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Scientific Miracles in the Quran: Difference between revisions
2 Esdras is an important parallel for every living thing from water. Will add to parallels article in due course.
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A version of the Mesopotamian myth is sustained even in late antique Syriac Christian homilies, where commentators such as Ephrem (d. 373 CE) expound on the Biblical Genesis story of the waters above and waters below being separated when the firmament is created.<ref name="EphremGenesis" /> See also the quotes from Ephrem in the section [[Scientific_Miracles_in_the_Quran#Every living thing from water|Every living thing from water]] below regarding the water part of {{Quran|21|30}} in the creation context. | A version of the Mesopotamian myth is sustained even in late antique Syriac Christian homilies, where commentators such as Ephrem (d. 373 CE) expound on the Biblical Genesis story of the waters above and waters below being separated when the firmament is created.<ref name="EphremGenesis" /> See also the quotes from Ephrem in the section [[Scientific_Miracles_in_the_Quran#Every living thing from water|Every living thing from water]] below regarding the water part of {{Quran|21|30}} in the creation context. | ||
It is also worth highlighting the context of the polemical verse (Q21:30) in that it is clear the point being disputed by the opponents is not that the Earth and sky were split apart (or all living things are made from water), but rather ''the contemporary (and pre-scientific) Arabic pagans were already in agreement with this'';<ref name=":0">Ahmad Al-Jallad, ''[https://academic.oup.com/jss/advance-article/doi/10.1093/jss/fgaf012/8129546?utm_source=authortollfreelink&utm_campaign=jss&utm_medium=email&guestAccessKey=3263d58f-6955-46c6-84a8-e0af7e4edcd9&login=false Ancient Allah: An Epigraphic Reconstruction,] pp.46.'' Journal of Semitic Studies, 2025;, fgaf012, <nowiki>https://doi.org/10.1093/jss/fgaf012</nowiki></ref> therefore negating this as a scientific miracle. The point being made here is rather that | It is also worth highlighting the context of the polemical verse (Q21:30) in that it is clear the point being disputed by the opponents is not that the Earth and sky were split apart (or all living things are made from water), but rather ''the contemporary (and pre-scientific) Arabic pagans were already in agreement with this'';<ref name=":0">Ahmad Al-Jallad, ''[https://academic.oup.com/jss/advance-article/doi/10.1093/jss/fgaf012/8129546?utm_source=authortollfreelink&utm_campaign=jss&utm_medium=email&guestAccessKey=3263d58f-6955-46c6-84a8-e0af7e4edcd9&login=false Ancient Allah: An Epigraphic Reconstruction,] pp.46.'' Journal of Semitic Studies, 2025;, fgaf012, <nowiki>https://doi.org/10.1093/jss/fgaf012</nowiki></ref> therefore negating this as a scientific miracle. The point being made here is rather that them knowing this makes their rejection of his message of God's abilities (e.g. of resurrection) the more confusing.<ref name=":0" /> Al-Jallad (2025) notes that therefore the motifs of the Earth/sky split may not have come from Judeo-Christian traditions, but rather both them and the native Arab religion from a common source just as found in ancient Mesopotamia/Near East cosmological myths.<ref>Ahmad Al-Jallad, ''[https://academic.oup.com/jss/advance-article/doi/10.1093/jss/fgaf012/8129546?utm_source=authortollfreelink&utm_campaign=jss&utm_medium=email&guestAccessKey=3263d58f-6955-46c6-84a8-e0af7e4edcd9&login=false Ancient Allah: An Epigraphic Reconstruction,]'' pp. 46 & further evidence is cited in Ibid. pp. 4 where he notes that the etymology of the verb for 'to create' ''khalaqa'' is related to splitting, which suggests this was an ancient ancestral Arabic belief: | ||
''Another clue as to the mythological background of the pre-Islamic Allāh lies in the etymology of the verb ‘to create’ in Arabic, found in the question posed in Q39:38, for example: laʾin saʾalta-hum man ḫalaqa s-samāwāti wa-l-ʾarḍa la-yaqūlunna llāh ‘if you ask them who created the heavens and the earth they unequivocally reply ‘Allāh’.'' | ''Another clue as to the mythological background of the pre-Islamic Allāh lies in the etymology of the verb ‘to create’ in Arabic, found in the question posed in Q39:38, for example: laʾin saʾalta-hum man ḫalaqa s-samāwāti wa-l-ʾarḍa la-yaqūlunna llāh ‘if you ask them who created the heavens and the earth they unequivocally reply ‘Allāh’.'' | ||
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{{Quote|{{Quran|24|45}}|Allah has created every [living] creature from water. And of them are those that move on their bellies, and of them are those that walk on two legs, and of them are those that walk on four. Allah creates what He wills. Indeed, Allah is over all things competent.}} | {{Quote|{{Quran|24|45}}|Allah has created every [living] creature from water. And of them are those that move on their bellies, and of them are those that walk on two legs, and of them are those that walk on four. Allah creates what He wills. Indeed, Allah is over all things competent.}} | ||
