Scientific Errors in the Quran: Difference between revisions

{{QualityScore|Lead=4|Structure=4|Content=4|Language=4|References=4}}A common criticism of the [[Quran]], [[Scientific Errors in the Hadith|as with the Hadith]], is that it contains numerous [[Islam and Science|scientific]] and [[Historical Errors in the Qur'an|historical errors]], with no obvious attempts to differentiate its understanding of the natural world and historical events from the common folklore and misconceptions of the people living in 7^th century Arabia. Modern responses typically appeal to metaphor, alternative meanings, or phenomenological interpretations of such verses. They also argue that the wording needed to be acceptable to people of its time. Critics typically argue that an all-knowing, perfect communicator would nevertheless have been able to avoid statements in the Quran that reinforced misconceptions of the time, caused future generations to have doubts about its perfection, and on a scale that critics contend is an overwhelming weakness.

The Qur'an mentions a few times that the sun and the moon travel in an orbit or sphere/hemisphere (fee falakin فِى فَلَكٍ<ref>[http://www.studyquran.org/LaneLexicon/Volume6/00000227.pdf Lane's Lexicon p. 2443 فَلَكٍ] and [http://www.studyquran.org/LaneLexicon/Volume6/00000228.pdf p. 2444]</ref>), but does not mention once that the Earth does too. This is consistent with an Earth-centered (geocentric) 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 when Copernicus helped explain and popularize a sun-centered (heliocentric) view of the universe. Tellingly, the sun's orbit is almost always mentioned in the context of night and day ({{Quran|13|2}} being the only exception) and is always mentioned with that of the moon (which does in fact orbit the Earth each month, and likewise appears, to the unaided eye, to traverse the sky each night when it is visible).

{{Quran-range|36|37|40}}, occurring in a passage about night and day, right after describing the change from day to night, states that the sun runs on to a resting place for it (لِمُسْتَقَرٍّ لَّهَا). There are also [[sahih]] [[hadith]] ({{Muslim|1|297}}) that mention the sun's daily cycle using the same Arabic word to mean a resting place, which is underneath Allah's throne, and is where each night the sun prostrates and is asked to go and rise 'from its rising place' (مِنْ مَطْلِعِهَا). This cycle repeats, until one day Allah asks the sun to rise 'from your setting place' (مِنْ مَغْرِبِكِ).

An alternative view cited by classical exegetes such as Ibn Kathir (d. 1373 CE), attributed to Qatada ibn Di'amah (d. 735 CE),<ref>[https://quranx.com/tafsirs/36.38 Tafsir ibn Kathir for 36:38]</ref> and which is favoured by many Muslim scholars today, was that this refers to the sun's final 'resting' on the last day.

 

Other verses talk about the sun swimming for a 'term appointed' (using a different Arabic word). Another version of the above hadith possibly supports this view (for details of all these things, see the footnotes [https://wikiislam.net/wiki/Geocentrism_and_the_Quran in the main article]). Whichever interpretation was intended, the sun's movement is nevertheless mentioned right after describing day and night, just as the next verse mentions the different mansions appointed for the moon each night. The whole passage is about day and night and the sun and moon's movement in that context.

The word translated as "follow"<ref>[http://www.studyquran.org/LaneLexicon/Volume1/00000350.pdf Lane's Lexicon p. 313 تَلَىٰ]</ref> is primarily defined as to follow, go or walk behind, follow in way of imitation, of action etc. and was often used for animals like camels following behind each other. The Moon does not actually follow behind the sun's movement, nor does it provide its own light like the sun. The verse is most suggestive of a worldview in which the moon and sun traverse the same or similar paths after one another, which is what a 7th century person might believe from observing the sky. Critics would expect a less suspicious choice of wording in a perfect book if it merely meant the sun and moon appear one after the other. One day instead of following the sun, the moon will by joined with it according to another verse (see the [https://wikiislam.net/index.php?title=Scientific_Errors_in_the_Quran&stable=0#Implied_similar_size_and_distance_of_the_sun_and_moon Implied Similar Size and Distance of the Sun and Moon] section below).

In these verses, the author presents a version of a popular [[Dhul-Qarnayn and the Alexander Romance|Syriac legend]] from the 6th or early 7th century in which a man called Dhu'l-Qarnayn visits the places where the sun sets and rises.

Centuries after Muhammad lived, commentators with better astronomical knowledge introduced interpretations of these verses such that Dhu'l-Qarnayn only traveled until he reached "the west" and "the east", or to spots "at the time" when the sun set and rose and not the places where it actually did so. However, these alternative interpretations are severely undermined by the [[Dhul-Qarnayn_and_the_Sun_Setting_in_a_Muddy_Spring_-_Part_One#First_interpretation:_He_reached_the_west_and_east|context and Arabic words used in these verses]], which instead point to physical locations where the sun did its setting and rising. An abundance of evidence from poems, hadiths and Quranic commentaries show that the early Muslims understood the verse in this straightforward way.

{{Quran|41|12}} states that lamps (or more specifically, stars in the similar verse {{Quran|37|6}}) were placed in the nearest of the seven heavens. But before there were seven heavens and while heaven was just smoke, the Earth already existed according to the previous verse, {{Quran|41|11}}, and the Earth's creation and completion in the preceding days is described in the verses immediately preceeding that one {{Quran-range|41|9|10}}, discussed in the previous section above. The creation sequence is thus as follows:  

#Seven heavens and each given its mandate;

#The nearest heaven adorned with stars and guarded.

{{Quran|2|29}} further confirms that heaven was only fashioned seven heavens when, according to the Quran, everything on Earth had been created.

Some modern Muslim scholars attempt to reconcile the Qur'anic description with modern science by arguing that the word 'Then' in the verses above does not indicate sequence, but that it instead means 'moreover'. This argument collides with the fact that these words (thumma in {{Quran|41|11}} and {{Quran|2|29}}, and fa in {{Quran|41|12}} - all translated as 'then') are generally used to indicate sequence. In other contexts, thumma was sometimes used to mean 'moreover'. This alternative usage, however, would always be unambiguous and clear in context, unlike in the passages quoted above, which evidently describe a stepwise process - the creation of the heavens subsequent to that of the Earth.

In another passage, {{Quran-range|79|27|33}}, the heaven (singular) has already been raised and proportioned as a ceiling before the earth is spread, pastures produced and mountains fixed. Ibn Kathir notes in his tafsir that Ibn 'Abbas said the Earth was created first before each of these events and that scholars interpreted the Arabic word dahaha (دَحَىٰهَآ) in verse 79:30 to refer to a specific kind of spreading that occurred after everything on Earth had been created.<ref>[https://quranx.com/tafsirs/2.29 Tafsir ibn Kathir 2:29]</ref> However, the passage nevertheless appears to contradict the sequence of {{Quran-range|41|9|12}}, in which the heaven is still "smoke" after Earth's sustenance and mountains have been placed.

