Scientific Errors in the Quran: Difference between revisions

If the Qur’an contains a message from an all-powerful, all- knowing, infallible divine being then it should not contain any factual errors. If even one error is shown to exist in the text then the claims of divine authorship and infallibility are not true. An objective evaluation of the Qur’an shows that it contains numerous scientific and historical errors and it reflects a 7th century view of the natural world.

Some Muslim apologists will contest these numerous scientific errors in the Qur'an by appealing to metaphor, alternative meanings, or phenomenological interpretations. Even if we suppose that alternative explanations were possible in every case, the wording and content of the Quranic verses often mimic the popular mythology and misconceptions of the time in which they were written. The author of the Qur’an makes no clear or unambiguous statements that differentiate his understanding of the natural world from the mythology and misconceptions of the people of 7th century. At no point does he clearly state the universe is 13.8 billion years old, all organisms have evolved, the earth revolves around the sun, life is based on DNA, or any other salient piece of scientific information that could clearly prove a knowledge of the universe beyond the human understanding of the time. if the Qur’an was delivered by an all-powerful, all-knowing being then he would have been able to foresee how such ambiguous statements would be understood by future generations and the doubts and confusions they would cause.

Evolution

The Qur'an presupposes a creationist view of the world. Its understanding of the history of human life on earth is incompatible with the theory of human evolution from prior life forms over millions of years through natural selection. While some Muslims accept the theory of evolution, most reject it in favor of a creationis world view. Opinion polls show that the majority of Muslims agree Islam and evolution are not compatible.

Humans Creation

The Qur’an mimics many Middle Eastern creation myths by stating that humans were created instantly from dirt or clay. There is no indication that the author is aware of the evolution of human life over millions of years nor our common ancestry with other apes and primates.

Human Ancestors

The Qur’an mimics Hebrew myths about the first humans and how all people are descended from these two earliest ancestors. It states that humans were created in a garden (paradise) and then brought to earth fully formed.

Some Muslim apologists will claim the view of two ancestral “parents” is consistent with modern scientific findings that show a common female and male ancestor of all modern humans. They often exploit the confusion caused by scientists referring to these genetic ancestors as Mitochondrial Eve and Y-chromosomal Adam. These two individuals bear little resemblance to the Qur’an account as they are simply the last common male and female ancestors of everyone alive today, not of all humans in history. The Qur'an clearly states Eve was created later than Adam, however Mitochondrial Eve lived some 50,000 to 80,000 years earlier than Y-chromosomal Adam. Genetic evidence overwhelmingly indicates that humans diverged from earlier species as a population, not a single couple. [1] [2].

Astronomy

The Setting and Rising place of the Sun

The Qur'an assume a flat earth which has a fixed place where the sun sets and a fixed place where the sun rises again. Since the earth is a rotating sphere, the sun doesn't set in any particular place and you can never travel to "the spot" where the sun sets nor a place where it rises; the sun appears to set or rise on the horizon no mater where you are on the planet. In these verses, the author propagates a popular legend from the 6th century of a man that visits the places where the sun sets and rises; here he finds the sun going down into a muddy spring and later rising on a tribe with no coverings.

Geocentricism

The Qur'an mentions numerous times that the Sun and the Moon travel in an orbit, but does not mention once that the Earth does too. This is consistent with a earth-centered view of the cosmos that places a motionless earth at the center of the universe and all "heavenly bodies" travel around the earth. This was the prevailing understanding of the universe prior to the 16^th century.

Some muslim apologists try to explain away the Quranic description of the sun moving in an orbit as a reference to our sun orbiting the black hole at the center of the milky way galaxy. This is an ad-hoc explanation and nothing from the text implies that the sun is orbiting anything other than the earth. If the author had knowledge of the sun orbiting a black hole then it is conspicuous that he never mentions it explicitly nor in any way differentiates the suns orbit from that of the moon.

In the Qur'an, the moon and the sun orbit the earth together. There is no distinction made between the moon, which actually revolves around the earth, and the sun which only appears to revolve around the earth when in fact the suns movement through the sky is a product of the rotation of the earth around its axis.

The author of the Qur'an emphasis that the earth is fixed in place and motionless. He is clearly unaware that the earth is not only revolving around the sun, but also spinning on it's axis.

Shooting stars are missiles for devils

Meteors appear to be missiles to shoot the devil away. This was a prevalent myth in Arabia. As we now know, meteors are simply masses of particle debris which brighten up after entering the earth's atmosphere.

