|
||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||
to Maqsood:LOL. Science in the Koran, when will Muslims see the light?Reader comment on item: Salman Rushdie and British Backbone Submitted by Plato (India), Aug 3, 2007 at 06:54 Maqsood, picking holes in this Islamic experts verbose exposition of science in the Koran was as easy as ABC >>However all these superstitious beliefs of Arab society were eliminated with the Quran. In Surat Al Ra'ed (Chapter 13) , verse 2, it was said: "Allah is He who raised up the heavens without any pillars, that you can see " (The Quran, 13:2). << Maqsood what does raised up the heavens mean? Is heavens (sky) an object to be raised up? The Koran is totally wrong. There is nothing to raise up. And there is no up or down in the universe, it is only a feeling we have because of the earth's gravity. Allah just added to the existing superstitious belief something about invisible pillars. >>"Soon will We show them our signs in the furthest horizons, and in their own souls, until it becomes manifest to them that this is the Truth…" (41: 53) << The "soon" did not happen even in the Prophet's time. We infidels are still waiting for the "truth" to become manifest. Allah has failed to make it manifest for 1400 years. How long should we wait? >>here is the evidence: "surely We created you out of dust, then of a sperm-drop, << Has science proved that sperm is made of dust? Allah seems to have forgotten that even more important than sperm is the egg he placed in the womb. This statement of God seems to imply that sperm alone plays a role in conception. If Allah had indicated that the sperm combines with something else in the womb it would have been a sure sign that the Koran is inspired by God. All the other stages were already known or speculated about centuries before Mohammed. >>The Quran states ; "Those who reject our signs, We shall cast into the fire; as often as their skins are roasted through. We shall change them for fresh skins, that they may taste the punishment; for Allah is Exalted in power; Wise." ( 4:56) Allah did not say "as often as their skins are burned", as burning could be partial, but He rather said: "as often as their skins are roasted through", i.e., totally burned with all nerves of sensation and pain. So, He the Almighty associated between the sensation of pain and the skin when roasted and burned totally, thus losing its structure and function.<< What is the big time science in this ayat? Even cave men knew the difference between light and severe burns. What this ayat reveals is the sadistic nature of God, torturing people for eternity for rejecting His meaningless signs. >>In Quran, Allah the Almighty says about the torment of hell fire; "such are given to drink boiling water, that tears their bowels asunder." (47: 15) The Holy Quran threatens the unbelievers of hot water that tears their bowels. The reasoning underlying this threat has recently become evident. It has been discovered that intestines are not affected with heat. But if they are cut, hot water therein comes out into the peritoneum which is fed through the wall nerves feeding the skin, and the muscles of chest and abdomen. These nerves are affected with touch or heat, so the hot water, after intestines are cut, causes the highest degrees of pain. << The sadistic nature of Allah is again confirmed by this ayat. His desire to cause pain to unbelievers for the silliest of reasons, not accepting Him as the sole ruler of the universe, is abominable. After throwing about a lot of scientific terms the author decides the ayat is revealing to us how our bowels are structured. How is it that all the people who studied the Koran all these years did not realise that this ayat is revealing to us the inner workings of our bowels? From this ayat it appears that we will be recreated exactly as we are on earth. That raises the question, are there toilets in paradise and hell? Hell probably does not require them as all the food (molten brass?) and the boiling water will spill out of the torn stomachs of the sinners. But paradise surely requires them with all the wine, honey and fruits that those in heaven will consume. What happens to all the excreta. Dumped into the water (to make it putrid) that will be given to the people in hell?? >>Torment is yet continuous: "As for the unbelievers, theirs shall be the fire of Gehannam (hellfire); they shall neither be done with and die, nor shall its chastisement be lightened for them, even so We recompense every ungrateful one." (35:36) Thus the Quranic scientific miracles are crystallized. Feeling of pain as perceived in medical facts are very much compatible with the statements of the Holy Quran. << What medical fact has this ayat shown? That we feel pain when burned? Do we need the Koran to tell us that. Why is there no indication in Koran that with continuous heat on the body the internal organs will also be badly damaged including brain cells. Why is there no indication that along with the skin these also will be recreated. If Allah recreates the exact same body on resurrection it will have all the frailties it had when we were on earth. What these ayas crystallise are not miracles but the cruel nature of Allah. This author gives a lot of supposedly scientific facts about embryology without giving any references. But consider the statement below: >>2- Ear is preferred over and more superior than the eye, as it does not stop function by sleep.