Modern Muslim scholars generally maintain that the following verse is compatible with and even predictive of the Big Bang theory. According to the Big Bang theory, the Universe was formed 13.8 billion years ago due to a rapid expansion from singularity. The earth was then formed, 4.54 billion years ago, from accretion of debris that surrounded the precursor of the Sun. There was at no stage a "separation" of the "joined" earth and heavens.  

 

The ancient concept can be traced back to [https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/epic/hd_epic.htm Mesopotamian creation myths] in which heaven was separated from earth. {{Quran|21|30}} and similar verses assume that listeners are familiar with the basic outlines of this myth which was extremely wide-spread at the time of [[Muhammad]] and his [[Sahabah|companions]].

The word translated "joined together" is ratqan (رَتْقًا)<ref>[http://www.studyquran.org/LaneLexicon/Volume3/00000193.pdf Lane's Lexicon p. 1027 رَتْقًا] </ref> meaning closed up or sewn up, also used metaphorically in terms of reconciling people, but does not imply a homogenous mass or state, let alone a singularity. The words "(one unit of creation)" are the translator's own exegetical note.

 

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}}), and that the heaven is a roof "raised high" ({{Quran|52|5}}).

The very next verse {{Quran|21|31}} speaks of mountains being placed on the Earth. Here, 'the Earth' must mean an actual world, yet modern interpretations of the previous verse hold that 'the Earth' refers merely to atomic particles around the time of the big bang.

{{Main|Cosmology of the Quran|Science and the Seven Earths}}    

The Quran states that there exist seven earths. Academic scholarship has noted that this concept of seven earths, along with seven heavens, was present in the near east in the first millennia BCE and CE (see [[Cosmology of the Quran]]).

Some modern Islamic scholars have argued that these verses refer to the seven layers of the atmosphere. However, {{Quran|37|6}} and {{Quran|67|5}} state that stars occupy the nearest heaven. Additionally, there are 5 rather than 7 principal layers to the [[W:Atmosphere of Earth|Earth's atmosphere]], and likewise only 5 rather than 7 major layers to the [[w:Structure_of_Earth|Earth itself]].

 

{{Main|Shooting Stars in the Quran|Mistranslations of Islamic Scripture (English)}}

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

=== The locations of the stars ===

 

 

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

In a passage about events on the day of resurrection, the Qur'an implies that the sun and moon are of comparable size and distance. As already noted, the Quran says that the moon "follows" the sun ({{Quran-range|91|1|2}}), and "It is not for the sun to overtake the moon, nor doth the night outstrip the day." ({{Quran|36|40}}). Verse {{Quran|75|9}} adds that on the last day the sun and moon will be brought together. While such a perspective is intuitive for one in seventh century Arabia viewing the sun and moon with their unaided eye and observing eclipses, modern science has revealed that 64.3 million moons could fit in the sun.

{{Quote|{{Quran-range|75|8|9}}|And the moon darkens And the sun and the moon are joined,}}

The Arabic word translated as "are joined" is ''jumi'a'', a verb which means to collect together, gather together, bring together.<ref>[http://www.studyquran.org/LaneLexicon/Volume2/00000091.pdf Lane's Lexicon p. 455 جُمِعَ]</ref> Critics note that this would involve our moon, which orbits the Earth 93 million miles away from the sun, being brought together with our local star which is over 400 times wider. To say that such mismatched objects will be brought together (jumi'a) in such a scenario would hardly be apt, critics argue, and a very odd apocalyptic event. Rather, the description sits comfortably in the ancient understanding of the cosmos, whereby the sun and moon were assumed to be two roughly equivalent celestial bodies in the sky above the Earth.

 

The Qur'an (according to a common interpretation) and a hadith tradition state that the moon was miraculously split into two pieces and then, presumably, put back together again. There is, however, no scientific evidence suggesting that the moon was ever been split into two parts. Critics have pointed out that since the moon is visible to half the planet at any given time, there should exist numerous accounts from different parts of the world attesting to the event if it in fact happened. The Romans, Greeks, Egyptians, Persians, Chinese and Indians had avid astronomers who, critics maintain, should have seen this event and recorded it in their histories. The complete absence of any such historical record from other civilizations contemporary to Muhammad is thus presented as a strong indication that the event described in scripture never happened.

{{Quote|{{Quran-range|54|1|3}}|The Hour has come near, and the moon has split [in two]. And if they see a miracle, they turn away and say, "Passing magic." And they denied and followed their inclinations. But for every matter is a [time of] settlement. }}

{{Quote|{{Bukhari|6|60|387}}|Narrated Ibn Masud:

  Allah is the Light of the heavens and the earth. The Parable of His Light is as if there were a Niche and within it a Lamp: the Lamp enclosed in Glass: the glass as it were a brilliant star: Lit from a blessed Tree, an Olive, neither of the east nor of the west, whose oil is well-nigh luminous, though fire scarce touched it: Light upon Light! Allah doth guide whom He will to His Light: Allah doth set forth Parables for men: and Allah doth know all things.}}Furthermore, an almost perfect opportunity to explain that the moons light is not it's own, but rather the sun's shining of it's surface, comes when Muhammad is asked about the phases of the moon. The 'phases/new moons' are caused by the sun only illuminating half of the moon at a time, and as the moon orbits the Earth, at some points the sunlit part of the moon can be seen from the Earth, and at other points, we can only see the parts of the Moon that are in shadow.<ref>See: ''[https://science.nasa.gov/moon/lunar-phases-and-eclipses/ NASA - Lunar Phases and Eclipses]'' for an explanation of the phenomena.</ref>

 

 

 

 

 

{{Quote|{{Quran-range|79|27|30}}|Are ye the harder to create, or is the heaven that He built? He raised the height thereof and ordered it; And He made dark the night '''thereof''', and He brought forth the morn '''thereof'''. And after that He spread the earth,}}

The possessive hā suffix in laylahā (its night) and ḍuḥāhā (its morning light) relates night and day to the heaven in its entirety. In reality, the night and day we experience is a feature of the earth's rotation on its axis. There is no sense in which the earth's night and day (which happen at the same time) apply across the wider cosmos.

 

In order to confirm the interpretation of these verses it is important to look at how the significant words are used elsewhere in the Quran. "The night" is a very common word in the Quran, and the morning light is used in the same context in {{Quran-range|93|1|2}} and {{Quran|91|1}} (see also {{Quran|79|46}}).

