I came across the following video that alleges that the Koran must be the word of God because it contains knowledge and facts that have only been confirmed relatively recently by science. The video is top notch. I even agree with the science explained in the video. I know of nothing that proves any of that wrong. This same argument has been used to substantiate the Bible. I will attempt to demonstrate in this post that the Bible has a better claim to this line of argumentation because it predates the Koran by about 500 years. I will concede the following points:
1. The Koran was revealed 1400 years ago
2. Although it may be argued that the scientific interpretation that was imposed on the Koran is by hindsight, we'll accept that with the stipulation that argument is off-limits against the Bible.
Here is the video.
Let's take a few of the points the video raises.
The Earth's sky is suspended and supported by nothing
The Koran says:
"God raised up the Heavens without any support"
Surah ar-Rad, 2
The video is right most ancient cultures believed that the earth was flat and was supported by something. The Bible even goes further. It states that the whole earth is not supported by anything.
The Bible says:
He spreads out the northern skies over empty space; he suspends the earth over nothing. - Job 26:7
The Book of Job is at least 2000 years older than the Koran. It's not correct to say that the Koran reveals this information first.
The universe was created out of nothing.
The Koran says:
"He is the originator of the heavens and earth!"
Surah al-An'am, 101
The Bible says:
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. - Genesis 1:1
Everyone agrees that Genesis is much older than the Koran! The Koran is not the first place this information has been revealed!
Heavenly bodies move in orbits
The Koran says:
It is He who created the night and the day, and the sun and the moon. They swim along each in an orbrit. - Surah al-anbiya, 33
"And the sun runs to its resting place. That is the decree of the Almighty, the All-knowing;" - Surah Ya'sin, 38
"By the sky full of paths and orbits." - Surah adh-Dhariyat, 7
The Bible says:
Judges 5:20 - They fought from heaven; the stars in their courses fought against Sisera.
Explains that there are different layers in the atmosphere
The Koran says:
"By Heaven with its cyclical systems and the earth, bursting forth with plants!" - Surah at-Tariq, 11,12
"It is He Who created everything on the earth for you and then directed His attention up to heaven and arranged it into seven regular heavens. He has knowledge of all things." - Surah al-Baqarah, 29
"In two days He determined them as seven heavens and reveals, in every heaven, its own mandate. - Surah Fussilat, 11-12"
The Bible does not give the total number of heavens there are. We can see that the Bible does at times refer to heavens (plural). Ali Sina wrote a post showing what the Koran really says.
Not everyone thinks that the Koran is referring to the the layers in the atmosphere.Mountains keep continents in place
The Koran says:
"Have We not made the earth as a bed and the mountains its pegs?" - Surah an-Naba, 6-7
The Bible does not say anything like this because this is not good science. Here is an article by Syed Kamran Mirza called
“Koran on Mountain”: Rebuttal to Islamic hypocrisy.
Continental Drift
The Koran says:
"You will see the mountains you reckoned to be solid going past like clouds. Such is the artistry of God, Who disposes of things in perfect order; surly He is Aware of what you do." - Surah an-Naml, 88
The Bible says:
The Bible actually records when the event of when the super continent began to break apart into the seven continents we see today. See this
link.
Water Cycle - Water goes from liquid to gas and back to liquid in a balanced cycle
The Koran says:
"And We send the fecundating winds, then cause water to descend from the sky, therewith providing you with water in abundance." - Surah al-Hijr, 22
"It is He Who sends down water in due measure from the sky by which We bring a dead land back to life. That is how you too will be raised (from the dead)." - Surah az-Zukhruf, 11
The Bible says:
Here are some verses from the Bible that show that there is a hydrological cycle:
Ecclesiastes 1:7 - All the rivers run into the sea; yet the sea is not full; unto the place from whence the rivers come, thither they return again.
Psalms 104:8 - They go up by the mountains; they go down by the valleys unto the place which thou hast founded for them
Deuteronomy 11:11 - But the land, whither ye go to possess it, is a land of hills and valleys, and drinketh water of the rain of heaven:
2 Samuel 21:10 - And Rizpah the daughter of Aiah took sackcloth, and spread it for her upon the rock, from the beginning of harvest until water dropped upon them out of heaven, and suffered neither the birds of the air to rest on them by day, nor the beasts of the field by night.
Because of surface tension, neighboring seas do not mix
The Koran says:
"He has let loose the two seas, converging together, with a barrier between them they do not break through." - Surah ar-Rahman, 19-20
The Bible says:
"Who shut up the sea behind doors
when it burst forth from the womb,
when I made the clouds its garment
and wrapped it in thick darkness,
when I fixed limits for it
and set its doors and bars in place,
when I said, 'This far you may come and no farther;
here is where your proud waves halt'?
- Job 38:8-11
The Bible clearly says that God sets the limits for how far seas go so that they are separate from land and from each other.
Man determines the sex of children due to he gives an X or Y chromosome
The Koran says:
"That he created pairs - male and female - out of a drop of sperm as it is poured forth." - Surah an-Najm, 45-46
The Bible Says:
Then the word of the LORD came to him: "This man will not be your heir, but a son coming from your own body will be your heir." Genesis 15:4
Abraham is told that he will have a son coming from his own body. I think this shows that Isaac's gender is coming from Abraham
