does the qur'an have any scientific miracles part 1 of 2

httpwwwmukto-monacomArticlesavijitQuran_miraclehtm

Does the Quran Have any scientific Miracles 10 Top-most Scientific Myths about the Quran

By Avijit Roy

Part 1 of 2

Richard Carrierrsquos recent essay ldquoPredicting Modern Science Epicurus vs Mohammedrdquo in Secular Web inspired me to reform this treatise

Being the founding moderator of Mukto-mona (an internet congregation of secularists atheists agnostics freethinkers rationalists skeptics and humanists of Bengali origin) for more than three years I had to engage in argument by discussing with indefinite numbers of Bangladeshi apologists multitudinous are from highly educated of Islamic origin (mentioned as ldquoIslamic scholarsrdquo hereafter)

I have examined all the arguments (scientific-hermeneutic approach) the Islamic scholars commonly put forward in favor of the divine origin for the text of their holy scripture I have also gone through many web pages books and videos that have been produced by both Bengali and non-Bengali Islamic sources proclaiming that some verses in their scriptures contain super-scientific facts

This essay is an attempt to examine critically and carefully some if not all of those ldquomiraculous scientific factsrdquo and to point out some fallacies myths and ldquoclever reinterpretationrdquo of the vague verses that appear in the debates with an intent to convince others about the pseudo-scientific claims

I have written previously a lot in some online newspapers progressive web sites and forums both in Bengali and English touching the issues (Richard Carrier also referred to one of my essays in his above-mentioned piece) Also I have found Jochen Katz Answering-Islam site serves as a great resource for possible answers to such popular claims nevertheless they have not touched all the considerable topics for eg Big Bang the expansion of Universe to mention few

Again Answering-Islam team always responds the issues from a Christian perspective Approaches to this polemic from a secular non-theist (atheistagnosticskeptic) perspective are somewhat slim on the net [12] This is also one of my motivations to formulate this article especially for secular web (by mentioning my personal inclination towards secular philosophy I am not disregarding the comprehensive wealth of material criticizing Islam and Qurrsquoan in Answering-Islam though)

The fundamentalist Islamic scholars always claim that Qurrsquoan miraculously predicted many invention of modern science and all of those Quranic predictions and myths are flawless Their plan of action lifted to a newer dimension serving euphoria to a great extent when they have found Dr Maurice Bucaille a French physician started talking in favor of their faith in his famous book The Bible The Qurrsquoan and Sciencerdquo [4] They suddenly started finding Big Bang theory expansion of universe atom molecules

1


shooting stars embryologic facts cosmology genetics and many other theories of modern science in Qurrsquoan

Although I found Bucailles intentions of relating modern science with Islam are somewhat wishful shady ambiguous and doubtful the dearth of well-written books by occidental non-Muslim scholars available in English necessitates the use this particular book to propagate various form of pro-Islamic apologia

The objective of this article is not to focus on the arguments of Dr Bucaille in general as two of my Mukto-Mona collogues have already done a splendid job in their respective articles [4 13] by exposing some of the dishonest tricks taken by Dr Bucaille Also there are some other books from Christian perspective available which categorically refuted Dr Bucaillersquos numerous pseudo-scientific claims [14]

The purpose of my article is mainly to show the flawed nature of Islamic apologists who use to link science with ambiguous religious verses and subsequently claim transcendental nature of holy verses on the discovery of many scientific truths Before dwelling on it further I wish to put here three of my important objections to such claims in my later part of discussion I will refute the specific claims of those famous scientific myths

Objection 1 If it was indeed the case those scriptures contain scientific facts and principles then we wouldnt need popular science books to explain scientific facts to common people

Instead the verses of the scriptures which are claimed to represent scientific facts and principles could be compiled and published as an Introduction to Science There is no doubt that if those vague verses are indeed compiled and edited (omitting God or prophets and other holy references) and then published as a science book these books will not even be published even if it is no one will buy it

It is a sure failure thats why the apologists have never attempted it These verses cannot stand on their own merit as anything close to even a popular exposition of scientific facts and principles let alone as accurate scientific statements

Objection 2 If Qurrsquoan is a book of science then what branch of science is this Physics Chemistry Biology Social science Library science Political science No answer [1] Islamic scholars can only give the answer in the line of technologicalmedical science relating blurry wordings of the book with practical examples of embryology astronomy Big-Bang etc