 

Indeed, {{Quran-range|91|1|6}} has many of the same Arabic words as {{Quran-range|79|27|30}}: "its morning light" (this time of the sun), "the night", and "the heaven" (singular) "built" by Allah. Putting the two passages together, it seems that the author of the Quran intuitively believed that the night and the sun's morning light were features pertaining to the entire visible heaven.

 

Other verses are helpful to confirm what is meant by the heaven (singular) in this context. {{Quran|2|29}} states that Allah turned (is'tawā) to the heaven and fashioned them (fasawwāhunna) seven heavens. These are two forms of the same Arabic verb as is translated "ordered" in {{Quran|79|28}} in the above quote.

{{Quote|{{Quran|2|29}}|He it is Who created for you all that is in the earth. Then turned He to the heaven, and fashioned it as seven heavens. And He is knower of all things.}}

The word "raised" in {{Quran|79|28}} is similarly used for the creation of the heaven (singular) and earth in {{Quran|88|18}} and the heavens (plural) raised without visible pillars in {{Quran|13|2}}.

The word "he built it" in v. 27 (banāhā) also occurs in {{Quran|50|6}}, which says regarding the heaven (singular) that Allah "built it" and "adorned it" (wazayyannāhā), a word which in other verses refers to the stars adorning the lowest heaven ({{Quran|37|6}}, {{Quran|41|12}} and {{Quran|67|5}}, as discussed in the [[Scientific_Errors_in_the_Quran#Earth created before stars|Earth created before stars]] section above).

This is particularly problematic for apologists that claim the closest sky/heaven is the visible universe (based off those verses that it is adorned with stars).

As the above states, night and day are a property of the sky/heavens rather than a specific phenomena only occurring almost entirely on the surface of the Earth; as one side of it moves (both via rotation on it's own axis and via the movement as it orbits the sun) to face away from the sun. The Qur'ans description extends to the night covering/veiling the day ({{Quran|7|54}}) which then follows the night. And god 'strips' the night of the day ({{Quran|36|37}}).  

{{Quote|{{Quran|6|96}}|[He is] the cleaver of daybreak and has made the night for rest and the sun and moon for calculation. That is the determination of the Exalted in Might, the Knowing.}}{{Quote|{{Quran|10|5}}|It is He who made the sun a radiance and the moon a light, and ordained its phases that you might know the number of years and the calculation [of time]. Allah did not create all that except with justice. He elaborates the signs for a people who have knowledge.}}

On top of this the day and night are swimming in orbit themselves, along with the sun and the moon in Q21:33 and Q36:40, where they are mentioned as distinct entities.

{{Quote|{{Quran|21|33}}|It is He who created the night and the day, the sun and the moon, each swimming in an orbit.}}{{Quote|{{Quran|36|40}}|Neither can the sun overtake the moon, nor the night outpace the day: Each of them keeps coursing in its orbit.}}

And finally that the daylight actually 'reveals' the sun, and the night 'enshrouds' it, which makes no sense as daylight is solely from the sun, and night is simply a result of it's absence on one side of the Earths surface.

{{Quote|{{Quran|91|1-4}}|By the sun and its brightness,

And [by] the moon when it follows it, by the day when it reveals it,

And [by] the night when it covers it

Which the day reveals the sun, and the night enshrouds it}}

This clear separation of the sun (and moon) as a light for timekeeping that is separate from the 'veils/covers' of day and night 'swimming in orbit' has lead to some classical commentators to believe that the day is not caused by the sun at all, but is rather a totally separate event in the sky.<ref>For example, the famous tafsir '''al-Tafsir al-Kabi''r ' of Fakhr al-Din al-Razi (d. 1209) (often referred to as Al-Razi), he explains on his [https://www.altafsir.com/Tafasir.asp?tMadhNo=0&tTafsirNo=4&tSoraNo=7&tAyahNo=54&tDisplay=yes&Page=22&Size=1&LanguageId=1 ''commentary on Verse 7:54''], that the sun has two types of movements; one in a day, and one in a year. ''He says that night and day, however, are not due to the movement of the sun, but rather to the movement of the great orb/sky which is also Allah's throne''. Angels are said to separately move the heavenly bodies.</ref>

A common myth at the time of the Quran's composition was that the sky or heavens were held up with pillars, which is also a Biblical motif. While classical Muslim scholars often believed in a dome shaped heaven, some academic scholars have argued that the Quranic heavens are flat, stacked expanses (see main article). These heavens are like roofs (saqf {{Quran|21|32}}, {{Quran|52|5}}), a building/edifice/tent (binaan {{Quran|2|22}}, {{Quran|40|64}}), a ceiling (samk {{Quran|79|28}}), in layers ({{Quran|71|15}} and {{Quran|67|3}}), while {{Quran|13|2}} adds that the heavens were raised without visible pillars (perhaps phrased with deliberate ambiguity).  

 

Reinforcing the 2 dimensional imagery, {{Quran|81|11}} adds that the sky is like a covering that can be 'stripped away', while {{Quran|21|104}} states that it will eventually be rolled or folded up like a parchment and {{Quran|39|67}} says that the heavens will then be held in Allah's hand. This will occur after it has been slit (furijat {{Quran|77|9}}; the same Arabic noun is used in {{Quran|50|6}} where the listeners are expected to notice that the heaven has no slits, reinforcing the canopy metaphor), rent asunder with clouds ({{Quran|25|25}}), split (inshaqqat {{Quran|55|37}}, {{Quran|84|1}}, {{Quran|69|16}} with angels appearing at its edges {{Quran|69|17}}).

The heaven will become as gateways ({{Quran|78|19}}, a possibility also alluded to in {{Quran-range|15|13|15}}).

 

 

===The sky/heaven as a guarded ceiling===

{{Quran|21|32}} says Allah made the sky/heaven a guarded ceiling (but is not itself a guard or protection, which is a common misreading). This is most likely related to the verses about devils chased by shooting stars (meteors) that guard the lowest heaven. One of those verses, {{Quran-range|37|6|10}} discussed above, contains a noun meaning "guard" from the same Arabic root (hafiza) as the verb in this verse.<ref>[http://www.studyquran.org/LaneLexicon/Volume2/00000237.pdf Lane's Lexicon p. 601 حفظ]</ref>

 

 

===The sky/heaven as something that can fall===

====First humans created from clay====

The Qur’an states that the first 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. While some scientists argue over the detailed mechanisms driving evolution, they agree that common descent is an overwhelmingly proven fact.

