WikiIslam

Islam and Science

One of the most widely used tools to

propagate Islam among non-Muslims is
the alleged harmony between its
scriptures and modern science. This
page contains easy-to-read summaries of
articles discussing Islam in relation to
science. See also the page Scientific
Errors in the Quran for comprehensive
summaries of the scientific and historical
errors in the Qur'an.
This is a core topic which contains
summaries
of WikiIslam articles related to it

Contents
Introduction
The Four Part Test

Medicine, Healthcare and Biology in Islam

Medicine and Healthcare

The Medicinal Value of Camel Urine

Dipping Flies Into Drinks

Adverse Effects of Islamic Fasting

Moderate Alcohol Consumption and its Health

Benefits
 Milk is Agreeable/Good for Humans to Drink?

Drinking Zamzam Water and its Health Risks

Health Effects of Islamic Dress

Embryology in Islamic Scripture

Reproduction in the Qur'an and Hadith

Cousin Marriage in Islam

The Universe According to Islam

Adam, Eve, and the Six Days of Creation

A Qur’anic Understanding of the Universe

The Flat Earth

The Motionless Center - Planet Earth

Sun Sets in a Muddy Spring

Ramadan and the North and South Poles

Islamic Writing and the Universe

Islamic Science and the Golden Age

The Miracle of Islamic Science

 Muslims 'Saved' the Work of Greek
Philosophers from Destruction

Islamic Inventions that Changed the World

Islamic Science in Wikipedia Articles

Genuine Islamic Inventions, Innovations,

Records and Firsts

Science in the Qur'an

Scientific Errors in the Qur'an and Hadith

Non-Muslim Scientists finding Science in the

Qur'an

Scientific Miracles in the Georgics

Qur'an and the Big Bang

Qur'an and a Universe from Smoke

Qur'an Predicted Black Holes And Pulsars

Speed of Light in the Qur'an

Seven Heavens and Seven Earths

Qur'an and the Descent of Iron

 Qur'an Describes Altitude Sickness

The Qur'an and Mountains

Qur'an Predicted Land Decreasing

Creation of Humans from Clay

Qur'an and Semen Production

Qur'an Describes Gender Determination By

Sperm

Qur'an and Embryology

Qur'anic Claim of Everything Created in Pairs

Qur'an and the Lying Prefrontal Cerebrum

Meeting of Fresh and Salt Water in the Qur'an

See Also

External Links

Introduction
When evaluating claims of miraculous
scientific information in “revealed”
scriptures such as the Qur’an, it is critical
to remember the dictum, “Extraordinary
claims demand extraordinary proof.” For
certainly, miracles are not to be taken
lightly. If miracles really are the results of
direct intervention by God/gods, and if
they truly are meant as signs to prove
both his/her/their existence and power,
then we should expect them to serve
those purposes in a clear and
unambiguous manner. If God is going
through all that trouble to provide us with
signs, it would defeat his purpose to
make the signs difficult to recognize.
If we assume that Allah exists, it is safe to
say that he is not a Las Vegas magician,
and his miracles should reasonably be
several cuts above the prestidigitation of
Penn and Teller. An all-powerful universal
God would doubtlessly be capable of
providing miracles that were
unchallengeable, unambiguous and
dramatic. And it is fully conceivable that
God would embed such clear signs of his
power and omniscience within his
revelation.

The claim of “scientific miracles” in the

Qur’an rests upon the contention that the
book contains specific and detailed
scientific knowledge that can only have
been revealed to Prophet Muhammad
miraculously, i.e. that there was no
possible non-miraculous way for such
information to have been known to a 7th
century Arab.

So it stands to reason that if there

actually were non-miraculous ways for
such information to be available, no
miracle can be demonstrated. And it is
important to test such claims, for we are
not involved in a casual conversation
about fashion or dietary preferences. We
are talking about alleged proofs for the
divine origin of the Qur’an.
The Four Part Test

For a “scientific statement” in the Qur’an

to be considered miraculous, it must be
capable of passing a four-part test that
removes the possibility of a non-
miraculous origin of the information:

1. It must be an unambiguous statement

of scientific fact requiring no elaborate
interpretation to discern its factual
meaning.

This point cannot be stressed too

intensely. For the scientific information in
question must actually be in the Qur’an
itself, and not something added later as
part of a commentary. If the critical
information that distinguishes a “scientific
miracle” from a casual statement of
obvious fact is not explicitly in the clear
words and meaning of the Qur’an, we
cannot trust it as even being there.

If the verse has to be “interpreted” to

extract hidden meaning that is not
obviously there, the claim of a miracle
has been “corrupted” by the
commentary, and cannot be considered
valid.

2. The fact must have been previously

unknown to every other non-Islamic
civilization that had contact with the
Arabian Peninsula.

Key to the claim of “scientific miracles” in

the Qur’an is the contention that the
information included was unknown until
recently, or at least until many years after
the death of Muhammad. So, of course, if
it can be shown that the information was
already available to other peoples or
cultures with whom the Arabs were in
contact, this claim is shown to be simply
false.

It does not matter the source of that other

culture’s information. It may have been a
lucky guess, it may have been the result
of precocious scientific achievement… in
fact it may even potentially have been a
miracle the other culture had experienced
years before.

But if that information was available

before the Qur’an was written down,
there can be no credit to the claim of a
“Qur’anic miracle.”

3. It must not be obvious to any casual

observer.

This may sound like an obvious point, but

given the nature of many of the stock
“miracles” claimed by Muslim apologists,
it still must be discussed explicitly. For
often, what is claimed to be a miracle of
the Qur’an is something of which any
individual with his or her eyes open would
have been aware.

If the information in question is available

to anyone who simply looks at the
phenomenon, requiring no sophisticated
instruments, tools or interpretation, then
it cannot be considered miraculous.

4. It must be true.

As with the previous point, this one

sounds intuitively obvious. But it too
requires explicit mention as occasionally
the claims of Qur’anic “miracles” depend
on misunderstandings or misstatements
about reality and science. If the
information in question is not actually
true, then certainly it cannot be a
miraculous revelation from God, as God
should be expected to know what is or is
not true.

