural about the Quran.

Elective esotericism

A situation slightly different from standard cases of scientific miracles arises on occasion where the Quran describes a scientific phenomenon in relatively clear terms, albeit incorrectly. While these situations are not frequently attended to by modern Islamic theologians, they have at times insisted that while the apparent meaning of the verse may appear incorrect, they are in fact true in some esoteric sense. Despite being of an evidently lower caliber, these cases are also at times advanced as scientific miracles.

Philosophical concerns with methodology

Certain philosophical considerations have often been proposed as being of interest for those who either take the idea of scientific miracles in the Quran seriously or who are considering whether they should.

The proposition that Humans have access to a miracle from God/gods would be incredibly consequential or at least extremely interesting if true, and thus deserves to be thought about with great seriousness and scrutiny. Otherwise, any number of contradictory parties would be able to claim that their respective scriptures contained scientific miracles.

A god/gods desiring to present humankind with a miracle of scientific foreknowledge would need meet this justifiable scrutiny with a miracle so uniquely clear and sound as to distinguish itself from false miracle claims, else the god/gods would have failed in their purpose, which is a supposed impossibility. It would indeed have to be impossible to have reason to deny such a miracle - this is the meaning of certainty.

A scriptural statement containing a scientific statement would be evident as a miracle if and only if it is at once: (1) unambiguous and intentional, (2) ascertainably unknowable at the time of revelation, and (3) scientifically sound, because:
- (1) An ambiguous or unintentional scientific statement could be correct only by accident
- (2) A scientific statement knowable at the time and place of revelation would not be a miracle

Additionally, it may be that none of the above criteria can be established regarding any scientific statement because: (1) language is inherently ambiguous, (2) it is impossible to prove something is not an accident, and (3) history is fundamentally inaccessible. Nonetheless, one can and probably will disregard the skepticism necessitated by this last bullet point in their analysis.

Purported scientific miracles

Below are the most-often discussed of the many so-called scientific miracles of the Quran

The Big Bang (the Earth was split from the Heavens)

Many modern Islamic scholars have argued that Quran 21:30 describes the Big Bang. Historians, by contrast, have shown that the verse describes a version of Mesopotamian mythology which continued into late antiquity. According to the archetype of the myth, the Earth and heaven were united, then were split apart to become the Earth below and heaven above.

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?

Quran 21:30

The verse states that "We clove them" (dual pronoun 'huma'), not "We clove it", thereby indicating that the Earth and heavens are two distinct entites after the cloving, and the next verse speaks of mountains being placed on Earth. This conflicts with the modern scientific understanding that the Earth only began to form from material within the emerging solar system, 9 billion years after the big bang. The words "(as one unit of creation)" are the translator's own gloss.

The word translated "joined together" is ratqan (رَتْقًا)^[15] meaning closed up or sewn up, also used metaphorically in terms of reconciling people, but does not imply a homogenous mass or state.

The separation of the heavens and earth can be read in the context of verses that mention something "between" their fully formed state (which seems to be occupied by the clouds Quran 2:164 and birds Quran 24:41). Tafsirs stated that it did not rain until the heavens and earth were separated, which also makes sense of the end of the verse where it says Allah made from water every living thing.

And verily We created the heavens and the earth, and all that is between them, in six Days, and naught of weariness touched Us.

Quran 50:38

The same pre-scientific cosmology was already present in other near eastern cultures before Islam:

A Sumerian myth known today as “Gilgamesh and the Netherworld” opens with a mythological prologue. It assumes that the gods and the universe already exist and that once a long time ago the heavens and earth were united, only later to be split apart

Mesopotamian Creation Myths
Ira Spar, Department of Ancient Near Eastern Art, The Metropolitan Museum of Art

This view persisted into the age of Greek civilization:

Euripides the Greek Tragedian (Born 480 BC) - "And the tale is not mine, but from my mother, how sky and earth were one form and when they separated apart from each other they bring forth all things, and give them up into light; trees, birds, beasts, the creatures nourished by the salt sea, and the race of mortals"

A. Seidenberg (1969) The Separation of Sky and Earth at Creation (II), Folklore 80(3), 188-196

A version of the Mesopotamian myth is sustained even in late antique Syriac Christian homilies, where commentators such as Ephrem (d. 373 CE) expound on the Biblical Genesis story of the waters above and waters below being separated when the firmament is created.^[16] See also the quotes from Ephrem in the section Every living thing from water below regarding the water part of Quran 21:30 in the creation context.

It is also worth highlighting the context of the polemical verse (Q21:30) in that it is clear the point being disputed by the opponents is not that the Earth and sky were split apart (or all living things are made from water), but rather the contemporary (and pre-scientific) Arabic pagans were already in agreement with this;^[17] therefore negating this as a scientific miracle. The point being made here is rather that the knowing this makes their rejection of his message of God's abilities (e.g. of resurrection) the more confusing.^[17] Al-Jallad (2025) notes that therefore the motifs of the Earth/sky split may not have come from Judeo-Christian traditions, but rather both them and the native Arab religion from a common source just as found in ancient Mesopotamia/Near East cosmological myths.^[18]

A universe from smoke

Main Article: Quran and a Universe from Smoke

Many modern Islamic scholars and popular voices, such as Harun Yahya and I. A. Ibrahim, have argued that Quran 41:11 contains an accurate account of the early phases of the Universe when matter was in a gaseous state. Critics have pointed out that the phrasing is extremely vague and that in the context where the verse is found, a chronology of creation is described that in no way aligns with the history of the universe. They point to two main problems:

1) The Earth is described as being created first in the preceeding verses (Quran 41:9-10), along with all that is present on its surface, and only thereafter is the heaven made to be seven heavens and the lowest adorned with stars (see also Quran 2:29).
2) Moreover, they point out, the Earth is addressed by Allah in the verse in question as distinct from the heaven, which alone is described as smoke but not the earth too. Several other criticisms have also been made, described in the main article.

Then He directed (Himself) towards the heaven while it (was) smoke, and He said to it and to the earth, "Come both of you willingly or unwillingly." They both said, "We come willingly." So He completed them as seven firmaments in two Days, and He assigned to each heaven its duty and command. And We adorned the lower heaven with lights, and (provided it) with guard. Such is the Decree of (Him) the Exalted in Might, Full of Knowledge.

Quran 41:11-12

The universe is steadily expanding

Some modern Muslims scholars are of the opinion that the Quran had already told that universe has been constantly expanding even before this was discovered by modern science.

They present the following verse as their proof:

وَالسَّمَاءَ بَنَيْنَاهَا بِأَيْدٍ وَإِنَّا لَمُوسِعُون
Muhammad Assad: AND IT IS We who have built the universe with [Our creative] power; and, verily, it is We who are steadily expanding it.

Quran 51:47

Zakir Naik writes regarding this verse:

The Arabic word mûsi‘ûn (in verse 51:47) is correctly translated as ‘expanding it’, and it refers to the creation of the expanding vastness of the universe. Stephen Hawking, in his book, ‘A Brief History of Time’, says, “The discovery that the universe is expanding was one of the great intellectual revolutions of the 20th century.” The Qur’aan mentioned the expansion of the universe, before man even learnt to build a telescope!

The Quran and Modern Science by Zakir Naik

Mistranslation

Critics point out that some modern Quran translations have altered the meaning of 51:47 in four ways:

They have translated the Quranic word “heaven سَّمَاءَ” as “universe” in the modern scientific sense of the word, which is not correct (see analysis and issues in Science and the Seven Earths and Cosmology of the Quran).
They have taken the Arabic active participle “the expanders” and interpreted it as “The Universe is expanding,” (interpolating the possessive pronoun "its" before expanders, which is not present in the Arabic).
Sometimes they also add the entirely superfluous adverb “steadily” in an attempt to insert into the Quran additional ideas that are not actually there.
In any case the meaning of the word most like means powerful or make vast (as was understood in tafsirs)

With these four translational liberties, they have completely changed the meaning of this verse from a simple description of Allah’s creation of the heavens into a scientific statement of Hubble’s expanding universe that is not actually contained in the Quran.

Critics point out that the term “lamūsi‘ūna لَمُوسِعُونَ ” in this verse is an active particle and not a verb, and it describes "God" and not the "heaven" (i.e. the term “wa-innā lamūsi‘ūna وَإِنَّا لَمُوسِعُونَ” at best means "God is the Expander" with no indication of tense, and not "the Universe is Expanding").

Thus the earlier Quran translators translated it as:

Yusuf Ali: With power and skill did We construct the Firmament: for it is We Who create the vastness of space.

Sahih International: And the heaven We constructed with strength, and indeed, We are [its] expander.

Pickthall: We have built the heaven with might, and We it is Who make the vast extent (thereof).

Quran 51:47

Significantly, the word appears in one other verse as an active participle (like lamūsiʿūna, though Arabic form I instead of form IV). Functioning there as an adjective, Quran 2:236 commands that compensation is given to divorced women, "the wealthy [l-mūsiʿi ٱلْمُوسِعِ] according to his capability". Al-Tabari invokes this other verse in his commentary for Q 51:47, interpreting that in the latter it means Allah has capacity and power.^[19] Indeed, it is likely that the word functions as an adjective in Q 51:47, with the phrase simply meaning "and We are the powerful", especially as the first part of the verse states that Allah built the heaven bi-'aydin (by might/strength). This interpretation is favoured by academic scholars Nicolai Sinai^[20] and Marjin van Putten.^[21] This is also a common interpretation in classical tafsirs,^[22] while others such as Ibn Kathir^[23] interpreted that Allah made the heaven vast when he built it (though not as an ongoing expansion).

Moreover, words derived from the same root as لَمُوسِعُونَ (lamūsiʿūna) such as the verb ʾawsaʿa mainly have such meanings as to make ample room or width, as well as nouns and adjectives meaning width or ampleness in terms of space as well as in wealth, power or ability according to Lane's lexicon of classical Arabic. .^[24] In the Quran, this word and its derivatives have elsewhere been used in the meanings of "Encompassing".

This is seen in the following verses:

وَسِعَ رَبِّى كُلَّ شَىْءٍ عِلْمًا
Sahih Intl: My Lord encompasses all things in knowledge

Quran 6:80

Also see verses Quran 7:89 and Quran 20:98.

