A number of Muslim authors and apologists, such as Haruna Yahya, Osama Abdallah and the Muslim exponent Maurice Bucaille claim that the Qur’an is a miraculous prodigy in its reference to life originating from water.
In Sura 21: 30 we read:
‘...and we made every living thing of water’
Since this phrase follows the reading in which Allah separates heaven and earth and since Sura 41: 10 refers to ‘dukhan’ which can be translated ‘smoke’ or ‘vapour’ I am inclined to conclude based on the cosmogony of ancient philosophical writings that the authors of the Qur’an were referring to the matter that separated from the earth and expanded and which according to a number of pre-Islamic thinkers and writers contributed to the creation of the seven planets or earths (Sura 65: 15), which according to Irenaeus and Clement of Alexandria was a Greek concept of the seven entities orbiting the earth (see Plato, Timaeus, 1966: 76-9; 84-5), in seven tracts (Sura 23: 17), which according to Clement of Alexandria were also described as seven heavens (that is the seven earth or planets orbiting in seven tracts were commonly described as seven heavens).
A number of Greek text refer to his matter that separated from the earth either as ether or as vapour. Some authors such as Lucretius even considered and included both theories.
Interestingly the Arabic ‘dukhan’ if we consider the same authors including Aristotle in his Meteorologica depicts and describes the very same substance which according to pre-Islamic scientists expanded from the earth.
This might indeed explain why water is connected so closely to Qur’anic cosmogony, since the Qur’an views the heavens and its matter (sun, moon, planets and stars) to have emerged from the earth, either as ether or vapour. In fact according to Kathir, vol.1, 2000: 180 Mujahid considered the earth to exist prior to the heavens, and the smoke bursted out of it.
This completely refutes Answering-Christianity which claims:
‘The Universe out side earth did not originate from water. It originated from Hot Smoke or Hot Gas, in which also amazingly was mentioned in the Noble Quran’
See:
http://www.answering-christianity.com/origin_of_life.htm
Dukhan can refer to both smoke or vapour, which fits the exact cosmogony and its related substances in the writings of pre-Islamic philosophers. This passage within its context and the understanding of the community within its time is not a reference to gas or gasseous clouds, unless of course the ancient philosophers predicted that scenario and process prior to Islam and the author of the Qur’an simply follows a lucky example of scientific guesswork .
I guess Osama Abdallah and his team need to do their homework and revise their material.
This rather than ascribing the Qur’an as a miracle exposes its human origin.
Yet another vital matter appears from Sura 21: 30, namely that from water Allah created life.
There are a number of other verses in the Qur’an that elaborate further on this passage:
"It is He Who has created man from water: then has He established relationships of lineage and marriage: for thy Lord has power (over all things). (Sura, 25:54)"
"And God has created every animal from water: of them there are some that creep on their bellies; some that walk on two legs; and some that walk on four. God creates what He wills for verily God has power over all things. (Sura, 24:45)"
I hate to be fuzzy over contradictions, but considering all the silly arguments of contradictions Muslims bring up in the Bible, these two passages certainly contradict a number of other Qur’anic passages which clearly state that Allah created man from mud or clay. It is possible that Allah created man from water and mud, yet the passages do not confirm this, hence let’s not read into the wording what is not therein.
Let me however point out here that the pre-Islamic thinkers and writers did refer to mankind as created from mud and water, hence this claim if present in the Qur’an would not present a Qur’anic miracle either.
Yet due to this Qur’anic claim Muslim apologists and authors have exclaimed that the Qur’an predicts yet another scientific discovery; Bucaille the Islamic exponent writes:
‘The phrase can equally mean that every living thing was made of water (as its essential component) or that every living thing originated in water. The two possible meanings are strictly in accordance with scientific data. Life is in fact of aquatic origin and water is the major component of all living cells. Without water, life is not possible…What has been translated her by ‘water’ is the word ma which means both water in the sky and water in the sea, plus any kind of liquid…We shall see further how this word also applied to seminal fluid.’
See also Osama Abdallah making similar statements on his website:
http://answering-christianity.com/water_is_a_must_have_for_life.htm
Notice that the Qur'an does not elaborate in details how this creation of life from water was processed; hence the possibilites and theories vary.
Yet the idea that life originated from water flourished greatly amongst the Greeks, even centuries before the rise of Islam; and true the idea is similar: life came from water, yet the theory of such process varies. According to Empedocles:
‘The aether was first separated, and secondly fire, and then earth, from which, as it was compressed tightly by the force of its rotation, water gushed forth; and from this the air arose as vapour, and the heavens arose from the aether, the sun from the fire, and bodies on the earth were compressed out of the others.’