Moreover if one considers Qurrsquoan as a scientific book then they should be able to show us at least one scientific principle that is disclosed in the Quran without using any mumbo jumbo words and hocus pocus boring tricks of difficulty with confusing translation of the Quran They should be able to tell us where in the Quran one can find the laws of gravitation laws of planetary rotation principle of atomic structure of matters the periodic table of elements theory of relativity geological science and which chapter of Qurrsquoan deals with the modern science of aerodynamics genetics engineering and inter-planetary travel and elucidation of genetic code etc [2]

2


We fail to ascertain any meaningful direction Moreover If a perfect book written by a perfect God having intention to reveal a scientific idea it should not have been so vague and metaphoric but accurate and scientific enough that it can be put in a physics chemistrybiology textbook without the need of any change Not a single verse in the Holy Books contain even one scientific term like atom electron cloning Theory of relativity Uncertainty principle etc

A perfect book cannot be lacking in precision so much [3] In fact the term ldquoIslamic Sciencerdquo popularly quoted in Islamic web sites and articles by the Islamic scholars is also flawed in nature if we consider the basic definition of science not scienticism per se Pakistani Nobel laureate Physicist Dr Abdus Salam wrote in forwarding letter of Dr Parvez Hoodboyrsquos book [16]

ldquoThere is only one Universal Science its problems and modalities are international and there is no such thing as Islamic Science just as there is no Hindu Science nor Jewish Science no Confucian Science nor Christian Science

This is the inherent beauty of science - the scientists can speak the same language irrespective to their races religion or nations and the language is science itself Nobel laureate Physicist Steven Weinberg also remarked in the same manner [17]

The experience of listening to a discussion of Quantum field theory or weak interactions in a seminar room in Tsukuba or Bombay gives me a powerful impression that the laws of physics have an existence of their ownrdquo

The concept of Islamic science is therefore faulty in light of science

Objection 3 If one insists that the verses of scriptures are literally word of Allah (God) who is omnipotent and omniscient then one is forced to conclude that Allah as a perfect being is even a worse science writer than humans and if Allah really wanted to communicate scientific facts and principles to his mortal creations humans He failed miserably Nobody discovered or understood those scientific facts and principles until humans discovered them on their own with no help from the verses And as the words of a perfect being the scientific accuracy of the verses should have been of such magnitude and objectivity that their could not be any scope of any dispute about them among humans and all would accept them like they do all the scientific principles discussed in science text books

Now we will discuss and scrutinize critically the 10 top most (pseudo) scientific myths of Qurrsquoan I have decided to publish it in two parts

3


1 The Qurrsquoan foretells the Big Bang

[al-Anbiya 2130] Have not those who disbelieve known that the heavens and the earth were of one piece and then we parted them

Some Muslim interpreters try to relate the above-mentioned sura with Big Bang But does it really depict any fact about Big Bang at all Lets look the next verses to understand the Quranic image

2130 Have not those who disbelieve known that the heavens and the earth were of one piece then we parted them and we made every living thing of water Will they not then believe

2131 And we have placed in the earth firm hills lest it quake with them and We have placed therein ravines as roads that haply they may find their way

2132 And we have made the sky a roof withheld (from them) Yet they turn away from its portents

For further clarification let us also quote verse from Sura Al-Rad (132)

Allah it is Who raised up the heavens without visible supports then mounted the Throne and compelled the sun and the moon to be of service each runneth unto an appointed term He ordereth the course He detaileth the revelations that haply ye may be certain of the meeting with your Lord

It looks like a very primitive image on the relationship between the heavens and earth After Allah raise up the heavens on unseen pillars and put down the earth he put the mountains on the earth to not quake like putting a heavy thing on a piece of paper to not fly Allah make the sky a roof withheld to not fall on people head

How he do so By putting the heavens on unseen pillars How could one pass these as twentieth century science Still more strange is this part of verse 2130hellipthe heavens and the earth were of one piece then we parted them helliprsquo If these few words are really the proof of lsquoBig-Bangrsquo then one may legitimately ask where is the mention of the huge explosion The word lsquoBig-Bangrsquo itself is very significant here Where do we find the sign of that famous lsquoBangrsquo [5]

Moreover Big Bang in Physics refers to the explosion of SPACE-TIME SINGULARITY (not matter) Matter was not even created when Big Bang happened Earth was formed billions of years after the Big Bang The above verses are clearly referring to earth and sky being joined (which doesnt even have a common sense or scientific meaning) together and then being split apart (again no scientific or common sense meaning) forget about comparing it to Big Bang

A scientifically and common sensually meaningless statement like - sky and earth being joined and subsequently separatedrdquo cannot be suggested as hinting to the scientific facts of Big Bang In fact why the idea is put in such form in Qurrsquoan can be easily