Medicine, Healthcare and

Biology in Islam
Medicine and Healthcare

Main Article: Medicine and Healthcare

in Islam
Islamic medicine, healthcare and Biology
relies on superstitions, general beliefs
among the people during the prophet's
time and borrowings from the practices
and beliefs of other civilizations. For
example; today you will find Muslims who
champion the self-alleged health benefits
of drinking camel urine (as instructed by
Muhammad), but those who are actually
willing to practice such things are far less
forthcoming. The allowance and even
encouragement of marriages between
relatives, such as cousins, is another
issue that deserves to be sent back to the
7th century. Medically, this common
Muslim practice is harmful because it
raises the probability for genetic
disorders to occur in offspring. And the
much lauded embryology found within
the Qur'an is in reality plagiarized from
Greek medicine. Therefore embryology,
as described in the Qur'an, is neither
original nor correct. These are but a few
of the example which are covered in our
articles.

The Medicinal Value of Camel Urine

Main Article: Camel Urine and Islam

This article is about the use of camel

urine as medicine in the Hadiths and how
such usage is viewed in the Muslim
world. Muhammad prescribed camel
urine as medicine to the followers from
Uraynah. Because Muhammad is a
prophet, Muslims believe he received a
divine revelation from God. As a result
they continue to study and prescribe
camel urine as medicine despite the lack
of evidence proving there is any
medicinal value in camel urine and that
there is some evidence that drinking urine
is actually harmful.

Dipping Flies Into Drinks

Main Article: Diseases and Cures in

the Wings of Houseflies
The thesis put forward by some
apologists is that it has recently been
proven by modern science that flies carry
not only pathogens but also the agents
that limit these pathogens, thus proving
the fly wing hadiths that tell us "If a fly
falls into one of your containers [of food
or drink], immerse it completely before
removing it, for under one of its wings
there is venom and under another there is
its antidote." They principally identify
these agents to be bacteriophages,
though they also sometimes refer to
fungi.
The scientific evidence does not support
the veracity of the fly wing hadiths for the
following reasons: (1) Contrary to their
innovative interpretations of relevant
hadith, bacteriophages are not limited to
any specific wing of the fly. (2) Contrary
to their innovative interpretations of
relevant hadith, bacteriophages in the
natural state and concentration are not
antidotal to bacterial diseases,
particularly for temperate or lysogenic
phages. (3) Bacteriophages are
ineffective against non-bacterial diseases
carried by flies, meaning even if the wings
were to provide you with an antidote to
bacterial diseases, they could infect you
with another non-bacterial disease (i.e.
dipping a fly into your drink is not good
advice). (4) Phage therapy is not a
generally-accepted medical therapy at
present because it is largely ineffective
and requires large quantities of purified,
possibly genetically-engineered, phages
not present in the natural condition.

Adverse Effects of Islamic Fasting

Main Article: Adverse Effects of

Islamic Fasting

Medical fasting is different from Islamic

fasting (Sawm), and contrary to popular
Muslim beliefs, Islamic fasting, unlike
Medical fasting, has numerous adverse
effects that have been observed using
scientific studies and news sources.
Intermittent and prolonged fasting is
generally not conducive to a healthy
lifestyle. Depriving the body of water and
essential nutrients by dividing and
postponing meals to irregular intervals
does nothing to limit consumption. In-fact
it causes a host of health, performance
and mood disorders. Fasting is not
normally prescribed for the well being of
human beings. Instead, it is commonly
understood that eating healthy, smaller-
portioned meals, interspersed throughout
the day is far better in maintaining a well-
balanced diet and far more forgiving on a
person's metabolism. Any claims that
prolonged and intermittent fasting
contributes to the well-being of an
individual's health are misleading, based
on the scientific studies that prove
otherwise. If the Islamic argument in favor
of fasting is that “we fast because God
commanded us to do so," then it is
obvious that God is not a nutritionist or a
dietitian because the negatives definitely
outweigh the positives. So the question
to the Muslim world is: what benefit does
the Muslim world get for 1 billion people
staying hungry throughout the day for
one full month every year? Did Allah
actually want Muslims to suffer
physically, economically and socially for
one month every year? Also, if fasting is
beneficial as Muslims claim, why do
Muslims not fast the entire year instead of
just one month?

Moderate Alcohol Consumption and

its Health Benefits

Main Article: Moderate Alcohol

Consumption and its Health Benefits

Alcohol and other intoxicants are strictly

prohibited (haram) in Islam. This aspect of
Islam may seem rational, considering the
abuse of alcohol can lead to social and
health-related problems. However, when
used in moderation, research suggests
that there are numerous benefits in the
consumption of alcohol, and an all-
knowing deity would have been aware of
this. The Jews and Christians are allowed
to consume alcohol. The pagan Arabs
before and shortly after their conversion
to Islam also consumed alcohol. So why
did Allah prohibit something that may be
beneficial and which was an accepted
norm among the religions before Islam?
Apologists will cite Qur'an 2:219 and
state "In them is great sin, and some
profit, for men; but the sin is greater than
the profit." However, if this was the actual
reason behind its prohibition then it only
reveals Allah's flawed logic. Surely an all-
knowing deity would have only prohibited
its abuse and not given us an outright
ban. Furthermore, if the potential health
risk of alcohol was the cause of the
prohibition, why not also warn against the
dangers of drinking milk?

Milk is Agreeable/Good for Humans

to Drink?

Main Article: Qur'an and Milk

The Qur'an encourages people to drink

milk and calls it "pure and agreeable to
those who drink it." It is even being
served in the Muslim Paradise. In reality,
one glass of milk is potentially more
harmful than a glass of alcoholic
beverage. The Northern Europeans are
among the rather small group of the
totality of humankind to whom
consumption of milk after the weaning
stage is most 'agreeable' due to
evolutionary changes. For much of the
rest of humanity lactose-intolerance after
the weaning stage is default.

