Scientific Errors in the Quran: Difference between revisions

This verse claims there are seven Earths.  

A hadith reveals that these are seven Earths stacked above each other.

The number, like seven heavens, might have come from a misunderstanding of mythology from classical antiquity in which there were seven moving planets (Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, the sun and moon). If instead we take it to mean seven actual planets the Qur'an is still wrong. 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 thousands of other planets in other solar systems and Cosmologists estimate that hundreds of billions of stars and planets exist in the universe.

===Seven Heavens===

The universe consists of hundreds of billions of galaxies, each with hundreds of billions of stars. While the Qur'anic notion that the heaven of stars is covered by six further heavens might currently be unfalsifiable, the myth of [[w:Seven Heavens|seven heavens]] was a common idea prevalent in the Middle East during the time when the Qur'an was first recited.

Some Islamic websites claim that these are seven layers of the atmosphere. However, verse {{Quran|37|6}} says that stars are in the nearest heaven. There are only 5 not 7 principal layers to the [[W:Atmosphere of Earth|Earth's atmosphere]], and likewise only 5 not 7 major layers to the [[w:Structure_of_Earth|Earth itself]].

===The similar size and distance of the sun and moon===

===Moon was 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 Moon's light===

A popular claim is that the Qur'an has knowledge that the moon does not emit its own light, but simply reflects light coming from the Sun. The Arabic word for reflected (in`ikaas) does not appear in the two Qur'anic verses that say the Moon is a "light". It instead uses the word "noor" (nooran نُورًا) which simply means a light, and in another verse, muneer (muneeran مُّنِيرًا), which means giving light and is from the same root as noor. This is vague enough to be interpreted either way, so is not necessarily an error, but nor can any special knowledge be claimed.

Noor appears again (this time as a participle muneeran مُّنِيرًا) in a similar verse about the moon:

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

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

The word "Noor" is also used in this verse to show that Allah is the "light" of the universe. Clearly the author is not implying that Allah reflects light from another source but is the source of the light.

===Meteors are Stars Shot at Devils===