Muslims claim that modern science has proved that the roots of mountains go inside the earth like pegs. Therefore, it is a miracle of the Quran to tell it correctly 1400 years ago.
(Quran 78:7) وَٱلْجِبَالَ أَوْتَادًا
And the mountains as pegs?
(Quran 21:31) وجعلنا في الأرض رواسي أن تميد بهم
And We made on the Earth stabilisers (i.e. Mountains), so that it would not tumble with you.
But contrary to the Muslim's claim, Quran is telling here wrong scientific facts about mountains. And this wrong view also existed among Arabs in time prior to Muhammad.
Table of Contents:
- The idea of Mountains being Pegs had already existed before Muhammad
- First Scientific Mistake of Quran: Allah 'placed'/'cast' mountains over the earth's surface
- Second Scientific Mistake of Quran: Allah had already made the mountains on the 2nd DAY of CREATION of the Heavens and the Earth
- Other types of mountains, that have no roots in the earth
- Excuses by Muslim apologists:
- Questions that arise in a neutral mind about the Quranic story of the creation of mountains
The idea of Mountains being Pegs had already existed before Muhammad
Other civilizations also had the concept of mountains being pegs while they look like pegs. For example, we find this concept in the bible too.
(Bible: John 2:6):
To the roots of the mountains, I sank down; the earth beneath barred me in forever. But you, LORD my God, brought my life up from the pit.
Quran further made another 2 scientific mistakes:
First Scientific Mistake of Quran: Allah 'placed'/'cast' mountains over the earth's surface
(Quran 41:10)
وجعل فيها رواسي من فوقها(Quran Word by Word Translation by Quran Corpus) And He placed in it stabilizers (i.e. mountains) from above (من فوقها).
(Word for Word Dr. Shehnaz Shaikh) And He placed therein firmly-set mountains from above it
According to modern science, mountains are not 'placed'/'cast' over the earth's surface, but they are formed when two tectonic plates collide with each other (i.e. when an earthquake takes place), then the crust of one plate goes upwards and forms a mountain, while the crust of other plate goes downwards.
And then this process of colliding of tectonic plates (i.e. earthquakes) continues for millions of years, and with each collision, mountains keep on rising high little by little. And when the tectonic plates start to move away from each other, then these high mountains start to erode and after millions of years, they completely disappear.
For example, there was no Mount Everest 250 million years ago. But then two tectonic plates collided with each other, and a small Mount Everest came into being due to that. Then it kept on gaining height with each collision of the tectonic plates. Today it is the highest mountain. It will keep on gaining even more height, but then a time will come when it will start eroding and will disappear completely.
Similarly:
(Quran 16:15)
وألقى في الأرض رواسي أن تميد بكم
And He has cast into the earth firmly set mountains, lest it shift with you (Translation by Sahih International)
The word 'he has cast' is alqa (lam-qaf-ya), which in this form (Arabic verb form IV) is frequently used elsewhere in the Quran to mean throw or cast. It is the same word as is used in Quran 3:44 when lots are cast using pens (it would be easy to imagine that mountains were similarly scattered), and in Quran 12:10 when the prophet Yusuf is cast down into the well, and in Quran 20:20 when Moses casts down his staff, which becomes a snake.[30]
Second Scientific Mistake of Quran: Allah had already made the mountains on the 2nd DAY of CREATION of the Heavens and the Earth
The Quran claims that Allah had already created the mountains on the 2nd day of creation.
(Quran 41:9-11)
Say, "Do you indeed disbelieve in He who created the earth in two days and attribute to Him equals? That is the Lord of the worlds. And He placed on the earth firmly set mountains over its surface, and He blessed it and determined therein its [creatures'] sustenance in (next) four days without distinction - for [the information] of those who ask. Then He directed Himself to the heaven while it was smoke and said to it and to the earth, "Come [into being], willingly or by compulsion." They said, "We have come willingly."
And Hadith made it clearer that 2nd day of creation was Sunday when the mountains were created by Allah.
Sahih Muslim:
Abu Haraira reported that Allah's Messenger took hold of my hands and said:Allah, the Exalted and Glorious, created the clay on Saturday and He created the mountains on Sunday and He created the trees on Monday and He created the things entailing labour on Tuesday and created light on Wednesday and lie caused the animals to spread on Thursday and created Adam (peace be upon him) after 'Asr on Friday;the last creation at the last hour of the hours of Friday, i. e. between afternoon and night.
Therefore, Islam is making this scientific mistake:
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Mountains had not already been created on the 2nd day of creation of the heavens (universe) and the earth.
