Background: In another thread @Limo has proposed that the Quran never contradicts science.
When I posted the list of scientific errors in the Quran available at Scientific Errors in the Qur'an - WikiIslam Limo suggested to me that these lists are not new, and that I should pick one from the list for Muslims to discuss.
My response was essentially that although a point by point refutation would be in order since even one scientific error would be enough to disprove that the Quran is authored by an omniscient God, nontheless I do have a favourite scientific contradiction so I will put it here for discussion.
Of relevance here will be an extract from the intro to Scientific errors in the Quran followed by my favourite contradiction.
Extract: ‘Some will contest these numerous errors in the Qur'an by appealing to metaphor, alternative meanings, or phenomenological interpretations of the text.
Even supposing alternative explanations were possible in every case, the problem would remain that the Qur’an contains no obvious attempts to differentiate its understanding of the natural world and historical events from the common folklore and unscientific misconceptions of the people living in 7th century Arabia.
An all-powerful, all-knowing, perfect communicator would have been able to foresee how such misleading statements would be understood by future generations and the doubts and confusions they would cause.
Such overwhelming weakness in the Qur'an when we should expect perfection is already reason enough to reject any claims to its divine authorship.’
Now to my favourite contradiction open to all Muslims:
Sky can Fall Down on People
The Quran's author thought that the sky/heaven is like a ceiling held up by Allah that can fall to earth or fragments break off and fall on someone. This is obviously impossible as the earth's atmosphere is simply made of gas and outer space is not a solid object.
And if they were to see a fragment of the heaven falling, they would say: A heap of clouds.
Quran 52:44
See they not what is before them and behind them, of the sky and the earth? If We wished, We could cause the earth to swallow them up, or cause a piece of the sky to fall upon them. Verily in this is a Sign for every devotee that turns to Allah (in repentance).
Quran 34:9
Hast thou not seen how Allah hath made all that is in the earth subservient unto you? And the ship runneth upon the sea by His command, and He holdeth back the heaven from falling on the earth unless by His leave. Lo! Allah is, for mankind, Full of Pity, Merciful.
Quran 34:9
Please discuss
When I posted the list of scientific errors in the Quran available at Scientific Errors in the Qur'an - WikiIslam Limo suggested to me that these lists are not new, and that I should pick one from the list for Muslims to discuss.
My response was essentially that although a point by point refutation would be in order since even one scientific error would be enough to disprove that the Quran is authored by an omniscient God, nontheless I do have a favourite scientific contradiction so I will put it here for discussion.
Of relevance here will be an extract from the intro to Scientific errors in the Quran followed by my favourite contradiction.
Extract: ‘Some will contest these numerous errors in the Qur'an by appealing to metaphor, alternative meanings, or phenomenological interpretations of the text.
Even supposing alternative explanations were possible in every case, the problem would remain that the Qur’an contains no obvious attempts to differentiate its understanding of the natural world and historical events from the common folklore and unscientific misconceptions of the people living in 7th century Arabia.
An all-powerful, all-knowing, perfect communicator would have been able to foresee how such misleading statements would be understood by future generations and the doubts and confusions they would cause.
Such overwhelming weakness in the Qur'an when we should expect perfection is already reason enough to reject any claims to its divine authorship.’
Now to my favourite contradiction open to all Muslims:
Sky can Fall Down on People
The Quran's author thought that the sky/heaven is like a ceiling held up by Allah that can fall to earth or fragments break off and fall on someone. This is obviously impossible as the earth's atmosphere is simply made of gas and outer space is not a solid object.
And if they were to see a fragment of the heaven falling, they would say: A heap of clouds.
Quran 52:44
See they not what is before them and behind them, of the sky and the earth? If We wished, We could cause the earth to swallow them up, or cause a piece of the sky to fall upon them. Verily in this is a Sign for every devotee that turns to Allah (in repentance).
Quran 34:9
Hast thou not seen how Allah hath made all that is in the earth subservient unto you? And the ship runneth upon the sea by His command, and He holdeth back the heaven from falling on the earth unless by His leave. Lo! Allah is, for mankind, Full of Pity, Merciful.
Quran 34:9
Please discuss
although since people then did not know what clouds were, I would think that anything falling from the sky could be considered to be "from the clouds".