{{Main|Qur'an, Hadith and Scholars:Creation|Evolution and Islam}}

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> Powerful DNA evidence that humans have common ancestry with other primate families includes endogenous retroviruses in the exact same genetic locations of our respective genomes<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oXfDF5Ew3Gc DNA Evidence That Humans & Chimps Share A Common Ancestor: Endogenous Retroviruses] - Youtube.com</ref> and the fusion of two primate chromosomes to become chromosome 2 in humans<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dK3O6KYPmEw Professor Ken Miller on DNA fusion events] - Youtube.com</ref> (for more detail see the main article).

It is He who created you from one soul and created from it its mate that he might dwell in security with her. And when he covers her, she carries a light burden and continues therein. And when it becomes heavy, they both invoke Allah, their Lord, "If You should give us a good [child], we will surely be among the grateful."}}

 

Another verse describes the literal descent of humanity from one man with reference to the sexual means by which it was achieved ("despised fluid" i.e. semen) after Allah had created that first man out of clay.

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 importantly, 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 Adam, Eve, and Human Population Genetics: Responses to Popular Arguments] - Biologos website</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/ How big was the human population bottleneck? Another staple of theology refuted.] - Why Evolution is True website by Professor Jerry Coyne</ref>

====Semen originating between the backbone and ribs====

The Qur'an states that semen originates from somewhere between the backbone and ribs. Other verses and hadiths too suggest a reproductive function for the backbone. 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.

====Embryo formed from semen====

The Qur'an describes the initial formation of a human embryo out of fluid emanating from the man, which has been placed in the womb (and possibly mixed with a female fluid). This reflects the widespread contemporary view at that time that semen is the material from which the embryo is initially formed, as taught by Hippocrates, Galen, and the Jewish Talmud. It is also evident in hadiths. 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.  

Did We not create you from a '''liquid disdained'''? And '''We placed it in a firm lodging''' For a known extent.}}

{{Quote|{{Quran|23|13}}|'''Then placed him''' as a drop (of seed) [nutfah] '''in a safe lodging;'''}}

{{Quote|{{Quran|76|2}}|Indeed, We created man from a sperm-drop mixture [nutfatin amshajin] that We may try him; and We made him hearing and seeing.}}

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

{{Quote|{{Quran-range|86|6|7}}|He was created from a fluid, ejected, Emerging from between the backbone and the ribs.}}

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 asexually or sexually with thousands of genders.

 

Many species of plants also reproduce either asexually or through [[w:Pollination|pollination]].

 

Those who are [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intersex intersex] (including those people with both male and female sexual organs and body types) and [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hermaphrodite hermaphrodites] of all species also do not appear to fit in to this dichotomy. This has led to discriminatory rulings from Islamic scholars, not allowing those with ambiguous sexes to get married for example, due to the unknowingness of breaking a gender-based rule.<ref>See for example rulings from sheiks and scholars listed on IslamQA in response to the question: ''[https://islamqa.info/en/answers/114670/ruling-on-marrying-a-man-who-is-intersex-or-impotent-and-the-difference-between-them Ruling on marrying a man who is intersex or impotent, and the difference between them]''  </ref> 

Glory to Allah, Who created in pairs '''all things''' that the earth produces, as well as their own (human) kind and (other) things of which they have no knowledge. }}{{Quote|{{Quran|92|3}}|by Him who created the male and the female:}}{{Quote|{{Quran|75|39}}|Then He made of him two kinds, the male and the female.}}

===Functions of the heart (cardiocentrism)===

The Quran describes the literal heart as a locus of contemplation and thought, an ancient concept known as [[w:Cardiocentric hypothesis|cardiocentrism]], as opposed to the modern scientific understanding of our brain controlling thought, memory and emotion (alongside other physical processes).<ref>''[https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/conditions-and-diseases/anatomy-of-the-brain Brain Anatomy and How the Brain Works.]'' Brain, Nerves and Spine. Home. Health. Conditions and Diseases. Johns Hopkins Medicine.</ref>

The concept of the heart as the seat of the intellect, spiritual contemplation, and the eye of the heart/mind/soul was a common one in East-Syriac Christianity in the centuries before Islam, seen in the writings for example of Pseudo-Macarius, Issac of Nineveh, and Ephrem,<ref>Julien Decharneux (2023), ''[https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/9783110794083/html?lang=en Creation and Contemplation: The Cosmology of the Qur’ān and Its Late Antique Background]'', Berlin: De Gruyter, pp. 95 -102</ref> in contrast to certain scholars more closely influenced by Greek philosophy which associated the mind with the brain (encephalocentrism).<ref>Enrico Crivellato, Domenico Ribatti, ''[https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S036192300600298X Soul, mind, brain: Greek philosophy and the birth of neuroscience]'', Brain Research Bulletin, Volume 71, Issue 4, 2007, Pages 327-336, ISSN 0361-9230, <nowiki>https://doi.org/10.1016/j.brainresbull.2006.09.020.(https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S036192300600298X)</nowiki></ref>

{{Quote|{{Quran|22|46}}|So have they not traveled through the earth and '''have hearts by which to reason''' and ears by which to hear? For indeed, it is not eyes that are blinded, but blinded are '''the hearts which are within the breasts'''.}}

 

 

===Characteristics of Milk===

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, however, not located near the intestines, which is where excrement is stored. Sometimes cattle and goat milk needs processing or pasteurization before it can safely be consumed; the milk is often infected with bacteria and other micro-organisms. A significant number of humans [[w:Lactose_intolerance|lactose intolerant]], especially in some regions of the world, and are unable to digest much milk without experiencing abdominal bloating and cramps, flatulence, diarrhoea, nausea, or vomiting. This occurs in adults who lack genes for lactase enzyme persistance which maintains lactose tolerance beyond childhood and is a relatively recent evolutionary development. These realities appear to challenge the Qur'anic notion that milk is 'pure' and 'agreeable' to anyone who drinks it.

{{Main|Islamic Views on the Shape of the Earth}}The Qur'an describes a flat-Earth cosmography. The later idea that Islamic scriptures themselves indicated a spherical Earth was a creative act of reinterpretation as this view became more prominent due to advances in astronomy. Attempts to explain Quranic verses about the Earth only in terms of local flatness at a human level, non-literal readings, and/or by adding context to them never explicitly stated, are often challenged by critics, as discussed in the [[Islamic Views on the Shape of the Earth|main article]], which also contains further evidence and verses beyond those listed here.

A similar issue emerges for the five daily prayers. Persons living in the polar region would not be able to make a sunset or sunrise prayer for much of the year. Even in less extreme contexts, for cities further south like Aberdeen in Scotland, the gap between the night prayer (Isha) and the dawn prayer (Fajr) is still around 4 and a half hours in June, so a person praying five times a day is required to interrupt their sleep around 3.20am, then go back to sleep before getting up for the day. These challenges would likely not have been on the mind of the author of the Quran during the 7th century in Arabia.

