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A Barrier Between Two Seas and the Cosmic Ocean: Difference between revisions
A Barrier Between Two Seas and the Cosmic Ocean (view source)
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==== '''Estuaries and salt water''' ==== | ==== '''Estuaries and salt water''' ==== | ||
Seeking to accommodate modern understands of oceanography and water sciences, some modern Muslims claim that the Quran is referring to different bodies of water have different densities which causes them not to mix, creating a barrier between them, and even that the descriptions show advanced knowledge of science that could not have been known to a person from the 7th century. The | Seeking to accommodate modern understands of oceanography and water sciences, some modern Muslims claim that the Quran is referring to different bodies of water have different densities which causes them not to mix, creating a barrier between them, and even that the descriptions show advanced knowledge of science that could not have been known to a person from the 7th century. The arguments on [https://www.islam-guide.com/ch1-1-e.htm this site] which are broadly representative of these views. | ||
The first claim is around fresh water from rivers meeting seas/oceans of salt water, with the transition stage known as [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Estuary estuaries]: | The first claim is around fresh water from rivers meeting seas/oceans of salt water, with the transition stage known as [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Estuary estuaries]: | ||
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===== Problems with miracle claim ===== | ===== Problems with miracle claim ===== | ||
The claim that this is a scientific miracle (or even scientifically accurate) is highly problematic: | |||
# Firstly as with all claims of scientific miracles in ancient scripture, nothing scientifically new was known/discovered from this verse as one would expect if it clear<nowiki/>ly described a new scientific fact - the method of 'discovering' falls into several typical categories used for these claims such as selective literalism, de-historicization and pseudo-correlation (''see [[Scientific Miracles in the Quran]]''), taking advantage of ambiguity in language to fit a modern reading. | # Firstly, as with all claims of scientific miracles in ancient scripture, nothing scientifically new was known/discovered from this verse as one would expect if it clear<nowiki/>ly described a new scientific fact - the method of 'discovering' falls into several typical categories used for these claims such as selective literalism, de-historicization and pseudo-correlation (''see [[Scientific Miracles in the Quran]]''), taking advantage of ambiguity in language to fit a modern reading. | ||
# The idea of the density of salt water being more than freshwater, separating the two was already known at least by the time of Aristotle ''(382 BC to 322 BC)''; ''“The drink''<nowiki/>''able, sweet water,'' ''l of it drawn up: the salt water is heavy and remains behind.”''<ref>[https://classics.mit.edu/Aristotle/meteorology.2.ii.html Meteorology.] Aristotle. ~350BC</ref>, and the idea of the two not mixing is found in Judeo-Christian literature anyway.<ref>E.g. See a Midrashic commentary [https://www.sefaria.org/sheets/518706?lang=bi composed around 500CE, the Bereshit Rabbah] ([https://www.sefaria.org/Bereshit_Rabbah.4.5?lang=bi&with=Chasidut&lang2=en Bereshit Rabbah 4:5]): | # The idea of the density of salt water being more than freshwater, separating the two was already known at least by the time of Aristotle ''(382 BC to 322 BC)''; ''“The drink''<nowiki/>''able, sweet water,'' ''l of it drawn up: the salt water is heavy and remains behind.”''<ref>[https://classics.mit.edu/Aristotle/meteorology.2.ii.html Meteorology.] Aristotle. ~350BC</ref>, and the idea of the two not mixing is found in Judeo-Christian literature anyway.<ref>E.g. See a Midrashic commentary [https://www.sefaria.org/sheets/518706?lang=bi composed around 500CE, the Bereshit Rabbah] ([https://www.sefaria.org/Bereshit_Rabbah.4.5?lang=bi&with=Chasidut&lang2=en Bereshit Rabbah 4:5]): | ||