In another verse the word "احاط" (encompass) has been used instead of "wasi'a"

وَأَنَّ ٱللَّهَ قَدْ أَحَاطَ بِكُلِّ شَىْءٍ عِلْمًۢا
Sahih Intl: and that Allah has encompassed all things in knowledge.

Quran 65:12

ٖFor this reason, a few translators used this figurative meaning:

Maududi: And heaven – We made it with Our Own Power and We have the Power to do so.
Abdul Majid Daryabadi: And the heaven! We have built it with might, and verily We are powerful.

Quran 51:47

Critics also point out that almost exactly the same grammar has been used in the next verse, Q. 51:48.

Yusuf Ali: And We have spread out the (spacious) earth: How excellently We do spread out!

Quran 51:48

Pickthall: And the earth have We laid out, how gracious is the Spreader (thereof)!

Quran 51:48

In this verse, the word الْمَاهِدُونَ l-māhidūna (spreader/smoother) has almost exactly the same grammar ^[25] as the word لَمُوسِعُونَ lamūsiʿūna (i.e. expander) in the previous verse, but no one translated it as "earth is steadily spreading out". It is from the root mahada مهد which means to make plain, even, smooth, spread a bed^[26]. Also from this root is the noun mahdan, meaning a bed or even expanse, which appears in other verses about the creation of Earth where it was made a bed in the past tense. The tense is clear in those verses to mean a past event rather than an ongoing process (Quran 20:53,Quran 43:10 and Quran 78:6-7).

Universe consists of "Space", while the Quranic heaven is a solid canopy which could not expand

Main article: Science and the Seven Earths - Seven Universes

Critics also point out that according to science, the universe consists of space and galaxies are travelling away from each other in this space and thus it is considered as an expansion of the universe.

However, the Quran heaven is a solid canopy:

الذي جعل لكم الارض فراشا والسماء بناء وانزل من السماء ماء فاخرج به من الثمرات رزقا لكم فلا تجعلوا لله اندادا وانتم تعلمون
Who has made the earth your couch, and the heavens your canopy; and sent down rain from the heavens; and brought forth therewith Fruits for your sustenance; then set not up rivals unto Allah when ye know (the truth).

Quran 2:22

The word translated as canopy is binaa or binaan ( بِنَاء ). This word means "building"^[27]. In Quran 67:4 and Quran 71:15, the heavens are described as layers. There are seven layers or stories to this building called the heavens. The heavens are built on a foundation called "the earth". The tafsir of Ibn Kathir, among others, elaborates this^[28]:

These Ayat indicate that Allah first created the earth, then He made heaven into seven heavens. This is how building usually starts, with the lower floors first and then the top floors

Tafsir Ibn Kathir

And according to the tradition in Sahih Bukhari 4:56:557, prophets are residing upon these solid heavens along with their nations, and solid things don't expand.

Every living thing from water

In two verses the Quran states that Allah created every living thing from water:

Have those who disbelieved not considered that the heavens and the earth were a joined entity, and We separated them and made from water every living thing? Then will they not believe?

Quran 21:30

Allah has created every [living] creature from water. And of them are those that move on their bellies, and of them are those that walk on two legs, and of them are those that walk on four. Allah creates what He wills. Indeed, Allah is over all things competent.

Quran 24:45

The key to understanding the meaning is the context apparent in the first verse, 21:30, which is about the creation of the world. Gabriel Said Reynolds notes in his academic commentary on the Quran an earlier parallel taught by the Syriac church father Ephrem (d. 373 CE). He writes, "[...] Ephrem, who explains that God created everything through water: 'Thus, through light and water the earth brought forth everything.' Ephrem, Commentary on Genesis, 1:1-10)."^[29] Ephrem's comment is in the context of the Genesis creation story, much like the first Quranic verse, 21:30. Ephrem says that when heaven and earth were created there were no trees or vegetation as it had not yet rained, so a fountain irrigated the earth. Tafsirs say that when the heaven and earth were separated rain fell so that plants could grow. There is also a similarity with Ephrem in the other verse (24:45), which mentions creatures that move on two, four or no legs. Ephrem explains that as well as the "trees, vegetation and plants", the "Scripture wishes to indicate that all animals, reptiles, cattle and birds came into being as a result of the combining of earth and water".^[16] For many more parallels between the Quran and Syriac Christian literature see this article.

Critics of the miracle claim sometimes also point out that the ancient Greek philosopher Empedocles had proposed that all living things are made from water, among other substances^[30], and Thales of Miletus taught that the originating principle of everything including life is water.^[31]

Just as with the above big bang alleged miracle, it is worth noting that the context these ideas (all living things being made from water, and the Earth and skies being split) raised in in Q21:30 are that the contemporary (and pre-scientific - somewhat negating the idea that this is a scientific miracle) Arab pagans are already in agreement with Muhammad on them.^[17] Rather the polemical point being made here is that given God can do these things then why would they question God's power for e.g. resurrection, not disputing the common motifs themselves.

Black holes and pulsars

Some modern Islamic scholars and popular voices, particularly Harun Yahya, have argued that the Quran 77:8 and Quran 86:1-3 contain an accurate description of black holes and pulsars. Quran 77:8 speaks of the stars being "obliterated" or "effaced" and Quran 86:1-3 speaks of a star of speaks of a night visitor, a piercing star. Critics point out that Quran 77:8 is not describing a regular phenomenon but rather occurs in an eschatological context, the next few verses mentioning the destruction of the heavens and mountains. Regarding Quran 86:1-3, critics note that while the word al ṭāriq ٱلطَّارِقُ is derived from a root meaning to beat or knock (which Yahya connects with the "pulsing" of pulsars), Lane's lexicon gives many examples from classical Arabic dictionaries of its use in astronomical and other contexts to mean simply one who comes by night, "because he who comes by night [generally] needs to knock at the door",^[32] and this is how it is explained even by modern Quran translators and commentators such as Muhammad Asad. Those verses likely refer to Venus (a planet which rises like a very bright star soon after nightfall), or to shooting stars, or to some particularly bright star.

So when the stars are obliterated

Quran 77:8

By the sky and the night comer - And what can make you know what is the night comer? It is the piercing star -

Quran 86:1-3

Seven heavens, seven earths

Main Articles: Science and the Seven Earths and Cosmology of the Quran

Some modern Islamic scholars have argued that Quran 65:12 contains a scientifically-sound insight in its statement that there exist seven heavens and seven entities 'like' the Earth. Various interpretations to this effect include the reading of the 'seven heavens' as descriptive of atmospheric layers and the reading of the 'seven earths' as descriptive of the layers of the Earth's surface or the number of continents. Critics have pointed out that the lowest of the seven heavens is said to contain the stars (see Quran 41:12 and Quran 37:6); that no classification of the layers of the Earth's atmosphere holds there to be seven layers; that no classification of the Earth's layers holds there to be seven layers; that the seven-count of continents is moreso a cultural/historical artifact than anything grounded in geographical or geological fact (with Eurasia, for instance, being a more geologically-sound candidate for a continent); and that the 'seven earths' spoken of in the Quran in all likelihood reference the seven stacked disks of which Earth is the top-most that are described extensively in many places scattered throughout hadith literature and the sayings of Muhammad's companions.

Allah (is) He Who created seven heavens and of the earth, (the) like of them. Descends the command between them that you may know that Allah (is) on every thing All-Powerful. And that, Allah indeed, encompasses all things (in) knowledge.

Quran 65:12

The descent of Iron

Some modern Islamic scholars and voices, including Harun Yahya, have argued that Quran 57:25 provides a scientifically-sound description of the origin of the iron that is present on Earth. Historians have pointed out that the myth regarding the heavenly-descent of iron vastly predates Abrahamic scriptures and can be found some three millennia prior to the advent of Islam among the ancient Egyptians who describe Iron as 'ba-en-pet' or 'metal from heaven' as they harvested fallen meteorites.^[33] Similar descriptions have also been found among the even more ancient people of Mesopotamia.

Critics have pointed out that this is a clear case of 'elective literalism'. The term used to describe the 'descent' of Iron is 'anzala', which is frequently used elsewhere in the Quran where it describes cattle, garments, food, and even the people of the book (Jews and Christians) as being 'sent down' by some deity. In all these cases and many others, anzala is not taken as literally meaning descent from outer space.

Say: 'Have you considered the provision God has sent down for you, and you have made some of it unlawful, and some lawful?' Say: 'Has God given you leave, or do you forge against God?'

Quran 10:59

[Say], "Then is it other than Allah I should seek as judge while it is He who has sent down to you the Book explained in detail?" And those to whom We [previously] gave the Scripture know that it is sent down from your Lord in truth, so never be among the doubters.

Quran 6:114

He created you of a single soul, then from it He appointed its mate; and He sent down to you of the cattle eight couples.

Quran 39:6

Children of Adam! We have sent down on you a garment to cover your shameful parts, and feathers; and the garment of godfearing -- that is better; that is one of God's signs; haply they will remember.

Quran 7:26

Indeed, Allah [alone] has knowledge of the Hour and sends down the rain and knows what is in the wombs. And no soul perceives what it will earn tomorrow, and no soul perceives in what land it will die. Indeed, Allah is Knowing and Acquainted.

Quran 31:34

Some Islamic scholars have also argued that the occurrence of the word 'iron' in the 26th verse of the surah is miraculous, given that Iron's atomic number is 26. Critics have argued that this nothing more than a coincidental product of numerological datamining and have asked why the surah number could not also have been 55 or 56, rather than 57, to also match Iron's atomic weight, which is 55.845.

Certainly We sent Our Messengers with clear proofs and We sent down with them the Scripture and the Balance that may establish the people justice. And We sent down [the] iron, wherein (is) power mighty and benefits for the people, and so that Allah may make evident (he) who helps Him and His Messengers, unseen. Indeed, Allah (is) All-Strong All-Mighty.