Despite Muslim encounters with Greek astronomy in the 8th century CE (see [[Islamic Views on the Shape of the Earth]]), a flat earth interpretation persisted for many more centuries in some circles.

 

{{Quote|1=[https://www.altafsir.com/Tafasir.asp?tMadhNo=0&tTafsirNo=74&tSoraNo=88&tAyahNo=20&tDisplay=yes&UserProfile=0&LanguageId=2 Tafsir al-Jalalayn 88:20] (See [https://tafsir.app/jalalayn/88/20 here] for the Arabic)|2=And the earth how it was laid out flat? and thus infer from this the power of God exalted be He and His Oneness? The commencing with the mention of camels is because they are closer in contact with it the earth than any other animal. '''As for His words sutihat ‘laid out flat’ this on a literal reading suggests that the earth is flat which is the opinion of''' most [the word "most" is not included in the original Arabic: "وعليه علماء الشرع"; see citation for full text] '''of the scholars of the revealed Law and not a sphere as astronomers ahl al-hay’a have it''' even if this latter does not contradict any of the pillars of the Law.}}

===Permanent barrier between "the two seas" of fresh and salt water===

When a fresh water river flows into the sea or ocean, there is a transition region in between. This transition region is called an estuary where the fresh water remains temporarily separated from the salt water. However, this separation is not absolute, is not permanent, and the different salinity levels between the two bodies of water eventually homogenize. The Qur'an, by contrast, suggests that there is a separation between two seas, one salty and one fresh water, maintained by some sort of divine barrier placed between them.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

===Mountains as pegs which prevent the earth from shifting===

Modern geology has discovered that large plates in the crust of the Earth are responsible for the formation of mountains. Called plate tectonics, the slow movement of these massive plates meet and the pressure between them pushes up the crust, forming mountains while also causing earthquakes and faults in the Earth's surface. The formation of mountains and occurance of earthquakes are thus both largely the result of destabilizing tectonic activity. They are part of the same ongoing process and one cannot exist without the other. The Qur'an, by contrast, holds that mountains are like pegs in the ground, and claims that they stabilize the Earth which would shift without them (interpreted by modern Islamic scholars as a reference to earthquakes). Moreover, there are various ways in which mountains can form, not all of which involve a thickening of the continental crust beneath them that some attempt to compare as peg-like (see main article for details).

 

In early or pre-Islamic poetry mountains are mentioned in terms of the Earth as a whole shifting/convulsing. This seems to support a more straightforward reading of the Quranic verses, backed also by a hadith - that Allah's creation of mountains to prevent the earth shifting/convulsing (tamīda<ref>تَمِيدَ tamīda [http://www.studyquran.org/LaneLexicon/Volume7/00000274.pdf Lane's Lexicon] page 2746</ref>) does not refer to earthquakes, which have occured throughout history including in Muhammad's era and whose seismic waves can actually be amplified in certain locations by mountains, but rather to a movement of the entire Earth (see main article for details on all of these points).

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,}}

Mountains are usually formed through the movement and collision (or in the case of fault-block mountains, separation) of lithospheric (tectonic) plates, as well as by a number of other processes (see main article). This is an ongoing process which continues to this day as the plates slowly move. The Quran, by contrast, states that the mountains on Earth's surface were cast upon it by God. Other verses state that creation of mountains occurred during the first four days, as discussed in the section above on creation of earth and heaven in six days. The imagery is clear when one considers the above verses which describe the Mountains as 'pegs' which stabilize the Earth (which is itself compared to a carpet and bed matt in other verses).

The word 'he has cast' is ''alqa'' (lam-qaf-ya), which in this form (Arabic verb form IV) is frequently used elsewhere in the Quran to mean throw or cast.<ref>[http://www.studyquran.org/LaneLexicon/Volume8/00000266.pdf Lane's Lexicon, Suppliment p. 3012 أَلْقَىٰ]<BR />See paragraph number 4 for the form IV verb definition.</ref> It is the same word as is used in {{Quran|3|44}} when lots are cast using pens (it would be easy to imagine that mountains were similarly scattered, though perhaps it should not be taken too literally in this context), and {{Quran|12|10}} when the prophet Yusuf is cast down into the well, and in {{Quran|20|20}} when Moses casts down his staff, which becomes a snake. The implication of such verses is that mountains were a special act of creation rather them being a byproduct of a larger and ongoing process (tectonic plate movement).

===Massive wall of iron built to trap Gog and Magog until judgement day===

{{Main|Dhul-Qarnayn and the Alexander Romance}}

The Qur'an states that two dangerous tribes, Gog and Magog, were trapped behind a massive wall of Iron erected by Dhu'l-Qarnayn and will only be let free on the day of Judgement. However, no such wall or tribes have ever been found despite the advent of global satellite imagery.

{{Quote|{{Quran|18|96-101}}|Bring me pieces of iron!’ When he had levelled up between the flanks, he said, ‘Blow!’ When he had turned it into fire, he said, ‘Bring me molten copper to pour over it.’

So they could neither scale it, nor could they make a hole in it. He said, ‘This is a mercy from my Lord. But when the promise of my Lord is fulfilled, He will level it; and my Lord’s promise is true.’

Those whose eyes were blind to My remembrance and who could not hear.}}

 

The trumpet blowing in {{Quran|18|99}} is referred to many other times in the Qur'an as happening on judgement day (see {{Quran|27|87}}, {{Quran|69|13}} and {{Quran|39|68}}), with the word 'yawm' يوم being used in Q18:99 and 18:100, meaning on that ''day''<ref>[http://arabiclexicon.hawramani.com/search/%D9%8A%D9%88%D9%85?cat=50 Lane's Lexicon dictionary - يوم]</ref> specifically. Another passage confirms that this wall was supposedly still intact and that its future opening will be associated with other apocalyptic events.

{{Quote|{{Quran|21|95-97}}|But there is a ban on any population which We have destroyed: that they shall not return,

Until the Gog and Magog (people) are let through (their barrier), and they swiftly swarm from every hill.  

Then will the true promise draw nigh (of fulfilment): then behold! the eyes of the Unbelievers will fixedly stare in horror: "Ah! Woe to us! we were indeed heedless of this; nay, we truly did wrong!"}}

Mainstream Christian doctrine has never held Mary to be a part of the Trinity. The Qur'an, however, apparently implies as much, leading many to conclude that Muhammad misunderstood Christian doctrine.