So it seems that the Qur'anic statement

"And verily in cattle (too) will ye find an
instructive sign...We produce, for your
drink, milk, pure and agreeable to those
who drink it" is more appropriate to the
genetic cluster of (mostly non-Muslim)
Northern Europeans and their US
descendants than to the other genetic
clusters among humanity.

Drinking Zamzam Water and its

Health Risks

Main Article: Drinking Zamzam Water

and its Health Risks

Millions of Muslims visit the Zamzam well

in Mecca each year while performing the
Hajj or Umrah pilgrimages, in order to
drink its water and, in many cases, to
take home some of its water for
distribution among friends and relations
believing the well and the water which it
pumps to be miraculous.

As with urine, milk, and alcohol, Muslims

often make claims of their religious
beliefs being backed by science.
However, in May 2011, a BBC
investigation found that genuine Zamzam
water taken from the well contained
arsenic levels three times the legal limit,
something which could contribute to
increasing people's risk of cancer. In
addition to the dangerous arsenic levels,
the holy water contained high levels of
nitrate and potentially harmful bacteria.
Health Effects of Islamic Dress

Main Article: Health Effects of Islamic

Dress

The majority of female Muslims

worldwide, following the Islamic
requirement of observing Hijab, wear
some form of Islamic dress. This ranges
anywhere from wearing a simple head
covering, to the burqa (a form of "full
hijab"), which covers almost all exposed
skin.

There is concern among the medical

community about some of the health
effects of the extreme styles of Islamic
dress, with the main issues arising from
Vitamin D deficiency due to lack skin
exposed to UV light. It has been
established by credible scientific
evidence that almost all women who
observe the full hijab are chronically
deficient in Vitamin D. Vitamin D is a vital
nutrient and deficiency of this kind can
lead to osteomalacia in adults and rickets
in children. There is also a strong
association between deficiency in Vitamin
D and an increased risk of developing
several deadly cancers, including breast
cancer.
For Islam as a religion, the implications
are troublesome. Islam is considered by
its adherents to be the perfect way of life
for mankind. If Islam was mandated by
Allah, and if he wanted women to observe
hijab, then logically he would not have
created humans with the need to get
Vitamin D from exposing their skin to the
sun.

Embryology in Islamic Scripture

Main Articles: Embryology in Islamic

Scripture, Embryology in the Qur'an,
and History of Embryology
“Islamic embryology” is derived from
both the Qur’an and the hadith, and is
quite consistent across all the
contributing sources. The core of the
story can be found in the Qur’an, 22:5.
There are a handful of additional ayaat
that deal with this subject, and none of
them disagree with the basic scenario.
There is also more to learn from the
hadith, particularly that of Bukhari and
Muslim. Again, the accounts are quite
consistent, and the additional information
they provide is important.

The details of embryology as reflected in

the Qur’an and the hadith can be
summarized as follows; the embryo
spends 40 days as a drop of sperm or
seed, the embryo then spends another 40
days as a “clot” or a “leech-like clot” of
blood, the embryo then spends another
40 days as a “lump of flesh” during which
the gender of the child is assigned by an
angel at Allah’s direction.

These then are the details that must be

correlated with actual embryonic
development to evaluate the accuracy or
inaccuracy of the Islamic account. The
question is actually a simple one: Does
this account describe the first 120 days of
embryonic development or doesn’t it?
Reproduction in the Qur'an and
Hadith

Main Article: Greek and Jewish Ideas

about Reproduction in the Qur'an and
Hadith

The hadith contain many statements

about fluids from both the man and
woman that were believed to form the
human embryo. The Qur’an too says that
the embryo is formed from emitted fluid,
and in one verse perhaps indicates a
mingling of male and female fluids. In this
article we shall present new research to
trace the origins of each of these ideas at
least as far back as the Jewish Talmud
and the ancient Greek physicians. The
purpose of this article is to demonstrate
the influence of ideas from other cultures
on the Qur’an and hadith regarding
reproduction. It will go without saying
that these ideas are inaccurate compared
with current scientific knowledge of
reproduction and embryology.

Cousin Marriage in Islam

Main Article: Cousin Marriage in Islam

Cousin marriage is explicitly allowed in

Islam as seen in verse 4:23 of the Qur'an.
Muhammad himself married cousins, as
he did with Zaynab bint Jahsh, who was
not only the daughter of his father's
sister, but was also divorced from a
marriage with Muhammad's adopted son,
Zayd ibn Haritha. Muhammad also
allowed the marriage of his daughter,
Fatimah, to his cousin, Ali ibn Abi Talib,
who would later go on to become the
fourth Rightly-guided Caliph of Islam. The
second Caliph, Umar ibn al-Khattab, also
married his cousin, Atikah bint Zayd ibn
Amr ibn Nufayl.

From a biological point of view it

becomes clear that first cousin marriage
is not recommended because close
relatives have a higher than normal
consanguinity which means an increased
chance of sharing genes for recessive
traits. With this high amount of shared
DNA, you have a higher risk of birth
defects in a baby. The British geneticist,
Professor Steve Jones, giving The John
Maddox Lecture at the 2011 Hay Festival
had stated in relation to Muslim
inbreeding, "It is common in the Islamic
world to marry your brother’s daughter,
which is actually [genetically] closer than
marrying your cousin." A rough estimate
shows that close to half of all Muslims in
the world are inbred.

The Universe According to

Islam
Adam, Eve, and the Six Days of
Creation

Main Article: Qur'an, Hadith and

Scholars:Creation

This page simply quotes authoritative

Islamic sources, i.e. the Qur'an, hadith,
and scholars, to provide you with an
accurate picture of what Islam teaches of
the creation of the universe and its
human inhabitants. The basic creation
narrative is consistent throughout.

It began six thousand years before the

advent of Islam. The first thing to be
created was the planet Earth, which took
two days to complete, from Sunday to
Monday. Then it took another two days to
create the mountains, trees, and
everything else. The final two days,
Thursday and Friday, were spent creating
the "heavens", the sun, moon, other
planets, and a sixty cubits (approximately
ninety feet) tall Adam.