4


guessed Such kind of idea that the heavens and earth were once joined and then separated by the activity of Gods and Goddesses was actually quite common among pagans of the Middle East Among the Egyptians for example it was the involuntary separation of Geb (the earth god) from his wife and sister Nut (the sky goddess) that was responsible for the division of the earth from the sky The Sumerian Epic of Gilgamesh likewise describes the moment ldquowhen the heavens had been separated from the earth when the earth had been delimited from the heavensrdquo as a result of the separation of a sky God (An) from a earth Goddess (Ki) If you remove the pagan references you have the same story as found in the Qurrsquoan [10]

Again from Quantum theory we know that moments after the explosion occurred the four forces of nature strong nuclear weak nuclear electromagnetic and gravity were combined as a single super force (Wald) Where are those indications in those verses of Qurrsquoan How can someone derive Hubbles Constant from those verses How can some one calculate red shift How can we measure Doppler shifts No answer

If there is no answer of those scientific enquiries how can one make himself convince that those verses actually describing big bang not the partition of an egg before making an omelette

On a side note I want to add Nobel laureate Physicist Dr Abdus Salam once warned us against people trying to explain Big Bang using verses from Quran [15] saying that the current version of Big Bang is the best known scientific explanation for the creation of the universe What if a better scientific explanation than Big Bang is found tomorrow Should the verses be changed to accommodate the new scientific view Certainly it is not possible thus it shows the inherent contradiction such attempt leads to Religious revelations can never vindicate or falsify science The truth or falsity of a scientific principle lies within science itself

2 Qurrsquoan foretells about Expanding Universe

[ADH-DHARIYAT 5148] And the earth we have made it a wide extent how well have we then spread (it) out

Islamic scholars try to relate the above-mentioned ayat with expanding universe But there is no mention of universe at all in this verse This verse here is only talking about earth Spreading the earth out does not correlate with any expansion of universe by any means rather it establishes century old incorrect Quranic flat earth theory [6]

Some Islamic scholars also use to quote the previous verse (5147) of the same Soorat az-Zaariyaat to justify the identical claim For example one of these popular claims put forth by Harun Yahya a renowned Islamic scholar of Muslim community wrote in his article ldquoTHE SIGNS OF THE QURANrdquo

5


Another truth revealed in the Quran is the expansion of the universe that was discovered in the late 1920s Hubbles discovery of the red shift in the spectrum of starlight is revealed in the Quran as

It is we who have built the universe with (Our creative) power and verily it is we who are steadily expanding it (Surat adh-Dhariyat 47)

The first important point to ponder whether is the actual statements of the Qurrsquoan have been honestly presented here Mr Yahya quotes the Qurrsquoan as saying in 5147 ldquoIt is We Who have built the universe with (Our creative) power and verily it is We Who are steadily expanding itrdquo

The purpose of the above translation could have served well for Mr Yahya and his gullible followers but not the sceptics for obvious reasons Let me quote the three most highly regarded English translations that generally available in the Net [18] Their versions are

051047 YUSUFALI With power and skill did we construct the Firmament for it is we Who create the vastness of pace PICKTHAL We have built the heaven with might and we it is who make the vast extent (thereof) SHAKIR And the heaven we raised it high with power and most surely we are the makers of things ample

None among the above-mentioned translators gives the slightest idea of an ongoing expansion of the universe In fact none of them refers to the ldquouniverserdquo at all but to the heavens or firmament in contrast to the Yaha immediately following which discusses the earth in the following verse (051048) that I explained previously Denis Giron also explained in one of his wonderfully written pieces that the verb from which the Arabic word (moosioon) is derived cannot mean lsquoexpandrsquo [19]

Also according to Dr Ali Sina the word used here is moosiAAoona which drives from word vaseun [24] It means vast It has nothing to do with expanding When one says al rezwano vaseun it refers the garden is vast It does not mean that the garden is expanding Any Arab standing in the clear nights of the desert could lookup at the sky and see that it was vast Muhammad is stating the obvious There is no scientific miracle or prophecy in this

The cause of the expansion of the universe is scientifically known from Modern High Energy Astrophysics known as the theory of inflation The theory is guided by Einsteins mathematical theory of general relativity about the physical universe These are all characterized at any instant in cosmological history by mathematically- infinite space-like surfaces (3-d space in other words) In this (open) model of the universe everything is expanding in the same sense that the points on a balloons surface move away from all other points as the balloon is inflated General Relativity says that for infinite universes the same kind of expansion occurs Inflationary cosmology adds to this by

6


saying that we live in a small pocket of some vaster space-time This pocked emerged from a tiny patch in the primordial space-time and inflated to a vast size (I have written a series of articles in Bengali mentioning the facts of origin and expanding nature of Universe which is under publication in a book format)

