debate-points, islam, science-and-religionWhen debating a muslim on the validity of their faith what are the common arguments that you come up against and how do you concisely refute them in a way that will challenge them rather than slap them down.
Answers should be in a form that would challenge muslims, rather than get applause from atheists.
This is from a series of posts.
101 - Science in the Qur’an
Is the ‘knowledge’ of science in the Qur’an around such things as the human embryo, structure of mountains etc. proof of its having a devine origin and if not, why not?
Specifically regarding the claim of science in the Koran. Ask ‘If there is so much science in the Koran, why is it not revealed until after regular science discovers it?” another way to ask is “If the Koran contains so much science, why wasn’t the science discovered 1500 years ago when the Koran was written instead of now only after a scientist discovered it?”
It seems to me that scientific discoveries get co-opted into the Koran. The Koran says something like “Your skin burns off in hell, and Allah put it back on so it can be burned off again.” Muslims have claimed this means that the Koran contains the knowledge that pain receptors are in the skin and hence the Koran contains advanced anatomical knowledge. To anyone not enamored with the Koran, it looks like they took something vague and shoe-horned science into it.
It is just like creationists that insist biblical references to leviathan are talking about dinosaurs. They search their book for something vague that sounds somewhat right, revise their understanding of it, and then insist that this new meaning was the intended meaning all along.
Contrary to the claim of there being science in the quran, the quran actually contains various scientific errors. For example:
Semen is issued from between the loins and the ribs (86:5-7). False, semen is created in testicles, how on earth would it get to the loins and ribs?
Sun sets into a muddy spring. (18:86, 90).
Mountains are put on earth as pillars to prevent earthquakes(31:10). False, mountainous areas are amongst the most vulnerable to earthquakes
Everything is created in pairs (51:49). False. Some examples: asexual organisms which have no male/female, hermaphroditic organisms that have both male and female organs, and organs of the body of which there is only one, e.g heart, nose, liver, etc.
Bees eat fruit (16:68-68). False, because bees don’t eat any fruit, rather they eat pollen from flowers.
Tons of other examples at: http://skepticsannotatedbible.com/quran/science/long.html
There’s something about a foetus being created from a clot of blood. Fairly obvious where they got that one from.
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