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Scientific Errors in the Quran: Difference between revisions
When adding external links (especially long urls - this time it could be shortened) we usually use the two-part [url title] format rather than bare links. The very long link was messing up the format of the references section and on mobile shifted the entire page to the left. Also for verses we use the {{Quran}} or {{Quran-range}} templates. Still think adornment point has a too obvious refutation (20th century onwards anyone can marvel at Hubble images etc.) but will leave for now.
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m (→Implied similar size and distance of the sun and moon: I have improved the grammar of a previously updated paragraph for this section.) |
Lightyears (talk | contribs) (When adding external links (especially long urls - this time it could be shortened) we usually use the two-part [url title] format rather than bare links. The very long link was messing up the format of the references section and on mobile shifted the entire page to the left. Also for verses we use the {{Quran}} or {{Quran-range}} templates. Still think adornment point has a too obvious refutation (20th century onwards anyone can marvel at Hubble images etc.) but will leave for now.) |
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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 require the moon to travel tens of millions of miles away from Earth and into the sun, which is over 400 times wider. To describe them as 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 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 require the moon to travel tens of millions of miles away from Earth and into the sun, which is over 400 times wider. To describe them as 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 Earth and moon's average distance to the Sun is about 93 million miles (150 million kilometers). The narrowest estimate for the habitable zone of our solar system implies that if the sun was on average as little as 1.5 million km closer to Earth, it would become uninhabitable.<ref>[https://www.sciencefocus.com/space/how-much-closer-to-the-sun-could-earths-orbit-get-and-still-be-habitable How much closer to the Sun could Earth’s orbit get and still be habitable?] - BBC Science Focus website</ref> If the sun even started to come close to a central point between the two (c. | The Earth and moon's average distance to the Sun is about 93 million miles (150 million kilometers). The narrowest estimate for the habitable zone of our solar system implies that if the sun was on average as little as 1.5 million km closer to Earth, it would become uninhabitable.<ref>[https://www.sciencefocus.com/space/how-much-closer-to-the-sun-could-earths-orbit-get-and-still-be-habitable How much closer to the Sun could Earth’s orbit get and still be habitable?] - BBC Science Focus website</ref> If the sun even started to come close to a central point between the two (c.46 million miles) to be joined with the moon, the immediate, worldwide heat would instantly cause the end of all life on Earth and scorch it beyond recognition, which would render the other apocalyptic events such as removing mountains ({{Quran|77|10}}), splitting the heaven ({{Quran|84|1}}), and stars falling ({{Quran|81|2}}), some of which are discussed in the sections below, essentially pointless. | ||
It is worth noting that the "darkening" of the moon in verse 8 is an Arabic word which in hadiths refers to a lunar or solar eclipse (in this case lunar). However, for a lunar eclipse to occur (when the earth's shadow is cast upon the moon) the sun and moon are on opposite sides of the earth and thus are not in any sense "joined". Nor does "joined" in verse 9 work as a reference to a solar eclipse (when the sun occasionally casts a shadow of the moon on the earth). The moon is invisible during the portion of a month when it can eclipse the sun since it must be on the daylit side of the earth, and hence the moon does not "darken" or itself become eclipsed (verse 8) as it passes between observers and the sun but rather its silhouette becomes visible. | It is worth noting that the "darkening" of the moon in verse 8 is an Arabic word which in hadiths refers to a lunar or solar eclipse (in this case lunar). However, for a lunar eclipse to occur (when the earth's shadow is cast upon the moon) the sun and moon are on opposite sides of the earth and thus are not in any sense "joined". Nor does "joined" in verse 9 work as a reference to a solar eclipse (when the sun occasionally casts a shadow of the moon on the earth). The moon is invisible during the portion of a month when it can eclipse the sun since it must be on the daylit side of the earth, and hence the moon does not "darken" or itself become eclipsed (verse 8) as it passes between observers and the sun but rather its silhouette becomes visible. | ||
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Stars are also an average 5 light years away from each other in our galaxy<ref>[https://public.nrao.edu/ask/what-is-the-average-distance-between-stars-in-our-galaxy/ What is the Average Distance Between Stars in our Galaxy?] - US National Radio Astronomy Observatory website</ref>. For context, a light year is the distance light travels in one year, which at 186,000 miles/300,000 kilometres per second equals 5.88 trillion miles/9.46 trillion kilometres.<ref>https://exoplanets.nasa.gov/faq/26/what-is-a-light-year/</ref> This makes them an odd choice for a protection/guard, with trillions of miles/kilometers of mostly empty space between them. | Stars are also an average 5 light years away from each other in our galaxy<ref>[https://public.nrao.edu/ask/what-is-the-average-distance-between-stars-in-our-galaxy/ What is the Average Distance Between Stars in our Galaxy?] - US National Radio Astronomy Observatory website</ref>. For context, a light year is the distance light travels in one year, which at 186,000 miles/300,000 kilometres per second equals 5.88 trillion miles/9.46 trillion kilometres.<ref>https://exoplanets.nasa.gov/faq/26/what-is-a-light-year/</ref> This makes them an odd choice for a protection/guard, with trillions of miles/kilometers of mostly empty space between them. | ||
On a separate note, though stars are | On a separate note, though stars are described as an ornament or beauty for the sky in {{Quran|37|6}}, {{Quran|37|60}}, and {{Quran|67|5}}, there are an estimated minimum c.100 septillion stars in the known universe<ref>[https://universe.nasa.gov/stars/basics Stars] - NASA website</ref>, but only a few thousand are actually visible to the naked eye.<ref>[https://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Space_Science/Herschel/How_many_stars_are_there_in_the_Universe How many stars are there in the Universe?] - ESA website</ref> | ||
===The entire heaven has a night and day=== | ===The entire heaven has a night and day=== | ||
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The word translated “seed” in the Pickthall translation is nasl نسل, which means progeny (i.e. descendants).<ref>[http://www.studyquran.org/LaneLexicon/Volume8/00000286.pdf Lane's Lexicon p. 3032 نسل]</ref> | The word translated “seed” in the Pickthall translation is nasl نسل, which means progeny (i.e. descendants).<ref>[http://www.studyquran.org/LaneLexicon/Volume8/00000286.pdf Lane's Lexicon p. 3032 نسل]</ref> | ||
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</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/</ref> | 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> | ||
===Embryology=== | ===Embryology=== | ||