Quran 57:25

Chest-tightening in hypoxic environments

Many modern Muslims scholars have argued that Quran 6:125 contains a scientifically accurate description of Hypoxia, altitude sickness, or the general phenomenon of lower oxygen levels in the air (thus called 'hypoxic air') at higher altitudes. Critics have pointed out that any Arab living in the general vicinity of Muhammad would have been familiar with the difficulty involved in breathing at higher altitudes, and that Muhammad particularly would have been aware of this phenomenon if accounts of his regularly climbing mountains just prior to proclaiming himself a prophet are to be trusted. In fact writings attributed to the famous Greek philosopher and scientist Aristotle (384-322 BC) describing travel on Mount Olympus in Macedonia discuss this phenomena '..because the rarity of the air which was there did not fill them with breath, they were not able to survive there unless they applied moist sponges to their noses'.^[34]

Critics have also argued that if one takes the verse literally, the description provided is inaccurate, as the difficulty breathing at higher altitudes is not due to the constriction of one's chest, although this is what one may think based on the sensation of shortened breath which is experienced in hypoxic environments. Indeed, in the lower air pressure of higher altitudes, gasses and air actually expand, and it is also the case that one's chest would expand a very small amount in this environment as there is less atmospheric compression being applied to your body (as opposed to someone, say, at the bottom of the sea, who would instantly be crushed). Persons born and raised in higher altitudes have actually been recorded to have enlarged chests which compensate for the hypoxic environment by allowing the individual to breath in larger quantities of air in order to acquire the necessary quantity of oxygen.^[35]

Corpus: So whoever wants Allah that He guides him - He expands his breast to Islam; and whoever He wants that He lets him go astray He makes his breast tight and constricted as though he (were) climbing into the sky. Thus places Allah the filth on those who (do) not believe.
Daryabadi: So whomsoever Allah willeth that he shall guide, He expoundeth his breast for Islam; and whomsoever He willeth that he shall send astray, He maketh his breast strait, narrow, as if he were mounting up into the sky, thus Allah layeth the abomination on those who believe not.

Quran 6:125

Mountains as pegs, cast down to stabilize the Earth

Main Article: The Quran and Mountains

The Quran describes mountains as pegs or stakes and as having been cast into the earth lest it shift with its inhabitants. In early or pre-Islamic poetry (see main article), mountains anchor the earth, and the Quranic verses too most straightforwardly seem to refer to mountains stabilizing the earth as a whole. Many modern Islamic scholars have argued that the Quran's description of mountains as 'pegs' accurately depicts their physical nature in terms of the scientifically known phenomenon of isostasy, and that verses stating that mountains were 'cast' into the Earth's surface in order to prevent it shifting refers to some role in preventing earthquakes. Isostasy is the phenomenon where some mountains exist atop a similar accumulation of crust underground. Both the mountain and thickened continental crust beneath them form when tectonic plates collide, with some crust matter being propelled upward (becoming the visible mountain) and, sometimes, a similar quantity of crust matter being propelled downward.

Critics have pointed out that while there is at times an underground accumulation of crust-matter below mountains, scientists have pointed out that this phenomenon does not in any way stabilize the Earth's surface. Indeed, modern science has discovered that mountains (and their underground underbellies) are in fact a direct product of the instability of the Earth's surface, which form when tectonic plates collide and generate destructive earthquakes.

Secondly, critics point out that unlike pegs which are objects placed into something else, mountains caused by plate tectonics are of continuous material as the surrounding crust, albeit of a different or contorted shape due to geological processes. This shape is also nothing like a peg, since the thickening which occurs when continental plates collide extends all along the length of the resulting mountain range. Moreover, they do not peg anything to something else since the thickened crust beneath mountain ranges merely protrudes deeper than the surrounding crust into the Earth's mantle, which is molten and not a solid object. Far more substantial downward protrusions into the mantle are the subducted edges of tectonic plates and craton keels.

Thirdly, continental crust thickening (sometimes called 'crustal roots' or 'mountain roots', terms which refer to the crust beneath entire mountain ranges rather than individual mountains) does not occur during the formation of other types of mountain, such as karsk mountains, plateau mountains, fault-block mountains, and lava dome mountains.

Fourthly, critics also point out that there is no sense to the idea that mountains have been 'cast' into the Earth as 'pegs', for mountains are a byproduct of a larger process (usually, plate tectonics). Indeed, critics note that mountains continue to rise and erode away to this day, unlike the Quranic description of a one off event during the first four days of creation. In Islamic cosmology, the Earth is just the top-most of seven terrestrial disks, which in one tradition are in turn stacked atop the back of a giant whale. In one version of this tradition, the instability of the non-stationary whale causes the earth to be unstable, which must then be fastened to the back of the whale using mountain-pegs.

A number of other criticisms are set out in the main article.

And He has cast into the earth firmly set mountains, lest it shift with you, and [made] rivers and roads, that you may be guided,

Quran 16:15

Have We not made the earth a resting place And the mountains as stakes?

Quran 78:6-7

Say, "Do you indeed disbelieve in He who created the earth in two days and attribute to Him equals? That is the Lord of the worlds." And He placed on the earth firmly set mountains over its surface, and He blessed it and determined therein its [creatures'] sustenance in four days without distinction - for [the information] of those who ask. Then He directed Himself to the heaven while it was smoke and said to it and to the earth, "Come [into being], willingly or by compulsion." They said, "We have come willingly." And He completed them as seven heavens within two days and inspired in each heaven its command. And We adorned the nearest heaven with lamps and as protection. That is the determination of the Exalted in Might, the Knowing.

Quran 41:8-12

Embryology

Main Article: Embryology in the Quran

Many modern Islamic scholars have argued that the presentation of Embryology found in the Quran is both scientifically-sound and predictive of modern science. In this domain, Islamic scholars and authorities, including Dr. Al Zeiny, Dr. Zakir Naik, Dr. Ibrahim Syed, Dr. Sharif Kaf Al-Ghazal, Hamza Tzortzis, and Harun Yahya, have all drawn on the works of the Western doctors, particularly Dr. Keith Moore (lecturer and researcher at King Abdulaziz University; alongside his co-author Abdul Majeed al-Zindani) and Dr. Maurice Bucaille (personal physician to the family of King Faisal of Saudi Arabia), who were collectively sponsored with millions of dollars by the Saudi government and who produced science publications which purported that Islamic scriptures contained scientifically sound information. Relevant verses include Quran 22:5, Quran 23:12-14, and Quran 40:67. Critics have time and again responded to the various attempts made by Islamic scholars and doctors sponsored by the Saudi government to reconcile modern science with Islamic scriptures. The Daily Telegraph reported in 2010 that Bucaille's "assertions have been ridiculed by scientists".^[36] Beyond the various scientific errors within Islamic scriptures compared to the findings of modern science that critics have pointed out, historians have generally accepted that the incorrect embryological ideas present in the Quran largely derive from ancient sources including, most prominently, the works of Galen, a 2nd century Greek physician whose ideas had widespread and lasting influence.

O Mankind! if ye be in doubt respecting the Resurrection, then We have created you of the dust, then of a drop, then of clot, then of a piece of flesh, formed and unformed, that We might manifest unto you Our power. And We settle in the wombs that which We will until a term determined. Then We bring you forth as babes, then We let you reach your maturity. And of you is he who dieth, and of you is he who is brought back to the most abject age, so that after knowing he knoweth not aught. And thou beholdest the earth withered up, and when We send down thereon water, it stirreth and swelleth, and it groweth every luxuriant kind of growth.

Quran 22:5

And certainly did We create man from an extract of clay. Then We placed him as a sperm-drop in a firm lodging. Then We made the sperm-drop into a clinging clot, and We made the clot into a lump [of flesh], and We made [from] the lump, bones, and We covered the bones with flesh; then We developed him into another creation. So blessed is Allah, the best of creators.

Quran 23:12-14

He it is Who created you of dust, and thereafter of a drop, and thereafter of a clot, and thereafter He bringeth you forth as an infant, and thereafter He ordaineth that ye attain your full strength and thereafter that ye become old men-though some of you die before-and that ye attain the appointed term, and that haply ye may reflect.

Quran 40:67

All things in pairs

Some Islamic scholars have argued that Quran 51:49, Quran 36:36, and similar verses contain a scientifically-sound insight regarding the existence of all living things in male and female pairs. Critics and historians have pointed out that the idea that all living things and things in general (as implied by Quran 51:49) exist in pairs simply draws on the widespread ancient motif of the duality of all things in nature. The most prominent example of this motif is perhaps the ancient Chinese Yin-Yang principle of duality, with similar concepts being described in the Rig-Veda and elsewhere. Critics have also pointed out that modern science has revealed that it is not the case that all living things exist in pairs. Exceptions, they argue, include the schizophyllum commune and the various and numerous asexual, hermaphroditic, and parthenogenetic organisms that populate the Earth.

And of every thing We have created pairs, so that you may remember.

Quran 51:49

Exalted is He who created all pairs - from what the earth grows and from themselves and from that which they do not know.

Quran 36:36

Female honey bees

It is sometimes claimed that Quran 16:68-69 correctly identifies female bees as the builders and collectors of honey in the hive because verse 68 uses the feminine verb ittakhidhī when it says Allah inspired the bees to "Take for yourself among the mountains, houses, and among the trees and [in] that which they construct". The claim has a number of problems. Firstly, the verb for "build" is not used here. It simply seems to describe the locations where bees should live. Both male and female bees have to live somewhere. Secondly, the use of a female verb in Arabic does not have to mean that the subject is actually female, especially when applied to certain types of objects. Nahl (bee) is a kind of noun called Ismul Jins Jam'ee (اسم جنس جامع), a collective, or mass noun of species and has nothing to do with the gender of the insects, and according to some Muslim commentators, in the Hijaz dialect is grammatically feminine. The Quran also says in the same surah, (Quran 16:79) that birds are controlled in the air using a verb in the feminine gender, yet this clearly does not refer only to female birds. The Quran also uses a verb in the feminine gender in Quran 30:2 "The Romans have been defeated". Clearly, the Quran is not referring only to female Romans. For further explanation, see this video. Critics often further point out regarding verse 69 that while bees do sometimes eat fruit, primarily they need to eat nectar from flowers.

And your Lord inspired to the bee, "Take for yourself among the mountains, houses, and among the trees and [in] that which they construct. Then eat from all the fruits and follow the ways of your Lord laid down [for you]." There emerges from their bellies a drink, varying in colors, in which there is healing for people. Indeed in that is a sign for a people who give thought.

