Does the Qur'an Have any scientific Miracles?

10 Top-most Scientific Myths about the Qur'an

[Part-1]    [Part-2]

 

PART-2:
 

"My only wish is to transform friends of God into Friends of man, believers to thinkers, devotees of prayer into devotees of work, candidates of hereafter into students of the world, Believers, who by their own admission, are "half animal-half angel" into persons, into whole persons." - Ludwig Andreas von Feuerbach, (1804-1872)

For quite some time we are bombarded in myriad e-forums, web-sites, videos and books with the assertion that Islam is a very scientific religion. Diehard Islamic scholars are eager to prove that many modern-day scientific discoveries were accurately predicted in the Qur'an. In fact, in recent years, soon after Dr. Maurice Bucaille and Keith Moore's (in)famous book  came into limelight a number of "Islamic Scientists" have claimed that there is credible evidence of modern science in Islam as revealed in their miraculous Holy book, the Qur'an. My two-part article has been written to expose the fallacy of that claim. In the first part of my article I provided a critique of five contemporary claims that the Qur'an miraculously supports the recent developments in science. In this part, I will refute five more such claims and argue that science makes a strong case against "Islamic Science" and "miraculous nature" of the Holy Qur'an.

I shall start this part with an excerpt from a book written by a famous Bangladeshi religious scientist, Professor Shamsher Ali, the Chairman of the Committee on Science in Al-Qur'an, Islamic Foundation, Bangladesh. He also teaches in the Physics Department of the Dhaka University. This is what this Bangladeshi scientist says:

"Anybody having the faith in this absolute truth is welcome to use the Qur'an as a test for our scientific principle and not vice versa. Incidentally it may be mentioned that Maurice Bucaille in his book, The Qur'an, the Bible and Science already asserted : There is not a single verse in Holy Qur'an which is assailable from scientific point of view". Our present work fully support this assertion"  [1] 

This is a real irony--an extraordinary claim from a scientist I must say! The author, even being one of the renowned celebrities in scientific community in Bangladesh, puts the Qur'an as an authentic tool to test science, and NOT vice versa! A true scientist will never follow this approach, as he should know, science is not faith; it accepts a theory as a tentative truth--only if it explains the observations of reality better compared to the elucidation based on logic and evidence. For example, if a new scientific hypothesis or theory is put forward it is rigorously scrutinized, experiments done, observations made and if all the results correspond to the theory, it is accepted until it is refuted by later observations and tests. All the methods lay well within the strict domain of science. No sane person can legitimately claim to test science against a religious holy book. A religious book, to be precise, preaches absoluteness and infallibility of its claim of the perceived truth, which is nothing but a dogma. Dogma does not admit any possibility of its being wrong—thus ruling out any revision or correction. Then, how can a dogma be a tool to test science? I wonder what our students will learn if such a capricious definition of science, formulated by Dr. Shamsher Ali is taught in our Universities. This is one of many examples to show how our education system is faltering. Recently, another author of Islami-scientific book proclaimed that the Qur'an itself is enough to reveal the scientific mysteries of nature; rest are all redundant and superfluous [2]. If we really have such a super-scientific book in our hand who needs Brian Greene's The Elegant Universe, Stephen Hawking's A Brief History of Time or Steven Weinberg's The First Three Minutes to explore mystery to common people? Forget about popular science series, why did Newton wrote his famous Principia?—this I can’t comprehend either. Indeed, this claim means every single scientific invention is supposed to be as claimed in the Qur'an--and the rest are redundant. Does not this mean if the entire room is illuminated by 1000 watts of light who will look for a candle?

 Anyway, here are some more rebuttal of scientific prophecy of Holy Qur'an:

 

6. Qur'an tells us "the Sun is the source of light, and the moon a deflector".
 

Nowhere in the Qur'an it is mentioned that the Sun is a source of light and the Moon acts as a deflector. The apologists usually quote the following ayat of Sura YUNUS from Qur'an to prove their biased argument.


