Scientific Errors in the Quran: Difference between revisions

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Added note about the seven earths concept in the near east and for brevity removed a point essentially already made in the torn apart section.
[checked revision][checked revision]
(Best to keep the iron wall under Historical Errors as for many ex-Muslims it was a key topic)
(Added note about the seven earths concept in the near east and for brevity removed a point essentially already made in the torn apart section.)
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Some modern Muslim scholars nevertheless interpret 'smoke' as the primordial state of the universe after the big bang. It is worth noting, however, that the verse indicates a time when heaven alone, but not the Earth, was smoke. This is especially challenging when one considers that the Earth and its mountains are described as already existing in the previous two verses ({{Quran-range|41|9|10}}, discussed above).
Some modern Muslim scholars nevertheless interpret 'smoke' as the primordial state of the universe after the big bang. It is worth noting, however, that the verse indicates a time when heaven alone, but not the Earth, was smoke. This is especially challenging when one considers that the Earth and its mountains are described as already existing in the previous two verses ({{Quran-range|41|9|10}}, discussed above).


There was a late antique Christian homilitic precedent for these enigmatic verses. As pointed out by Julien Decharneux, Basil the Great of Caesarea Mazaca in Cappadocia (d. 379 CE) understood Isaiah 51:6 in the Bible (which in the Greek version stated "The heaven was made like smoke [καπνός]") to mean that the heaven was initially made from a smoke-like substance.<ref>[https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/32011.htm Hexaemeron, Homily 1:8] - New Advent church fathers website</ref><ref>Julien Decharneux (2023), Creation and Contemplation: The Cosmology of the Qur’ān and Its Late Antique Background, Berlin: De Gruyter, pp. 128-9</ref>
Academic scholarship has identified a late antique Christian homilitic precedent for these enigmatic verses. Basil the Great of Caesarea Mazaca in Cappadocia (d. 379 CE) understood Isaiah 51:6 in the Bible (which in the Greek version stated "The heaven was made like smoke [καπνός]") to mean that the heaven was initially made from a smoke-like substance.<ref>[https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/32011.htm Hexaemeron, Homily 1:8] - New Advent church fathers website</ref><ref>Julien Decharneux (2023), Creation and Contemplation: The Cosmology of the Qur’ān and Its Late Antique Background, Berlin: De Gruyter, pp. 128-9</ref>


===Seven Earths===
===Seven Earths===
{{Main|Cosmology of the Quran|Science and the Seven Earths}}     
{{Main|Cosmology of the Quran|Science and the Seven Earths}}     


{{Quran|65|12}} plainly states that there exist seven earths.  
The Quran states that there exist seven earths. Academic scholarship has noted that this concept of seven earths, along with seven heavens, was present in the near east in the first millennia BCE and CE (see [[Cosmology of the Quran]]).


{{Quote|{{Quran|65|12}}|
{{Quote|{{Quran|65|12}}|
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Some modern Islamic scholars have argued that these verses refer to the seven layers of the atmosphere. However, {{Quran|37|6}} and {{Quran|67|5}} state that stars occupy the nearest heaven. Additionally, there are 5 rather than 7 principal layers to the [[W:Atmosphere of Earth|Earth's atmosphere]], and likewise only 5 rather than 7 major layers to the [[w:Structure_of_Earth|Earth itself]].
Some modern Islamic scholars have argued that these verses refer to the seven layers of the atmosphere. However, {{Quran|37|6}} and {{Quran|67|5}} state that stars occupy the nearest heaven. Additionally, there are 5 rather than 7 principal layers to the [[W:Atmosphere of Earth|Earth's atmosphere]], and likewise only 5 rather than 7 major layers to the [[w:Structure_of_Earth|Earth itself]].


{{Quote|{{Quran|37|6}}| Surely We have adorned the nearest heaven with an adornment, the stars}}
{{Quote|{{Quran|37|6}}| Surely We have adorned the nearest heaven with an adornment, the stars}}  
 
The Quran never indicates that the Earth itself is within this lowest/nearest heaven along with the other planets and stars (the Earth is the 3rd planet in our Inner Solar System, of the Orion Arm of the Milky Way Galaxy, which is part of the Virgo Supercluster within the wider Laniakea Supercluster, itself one of many<ref>[https://aaa.org/2022/08/01/our-cosmic-address-where-is-earth-situated-in-the-univers Our Cosmic Address: Where is Earth Situated in the Universe?] - Simone Lilavois - Amateur Astronomers Association, 1 August 2022</ref>). As discussed above, rather Earth is described as a separate entity that was torn apart from the heavens ({{Quran|21|30}}).


===Meteors as stars fired at devils===
===Meteors as stars fired at devils===
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