Seven Planets in the Universe

This verse claims there are seven planets. However, according to astronomers, there are eight ordinary planets and five dwarf planets, which leaves the grand total at thirteen in our solar system. Modern astronomy also has found hundreds of other planets in other solar systems and Cosmologists estimate that hundred of billions of stars and planets exist in the universe. The author of the Qur'an singling out such a small number of celestial objects only reaffirms his ignorance of the makeup of the universe.

The paternal cousin of Muhammad and conspicuous expert on tafsir (interpretation of the Qur'an) writes that Allah means that all 7 planets are flat planets.

The Moon is Further from the Earth than the Stars

The Qur'an claims that the moon is located in the middle of the universe and stars are in the nearest/lowest part of the universe. Clearly the Quranic author has no idea that many stars are billions upon billions of light-years away.

The Emits Light

The moon does not emit it's own light but simply reflects light coming from the Sun. The Arabic word for reflected (in`ikaas) does not appear in this Quranic verse that says the Moon is a "light". It instead uses the word "Noor" which is used to denote an entity that emits light

The word "Noor" is used in these verse to show that Allah is the "light" of the universe.

Moon split in Two

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

The 7 Heavens

The universe consists of hundreds of billions of galaxies, each with hundreds of billions of stars. There is no such thing as seven layers to the universe. This myth of seven heavens was a common idea prevalent in the middle east during the time the Qur'an was revealed.

There are only 5 not 7 principal layers to the Earth's atmosphere, and likewise only 5 not 7 major layers to the Earth itself.

Earth created in six days

The earth first formed around 9 billion years after the Big Bang. The Qur'an, however, repeats the Jewish myth that the earth and universe were formed in six days.

The author of the Qur'an is also unaware that the material that made up the earth was first formed in stars. Modern science has proposed that all the elements that make up the earth (Oxygen, Nitrogen, Carbon, Iron, etc.) came from debris expelled by exploding stars. Yet the Qur'an describes the earth being formed before the stars and from "smoke" or material that pre-dates both stars and the earth. Since all rocky and gaseous planets were formed after stars, the Qur'an singling out the earth being created only further highlights the authors ignorance of the history of the formation of the universe.

The sun is a flat disk

This verse suggests that the Sun is flat and can be folded up.

Sky is a Tent/Dome

A common myth at the time of the Quran's composition was that the sky or heavens were held up with pillars. Many Bedouin people living in Arabia imagined the sky as a large tent covering, similar to the tents they used. The author repeats this myth by describing the sky as being "raised" above the earth.

The sky is Impenetrable

The asteroid and meteorites penetrated the atmosphere to hit the earth throughout the course of history, there is no guardian whatsoever to prevent the incidents from happening.

North and South Poles

In polar regions, the longevity of day and night vary during summer and winter. Muhammad didn't know about this and he only repeated earlier geocentric ideas:

Thunder is an Angel

The Qur'an author was superstitious about thunder and regarded this natural phenomenon as an angel

Muslim sources which explain this verse clearly indicate that the author of the Qur'an believed that thunder wasn't an impersonal natural phenomenon, but an angel:

The sky can fall down, the earth can swallow down

The Qur'an author thought that the sky is like a ceiling that can fall on someone while the earth can swallow someone too.

The Sky is made of solid material

Biology

Sperm comes from between the spine/backbone and ribs

The Qur'an author was ignorant of the actual scientific facts except rehashing a prevalent scientific error of his contemporaries. Today we know sperm comes from the testicles, not from between the spine and ribs.

The embryo is initially formed out of semen

Verse 77:21 refers to the liquid that is placed in a firm lodging (qararin makeen) for a known extent. The verse is complimentary to verse 23:13, which refers to the semen (nutfah) that is placed in a firm lodging (qararin makeen). Verse 80:19 suggests that the embryo is created from the drop of seed (nutfah, which means a small quantity of liquid). This reflects the contemporary, but incorrect view that the embryo is initially formed out of semen stored in the womb. The same view appears in hadith. In fact, semen is the vehicle for the sperm cells, one of which fuses with a woman's ovum in her fallopian tube, and the resulting cell divides and travels back into the womb for implantation.

Only Allah knows what gender the baby is

Current technology, such as sonography, has enabled observation of baby's gender through ultrasonic imaging. There are also sex selection clinics that allow gender determination.

Ovum contributed by female is not mentioned

The Qur'an author did not mention the role of the ovum due to his sole observation of the sperm during intercourse. This verse fails to mention the important role of the female egg in the reproduction of humankind.

Asexual creatures are absent in the Quran

Not every creature procreates or reproduces through male and female sexual relationship. The whiptail lizard in the U.S. Southwest, Mexico, and South America, which consists only of females who reproduce by parthenogenesis. Allah does not know anything about the biological process by which new individual organisms are produced. Today we know you can find an organism which creates a genetically-similar or identical copy of itself without a contribution of genetic material from another individual. There's also hermaphrodites.