Hawwa' (Eve) was created from Adam's

left rib, whilst he was asleep in the
Garden. She is blamed by Adam for
persuading him to eat from the forbidden
tree. As a result, they are both cast out
from the garden in Paradise and sent
down to the planet Earth, where their
decedents continue to decrease in size.

As punishment for her transgression in

particular, Allah makes Eve menstruate,
suffer pregnancy and become stupid.
Therefore, according to Islamic beliefs,
today all women menstruate (are deficient
in religion) and are created stupid
(deficient in intelligence).

A Qur’anic Understanding of the

Universe

Main Article: Cosmology of the Qur'an

This article is designed to uncover and

explain the cosmology presented in the
Qur'an and the Sunnah. More specifically,
it will explore the Qur'an's understanding
of the nature and structure of the physical
universe.

To no surprise, the Qur'an's

understanding of the universe matches
that of the mythical cosmos believed by
7th century Arabians rather than an
accurate description of the real universe.

In the Qur'an, the entire universe is very

small and contains simply the earth and
its surrounding heavens. There are no
galaxies, other solar systems, or such a
thing as “outer space.” The earth is the
top-most of seven, flat discs, surrounded
by the seven solid concentric domes of
the heavens.

The celestial objects that do exist (sun,

moon, stars and planets) are quite small,
very close, and they follow semi-circular
paths within the innermost of the seven
heavenly domes. When they are not in the
sky above the earth, they are resting
somewhere underneath it, except while
petitioning Allah’s permission to return
the following day (or night).

Paradise exists between the seven

heavens, and hell exists between the
seven earths. All of this is submerged in a
cosmic sea, above which is the throne of
Allah.

The Flat Earth

Main Article: Flat Earth and the Qur'an

As recently as 1993 the supreme religious

authority of Saudi Arabia Sheik Abdul-
Aziz Ibn Baaz declared "The earth is flat.
Whoever claims it is round is an atheist
deserving of punishment." and in a
televised debate aired on Iraqi Al-Fayhaa
TV (October 31, 2007), Muslim
Researcher on Astronomy Fadhel Al-Sa'd
also declared that the Earth is flat as
evidenced by Qur'anic verses and that
the sun is much smaller than the Earth
and revolves around it. As devout
Muslims, they have good reason to
conclude the Earth is flat; the Qur'anic
verses 15:19, 20:53, 43:10, 50:7, 51:48,
71:19, 78:6, 79:30, 88:20 and 91:6 all
clearly state this. While many have
attempted to explain away this oddity,
they prey on their listeners ignorance of
the Arabic language. As such, their
apologetic claims have been easily
refuted by native Arabic speakers. There
is no escaping the fact that, according to
the Qur'an, the earth is flat.
The Motionless Center - Planet Earth

Main Article: Geocentrism and the

Qur'an

This article examines the evidence for

Qur'anic geocentric cosmology. Some
may confuse geocentricism with the idea
that the Earth is flat. This is not the case.
These are two different ideas.
Geocentrism simply is the notion that the
earth is the (immovable) center of our
universe, thus all celestial bodies mover
around it. According to the Qur'an, the
Sun (and the moon and the five known
planets) follow a curved (rounded) course
(a Falak). This falak starts in the east
(where the sun goes up), goes high above
the earth and ends after sunset with the
Sun resting at night at a hidden place. All
this took place around an earth that was
spread out and had a firmament built on
invisible pillars above it. This was a
common belief at the time. Sahih
(authentic) hadiths affirm this geocentric
cosmology (so Muhammad or at least the
people around him agree with it), and
great ancient, and even modern-day,
Muslim astronomists agree that the
Qur'an is geocentric. In ancient times,
many people - but certainly not all - did
not know any better than what they
seemed to observe everyday: the sun
appeared to be going around the earth
through our skies. We cannot blame a 7th
century Bedouin for not knowing this, but
should not the omnipresent, omnipotent,
omniscient creator of the universe know
better?

Sun Sets in a Muddy Spring

Main Article: Dhul-Qarnayn and the

Sun Setting in a Muddy Spring

The precise meaning of the opening

phrases in verses 86 and 90 in the 18th
chapter of the Qur’an, Surah al-Kahf, or
“The Cave”, is a matter of considerable
controversy. These verses occur within
an account concerning a powerful figure
called Dhu’l Qarnayn, “the two-horned
one”, who Allah guides on a series of
three fantastic journeys in Qur’an 18:83-
101. They are controversial due to Muslim
sensitivity to claims that they have Allah
saying that the sun sets and rises in
physical locations on or at the edges of
Earth.

Our analysis shows that the various

interpretations that have been proposed
for verses 18:86 and 18:90 in the Qur’an
to reconcile them with scientific facts do
not stand up to detailed scrutiny. The
evidence overwhelmingly supports the
clear and obvious interpretation that this
is intended to be understood as a
historical account in which Dhu’l Qarnayn
traveled until he reached the place where
the sun sets and actually found that it
went down into a muddy spring near to
where a people were, and that he then
traveled until he reached the place where
the sun rises and actually found that it
rose up above a people who lived close
to the place where the sun rises.

Ramadan and the North and South

Poles
 Main Article: The Ramadan Pole
Paradox

This article consists of a set of questions

and answers exploring Ramadan's
relation to the North and South Poles.
According to Islamic rules, the length of a
fast is governed by the rising and the
setting of the sun. This can cause a huge
problem for those who live close to these
poles. The closer we get to the poles, the
longer our days or nights become. They
can eventually extend for up to several
months each, making the fourth Pillar of
Islam impossible to practice without
starving yourself to death. Obviously
Muhammad was unaware of the poles.

Islamic Writing and the Universe

Main Article: Qur'an, Hadith and

Scholars:Cosmology

Islamic scriptures and scholars have

much to say in regards to the cosmology
of the universe.