Quran 16:68-69

It is further sometimes claimed that verse 69 correctly identifies that bees have multiple stomachs due to the plural noun buṭūnihā بُطُونِهَا (bellies) with the ha singular possesive suffix. However, bees have one regular stomach plus one "honey stomach" for storing nectar;^[37] the Quran here uses the plural (3 or more) and not the dual form for bellies. The plural bellies is simply referring to the bellies of multiple bees, and the singular female possessive suffix refers back to the collective singular female noun for bees mentioned above.

Diminishing land

Some Islamic scholars and authorities, including Dr. Al Zeiny, PhD, have argued that Quran 13:41 and Quran 21:44 contain a scientifically-sound insight in their supposed implication that the quantity of land is continually diminishing due to the movement of tectonic plates. Critics have pointed out that there is no scientific evidence that suggests the ongoing diminishment of the quantity of land. They point out, for instance, that over the past billion or so years, land has not diminished, and that, for instance, whereas 29.1% of the Earth's surface is presently land, 200 million years ago, at the end of the Permian Period, the supercontinent Pangea covered only about a quarter of the Earth's surface. Historians have also objected and argued that these verses should not be read literally and that they should only be understood in their historical context and in their plain sense where what is described is simply the reduction of the territory possessed by Muhammad's opponents due to his ongoing conquests.

Corpus: Did not they see that We come (to) the land, reducing it from its borders? And Allah judges; (there is) no adjuster (of) His Judgment. And He (is) Swift (in) the reckoning.
Yusuf Ali: See they not that We gradually reduce the land (in their control) from its outlying borders? (Where) Allah commands, there is none to put back His Command: and He is swift in calling to account.

Quran 13:41

Daryabadi: Aye! We let these people and their fathers enjoy until there grew long upon them the life. Behold they not that We come unto the land diminishing it by the borders thereof? Shall they then be the victors?
Yusuf Ali: Nay, We gave the good things of this life to these men and their fathers until the period grew long for them; See they not that We gradually reduce the land (in their control) from its outlying borders? Is it then they who will win?

Quran 21:44

Clay humans

Main Article: Creation of Humans from Clay

Some Islamic scholars and voices, such as Harun Yahya, have argued that the Quran's statement regarding the creation of Adam, the first man, from clay contains a scientifically-sound insight regarding the chemical composition of the human body. Relevant verses include Quran 38:71-72, Quran 37:11, and Quran 15:26. Critics and historians have argued that where the Quran describes the formation of the first man from clay, it is merely repeating the common ancient myth widespread throughout the Earth well before Islam. Critics have also argued that the description in the Quran is not scientifically-sound because whereas the Quran says that the first human was made from clay, modern science holds that clay only 'match-makes' the RNA and membrane vesicles involved in the production of living organisms and does not form a building block.

When said your Lord to the Angels, "Indeed, I am going to create a human being from clay. So when I have proportioned him and breathed into him of my spirit, then fall down to him prostrating."

Quran 38:71-72

Then ask them, "Are they a stronger creation or (those) whom we have created?" Indeed, we created them from a clay sticky.

Quran 37:11

We created man from sounding clay, from mud molded into shape;

Quran 15:26

Semen production

Main Article: Semen Production in the Quran

Many modern Islamic scholars, including particularly Zakir Naik, have argued the Quran's description of the production of semen 'from between' the sulb (backbone or lower back) and tara'ib (ribs) in Quran 86:6-7 contains a scientifically-sound insight. Very diverse explanations have been advanced by Islamic scholars, all mutually exclusive. English translations can be misleading due to the dual meaning of the English word "loins" which has a euphemistic sense (the male reproductive area) as well as its literal meaning (literally, the 'loins' are the lower back, as in sirloin steak). Only this latter, literal sense reflects the Arabic meaning.^[38] Interestingly, classical scholars continually argued over the meaning the words contained in this verse as well. For instance, Ibn Kathir describes tara’ib as a female organ, while other classical tafsirs argue that it belongs to the male. Critics argue that there is no singular, cogent interpretation of this verse whereby it can be said to be scientifically sound. It appears, they argue, that this verse is similar to ancient Greek theories of Plato, or Hippocrates which had become popular in the region by the advent of Islam. Hippocrates taught that semen comes from all the fluid in the body, diffusing from the brain into the spinal marrow, before passing through the kidneys and via the testicles into the penis.^[39]

Critics and linguists have also pointed out that sulb incontrovertibly meant 'backbone' or 'lower back' in the 7th century, supported further by hadith evidence and other verses directly relevant to this context.

He was created from a fluid, ejected, Emerging from between the backbone and the ribs.

Quran 86:6-7

Lying forelocks

Many modern Islamic scholars, all drawing on the work of Saudi-financed researcher and lecturer at King Abdulaziz University Dr. Keith Moore, have argued that the Quran 96:16's mention of a 'lying, sinful forelock' contains a scientifically-sound insight regarding the area of the brain that is employed in the activity of lying, namely, it is said, the prefrontal cortex (which lies below one's forelock).

Historians and linguists, by contrast, do not view this passage in the Quran as making any pretensions about predicting modern science. They view the phrase 'lying, sinful forelock' as a simple metaphorical and metonymic reference to the individual described in the preceding verse who is being dragged by his forelock rather than a reference to the portion of the brain it resides on top of - the intent of this usage, they suggest, is not that the forelock is literally lying (which is evidently impossible) but simple to say that the person, of whom this forelock is a part, is lying.

Critics have also pointed out that there is plenty of modern research utilizing fMRI technology which militates against the idea that lying takes place in the pre-frontal cortex, including the work of Professor Jia-Hong Gao of Peking University (trained at Yale and MIT), Professor Scott H. Faro, Professor Frank A. Kozel (trained at Yale), Professor Daniel D. Langleben of the University of Pennsylvania, and Professor Stephen M. Kosslyn of Harvard University (trained at Stanford). This research shows that the portion of the brain responsible for lying may in fact be the anterior cingulate gyrus, which lies in the medial portion of the brain in frontal-parietal area and not beneath the forelock.

Nay! If not he desists, surely We will drag him by the forelock, A forelock lying, sinful.

Quran 96:15-16

Furthermore, the word for 'forelock' is used elsewhere in the Quran as shown on Quran Corpus, including:

The criminals will be known by their marks, and they will be seized by the forelocks and the feet.

Quran 55:41

Indeed, I have relied upon Allah , my Lord and your Lord. There is no creature but that He holds its forelock. Indeed, my Lord is on a path [that is] straight."

Quran 11:56

However seizing, dragging, or holding someone by the 'prefrontal cortex' would be an odd statement to make.

Fresh water-salt water barriers

Main Article: A Barrier Between Two Seas and the Cosmic Ocean

Many modern Islamic scholars argue that Quran 25:53 contains a scientifically-sound insight regarding the 'separation' of fresh and salt water in estuaries, where fresh water rivers meet the salty ocean. Critics and historians argue that this verse is merely stating what any person viewing the convergence of a river and ocean with their unaided eye would observe - namely, that the two bodies of water maintain distinct coloration. The additional proposition made in the verse regarding the existence of some sort of barrier that causes the maintenance of this difference in coloration, they continue, is simply what a premodern person inclined to believe in metaphysical entities might hypothesize as the cause. Critics point out that there is, in fact, no such 'barrier' present in estuaries and that the persistent distinction between the two bodies of water is due a difference in the density of fresh and salt water - even this distinction, however, can be compromised when other factors, such as wind and stronger tidal forces, are at play which cause the bodies of water to mix with one another at a greater rate.

In any case, the Quran appears to be referring to two mythological seas, one salty and one of fresh water.

And it is He who has released [simultaneously] the two seas, one fresh and sweet and one salty and bitter, and He placed between them a barrier and prohibiting partition.

Quran 25:53

Is He [not best] who made the earth a stable ground and placed within it rivers and made for it firmly set mountains and placed between the two seas a barrier? Is there a deity with Allah? [No], but most of them do not know.

Quran 27:61

He released the two seas, meeting [side by side]; Between them is a barrier [so] neither of them transgresses. So which of the favors of your Lord would you deny? From both of them emerge pearl and coral.

Quran 55:19-22

Another reference to "the two seas" (bahrayn) is found in the story of Moses and his servant.

And [mention] when Moses said to his servant, "I will not cease [traveling] until I reach the junction of the two seas or continue for a long period." But when they reached the junction between them, they forgot their fish, and it took its course into the sea, slipping away.

Quran 18:60-61

The story of Moses and his servant is one of four stories in Surah al-Kahf. Modern academic scholarship has identified antecedants of each story in the lore of late antiquity. This particular story is almost unanimously considered to derive from a legend about Alexander the Great and his search for the water of life. For details see the section on the four stories in Surah al-Kahf in the article Parallels Between the Qur'an and Late Antique Judeo-Christian Literature.

It may further be compared to the ancient Akkadian myth of the Abzu, the name for a fresh water underground sea that was given a religious quality in Sumerian and Akkadian mythology. Lakes, springs, rivers, wells, and other sources of fresh water were thought to draw their water from the Abzu underground sea, while the Ocean that surrounded the world was a saltwater sea. This underground sea is called Tehom in the Hebrew Bible. For example, Genesis 49:25 says, "blessings of the heavens above, and Tehom lying beneath".^[40] Wensinck explains, "Thus it appears that the idea of there being a sea of sweet water under our earth, the ancient Tehom, which is the source of springs and rivers, is common to the Western Semites".^[41] Similarly in Greek mythology, the world was surrounded by Oceanus, the world-ocean of classical antiquity. Oceanus was personified as the god Titan, whose consort was the aquatic sea goddess Tethys. It was also thought that rainfall was due a third ocean above the "Firmament of the Sky" (a vast reservoir above the firmament of the sky is also described in the Genesis creation narrative).

Whether the two seas mentioned in the Qur'an referred to these mythological seas or a more general inviolable barrier between bodies of salt and fresh water, critics argue that the verse in question is scientifically wrong.

The speed of light

Some modern Islamic scholars and voices, particularly Dr. Mansour Hassab-Elnaby, have argued that Quran 32:5 contains the information or is in some distinct manner cognizant of the fact that light in one day travels a distance roughly equal to 12,000 lunar orbits. Hassab-Elnaby's case is developed using abstruse mathematical calculations that employ various figures including the thousand-year period described in the verse and the distance the moon could be said to travel about the Earth if the Earth were stationary. Critics have argued that this case is a textbook example of numerological obscurantism whereby any text in existence can be taken and 'shown to be of divine origin' on the basis of various 'rare' numeric patterns which inevitably appear in any sufficiently complex data and limited set (similar techniques when applied to works such as Shakespearean plays and Virgil's Georgics, for instance, have revealed similarly 'dazzling coincidences').