The blood-clot stage in human reproduction

There was never a stage of blood clot during the formation of humans inside the womb.

Womb (belly) has 3 layers

The word butun (بطن) means belly/abdomen/midriff, though some Muslim translators like to use the more specific word "womb". There are many more layers such as endometrium, myometrium, perimetrium, peritoneum, besides the cervix uteri, corpus uteri, abdomen (with walls), placenta (with layers). Perhaps this is the idea of 3 membranes around the fetus (chorion, allantois, and amnion) taught by the highly influencial Greek physician, Galen.

Bones are formed before flesh

The Qur'an elaborates that the bones are formed and wrapped up with flesh. The first muscles are formed before the bones, and the rest are formed simultaneously though.

Milk comes from between excrement and blood

The mammary glands where the milk is produced and stored are outside the body, while the excrement is in the intestines which is way inside the body. the two are nowhere near each other. Also, certain cattle milk needs processing, pasteurization, micro-filter, creaming and homogenization.

Do humans think with their heart or with their brain?

The author of the Qur'an assumed that humans think with their heart, while in reality we utilize the brain for that purpose.

Jinns created from fire

In the past, people used to believe everything was made from 4 elements; Earth, wind, fire and water. However, fire is not a substance, but rather a reactionary chemical process.

Geology and Meteorology

Earth has seven atmospheres

In reality, there are five principal layers in the atmosphere determining temperature. Within these layers, there are four layers determined by other properties.

Earth is still

21^st century astronomers tell us the Earth goes around the Sun. The Qur'an gives these views:

Tafsir Ibn Kathir

Different seas have an impenetrable barrier between them

Distinct salinity levels in one sea eventually become homogenized with the other sea. However, the Qur'an failed to include this subtlety.

The concept of a flat Earth

Earth is level

The Qur'an tells all mankind to face the direction of Mecca, but this would only be possible on a flat Earth. Since the Earth is spherical, it's not possible to bow down towards the direction of Mecca when you are in these places like Hawaii and LA which are on the opposite side of the earth.

Earth is flat

Tafsir al-Jalalayn

Note that N J Dawood's translation renders this verse as "The earth, how it was made flat?", and Tafsir al-Jalalayn agrees with him.

Earth is like a couch

The earth was shaped like a couch while the sky shaped as dome, this substantiate the flat earth concept in Qur'an:

Tafsir Ibn Kathir

Earth is like a carpet

Earth shaped as "wide"

Earth spread out

Tafsir al-Jalalayn

Earth is flatter without mountains

Earth without mountains.

Mountains prevent earthquakes

Plate tectonic boundaries usually situated at the mountainous areas are highly unstable. The landmass of the earth has changed throughout history. But the Qur'an propagates the idea that mountains are crucial in stabilizing the earth.

Allah dropped down/cast mountains

Mountains are usually formed and produced by the movement of lithospheric plates, either orogenic movement or epeirogenic movement. They are not thrown downward like pegs.

Breasts contract with height

This verse says that your chest cavity gets smaller with higher altitude when in reality the opposite is true.

Earthquakes are for non-Muslims only

Some of the highest death tolls from natural disasters this millennium were in Muslim countries. In fact, natural disasters do not differentiate between Muslim or Non-Muslim nations.

Hurricanes/blizzards are punishments for Non-Muslims

Two of the deadliest blizzards in history happened in Muslim countries. However, the Qur'an regards those natural disasters as violent punishment from God.

Pure rainwater

The Qur'an says rainwater is pure, even though it has an average PH of 5.6. In some industrial areas rainwater can also be toxic.

Rain from the sky grows plants

The Qur'an fails to mention evaporation or the photosynthesis process because the Arabs uttered what they observed on the desert in which the plant will grow immediately after raining.

Allah didn't know about Water Cycle

Every verse about rain in the Qur'an implies that rain comes either directly from the sky or from God. The evaporation of water into the air was conveniently not mentioned because the author of the Qur'an was unable to observe it.

If Allah sends rain in "due measure" then how do you explain floods? Or perhaps, living in waterless deserts, the author of the Quran has been unaware of the concept of torrential and destructive rainfall.

Hail comes from mountains on the sky

Hail forms in cumulonimbus clouds when supercooled water droplets freeze on contact with condensation nuclei. However, the Qur'an mistakenly ascribed the hail's formation to the imaginary mountains on the sky.