 

Transliteration:

Huwa allathee jaAAala alshshamsa diyaan waalqamara nooran waqaddarahu manazila litaAAlamoo AAadada alssineena waalhisaba ma khalaqa Allahu thalika illa bialhaqqi yufassilu al-ayati liqawmin yaAAlamoona

English translation :

010.005
YUSUFALI: It is He Who made the sun to be a shining glory and the moon to be a light (of beauty), and measured out stages for her; that ye might know the number of years and the count (of time). Nowise did Allah create this but in truth and righteousness. (Thus) doth He explain His Signs in detail, for those who understand.

PICKTHAL: He it is Who appointed the sun a splendor and the moon a light, and measured for her stages, that ye might know the number of the years, and the reckoning. Allah created not (all) that save in truth. He detaileth the revelations for people who have knowledge.

SHAKIR: He it is Who made the sun a shining brightness and the moon a light, and ordained for it mansions that you might know the computation of years and the reckoning. Allah did not create it but with truth; He makes the signs manifest for a people who understand.

 

If a reader reads the above verse carefully he will notice that there is no allusion of "source of light" or "deflector" in this verse. It simply says: the Sun is a shining brightness ("splendor and glory of brightness") and the Moon a light!
 

From their daily observation right from the ancient period people knew that the Sun had strong and bright light and the Moon had cool and softer light that illuminates and helps in the darkness of the night. In Bangla we commonly say and in the same manner in English we use "Sunshine" and "Moonlight". This means ancient Bengali/Englishmen also realized that the Sun is more shinning/bright/hot than the appealing Moon just the way an ancient Arab could observe the same phenomena. In fact, it is so simple even to an infant. Here I quote the two words that Qur'an uses [3]:

(diya) Sun shine

(noor) Moon light.
 

Dr Bucaille, however,  in his book proclaimed loudly [7]:

The Sun is a shining glory (diya') and the Moon a light (nur). This translation would appear to be more correct than those given by others, where the two terms are inverted. In fact there is little difference in meaning since diya' belongs to a root (dw') which, according to Kazimirski's authoritative Arabic/French dictionary, means 'to be bright, to shine' (e.g. like a fire). The same author attributes to the substantive in question the meaning of 'light'.

The above explanation of Dr Bucaille may be correct. However, any rational person can perceive that such an explanation need not pertain to any extraordinary miraculous claim when we consider the historical context of the ancient Arabs. For readers’ interest the next part of the verse is quoted below:
 


and the moon a light, and ordained for it mansions that you might know the computation of years and the reckoning.
 

This portion is not miraculous at all. The ancient Arabs used the Sun and the Moon to measure location and time. The lunar months and the lunar years are quite commonly used by pastoral people. Interestingly, now-a-days, science has advanced so far that we do not need to use the Moon to measure time. Curiously, on this recent development, the "miraculous" Qur'an could not provide the slightest indication beforehand.

 

7. Qur'an Tells us modern scientific fact known as "The Atom".
 


 

Transliteration:

Wama takoonu fee sha/nin wama tatloo minhu min qur-anin wala taAAmaloona min AAamalin illa kunna AAalaykum shuhoodan ith tufeedoona feehi wama yaAAzubu AAan rabbika min mithqali tharratin fee al-ardi wala fee alssama-i wala asghara min thalika wala akbara illa fee kitabin mubeenun

English Translation:

010.061
YUSUFALI: In whatever business thou mayest be, and whatever portion thou mayest be reciting from the Qur'an,- and whatever deed ye (mankind) may be doing,- We are witnesses thereof when ye are deeply engrossed therein. Nor is hidden from thy Lord (so much as) the weight of an atom on the earth or in heaven. And not the least and not the greatest of these things but are recorded in a clear record.

PICKTHAL: And thou (Muhammad) art not occupied with any business and thou recitest not a Lecture from this (Scripture), and ye (mankind) perform no act, but We are Witness of you when ye are engaged therein. And not an atom's weight in the earth or in the sky escapeth your Lord, nor what is less than that or greater than that, but it is (written) in a clear Book.

