RIYADH: The death toll from this year's Haj has exceeded 1,000, an AFP tally said Thursday (Jun 20), more than half of whom were unregistered worshippers performing the pilgrimage in extreme heat in Sa
I’m sorry but when the Quran makes it out that the sun and moon both orbit Earth when that is very clearly false I can’t take it seriously.
Copying from a comment I made on Reddit:
The Quran is considered the unchanging word of Allah passed down to Muhammed by Gabriel. But then what does it mean when the Quran is demonstrably wrong? Well, it means Islam falls apart as the “word of Allah” is disproven.
For example, I’m going to note a verse from the Quran which reveals the Quran’s model of the solar system:
“It is not for the sun to overtake the moon, nor doth the night outstrip the day. They float each in an orbit.” (Quran 36:40)
I’ve picked this verse because typically when the Quran conflicts with well-known, proven, modern fact and science, the defense from Muslims is that it’s metaphorical in some way (how convenient). But here not even the metaphorical interpretation makes sense, so its a good verse to solidly disprove.
First, the literal interpretation:
The idea of “overtaking” and the sun and moon’s inability to do so requires the two objects (in this case, the sun and moon) to be moving along roughly the same path/direction (or in the case of celestial objects, the same orbit), else the sentence makes no sense. Following this, this means that according to the Quran, the sun and moon follow the same orbit, an orbit around Earth (i.e. an Earth-centred solar system). This isn’t true, and is easily proven nowadays.
The metaphorical interpretation:
If we take “overtaking” to mean appearing to cross over in the sky and not literal overtaking, well, that’s still wrong. Because exactly that happens during a solar eclipse. The moon appears to overtake the sun in the sky, crossing over it and eclipsing it in the process. So the metaphorical interpretation is also incorrect.
As we can see, no matter which way we decide to interpret this verse, literal or metaphorical, it’s wrong. The “word of Allah” is wrong, and Islam crumbles.
I’m sorry but when the Quran makes it out that the sun and moon both orbit Earth when that is very clearly false I can’t take it seriously.
Copying from a comment I made on Reddit:
The Quran is considered the unchanging word of Allah passed down to Muhammed by Gabriel. But then what does it mean when the Quran is demonstrably wrong? Well, it means Islam falls apart as the “word of Allah” is disproven.
For example, I’m going to note a verse from the Quran which reveals the Quran’s model of the solar system:
“It is not for the sun to overtake the moon, nor doth the night outstrip the day. They float each in an orbit.” (Quran 36:40)
I’ve picked this verse because typically when the Quran conflicts with well-known, proven, modern fact and science, the defense from Muslims is that it’s metaphorical in some way (how convenient). But here not even the metaphorical interpretation makes sense, so its a good verse to solidly disprove.
First, the literal interpretation:
The idea of “overtaking” and the sun and moon’s inability to do so requires the two objects (in this case, the sun and moon) to be moving along roughly the same path/direction (or in the case of celestial objects, the same orbit), else the sentence makes no sense. Following this, this means that according to the Quran, the sun and moon follow the same orbit, an orbit around Earth (i.e. an Earth-centred solar system). This isn’t true, and is easily proven nowadays.
The metaphorical interpretation:
If we take “overtaking” to mean appearing to cross over in the sky and not literal overtaking, well, that’s still wrong. Because exactly that happens during a solar eclipse. The moon appears to overtake the sun in the sky, crossing over it and eclipsing it in the process. So the metaphorical interpretation is also incorrect.
As we can see, no matter which way we decide to interpret this verse, literal or metaphorical, it’s wrong. The “word of Allah” is wrong, and Islam crumbles.