Scientific Errors in the Quran: Difference between revisions

The Quran states that all beings are created in pairs. However, modern science has revealed that not every creature procreates or reproduces through a male and female sexual relationship. The [[w:Desert grassland whiptail lizard|whiptail lizard]] in the U.S. Southwest, Mexico, and South America, for instance, is an all-females species which reproduces by [[w:parthenogenesis|parthenogenesis]]. [[w:virus|Viruses]] (if considered a life form) reproduce using a host's DNA and are neither female nor male. [[w:Bacteria|Bacteria]] reproduce by cell division. [[w:Fungus|Fungus]] can reproduce either sexually or asexually. Many species of plants also reproduce either asexually or through [[w:Pollination|pollination]].  

In several verses, the Qur'an ascribes understanding and thinking to the heart instead of the brain.

The Qur'an states that milk is produced, in the body, somewhere between excretions and blood. The mammary glands, where milk is produced and stored, are nowhere near the intestines which is where excrement is stored. Many kinds of cattle and goat milk needs processing or pasteurization before they can safely be consumed; the milk is often infected with bacteria and other micro-organisms. A significant number of  humans are [[Qur'an and Milk|lactose intolerant]] and unable to digest milk without experiencing abdominal bloating and cramps, flatulence, diarrhea, nausea, or vomiting. This makes the Qur'anic claim that milk is 'pure' and 'agreeable' to those who drink it dubious in the eyes of critics.

The Qur'an tells all Muslims to face in the direction of the Kaaba in Mecca when they pray. Critics point out a number of problems when applied to a round Earth, where they must align with a great circle around the globe passing through Mecca. You are simultaneously facing opposite its direction as the circle can be traced behind you. On the opposite side of the Earth every direction is equally facing towards and away from Mecca. The Americas are mostly in the hemisphere of this antipode. There, the rhumb line method is often preferred because the great circle method lines across the continent diverge before they start to converge when they enter the hemisphere of Mecca, causing people north and south to face away from each as they pray. Astronauts in Earth orbit or (one day) on the Moon and Mars would require even more contrived solutions.

The Qur'an commands Muslims to fast from eating and drinking from sunrise till sunset during Ramadan. In the polar regions there are six months of sunlight and six months of perpetual night during Summer and Winter. Such fasting is not observable by anyone living in the polar regions, and very easy (depth of Winter) or extremely hard (height of Summer) in places within around 40 degrees latitude of the poles. Various contrived rules have been proposed by Muslim scholars for those at such latitudes to try to accommodate the inconvenient fact that we live on a round Earth.

A similar issue exists for the five daily prayers. Anyone living in the polar region would not be able to make a sunset or sunrise prayer for much of the year. Even for cities further south like Aberdeen in Scotland, the gap between the night prayer (Isha) and the dawn prayer (Fajr) is around 4 and a half hours in June, so anyone following these rules has to interupt their sleep around 3.20am, then go back to sleep before getting up for the day. Critics argue that such issues would not have crossed the mind of a 7th century man in Arabia, who believed that everyone experiences sunrise and sunset when he does, and where it would be perfectly natural to arise at dawn any time of the year.

The author of the Qur'an mentions to his audience that the Earth is 'spread out' and laid flat. The Arabic word here ([http://www.studyquran.org/LaneLexicon/Volume4/00000081.pdf sataha]) was used to describe making the flat top or roof of a house or chamber and making a top surface flat. Words from the same root mean the flat top surface or roof of a house or chamber, a flat plane in geometry, a level place upon which dates can be spread, a rolling pin (which expands the dough), plane or flat.

The arabic word ([http://www.studyquran.org/LaneLexicon/Volume1/00000241.pdf bisaatan]) used here means a thing that is spread or spread out or forth, and particularly a carpet.

The Earth is described using an arabic word ([http://www.studyquran.org/LaneLexicon/Volume6/00000155.pdf firashan]) that means a thing that is spread on the ground to sit or lay upon.

The same root word for couch in 2:22 is used as a verb in 51.48 in the sense of to spread (the first word translated spread here).

The Earth is described like a bed (or carpet in Yusuf Ali's translation) in verse 20:53, and similarly {{Quran|43|10}}. The arabic word ([http://www.studyquran.org/LaneLexicon/Volume7/00000267.pdf mahdan]) suggests something completely flat and spread out on the ground and not rolled up for storage.  

Sometimes the same Arabic word is translated as expanse as in this verse. Together with the next verse, the Earth is a thing spread out and pegged down by mountains.

The same root word is used as a participle at the end of 51.48