Scientific Errors in the Quran: Difference between revisions

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Scientific Errors in the Quran (view source)

Revision as of 21:42, 6 November 2013

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Corrected misunderstandings about Quran and the anti-Islamic tone of the article.
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(Corrected misunderstandings about Quran and the anti-Islamic tone of the article.)
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==Evolution==
==Evolution==


The Qur'an advocates [[creation|creationism]]. It is incompatible with the thesis of human evolution from simpler life forms and natural selection. This is not very controversial as [[Muslim Statistics - Science#Evolution|reliable statistics]] on the subject have shown most Muslims agree Islam and evolution are not compatible.
''The Qur'an advocates [[creation|creationism]]. It is incompatible with the thesis of human evolution from simpler life forms and natural selection.''
 
First, evolution is not proven science based on empirical evidence. Evolution is a theory that attempts how life could have come into existence ''without God.'' Second, Islam does not refute the idea of natural selection and that populations can adapt to their environments, but these changes have been shown to not necessarily always occur through mutations, but rather through epigenetics, showing an even more complex and intelligent design than previously imagined. The finches that Darwin observed have been shown to adapt within just a few generations, not the thousands or millions of years that he postulated. Islam maintains that God did not creat


===Human created from clay===
===Human created from clay===
{{Main|Creation of Humans from Clay}}
{{Main|Creation of Humans from Clay}}
''
The scientific hypothesis postulates that clay merely 'match-makes' RNA and membrane vesicles - and therefore does not form a building block. This is contrary to the Islamic faith which postulates that human beings were created ''from'' clay, implying clay was a building block.''


The scientific hypothesis postulates that clay merely 'match-makes' RNA and membrane vesicles - and therefore does not form a building block. This is contrary to the Islamic faith which postulates that human beings were created ''from'' clay, implying clay was a building block.
Islam says that humans were created from a single human being which was created from "teen," and Arabic word which can mean clay, molder's clay, or just plain soil. God says elsewhere in the Quran that he created him from "turab," which can mean soil, dirt, or dust. What we can understand from this is that Adam was shaped from dirt/soil/dust/clay that was mixed with water. The descendents of Adam, human beings, eventually decompose into soil when they die. We all actively decompose even as we are alive into dust as we shed skin cells into our environment. The ayah does not in any way imply that we are made of building blocks of clay, as if we are brick houses. Our creation is not so primitive. In other ayahs, the Quran states that man was made from clay, and then from a "nutfah," a sperm-drop. Are our bodies made from millions of drops of sperm? No, but a single sperm is responsible for half of our existence even though it is barely a whole cell.  


{{Quote|{{Quran|15|26}}|
{{Quote|{{Quran|15|26}}|
We created man from sounding clay, from mud moulded into shape; }}
And We did certainly create man out of clay from an altered black mud. Sahih International translation; }}
 
{{Quote|{{Quran|3|59}}|
Indeed, the example of Jesus to Allah is like that of Adam. He created Him from dust; then He said to him, "Be," and he was.; }}
 
{{Quote|{{Quran|25|54}}|
And it is He who has created from water a human being and made him [a relative by] lineage and marriage. And ever is your Lord competent [concerning creation].; }}


{{Quote|{{Quran|2|117}}|
{{Quote|{{Quran|18|37}}|
To Him is due the primal origin of the heavens and the earth: When He decreeth a matter, He saith to it: "Be," and it is. }}
His companion said to him while he was conversing with him, "Have you disbelieved in He who created you from dust and then from a sperm-drop and then proportioned you [as] a man?; }}


===Humans were created from a single being===
===Humans were created from a single being===