<< The claim is that hearing does not stop functioning during sleep. What kind of sleep is it then? And supposing what the author says is true still how does it make hearing superior to sight. In fact any child can tell that sight is superior to hearing. Sightless people fare far worse off than people without hearing. That is why in ancient times to incapacitate troublesome people eyes were put out not hearing. >>Hence when ear was out of function, men of the Cave were able to sleep hundred of years without any disturbance.<< Allah seems to have forgotten his science if this story is to be believed. The author claimed that the Koran was showing us scientific truths when it talked about burning skin, tearing up bowels and hearing developing before sight. If ears are dysfunctional one can sleep for hundreds of years why don't people who have no hearing live for hundreds of years by sleeping for long? This author wants to see science when he wants and miracles when the Koran fails its scientific test. When the author finds sight preceding hearing in one verse all of a sudden sight is considered better to feel the terrors of Doomsday. What happened to the superiority of hearing over sight? After taking the reader through some primary school level optics, emphasizing that all electromagnetic radiation is not visible to the human eye he sees a Koranic miracle: >>The Quranic miracle is thus crystallized, as Allah verily says; What is funny is Allah swearing by things He claims to have created. Would Henry Ford have sworn by the car he created? >>In the Quran, Allah reveals that the creation of man is a miracle. The first human being was created by Allah shaping clay into a human form and then breathing a soul into it, Allah (SWT) says in Quran : ( Your Lord said to the angels, "I am going to create a human being out of clay. When I have formed him and breathed My Spirit into him, fall down in prostration to him!") (Quran 38:71-72)<< When Allah had the power to say ‘be' and it was, why was He playing around with clay? The image the Koran has created of Allah playing with clay like a child and creating the human shape is hilarious to say the least. The Koran is also claiming that Allah has breathed His Spirit into us. Despite His Spirit being in us we disobey, commit crimes, and do all sorts of abominable things. What kind of Spirit has Allah breathed into us? >>When the human body is examined today, many elements present on the earth are also discovered to be found in the human body. Living tissues contain 95% carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, phosphorus and sulphur, with a total of 26 different elements.91 In another verse of the Quran we are told: >>"We created man from an extract of clay" (Quran 23:12)<< Most of the human body is made up of water, H2O, with cells consisting of 65-90% water by weight. Therefore, it isn't surprising that most of a human body's mass is oxygen. Carbon, the basic unit for organic molecules, comes in second. 99% of the mass of the human body is made up of just six elements: oxygen, carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, calcium, and phosphorus. (http://chemistry.about.com/cs/howthingswork/f/blbodyelements.htm) Basically, the chemical composition of clay is two molecules of water to two silicon dioxide molecules and one aluminum oxide molecule. >>"We created man from an extract of clay" (Quran 23:12)<< Given the composition of clay where did the other elements of the body come from? Does the Koran carry even a hint of the importance of carbon for living matter?) >>As we notice above water forms the main component of the human being and any other being . Allah (SWT) says : Tell us Maqsood, what are we created from, clay or water? Why can't Allah make up his mind? What great scientific fact is revealed by saying that creatures move about on their bellies (snakes etc), two legs (humans) and four legs (animals)? >>Finger prints have become the best method to identify persons. In 1858, the English Scientist, William Herschel, pointed out that finger prints differ with the difference of their holders, thus rendering them as distinctive feature evidence for each person. << Not anymore. The iris of the eye is being used as the best way to identify a person. Also DNA . Where in the Koran can you discover anything about the uniqueness of our pupils or of our DNA? >>Allah says in the Holy Quran : "I do swear by the Day of Resurrection. I do swear by the reproachful soul. Does man reckon We shall not gather his bones? Yes indeed; We are able to shape again the tips of his fingers." (75: 1-4)<< Is this Allah talking about finger prints? ‘How unique are your fingerprints? It's general held (and as er, The Register confidently stated just yesterday) that your fingerprints being found at the scene of the crime tied you up with it pretty conclusively, but a report published earlier this year by New Scientist claims that there is little scientific basis for the infallibility of fingerprints, and that the only research indicating that there is, is fatally flawed. This could have major implications for the criminal justice system, and could undermine the basic premise of planned ID sytems in the UK, US and Europe. The report notes that the only known study, commissioned b y the US Department of Justice and only made public in summary form, was challenged in December. The study involved matching up 50,000 fingerprint images, and concluded from this that the probability of a false match was effectively zero. However, says New Scientist, "Although this produced an impressive-sounding 2.5 billion comparisons, critics point out that it is hardly surprising that a specific image should turn out to be more like itself than 49,999 other images." (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/04/06/identity/) ‘A