Critics further note that while the speed of light is constant, both the length of an Earth day and lunar orbit distance are increasing, but the ratio between them is not constant and increases over time. This is a simple consequence of Kepler's 3rd law of planetary motion and tidal torque (see here for details).

He disposeth every affair from the heaven unto the earth; thereafter it shall ascend unto Him in a Day the measure whereof is one thousand years of that which ye compute.

Quran 32:5

Purported historical miracles

Claims that the Qur'an miraculously preserves information from history generally involve the figure of Pharaoh and ancient Egypt. This section looks at the more common claims.

Preservation of Pharaoh's body

The medical Doctor Maurice Bucaille is best known for his claim about the mummified body of the Pharaoh Merneptah (d. 1203 BCE), whose body is on display in a museum in Cairo. Merneptah's father was the more famous Rameses II, who died at the age of 90 and suffered from severe arteriosclerosis (nevertheless, Rameses is more commonly associated with the Exodus story). Bucaille claimed that the body of Merneptah, whom he assumes was the ruler in the Exodus story, shows signs of death by drowning, which in turn is claimed to be compatible with the story in Quran 10:90-92. Bucaille examined the mummy when it was temporarily moved to Paris as it was rapidly deteriorating.

And We took the Children of Israel across the sea, and Pharaoh and his soldiers pursued them in tyranny and enmity until, when drowning overtook him, he said, "I believe that there is no deity except that in whom the Children of Israel believe, and I am of the Muslims." Now? And you had disobeyed [Him] before and were of the corrupters? So today We will save you in body that you may be to those who succeed you a sign. And indeed, many among the people, of Our signs, are heedless

Quran 10:90-92

However, Merneptah suffered from arthritis and atherosclerosis and died as an old man. Further, the salt crystals in his body which was the basis for Bucaille's claim of death by drowning is simply a result of Egyptian burial and preservation practices. Natron, the drying agent used in ancient Egypt is a mixture of baking soda and salt. It is therefore entirely expected to find salt in mummies. In fact, secular historians do not even regard the Exodus to have been a historical event, let alone identify which Pharaoh was involved in order for him to be a sign for later generations, since there is a total absence of independent evidence to support the story as described in the scriptures.^[42]

Title of Malik (King) vs Pharaoh in the stories of Joseph and Moses

In the Quranic stories of Moses, the leader of the Egyptians is called Pharaoh (Firaun). However, in the Quranic stories of Joseph in Surah Yusuf, the Egyptian ruler is always called "the king" (al-malik). In this way the Qur'an is said to avoid an anachronism of the Biblical parallels, in which the book of Genesis calls the ruler Pharaoh even in the story of Joseph set hundreds of years earlier.

Critics point out that the most obvious reason for the different Quranic titles is that the author thought Pharaoh was the actual name of the Egyptian ruler and not a title borne by many rulers in Egyptian history. In every case he is simply called Firaun without the definite article, "al-". In contrast, the dozen instances mentioning the ruler in Surah Yusuf use the definite article, al-malik (the king).

While the pharaoh at the time of the exodus story is traditionally believed to be Rameses II, it is unclear exactly when Joseph is supposed to have lived (secular historians generally consider neither Joseph nor Moses to be historical figures). Sometime during the era of the New Kingdom, Second Intermediate Period, the pharaoh title became the form of address for a person who was king. The earliest confirmed usage of pharaoh as a title is for Akhenaten (reigned c. 1353–1336 BCE), or possibly Thutmose III (c. 1479–1425 BCE).

The miracle claim is somewhat inaccurate regarding its claims about the Bible given that the Joseph parallels in Genesis chapters 39-41 in fact use Melekh (king) and Pharaoh interchangably.^[43] Compare for example Genesis 39:20, 40:1, 40:6, 41:46, and 47:11.

Pharaoh's claim to divinity

In a few verses, Pharaoh is quoted referring to himself as a god (See Quran 28:38, Quran 26:29, and Quran 79:24). This knowledge is claimed to have been lost by the time of the Quranic revelation.

And Pharaoh said: O chiefs! I know not that ye have a god other than me, so kindle for me (a fire), O Haman, to bake the mud; and set up for me a lofty tower in order that I may survey the god of Moses; and lo! I deem him of the liars.

Quran 28:38

Aside from controversies concerning exactly in what sense, when and by whom the pharaohs were considered to be divine, Jewish traditions in the centuries before the Quran maintained a trope that the pharaoh made such a claim for himself. These were based on Rabbinic exegesis of two verses in the Biblical book of Ezekiel.^[44]

Speak to him and say: ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: “‘I am against you, Pharaoh king of Egypt, you great monster lying among your streams. You say, “The Nile belongs to me; I made it for myself.”

Ezekiel 29:3

Egypt will become a desolate wasteland. Then they will know that I am the Lord. “‘Because you said, “The Nile is mine; I made it,”

Ezekiel 29:9

The earliest known Rabbinic tradition of this nature occurs in the Mekhilta de-Rabbi Ishmael (2th-3th century CE).^[45] The pharaoh is one of four Biblical figures together chastised in a number of sections for claiming to be a god:

Who Is Like unto Thee Among the Gods, 0 Lord (Exod. 15:11). Who is like unto Thee among those who call themselves gods? Pharaoh called himself a god, as it is said: 'The river is mine" (Ezek 29:9}; "And I have made myself" (Ezek. 29.3) [...]

Mekhilta de-Rabbi Ishmael, Tractate Shirah 8:7.

We see similar exegesis occuring a number of times in the midrash Tanhuma, a name given to three texts, of which the relevant one is the Yelammedenu (also known as Tanhuma B), though also occuring in later texts such as Exodus Rabba. The earliest date for the final redactive layer of the Tanhuma Yelammedenu is the eigth or nineth century CE.^[46] However, its first phase seems to have existed by the sixth century.^[47] Generally newer research, however, has shown that a good chunck of the material in Midrash Tanhuma can be said to be pre-Islamic in their nature. ^[48]

Another midrash on this topic from the Yelammedenu, occurs in multiple instances in Midrash Tanhuma:

Observe that everyone who desired to be worshipped as a divine being constructed a palace for himself in the midst of the sea. Pharaoh erected a palace in the midst of the water and dammed up the water of the Nile to keep it from flowing into the Mediterranean."

Midrash Tanhuma, Bereshit 7:12.

[...] He said to them: “You have been speaking falsehood from the start! For I am the lord of the world, and I created myself and the Nile, as is written: The Nile is mine, I made it (Ezek. 29:3).” At that moment he gathered all the wise men of Egypt, and said to them: “Perhaps you have heard about the god of these?” They said to him: “We have heard that he is the son of wise men and the son of early kings.” The Holy One, blessed be He said: They call themselves wise men, but Me (they call) a son of wise men! [...]

Midrash Tanhuma, Vaera 5:6.

See, I have set thee in God’s stead to Pharaoh (Exod. 7:1). The Holy One, blessed be He, said to Moses: The wicked Pharaoh boasts that he is a god. Make him realize that he is an insignificant being. Indeed, I will make you appear as a god to him. Whence do we know that he claimed to be divine? It is said: My river is mine own, and I have made it for myself (Ezek. 29:3). Therefore, he will look at you and say: “Surely this one is god.”

Midrash Tanhuma, Vaera 9:1.

Why was he going out to the water? Because the wicked man was boasting of himself, for he had said that he was a god and had no need to relieve himself. Therefore he went out to the water in the morning, so that no one would see he was a (mere) man.

Midrash Tanhuma, Vaera 14:1.

A small Exodus

The Quran contains the story of Moses and the Exodus from Egypt escaping the pharaoh. Modern archaeology carried out extensively across the Egyptian, Israeli/Palestinian and surrounding areas has found an astonishing lack of evidence for this allegedly historical event, with not a single Egyptian chronicle mentioning it, and plentiful evidence for the founding of the Israeli/Jewish people as simply emerging from ancient Canaanites who developed into a distinct culture.^[49]

Some apologists claim that the fact that unlike the Bible, the Quran (which typically lacks more specific details in the story), does not mention the large numbers involved (~600,000 men and more women and children),^[50] and cite a Quran verse where Pharoah proclaims to his men summoning troops that the Israelites are 'a small band', is evidence for a small scale group that may explain the lack of archaeological evidence for the exodus.

53. Then Pharaoh sent into the cities summoners, 54. Pharaoh said: "Indeed, those are but a small band."

Quran 26:53-54

However, a quick examination of the previous verse (Q26:53) shows that firstly Pharoah sent these men to summon more men in different cities (plural), which would not have happened if this was a small number of Israelites, that the assumingly capital city the pharaoh would have resided in could quickly and easily have dealt with.

Secondly, what 'small' means here is not provided and could have a number of meanings, which have typically included being small relative to the larger Egyptian army, or are a small people meaning 'lowliest of people' as a form of insult and ridicule, rather than saying they were small in number. That is how it's been interpreted by classical exegetes who never saw it as negating the biblical story nor the large >600,000 figure which has been taken as fact, including for example Al-Jalalayn,^[51] Al-Zamakhshari, ^[52] Al-Qurtubi^[53] At-Tabrisī,^[54] Al-Baydawi,^[55] Mawardi,^[56] Ibn Al-Jawzi^[57], Al-Tabari (who cites traditions confirming the large number)^[58] and Al-Razi.^[59]

Thirdly, it is worth noting that it is quoting pharaohs' speech and not God telling us directly or for certain that it was 'small'. Pharaoh is set up as a villain who is dishonest, highly arrogant and even violently oppressive repeatedly in the Quran,^[60] i.e. in no way a trustworthy character who would admit that he could be in danger from the Israelites, and when gathering soldiers from other cities could well be simply lying to galvanize the troops as a means of persuasion and/or hide the danger and challenge of the task.

Fourthly, in the Qur'anic version of the story they inherit the people of pharaoh's land, i.e. at least a notable portion of ancient Egypt if not all of it (see: Historical Errors in the Quran The Israelites inherit Egypt as well as Israel/Palestine), along with ancient Israel, which would suggest they are of a large relevant size for them to make sense to do so. Along with the Exodus, there is also no evidence of this event ever occurring in either archaeology, Egyptian chronicles or the writings of surrounding kingdoms.