There's an extreme east and west

Dhul-Qarnayn went to the most extreme corner of the earth on one edge, and then moved to the other edge. This attested to the flat earth concept propagated by the Qur'an. Tafsir Qurtubi also accepts this interpretation and even claims only Zul Qarnayn has seen the "supporting pillar mountains".

Zoology

Sinful animals

According to Allah, all animals will join us in the hereafter to be judged for their sins. So basically, in the hereafter, chicken, mankind, insects, and lions will stand side by side waiting our trial from the All Mighty lord Allah. This despite the fact that animals are not as self-aware as humans and work on instinct.

Bees eat fruit

Bees feed on nectar and pollen. However, Muhammad and his companions thought that bees consume fruit.

Horses created for our transportation

It took thousands of years of domestication, evolution and cross-breeding. Horses were domesticated approximately 4,000 years ago in East Europe or Central Asia. Prior to this, horses were wild and need to be tamed, the Qur'an apparently neglect this important fact. Never mind the fact that we create our own transportation now with cars, planes etc.

Allah makes the bird fly

The aerodynamic shape of the bird's wing function as an essential factor so that the difference in the air pressure between the lower and upper part of its wing able to push the bird upward. The wings evolved over millions of years to acquire this feature. But the Qur'an described this ability in the simplest religious way.

Quranic science on classification of creatures

The Qur'an author observed creatures of the desert using their bellies (snake) or two legs (human) or four legs (lizard) to move. However, he failed to include creatures such as Millipedes that have a thousand legs.

There are only eight types of cattle

In actual fact, there are more than a dozen kinds of cattle. The word "of cattle" in 39:6 is al-ana'ami, meaning pasturing (i.e. grazing) animals. The word azwajin ("kinds" in the translation of 39:6 below) generally means mate or member of a pair. Quran 6:143-144 clarifies that these refer to male and female pairs of sheep, goats, oxes and camels. This neglects other types of cattle from the regions outside of Arabia such as reindeer, which are important to people in northern latitudes.

Allah is negligent about disabled creatures

Apparently Allah is unaware that he creates disabled animals and humans too.

Allah left out poisonous sea creatures in his dietary advice

A lot of sea creatures are deadly for example the puffer fish, poison dart frog, marbled cone snail, blue ringed octopus and stonefish. But Allah says we can eat all types of seafood.

Birds fighting elephants

Birds and elephants have never been recorded fighting each other in nature.

History

Christians worship Mary

Mary was never worshipped by Christians as part of the Trinity. On the other hand, the Qur'an reiterated Muhammad's misunderstanding on the concept of the Trinity:

Noah's Ark for every species

How was it possible to accommodate each species of male and female from all over the world inside an Ark?

Pharaoh or Pharaohs

Geographically, the Coptic land of Egypt was adjacent to Arabia. Thus, most Arabs were aware of the preservation method applied by the ancient Egyptian to their Pharaohs. There were so many Pharaohs ranging from numerous dynasties, many of them were preserved intact. But the Qur'an merely narrated one Pharaoh that was preserved.

Jews say Ezra is the son of Allah

Historically, there was not a single Jew who held such a view. The Jews were historically strict monotheists. But the Qur'an accused them of polytheism. Maybe the Sahaba couldn't think of anything wrong with Judaism so they made something up.

Destroyed cities are punishment from Allah

The Qur'an author thought that outside the vicinity of Arabia there were cities and tribes destroyed by God. He acquired this hearsay from Arabian folklore as well as Jews and Christians sources. Those cities and tribes probably were destroyed by natural disasters or wars. For Muhammad, it's always God's way to deal with human.

Humans sleep for three-hundred years

A human never sleeps for more than two days, unless he or she is in the state of comatose. However, the Qur'an incorporated this myth from Arabian and Christian folklore of the Seven Sleepers.

Humans living for a thousand years

There has never been recorded in actual history about human with such massive age. Moreover, science has never attested to this based on the fossil records. Nevertheless, the Qur'an is replete with this unsubstantiated myth.

Muhammad sees an imaginary mosque?

Muslims claim that Al-Aqsa mosque is mentioned in the Qur'an as the furthest mosque. Even though there was obviously no mosque in Jerusalem during Muhammad's time.

Sociology

Allah was not aware of the Eskimos

Muhammad was apparently unfamiliar with polar regions in which there are six months without sunlight and six months perpetual night during winter and summer. This injunction is arguably not observable by Eskimos. Could it be that God is ignorant about the night and day inequality phenomenon in the poles? The Qur'an claims that one should fast from sunrise till sunset.