It is narrated on the authority of Abu

Dharr that the Messenger of Allah (may
peace be upon him) one day said: Do
you know where the sun goes? They
replied: Allah and His Apostle know
best. He (the Holy Prophet) observed:
Verily it (the sun) glides till it reaches its
resting place under the Throne. Then it
falls prostrate and remains there until it
is asked: Rise up and go to the place
whence you came, and it goes back
and continues emerging out from its
rising place and then glides till it
reaches its place of rest under the
Throne and falls prostrate and remains
in that state until it is asked: Rise up
and return to the place whence you
came, and it returns and emerges out
from it rising place and the it glides (in
such a normal way) that the people do
not discern anything ( unusual in it) till it
 reaches its resting place under the
Throne. Then it would be said to it: Rise
up and emerge out from the place of
your setting, and it will rise from the
place of its setting. The Messenger of
Allah (may peace be upon him) said. Do
you know when it would happen? It
would happen at the time when faith will
not benefit one who has not previously
believed or has derived no good from
the faith.
Sahih Muslim 1:297

Islamic Science and the Golden

Age
The Miracle of Islamic Science
 Main Article: Setting the Record
Straight: The Non-Miracle of Islamic
Science

This is a refutation of Dr K. Ajram's

“Setting the Record Straight: The Miracle
of Islamic Science.” The purpose of this
analysis is to put the achievements of
Golden Age Muslim scientists in the
proper perspective; neither denigrating
their achievements nor inflating them.

All scientific and technological progress

is accomplished in progression; Muslim
achievements are but links in the chain.
Few of the great Muslim scientific
achievements stood alone, but were
derived by Muslim scientists standing on
the shoulders of those who came before
them.

This analysis also highlights the biggest

flaw of the Islamic Golden Age. There
were few ‘follow-up’ breakthroughs on
the backs of the works of the great
Muslim scientists. In effect, the Ummah
allowed or encouraged these works to
wither on the vine or die stillborn, even
before the rise of mysticism at the
expense of rational thinking, an event
often attributed to al-Ghazzali around the
turn of the 12th century.
Muslims 'Saved' the Work of Greek
Philosophers from Destruction

Main Article: Arab Transmission of the

Classics

The “Arab transmission of the classics” is

a common and persistent myth that
Arabic commentators such as Avicenna
and Averroes 'saved' the work of Aristotle
and other Greek philosophers from
destruction. According to the myth, these
works would otherwise have perished in
the long European dark age between fifth
and the tenth centuries. Thus the versions
of Aristotle used in the West were
translations from the Arabic, which came
from the South West of Europe in the
reconquest of Spain from the Muslims
during the twelve and thirteenth
centuries.

This is incorrect. It was actually the

Byzantines in the East who saved the
ancient learning of the Greeks in the
original language, and the first Latin texts
to be used were translation from the
Greek, in the 12th century, rather than, in
most cases, the Arabic, which were only
used in default of these.

It is nevertheless true, and no myth, that

the work of the Arabic commentators,
particularly Averroes, had a profound
influence on the scholastic philosophers
of the Latin West in the thirteenth century.
Aristotle's Greek is terse and very difficult
to understand. The work of the Arabic
commentators helped in explaining and
clarifying Aristotle's dense and apparently
obscure thought. Thus Western
intellectual tradition owes a great debt to
the Arabic scholars in terms of
understanding Aristotle's thought. In
terms of the texts, however, these would
have survived had the Arabic
commentators never existed.

Islamic Inventions that Changed the

World

Main Article: How Islamic Inventors

Did Not Change The World

These past few years have seen many

inventions claimed and attributed to
Islamic inventors, which in fact either
existed in pre-Islamic eras, were invented
by other cultures, or both. However, this
detail has not apologists from
perpetuating these false claims. Such
claims have even been propagated
through a nationwide tour which opened
with an exhibition at the Museum of
Science and Industry in Manchester and
the University of Manchester, England.
To celebrate this series of events, an
article titled “How Islamic inventors
changed the world” was written by Paul
Vallely and published in The Independent.
This inaccurate piece of writing has
received much praise and is still being
widely circulated on Islamic websites,
forums and blogs. This article lists and
examines all twenty of these “Islamic
inventions that changed the world”, and
in doing so, it reveals their actual
inventors and the true role of
Islam/Muslims, if any, behind the
inventions.
In short, we find that Paul Vallely's article
is fundamentally misleading. It omits,
distorts, and makes blunders concerning
the most basic of historical facts to give
the reader a false impression. It leaves
you wondering what could have possibly
motivated him into writing such a
deceptive piece of journalism?

Islamic Science in Wikipedia Articles

Main Article: Islam, Science and the

Problems at Wikipedia

At Wikipedia, Islam-related articles are

often compromised by pro-Islamic
editors. An example of this is a 2010
incident where an editor with over 67,000
edits was caught intentionally inserting
false information into articles.

Jagged 85 is the main contributor to the

many inaccurate Islam/Science/Golden
Age articles which are still being copied
and pasted all over the internet by
Muslims, and more than 20% of
Wikipedia's "Timeline of historic
inventions" was provided by him.

With contributions to over 8,100 separate

articles, it is unlikely that all of Jagged
85's edits will ever be fixed. And even if
they were, these Wikipedia articles have
already been reproduced all over the net
by other sites which use Wikipedia as a
source.

Genuine Islamic Inventions,

Innovations, Records and Firsts

Main Article: List of Genuine Islamic

Inventions, Innovations, Records and
Firsts

Many articles (for example, "How Islamic

Inventors Changed The World" and
"Setting the Record Straight: The Miracle
of Islamic Science") have made provably
false claims, attributing various
inventions, innovations and discoveries
made by others to Islam and its followers.
This article lists only genuine
Islamic/Muslim inventions, innovations,
records and firsts. Examples include:

The yellow badge that was to be

eventually used by the Nazis against
the Jews, was invented by a Muslim
caliph in Baghdad in the 9th century as
a variant of the zunnār belt. This then
spread to the western world in
medieval times.
According to Dr. K. Ajram, the author of
"Miracle of Islamic Science", Muslim
scholars invented racial-typing
centuries before the German Johann
 Friedrich Blumenbach "divided
mankind into white, yellow, brown,
black and red peoples".
The world's first PC virus, Brain.a, was
created in September, 1986, by two
brothers from Lahore, Pakistan, Amjad
Farooq Alvi and Basit Farooq Alvi. They
included their names, phone number
and address in the code.