- But the earth came into being 9 billion years after the heavens (universe).
- And the earth initially consisted of gases and a molten surface only. It took billions more years to come into a solid form.
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And even after the earth had already come into a solid state, it still took billions of years more in the form of tectonic plates and then mountains.
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And older mountains erode and disappear with time, and new mountains start forming.
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Muhammad had no idea about these real scientific facts, thus he claimed of placing the mountain right on the 2nd day of the creation of the universe.
Other types of mountains, that have no roots in the earth
These lava mountains have absolutely no roots inside the earth, which could be considered pegs.
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Did the writer of the Quran/Muhammad tell those mountains are formed when two tectonic plates collide with each other?
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Did the writer of the Quran/Muhammad tell those mountains are small at the beginning, then they keep on rising due to earthquakes?
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Did the writer of the Quran/Muhammad tell that a time comes when mountains start to erode and disappear?
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Did the writer of the Quran/Muhammad tell that initially there was only one Continent, and later they were divided into 7 continents due to the split and the movement of the tectonic plates?
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Did the writer of the Quran/Muhammad tell you that there is lava inside the earth?
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Did the writer of the Quran/Muhammad tell you those earthquakes come due to the collision of tectonic plates? No, contrary to that the writer of the Quran/Muhammad claimed that Allah sends earthquakes to punish those who disobey him.
The writer of the Quran/Muhammad didn't answer any of these questions but instead claimed one thing (i.e. mountains are pegs), which had already been believed by the Pagans of the time of ignorance due to the appearance of the mountains. But Muslims claim it to be an undeniable miracle of the Quran
Excuses by Muslim apologists:
Excuse: Quran is not a book of science but of guidance
Muslim apologists say:
Allah has mentioned no science in the Quran. Thus, it could not be judged in light of modern science. It is a book of guidance, and not science
Answer: When the writer of the Quran (i.e. Muhammad) starts describing the story of CREATION, then he automatically enters the domain of science, and automatically his stories of creation will be judged according to the scientific facts which have been discovered by modern science.
Excuse: The Quran could not be judged in light of science while science is 'UNRELIABLE'
Muslim apologist writes:
Science isn't an accurate measure of the validity of the Qur'an since it's always changing and is not always absolute truth.
Answer:
It is only the scientific hypothesis which may change according to the later coming proofs. But once it is on the stage of being Scientific FACT, then it is not going to change. For example, the earth is a sphere is a scientific FACT which is not going to change. While the Quran could tell thousands of times that the earth is flat, it has no chance to stand against the Scientific FACT.
Similarly, the forming of mountains due to the collision of tectonic plates has already reached the stage of being a Scientific FACT and it is not going to change. Thus, the Quran could tell thousands of times that Allah put them from above, but it has no chance to stand against the Scientific Fact.
Excuse: Non-Muslims present false translation
Muslim apologist writes:
They (Non-Muslims) also often choose only one translation out of many.
Answer:
- It is not about one translation or many translations, but it is about the CORRECT translation.
- We all know that many Muslim translators are dishonest in doing the correct translation and they distort it to safeguard the mistakes of the Quran. Or many of them translated it according to their own opinions in light of the information provided by modern science.
- We presented above the "word by word" translation (and that too from a Muslim source). So, Muslim apologists are free to refute it with proof (if they have any). Simply blaming non-Muslims for wrong translations (and that too without any proof) is not going to work.
And lastly, it is not only 'one' translation, as you blame without even checking. See the translations from the following Muslim translators:
(Quran 41:10)
وجعل فيها رواسي من فوقها(Quran Word by Word Translation by Quran Corpus) And He placed in it stabilisers (i.e. mountains) from above (من فوقها).
(Word for Word Dr. Shehnaz Shaikh) And He placed therein firmly-set mountains from above it
(Shakir) And He made in it mountains above its surface
(Dr. Laleh Bakhtiar) And He made on it firm mountains from above it
(Abdul Hye) He has placed in it (the earth) firm mountains from above it
(Dr. Kamal Omar) And He placed therein firm mountains from above it
(Muhammad Mahmoud Ghali) And He made therein anchorages (i.e., mountains) from above it
(Sahih International) And He placed on the earth firmly set mountains over its surface
(The Monotheist Group) And He placed in it stabilizers from above it
(Muhammad Ahmed - Samira) And He made/put in it anchors/fixtures/mountains from above it
(Faridul Haque) And in it He placed mountains as anchors from above it
(Muhsin Khan & Muhammad al-Hilali) He placed therein (i.e. the earth) firm mountains from above it
Questions that arise in a neutral mind about the Quranic story of the creation of mountains
Muslim apologists are brainwashed and even if Muhammad appears himself and tells them that he fabricated Quran and all these stories, still they are not going to believe Muhammad.
