Scientific Errors in the Quran: Difference between revisions

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

The same Arabic words are used at the start of {{Quran|67|5}} and {{Quran|37|6}} (زَيَّنَّا ٱلسَّمَآءَ ٱلدُّنْيَا), except in {{Quran|67|5}} it is the stars that are described as lamps rather than meteors. The lamps that 'beautify the heaven' refer to stars (and perhaps also the 5 visible planets), which are always there. Meteors are often not much larger than grains of sand and are only visible for a second when they burn up, generating light in the Earth's atmosphere.

===The sky as something that falls===

The Quran describes the sky/heaven as a ceiling held up by Allah that can fall or fragments of which may break off and fall upon unfortunate individuals. This is challenging in light of the modern realization that the sky as such rather than being a solid, corporeal entity is simple a conglomeration of various gasses.

The structure of space-time is such that nothing, not even stars, can move faster than the velocity of light. That is, if the stars were to move close to light speed across the sky their motion would nonetheless be imperceptible to the naked eye as many visible stars are hundreds of light years away (the nearest star is more than four light years away). Indeed, many stars still visible in the sky ceased to exist centuries ago and it is only their light which is just now reaching the Earth.

Shadows are produced when the sun's light is obstructed. The Earth's rotation causes these shadows to change size and lengthen. {{Quran-range|25|45|46}} states that the reason shadows fluctuate in size rather than being stationary is because Allah has made the sun their guide. This appears to confirm the geocentric outlook widely evidenced elsewhere in the Qur'an, for it is only on a geocentric view that the 'movement of the sun' can be said to 'guide' the fluctuation of shadows.

In polar regions, the longevity of day and night vary during summer and winter. The day gets shorter and shorter in winter until there are days or weeks of uninterrupted night. At the poles themselves, day and night alternately last for six months and all phases of the moon occur several times between sunrise and sunset. These circumstances render many of the most important Islamic rituals impracticable and suggest that the author(s) of the Qur'an and hadith, in so far as they aspired to produce a religion of global practicability, were not aware of the extreme distortions to the calendar that take place near the poles ({{Quran|9|36}}, for instance, states that "The number of months in the sight of Allah is twelve (in a year)- so ordained by Him the day He created the heavens and the earth" - as much is, however, not the case near the Earth's poles and is also otherwise unclear insofar as the lunar cycles did not exist at the beginning of the universe).

The Qur'an describes humans as being formed from a clot of blood after an initial semen stage. By contrast, modern science has revealed that there is no stage in embryonic development where the relevant material is a clot of blood. The Quranic description is likely influenced by a simplistic attempt at explaining human reproduction based on unaided-eye observations of an early-term miscarriage and a woman's menstrual cycle. While in modern times some Muslims scholars have advanced alternative meanings for the relevant word, the historical certainty that the word referred to clotted blood (also the unanimous reading in the classical tafsirs) is renders the modern reinterpretations extremely challenging.

The Qur'an states that the bones of a human embryo are formed first and then covered up with flesh. By contrast, modern science has shown that the cartilage 'models' and muscles start to form at the same time and in parallel. Muscles which started to form before the cartilage models thereafter start to be replaced by bone.

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 sexually or asexually. Many species of plants also reproduce either asexually or through [[w:Pollination|pollination]]. Hermaphrodites of all species also do not appear to fit in to this dichotomy.  

The word ''butun'' (بطن) means belly/abdomen/midriff, though some translators have opted to use the more specific (and evocative) word "womb".<ref>[http://www.studyquran.org/LaneLexicon/Volume1/00000257.pdf Lane's Lexicon بطن]</ref> Classical tafsirs interpreted the "three darknesses" as the placenta, womb (uterus), and belly. Modern science has revealed there to be many more such layers in the human body, such as the endometrium, myometrium, perimetrium, peritoneum, besides the cervix uteri, corpus uteri, abdomen (with walls), and placenta (with layers). There is also the allantois, which is a sac-like structure which becomes part of the umbilical cord and is not in any real sense 'a darkness' viz-a-viz the embryo. The other two membranes, the chorion and amnion, together form the [[w:Amniotic_sac|amniotic sac]], which is quite thin and transparent. The idea of three membranes around the fetus ([[w:Chorion|chorion]], [[w:Allantois|allantois]], and [[w:Amnion|amnion]]) was taught by the highly influential Greek physician, Galen, and the description found in the Quran in all likelihood draws on Galen's widespread influence in the late antique world.

The Qur'an instructs Muslims to face the direction of the Kaaba in Mecca when they pray. A number of problems have been suggested with this instruction in consideration of the roundness of the Earth: one facing Mecca also necessarily has their back turned to it (a display of disrespect which is roundly prohibited in Islam), one directly opposite Mecca on the globe may pray in any direction (thus leading North American Muslims, who live near this antipode of Mecca, to opt for the rhumb-line technique lest they all pray in different directions), and, finally, Astronauts in Earth's orbit or on the Moon and Mars would are essentially unable to follow these instructions (suggesting that the author of the Qur'an did not have such future realities in mind).

The author of the Qur'an mentions that the Earth is 'spread out' and laid flat. The Arabic word here (sataha) was used to describe making the flat top or roof of a house or chamber and making a top surface flat.<ref>[http://www.studyquran.org/LaneLexicon/Volume4/00000081.pdf Lane's Lexicon سُطِحَ]</ref> Words from the same root mean the flat top surface or roof of a house or chamber, a flat plane in geometry, a level place upon which dates can be spread, a rolling pin (which expands the dough), plane or flat.

Ants primarily communicate with each other using pheromones (chemical signals). While scientists have discovered that ants make some noises, nothing has ever indicated that the brains of ants could produce anything approximating complex speech. By contrast, the Qur'an recounts the story of an ant ant warn her fellow ants of the approach of Solomon's large army of humans. Solomon is able to understand her speech and proceeds, presumably, to leave the ants be.  

One modern translation of the Quran interprets ''umamun'' (community / nation) to mean "genus" (group of species, plural: genera). This interpretation appears difficult, however, for there was at the time when the Quran was first recited no conceptual categorization of animals comparable to the evolutionary tree (phylogenetic) models that are today used to categorize species into genera, families, and other taxonomic ranks.

Modern science has revealed the aerodynamic properties of birds' anatomy which enable them to fly. Bird flight essentially functions by creating a difference in the air pressure between the lower and upper part of the wing and this creates lift that pushes the bird upward. The wings of birds have evolved over millions of years and have thereby refined birds' flight abilities. By contrast, the Quran states that 'nothing' holds birds in the air, flying, except for the miraculous power of Allah.

Historians commonly credited the invention of coat mail 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, so that it is unlikely there could have existed coat mail that archaeologists would be unable to discover. 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.

Geographically, the Coptic land of Egypt is adjacent to Arabia. Thus, most Arabs were aware of the preservation method applied by the ancient Egyptian to their pharaohs. Pharaohs were preserved intact using methods such as salt to dry the body (hence, salt in the body of Ramesses II does not suggest that he drowned in the dead sea). There were many pharaohs from numerous dynasties who were preserved in this way. The Qur'an, by contrast, only speaks of "The" pharaoh singularly, as a proper noun, suggesting that its author was unaware of the multiplicity of pharaohs.