Science in the Qur'an

Scientific Errors in the Qur'an and
Hadith

Main Articles: Scientific Errors in the

Quran and Scientific Errors in the
 Hadith

This page lists various types of scientific

errors found in the Qur'an. The subjects
of these errors include; Evolution,
Astronomy, Biology, Geology, Zoology
and many others which are often
confirmed by the hadith.

Non-Muslim Scientists finding

Science in the Qur'an

Main Articles: Dr. Keith Moore and the

"Islamic Additions" and Bucailleism

Bucailleism is the belief that "the Qur'an

prophesied the Big Bang theory, space
travel and other contemporary scientific
breakthroughs," and that "there are more
than 1200 verses (Ayat) which can be
interpreted in the light of modern
science." It has been called "a fast-
growing branch of Islamic
fundamentalism."

Named after the French surgeon Maurice

Bucaille, its proponents believe that "one
of the main convincing evidences" that
lead many to convert to Islam "is the
large number of scientific facts in the
Quran."

The doctrine is "widely taught" in Islamic

secondary schools, promoted on at least
one popular weekly television program in
the Arab world and is advanced by "a
well-funded campaign" led by the
Commission on Scientific Signs in the
Quran and Sunnah, based in Saudi Arabia
and founded by Sheikh Abdul Majeed
Zindani, a leading militant Islamist and
"Specially Designated Global Terrorist".

Resulting from the above mentioned

Commission, a popular tool of da'wah is
to show videos from conferences in the
1980s of various scientists apparently
vouching for the scientific accuracy of the
Qur'an. See these recent interviews with
some of those scientists, in which they
explain that they were tricked, misquoted,
and misrepresented by Sheikh Abdul
Majeed Zindani, who organised the
conferences.

Scientific Miracles in the Georgics

Main Article: On the Miraculous

Nature and the Divine Origin of Virgil's
Georgics

This article argues that the Georgica,

written by Virgil in Golden Latin in the
year 28 BC, contains many scientific
miracles (i.e. scientific foreknowledge).
Furthermore, Virgil was an ancient Roman
poet and the ancient Romans were
polytheists, thus the Roman pantheon of
deities must exist. Of course this article is
written as part satire. It parodies the logic
of Muslim apologists, and demonstrates
very effectively how easy it is to
reinterpret any ancient poetry, such as
the Qur'an, and reveal so-called scientific
miracles.

Qur'an and the Big Bang

Main Article: Qur'an and the Big Bang

Islamic apologists attempt to claim that

the “Big Bang” is actually described by
the Qur’an in one of many miraculous
displays of scientific precocity in text.
However on closer examination, Muslim
claims of miraculous scientific
information in the Qur’an are shown to
be, yet again, in error. In reality, the
Qur’an is completely silent on the “big
bang” because it clearly has no
awareness whatsoever of a universe that
pre-existed the creation of the planet
Earth, or extended outwards into infinite
space. It has no understanding of
galaxies, or clusters of galaxies, or
quasars or pulsars or any of the other
things that could have easily been
mentioned by an omniscient Allah, and
left us no room for quibbling.
Qur'an and a Universe from Smoke

Main Article: Qur'an and a Universe

from Smoke

Prominent apologists such as Harun

Yahya and I. A. Ibrahim have claimed that
the Qur'an contains an accurate account
of the formation of stars and early phases
of the Universe.

The entire argument rests on the Qur'anic

description of the "heavens" as "smoke";
a claim which in-turn rests on a false
equivalence made between smoke and
the makeup of the early universe. It also
presupposes that the Qur'anic author
must describe something as complex as
the earliest phase of the universe using
only a single word. A presupposition that
makes little sense and is far from
convincing when you consider how such
information could have validated the
authenticity of the Qur'anic message.

The attempt to show that the Qur'an

correctly describes the formation of stars
(by quoting a portion of Qur'an 41:11) and
then the earth (by quoting Qur'an 21:30)
is shown to be disingenuous. When the
whole of verse 41:11 and its surrounding
verses are read in context, it provides a
clear chronological account of the earth
being formed first and then the hills and
sustenance are created upon it. Only
after the earth has been created does
Allah create the stars. The entire account
in the Qur'an is not an accurate reflection
of the formation of the Universe.

Qur'an Predicted Black Holes And

Pulsars

Main Article: Qur'an Predicted Black

Holes And Pulsars

This article analyzes two separate claims

made by Harun Yahya concerning black
holes and pulsars.
The analysis shows the claim that the
Qur'an predicted the modern
understanding of Black Holes is not
backed by the scientific evidence, and
the claim that the Qur'an predicted the
modern understanding of pulsars is
conjectural and not supported by the
scientific evidence.

It has also shown Harun Yahya’s self-

contradiction as he used the same
Qur'anic verse to ‘prove’ both the black
hole and the pulsar. Since a black hole
cannot possibly also be a pulsar, it
appears that Harun Yahya has refuted
himself.
Speed of Light in the Qur'an

Main Article: Speed of Light in the

Qur'an

In an article published in Islami City, Dr.

Mansour Hassab-Elnaby claims verse
32:5 reveals that light in one day travels a
distance equal to 12,000 lunar orbits, and
upon calculating that distance we find the
exact speed of light.

Verse 32:5 has nothing to do with the

speed of light. There is no mention of the
moon, light or even distance in this verse.
If these methods were to be applied to
other texts, such as Shakespeare's
writings or Virgil's Georgics, they too can
be "proven" divine.

No matter how Dr. Hassab-Elnaby's

calculations are viewed, they are
mathematically incorrect. Even the notion
of measuring the speed of light with the
orbit of the Moon or the length of the day
is a fallacy.

Dr. Hassab-Elnaby also makes many

deliberate errors to doctor a scientific
miracle, and in his enthusiasm to ascribe
miracles to the Qur'an, he discards the
concept of Allah's omnipresence. The
creator of the Universe, according to him,
depends on the speed of light to manage
his affairs.