SHAKIR: And you are not (engaged) in any affair, nor do you recite concerning it any portion of the Qur'an, nor do you do any work but We are witnesses over you when you enter into it, and there does not lie concealed from your Lord the weight of an atom in the earth or in the heaven, nor any thing less than that nor greater, but it is in a clear book.

 

The scientific Atomic theory has nothing to do with this Qur'anic Atom. This atom is used in the Qur'an to denote small particles. When the Arabs tried to talk about small particles they could not find a suitable word to describe them; the only appropriate word they could use was "zarah" (dharra) which means  the dust particle, or a mustard seed or the small ant [3]
 

Particularly, Ibn Kathir's tafsir on "zarah" (Q10:61) can be reader's interest :

Neither you do any deed nor recite any portion of the Qur'an, nor you do any deed, but We are Witness thereof when you are doing it. And nothing is hidden from your Lord (so much as) the weight of a speck of dust on the earth or in the heaven. Not what is less than that or what is greater than that but is (written) in a Clear Record.

If the Qur'an really talked scientifically about atoms and molecules we should have some indication about electrons, protons and neutrons. But there is no real indication of them in the whole Qur'an. If any scientist claims that the Qur'an really talks about Atomic physics then he must show us where we may get the scientific idea of Nuclear structure, how can one observe Rutherford scattering, how can one acquire the knowledge of Static properties of nucleus, such as angular momentum, parity, size shape, magnetic multiple moments, electric multiple moments etc., and how about the Dynamic properties; such as nuclear reaction etc.? Neither do we get any idea from the Qur'an about the Strong Interaction model and the Weak Interaction model, nor can we develop, using the Qur'anic principle, any well-established model: such as Fermi degenerate gas model, Alpha particle model, Liquid drop model, Shell model, Optical model, Collective model or compound nucleus model. The Qur'an could only imagine, very ambiguously, small particles as speck of dust and small ants. While the Islamic scientists try to prove that the Qur'an is super-scientific they usually try to explicate the words out of its context  [5].

Again, if someone's prediction on something implying that that would be an evidence of divine inspiration and an aura of supernaturalism then we must bestow that credit to Epicurus (341-270 BC), who predicted, in his poetic summary ‘De Rerum Natura’, in far less ambiguous terms than anything purportedly present in the Qur'an, the existence of atoms and the molecules (the binding of two atoms to produce a different chemical) [6]. Following the principles of the Islamic scholars should we then consider Epicurus a Prophet or his book a divine scripture? Even before Epicurus, around 440 BC, Leucippus of Miletus originated the concept of atom. Later, he and his pupil, Democritus (460-371 BC) of Abdera, refined and extended this idea. There were five major points to their atomic theory at that time. Epicurus, to be precise, developed the work of Leucippus and Democritus and had made their ideas widely known. From ancient history we also learn that significant contributions were made by Indian philosophers. Long before Muhammad was born, Kanada, the founder of the Vaisesika system of philosophy expounded that all matters in this universe consists of atoms. The Tamil word for atom is “anu” (in Bangla we also use the same) which is an ancient word, mentioned in Tamil literatures in 600 AD or even earlier [24]! So there is absolutely no valid reason to claim that the Qur'an, written in later period, solely and miraculously predicted certain assertions on atom now established by modern science.

 

8. Qur'an reveals accurate information about solar system

Dr Bucaille, in his book states the following about our solar system [8] :

"The Earth and planets rotating around the Sun constitute an organized world of dimensions which, to our human scale, appear quite colossal. The Earth is, after all, roughly 93 million miles from the Sun."