And finally if the Quran really meant to 'correct' a biblical narrative, it easily could have done so by correcting the number of Israelites, just like it directly confronts and 'corrects' Biblical Christian notions of the trinity and crucifixion.

"Neither Heaven nor Earth wept over them" and the Pyramid texts

A claim popularised since 2020 alleges that Quran 44:29 is a divine rebuke to an ancient, long lost tribute to the Pharaoh found among the oldest Egyptian funereal texts (known as the Pyramid Texts"), which were rediscovered in modern times. Critics have challenged the alleged similarity between the Egyptian and Quranic phrases, as well as noting that the former is an isolated example and too early to be relevant to the Quranic Pharaoh. Moreover, they have identified numerous examples of the same motif within immediately pre-Islamic contexts.

And the heaven and earth wept not for them, nor were they reprieved.

Quran 44:29

The Pyramid Texts comprise roughly 2000 lines of hieroglyphic text inside the Old Kingdom pyramids of Saqqara, which have been divided into several hundred utterances. Utterance 553 concerns the resurrection, meal, and ascension of the deceased king. Line 1365c contains the somewhat similar phrase, highlighted below within Utterance 553:

1364d. that thou remain Chief of the mighty ones (or, spirits).

1365a. Thou purifiest thyself with these thy four nmś.t-jars,

1365b. (with) the špn.t and ‘ȝt-jar, which come from the sḥ-ntr for thee, that thou mayest become divine.

1365c. The sky weeps for thee; the earth trembles for thee;

1366a. the śmnt.t-woman laments for thee; the great min.t mourns for thee;

1366b. the feet agitate for thee; the hands wave for thee,

1366c. when thou ascendest to heaven as a star, as the morning star.

Selected lines from Utterance 553 of the Pyramid Texts, translated by Samuel A. B. Mercer^[61]

On the alleged similarity, critics firstly note that the phrase in the Pyramid text concerns the Pharaoh specifically, whereas the Quranic verse refers to Pharaoh and his army. Secondly, the Pyramid text says that the Heavens weep and the Earth trembles for him, whereas the Quran denies the weeping of both the Heavens and the Earth for them.

Proponents of the miracle claim sometimes imply that the Pyramid text motif was a significant and sustained concept in Egyptian mythology. However, unlike some of the Pyramid Text utterances which are also found later in the middle kingdom and new kingdom, Utterance 553 is only found in the Pyramid of Pepi I.^[62] It is part of a group of Utterances which to varying degrees are found on the East wall of the waiting rooms in the Pyramids of Pepi I, Merenre, and Pepi II at Saqqara.^[63] These Old Kingdom Pyramids are over 4000 years old and pre-date by 1000 years the reign of Ramesses II, popularly associated with the Biblical and Quranic Pharaoh. A similar motif has not been identified again in an Egyptian context until 305 BC under Ptolemaic rule in a song referring to Osiris.^[64]

Finally, critics have identified similar motifs in Judeo-Christian contexts in the centuries immediately before Islam. Here are a few examples (many more, including from Biblical and Rabbinic contexts are collated here)

The 6th century CE Syriac church father Narsai lamented how mankind destroys itself through its deeds:

About our destruction heaven and earth weep and wail, and we alone are not aware of the destruction of our race.

Narsai, Homily 12, On the Evil of Time, translated by Lucas Van Rompay^[65]

Lamentations Rabbah, a 3rd to 5th century CE midrash on the Biblical book of Lamentations, says of Daughter Zion:

she weeps and makes heaven and earth to weep with her, for is it not written, The sun and the moon are become black (Joel II, 10)?

Midrash Rabbah Lamentations^[66]

Al Zamakhshari (d. 1143 CE) in his commentary on the Quran says that the phrase was in use by Arabs before quoting example usage by Muhammad and others:

When an important person died, the Arabs would glorify his death by saying, "the heavens and the earth wept for him, the wind wept for him, the sun darkened for him."

al Kashshaf by al Zamakhshari^[67]

External links

The Rationalizer: Top scientists comment on the Quran (video playlist, Interviews in 2011 with quote-mined scientists who supposedly approved the so-called scientific miracles: Alfred Kroner, William Hay, Allison Palmer, Tom Armstrong)
Western Scholars Play Key Role in Touting `Science' of the Quran by Daniel Golden, Wall Street Journal, January 23, 2002 (archive without paywall)
Sherif Gaber - Zakir Naik - The Wizard of Scientific Miracles - YouTube Video
The Masked Arab: Scientific miracles in the Quran? Analysis of Zakir Naik's claims - YouTube video
Hassan Radwan - Guide to Scientific Miracles in the Qu'ran - YouTube video
Hassan Radwan - Qu'ran's Miracle of Female Honey Bees - YouTube video
Hassan Radwan - The Qu'ran's Miracle of Haman - YouTube video
CaptainDisguise: Miracle of the Pharaoh & Maurice Bucaille - Why do we laugh at Dawahgandists? #Dawahganda - YouTube video
islamwhattheydonttellyou164 - Waters that Never Mix: The Honest Truth, Underwater Waves, Three Layers of Darkness and The Quran and Science - YouTube videos