From the above analysis it should be clear that nothing in those Quranic verses come any close to what an expansion of universe really means Those who want to relate the verse with expansion of universe do this just by their wishful interpretation or favourable twist

3 Qurrsquoan mentions that the Universe originated from a gaseous cloud

[FUSSILAT 4111] Then turned He to the heaven when it was smoke and said unto it and unto the earth Come both of you willingly or loth They said We come obedient

Muslim fundamentalists by pointing out the above verse claim that the Quran miraculously foretells that origin of universe began with the gaseous mater They try to confuse the common people that it is the great and surest sign that the Quran is a book of God Richard Carrier has already refuted this claim in detail in his article Cosmology and the Koran A Response to Muslim Fundamentalists Lets study some of his findings once again in this regard

First of all the universe did not begin as a gas or any gaseous material From current Big Bang theory we know the universe began before any matter of any kind existed--it began as pure energy It took several moments for any matter to form and then it was a plasma not a gas Gases only came later after the plasma cooled and yet gasses were still not the only constituent--much of the mass-energy at even that point as before was comprised of electromagnetic radiation--light The fact that the Qurrsquoan fails to mention any of this or any other crucial scientific information is precisely why its claim to scientific accuracy is to be dismissed It is making vague metaphysical statements and that is not science [7]

Secondly Even for the shake of arguments if we take gaseous material as plasma then also the problem remains unsolved The main problem is that the above-mentioned verse actually does not say about any gaseous material which Islamic scholars are continuously claiming

The Arabic word used in this verse is dukhan - smoke [7] Trying to relate smoke with gaseous material is nothing but a hide and seek wordy games played by Islamic scholars Moreover Smoke is made of ash predominantly carbon and is produced from burning (oxidation) not plasma condensation Smoke looks nothing like heated hydrogen or helium does not share its elemental mass or other properties and does not even possess many of the general properties of a gas Thus Allah chose the wrong word He could have used hot gases or hot gases expanding in a vacuum or anything which is much closer to the truth

7


If we critically examine this verse it becomes very clear to us that this verse is far from being scientific to define initial condition of the universe that verse is really hoax

Thirdly Lets check the chronological order of the above verse from Qurrsquoan

From verse 419 we find that that the earth is made in two days and this is the first two days in the list After the creation of earth Allah describes the next two days of creation completing the first four days equal in which mountains and plants are made in verse 4110 Thus we find a gradual order of the Quranic creation ie Allah first created the earth and then filled the earth with mountains and plants (It is quite understandable that mountains and plants could not be made before the earth was made thus 4110 follows 419 in a quite reasonable order) But then we see that verse 4111 establishes an undeniable context in which the universe exists as smoke at the same time that the earth already exists since God rose over towards the heaven when it was smoke and spoke to it and to the earth therefore no Muslim can rationally deny that this verse clearly says the earth existed at the same time as the smoke which is totally irrational and absurd

Thus the verse mentioned above which is claimed to be a perfect analogy describing the initial condition of the universe is nothing but a clever deception

4 Qurrsquoan reveals Embryological facts

[AL-MUMENOON 23 12-14] Verily We created man from a product of wet earth Then placed him as a drop (of seed) in a safe lodging Then fashioned We the drop a clot then fashioned We the clot a little lump then fashioned We the little lump bones then clothed the bones with flesh and then produced it as another creation So blessed be Allah the Best of creators

Some Islamic scholars find the embryological facts in above verse But if we check the verse from a rational point of view it appears to us with a different meaning Lets check the above verse critically First line is totally wrong Man is not a product of any wet earth Moreover Qurrsquoan ambiguously asserts many common sensually meaningless statements about such an elementary matter in other verses For examples sometimes it tells that we are created from earth (1161) sometimes it claims from dry clay (15262833 1761 327) sometimes from nothing (1967) sometimes NOT from nothing (5235) sometimes from wet earth (2312) or from mire (3871) sometimes from water (2554 2130 2445) sometimes from dust ( 359 3020 3511) or even sometimes from dead (3019 396) So which one is true Those contradictory ambiguous statements actually do not reveal any scientific facts regarding either how we created or what exactly we are made of

Before analyzing rest of the portion of the above verse I would like to cite an useful information to the readers In 1982 Keith Moore an anatomy professor at the University

8


of Toronto produced a textbook titled The Developing Human 3rd edition Relating embryological facts with Qurrsquoanic verse wishfully in Muslim community mainly started thereafter In his book Moore states astonishment at the way embryonic development is depicted in the Quran Moore took Yusuf Alis translation of the verse under discussion which directly uses the word ldquospermrdquo [8]