Nevertheless, when a neutral mind reads these Quranic stories, then many questions arise:
Firstly:
What was the LOGIC/NEED about telling the story of the creation of mountains to people who could not comprehend it correctly? For example, Muslim apologists claimed:
Allah said it placed/cast mountains on the earth from above it, while people of that time didn't know about the plate tectonics.
Therefore, the first and the very basic question that arises in mind is, if the people of that era were not able to comprehend correctly the scientific facts of how mountains are formed, then what was the LOGIC to still tell them about the story of the creation of mountains?
Why didn't Allah just skip this step, just as he didn't tell how deserts or rivers or oceans were created?
Secondly:
The writer of the Quran had thousands of options to convey the message in a much better way than the present verses of the Quran. For example, he could have said:
- "Then the mountains were formed which stabilize the earth"
(This statement just skipped the part about placed/cast of mountains from above it, which makes this statement not contradict the scientific fact). - "Then Allah raised the mountains from within the earth, which stabilized the earth"
- Another option was to absolutely not indulge in the story of the creation of mountains, just as he didn't mention the creation of deserts and rivers and oceans.
All these statements convey the message in a much better way than the present verses of the Quran, while they suit people of all eras, and while they don't go against the scientific facts.
It is a challenge to Muslim apologists to prove that these statements are not better than the Quranic verses.
Thirdly:
Another question that arises in a neutral mind is, if Muhammad was really a false prophet if he was making all those revelations himself, and if he had to describe the story of the creation of mountains, then would he come up with any different verses?
The answer is NO.
As a false prophet, he would have wanted to boast about the powers of Allah, and he would have come up exactly with these statements which we find in the Quran i.e. Allah placed/cast the mountains on the earth from above it.
Challenge: Bring proof that Allah/Muhammad believed otherwise
Let us assume there is a person who really believed in this inaccurate story of the creation of mountains. If he had to describe this story, would he come up with any different statements than the statements in the Quran?
The answer is NO.
In order to describe his wrong belief about the creation of mountains, he will come up exactly with these statements, which we find in the Quran i.e. Allah put the mountains on the earth from above it.
Is there any solid proof that Allah/Muhammad believed otherwise?
The answer is NO.
Muslim apologists are unable to bring a single proof of it. All they do is to 'deny' the clear proofs about the false scientific statements of the Quran, based upon their conjectures, but themselves not able to bring a single proof that Allah/Muhammad believed otherwise.
The Quranic claim becomes false that its verses are CLEAR and EASY to understand
The Quran claims about itself:
- Its verses are "easy to understand" (Quran 54:17)
- Its verses are "clear", "manifest" and "guidance" (Quran 27:1-2)
- It was revealed in the Arabic language so that they could understand it (Quran 12:2)
But this Quranic claim becomes false when we read the verses which are going against the scientific FACTS, and no one could understand these verses because they are vague and have contradictions even Muslims don't agree with them and all Muslims come up with their separate understanding, while none of them could understand them properly.
Muslim apologists try to create a lot of confusion through their conjectures, but this confusion itself is proof that neither Quranic verses are clear, nor one could understand them.
Muslim apologists: The days of creation with Allah were different than days on the Earth and are of 'unspecified' period of time
Regarding the 2nd Quranic scientific mistake of making mountains on the 2nd day of creation (i..e Sunday) out of total 6 days, Muslim apologists come up only with this single excuse:
The days of creation with Allah are different than the earth. Thus those 6 days were of unspecified period of time. Allah didn't tell the length of that period, as humans are unable to comprehend it.
In neutral minds, the following questions arise:
Firstly:
If humans are really unable to comprehend that period, what was then the Logic/Need to even tell the story of creation, and that too in 6 specified days?
Why didn't Allah just simply skip these 6 days claim, and simply tell that he created heavens and earth, and mountains and put their sustenance in it?
Secondly:
Modern science has proved two things:
- The universe was created 13.8 billion years ago, while earth came into being about 4.5 billion years ago.
- And humans are able to comprehend this period of time easily.
Therefore, if the writer of the Quran really wanted to tell the length of that period, then he could have told it correctly in the Quran, and people would have been able to comprehend it.