Hence according to Empedocles the bodies of the earth were compressed from earth, water and air (Now think isn’t Empedocles pretty amazing in his prediction of modern science, even with out the need of divine intervention and revelation).
Thales who earlier had proposed that water was the principle of all things and the end of all things, based his conclusion upon the observation of nature, that the seed of all animals is moist (probably a reference to semen). Secondly, he noticed how the plants were depended upon moisture and were nourished by it.
Aristotle, in his reference to Anaximander writes:
‘Wherefore they (the Syrians) reverence the fish as of the same origin and the same family as man, holding a more reasonable philosophy than that of Anaximandros; for he declares, not that fishes and men were generated at the same time, but that at first men were generated in the form of fishes, and that growing up as sharks do till they were able to help themselves, they then came forth on the dry ground.’
Plato’s Timaeus brings up an entirely different picture in which humanity is sophisticatedly composed by various elements, in which water or liquid played a significant role:
‘The souls, then, being bound within a mighty river…for while the flood which foamed in and streamed out, as it supplied the food was immense…’
Comparing the above with the claim of Bucaille, the Greeks believed that all life on earth, whether humanity, animals or plants originated or either through or in water. The types of liquid involved included sea, vapour, rain and semen. In other words, the Arabic word ‘ma’, introduced by Bucaille was already a common recognition prior to the rise of Islam.
Another Qur'anic scientific claim debunked.
http://debunkingquranicscience.blogspot.com/
Like many of your other articles this too was poorly written.
ReplyDelete"Thales was a Greek philosopher who lived around 600 BC. He believed that the world itself started from water and that the origin of all matter is water. According to Aristotle, Thales proposed that water, one of the four elements (the others being earth, air and fire), is the principle of all things and that all things ultimately are water. This clearly couldn’t be more different to what is stated in the Quran.
Anaximander also lived around 600 BC and speculated about the beginnings and origin of animal life. He claimed that animals sprang out of the sea long ago. He thought the first animals were born trapped in a spiny bark, but as they got older, the bark would dry up and break and as the early humidity evaporated, dry land emerged and, in time, humankind had to adapt. Anaximander put forward the idea that humans had to spend part of this transition inside the mouths of big fish to protect themselves from the Earth’s climate until they could come out in open air and lose their scales. Even though he had no theory of natural selection some people consider him as evolution’s most ancient proponent.
But it is quite obvious that the views of Thales, Anaximander and Aristotle could not be more different than what is stated in the verse of the Quran in question. Another similar verse of the Quran is as follows:
‘’God has created every living creature from water. Among them are such as move on their bellies, and such as move on two legs, and such as move on four. God creates whatever He wills. Surely, God has full power over everything’’
24:45
Therefore it appears that the Quran correctly states that every living thing is made from water, but contains no hint of the inaccurate views of Thales and Anaximander."
No, the Quran still doesn't state "correctly" how life emerged from water. It simply lists up animals. This is remarkably similar to the bible's creation story, which actually tells about god creating all moving creatures out of the water. This is, if even, merely proving how Mohammed could also simply have recycled the bible claims and shortened it. Plain plagiarism. And now it's time to choose. Did he steal form Aristotle? Or from the Bible? etc...
DeleteWell Anaximander wrote:
ReplyDelete‘Wherefore they (the Syrians) reverence the fish as of the same origin and the same family as man, holding a more reasonable philosophy than that of Anaximandros; for he declares, not that fishes and men were generated at the same time, but that at first men were generated in the form of fishes, and that growing up as sharks do till they were able to help themselves, they then came forth on the dry ground.
This indeed comes close the modern evolutionary theory in which life literarly began in the sea, even though certain details differ significantly.
The Qur’an seems to follow this theory as well at some point:
"And God has created every animal from water: of them there are some that creep on their bellies; some that walk on two legs; and some that walk on four. God creates what He wills for verily God has power over all things. (Sura, 24:45)"
That this includes the mankind is verified by
"It is He Who has created man from water: then has He established relationships of lineage and marriage: for thy Lord has power (over all things). (Sura, 25:54)"
The First major problem is this: are you saying that Allah created mankind in heaven through water? Or did he create them on earth through water? Why is it then that other passages state that Allah created man through earth, mud or clay? Is heaven an place of earth and water much like our earth?
If the Qur’an intends to state that man was created from earth and water, why do these passages not clarify that? Is it because the author is plagiarizing the ideas from different sources and early scientific postulates?