023013 YUSUFALI Then we placed him as (a drop of) sperm in a place of rest firmly fixed PICKTHAL Then placed him as a drop (of seed) in a safe lodging SHAKIR Then We made him a small seed in a firm resting-place

023014 YUSUFALI Then We made the sperm into a clot of congealed blood then of that clot We made a (fetus) lump then we made out of that lump bones and clothed the bones with flesh then we developed out of it another creature So blessed be Allah the best to create PICKTHAL Then fashioned We the drop a clot then fashioned We the clot a little lump then fashioned We the little lump bones then clothed the bones with flesh and then produced it as another creation So blessed be Allah the Best of creators SHAKIR Then We made the seed a clot then We made the clot a lump of flesh then We made (in) the lump of flesh bones then We clothed the bones with flesh then We caused it to grow into another creation so blessed be Allah the best of the creators

Many people may amaze by the mention of sperm in this verse But close observation reveals that there is nothing supernatural in it Since the beginning of time man has been quite aware of the seed that is released from the penis during sexual intercourse The old Hindu scriptures or Bible which are much older than the Quran also have such indication

Aristotle clearly described about formation of a child inside the womb early 1000 years before the Quran was written No body claimed any miracles for it In fact Aristotle correctly described the function of the umbilical cord something not mentioned in the Quran showing that earlier philosophers were aware of such things mentioned by Muhammad and more [8]

Actually the Quran contains erroneous ancient theories developed by Roman and Greek philosophers about human development Let us consider the following verse referring to sperm

He is created from a drop emitted- Proceeding from between the backbone and the ribs (sura At-Tariq 866-7)

Clearly this verse is incorrect and clearly it has origins in earlier theories First of all for sperm to originate between the back and the ribs would mean that it comes from the kidneys Greek physician Hippocrates theorized this wrong idea long before Muhammad that sperm passed through the kidneys into the penis For centuries this was an

9


accepted (and incorrect) belief of the origins of sperm Aristotle though correctly described the function of the umbilical cord also amusingly believed that sperm testicles functioned as weights to keep the seminal passages open during sexual intercourse [20] One can easily find similar erroneous concepts in the Quran too

Let us focus on another scenario by considering the following sura from Qurrsquoan

O mankind if ye are in doubt concerning the Resurrection then lo We have created you from dust then from a drop of seed then from a clot then from a little lump of flesh shapely and shapeless that we may make (it) clear for you And we cause what we will to remain in the wombs for an appointed time and afterward we bring you forth as infants then (give you growth) that ye attain your full strength And among you there is he who dieth (young) and among you there is he who is brought back to the most abject time of life so that after knowledge he knoweth naught And thou (Muhammad) seest the earth barren but when we send down water thereon it doth thrill and swell and put forth every lovely kind (of growth) (Sura Al-Hajj 022005)

The verse mentions three primary stages of embryonic development (1) a ldquoseedrdquo ldquodroprdquo or ldquosemenrdquo phase (in Arabic ldquonutfahrdquo) (2) followed by a ldquoclotrdquo or ldquoleach-like clotrdquo phase (in Arabic ldquoAlaqahrdquo) (3) followed finally by a ldquomorsel of fleshrdquo or ldquochewed lumprdquo phase (in Arabic ldquoMudghahrdquo) Some other additional suras can also be cited that deal with this subject and none seems to disagree with this basic scenario Again the hadiths particularly that of Bukhari and Muslim gives some relevant information For eg following hadith tells us about developmental timing of an embryo

Sahih Bukhari Volume 4 Book 54 Number 430

Narrated Abdullah bin Musud

ldquoAllahs Apostle the true and truly inspired said (The matter of the Creation of) a human being is put together in the womb of the mother in forty days and then he becomes a clot of thick blood for a similar period and then a piece of flesh for a similar periodrdquo

Also Sahih Muslim Book 033 Number 6395

Abu Tufail reported

I visited Abu Sariha Hudhaifa b Usaid al-Ghifari who said I listened with these two ears of mine Allahs Messenger (may peace be upon him) as saying The semen stays in the womb for forty nights then the angel gives it a shape Zubair said I think that he said One who fashions that and decides whether he would be male or female Then he (the angel) says Would his limbs be full or imperfect And then the Lord makes them full and perfect or otherwise as He desires Then he says My Lord what about his livelihood and his death and what about his disposition And then the Lord decides about his misfortune and fortune