Some apologists will claim this is consistent with modern scientific knowledge because scientists refer to individuals labeled as [[W:Mitochondrial Eve|Mitochondrial Eve]] and [[W:Y-chromosomal Adam|Y-chromosomal Adam]]. This is a bad misunderstanding since these are the terms for the last common male and female ancestors of everyone alive today, not of all humans in history. Incidentally, the Qur'an clearly states Eve was created later than (and from) Adam. [[W:Mitochondrial Eve|Mitochondrial Eve]] lived some 50,000 to 80,000 years earlier than [[W:Y-chromosomal Adam|Y-chromosomal Adam]]. More to the point, genetic studies indicate that humans diverged from earlier species as a population, not a single couple. See [http://biologos.org/blog/does-genetics-point-to-a-single-primal-couple] and [http://whyevolutionistrue.wordpress.com/2011/09/18/how-big-was-the-human-population-bottleneck-not-anything-close-to-2/].
''Some apologists will claim this is consistent with modern scientific knowledge because scientists refer to individuals labeled as [[W:Mitochondrial Eve|Mitochondrial Eve]] and [[W:Y-chromosomal Adam|Y-chromosomal Adam]]. This is a bad misunderstanding since these are the terms for the last common male and female ancestors of everyone alive today, not of all humans in history. Incidentally, the Qur'an clearly states Eve was created later than (and from) Adam. [[W:Mitochondrial Eve|Mitochondrial Eve]] lived some 50,000 to 80,000 years earlier than [[W:Y-chromosomal Adam|Y-chromosomal Adam]]. More to the point, genetic studies indicate that humans diverged from earlier species as a population, not a single couple. See [http://biologos.org/blog/does-genetics-point-to-a-single-primal-couple] and [http://whyevolutionistrue.wordpress.com/2011/09/18/how-big-was-the-human-population-bottleneck-not-anything-close-to-2/].''
 
Islam does not contest this except that we diverged from an earlier species. Modern humans are all descended from a small population; Noah (PBUH) and his 10-80 followers, the survivors of the great flood which occurred around 2000 years after Adam was sent to Earth. The Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) says in Sahih Bukhari, "The period between Adam and Noah was ten centuries," and the Quran states that Noah preached for 950 years. At any rate, genetics is really a study of statistics, and it is not possible to prove the origin of humanity through it because we do not know that genes worked the same way for Adam and Eve as they do for us. They could have, but God could also have given them several copies of genetic code in order to populate the Earth without having a very shallow gene pool. Since we cannot know the nature of Adam (PBUH) and Eve's (RA) genetic code, we cannot use genetic studies based on the premise that their genes were like ours.  


{{Quote|{{Quran|7|189}}|
{{Quote|{{Quran|7|189}}|
"He it is Who created you from a single being, and of the same (kind) did He make his mate,"  }}
"He it is Who created you from a single being, and of the same (kind) did He make his mate,"  }}
{{Quote|{{Quran|29|14}}|
"And We certainly sent Noah to his people, and he remained among them a thousand years minus fifty years, and the flood seized them while they were wrongdoers.,"  }}


===Creation of humans happened in an instant===
===Creation of humans happened in an instant===
There is no text here except for the ayah below, so I guess the original poster decided that the topic spoke for itself. Humans were not created in an instant, and this ayah does not suggest that they were. Adam was shaped from clay and left like that for a long time before God blew a soul into him. If God had chosen to do so, He could have said, "Be," and he would have been, but that is not what he did. It is not what he did with the heavens and the earth either, which were created in 6 "ayam," which can either mean days or periods of time, and He did not rest or feel tired on the seventh day as suggested by Jews and Christians. It is the day he ascended to his throne above the seven heavens and the jannah. 


{{Quote|{{Quran|2|117}}|
{{Quote|{{Quran|2|117}}|
"To Him is due the primal origin of the heavens and the earth: When He decreeth a matter, He saith to it: "Be," and it is" }}
"Originator of the heavens and the earth. When He decrees a matter, He only says to it, "Be," and it is." }}


===Fall from paradise down to the earth===
{{Quote|{{Quran|2|117}}|
 
"And We did certainly create the heavens and earth and what is between them in six days, and there touched Us no weariness."}}
{{Quote|{{Quran|2|36}}|
"Then did Satan make them slip from the (garden), and get them out of the state (of felicity) in which they had been. We said: "Get ye down, all (ye people), with enmity between yourselves. On earth will be your dwelling-place and your means of livelihood - for a time."   }}


==Astronomy==
==Astronomy==
Summoora
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