Dr Bucaille, perhaps puts some scientific data about our solar system to make his book attractive and scholarly. However, critical review of the Qur’anic verses indicate a totally opposite notion. It may be fair to mention that at the time the Qur’an was written the Christian world, at least, was aware of the shape of the earth. The flat earth, expounded by the church fathers and monks, such as Cosmas Indicopleustes was giving in to Ptolemy’s sphere-based view [10]. In this respect it would be quite natural to find a spherical view of the earth in the Qur’an. Nonetheless, the fact is, not a single verse in the Qur'an supports the spherical view of the earth [11, 12]--let alone more modern theories such as Copernicus's Heliocentrism etc. How can then Qur’an be treated as a divine inspiration?--I really wonder. 

In fact, a painstaking search of the entire Qur’an does not show a single verse anywhere in it that supports the scientific reality of the rotation of earth [12]. According to Allah, the earth is motionless--completely static.  

 In Sura An-Naml (27:61) it is stated clearly: 

Is not He (best) Who made the earth a fixed abode, and placed rivers in the folds thereof, and placed firm hills therein, and hath set a barrier between the two seas? Is there any Allah beside Allah? Nay, but most of them know not!

In the same vein, Sura Al-Rum (30:25), Sura Fatir (35:41), Sura Luqman (31:10), Sura Al-Baqara (2:22), Sura An-Nahl (16:15) exhorts the Allah’s decree that the earth is completely immovable.  Once in one of my articles, I humbly requested an Islamist to show me a verse, just a single verse in the Qur’an, that states that the earth moves round the Sun or that the earth rotates on its own axis, at the least [12] :

In Arabic "ARD" means the Earth and "FALAK" is rotation/movement. Can any one show me any of the verses from the Qur'an that contains these two words one after another ?

Some progressive websites duly published that essay, and one rationalist site even threw a challenge to the fundamentalist Mullahs under the heading, ‘Avijit Roy challenges the fundamentalists.’ This challenge still stands in the cyber world [13]. So far, no Islamic scholar could refute my assertions by citing the appropriate verses from the Qur’an.

Qur'anic solar system can be visualized more accurately by the following picture, which I used in some of my previous articles:

Fig: Qur'anic concept of our solar system 
(Click on the picture for Larger view)

The picture shown above depicting the Qur’anic concept of our solar system, even though quite self explanatory,  misses some very scientific realities, and, therefore, is incomplete in some respect —to say the least. According to the Qur'an our Earth is flat (which I discussed in detail in the 1st Part of this article) and to be more consistent with the Qur'anic view the picture of the flat Earth must be much bigger and the Sun and the Moon are to be much smaller. As per the Qur’an they are “lamps” hanging from the ceiling of the sky supported in turn by invisible columns. Allah also described the heaven (sky) made of seven layers and placed (wrongly) the stars in the lowest layer i.e., lower than the Moon:

Q. 37: 6
 ”We have indeed decked the lower heaven with beauty (in) the stars,...

Q. 67: 5
“And we have, (from of old), adorned the lowest heaven with Lamps,...

The Qur'anic solar system also contains the invisible Jinns. These Jinns, according to Qur'an are made of fire and they climb over each other’s shoulders and reach the heaven to eavesdrop the conversation of the “Exalted Assembly”. Let us read the following verses from the Qur'an:

Q37.8
(So) they should not strain their ears in the direction of the Exalted Assembly but be cast away from every side.

Q. 72: 8-9
 “And (the Jinn who had listened to the Qur'an said): We had sought the heaven but had found it filled with strong warders and meteors. And we used to sit on places (high) therein to listen. But he who listeneth now findeth a flame in wait for him;"
 

But the most interesting part is that Allah believed that the shooting stars and the meteors are the missiles thrown at the eavesdropping Jinns. Here is what the Qur’an says: 

Q. 67: 5
...and We have made such (Lamps) (as) missiles to drive away the Evil Ones, and have prepared for them the Penalty of the Blazing Fire. ... 

