Historical Errors in the Quran: Difference between revisions

Historical Errors in the Quran (view source)

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 This makes the Quran's claim he had the greatest kingdom not to be bestowed on anyone after him extremely implausible. Especially in light of the much larger empires covering huge portions of the world that came after, such as the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Empire British Empire], [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_colonial_empire#Second_French_colonial_empire_(post-1830) French Empire], [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mongol_Empire Mongol Empire], [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Umayyad_Caliphate Umayyad Caliphate], [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_Empire Russian Empire], [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qing_dynasty Qing Dynasty], [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abbasid_Caliphate Abbasid Caliphate], [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_Empire Spanish Empire], [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ottoman_Empire Ottoman Empire,] etc. whom we have far more evidence for.
+=== Surah of the elephant ===
+The Quran contains a surah relating to Allah destroying an army via birds throwing stones of baked clay at them. This account is allegedly based on the pre-Islamic Yemeni/Hymarite Christian King Abraha attempting to invade Mecca with an army of elephants for the purpose of destroying the House of Allah (The Holy Ka'bah), to bring pilgrims to his own church in the capital Sanaa. But their plan backfired when Allah destroyed the army with a flock of birds and baked clay, thus their plans were foiled.
+{{Quote|{{Quran|105|1-5}}|Have not you seen how dealt your Lord with (the) Companions (of the) Elephant? Did He not put their scheme into ruin? and send against them flocks of birds. Which hit them with stones of baked clay, thus making them like chewed-up straw?}}
+Historians believe that while there was a somewhat similar invasion of Abraha into Arabia at a similar time, almost every key part of the Islamic traditions surrounding the surah found in hadith, seerah, and tafsir are incorrect; starting with the date in Islamic tradition typically ascribed to the birth year of Muhammad (570CE) known as 'The Year of the Elephant',<ref>[https://www.britannica.com/biography/Muhammad Muhammad] | Britannica
+''He is traditionally said to have been born in 570 in Mecca and to have died in 632 in Medina, where he had been forced to emigrate to with his adherents in 622.''[https://sunnah.com/tirmidhi:3619 Jami` at-Tirmidhi 1:46:3619]
+''Narrated Al-Muttalib bin 'Abdullah bin Qais bin Makhramah:''
+''from his father, from his grandfather, that he said: "I and the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ), were born in the Year of the Elephant" - he said: "And 'Uthman bin 'Affan asked Qubath bin Ashyam, the brother of Banu Ya'mar bin Laith - 'Are you greater (in age) or the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ)?'" He said: "The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) is greater than me, but I have an earlier birthday." He said: "And I saw the defecation of the birds turning green."''</ref> while much more contemporary evidence places it around 552CE ([[Scientific Errors in the Hadith#Year%20of%20the%20Elephant%20(and%20the%20battle's%20location)|''see Scientific Errors in the Hadith - Year of the Elephant (and the battle's location)'']]), and to separate parts of Northern and Central Arabia, with one of Abraha’s armies went northeastward into the territory of the Ma‘add tribal confederacy, while another went north-westward towards the coast, rather than Mecca.<ref>Bowersock, G.W.. The Throne of Adulis: Red Sea Wars on the Eve of Islam (Emblems of Antiquity) (p. 115 - 117). 2013. Oxford University Press.</ref>
+{{Quote|Bowersock, G.W.. The Throne of Adulis: Red Sea Wars on the Eve of Islam (Emblems of Antiquity) (p. 115 - 117). Oxford University Press.|They may possibly explain a dramatic, even desperate move that the king made only a few years after the Mārib conference. <i>In 552 he launched a great expedition into central Arabia, north of Najrān and south of Mecca.</i>