The key to understanding the meaning is the context apparent in the first verse, 21:30, which is about the creation of the world. Gabriel Said Reynolds notes in his academic commentary on the Quran an earlier parallel taught by the Syriac church father Ephrem (d. 373 CE). He writes, "[...] Ephrem, who explains that God created everything through water: 'Thus, through light and water the earth brought forth everything.' Ephrem, ''Commentary on Genesis'', 1:1-10)."<ref>Gabriel Said Reynolds, "The Quran and Bible:Text and Commentary", New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2018 p. 553. This is regarding {{Quran|24|45}}, though on p. 508 Reynolds cross references the same parallel regarding the other verse, {{Quran|21|30}}, which is more clearly a statement in the context of the Genesis creation story, like Ephrem's comment.</ref> Ephrem's comment is in the context of the Genesis creation story, much like the first Quranic verse, 21:30. Ephrem says that when heaven and earth were created there were no trees or vegetation as it had not yet rained, so a fountain irrigated the earth. Tafsirs say that when the heaven and earth were separated rain fell so that plants could grow. There is also a similarity with Ephrem in the other verse (24:45), which mentions creatures that move on two, four or no legs. Ephrem explains that as well as the "trees, vegetation and plants", the "Scripture wishes to indicate that all animals, reptiles, cattle and birds came into being as a result of the combining of earth and water".<ref name="EphremGenesis">[https://www.trueorthodoxy.org/teachings/pat_stephraim_commentary_genesis.shtml Ephrem's commentary on Genesis] - True Orthodoxy website</ref> For many more parallels between the Quran and Syriac Christian literature see [[Parallelism_Between_the_Qur%27an_and_Judeo-Christian_Scriptures|this article]]. | The key to understanding the meaning is the context apparent in the first verse, 21:30, which is about the creation of the world. | ||
The Jewish apocryphal book 2 Esdras (1st / 2nd century CE) contains the same concept when describing the days of creation. It is not quite as general as the later Quranic version, as verse 53 states that on the 6th day cattle, beasts and creeping things were brought forth from the earth. | |||
{{Quote|[[https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2%20Esdras%206&version=RSV|2 Esdras 6:42, 47-48]]|42 “On the third day thou didst command the waters to be gathered together in the seventh part of the earth; six parts thou didst dry up and keep so that some of them might be planted and cultivated and be of service before thee.<BR/> | |||
...<BR/> | |||
47 “On the fifth day thou didst command the seventh part, where the water had been gathered together, to bring forth living creatures, birds, and fishes; and so it was done.<BR/> | |||
48 '''The dumb and lifeless water produced living creatures''', as it was commanded, that therefore the nations might declare thy wondrous works.}} | |||
Gabriel Said Reynolds notes in his academic commentary on the Quran an earlier parallel taught by the Syriac church father Ephrem (d. 373 CE). He writes, "[...] Ephrem, who explains that God created everything through water: 'Thus, through light and water the earth brought forth everything.' Ephrem, ''Commentary on Genesis'', 1:1-10)."<ref>Gabriel Said Reynolds, "The Quran and Bible:Text and Commentary", New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2018 p. 553. This is regarding {{Quran|24|45}}, though on p. 508 Reynolds cross references the same parallel regarding the other verse, {{Quran|21|30}}, which is more clearly a statement in the context of the Genesis creation story, like Ephrem's comment.</ref> Ephrem's comment is in the context of the Genesis creation story, much like the first Quranic verse, 21:30. Ephrem says that when heaven and earth were created there were no trees or vegetation as it had not yet rained, so a fountain irrigated the earth. Tafsirs say that when the heaven and earth were separated rain fell so that plants could grow. There is also a similarity with Ephrem in the other verse (24:45), which mentions creatures that move on two, four or no legs. Ephrem explains that as well as the "trees, vegetation and plants", the "Scripture wishes to indicate that all animals, reptiles, cattle and birds came into being as a result of the combining of earth and water".<ref name="EphremGenesis">[https://www.trueorthodoxy.org/teachings/pat_stephraim_commentary_genesis.shtml Ephrem's commentary on Genesis] - True Orthodoxy website</ref> For many more parallels between the Quran and Syriac Christian literature see [[Parallelism_Between_the_Qur%27an_and_Judeo-Christian_Scriptures|this article]]. | |||
Critics of the miracle claim sometimes also point out that the ancient Greek philosopher Empedocles had proposed that all living things are made from water, among other substances<ref>Frag. B17, (Simplicius, ''Physics'', 157-159)</ref>, and Thales of Miletus taught that the originating principle of everything including life is water.<ref>[https://iep.utm.edu/thales/#H5 Thales of Miletus] - Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy</ref> | Critics of the miracle claim sometimes also point out that the ancient Greek philosopher Empedocles had proposed that all living things are made from water, among other substances<ref>Frag. B17, (Simplicius, ''Physics'', 157-159)</ref>, and Thales of Miletus taught that the originating principle of everything including life is water.<ref>[https://iep.utm.edu/thales/#H5 Thales of Miletus] - Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy</ref> | ||