10


These same details are also given in Sahih Bukhari Volume 4 Book 55 and Number 549 Sahih Bukhari Volume 8 Book 77 Number 593 Sahih Bukhari Volume 9 Book 93 Number 546 etc The key information gained from all these above mentioned hadiths are that the three phases (nutfah alaqah and madghah) takes 40 days each for a total period of 40 + 40 + 40 = 120 days from conception to the point at which the embryo becomes a fetus After that the blood clot was turned to bone and then God clothed the bones with flesh (Qurrsquoan 2313-14) And finally an angel assigns the gender of the child

The whole idea is completely erroneous in many ways First of all the human embryo becomes a fetus around week 9 ie roughly half the time ldquoIslamic embryologyrdquo suggests Again there are no developmental milestones which can be mapped to the thrice forty-day period even though they are suggested in several authoritative hadiths with full support from Qurrsquoan Also from medical science we know in human development process living tissue forms first and then bones grow at a later time and it continues to gain strength for many years after birth But by expressing blood clot was turned to bone Qurrsquoan in fact reveals its one of many scientific inaccuracies

Finally if we check the above cited verses of Qurrsquoan carefully we will find nowhere in Qurrsquoan it mentions about human egg instead Qurrsquoan refers to the ldquodrop of seedrdquo solely This is because most primitive peoples including Arabs thought that the whole child was in the seed of the man The woman was considered simply as the oven or incubator that fully contained in the fatherrsquos seed They could not figure out its existence as no one could find the eggs of the woman at that time

It is a historical fact that prior to the medical community comprehending that women actually have eggs and men have sperm that must be combined to produce a child it was widely believed that the whole child was contained in the mans seed This was also Catholic Church doctrine for hundreds of years Not spilling ones seed on the ground is an admonition against masturbation because it was believed that ones children would be eliminated

The majority of Islamic scholars consider it haram (prohibited) too for having direct support from hadith [21] It can be pointed out from Islamic culture that the Shah of Iran divorced her wife Soraya (Soraya Esfandiari Bakhtiari) because of no children In rural areas of Bangladesh in similar fashion many women gets divorced each year because they are wrongly blamed for not being capable of producing male child

11


5 Qurrsquoan reveals that the Earth is round

This is far from truth There is no sura in Qurrsquoan that can claim for accuracy to reveal that earth is round Lets find some of those wonderful cosmological facts from Qurrsquoan In many places of miraculous Qurrsquoan it alludes to the fact that earth is flat and mountains are like poles which create a balance so that earth does not tilt In chapter 881720 it is recorded

Will they not regard the camels how they are created and earth how it spread

Even many Muslim scholars confess that in this phrase how it spread he denotes that earth is flat All the scholars of Islam agree upon this It is not round as the physicists claim

There are some other suras excerpted from Qurrsquoan for the discerning readers to prove that Qurrsquoan clearly supports the erroneous flat earth theory [5 9]

And the earth have we spread out and placed therein firm hills and caused each seemly thing to grow thereinhellip(Sura Al-Hijr 1519)

Who hath appointed the earth as a bed and hath threaded roads for you therein and hath sent down water from the sky and thereby we have brought forth divers kinds of vegetationhellip(Sura Ta Ha 2053)

Who made the earth a resting-place for you and placed roads for you therein that haply ye may find your wayhellip(Sura Az-Zukhruf 4310)

And the earth have we spread out and have flung firm hills therein and have caused of every lovely kind to grow thereon hellip(Sura Qaf 507)

And Allah hath made the earth a wide expanse for youhellip(Sura Nooh 7119)

Now lets check two prominent suras from Qurrsquoan In one sura Quran says that one of the righteous men of Gods servants saw the Sun setting in a certain place of the Earth-in particular a well full of water and mud There this man found some people Let us read what is recorded in the Quran (chapter the Cave verse 86)

Till when he reached the setting-place of the sun he found it setting in a muddy spring and found a people thereabout We said O Dhul-Qarneyn Either punish or show them kindness (Sura Al-Kahf 018086)

Again in another verse of the same sura it is said -

Till when he reached the rising-place of the sun he found it rising on a people for whom We had appointed no shelter therefrom (Sura Al-Kahf 018090)

Any reader who has some common sense and preliminary knowledge of science knows that sun does not need to have any rising or setting place because sun neither rise nor does it set It is the diurnal motion of the earth which makes appear in every place of earth for suns rising and setting But it seems that omniscient Allah does

12


not know the simple scientific truth Allah thought that sun needs a definite rising and setting place and one does need to go to the end of the world to find it risingsetting This gives an idea the people of Muhammadrsquos time believed that the Earth is flat and the sun moves in the sky rising from one place and setting in another