Hello commits a serious error in his rebuttle, Hello focuses particularly on my reference to Thales and correcting me that the theory of Thales and the Qur’an are no coherent theories:
"Thales was a Greek philosopher who lived around 600 BC. He believed that the world itself started from water and that the origin of all matter is water. According to Aristotle, Thales proposed that water, one of the four elements (the others being earth, air and fire), is the principle of all things and that all things ultimately are water. This clearly couldn’t be more different to what is stated in the Quran”.
But notice that I did not use Thales as the main evidence, I merely pointed out that Thales observed the vital role of liquid and moisture in nature:
‘Thales who earlier had proposed that water was the principle of all things and the end of all things, based his conclusion upon the observation of nature, that the seed of all animals is moist (probably a reference to semen). Secondly, he noticed how the plants were depended upon moisture and were nourished by it’.
Hello wrote:
ReplyDeleteBut it is quite obvious that the views of Thales, Anaximander and Aristotle could not be more different than what is stated in the verse of the Quran in question. Another similar verse of the Quran is as follows... Therefore it appears that the Quran correctly states that every living thing is made from water, but contains no hint of the inaccurate views of Thales and Anaximander."
Lets assess this claim of Hello:
You are saying that the Qur’an avoids the speculation of the others, I assume you emphasize the Qur’an statement that man and life was created out of water.
Firstly, if man was created out of water, without any reference to earth we need to assume that the author refers to this common idea within the Greek world that man and animals arose from the sea either spontanously or through evolution; the Qur’an does not exlude this possibility, yet this will contradict the idea that man was created from mud.
Notice also that if you wanna be balanced here and claim that life was created out of water and mud, which is why Bucaille says that life (man and animal) was made of water (as its essential component) or that every living thing originated in water then the Qur’an is simply in agreement with Empdocles, who wrote:
‘The aether was first separated, and secondly fire, and then earth, from which, as it was compressed tightly by the force of its rotation, water gushed forth; and from this the air arose as vapour, and the heavens arose from the aether, the sun from the fire, and bodies on the earth were compressed out of the others.’
What others? Since the heavens arose from aether and the sun from fire, the bodies of the earth were compressed out of earth and water.
Hence the theory that man arose from earth and water already existed prior to Islam and if this is the correct view, then Empdocles is more accurate than the Qur’an since he refers to these together (as combined), while the Qur’an seems to suggest that its author is utilizing contradictory ideas.
man created by water,sand&ect. as there are verses telling that man created with water also there are verses telling that he created with sand.so its a combination as how we need coffee,sugar and water to make a cofee.
ReplyDeleteHi Nazeela, thanks for your contribution to the topic.
ReplyDeleteActually the idea that man was created from a combination of water and mud was already proposed by Empedocles a thousand years prior to Islam; however, Empdocles combined these two in one and the same passage, while the Qur'an separates these.
The problem which this causes for the Qur'an, is firstly the refutation of those who say that such a combination of life was unheard off prior to Islam.
Secondly since the Qur'an refers to water and earth seperately it has to be considered on line with criticism and Islamic approach to similar cases in the Bible, in which a seperate content simply reveals a different source.
It is indeed likely that the Qur'an plagiarizes two separate sources since pre-Islamic writers proposed both theories, that is that man was created either by earth or by water (the Qur'an does not combine these in one and the same passage); some concluded that life was created from a combination.
Muslims will not apply this to the Qur'an but ussually to other writings.
Thirdly, according to Islam man was created in heaven. Are you saying that Allah created mankind in heaven from water and earth? In that case it is pointless to consider earthly biology, unless you assume that heaven and earth are completely alike.
If all living things were created from water, what about angels and the Jinn? What were they created from? Also, is this statement something that could only have been arrived at by modern science? After all,the Arabs lived in an arid land. Water was undoubtedly precious, and the presence of water caused in oases cause life to flourish there, compared to the desert, and the loss of water led to death of all living things. The Arabs would also have seen the effects of dehydration on themselves. So it is not too difficult to deduce that water was necessary for life. Besides, don't Egyptian and Babylonian mythologies say that pretty much everything came from water?
ReplyDeleteAnd then this from Qisas an-Nabiya:
Kaab al-Ahbar said: When God wished to create the dry land, He commanded the wind to churn up the waters. When they had become turbulent and foamy, waves swelled and gave off vapor. Then God commanded the foam to solidify, and it became dry. In two days he created the dry land on the face of the waters, as He hath said: Say, do ye indeed disbelieve in him who created the earth in two days? (41:9). Then He commanded these waves to be still, and they formed the mountains, which He used as pegs to hold down the earth, as He hath said: And we placed stable mountains on the earth lest it should move with them (21:31). Were it not for the mountains, the earth would not have been stable enough for its inhabitants. The veins of these mountains are connected with the veins of Mount Qaf, which is the range that surrounds the earth.