The universe, as envisioned by Muhammad/Allah belongs to nothing but on the realm of fairy tales. It is not that Mr. Bucaille, while writing his famous book The Bible, the Qu'ran and Science was unaware of such nonsensical stories as 'projectiles for the stoning of ‘demons’ (5: 67), or 'guard against every rebellious evil spirit' referred in verse 21: 32 and verse 41:12, etc.; however, he cleverly tried to avoid the topic saying, "All these observations seem to lay outside the subject of this study"  [9] for obvious reason. The author also said that scientific data were unable to cast any light on a subject that went beyond human understanding but conveniently forgot to tell us which scientific data satisfied him when the Qur'an said that the Sun also must arise from the muddy waters and must enter the murky waters just as Dzul Qaranain had witnessed (Q18:86, 18:90).

There is also a location in sky for the throne of Allah (Q2:255, 13:2, 25:59, 32:4, 57:4, 40:15) that Dr Bucaille seems to forget. The throne, according to Hadith, is over the waters (Sahih Bukhari Volume 4, Book 54, Number 414) and the Sun has to prostrate in front of the throne and ask the permission of Allah to rise the next day (Sahih Bukhari Volume 4, Book 54, Number 421).

In his book, Bucaille repeatedly claimed, "there is nothing in the text of the Qur'an that contradicts what we know today," but the above citations from the Qur'an and Hadith about modern cosmology reveals the truth which are nothing short of scientific heresies. Despite the desperate attempt of Bucaille and some Muslim apologists [14] to re-interpret and find some esoteric meaning hidden within these vague verses, their obvious contrast with science, logic and common sense is enough to realize that Qur'an is not founded by any divine inspiration.

 

9. Qur'an foretells about "Water Cycle":

Dr Bucaille also claimed in his book that the Qur'an has the foreknowledge of the water cycle, by which, water:


(1) evaporates from the seas and the earth;

(2) becomes clouds; which

(3) give rain; which

(4a) causes the land to bring forth, and 

(4b) replenishes the water table which reveals itself by gushing springs and full wells.

 

Abul Kasem has already pointed out in one of his article [4]:

 If one reads Dr. Bucaille's discourse on these topics, it does not take much intelligence to note the twisted logic and his clever selection of only those verses that serve his purposes.   One striking point however is that he only elucidates a natural phenomenon as described in the Qur’an and interprets that natural phenomenon as the scientific explanation in the Qur’an. This is absolutely unacceptable to anyone who has the slightest idea what scientific knowledge is all about.  

Let's see how Dr William Campbell refuted the Qur'anic science of Bucaille [15] :

Dr Bucaille declares that until the late sixteenth century "man held totally inaccurate views on the water cycle'', and considers that several statements in the Qur'an which reflect a knowledge of the water cycle could not therefore have come from any human source.

He quotes verses 50:9-11, 35:9, 30:48, 7:57, 25:48-49, and 45:5, as the verses which include steps (2), (3), and (4a) above. As an example, we shall look at the late Meccan Sura of the Heights (Al-A`rúf) 7:57,

''(God) is the One Who sends forth the winds like heralds of His Mercy. When they have carried (2) the heavy-laden clouds, We drive them to a dead land. Then We cause (3) water to descend and thereby (4a) bring forth fruits of every kind. Thus We will bring forth the dead. Maybe you will remember.''

To demonstrate step (4b) above he brings verses from Suras 23:18-19, 15:22, and the late Meccan Sura of The Crowds (Al-Zumar) 39:21 which reads:

''Have you not seen that God sent water down from the sky and led it through (4b) sources into the ground? Then he caused sown fields of different colors to grow.''

These verses are accurate, of course, but the question is do they show any special foreknowledge and thereby prove Divine Revelation? The answer must surely be "no." Every man or woman, even those living in a city, could describe steps (2), (3), and (4a). And every person in contact with farmers during a drought will hear them say that their wells and springs have dried up, thus showing common knowledge of step (4b) that rain is the source and origin of underground water.

But what of step (1)? – the evaporation as the source of rain clouds. This will be more difficult to understand by simple observation only, and, it could not be evident to the ancient people when the Qur'an was revealed. But does the Qur'an has any verse to clarify the evaporation process? Unfortunately, there is not a single verse to support such claim. 