Historians commonly credited the invention of coat mail (not to be confused with scale armor) to the Celts in the 3rd century BCE.<ref name="books.google.com">Richard A. Gabriel, [http://books.google.com/books?id=HscIwvtkq2UC&pg=PA79 ''The ancient world''], Greenwood Publishing Group, 2007 P.79</ref>. Mail has also been found in a 5th century BCE Scythian grave, and there is a cumbersome Etruscan pattern mail artifact from the 4th century BCE.<ref>Robinson, H. R., [https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=BaDMDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA10 ''Oriental Armour''], New York:Dover Publications, 1995, pp.10-12</ref> The nature of coat mail is such that it should persist for several millennia, and such advantageous military technologies would spread rapidly, so it is unlikely that coat mail would have originated much earlier, undiscovered by archaeologists. While, older translations of the Bible mention Goliath and David wearing a "coat of mail" in 1 Samuel 17:5 and 17:38 respectively, this is a well known mistranslation for a word meaning armor in general.

In the Qur'an, by contrast, David in the 10th century BCE is taught by Allah how to make long coats of mail (''sabighatin'' سَٰبِغَٰتٍ<ref>[http://www.studyquran.org/LaneLexicon/Volume4/00000022.pdf Lane's Lexicon p. 1298 سبغ]</ref>) after Allah made the iron (''al hadid'' ٱلْحَدِيدَ) malleable for him and told him to measure the chainmail links (''as-sardi'' ٱلسَّرْدِ) thereof.<ref>[http://www.studyquran.org/LaneLexicon/Volume4/00000022.pdf Lane's Lexicon p. 1298 سَٰبِغَٰتٍ], [http://www.studyquran.org/LaneLexicon/Volume4/00000071.pdf Lane's Lexicon p. 1347 ٱلسَّرْدِ]</ref> A second passage adds that people should be thankful for this knowledge which has been passed down since David and protects them today.   

{{Quote|{{Quran|20|71}}|

Ancient Egypt has been subjected to extensive study by archaeologists. While there exists hieroglyphic evidence of people impaled through upright stakes in ancient Egypt, this remains distinct from the palm-tree crucifixions described in the Quran, as palm trees are of too great girth to be used to vertically impale an individual.

The same verb for crucifixion is used in {{Quran|4|157}} regarding Jesus. Two other verses, {{Quran|38|12}} and {{Quran|89|8}}, use another word to call Pharaoh "owner of the pegs" or "stakes". Sometimes this is claimed to refer to impalement and even mistranslated as such. However, the context in {{Quran-range|89|6|11}} shows that it refers to unspecified and lasting rock-hewn monuments (most likely columned temples, obelisks or possibly even the pyramids).

Moreover, there is no ancient Egyptian evidence of cross amputation (punitive removal of a single hand and foot on alternate sides). It seems that here again a contemporary punitive practice has been transferred in the Quran to ancient Egypt. A parallel using the same Arabic words occurs in {{Quran|5|33}}, which commands crucifixion or cross amputation among a range of punishment options (both of which became part of Islamic jurisprudence). In the exceptionally cruel combination of both punishments put in the mouth of Pharaoh (see also {{Quran|7|124}} and {{Quran|26|49}}), the victim would need to be fastened to the palm tree and / or nailed through the remaining two extremities.

{{Quote|{{Quran|10|90}}|We took the Children of Israel across the sea: Pharaoh and his hosts followed them in insolence and spite. At length, when overwhelmed with the flood, he said: "I believe that there is no god except Him Whom the Children of Israel believe in: I am of those who submit (to Allah in Islam)."}}

 

 

The Qur'an frequently lists destroyed peoples of the past, particularly the peoples of Noah, Lot, Pharaoh's army, Midian, Aad and its successor, Thamud. The destruction of Thamud after they disbelieved their prophet Salih is mentioned many times, either by an earthquake {{Quran|7|78}} or a thunderous blast (for example {{Quran|54|31}}).

{{Quote|{{Quran-range|40|28|31}}|And a believing man from the family of Pharaoh who concealed his faith said [...] And he who believed said, "O my people, indeed I fear for you [a fate] like the day of the companies - Like the custom of the people of Noah and of 'Aad and Thamud and those after them. And Allah wants no injustice for [His] servants.}}

The companies / factions (l-aḥzābu) is a term used collectively for the list of destroyed cities also in {{Quran-range|38|12|14}}.

[[w:Thamud|Thamud]] is a term used by experts for a people or peoples of a particular region over a number of centuries (8th century BCE to the 4th century CE), but the Qur'an speaks only of a particular destruction of Thamud after the warnings of their prophet Salih went unheeded. It describes them as the builders of well known palaces and homes, skillfully carved from the mountains, clarified in the Quran and hadith as a place in Arabia known as al Hijr (the rocky tract), or Mada'in Salih today.

 

 

 

 

These ruins were well known to Muhammad's listeners:

{{Quote|{{Quran|29|38}}|And [We destroyed] 'Aad and Thamud, and it has become clear to you from their [ruined] dwellings [ masākinihim مَّسَٰكِنِهِمْ <ref>[http://www.studyquran.org/LaneLexicon/Volume4/00000118.pdf Lane's Lexicon p. 1394 مسكن]</ref>]. And Satan had made pleasing to them their deeds and averted them from the path, and they were endowed with perception.}}

{{Quote|{{Quran|89|9}}|And [with] Thamud, who carved out the rocks in the valley?}}

Al-Hijr is widely accepted as this location. It is also mentioned once by name in {{Quran-range|15|80|83}} ("the companions of al-Hijr") and its description and destruction matches that for Thamud.  

{{Quote|{{Quran-range|15|80|83}}|And certainly did the companions of Thamud [ al-Hijr ٱلْحِجْرِ ] deny the messengers. And We gave them Our signs, but from them they were turning away. And they used to carve from the mountains, houses [ buyūtan بُيُوتًا ], feeling secure. But the shriek seized them at early morning.}}

The people landed at the land of Thamud called Al-Hijr along with Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) and they took water from its well for drinking and kneading the dough with it as well. (When Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) heard about it) he ordered them to pour out the water they had taken from its wells and feed the camels with the dough, and ordered them to take water from the well whence the she-camel (of Prophet Salih) used to drink.}}

The Qu'ran states that Moses dealt with a Samarian during his time. However the Samarians did not exist until well over half a millennium after Moses is supposed to have existed.