wide variety of biometrics has been investigated and applied to access control systems. The iris recognition seems to be the most reliable and completely non-invasive biometric method, and is likely to prevail over fingerprint analysis, face and voice recognition, hand geometry analysis, on-line handwritten signatures verification, etc. owing to its speed and reliability. Human iris is an overt body, protected by the cornea and highly distinctive to an individual. (http://www.ia.pw.edu.pl/index.php?lang=en&MMenu=research&SMenu=projects&SSMenu=biometrics&search_dir=iris)' >>O, my Lord I am Your slave and the son of Your slave and the son of Your bondmaid, my forelock is at Your Hands, … " . This Hadith reveals that man's fate is at Allah's Hands, as well as man's forelock, thus indicating, as the Verse above, that the forelock plays an important role in guiding and controlling man's behaviour. So, what is the reason underlying the use of forelock? What is the hidden organ behind the forehead – that part which is responsible for the person's character and which controls man's behaviour and actions of truthfulness and lying, right and wrong, and which if subjugated, man's behaviour can be controlled, as indicated in the book of "Gray's anatomy " edited by Warwick & Williams.<< The author jumps from a mention of the forelock to assuming that actually what is intended is the organ behind it!! The forelock plays an important role in guiding and controlling human behaviour? How naïve is the author of this article. Does he think his readers are stupid to believe such nonsense? Then he makes a giant leap from forelock to what is behind the forelock. The forelock is dead tissue whereas what is behind it is living brain cells. He dishonestly uses an authority in anatomy to buttress his case as though Gray was vindicating what the Koran says. Gray merely describes anatomy; he has nothing to say about the nonsense in the Koran about forelocks and their connection with human behaviour. >>The miracle side: The miracle side in the above Quranic verse and the Honourable Hadith of the Prophet is that they refer very accurately to the frontal lobe, lying deep at man's forelock, as being the centre of decision to control man's actions of truthfulness, lying, right, wrong, balance or perversion. This has been revealed by modern scientific studies in the second half of the 20th century.<< How much of a fool does this author take his readers to be? How does he reach the conclusion he has? Can you enlighten us Maqsood? Mentioning forelock is an indication that what the Koran really means is all that lies behind it like frontal lobe and its influence on human behaviour?? LOL. So mentioning eyelashes means clear evidence of all that complex mechanism of the eye! >>It has been found that the brain inside the skull weighs 50 gm, although the real weight is 1700 gm. The physical principle states that the volume of the object immersed in fluid is equal to the volume of displaced fluid. Therefore, it is of the Almighty Creator's decree that we do not feel the brain weight, as it floats in the CSF, which originates from a special area in the brain called "the corogy plexus", and rotates inside and comes out of another area such as the domestic water net. This cycle occurs five times a day. As Moslems do before prayer times, the brain get ablution 5 times a day ... ! We prostrate on the frontal lobe which has the centre of decision making. When prostrating and worshipping Allah, the Moslem's forelock is certified as truthful and right << What do you make of this gobbledygook? This man who is masquerading as some kind of know-all is totally innocent of any science. He is beyond help. Any kid could have told him that an object can displace a liquid equal to its own volume (if it is completely immersed). How can it displace more than its own volume. He is struggling with Archimedes principle which states that an object will seem to weigh less in a liquid by the weight of the liquid it displaces. The rest of what he is saying is such unbelievable nonsense that I don't have the heart to comment on it. He is trying to impress readers by throwing in some scientific terms. >>Whomsoever Allah desires to guide, He expands his chest to Islam; whomsoever He desires to lead astray, He makes his chest narrow, tight, as if he were climbing up to the sky." (6:125)<< "…as if he were engaged in sheer ascent…" - Pikhthal "…as though he were ascending upwards;…" Shakir Only Yusuf Ali brings in sky This constriction of chest is a common enough feeling even while climbing a small hill. This know-all author sees a great miracle of Allah in this common place fact known to all. Here is his statement full of awe and wonder: >>"Thus, this verse displays a miraculous similitude when presenting a scientific fact in a very eloquent and accurate style"<< He misses the real point of the verse which states that Allah guides whom He wishes and misguides whom He wishes, which is made clear when the verse talks about expanding ‘his chest to Islam'. The author has nothing to say about the miraculous nature of the expansion of the chest. When does that happen? When descending into a hole in the ground? Here is a verse clearly stating that it is Allah Himself who misguides people!! Instead of commenting on the devious nature of Allah this author misguides his readers about the real import of this verse. After making some observations about breast feeding being beneficial and saying researchers have found two years as the ideal duration (all without giving any sources) he jumps to two