OK enough faffing around - I' gonna make the vid now!
Here is the FINAL script - as you can see I made it a Top 10 - as George Carlin would say, "10 looks official' other wise they will say to me 9 miracles... get the fuck outta here!
EDIT I am not going to record the Humpty Dumpty bit at the end though - sorry
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Many Muslims claim that God revealed scientific facts in the Qur?an, long before modern science discovered them. But if only those who make these claims did a little research they would soon discover that not one of these claims is actually true!
Here are the main claims.
1. The Qur'an describes the fertilization process and embyonic growth before it was known about.
This is false. The writings of Aristotle, Hippocrates, Galen and others described these things long before the Qur?an and the Qur'an is simply drawing on knowledge prevalent at the time. In fact it appears to repeat not only the accuracies of Greek ideas, but their inaccuracies also. The Qur?an says:
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?We created Man from a drop of mingled fluid...? (76:2)
This sounds very much like the germinal fluid that Hippocrates spoke of when writing about male and female reproductive fluids. The Qur?an also says:
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?(Man) is created from a drop emitted. Proceeding from between the backbone and the ribs: ? (86:6 to 7)
This description reflects the view of Hippocrates, common in the 5th century, that semen comes from all the fluid of the body and passes through the kidneys on the way to the penis. We now know it comes from the testicles.
It is also interesting to note that the Qur?an always mentions the sperm but nowhere does it mention the female egg or the actual process of fertilization which one would expect to be in any basic description - if it was known about by the author. The Qur?an also says:
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?Then We made the sperm into a clot of congealed blood; then of that clot We made a lump; then we made out of that lump bones and clothed the bones with flesh; then we developed out of it another creature. So blessed be Allah, the best to create! (23: 14)
This account directly follows the four stages described by Galen, writing around 500 years before Muhammad and includes his belief that bones were formed before the flesh.
2. The Qur'an describes Iron as being sent down before it was known that meteors containing Iron fell to earth from outer space.
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?And We sent down iron in which there lies great force and which has many uses for mankind?? (Qur'an, 57:25)
Again this claim is false. It was common knowledge that meteors containing iron fell to earth from space. The Ancient Egyptian word for iron was "metal of heaven" and the Babylonians had a similar word. In fact cultures as far flung as Tibet and the Aboriginies of Australia were well aware that meteors fell to earth containing iron.
Actually all elements on Earth came from outer space. By singling out Iron the Qur?an it appears the Qur?an is unaware of this.
3. The Qur?an describes the moon's light as reflected light long before it was known.
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?And made the moon a light in their midst, and made the sun as a Lamp? (71:16)
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?Blessed is He Who made constellations in the skies, and placed therein a Lamp and a Moon giving light? (25:61)
The claim is that the words Nur and Muneer mean reflected light. This is quite simply wrong. Nur means light and is used many times to refer to God Himself and so obviously cannot mean reflected light, and Muneer means to shed light and verse 46 of al-Ahzaab (33:46) makes this clear when it says Siraajan Muneera meaning ?a lamp spreading light?.
But even if we accept the meaning they give, it was already known that the moon?s light was reflected light and 1000 years before Muhammad Aristotle describes the lunar eclipse that makes this very clear.
4. The Qur?an mentions that salt water and fresh-water don?t mix before this was known.
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?It is He Who has let free the two bodies of flowing water: One palatable and sweet, and the other salt and bitter; yet has He made a barrier between them, a partition that is forbidden to be passed.? (25:53)
Once again there are other meanings that could be applied to this verse, but if we accept the meaning given it was already known about anyway - and 1000 years before Muhammad, Aristotle wrote:
"The drinkable, sweet water, then, is light and is all of it drawn up: the salt water is heavy and remains behind," (Meteorology Book 2 Chapter 2)
5. The Qur?an reveals the Big Bang before it was known.
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?Do not the Unbelievers see that the heavens and the earth were one piece, before we clove them asunder, and we made every living thing of water? Will they not then believe?? (21:30)
If this is supposed to be a description of the big bang then it is a terrible one. The "Big Bang" is not about a lump blowing up. Matter did not exist to be ?cloven asunder?