References

↑ How Islam Won, and Lost, the Lead in Science. Dennis Overbye. 2001. New York Times. Astronomy and medicine (two fields that are particularly relevant to 'scientific miracles') were relatively advanced for their time (especially astronomy) during the Islamic Empire's, which scientists never credited the Qur'an with prompting discoveries.
↑ Islam, Science, and the Challenge of History (The Terry Lectures Series). Dallal, Ahmad. Yale University Press. 2012. Kindle Edition. See Kindle locations 1958 - 1972. And Chapter 'The Quran and Science' locations 2618 - 2723 covering this issue.
↑ For example, in the debate between traditionalists and non-traditionalists on whether the Earth was flat, see: Against Ptolemy? Cosmography in Early Kalām (2022). Omar Anchassi. Journal of the American Oriental Society, 142(4), 851–881. https://doi.org/10.7817/jaos.142.4.2022.ar033 (This period covers the first five centuries of Islam, though examples of Islamic scholars quoting the Quran. Many more going beyond that period can be found in this Wordpress article: Scholarly Consensus of a Round Earth)
↑ For example: Geo-centrism has been supported by Sheikh Bandar al-Khaibari, covered in this Daily Mail article. And Sheik al-Fawzan, which can be seen in this YouTube video at 12:48. Creationism has large support over evolution in the Muslim world among Islamic scholars, as we see in this Telegraph article The prominent modern Islamic scholar Seyyed Hossein Nasr rejects evolution on religious grounds Journal of Islam & Science, Vol. 4 (Winter 2006) No. 2, who is one of many.
↑ When Science Teaching Becomes A Subversive Activity By Pervez Hoodbhoy
↑ Hamza Andreas Tzortzis, "Does the Quran contain scientific miracles?", 8/21/2013 (archived from the original), https://web.archive.org/web/20190416194024/https://www.hamzatzortzis.com/does-the-quran-contain-scientific-miracles-a-new-approach/
↑ "Zakir Naik's colourful, controversial past", Livemint, 7 July 2016, http://www.livemint.com/Politics/nEgC4RcrRkydW33OMxbvdN/Zakir-Naiks-controversial-past.html.
↑ "Foreign Media On Zakir Naik, 'Doctor-Turned-Firebrand Preacher'", NDTV, 15 July 2016, http://www.ndtv.com/india-news/foreign-media-on-zakir-naik-doctor-turned-firebrand-preacher-1431875.
↑ Reuters Staff, ed, (1/11/2021), Turkish court sentences TV preacher to more than 1,000 years in jail - state media, , Reuters, 1/11/2021 (archived from the original), https://web.archive.org/web/20210131004740/https://www.reuters.com/article/turkey-court-preacher-idUSL4N2JM23C
↑ Taylan Bilgic, Turkey Sex Cult Chief Sentenced to More Than 1,000 Years in Jail, , Bloomberg, 1/11/2021 (archived from the original), https://web.archive.org/web/20210111124141/https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-01-11/turkey-sex-cult-chief-sentenced-to-more-than-1-000-years-in-jail
↑ Lane's Lexicon dictionary on daḥā دَحَا
↑ Yasbahoona / سبح Lane's Lexicon Classical Arabic Dictionary (quranx.com)
↑ sulb ' ﺻُﻠﺐ - Lane's Lexicon Classical Arabic Dictionary
↑ Tara'ib تَّرَآئِب - Lane's Lexicon Classical Arabic Dictionary
↑ Lane's Lexicon p. 1027 رَتْقًا
↑ ^16.0 ^16.1 Ephrem's commentary on Genesis - True Orthodoxy website
↑ ^17.0 ^17.1 ^17.2 Ahmad Al-Jallad, Ancient Allah: An Epigraphic Reconstruction, pp.46. Journal of Semitic Studies, 2025;, fgaf012, https://doi.org/10.1093/jss/fgaf012
↑ Ahmad Al-Jallad, Ancient Allah: An Epigraphic Reconstruction, pp. 46 & further evidence is cited in Ibid. pp. 4 where he notes the verb for 'to create' khalaqa etymology's relation to splitting suggests this was an ancient ancestral Arabic belief: Another clue as to the mythological background of the pre-Islamic Allāh lies in the etymology of the verb ‘to create’ in Arabic, found in the question posed in Q39:38, for example: laʾin saʾalta-hum man ḫalaqa s-samāwāti wa-l-ʾarḍa la-yaqūlunna llāh ‘if you ask them who created the heavens and the earth they unequivocally reply ‘Allāh’. The verb ḫalaqa with this meaning is unique to Arabic. Its cognates in other languages mean ‘divide, separate’: Syriac ḥəlaq, Hebrew ḥālaq, Sabaic ḫlq, and Minaic ḫlq. ¹⁰ The Arabic meaning of the word must have developed from the ancient Near Eastern cosmological myth, in which the creation of the world was accomplished through the ‘dividing’ of pre-existing matter.¹¹ This concept likely drove the semantic shift through metaphorical extension. Given that this term was understood by Mohammed’s interlocutors as well, it indicates that the semantic shift happened in pre-Islamic times and was not something introduced by the Qurʾān.
↑ Tafsir al Tabari for Q 51:47
↑ Commentary on Surah 51 by Nicolai Sinai - Corpus Coranicum website (in German)
↑ comment by Marijn van Putten - Academic Quran Reddit forum
↑ See for example Tafsir al-Jalalayn for Q 51:47
↑ Tafsir of Ibn Kathir for Q 51:47
↑ وسع awsa'a - Lane's Lexicon page 3052 and page 3053
↑ Active Participle Form I male plural noun Corpus Quran Verse 51:48
lamūsiʿūna in 51:47 has the same grammar except that it is in Arabic form IV
↑ مهد mahada - Lane's Lexicon page 2739
↑ بِنَاء binaa - Lane's Lexicon page 261
↑ Tafsirs 2:22
↑ Gabriel Said Reynolds, "The Quran and Bible:Text and Commentary", New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2018 p. 553. This is regarding Quran 24:45, though on p. 508 Reynolds cross references the same parallel regarding the other verse, Quran 21:30, which is more clearly a statement in the context of the Genesis creation story, like Ephrem's comment.
↑ Frag. B17, (Simplicius, Physics, 157-159)
↑ Thales of Miletus - Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy
↑ taraqa طَّارِقُ - Lane's Lexicon page 1846 and page 1850
↑ The Ancient Egyptians Had Iron Because They Harvested Fallen Meteors - Smithsonian Institution, 13 May 2013
↑ Davis, P & Pattinson, K & Mason, N & Richards, Paul & Hillebrandt, D. (2011). High Altitude Illness. Journal of the Royal Army Medical Corps. 157. 12-7. 10.1136/jramc-151-04-05.
↑ Callison, W.É., Kiyamu, M., Villafuerte, F.C. et al. Comparing high versus low-altitude populations to test human adaptations for increased ventilation during sustained aerobic activity. Sci Rep 12, 11148 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-13263-5
↑ Sameer Rahim (8 October 2010). "Pathfinders: The Golden Age of Arabic Science by Jim al-Khalili: review". The Telegraph.
↑ Honey Bee Anatomy - Honey Bee Research Centre website
↑ صلب Lane's Lexicon, page 1712
↑ Hippocratic Writings (Penguin Classics, 1983) pp. 317-318
↑ Wensinck, Arent Jan (1918). "The Ocean in the Literature of the Western Semites". Verhandelingen der Koninklijke Akademie van Wetenschappen te Amsterdam. Afdeeling Letterkunde. Nieuwe reeks. dl. 19. no. 2. page 14
↑ ibid. page 17
↑ Hawass, Z. & Saleem, S. (2016). "Scanning the Pharaohs: CT Imaging of the New Kingdom Royal Mummies." D`Auria, S. (ed.) AUC Press. p. 153.
↑ "Genesis Chapter 39 בְּרֵאשִׁית" mechon-mamre.org
↑ Even the direct verses from Ezekiel (29:3, 29;9) can by themselves in a way be seen to be making Pharaoh a divine figure, as put by Daniel I. Block in his commentary on Ezekiel: "But this leaves open the question of what Pharaoh has made. Is it the Nile? While more subtle than the claims of the prince of Tyre (28:2), the image of Pharaoh as owner and creator of the Nile fits perfectly with Egyptian doctrines of divine kingship." (Block, D. I. [1998]. "The Book of Ezekiel: Chapter 25-48." Eerdmans Publishing Company. p. 137.)
↑ Tilly, M & Visotzky, L. B. (2021). Judaism II: Literature. Kohlhammer. p. 105; Stemberger, G. & Strack, H. L. (1996). Introduction to the Talmud and Midrash. Fortress Press. p. 255.
↑ Midrash Tanchuma introduction - Sefaria.org
↑ Myron B. Lerner, "The works of Aggadic Midrash and Esther Midrashim" in Eds. Sefrai et. al. (2006) The literature of the Sages: Second Part Netherlands: Royal van Gorcum and Fortress Press, p.150
↑ Bregman, M. (2021). A Bibliographical Survey of Tanhuma- Yelammedenu Research: Past, Present, and Future. In Nikolsky, R. & Atzmon, A. (eds.) "Studies in the Tanhuma-Yelammedenu Literature" Brill. p. 25.
↑ Finkelstein, Israel, and Silberman, Neil Asher. The Bible Unearthed: Archaeology's New Vision of Ancient Israel and the Origin of Sacred Texts. United Kingdom, Free Press, 2002. See Chapter 2: Did the Exodus happen? pp 48-71, and Chapter 4: Who were the Israelites pp 97-122
↑ Exodus 12:37. The Bible. New International Version. Bible Gateway. Biblegateway.com The Israelites journeyed from Rameses to Sukkoth. There were about six hundred thousand men on foot, besides women and children.
↑ Tafsir Al-Jalalayn on Verse 26:54
↑ Tafsir Al-Zamakhshari on Verse 26:54
↑ Tafsir Al-Qurtubi on Verse 26:53
↑ Tafsir Al-Tabrisī on Verse 26:54
↑ Tafsir Al-Baydawi on Verse 26:54
↑ Tafsir Mawardi on Verse 26:54
↑ Tafsir Ibn Al-Jawzi on Verse 26:54
↑ Al-Tabari on Verse 26:54
↑ Tafsir Al-Razi on Verse 26:54
↑ Pharaoh's personality traits in the Holy Qur'an Dr. Akram A. Mansour Assistant Professor, Faculty of Education, Palestine University, Palestine. IOSR Journal of Research & Method in Education (IOSR-JRME) e-ISSN: 2320–7388, p- ISSN: 2320-737x Volume 10, Issue 6 Ser. V (Nov. – Dec. 2020), PP 55-60. https://www.iosrjournals.org/
↑ Samuel A. B. Mercer (1952), The Pyramid Texts: In translation and commentary, Chapter 30. Resurrection, Meal, and Ascension of the Deceased King, Utterance 553, Longman's Green and Co., London
Available to view online the Pyramid Texts here and here
↑ "On the east wall of Pepi I's 'waiting' room, Utt. 553 1353-1369, a resurrection text found only in this pyramid narrates the process by which the deceased king rises from his supine state and begins the journey to the sky"
Jennifer E. Hellem (2001), [The Presence of Myth in the Pyramid Texts], PhD thesis for the University of Toronto, p. 98
↑ Ibid. p. 89
↑ "The countries and lands weep for you, The regions mourn for you, inasmuch as you are He-who-awakes-in-health; Heaven and earth weep for you, inasmuch as you are greater than the gods"
The Songs of Isis and Nephthys translated by R. O. Faulkner and reproduced on www.attalus.org
↑ Narsai, Homily 12, 'On the Evil of the Time' (trans. Lucas Van Rompay) in Butts A. M. et al. (eds) Narsai: The Homilies: Volume 1, Leuven: Peeters, p. 178, 2024
↑ Freehman, H. and Simon, M. (eds.) Midrash Rabbah Deuteronomy Lamentations, Lamentations I. 2 §23 p. 94, 1939 archive
↑ al-Zamakhshari - al-Khashshaf on Quran 44:29 - altafsir.com

[1] How Islam Won, and Lost, the Lead in Science. Dennis Overbye. 2001. New York Times. Astronomy and medicine (two fields that are particularly relevant to 'scientific miracles') were relatively advanced for their time (especially astronomy) during the Islamic Empire's, which scientists never credited the Qur'an with prompting discoveries.

[2] Islam, Science, and the Challenge of History (The Terry Lectures Series). Dallal, Ahmad. Yale University Press. 2012. Kindle Edition. See Kindle locations 1958 - 1972. And Chapter 'The Quran and Science' locations 2618 - 2723 covering this issue.

[3] For example, in the debate between traditionalists and non-traditionalists on whether the Earth was flat, see: Against Ptolemy? Cosmography in Early Kalām (2022). Omar Anchassi. Journal of the American Oriental Society, 142(4), 851–881. https://doi.org/10.7817/jaos.142.4.2022.ar033 (This period covers the first five centuries of Islam, though examples of Islamic scholars quoting the Quran. Many more going beyond that period can be found in this Wordpress article: Scholarly Consensus of a Round Earth)

[4] For example: Geo-centrism has been supported by Sheikh Bandar al-Khaibari, covered in this Daily Mail article. And Sheik al-Fawzan, which can be seen in this YouTube video at 12:48. Creationism has large support over evolution in the Muslim world among Islamic scholars, as we see in this Telegraph article The prominent modern Islamic scholar Seyyed Hossein Nasr rejects evolution on religious grounds Journal of Islam & Science, Vol. 4 (Winter 2006) No. 2, who is one of many.

[SubvHoodb-5] When Science Teaching Becomes A Subversive Activity By Pervez Hoodbhoy

[6] Hamza Andreas Tzortzis, "Does the Quran contain scientific miracles?", 8/21/2013 (archived from the original), https://web.archive.org/web/20190416194024/https://www.hamzatzortzis.com/does-the-quran-contain-scientific-miracles-a-new-approach/

[lmzn2-7] "Zakir Naik's colourful, controversial past", Livemint, 7 July 2016, http://www.livemint.com/Politics/nEgC4RcrRkydW33OMxbvdN/Zakir-Naiks-controversial-past.html.

[8] "Foreign Media On Zakir Naik, 'Doctor-Turned-Firebrand Preacher'", NDTV, 15 July 2016, http://www.ndtv.com/india-news/foreign-media-on-zakir-naik-doctor-turned-firebrand-preacher-1431875.