+An important but difficult inscription, which was discovered at Bir Murayghān and first published in 1951, gives the details of this expedition.<sup>10</sup> <i>It shows that one of Abraha’s armies went northeastward into the territory of the Ma‘add tribal confederacy, while another went northwestward towards the coast (Map 2). This two-pronged assault into the central peninsula is, in fact, the last campaign of Abraha known from epigraphy.</i> It may well have represented an abortive attempt to move into areas of Persian influence, south of the Naṣrid capital at al Ḥīra. If Procopius published his history as late as 555, the campaign could possibly be the one to which the Greek historian refers when he says of Abraha, whom he calls Abramos in Greek, that once his rule was secure he promised Justinian many times to invade the land of Persia (es gēn tēn Persida), but “only once did he begin the journey and then immediately withdrew.”<sup>11</sup> The land that Abraha invaded was hardly the land of Persia, but it was a land of Persian influence and of potentially threatening religious groups—Jewish and pagan. <i>Some historians have been sorely tempted to bring the expedition of 552, known from the inscription at Bir Murayghān, into conjunction with a celebrated and sensational legend in the Arabic tradition that is reflected in Sura 105 of the Qur’an (al fīl, the elephant). The Arabic tradition reports that Abraha undertook an attack on Mecca itself with the aim of taking possession of the Ka‘ba, the holy place of the pagan god Hubal. It was believed that Abraha’s forces were led by an elephant, and that, although vastly superior in number, they were miraculously repelled by a flock of birds that pelted them with stones. The tradition also maintained that Abraha’s assault on the ancient holy place occurred in the very year of Muḥammad’s birth (traditionally fixed about 570). Even today the path over which Abraha’s elephant and men are believed to have marched is known in local legend as the Road of the Elephant (darb al fīl).
+Obviously, the expedition of 552 cannot be the same expedition as the legendary one, if we are to credit the coincidence of the year of the elephant (‘Ām al fīl) with the year of the Prophet’s birth.<sup>12</sup> But increasingly scholars and historians have begun to suppose that the Quranic date for the elephant is unreliable, since a famous event such as the Prophet’s birth would tend naturally, by a familiar historical evolution, to attract other great events into its proximity. Hence the attack on Mecca should perhaps be seen as spun out of a fabulous retelling of Abraha’s final and markedly less sensational mission.</i> This is not to say that it might not also have been intended as a vexation for the Persians in response to pressure from Byzantium. But it certainly brought Abraha into close contact with major centers of paganism and Judaism in central and northwest Arabia.}}
+Other than the historically inaccurate traditions, as Angelika Neuwirth 2022 notes, along with the magical birds, the Elephant itself may also be mythical.<ref>Neuwirth, Angelika. The Qur'an: Text and Commentary, Volume 1: Early Meccan Suras: Poetic Prophecy (pp. 60-61). 2022. Yale University Press.
+''Islamic tradition clashes with traditional Islamic dates of 570 in their year (, Islamic sources claim that the story of Q 105 relates to an event when the Abyssinian army leader ‘Abraha al-Ašram, viceroy of Yemen, launched a military expedition, accompanied by one or more war elephants, to destroy the Ka‘ba in Mecca and avenge the desecration of his Christian cathedral in Ṣan‘ā’ in AD 570 or 571, the year Muḥammad was allegedly born. Allah protected the Ka‘ba and destroyed ‘Abraha and his army by sending birds to throw clay pellets down upon their heads. )''
+''The sura centers on the military campaign into the north of Arabia by Abraha, the Abyssinian vice-king of Yemen, which was undertaken “not long after 543” (KU, 96). Reports about this campaign are transmitted also outside of the local Meccan tradition.''
+''According to some reports it was interrupted by the outbreak of an epidemic before the campaign reached Mecca, an event that was interpreted early on in the sense of a miraculous salvation of Mecca, as reflected already in the pre-Islamic poets; according to Horovitz (KU, 97), the participation of the elephants may also belong to the legendary embellishment. On the historical background, see Nöldeke (1879: 204–219), Kister (1965a), Shahid (2004).''</ref>
+Historian Christian Robin 2015 has also noted that they cannot historically be the same invasion as in the Islamic traditions,<ref>[https://www.academia.edu/37672841/_%E1%B8%A4imyar_Aks%C5%ABm_and_Arabia_Deserta_in_Late_Antiquity_The_Epigraphic_Evidence_dans_Arabs_and_Empires_before_Islam_edited_by_Greg_Fisher_Oxford_University_Press_2015_pp_127_171_chapter_3_ H˙imyar, Aksūm, and Arabia Deserta in Late Antiquity. The Epigraphic Evidence.] Christian Julien Robin.