Thirdly:
The claim of "unspecified time" by Muslim apologists is also false, as the writer of the Quran tried to describe the specified time in the following verses:
(Quran 22:47) Yet they ask thee to hasten on the Punishment! But Allah will not fail in His Promise. Verily a Day in the sight of thy Lord is like a thousand years of your reckoning.
(Quran 32:5) He rules (all) affairs from the heavens to the earth: in the end will (all affairs) go up to Him, on a Day, the space whereof will be (as) a thousand years of your reckoning.
Thus Sahaba (i.e. companions) believed in it that one day of creation was equal to 1000 years of our reckoning.
Ibn Kathir writes under the commentary of this verse (link):
قال ابن أبي حاتم حدثنا الحسن بن عرفة، حدثني عبدة بن سليمان عن محمد بن عمرو عن أبي سلمة عن أبي هريرة أن رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم قال " يدخل فقراء المسلمين الجنة قبل الأغنياء بنصف يوم خمسمائة عام " ورواه الترمذي والنسائي من حديث الثوري عن محمد بن عمرو به، وقال الترمذي حسن صحيح. وقد رواه ابن جرير عن أبي هريرة موقوفاً، فقال حدثني يعقوب، حدثنا ابن علية، حدثنا سعيد الجريري عن أبي نضرة عن سمير بن نهار قال قال أبو هريرة يدخل فقراء المسلمين الجنة قبل الأغنياء بمقدار نصف يوم، قلت وما مقدار نصف يوم؟ قال أو ما تقرأ القرآن؟ قلت بلى، قال { وَإِنَّ يَوْماً عِندَ رَبِّكَ كَأَلْفِ سَنَةٍ مِّمَّا تَعُدُّونَ }. وقال أبو داود في آخر كتاب الملاحم من سننه حدثنا عمرو بن عثمان، حدثنا أبو المغيرة، حدثنا صفوان عن شريح بن عبيد عن سعد بن أبي وقاص عن النبي صلى الله عليه وسلم أنه قال " إني لأرجو أن لا تعجز أمتي عند ربها أن يؤخرهم نصف يوم " قيل لسعد وما نصف يوم؟ قال خمسمائة سنة. وقال ابن أبي حاتم حدثنا أحمد بن سنان، حدثنا عبد الرحمن بن مهدي عن إسرائيل عن سماك، عن عكرمة عن ابن عباس { وَإِنَّ يَوْماً عِندَ رَبِّكَ كَأَلْفِ سَنَةٍ مِّمَّا تَعُدُّونَ } قال من الأيام التي خلق الله فيها السموات والأرض. ورواه ابن جرير عن ابن بشار عن ابن المهدي، وبه قال مجاهد وعكرمة، ونص عليه أحمد بن حنبل في كتاب الرد على الجهمية، وقال مجاهد هذه الآية كقوله{ يُدَبِّرُ ٱلاَْمْرَ مِنَ ٱلسَّمَآءِ إِلَى ٱلاَْرْضِ ثُمَّ يَعْرُجُ إِلَيْهِ فِى يَوْمٍ كَانَ مِقْدَارُهُ أَلْفَ سَنَةٍ مِّمَّا تَعُدُّونَ } السجدة 5.
Rasool Allah told that the poor people will enter paradise half a day before the rich people, which means 500 years before the rich people (while whole day is equal to 1000 years of people's reckoning). al-Tirmidhi and al-Nisai etc recorded it and al-Tirmidhi said that this tradition is 'Hasan Sahih' (i.e. authentic according to al-Tirmidhi). In another tradition, it was asked from Abu Hurayrah, how long is this half day? He replied: "Didn't you read the Quran?" I said: "Yes." Upon that he recited verse 22:47 ... Companion S'ad was asked: "How long is this half day." He replied: "500 years". Ibn Abbas recited this verse and said that this is the length of those 6 days, in which Allah created the heavens and the earth (Ibn Jarir). While Imam Ahmed bin Hanbal described it in clearer words in his book "Refutation of al-Jahmia". Mujjahid said that this verse is similar to verse 5 of Surah al-Sajdah [(Quran 32:5) He rules (all) affairs from the heavens to the earth: in the end will (all affairs) go up to Him, on a Day, the space whereof will be (as) a thousand years of your reckoning.]
But modern Muslim apologists had to refute Quran and their own Sahaba and Scholars here.
Why?
Because modern science told us that the creation of the universe took billions of years. Therefore, even if we consider 1 day of Allah is equal to 1000 years of our reckoning, still 6 days make only 6000 years of creation, which stays contradictory the modern science.
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