[9] Reuters Staff, ed, (1/11/2021), Turkish court sentences TV preacher to more than 1,000 years in jail - state media, , Reuters, 1/11/2021 (archived from the original), https://web.archive.org/web/20210131004740/https://www.reuters.com/article/turkey-court-preacher-idUSL4N2JM23C

[10] Taylan Bilgic, Turkey Sex Cult Chief Sentenced to More Than 1,000 Years in Jail, , Bloomberg, 1/11/2021 (archived from the original), https://web.archive.org/web/20210111124141/https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-01-11/turkey-sex-cult-chief-sentenced-to-more-than-1-000-years-in-jail

[11] Lane's Lexicon dictionary on daḥā دَحَا

[12] Yasbahoona / سبح Lane's Lexicon Classical Arabic Dictionary (quranx.com)

[13] sulb ' ﺻُﻠﺐ - Lane's Lexicon Classical Arabic Dictionary

[14] Tara'ib تَّرَآئِب - Lane's Lexicon Classical Arabic Dictionary

[15] Lane's Lexicon p. 1027 رَتْقًا

[EphremGenesis-16] 16.0 ^16.1 Ephrem's commentary on Genesis - True Orthodoxy website

[:0-17] 17.0 ^17.1 ^17.2 Ahmad Al-Jallad, Ancient Allah: An Epigraphic Reconstruction, pp.46. Journal of Semitic Studies, 2025;, fgaf012, https://doi.org/10.1093/jss/fgaf012

[18] Ahmad Al-Jallad, Ancient Allah: An Epigraphic Reconstruction, pp. 46 & further evidence is cited in Ibid. pp. 4 where he notes the verb for 'to create' khalaqa etymology's relation to splitting suggests this was an ancient ancestral Arabic belief: Another clue as to the mythological background of the pre-Islamic Allāh lies in the etymology of the verb ‘to create’ in Arabic, found in the question posed in Q39:38, for example: laʾin saʾalta-hum man ḫalaqa s-samāwāti wa-l-ʾarḍa la-yaqūlunna llāh ‘if you ask them who created the heavens and the earth they unequivocally reply ‘Allāh’. The verb ḫalaqa with this meaning is unique to Arabic. Its cognates in other languages mean ‘divide, separate’: Syriac ḥəlaq, Hebrew ḥālaq, Sabaic ḫlq, and Minaic ḫlq. ¹⁰ The Arabic meaning of the word must have developed from the ancient Near Eastern cosmological myth, in which the creation of the world was accomplished through the ‘dividing’ of pre-existing matter.¹¹ This concept likely drove the semantic shift through metaphorical extension. Given that this term was understood by Mohammed’s interlocutors as well, it indicates that the semantic shift happened in pre-Islamic times and was not something introduced by the Qurʾān.

[19] Tafsir al Tabari for Q 51:47

[20] Commentary on Surah 51 by Nicolai Sinai - Corpus Coranicum website (in German)

[21] t by Marijn van Putten - Academic Quran Reddit forum

[22] See for example Tafsir al-Jalalayn for Q 51:47

[23] Tafsir of Ibn Kathir for Q 51:47

[LexiconExpanders-24] وسع awsa'a - Lane's Lexicon page 3052 and page 3053

[25] Active Participle Form I male plural noun Corpus Quran Verse 51:48
lamūsiʿūna in 51:47 has the same grammar except that it is in Arabic form IV

[26] مهد mahada - Lane's Lexicon page 2739

[27] بِنَاء binaa - Lane's Lexicon page 261

[28] Tafsirs 2:22

[29] Gabriel Said Reynolds, "The Quran and Bible:Text and Commentary", New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2018 p. 553. This is regarding Quran 24:45, though on p. 508 Reynolds cross references the same parallel regarding the other verse, Quran 21:30, which is more clearly a statement in the context of the Genesis creation story, like Ephrem's comment.

[30] Frag. B17, (Simplicius, Physics, 157-159)

[31] Thales of Miletus - Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy

[32] taraqa طَّارِقُ - Lane's Lexicon page 1846 and page 1850

[33] The Ancient Egyptians Had Iron Because They Harvested Fallen Meteors - Smithsonian Institution, 13 May 2013

[34] Davis, P & Pattinson, K & Mason, N & Richards, Paul & Hillebrandt, D. (2011). High Altitude Illness. Journal of the Royal Army Medical Corps. 157. 12-7. 10.1136/jramc-151-04-05.

[35] Callison, W.É., Kiyamu, M., Villafuerte, F.C. et al. Comparing high versus low-altitude populations to test human adaptations for increased ventilation during sustained aerobic activity. Sci Rep 12, 11148 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-13263-5

[36] Sameer Rahim (8 October 2010). "Pathfinders: The Golden Age of Arabic Science by Jim al-Khalili: review". The Telegraph.

[37] Honey Bee Anatomy - Honey Bee Research Centre website

[38] صلب Lane's Lexicon, page 1712

[39] Hippocratic Writings (Penguin Classics, 1983) pp. 317-318

[40] Wensinck, Arent Jan (1918). "The Ocean in the Literature of the Western Semites". Verhandelingen der Koninklijke Akademie van Wetenschappen te Amsterdam. Afdeeling Letterkunde. Nieuwe reeks. dl. 19. no. 2. page 14

[41] . page 17

[42] Hawass, Z. & Saleem, S. (2016). "Scanning the Pharaohs: CT Imaging of the New Kingdom Royal Mummies." D`Auria, S. (ed.) AUC Press. p. 153.

[43] "Genesis Chapter 39 בְּרֵאשִׁית" mechon-mamre.org

[44] Even the direct verses from Ezekiel (29:3, 29;9) can by themselves in a way be seen to be making Pharaoh a divine figure, as put by Daniel I. Block in his commentary on Ezekiel: "But this leaves open the question of what Pharaoh has made. Is it the Nile? While more subtle than the claims of the prince of Tyre (28:2), the image of Pharaoh as owner and creator of the Nile fits perfectly with Egyptian doctrines of divine kingship." (Block, D. I. [1998]. "The Book of Ezekiel: Chapter 25-48." Eerdmans Publishing Company. p. 137.)

[45] Tilly, M & Visotzky, L. B. (2021). Judaism II: Literature. Kohlhammer. p. 105; Stemberger, G. & Strack, H. L. (1996). Introduction to the Talmud and Midrash. Fortress Press. p. 255.

[46] Midrash Tanchuma introduction - Sefaria.org

[47] Myron B. Lerner, "The works of Aggadic Midrash and Esther Midrashim" in Eds. Sefrai et. al. (2006) The literature of the Sages: Second Part Netherlands: Royal van Gorcum and Fortress Press, p.150

[48] Bregman, M. (2021). A Bibliographical Survey of Tanhuma- Yelammedenu Research: Past, Present, and Future. In Nikolsky, R. & Atzmon, A. (eds.) "Studies in the Tanhuma-Yelammedenu Literature" Brill. p. 25.

[49] Finkelstein, Israel, and Silberman, Neil Asher. The Bible Unearthed: Archaeology's New Vision of Ancient Israel and the Origin of Sacred Texts. United Kingdom, Free Press, 2002. See Chapter 2: Did the Exodus happen? pp 48-71, and Chapter 4: Who were the Israelites pp 97-122

[50] Exodus 12:37. The Bible. New International Version. Bible Gateway. Biblegateway.com The Israelites journeyed from Rameses to Sukkoth. There were about six hundred thousand men on foot, besides women and children.

[51] Tafsir Al-Jalalayn on Verse 26:54

[52] Tafsir Al-Zamakhshari on Verse 26:54

[53] Tafsir Al-Qurtubi on Verse 26:53

[54] Tafsir Al-Tabrisī on Verse 26:54

[55] Tafsir Al-Baydawi on Verse 26:54

[56] Tafsir Mawardi on Verse 26:54

[57] Tafsir Ibn Al-Jawzi on Verse 26:54

[58] Al-Tabari on Verse 26:54

[59] Tafsir Al-Razi on Verse 26:54

[60] Pharaoh's personality traits in the Holy Qur'an Dr. Akram A. Mansour Assistant Professor, Faculty of Education, Palestine University, Palestine. IOSR Journal of Research & Method in Education (IOSR-JRME) e-ISSN: 2320–7388, p- ISSN: 2320-737x Volume 10, Issue 6 Ser. V (Nov. – Dec. 2020), PP 55-60. https://www.iosrjournals.org/

[61] Samuel A. B. Mercer (1952), The Pyramid Texts: In translation and commentary, Chapter 30. Resurrection, Meal, and Ascension of the Deceased King, Utterance 553, Longman's Green and Co., London
Available to view online the Pyramid Texts here and here

[62] "On the east wall of Pepi I's 'waiting' room, Utt. 553 1353-1369, a resurrection text found only in this pyramid narrates the process by which the deceased king rises from his supine state and begins the journey to the sky"
Jennifer E. Hellem (2001), [The Presence of Myth in the Pyramid Texts], PhD thesis for the University of Toronto, p. 98

[63] Ibid. p. 89

[64] "The countries and lands weep for you, The regions mourn for you, inasmuch as you are He-who-awakes-in-health; Heaven and earth weep for you, inasmuch as you are greater than the gods"
The Songs of Isis and Nephthys translated by R. O. Faulkner and reproduced on www.attalus.org

[65] Narsai, Homily 12, 'On the Evil of the Time' (trans. Lucas Van Rompay) in Butts A. M. et al. (eds) Narsai: The Homilies: Volume 1, Leuven: Peeters, p. 178, 2024

[66] Freehman, H. and Simon, M. (eds.) Midrash Rabbah Deuteronomy Lamentations, Lamentations I. 2 §23 p. 94, 1939 archive

[67] -Zamakhshari - al-Khashshaf on Quran 44:29 - altafsir.com

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Dhul-Qarnayn and the Alexander Romance and Scientific Miracles in the Quran: Difference between pages

Revision as of 14:05, 10 August 2025

History of the scientific miracles movement and statements by Western Scientists

Methodology of Islamic theologians

Methodology

Mistranslations

Dehistoricization

Pseudo-correlation

Reinterpretation

Disambiguation

Elective literalism

Data mining

Elective esotericism

Philosophical concerns with methodology

Purported scientific miracles

The Big Bang (the Earth was split from the Heavens)

A universe from smoke

The universe is steadily expanding

Mistranslation

Universe consists of "Space", while the Quranic heaven is a solid canopy which could not expand

Every living thing from water

Black holes and pulsars

Seven heavens, seven earths

The descent of Iron

Chest-tightening in hypoxic environments

Mountains as pegs, cast down to stabilize the Earth

Embryology

All things in pairs

Female honey bees

Diminishing land

Clay humans

Semen production

Lying forelocks

Fresh water-salt water barriers

The speed of light

Purported historical miracles

Preservation of Pharaoh's body

Title of Malik (King) vs Pharaoh in the stories of Joseph and Moses

Pharaoh's claim to divinity

A small Exodus

"Neither Heaven nor Earth wept over them" and the Pyramid texts

See also

External links

References

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