It can be pointed out that there is no end to the strange miracles Muslim scholars are claiming. If one visits the prominent Islamic sites [14], one will find hundreds of such inane arguments. Currently, I have no time to rebut all those wild claims and declare myself a victory. The good news is that many of my skeptic friends, working in parallel are doing a wonderful job in the Net. For example, Richard Carrier debunked Dr Mansour Hassab-Elnaby's claim on the speed of light [16];  Ali Sina refuted Harun Yahya's claim on atmospheric layers [17], Abul Kasem and Syed Kamran Mirza debunked the claim on mountains [18, 19],  Dr. Alamgir Hussain refuted the Qur'anic prophecies on Pharaohs [25]….etc. I will rest my case analyzing another miracle which has been frequently quoted in Islamic web-sites in recent days.      

 

10. Qur'an foretells about "Red star Nebula" :

cateyeIn recent years many Islamic websites [20] have been propagating one particular example of the miraculous scientific knowledge of the Qur'an, supposedly proven by a picture from the NASA Hubble Space Telescope on January 11, 1995, but had reached the attention of the Muslims apparently when it was the featured image at the NASA web site on October 31, 1999. Starting from that date, some Muslims discovered that this may make a good Qur'anic miracle. They spread the news that this phenomenon is tagged with the following verse of the Qur'an:

 “And when the heaven splitteth asunder and becometh rosy like red hide.” (55:37-38)  

This verse, unfortunately, has nothing to do with any Red Star Nebula. Actually, in this verse Islamic Allah (through his obedient Prophet) was just trying to scare people with tales of blazing fires and dreadful actions. The above verse is, therefore, another example of Prophet's scare-mongering verses, when we realize that the sentence ‘sky opens and becomes red (with fire)’ does not connote to any scientific miracle whatsoever.   

A closer chronological observation of the verses from 55:26 to 55:38 gives us an impression that the author is trying to frighten people about the so-called Judgment Day [21]. Let's quote from the Qur'an:

Everyone that is thereon will pass away; There remaineth but the Countenance of thy Lord of Might and Glory. Which is it, of the favours of your Lord, that ye deny? All that are in the heavens and the earth entreat Him. Every day He exerciseth (universal) power. Which is it, of the favours of your Lord, that ye deny? We shall dispose of you, O ye two dependents (man and jinn). Which is it, of the favours of your Lord, that ye deny? O company of jinn and men, if ye have power to penetrate (all) regions of the heavens and the earth, then penetrate (them)! Ye will never penetrate them save with (Our) sanction. Which is it, of the favours of your Lord, that ye deny? There will be sent, against you both, heat of fire and flash of brass, and ye will not escape. Which is it, of the favours of your Lord, that ye deny? And when the heaven splitteth asunder and becometh rosy like red hide -Which is it, of the favours of your Lord, that ye deny? -On that day neither man nor jinni will be questioned of his sin.
 

From the citations above, these two particular verses could be our interest because Allah clearly declares his future motivation to settle our affairs (on the Judgment Day):


055.031
YUSUFALI: Soon shall We settle your affairs, O both ye worlds!
PICKTHAL: We shall dispose of you, O ye two dependents (man and jinn).
SHAKIR: Soon will We apply Ourselves to you, O you two armies.

055.039
YUSUFALI: On that Day no question will be asked of man or Jinn as to his sin.
PICKTHAL: On that day neither man nor jinni will be questioned of his sin.
SHAKIR: So on that day neither man nor jinni shall be asked about his sin.