+Found in Chapter 3 of: Fisher, Greg. Arabs and Empires before Islam (p. 151-152). OUP Oxford. Read on internet archive for free [https://archive.org/details/arabs-and-empires-before-islam-by-fisher-greg/page/151/mode/1up here].</ref> however states it is plausible that an elephant attacked Mecca citing elephants with mahouts (riders) inscriptions in the Najrān region.<ref>[https://www.academia.edu/37672841/_%E1%B8%A4imyar_Aks%C5%ABm_and_Arabia_Deserta_in_Late_Antiquity_The_Epigraphic_Evidence_dans_Arabs_and_Empires_before_Islam_edited_by_Greg_Fisher_Oxford_University_Press_2015_pp_127_171_chapter_3_ H˙imyar, Aksūm, and Arabia Deserta in Late Antiquity. The Epigraphic Evidence.] Christian Julien Robin.
+Footnote 48: ''Robin 2015b: 36-48, with three engravings from the Najran region representing an elephant with his mahout.'' Gajda 2009: 142-7; Robin 2012b: 285-6.
+Found in Chapter 3 of: Fisher, Greg. Arabs and Empires before Islam (p. 151-152). OUP Oxford. Read on internet archive for free [https://archive.org/details/arabs-and-empires-before-islam-by-fisher-greg/page/151/mode/1up here].</ref> However as Sean W. Anthony points out the petroglyphs of elephants are undated and no evidence connects them with Abraha. Petroglyphs of non-local things such as boats have also been found in Arabia.<ref>Sean W Anthony response on the subject on [https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1220097304889307136.html Threads] and [https://x.com/shahanSean/status/1220097304889307136?t=GGA1q7v81g8r52nrJ1YbFA&s=19 Twitter (X)]</ref> Nothing connects them with Mecca either. And Michael Charles 2018 has argued that the use of elephants was plausible, based on reports from Islamic traditions/Arab Historians, combined with the fact that Ethiopian Axumite Empire that ruled Himyar (modern Yemen) was a tributary of at the time, having access to Elephants, and that Yemen was fertile at the time.<ref>Charles, Michael (2018). "''The Elephants of Aksum: In Search of the Bush Elephant in Late Antiquity''". Journal of Late Antiquity. 11 (1): 166–192. [https://muse.jhu.edu/article/704824 doi:10.1353/jla.2018.0000]. S2CID 165659027.
+(Text can be found here: [https://historum.com/t/meroitic-and-aksumite-royal-elephants-and-the-possible-use-of-large-bush-elephants.193439/ Meroitic and Aksumite Royal Elephants (and the possible use of large bush elephants]) </ref> However as others have pointed out, there are serious problem that make this doubtful.
+Daniel Beck 2018 notes, there are many epigraphy records from that period as well as both before and after Abraha's reign, which do not mentioned the elephants in invasions, nor are they recorded by contemporary historians / sources such as Procopius, who wrote a detailed book on current wars and warfare ''Polemon (De bellis; Wars)''<ref>[https://www.britannica.com/biography/Procopius-Byzantine-historian Procopius] | Byzantine historian | Britannica Entry</ref> and documented Abraha's rise to power, who never mentioned the use of elephants which which would have been notable if they were used.<ref>Daniel Beck. ''Evolution of the Early Qur’ān: From Anonymous Apocalypse to Charismatic Prophet'' (Apocalypticism). 2018. Peter Lang. pp. 5.