Finally, assuming there really is a miracle

in this plagiarized allegory, should not the
credit go to the Bible from which it
originates?

Seven Heavens and Seven Earths

Main Article: Science and the Seven

Earths

This article analyzes several different

apologetic arguments claiming the Qur'an
correctly asserts that there are "seven
heavens" and "seven earths". In doing so,
it finds the scientific evidence does not
support any of the claims concerning the
Qur'anic verse 65:12 and its scientific
accuracy.

Earth's atmosphere is divided into five

main layers based on temperature. Within
these five principal layers, several
secondary layers may be distinguished
by other properties. There is no
classification into 7 layers.

Modern geology states that there are only

four or five layers of the Earth, or up to
eight if the new hypotheses of the
subcore georeactor are accepted.
Without the double-counting of layers,
There is no classification into 7 layers.

The number of continents is traditionally

considered seven, but there are only six
as Europe and Asia are technically a
single land mass (i.e. Eurasia) and on the
same tectonic plate. Therefore, the
traditional number of seven continents is
more a cultural bias than an actual
geographical/geological fact.

Furthermore, if one delves a little deeper

into the Islamic sources, it is discovered
that the seven earths being referred to in
verse 65:12 are in fact flat islands, one
under the other.

Qur'an and the Descent of Iron

Main Article: Qur'an and the Descent

of Iron

This article analyzes the ‘iron sent down

from heaven miracle’. A chief proponent
of this claim is Harun Yahya.

There is nothing miraculous about surah

57:26 describing iron being ‘sent down’
by a deity. The ancient Egyptians already
derived that concept three thousand
years before Islam. They called iron “ba-
en-pet” or ‘metal from heaven’. This
concept was also shared by the ancient
Mesopotamians.

The term ‘anzala’ used to describe iron

being ‘sent down’ is also used to
describe cattle, garments, food, and the
people of the book being ‘sent down’ by
some deity. There is nothing to suggest
that these too were not created in
supernovae and sent down to earth. It is
intellectually dishonest to assign a literal
interpretation when referring to iron but
figurative interpretations when referring to
everything else without the evidence to
distinguish when to use the literal as
opposed to the figurative interpretation.

There is nothing miraculous about the

surah reference and the atomic number
of iron. This is mere coincidence as other
metals are also mentioned in the Qur'an
and their atomic numbers bear no relation
to their surah references. To selectively
assign miracles based on coincidence
(since godly design is unproven) is a
logical fallacy.

Thus there is nothing miraculous about

surah 57:26 and the ‘descent’ of iron. The
claims apologists make in this regard
have either been known many centuries
before Islam or are scientifically
inaccurate.

Qur'an Describes Altitude Sickness

Main Article: Qur'an Describes

Altitude Sickness

This article analyzes the apologetic claim

that the Qur'an's description of altitude
sickness is somehow miraculous,
scientifically accurate, or prophetic.

If the verse is taken figuratively, then it is

not miraculous, since it is describing a
phenomenon that would have been well-
known to the wandering Arab nomads
long before the revelation of the Qur'an.

If the verse is taken literally, then it is

scientifically inaccurate. There is no
“tightening” of the chest. The constrictive
sensation experienced at high altitudes is
simply a result of having less air to
breathe into your lungs, in addition to the
gas already there actually expanding.

In fact, when modern scientific

knowledge is taken into consideration,
problems with a literal interpretation are
two-fold since it has been postulated that
human adaption has lead to people born
and raised in high altitudes to have
enlarged chests which "could allow for
increased lung volumes and thereby
increase oxygen uptake."

The Qur'an and Mountains

Main Article: The Qur'an and

Mountains

Many articles have been written in

response to the claim that the Qur'an is
validated by the geological science
concerning mountains. This article adds
to these by addressing several newer
points that have been adopted to justify
the original claim or to evade contrary
scientific evidence.

The claim that mountains are pegs is

untrue as not all mountains have "peg-
like" roots. And even the ones that can be
claimed to have these peg-like roots,
resemble pegs only with a lot of
imagination. The claim that mountains
stabilize the crust or the earth is (at best)
unproven. There is no scientific evidence
for this assertion, therefore the Qur'an
cannot be validated by scientific evidence
that does not exist.
The mere fact of isostacy is not proof that
mountains stabilize the crust or the earth.
The mere fact that collision-type
mountains are formed at the edges of
tectonic plates is not proof that
mountains stabilize the plates. The mere
fact that mountains have deep roots is
not proof that mountains stabilize
anything.

Lastly, is the Qur'an really the first

scripture to make the assertion that
mountains stabilize the earth? Some
Christians do not think so, and the Bible
predates the Qur'an by at least 400 years.
Qur'an Predicted Land Decreasing

Main Article: Qur'an Predicted Land

Decreasing

Dr. Al Zeiny, PhD, claims a so-called

‘proof’ of Qur'anic Science by positing
the proposition that the Qur'an correctly
predicted the geological fact that land is
decreasing due to the movements of
tectonic plates. He cites verses 13:41 and
21:44 as evidence.

The geological facts do not support Dr.

Zeiny's case that land is decreasing as
the Qur'an supposedly suggests. In fact,
they prove that the geological information
contained in the Qur'an is in error.

Land has not been decreasing at all over

the past billion years. At present 29.1% of
the total earth’s surface area is land.
However, by the end of the Permian
Period 200 million years ago, the
supercontinent Pangaea covered only
about a quarter of the earth’s surface.

Creation of Humans from Clay

Main Article: Creation of Humans from

Clay
This article analyzes Harun Yahya's claim
that the Qur'an displays scientific
foreknowledge by correctly asserting the
creation of human beings from clay.

The Qur'an's assertion that humans are

created from clay is not a scientific
miracle because it is apparent that
folkloric tales about the creation of
humans from clay/earth/mud is very
common throughout the world, and many
of these tales pre-date the existence of
Islam.

It is also scientifically inaccurate because

the Islamic faith claims that human
beings were created from clay, contrary
to the scientific hypothesis that clay
merely 'match-makes' RNA and
membrane vesicles - and therefore does
not form a building block.

