Historical Errors in the Quran: Difference between revisions

The Qur'an further describes the flood waters as boiling from an oven. There is no scientific nor historical evidence for a large flood of this nature. This element is not found even in more ancient versions of the story (Epic of Gilgamesh, Atra hasis, and Ziusudra). Its ultimate origin appears to be a highly tenuous rabbinical exegisis in the Babylonian Talmud, based on a word in an unrelated verse that means heat or wrath.<ref>[https://biblehub.com/lexicon/esther/7-10.htm biblehub.com]</ref>{{Quote|1=[https://www.sefaria.org/Rosh_Hashanah.12a.4?lang=bi Tracate Rosh Hashanah]|2=The Gemara answers: Even according to Rabbi Eliezer a change was made, in accordance with the statement of Rav Ḥisda, as Rav Ḥisda said: They sinned with boiling heat, and they were punished with boiling heat; they sinned with the boiling heat of the sin of forbidden sexual relations, and they were punished with the boiling heat of scalding waters. This is derived from a verbal analogy. It is written here, with regard to the flood: “And the waters abated” (Genesis 8:1), and it is written elsewhere, with regard to King Ahasuerus: “And the heated anger of the king abated” (Esther 7:10), which implies that the word “abated” means cooled. This indicates that at first the waters of the flood had been scalding hot.}}Note that in his translation, Yusuf Ali mistranslates the Aramaic loan word for the oven (alttannooru ٱلتَّنُّورُ)<ref>[http://www.studyquran.org/LaneLexicon/Volume1/00000355.pdf Lane's Lexicon p. 318 تَّنُّورُ]</ref> as "fountains". The Arabic verb translated "gushed forth" (fara فَارَ) means "boiled" in the context of water in a cooking pot<ref>[http://www.studyquran.org/LaneLexicon/Volume6/00000241.pdf Lane's Lexicon p. 2457 فور]</ref>, as well as in the other verse where it is used, {{Quran|67|7}}.{{Quote|{{Quran|11|40}}|