Historical Errors in the Quran

One of the major criticisms brought to bear against the Quran, as well as the Hadith, by both serious scholars and critics is that it reinforces historical misconceptions common among the Arab contemporaries of its 7th century author. While much effort has been exerted by modern Islamic scholars towards reconciling what appear to modern readers as blatant historical errors with the Islamic belief in the inerrancy of the Quran, their arguments have not yet won any assent outside their circles and are generally regarded as lacking rigor. It is important to note that modern Islamic scholars are not the first to note the contradictions between historical statements found in the Quran and the views of contemporary historians — in fact, even some classical Islamic scholars noted that there were certain historical claims in the Quran which, taken literally (as Islamic orthodoxy holds they should be), could not easily be reconciles with what they held to be basic and incontrovertible facts about history.