The proof of flat earth is implicit in the instruction for Muslim prayer times Aroj Ali Matubbar the peasant-philosopher of Bengal has further elaborated on this idea of flat earth in his book lsquoThe Quest for Truthrsquo [22] Let us take this opportunity to examine his elaboration Allah clearly assumes that universality of time and has no concept of Local Time It is found that in almost all religions there are certain fixed hours for certain prayers But it is not understood why the Lord of the universe should withhold His acceptance if a person says hisher prayers before or after the fixed hours Islam enjoins saying onersquos prayers five times a day at particular hours and there are certain hours when prayers are forbidden

The diurnal motion of the earth causes difference in the local time of the countries situated in different longitudes as a result of which there is a prayer time at every moment of the day and night in some places or other Yet it is forbidden to say onersquos prayers at sunrise at 12 noon and at sunset What is its significance The sun rises at different hours at different places ndash earlier in eastern countries and later in the western countries So when prayers are forbidden here it is not forbidden elsewhere at that particular moment For instance when the sun rises in New York it is yet to rise in Los Angels and it had already risen in London a few hours ago Thus when prayers are forbidden at New York it is not forbidden in LA or London In that case is there any sense in forbidding prayers at particular hours

The same question applies to prescribed hours for prayers Since every moment is a prayer time in some place or other what is the point in fixing certain hours for certain prayers

There was a time when the Earth was supposed to be flat and stationary which would make the hour of clock at any given moment identical in all the countries or places of the world with no variation in local time Probably this notion led to the prescribed prayerndashschedule But now it has been proved that the earth is a moving sphere Let us now discuss the problems arising out of the erroneous notion

Suppose after saying his afternoon prayer ldquoZoharrdquo at half past one a man started for Holly Mecca in Saudi Arabia by plane from Bangladesh flying at a speed of 3000 miles per hour On reaching there he found that it was yet to be noon Will he have to say the ldquoZoharrdquo prayer once again when the appointed time for it comes

If a plane flies west at a speed 104167 miles per hour the sun will appear to be at rest as if it stood motionless at one place and the passengers will have no idea of the time of day ndash morning noon or evening ndash by looking at the sun In this circumstance how will the passengers take care of their prayers and fasting

It is only in the equatorial region of the earth that at certain times of the year the days and nights are of equal or nearly equal duration But the further north and south we travel from this region the longer are the days or nights depending on the season of the

13


year In some countries near the arctic region days become so long in summer that soon after dusk the sun rises again with no night between evening and dawn How will one say onersquos Esha prayer there

In the arctic region about six months of continuous daytime is followed by a night lasting for six months Since we get only one day and one night there it may be possible to say onersquos prayers five times a year but how can one fast there for thirty days from dawn to dusk This is proof enough that Allah was not knowledgeable about the reality of the Earth and probably considered the Earth as flat

After Maurice Bucailles Bible Qurrsquoan and Science appeared in the market in 1976 it had created literally a sensation especially among educated community in Bangladesh A new trend has been observed to relate modern science with vague verses of the holy books It would however not be irrelevant to point out at this moment from the news media and rationalisthumanist web-sites how some western $cientists (yes some are exposed as $cientists not scientists) are bribed duped into endorsing so called Qurrsquoanic Science

How Western Scientists Discovered $cience in Qurrsquoan by Abul Kasem

Western Scientists Bribed Duped into Endorsing Qurrsquoanic Science by James Dorsey

Embryonic Terrorist Dawaganda by Sadiqi az-Zindiki

In Bangladesh I have seen exactly similar efforts from some Muslim intellectuals who have already started writing so called super scientific books following the leading trend showed by Dr Bucaille and Dr Moore The most prominent fundamentalist organization named Islamic Foundation of Bangladesh has undertaken some wonderful projects and philanthropic tasks of unfolding the scientific treasures hidden in Qurrsquoan Such efforts are warm-heartedly being patronized by Bangladesh government [11]

Hundreds of popular pseudo-scientific books have already been written to influence the common people of Bangladesh even some fundamentalist organization inspired by the mission are threatening the secular professors demanding to change the University syllabus to make the education system compatible with Islamic Science [23] I would like to touch on some other prominent scientific myths in the second part

======================================================

References

[1] Fatemolla Qurarsquoanic Debate - 1 Mukto-Mona

[2] Abul Kasem Reinventing and Redefining Islam Mukto-Mona

[3] Aparthib Myths amp Fallacies of Religious Apologetics Mukto-Mona

[4] Abul Kasem How Western Scientists Discovered $cience in Qurrsquoan Mukto-mona