+The first chapter relating to Surah of the Elephant (Maccabees not Mecca: The Biblical Subtext and Apocalyptic Context of Surat Al-Fil) can be read for free in most countries using Amazon's 'Look Inside' feature on the left side of the page below the book image.</ref> The earliest inscriptions of the war mention non-Meccan enemies and no explicit reference to Mecca, the Ka'aba or the Quraysh tribe, and it would be the first African bush elephant used in warfare for over six centuries, and the last known one ever.<ref>Ibid. pp. 5.</ref> No other record in the literate regions from Yemen, the Axumite Empire, to Persia report a sudden death of an army in Mecca either which would be relevant to them.<ref>Ibid. pp. 7.</ref>
+There are also practical and logistical issues with the account, which sees it difficult to accommodate an elephants(s) in the hot desert environment of South and Central Arabia. Elephants require significant amounts of food and water 149-169 kg (330-375 lbs) of vegetation daily.<ref>[https://seaworld.org/animals/all-about/elephants/diet/ All About Elephants.] Diet & Eating Habits. Seaworld.org</ref> In fact typically sixteen to eighteen hours, or nearly 80% of an elephant’s day is spent feeding.<ref>Ibid.</ref> Elephants consume grasses, small plants, bushes, fruit, twigs, tree bark, and roots.<ref>Ibid.</ref> 68.4 to 98.8 litres (18 to 26 gallons) of water daily, potentially up to 152 litres (40 gallons).<ref>Ibid.</ref> Elephants have extremely weak feet unsuited for desert terrain.<ref>[https://www.elephant.se/elephant_foot_and_nail_problems.php ''Elephant feet and nail problems.''] Elephant Encyclopedia - information and database - established 1995. Absolut elephant. elephant.se.</ref> They also unlike most hairless mammals have no natural defense against the sun, so must regularly bathe themselves in mud to avoid sunburn.<ref>[https://tsavotrust.org/five-interesting-facts-about-an-elephants-skin/ Five interesting facts about an elephant’s skin.] Tsavo Trust
+''Elephant are subject to sunburn just like most other hairless mammals. What’s more, they have no natural, self-generating method of fighting its effects. Whereas hippos secrete a sunscreening substance, colloquially called ‘hippo sweat’, which scatters ultraviolet light, elephant are forced to cover themselves in mud to protect from the sun.''</ref> This is even more difficult to imagine with some traditions having more than one elephant.<ref>[https://islaam.net/the-quran/understanding-the-quran/tafsir-of-imam-as-sadi/tafsir-of-surah-al-fil-the-elephant-surah-105/ ''Tafsir Ibn Kathir on Verse 105:1-5''] islaam.net </ref>
+Therefore critics argue it is most likely an exaggeration by Arab poets<ref>Neuwirth, Angelika. The Qur'an: Text and Commentary, Volume 1: Early Meccan Suras: Poetic Prophecy (pp. 61). 2022. Yale University Press.
+''...According to some reports it was interrupted by the outbreak of an epidemic before the campaign reached Mecca, an event that was interpreted early on in the sense of a miraculous salvation of Mecca, as reflected already in the pre-Islamic poets...''</ref> and storytellers as word of a far-off battles spread, then turned into salvation history by Muhammad as a reason to follow his message (i.e. Allah saved their town), and fear him, to convince them to heed his warnings.
+And finally, there is no archaeological evidence for the dead soldiers in bits of baked clay as found in the Qur'an. Critics argue that this, along with the contemporary records showing a different story of a similar attack in the region, the severe lack of evidence for elephant(s) including no mentions from contemporary historians or inscriptions, no recording of the Meccan invasion, the muddling of the dates, along with practical problems, makes the whole account unreliable.
+Historian Arthur Jeffrey, citing Italian orientalist Carlo Conti Rossini, states that the Axumites did not use war elephants, and suggests that the Abraha-elephant legend developed from a misunderstanding of the name of Abraha’s royal master, Alﬁlas, which when the ending was dropped, sounded like al-Fil, ‘the elephant.’ <ref>Jeffery, Arthur. ''The Koran: Selected Suras (Dover Thrift Editions: Religion)'' (p. 30). Sura 105  Dover Publications.</ref>
 == Regarding the Traditional Historical Account of the Quran's Origins ==