Oxford Bibliographies (an academic website) says the following:

{{Quote|[https://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/view/document/obo-9780195393361/obo-9780195393361-0176.xml Oxford Bibliographies - Samaria/Samaritans]|Samaria (Hebrew: Shomron) is mentioned in the Bible in 1 Kings 16:24 as the name of the mountain on which Omri, ruler of the northern Israelite kingdom in the 9th century BCE, built his capital, naming it also Samaria. After the conquest of the Northern Kingdom by the Assyrians in 722/721 BCE, the district surrounding the city was likewise called Samaria (Assyrian: Samerina). The Bible presents an etiology or folk etymology when it claims that the city was named after Shemer, the original owner from whom Omri bought the hill. It is more likely that the name is derived from the root šmr, to “watch, to guard”; that is, the hill was a point from which particularly the north–south route could be watched and guarded.}}

The likely root of the Quranic confusion is the story in the Bible, [https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Hosea%208&version=NIV Hosea 8:5-8] or [https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20Kings%2012&version=NIV 1 Kings 12:25-29] where there is mentioned a golden calf (or two of them) created in Samaria after the time of Solomon. One modern perspective holds that the Qur'an might be referring to Zimri, son of Salu (Numbers 25:14). However, the Quranic character is referred to three times in {{Quran-range|20|85|88}} as l-sāmiriyu with the definite article, "the Samiri", so this is a descriptive title rather than a proper name.

{{Quote|{{Quran|20|85}}|“( Allah) said; ‘We have tested thy people in thy absence: the Samiri has led them astray’.” }}{{Quote|{{Quran|20|95}}|“( Moses) said, ‘What then is thy case, O Samiri?’”}}

''Main article: [[Historical Errors in the Quran#Noah's worldwide flood|Historical Errors in the Quran - Noah's worldwide flood]]''

The Quran contains a version of the worldwide-flood story widespread in ancient near-Eastern mythology and most famously found in the Bible. Since geological evidence suggests such a flood never took place, some modern Muslim scholars have reinterpreted the account in the Quran as referring to a more limited, local flood. Several elements in the tale, however, militate against this rereading. Elsewhere in the Quran whenever the heavens and earth are mentioned together, it means in their entirety. In this story waters are released from both of them. Another such detail is the storage of "two of each kind" of animal aboard the ship, since it is not clear what purpose this would serve if the flood were local. Similarly, the purpose of the boat itself appears unclear in this reading - as with the ample warning time that Noah was given, he and his family could have simply evacuated the area that was to be flooded. The relevant passage also states plainly that nothing, not even a tall mountain, could save an individual from drowning on that day except for Allah - this seems to contradict the idea that individuals and animals could have escaped the flood simply by evacuating the flooded area. Noah is recorded praying to God, "O my Lord! Leave not of the Unbelievers [kuffar], a single one on Earth!" - the flood is an answer to this prayer, which likewise suggests that the flood described is a global flood that drowns all those not chosen by Allah to persist aboard the ark.

{{Quote|{{Quran-range|54|11|12}}|Then opened We the gates of heaven with pouring water And caused the earth to gush forth springs, so that the waters met for a predestined purpose.}}{{Quote|{{Quran|11|40}}|At length, behold! there came Our command, and the fountains of the earth gushed forth! '''We said: "Embark therein, of each kind two, male and female''', and your family - except those against whom the word has already gone forth,- and the Believers." but only a few believed with him.}}{{Quote|{{Quran|11|43}}|The son replied: "I will betake myself to some mountain: it will save me from the water." Noah said: '''"This day nothing can save''', from the command of Allah, any but those on whom He hath mercy! "And the waves came between them, and the son was among those overwhelmed in the Flood.}}{{Quote|{{Quran|71|26}}|And Noah, said: "O my Lord! Leave not of the Unbelievers, a single one on earth!}}

===Flood waters boiled from an oven===

Aside from waters pouring from gates in the heaven, the Qur'an further describes the flood waters as boiling from an oven. There is no scientific nor historical evidence for a large flood of this nature. This element is not found even in more ancient versions of the story (Epic of Gilgamesh, Atra hasis, and Ziusudra). Its ultimate origin appears to be a highly tenuous rabbinical exergisis in the Babylonian Talmud, based on a word in an unrelated verse that means heat or wrath.<ref>[https://biblehub.com/lexicon/esther/7-10.htm biblehub.com]</ref>

{{Quote|1=[https://www.sefaria.org/Rosh_Hashanah.12a.4?lang=bi Tracate Rosh Hashanah]|2=The Gemara answers: Even according to Rabbi Eliezer a change was made, in accordance with the statement of Rav Ḥisda, as Rav Ḥisda said: They sinned with boiling heat, and they were punished with boiling heat; they sinned with the boiling heat of the sin of forbidden sexual relations, and they were punished with the boiling heat of scalding waters. This is derived from a verbal analogy. It is written here, with regard to the flood: “And the waters abated” (Genesis 8:1), and it is written elsewhere, with regard to King Ahasuerus: “And the heated anger of the king abated” (Esther 7:10), which implies that the word “abated” means cooled. This indicates that at first the waters of the flood had been scalding hot.}}

Note that in his translation, Yusuf Ali mistranslates the Aramaic loan word for the oven (alttannooru ٱلتَّنُّورُ)<ref>[http://www.studyquran.org/LaneLexicon/Volume1/00000355.pdf Lane's Lexicon p. 318 تَّنُّورُ]</ref> as "fountains". The Arabic verb translated "gushed forth" (fara فَارَ) means "boiled" in the context of water in a cooking pot<ref>[http://www.studyquran.org/LaneLexicon/Volume6/00000241.pdf Lane's Lexicon p. 2457 فور]</ref>, as well as in the other verse where it is used, {{Quran|67|7}}.

Then We inspired in him, saying: Make the ship under Our eyes and Our inspiration. Then, when Our command cometh '''and the oven gusheth water''', introduce therein of every (kind) two spouses, and thy household save him thereof against whom the Word hath already gone forth. And plead not with Me on behalf of those who have done wrong. Lo! they will be drowned.}}

 

 

 

 

{{Quote|{{Quran|11|40}}|

(Thus it was) till, when Our commandment came to pass and the oven gushed forth water, We said: Load therein two of every kind, a pair (the male and female), and thy household, save him against whom the word hath gone forth already, and those who believe. And but a few were they who believed with him.}}

 

Surah Yusuf mentions that the caravan that rescued the eponymous prophet from the pit sold him to an Egyptian "for a low price, a few dirhams". Leaving aside the fact that dirham coins did not exist in ancient Egypt, a more fundamental problem is that the price is indicated as having been some kind of discreetly countable currency: darāhima maʿdūdatin ("dirhams counted"). The word maʿdūdatin occurs throughout the Quran denoting something discreetly numbered, for example "[Fasting for] a limited number of days" in {{Quran|2|184}}. Thus, it is not describing a weight of valuable material, but a countable currency. Such a thing did not exist in ancient Egypt. Rather, there were stone weights, particularly the denben, for measuring amounts of precious metals and to price other goods that could be barter traded, but not itself nor units of metal used as a means of exchange.<ref>[https://www.worldhistory.org/article/1079/trade-in-ancient-egypt/ Trade in ancient Egypt] - World History Encyclopedia</ref>

 

{{Quote|{{Quran|12|20}}|And they sold him for a reduced price - a few dirhams - and they were, concerning him, of those content with little.}}

{{Quran-range|55|3|4}} states that Allah created man and taught him clear speech, while {{Quran|2|31}} quoted above states that Allah taught Adam the names of everything. Adam and his wife are both spoken to and speak articulate sentences with complex symbolic thought, for example {{Quran|7|23}}, and their sons have a fully articulate conversation in {{Quran-range|5|27|31}}.