14


[5] Avijit Roy Super-Scientific Religious Scriptures Mukto-mona

[6] Dr Ali Sina Genesis According to Muhammad FFI

[7] Richard Carrier Cosmology and the Koran A Response to Muslim Fundamentalists Secular Web

[8] Denis Giron Islamic Science Does Islamic literature contain scientific miracles Secular Web

[9] Abul Kasem Allahs Flat earth and His Cosmos Mukto-Mona

[10] TH Huxley Islam and the ldquoBig Bangrdquo A Refutation Mukto-Mona

[11] Jahed Ahmed A Pseudo-scientist gets 25 million Taka from PM Khaleda Mukto-Mona

[12] Dr Abdul-Kalaam Pangloss The Quran and the Big Bang freethoughtmecca

[13] Syed Kamran Mirza Religion Science and Maurice Bucaille Mukto-Mona

[14] William F Campbell The Qurrsquoan and the Bible in the light of history amp Science Second Edition Middle East Resources 2002 ISBN 1-881085-03-01

[15] Aparthib Zaman Mixing Science with Religion Mukto-Mona

[16] Dr Pervez Hoodbhoy Islam and Science Zed Books Ltd 1991 ISBN 1-85649-025-4

[17] Steven Weinberg Dreams of a Final Theory The Scientists Search for the Ultimate Laws of Nature p-47-48

[18] Qurrsquoan translations are cited from the website httpwwwuscedudeptMSAquran

[19] Denis Giron Expansion of the Universe in the Bible and the Quran Comparing Isaiah to Soorat az-Zaariyaat

[20] Syed Kamran Mirza Ambiguity of Human Embryology Science in Quran (1) Mukto-Mona

[21]Hadith translations are cited from the website httpwwwuscedudeptMSAfundamentalshadithsunnah

[22] MohaGuru Aroj Ali Matubbar - a truly home-grown philosopher of Bangladesh httpmohaguruhumanistsnet

[23] Professor Ajoy Roy Three DU Teachers threatened Mukto-mona

[24] Dr Ali Sina httpwwwfaithfreedomorgdebatesrezwanhtm FFI

15



shooting stars embryologic facts cosmology genetics and many other theories of modern science in Qurrsquoan

Although I found Bucailles intentions of relating modern science with Islam are somewhat wishful shady ambiguous and doubtful the dearth of well-written books by occidental non-Muslim scholars available in English necessitates the use this particular book to propagate various form of pro-Islamic apologia

The objective of this article is not to focus on the arguments of Dr Bucaille in general as two of my Mukto-Mona collogues have already done a splendid job in their respective articles [4 13] by exposing some of the dishonest tricks taken by Dr Bucaille Also there are some other books from Christian perspective available which categorically refuted Dr Bucaillersquos numerous pseudo-scientific claims [14]

The purpose of my article is mainly to show the flawed nature of Islamic apologists who use to link science with ambiguous religious verses and subsequently claim transcendental nature of holy verses on the discovery of many scientific truths Before dwelling on it further I wish to put here three of my important objections to such claims in my later part of discussion I will refute the specific claims of those famous scientific myths

Objection 1 If it was indeed the case those scriptures contain scientific facts and principles then we wouldnt need popular science books to explain scientific facts to common people

Instead the verses of the scriptures which are claimed to represent scientific facts and principles could be compiled and published as an Introduction to Science There is no doubt that if those vague verses are indeed compiled and edited (omitting God or prophets and other holy references) and then published as a science book these books will not even be published even if it is no one will buy it

It is a sure failure thats why the apologists have never attempted it These verses cannot stand on their own merit as anything close to even a popular exposition of scientific facts and principles let alone as accurate scientific statements

Objection 2 If Qurrsquoan is a book of science then what branch of science is this Physics Chemistry Biology Social science Library science Political science No answer [1] Islamic scholars can only give the answer in the line of technologicalmedical science relating blurry wordings of the book with practical examples of embryology astronomy Big-Bang etc

Moreover if one considers Qurrsquoan as a scientific book then they should be able to show us at least one scientific principle that is disclosed in the Quran without using any mumbo jumbo words and hocus pocus boring tricks of difficulty with confusing translation of the Quran They should be able to tell us where in the Quran one can find the laws of gravitation laws of planetary rotation principle of atomic structure of matters the periodic table of elements theory of relativity geological science and which chapter of Qurrsquoan deals with the modern science of aerodynamics genetics engineering and inter-planetary travel and elucidation of genetic code etc [2]

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Abu Tufail reported


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Abu Tufail reported


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Abu Tufail reported


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Abu Tufail reported


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Abu Tufail reported


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Abu Tufail reported


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Abu Tufail reported


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15


does the qur'an have any scientific miracles part 1 of 2

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