 

Thus any rational person can conclude that there is no relation with red star nebula if we consider the context. However, Muslim scholars wishfully matched this up with the subject of astrophysics. We all know that there are many Nebulae very far away from our planet. If we look at them with powerful telescopes they will appear to be red because it is going away from us. All stars are going away from us because the universe is expanding and therefore they are red. This is the famous Red Shift that Hubble discovered. We, however, cannot see this with our plain eyes; we can only see it through the most powerful telescopes. The reddish color of this particular Nebula shown in the picture above, however, is not the cause of expansion of space as explained previously. This particular picture was taken by the NASA Hubble Space Telescope of the "Cat's Eye Nebula", an explosion of a supernova that took place 3,000 years ago. This is a glass-hour explosion seen from the top. Actually, these photographs were taken by NASA in infrared or X-ray spectrum. In this particular picture false colors were added using color algorithm by NASA at the time of releasing. NASA allotted the red color to this picture, but they could virtually had given any color they liked. So the whole argument of relating this with Qur’anic dicta -"rosy like red hide" becomes completely meaningless [22].

Aparthib [23] also has written quite a number of articles refuting such Islamic pseudo-scientific claims i.e., the attempt to relate vague verses of the Qur'an with scientific inventions. I remember in response to an apologist’s claim of such vague "miracle", Aparthib once wrote:

"I see an attempt here to link planetary nebulae with a religious verse. This is a flawed attempt that is often made by apologetics of all religions, some more than others. If one likes to see science in anything they can see it anywhere. Some Joe may have said "All is relative" before Einstein's theory of relativity. By this stretch of imagination that Joe can legitimately claim that he already knew about relativity and claim originality. Any vague phrase, pun, quote etc. by humans, scriptures etc. can be customized and made to fit any scientific principle which also have been phrased in a very general way for popular consumption hiding the underlying precise sense of these principles. Its an insult to science and the scientists whose painstaking research has helped unravel the complex workings of the laws of nature and reality. None of these scientific revelations were inspired from, dependent on, or utilized any of the religious revelations. If religious revelations could not and did not lead to any of these scientific truths in a stand alone way then by any criterion and logic they cannot be used to corroborate science. There are many unanswered questions in the basic understanding of the universe. Why can't the verses of scripture throw any light on them? For example we don't at this time know for sure if the universe is closed, open or flat. No body dares to make a prediction based on any revelation. But if it is ever found out by science I am sure one can dig out some vague words of a verse from some book of some religion and claim to "see" the answer that science has finally managed to find. Its always AFTER the fact that these semblances are found. It has never been found BEFORE the scientific discovery. Is that a coincidence?"

Then Aparthib went on, saying  -

"Nobel laureate Physicist Dr. Abdus Salam warned against people trying to explain Big Bang using verses from Koran, 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? Religion can never vindicate or falsify science. The truth or falsity of a scientific principle lies within science itself. Religious scriptures cannot speak of any scientific principle. Religious revelations are absolute directives and narratives for humans to follow as faith unquestioningly. Many revelations clearly contradict many accepted scientific principles. No scientist of any repute have ever tried to substantiate scientific principles by religious beliefs. Most scientists and theologians would rather not mix faith with objective and rational field of science. Koran/Bible/Gita etc are not books of science. Any coincidental vague semblance between a verse and a popular phrasing of a complex scientific principle is solely due to the very general and vague wordings admitting of any interpretation that one chooses to impose on it. All one needs is some vague reverse fitting argument to connect the two. One can find Quantum Mechanics in Tagore's poems, or relativity in the Buddhist Monk Nagarjun's writing. Just seeing what one likes to see because of a preset belief in a favored belief system doesn't make it so by any objective criterion. My purpose is not to disrespect religion or its revelation, but to question the attempt to reconcile the two in an illogical way. They can be irreconcilable and yet can continue and thrive as separate ways as long as one does not get in the way of the pursuit of the other."

While debating in many Bangladeshi Internet forums [26] I have noted that the modern educated Muslims love to cite many such fuzzy scientific miracles from the holy Qur'an to promote the divine origin of their faith. In this two-part essay I have debunked top ten of these claims. I hope my attempt will provide a better understanding that no supernatural supreme being handed any kind of scientific information to Muhammad. Those alleged miracles in the Qur'an simply fail to offer any reasonable rational argument to support any claim of divine source for the Qur’an. No sensible person or freethinker should be swayed by such phony divine assertion.

