Muhammad thought that his ascension story to the heavens would remain unquestioned due to the absence of witnesses. However, falsehoods often reveal themselves through contradictions. The same thing happened with Muhammad's ascension story and it got exposed too:
- Firstly, this story was exposed while almost the exact story of the ascension to the heavens was also found in Zoroastrian texts and it predated Islam (link).
- Secondly, it again got exposed in the last century, when modern science found that "Wings" for flying are of no use in space. But Muhammad claimed he flew on the Buraq (a mule-type animal with 2 wings). Similarly, the Quran claims that angels have 2, 3 or 4 wings to fly in the heavens (verse 35:1)
Not only this, but Muhammad also further made another fatal mistake, when he claimed that the sweet water of the Nile and Euphrates comes from the Lote Tree (Sidratul Muntaha سِدْرَة ٱلْمُنْتَهَىٰ) in paradise.
The Prophet (ﷺ) said: .... (On the night of ascension, where he went to heavens) Then I was shown Sidrat-ul-Muntaha (i.e. a tree in the seventh heaven) and I saw its Nabk fruits which resembled the clay jugs of Hajr (i.e. a town in Arabia), and its leaves were like the ears of elephants, and four rivers originated at its root, two of them were apparent and two were hidden. I asked Gabriel about those rivers and he said, 'The two hidden rivers are in Paradise, and the apparent ones are the Nile and the Euphrates.'
Abu Huraira reported Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) as saying: Saihan, Jaihan, Euphrates and Nile are all among the rivers of Paradise.
Now, these Ahadith have become a challenge and a headache for Islamic apologists as they do not align with any cosmological models. They are unable to provide an answer regarding how the water, which is flowing from the root of a tree in paradise, reaches the earth.
Furthermore, modern science has already identified the true sources of the sweet water in the Nile and the Euphrates rivers, which are rainfall and natural springs in the highlands of East Africa, particularly in regions such as Rwanda, Burundi, Tanzania, Uganda, and Ethiopia.
During the time of Muhammad, people lacked knowledge about the true origins of the sweet water in the Nile and the Euphrates rivers. This provided Muhammad with an opportunity to fabricate falsehoods regarding their sources. However, modern science has exposed Muhammad's deceitful claims regarding these rivers' origins.
Furthermore, this issue is further resolved when we discover a similar story in the Bible, albeit with a slightly different concept.
A river watering the garden flowed from (the garden of) Eden; from there it was separated into four headwaters. The name of the first is the Pishon ۔۔۔The name of the second river is the Gihon; it winds through the entire land of Cush. The name of the third river is the Tigris; it runs along the east side of Ashur. And the fourth river is the Euphrates.
The disparity between the biblical account and Muhammad's version is as follows::
- According to the Bible, the "Garden of Eden باغ عدن" was situated on Earth (and not in the heavens). In the book of Genesis, chapters 2 and 3, the Garden of Eden is described as a lush and bountiful paradise created by God as a dwelling place for Adam and Eve, the first humans. It is depicted as being located in a specific geographical region, with rivers flowing through it, including the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. The Garden of Eden is described as a terrestrial paradise, not a heavenly one.
- However, Muhammad made an error in his plagiarism of the story. He claimed that Adam, Eve, and the Forbidden Tree were not situated on Earth but in paradise in the heavens. But this posed a challenge in explaining how the water from the root of a tree in heaven could reach the earthly rivers.
Muhammad, though he plagiarized stories from the Bible, was not an educated scholar and remained largely illiterate. Consequently, he inadvertently made numerous human errors while retelling these ancient narratives.
Furthermore, it's worth noting that the Bible itself may have borrowed/plagiarized elements of the Garden of Eden story from ancient pagan religions. These traditions often depicted an earthly paradise existing when heaven and earth were closely connected or even touching, allowing for free interaction between humans and gods.
More about the Garden of Eden/Paradise:
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Garden-of-Eden
Garden of Eden, in the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament) book of Genesis, biblical earthly paradise inhabited by the first created man and woman, Adam and Eve, prior to their expulsion for disobeying the commands of God... The term paradise is often used as a synonym for the Garden of Eden before the expulsion of Adam and Eve. An earthly paradise is often conceived of as existing in a time when heaven and earth were very close together or actually touching, and when humans and gods had free and happy association.
Hassan Radwan