Qur'an and Semen Production

Main Article: Qur'an and Semen

Production

This article analyzes the various attempts

to show that the Qur'an correctly
describes semen production from
between the “sulb” and the “tara’ib” in
verse 86:7.
There are several distinct classes of
explanations, and none of them are
supported by modern scientific
knowledge and are frequently conflicting.
For example, Ibn Kathir refers to tara’ib
as a female organ, while other tafsirs
claim it belongs to the man. Another
conflict is the definition of sulb to mean
either the backbone or the ‘hardening’ of
the loins.

A point often missed, though alluded to

by Dr. Campbell, is the phrase “min bain”
which literally means “from between”. If
this interpretation is accepted, which
seems to be the case from a reading of
the commonly accepted translations,
then one must also note that semen
emanates from the penis, and not from
between the penis and the vagina. To be
strictly correct, semen emanates from the
penis into the vagina. This point seems to
rule out tara’ib as being anything to do
with the female sexual partner.

Qur'an Describes Gender

Determination By Sperm

Main Article: Qur'an Describes

Gender Determination By Sperm

Various individuals have claimed the

Qur'an is the only ancient book that
states gender is determined by the
sperm. In this, they may point out the
ignorance of the Greeks who thought
gender was determined by the relative
strengths of sperm from the male and
female parents as Hippocrates imagined.

This article does not seek to prove that

the ancient Egyptians shared some
aspects of the scientific understanding of
gender determination and reproduction. It
merely aims to show that the Qur'an was
not the first religious text to suggest that
gender is determined by the semen of the
male parent.
In viewing the evidence, it is apparent
that some of the ancient Egyptians
believed that gender is created by the
sperm from the male parent, and
reproduction is via male and female
union. This belief predated the Qur'an by
about 2,900 years as evidenced by the
pyramid text of Pharaoh Pepi I, 2332-
2283 BC.

Qur'an and Embryology

Main Article: Embryology in the

Qur'an

There are propagations of Qur'anic

Embryology by such luminaries as Dr.
Keith Moore (alongside his co-author
Abdul Majeed al-Zindani) and Dr. Maurice
Bucaille. These works are copied by Dr.
Al Zeiny, Dr. Zakir Naik, Dr. Ibrahim Syed,
Dr. Sharif Kaf Al-Ghazal, Harun Yahya
and others.

There are already many responses

available. So here we will attempt to add
to this debate, concentrating solely on
the Qur'anic verses, because inclusion of
the hadiths would clearly show up the
unscientific nature of Qur'anic
embryology. Dr. Omar Abdul Rehman’s
article on the subject will be used as the
basis for our analysis as it is clearly the
most detailed.

Qur'anic Claim of Everything Created

in Pairs

Main Article: Qur'anic Claim of

Everything Created in Pairs

This article analyzes the claim that

humans did not know anything about the
"creation in pairs" at the time of the
descent of the Qur'an. The case against
the Qur'an is very simple. All one has to
do is to show that not all creatures are
created in pairs.
Based on the existence of the
schizophyllum commune, and asexual,
hermaphroditic and parthenogenetic
organisms, the Qur'anic verses about
Allah creating all creatures in pairs (male
and female) are shown to be in error.

The ancient Chinese Yin-Yang duality

principle proves that the spurious claim
of ‘creation in pairs’ to mean matter-
antimatter complements to be
unremarkable. Besides, some Hindus
make similar claims about the Rig-Veda
as the Muslims make about the Qur'an
and scriptural allusions to matter and
antimatter.
Qur'an and the Lying Prefrontal
Cerebrum

Main Article: Qur'an and the Lying

Prefrontal Cerebrum

Several apologists promulgate Professor

Keith L. Moore's Qur'anic science of the
lying sinful prefrontal area of the
cerebrum (here referred to as the
prefrontal cerebrum). There are many
web sites that are copy-pasting this
proposition, and a search of the internet
reveals that all the claims come from the
same source, i.e. Keith Moore.
However, Modern medical research
utilizing fMRI conduct brain scans has
revealed that the prefrontal cerebrum is
not responsible for lying. Other brain
regions are responsible, particularly the
anterior cingulate gyrus which lies in the
medial part of the brain in the frontal-
parietal area and not in the prefrontal
cerebrum.

Thus, the scientific evidence does not

support the claim that the Qur'an
correctly asserts that the prefrontal
region is responsible for lying as it is not
the region responsible for the decision-
making process of lying.
Meeting of Fresh and Salt Water in
the Qur'an

Main Article: Meeting of Fresh and

Salt Water in the Qur'an

Apologists believe that Surah 25:53 of the

Qur’an is scientifically accurate
concerning its description of the meeting
of fresh and salt water. They conclude
that since this process was unknown to
humankind during the time of Prophet
Muhammad, this verse (and the Qur’an as
a whole) is revealed by Allah.

This article will prove that the verse in

question is scientifically wrong, and show
you how apologists make false
statements and distort information in
order to support their case. It will also
demonstrate how a layman could make a
better guess than the author of the
Qur'an.

See Also
Articles

I. A. Ibrahim - A hub page that leads to

other articles related to I. A. Ibrahim
Zakir Naik - A hub page that leads to
other articles related to Zakir Naik
 Harun Yahya - A hub page that leads to
other articles related to Harun Yahya
Islamization of Knowledge
Muslim Statistics (Science)
Scientific Errors in the Quran

Multimedia

Videos on Islam:Arabic Analysis

Other Core Articles

Core articles contain an overview of other

articles related to a specific issue, and
serve as a starting point for anyone
wishing to learn about Islam:

Islam and Apostasy

 Islam and Homosexuality
Islam and Miracles
Islam and Pedophilia
Islam and Propaganda
Islam and the People of the Book
Islam and Scripture
Islam and Violence
Islam and Women

External Links
Qur'an and Science - Answering Islam
The Scientific 100 - 3 different
rankings from Adherents.com showing
how little Muslims contributed to
science
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