Last Update: 24 October, 2004

 

Reference:

[1] Dr. Shamsher Ali et al, Scientific indication in Holy Qur'an,  Islamic Foundation, Bangladesh, page: xiv

[2] Momtaj Doulatana, Al-Qur'an ek Moha-biggyan, Gyankosh Prokashoni, Bangladesh

[3] Athanasios Abdulrahman, Responses to the Claims of the Muslims, http://www.exmuslim.com/; CroMagnon on FFI, http://members.lycos.nl/whatsthisthen/links.html    

[4] Abul Kasem, How Western Scientists Discovered $cience in Qur’an, Mukto-Mona

[5] Interestingly, when the freethinkers and skeptics of Islam quote violent verses from the holy book, such as -  Qur'an tells Muslims to kill the disbelievers wherever they find them (2:191), murder them and treat them harshly (9:123), slay them (9:5), fight with them (8:65 ), to strike off their heads (47:4),  strive against them with great endeavor (25:52) etc., apologists and Islamic scholars instantly pronounce, "You have quoted out of context". The "out of context" scenario certainly should now backfire to those Islamic scholars who desperately search modern science in scattered quotes, vague verses of Qur'an. 

[6] Richard Carrier, Predicting Modern Science: Epicurus vs. Mohammed, Secular Web.

[7] Dr. Maurice Bucaille, The Bible, the Qu'ran and Science: The Holy Scriptures Examined in the Light of Modern Knowledge, Tahrike Tarsile Qur'an; 7th ed (2003).

[8] Ibid, pp 149.

[9] Ibid, pp 165.  

[10]  Shlomi Tal, The Platygaean Qur’an: Exposition of the Flat-Earth Cosmology of the Qur’an, Metaphysical Naturalism Pages 

[11] Abul Kasem,  Allah's Flat earth and His Cosmos, Mukto-Mona

[12] Avijit Roy, Super-Scientific Religious Scriptures!  and Does the Noble Quran support "The Earth moves around the Sun" theory?, Mukto-Mona.

[13]   http://www.humanists.net; http://rationalthinking.humanists.net/; http://www.faithfreedom.org

[14]  http://www.harunyahya.com/ ; http://www.islamicity.com/Science/iqs/ etc.

[15] Dr. William Campbell,  The Qur'an and the Bible in the Light of History & Science,  Middle East Resources, 2002.

[16] Richard Carrier, The Koran Predicted the Speed of Light? Not really., Secular Web

[17]  Ali Sina, Layers of Heaven  FFI.

[18] Abul Kasem, Mountain Building---Allah’s Style?, Mukto-Mona

[19] Syed Kamran Mirza, Koran on Mountain, Mukto-Mona 

[20] http://www.submission.org/miracle/nebula.html,   http://www.wideopenwest.com/~salamradio/Nebula.htm, http://www.answering-christianity.com/sci_quran.htm,   http://www.nessia.org/artgen.aspx?id=7 etc.

[21] The one all-encompassing theme of the Qur'an is the inevitability of Judgment Day/Kiyamat/Doomsday. Muslims believe that this world, created by Allah, will eventually be brought to an end by Him, and that it will be followed by a new world (so called "Roj Hashorer Moydan") in which all people will be resurrected and brought to account for their deeds. 

[22] Ali Sina, Miracles of Allah, FFI

[23] Aparthib's Article Page, Mukto-Mona

[24] Dr. Jeyam Kannan, an Obstetrics and Gynecologist from Chennai, wrote a series of articles in a Tamil Magazine called Mangaiyar Malar, about the amazing references to human embryology in Thirumandiram, an ancient Tamil Saiva Siddhanta classic of the 6th century AD. In July 1999 issue, (page 132-134), Dr. Kannan, refers to some mantras that refer to atom

[25]  Dr. Alamgir Hussain,  Story of Pharaoh in Koran - A Miracle?,  Mukto-Mona

[26] Mukto-mona, Vinnomot, NFB, banglarnari, MuktoChinta etc.    

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