Scientific Miracles in the Quran: Difference between revisions

{{Quote|{{quran|32|5}}|He disposeth every affair from the heaven unto the earth; thereafter it shall ascend unto Him in a Day the measure whereof is one thousand years of that which ye compute.}}

{{Main|Science and the Seven Earths}}

{{Quote|{{quran|65|12}}|Allah (is) He Who created seven heavens and of the earth, (the) like of them. Descends the command between them that you may know that Allah (is) on every thing All-Powerful. And that, Allah indeed, encompasses all things (in) knowledge.}}

Some Islamic scholars have also argued that the occurrence of the word 'iron' in the 26th verse of the surah is miraculous, given that Iron's atomic number is 26. Critics have argued that this nothing more than a coincidental product of numerological datamining and have asked why the surah number could not also have been 55 or 56, rather than 57, to also match Iron's atomic weight, which is 55.845.  

{{Quote|{{quran|57|25}}|Certainly We sent Our Messengers with clear proofs and We sent down with them the Scripture and the Balance that may establish the people justice. And We sent down [the] iron, wherein (is) power mighty and benefits for the people, and so that Allah may make evident (he) who helps Him and His Messengers, unseen. Indeed, Allah (is) All-Strong All-Mighty.}}

Many modern Muslims scholars have argued that {{Quran|6|125}} contains a scientifically accurate description of Hypoxia, altitude sickness, or the general phenomenon of lower oxygen levels in the air (thus called 'hypoxic air') at higher altitudes. Critics have pointed out that any Arab living in the general vicinity of Muhammad would have been familiar with the difficulty involved in breathing at higher altitudes, and that Muhammad particularly would have been aware of this phenomenon if accounts of his regularly climbing mountains just prior to proclaiming himself a prophet are to be trusted. Critics have also argued that if one takes the verse literally, the description provided is inaccurate, as the difficulty breathing at higher altitudes is not due to the constriction of one's chest, although this is what one may think based on the sensation of shortened breath which is experienced in hypoxic environments. Indeed, in the lower air pressure of higher altitudes, gasses and air actually expand, and it is also the case that one's chest would expand a very small amount in this environment as there is less atmospheric compression being applied to your body (as opposed to someone, say, at the bottom of the sea, who would instantly be crushed). Persons born and raised in higher at higher altitudes have actually been recorded to have enlarged chests which compensate for the hypoxic environment by allowing the individual to breath in larger quantities of air in order to acquire the necessary quantity of oxygen.

Many articles have been written in response to the claim that the Qur'an is validated by the geological science concerning mountains. This article adds to these by addressing several newer points that have been adopted to justify the original claim or to evade contrary scientific evidence.

Lastly, is the Qur'an really the first scripture to make the assertion that mountains stabilize the earth? Some Christians do not think so, and the Bible predates the Qur'an by at least 400 years.

Dr. Al Zeiny, PhD, claims a so-called ‘proof’ of Qur'anic Science by positing the proposition that the Qur'an correctly predicted the geological fact that land is decreasing due to the movements of tectonic plates. He cites verses 13:41 and 21:44 as evidence.  

Land has not been decreasing at all over the past billion years. At present 29.1% of the total earth’s surface area is land. However, by the end of the Permian Period 200 million years ago, the supercontinent Pangaea covered only about a quarter of the earth’s surface.

{{Main|Creation of Humans from Clay}}

It is also scientifically inaccurate because the Islamic faith claims that human beings were created from clay, contrary to the scientific hypothesis that clay merely 'match-makes' RNA and membrane vesicles - and therefore does not form a building block.

   

{{Main|Quran and Semen Production|l1=Qur'an and Semen Production}}

A point often missed, though alluded to by Dr. Campbell, is the phrase “min bain” which literally means “from between”. If this interpretation is accepted, which seems to be the case from a reading of the commonly accepted translations, then one must also note that semen emanates from the penis, and not from between the penis and the vagina. To be strictly correct, semen emanates from the penis into the vagina. This point seems to rule out tara’ib as being anything to do with the female sexual partner.

Various individuals have claimed the Qur'an is the only ancient book that states gender is determined by the sperm. In this, they may point out the ignorance of the Greeks who thought gender was determined by the relative strengths of sperm from the male and female parents as Hippocrates imagined.

In viewing the evidence, it is apparent that some of the ancient Egyptians believed that gender is created by the sperm from the male parent, and reproduction is via male and female union. This belief predated the Qur'an by about 2,900 years as evidenced by the pyramid text of Pharaoh Pepi I, 2332-2283 BC.

{{Main|Embryology in the Quran|l1=Embryology in the Qur'an}}

There are already many responses available. So here we will attempt to add to this debate, concentrating solely on the Qur'anic verses, because inclusion of the hadiths would clearly show up the unscientific nature of Qur'anic embryology. Dr. Omar Abdul Rehman’s article on the subject will be used as the basis for our analysis as it is clearly the most detailed.  

This article analyzes the claim that humans did not know anything about the "creation in pairs" at the time of the descent of the Qur'an. The case against the Qur'an is very simple. All one has to do is to show that not all creatures are created in pairs.  

The ancient Chinese Yin-Yang duality principle proves that the spurious claim of ‘creation in pairs’ to mean matter-antimatter complements to be unremarkable. Besides, some Hindus make similar claims about the Rig-Veda as the Muslims make about the Qur'an and scriptural allusions to matter and antimatter.

Several apologists promulgate Professor Keith L. Moore's Qur'anic science of the lying sinful prefrontal area of the cerebrum (here referred to as the prefrontal cerebrum). There are many web sites that are copy-pasting this proposition, and a search of the internet reveals that all the claims come from the same source, i.e. Keith Moore.  

Thus, the scientific evidence does not support the claim that the Qur'an correctly asserts that the prefrontal region is responsible for lying as it is not the region responsible for the decision-making process of lying.

Apologists believe that Surah 25:53 of the Qur’an is scientifically accurate concerning its description of the meeting of fresh and salt water. They conclude that since this process was unknown to humankind during the time of Prophet Muhammad, this verse (and the Qur’an as a whole) is revealed by Allah.  

*[[Scientific Errors in the Quran]]

*[[Islam and Science]]

*[[Islamic Prophecies]]