 

While the species Homo sapiens arose c. 300,000 years ago, the [[w:Origin_of_language|earliest use of language]] is extremely uncertain and may even predate this. However, the earliest evidence for symbolic thought (necessary for complex utterances) dates to c. 100,000 years ago, consisting of very simple engraved markings on pieces of orche and egg shells,<ref>Tylén, K. et al. (2020) [https://www.pnas.org/doi/full/10.1073/pnas.1910880117 The evolution of early symbolic behavior in Homo sapiens] Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Volume 117, Issue 9, p.4578-4584</ref> and an explosion of symbolic thought occured around 40,000 years ago.<ref>[https://www.amnh.org/explore/videos/humans/symbolic-thinking Thinking in Symbols] American Museum of Natural History website, 2012</ref>

The Qur'an records a miraculous event where Sabbath breakers are transformed into apes.

===Supernatural food===

{{Quote|{{Quran-range|5|114|115}}|

Jesus, son of Mary, said: O Allah, Lord of us! '''Send down for us a table spread with food from heaven, that it may be a feast for us''', for the first of us and for the last of us, and a sign from Thee. Give us sustenance, for Thou art the Best of Sustainers. Allah said: Lo! I send it down for you. And whoso disbelieveth of you afterward, him surely will I punish with a punishment wherewith I have not punished any of (My) creatures.}}

The Quran states that Moses' staff transformed into a serpent.

{{Quote|{{Quran|7|107}}|

Then (Moses) threw his rod, and behold! it was a serpent, plain (for all to see)! }}

===The existence and attributes of Jinn===

The Quran, Hadith and Sira all support the existence of supernatural, generally invisible creatures known as Jinn (جن‎ ''ǧinn'', singular جني ''ǧinnī'' ; variant spelling ''djinn'') living among us. In the [[Qur'an]], satan/devil(s) are also jinn ({{Quran|18|50}}), which like humans are sent prophets and have (at least some: ''see [[Qur'an, Hadith and Scholars:Predestination]]'') free-will and will be judged accordingly alongside mankind ({{Quran|6|130}}). They can interact with us ({{Quran|6|128}}) and even possess humans ({{Quran|2|275}}) (which the main article elaborates on), and cause people to forget things ({{Quran|18|63}}). As well as create buildings/structures ({{Quran|34|12-13}}). There is no evidence that these exist.

{{Quote|{{quran|72|1}}|Say, [O Muhammad], "It has been revealed to me that a group of the jinn listened and said, 'Indeed, we have heard an amazing Qur'an.}}

===Solomon's Army of jinn and birds===

{{Quote|{{Quran|27|20-23}}|

And he took a muster of the Birds; and he said: "Why is it I see not the Hoopoe? Or is he among the absentees? I will certainly punish him with a severe Penalty, or execute him, unless he bring me a clear reason (for absence). But the Hoopoe tarried not far: he (came up and) said: "I have compassed (territory) which thou hast not compassed, and I have come to thee from Saba with tidings true. I found (there) a woman ruling over them and provided with every requisite; and she has a magnificent throne.}}

 

{{Quote|{{Quran|113|1-5}}|1. Say: I seek refuge in the Lord of the dawn<BR />

 

At least once, humans are taught magic by satans (believed to be jinn) and angels ([[w:Harut and Marut|Harut and Marut]] are named in this verse):

{{Quote|{{Quran|2|102}}|and they follow what the Satans recited over Solomon's kingdom. Solomon disbelieved not, but the Satans disbelieved, <b>teaching the people sorcery,</b> and that which was sent down upon Babylon's two angels, Harut and Marut; they taught not any man, without they said, 'We are but a temptation; do not disbelieve.' From them they learned how they might divide a man and his wife, yet they did not hurt any man thereby, save by the leave of God, and they learned what hurt them, and did not profit them, knowing well that whoso buys it shall have no share in the world to come; evil then was that they sold themselves for, if they had but known.}}

While it took one week to travel from Mecca to Jerusalem (the location of the alleged 'farthest Mosque') by camel, the Qur'an states that a magical winged horse, called the Buraq, transported Muhammad from Mecca to Jerusalem in a matter of minutes. Creatures like the Buraq were common characters in near Easter myths.

The Quran states that human organs will, on the Day of Judgement, testify against their own persons.

The Quran present a version of the Biblical story where Moses splits the sea and crosses it with the Israelites. There is no historical or other evidence that such an event occured.

The Quran says that Solomon had the power to control the wind and traditional sources elaborate that Solomon could use this wind to fly upon a gigantic wooden carpet to wherever he pleased.

The Quran states that Allah instructed a group of people to strike a murdered man with a piece of a heifer (young female cow that has not yet borne a calf) in order to temporarily resurrect him and discover the identity of the murderer.

The Qur'an states that hills and birds would sing the psalms with David.

{{Quote|{{Quran|34|10}}|

===Unmathematical hereditary laws===

4.12: In what your wives leave, your share is a half, if they leave no child; but if they leave a child, ye get a fourth; after payment of legacies and debts. In what ye leave, their share is a fourth, if ye leave no child; but if ye leave a child, they get an eighth; after payment of legacies and debts. If the man or woman whose inheritance is in question, has left neither ascendants nor descendants, but has left a brother or a sister, each one of the two gets a sixth; but if more than two, they share in a third; after payment of legacies and debts; so that no loss is caused (to any one). Thus is it ordained by Allah; and Allah is All-knowing, Most Forbearing. }}

In a variety of situations, the shares of inheritance outlined in the Quran do not add up to one, and there is no way to reconcile the shares presented.<ref>http://www.answering-islam.org/Quran/Contra/i001.html</ref> By contrast, the Quran states that the rules it contains are perfect.

To deal with such problems, scholars had to innovate the [https://www.islamweb.net/en/fatwa/222526/the-origion-of-awl-in-inheritance-law post-Quranic 'awl system]. In that system, after each category of beneficiary is alloted their share (in a sequence defined by the scholars), the fraction shared by the next category is calculated from the remainder of the estate.

Another inheritance contradiction occurs between the above verses and {{Quran|4|176}}, a verse oddly appended to the end of the surah (see discussion at end of the main article).