Same circumstances with the five daily prayers. How are Eskimos going to pray sunset prayers all year round? Allah forgot to mention it or Muhammad and the Sahaba didn't know? The universality of the Islamic message is debatable here.

Muslims are protected in Mecca

False promise by Allah. Juhayman al-Otaybi and Abd-Allah ibn al-Zubayr, and Abu Tahir al-Janabi killed thousands of Muslim pilgrims in Mecca. Moreover, Yazid Bin Muawiya sent a battalion of army to attack Mecca and desecrated the Kaaba. The safety of Mecca is debatable here as there is no historical evidence pointing to that effect.

There was no "Abaabil" bird to strike and halt them when they perpetrated bloodshed in Mecca.

Non-Muslims are deaf, dumb, and blind

Muslims call non-believers "deaf dumb and blind" but all the science and technology in the Muslim world is almost exclusively purchased from the non-Muslim world. Computers, TV's, space shuttles, helicopters, media players, nuclear bombs, cameras, satellites, birth control pills, vaccination for smallpox, telephones, radios, light bulbs, microchips, CDs, games consoles, refrigerators, microwaves, stainless steel, plastic, aluminium, x-rays, polio-vaccine, anti-biotics, heart-transplants etc. were all invented by non-Muslims.

All animals live in communities

Some animals or living beings such as the jaguar or leopard or spiders are well known for being solitary loners. They are certainly not in communities.

Islam is only for people who speak Arabic

The total number of languages in the world is between 5,000 and 10,000. However, It is incumbent upon Muslims to pray in Arabic, recite the Qur'an in Arabic and understand hadith and tafsir in Arabic.

The heavens and earth rejected the "Trust"

Heaven and Earth were afraid of the "Trust", in contradistinction with human. But mountains are just geological physical features without emotions.

Supernatural Tales

Humans supernaturally transform into apes and pigs

Sabbath breakers are transformed into apes.

Mythical werewolves will roam the Earth

The modern satellite GPS system failed to trace the location of Ya'juj and Ma'juj. According to the Qur'an, these two beast tribes concealed themselves behind a metal wall.

Delicious buffet magically appears from the sky

No human ever experience food falling from the sky to feed their hunger.

A stick miraculously transforms into a serpent

Solomon with his army of genies and birds

Throughout history, kings and emperors had commanded huge and small amount of armies. None was ever recorded to possess armies that entirely consists of birds and genies. This is unique to the Qur'an.

He spoke with a Hoopoe bird and wanted to punish it for a small error.

The Hoopoe bird was in fact busy eavesdropping on a beautiful female ruler, Queen Sheba.

Jonah performs repentance prayer inside a fish

How can a human lived inside a fish and perform prayer of repentance in the stomach? Prophet Jonah according to the Qur'an did just that.

Humans and ants can communicate with each other

In fact, ants communicate with each other using pheromone, a chemical signal. However, King Solomon was able to do so.

Muhammad flies on a winged horse called Buraq to heaven

It took one week to travel from Mecca to the Farthest Mosque by camel. But the Buraq did that in a matter of minutes:

Body parts can rebel against the host

The limbs are controlled by the brain that conveys electrical signal through the nervous system. But the Qur'an believes that the limbs can talk and testify against the host:

The ocean split into half

Moses and the Israelis crossed the split ocean.

Solomon can control the wind

King Solomon had the authority to manipulate the wind at his command.

Ibn Kathir translation

A dead man testified against his killer

Scientifically, a man who has died for a few days can never be resurrected. But with scripture, the supernatural overrules the natural world.

A monster speaks to humans

Beastly creatures advising human about the truth.

Magical Hand in the Qur'an

The hand that possesses shining power.

Mountains and birds can sing human song

Prophet David the singer and metal welder.

Others

Mathematical error in hereditary laws

• wife: 1/8 = 3/24,
• daughters: 2/3 = 16/24,
• father: 1/6 = 4/24,
• mother: 1/6 = 4/24,
• total = 27/24=1.125

The total does not equal to 1. This error can never be reconciled in any way. For more detail, please see the Answering-Islam website.

People use the forehead to lie

Brain wave technology shows us electrical activity happens in the entire brain when deceitful. On the contrary, Muslims ascribed scientific knowledge even to this verse of torture below.

Space flight is impossible

Space travel was pioneered by Non-Muslims fifty years ago. With current technology, mankind has already explored the end of the solar system. This verse however, implies that space travel is impossible without the consent of Allah. With dozens of atheist astronauts, you have to ask why an omniscient Deity made such an erroneous prophecy.

See Also

• Contradictions and Errors - A hub page that leads to other articles related to Contradictions and Errors
• Responses to Scientific errors in the Quran (work in progress)