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Did the Quran predict modern science?

Undesired Walrus

Penultimate Amazing
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http://home.att.net/~a.f.aly/creation.htm

The above is without sources, but using the old copy of the Quran resting on my knee as I type, take a look.

'The earth rotates around its axis [27:88], rotates around the sun [7:54]'

Ok, let's see.

[27:88]When you look at the mountains, you think that they are standing still. But they are moving, like the clouds. Such is the manufacture of GOD, who perfected everything. He is fully Cognizant of everything you do.

[7:54] Your Lord is the one GOD, who created the heavens and the earth in six days, then assumed all authority. The night overtakes the day, as it pursues it persistently, and the sun, the moon, and the stars are committed to serve by His command. Absolutely, He controls all creation and all commands. Most Exalted is GOD, Lord of the universe.

Hmm.. six days? But, can anybody see anything that suggests it rotating around the sun? Because I sadly cannot.

Let's see another claim.

Earthquakes precede volcanic eruptions [99:1].
The earth's core is heavier than its crust [99:2].


[99:1] When the earth is severely quaked.

[99:2] And the earth ejects its loads.


Any validity?

How about this?

Sperm attaches itself to the egg to form an attachment or a leach then a chewed-like lump which develops bones which are covered with flesh and then changed into a different form [ 23:14]. This refers to facts discovered only recently when scientists, using special scopes, followed the development of the fetus from a fertilized egg to a form resembling lower vertebrae before turning into the human form.

[23:14] Then we developed the drop into a hanging , then developed the hanging into a bite-size , then created the bite-size into bones, then covered the bones with flesh. We thus produce a new creature. Most blessed is GOD, the best Creator.

Now, the below is quite a claim..

The Universe was created over a very long period. For God, some days last 1000 lunar years [22:47, 32:5]. This was used by Professor Mansour Hassab-Elnaby, an Egyptian physicist, to calculate the speed of light C=299792.5 km/s !!!

I think it would be somewhat comforting (or fearful) if true, but I fear this may be up there with the six days of creation in the bible as 'prediction'.

So, maybe the more scientific can help me out with these claims:

After contemplating the descriptions of embryonic stages as a leach then a chewed-like lump [23:14], Professor Keith Moore, a Canadian embryologist, compared pictures of different embryonic stages to pictures of leaches and chewed clay and confirmed the amazing accuracy of the Qur'anic verses.
Human pregnancy passes through 3 trimesters [39:6]
Different clouds (positively and negatively charged?) are harmonized to produce droplets of water and lightning [24:43].
 
You can largely thank Maurice Bucaille for these persistent, misguided exercises in apologetic postdiction.

Earthquake? Nothing predictive, revolutionary, or out of the ordinary for anyone from the time period to have known. No specific mention of the core/crust claim, either, in this or other translations. So, nope.

39:6 He created you from one being, then from that (being) He made its mate; and He hath provided for you of cattle eight kinds. He created you in the wombs of your mothers, creation after creation, in a threefold gloom. Such is Allah, your Lord. His is the Sovereignty. There is no God save Him. How then are ye turned away?

Trimester? Even though most translations don't appear to use it, the term didn't surface in obstetrics until 1916. So, nope.

24:43 Hast thou not seen how Allah wafteth the clouds, then gathereth them, then maketh them layers, and thou seest the rain come forth from between them; He sendeth down from the heaven mountains wherein is hail, and smiteth therewith whom He will, and averteth it from whom He will. The flashing of His lightning all but snatcheth away the sight.

Meteorological murkle? Nope.

More:

Claim CJ533 (TalkOrigins)
Islamic embryology
Does the Quran have any scientific miracles?
The Koran Predicted the Speed of Light? Not Really
 
After contemplating the descriptions of embryonic stages as a leach then a chewed-like lump [23:14], Professor Keith Moore, a Canadian embryologist, compared pictures of different embryonic stages to pictures of leaches and chewed clay and confirmed the amazing accuracy of the Qur'anic verses.