And there was certainly no splitting of Earth from Heavens. The Earth formed 9 Billion years after the Big Bang in some tiny outpost of a vast universe. One can hardly think of a more inaccurate description of the Big Bang, than this verse.
It does, however, follow very precisely creation mythologies that were believed in at the time of Muhammad. "According to the Sumerians, ?the heavens had been separated from the earth..." [Gilgamesh, Enkidu and the nether world] and the idea that the Heavens and Earth was once a "single block" that was "broken in two" was a common theme in Ancient Egypt.
6. The Qur?an reveals that Everything comes from Water before it was known.
Once again, this was known. Aristotle records that Thales believed 'that it [the nature of things] is water' and Anaximander stated that life came from the sea.
7. The Qur?an revealed that planets move in orbits.
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?It is He Who created the Night and the Day, and the sun and the moon: all (the celestial bodies) swim along, each in its rounded course.? (21:33)
This verse clearly reflects the view current in Muhammad?s day that the sun, moon and planets all move round the earth. There is absolutely nothing in the verse that suggest anything else.
8. The Qur?an reveals an expanding universe before this was known.
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?We have built the heaven with might, and We it is Who make the vast extent (thereof)? (51:47)
Firstly this verse is not talking about the Universe, it is talking about the sky and secondly it make no sense to suggest it means God is expanding the universe after the verse just said God has built the sky (past tense) since the universe was already expanding 9 billion years before the sky was formed.
9. The Qur?an reveals the gaseous state of the universe before the Big Bang before this was known.
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?Then turned He to the heaven when it was smoke, and said unto it and unto the earth: Come both of you, willingly or loth. They said: We come, obedient.? (41:11)
Firstly gas and smoke are not the same thing. Gas is a state of matter. Smoke is a collection of solids, liquids, and gases that are emitted when a material combusts.
Secondly if one looks at the verses before and after this verse one can see that it cannot have anything to do with the gaseous state of the universe. It says God created the Earth, then he created hills on the Earth, then it says he turned to the heavens when they were smoke?
10. The Quran mentioned the 7 layers of atmosphere before this was known.
"It is He Who created everything on the earth for you and then directed His attention up to heaven and arranged it into seven heavens. He has knowledge of all things." [The Qur'an, 2:29]
First of all modern science usually specifies 5 layers not 7. But more importantly the Qur'an is clearly not talking about the atmosphere but about the heavens where the moon, sun, planets and stars are because it also says:
?We have adorned the lower heaven with the beauty of the stars.? (37:6)
And also ?... (He) made the moon a light in their midst, and made the sun as a lamp?? (71:15-16)
One hardly needs to be pointed out that the stars sun and moon are not in the Earth?s atmosphere.
The Qur?an is clearly talking about the pre- Copernican view of the universe that regarded the earth as it?s centre with 7 heavens containing the sun, moon, planets and stars around the it.
These are some of the main claims of Scientific Miracles in the Qur?an, but there are others.
In fact Muslims are discovering new ones all the time. It?s not hard to do. Just open the Qur?an, pick a word or sentence and see if you can apply it to something in modern science.
In fact one can use any book or piece of writing.
I myself was astonished to discover that Gravitational Theory was described in the poem Humpty Dumpty.
In the words;
?Humpty Dumpty sat on the Wall, Humpty Dumpty had a great fall?
one can see a perfect demonstration that objects of very large mass attract objects of less mass.
Since this poem dates back to the early 15th or 16th Century - Over 200 years before Sir Isaac Newton published his Gravitational theory - it must be a miracle and the poem Humpty Dumpty is nothing other than the revealed word of God.
Topic: Scientific Miracles in the Qur'an?