verses in the Koran which talk about weaning after two years. This is his miracle about breast feeding. In Western countries children are breast fed for a few days and yet they survive and do well in the world. So this Koranic advice is worthless. >>In a very accurate scientific reference, the Quran determines the period of lactation with almost two years. In verse 14 of Surat Luqman: "And We enjoined on man concerning his parents- his mother bore him in weakness upon weakness, and his weaning was in two years." (31:14) It is understood that lactation for two years is not a must, but a complete period; "Mothers shall breastfeed their children for two whole years, for such as desire to complete the term " ( 2:233)<< In a similar vein the author rambles on about honey, fruit, prayer, fasting etc. Some references are provided at the end but hardly any actual quotes from them or where in the references they occur. Almost all of it was common knowledge for centuries before Islam. Any passing references to something like bees or honey or fruit and the author waxes eloquent about it being a first time discovery of the Koran. I have read somewhere that bees have only one gender in the Arabic language. If so all that raving about the Koran revealing this fact about worker bees is just so much hot air. But the fact that the Koran says they eat fruit rather than pollen and nectar shows the kind of unscientific knowledge the Koran is imparting to mankind. He then concludes with these bombastic statements: >>The Quran cannot be produced by any creature. It is the word of the Almighty God, the Originator of everything and the One Who encompasses everything with His knowledge. As how could any creature reveal such scientific facts and signs, as indicated above in some Quranic verses, that were impossible to be known with the level of knowledge at the time of revelation? The Quran, with the description of all these scientific facts in accurate terms that fit with the modern rules of science, affirms that this is revealed by Allah. Man only unfolded these signs so many centuries after it had been revealed by Allah, with the help of modern technology. The Quran is the word of Allah Who has created everything and knows the slightest details of His creation. Who can inspire to the Prophet Mohammed, other than Allah, such scientific truths in such a noble and well contrived language ?<< Let us concede for a moment that what the author has talked about are scientific facts. But the Koran also contains these ‘facts': Shooting stars are missiles Allah uses to drive away the devil (67:5). Stars fall (81:2 where and how can stars fall?). There is a barrier between sea water and plain water. Sperm is produced near the backbone. We are created from dust, water, sounding clay. The sun sets in a muddy pool (18:86, The sun does not rise or set anywhere!. The sun goes to a resting place (36:38, the sun never stops moving). Mountains are pegs to prevent the earth from shaking. >>Although they possessed and knew the tools of the Arabic language, the unbelievers of Makkah were challenged to produce one verse of such Quran. Yet, up to date and till doomsday the challenge still stands: "If the whole of mankind and Jinns were to gather together to produce the like of this Quran, they would never produce its like, not though they backed one another." (17:88) << Maqsood I have in previous post shown you that this is a trite and idiotic challenge which only a person who is clueless about the subjective nature of beauty can make. >>Allah also says in the Holy Quran; "If it had been from other than Allah, surely they would have found in it much inconsistencies" (4:82)<< Did not Allah say at first that there is some good in alcohol, but later discovered that it is all bad? Creation of the universe is in many places given as 6 days and in another place as 8 days. Man talking/understanding the speech of ants (LOL). 27:18-19. Allah is severely mathematically challenged when it comes to dividing up property of a deceased person. In some cases there is not enough to divide and in others some property is left over after division. Below are two verses which are obviously contradictory. 16:49 says none of Allah's creatures are arrogant but 2:34 contradicts it when Iblis behaved haughtily before Him. 016.049 YUSUFALI: And to Allah doth obeisance all that is in the heavens and on earth, whether moving (living) creatures or the angels: for none are arrogant (before their Lord). 002.034 And behold, We said to the angels: "Bow down to Adam" and they bowed down. Not so Iblis: he refused and was haughty: He was of those who reject Faith. (Koran 2:34) Maqsood the easiest thing to refute in the Koran is the claim of modern science in it and the claim that there are no contradictions in it. Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome but not comments that are scurrilous, off-topic, commercial, disparaging religions, or otherwise inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the "Guidelines for Reader Comments". << Previous Comment Next Comment >> Reader comments (714) on this item |
Latest Articles |
|||||||||||
All materials by Daniel Pipes on this site: © 1968-2024 Daniel Pipes. daniel.pipes@gmail.com and @DanielPipes Support Daniel Pipes' work with a tax-deductible donation to the Middle East Forum.Daniel J. Pipes (The MEF is a publicly supported, nonprofit organization under section 501(c)3 of the Internal Revenue Code. Contributions are tax deductible to the full extent allowed by law. Tax-ID 23-774-9796, approved Apr. 27, 1998. For more information, view our IRS letter of determination.) |