Scientific Errors in the Quran: Difference between revisions

The Qur'an takes what is perhaps best described as the creationist view of the origins and history of life on earth. This diverges sharply from the overwhelming scientific evidence that humans have evolved from prior life forms, over the course of millions of years and through natural selection.<ref>https://humanorigins.si.edu/evidence</ref> Consequently, while some Muslim scholars reinterpret the Quran in order that they may accept the theory of evolution, most reject it in favor of a creationist world view. Opinion polls show that the majority of Muslims agree Islam and evolution are not compatible.  

The Qur’an states that man was created instantaneously from clay (''salsalin'' صَلْصَٰلٍ) / ''mud'' (hamain حَمَإٍ). There is no indication that the author is aware of the evolution of human life over millions of years or our common ancestry with apes and primates.  

The Quran also states, in a similar vein, that the first man was created from dust (''turabin'' تُرَابٍ).

The Qur’an contains stories concerning the 'first humans' which detail, among other matters, how all people are descended from Adam and Eve (called ''Hawa'' in Arabic), the two earliest ancestors. These humans were created in a garden (the word for paradise in Arabic is ''jannah'', which literally means 'garden') and then brought to Earth fully formed (Sahih Hadiths say Adam was 60 cubits - or 90 feet - tall). This view of the origins of human life is directly challenged by overwhelming DNA evidence and the numerous fossils of pre-Homo sapiens species that lived on earth for millions of years prior to the evolution modern humans.<ref>http://humanorigins.si.edu/evidence</ref>

Another verse describes the literal descent of humanity from one man with reference to the sexual means by which it was achieved (i.e. 'his seed') after Allah had created him out of clay.

The word translated “seed” in the Pickthall translation is nasl نسل, which means progeny (i.e. descendants).<ref>[http://www.studyquran.org/LaneLexicon/Volume8/00000286.pdf Lane's Lexicon نسل]</ref>

Some modern Muslim scholars argue that the notion of two ancestral “parents” is consistent with recent scientific findings that show a common female and male ancestor of all modern humans. This results, however, from a confusion with the nicknames (Mitochondrial Eve and Y-chromosomal Adam) by which scientists have referred to human's earliest genetic ancestors. These two individuals, however, are distinct from the Quranic characters as they are simply the last common male and female ancestors of everyone alive today and not of all humans in history. More importantnly, whereas the Qur'an describes Eve as Adam's wife (who, notably, was created ''after'' him), Mitochondrial Eve lived some 50,000 to 80,000 years earlier than Y-chromosomal Adam.<ref>http://biologos.org/blog/does-genetics-point-to-a-single-primal-couple</ref> Genetic evidence also overwhelmingly indicates that humans diverged from earlier species as a population rather than as a single couple.<ref>http://whyevolutionistrue.wordpress.com/2011/09/18/how-big-was-the-human-population-bottleneck-not-anything-close-to-2/</ref>

The Qur'an contain descriptions regarding bodily fluids and the stages of development of the human embryo. Many of these descriptions are extremely vague and most bear a telling resemblance to [[Greek and Jewish Ideas about Reproduction in the Quran and Hadith|similar descriptions]] found in the [[w:Talmud|Jewish Talmud]] as well as the ideas of ancient Greeks, [[History of Embryology|such as Galen]]. These descriptions do not accord with the findings of modern science and are generally considered unremarkable in the seventh-century Arabian context wherein the Quran was first recited.

The Qur'an states, that semen originates from somewhere between the backbone and ribs. While this aligns with the views of the physicians of antiquity, modern science has shown that sperm comes from the [[w:testicle|testicles]] and semen from various glands behind and below the bladder, which is not between the backbone and ribs.

The Qur'an describes the initial formation of a human embryo out of fluid emanating from the man (and possibly also of the woman), which is then placed in the womb. This reflects the widespread contemporary view that semen is the material from which the embryo is initially formed, as taught by Hippocrates, Galen, and the Jewish Talmud. By contrast, modern science has shown that semen is the vehicle for the sperm cells, one of which fuses with a woman's [[w:ovum|ovum]] in her [[w:fallopian tube|fallopian tube]], and that the resulting cell divides (rather than the seminal medium) and travels back into the womb for implantation.  

While many English translations mention a "drop of seed", or "drop of sperm", the Arabic word used in the Quran is ''nutfah'', which literally means a small amount of liquid and was a euphemism for semen.

The Quran's, in all its discussion of human reproduction, does not mention the role of the ovum, implying instead that reproduction is caused simply by storage of the male semen in the female womb. Although visible to the human eye, the female ovum is very small and it's purpose wasn't understood in the 7th century - this appears to explain its omission in the Quran.