Human pregnancy passes through 3 trimesters [39:6]
Different clouds (positively and negatively charged?) are harmonized to produce droplets of water and lightning [24:43].

Kieth Moore, and [39:6] means 3 trimesters. (A trimester being 3 months by the way, 3*3=9 -- pregnancy is nine months... shh big secret!)

But.....
Is this the same Keith Moore?
http://www.islamicvoice.com/january.97/scie.htm#FOET

"Allah creates you in the womb of your mother- creation after creation within three veils of darkness."
According to Prof. Keith Moore these three veils of darkness in the Qur'an refer to:
(i) anterior abdominal wall of the mother

(ii) the uterine wall

(iii) the amnio-chronic membrane.




When in debates with Muslims, I use the following argument:
http://www.skepticwiki.org/index.php/Islam's_Embryology_Claim

The topic of embryology turns up in a few passages about resurrection and those that doubt there is life after death. Commentary by Abdullah Yusif Ali on one such verse:

If they really have doubts in their minds about the life after death, they have only to turn their attention to their own nature, or to the nature around. How wonderful is their own physical growth from lifeless matter, to seed, fertilised ovum, foetus, youth, age and death! How can they doubt that the author of all these wonderful stages in their life here can also give them another kind of life after the end of this life?

Nothing in verses on embryology indicate the biological information is supposed to be secret knowledge that people will eventually discover. A natural interpretation is one where God is citing the knowledge of his immediate audience in a very clear argument: "How can you not believe I am capable of XYZ? Do you not see that I can do ABC. XYZ is no harder than ABC, so surely you must agree that I am capable of XYZ." That argument would fall flat if the people God is talking to do not know about ABC.

You can see the sticky liquid into blood stage in eggs. In fact there are dietary laws which tell Muslims and Jews to watch out for that kind of thing.

From the skepticwiki link:
[The Jew] then said: I have come to ask you about the child.
He (the Holy Prophet) said: The reproductive substance of man is white and that of woman yellow,

Sound like eggs to me.
 
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Hi Undesired_Walrus,
I agree! The Koran did predict all those scientific discoveries. The same way Nostradamus predicted the rise of Hitler. The same way the Bible Code predicted the assassinations of Lincoln and Kennedy.

Yes, woo is a wonderful thing!
Woo_Hoo.gif


.
 
'The earth rotates around its axis [27:88], rotates around the sun [7:54]'

Ok, let's see.

[27:88]When you look at the mountains, you think that they are standing still. But they are moving, like the clouds. Such is the manufacture of GOD, who perfected everything. He is fully Cognizant of everything you do.

This implies rotation about an axis? Not to mention that there is no indication of angular motion at all in this, let's see just some of the possible actions that could be assigned to this "prediction".

Mountains are moving ... in relation to what? Does this mean uplifting as from continental collisions? Or perhaps from weathering? Are the mountains moving in relation to a fixed Earth, or is the entire Earth moving, and if so, how? Like the clouds move? ... certainly not, as their motions are neither consistently angular nor straight line linear. Besides, clouds do move in relation to a "fixed" Earth, so do the mountains do that? This would more strongly imply continental drift over angular rotation ... but no, the "scholars" have made their decisions ... wrongly again.

[7:54] Your Lord is the one GOD, who created the heavens and the earth in six days, then assumed all authority. The night overtakes the day, as it pursues it persistently, and the sun, the moon, and the stars are committed to serve by His command. Absolutely, He controls all creation and all commands. Most Exalted is GOD, Lord of the universe.

These words (to me) seem to more strongly imply that the events of day and night are in motion to the Earth ... in other words, being controlled. If the Earth were believed to be in orbit around the Sun I would think that the writers would feel the Earth to be in need of control ... from the Sun (as we now know to be true, via gravitational attraction).

How any clear thinking person would come to these conclusions (or rely on them after knowing even basic planetary motion) bewilders me. The need to believe is so overpowering here (as exemplified) that I feel for many there is simply no hope of modern rational thought.
 
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Quran says world is ostrich egg. This is miracle.



For anyone who remembers our briefly resident Quranic expert last year.
 
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