Short answer
It contains signs, not science lessons. The Qur'an is not a science textbook, and no single verse proves on its own that it came from God (﷾). But it was revealed to the Prophet Muhammad (ﷺ), a man who could not read, in a desert town with no school. It speaks about the making of a child, the mountains, the heavens, the sea and the storm. On the womb and the storm, the learned men of that age held confident beliefs that were wrong. No one could see beneath the sea or inside the mountains. The Qur'an repeats none of those errors. It says plain things that hold true: the embryo clings, and mountains are like pegs. Doing that once could be luck. Doing it on five subjects at once, with errors all around it, is a sign.
Full explanation
The question that matters
A weak form of this argument says that nobody could have known these things. That is not the claim here. Aristotle (a Greek philosopher) wrote about embryos. A sailor knows the deep sea is dark. A shepherd has watched clouds pile up. The real question is whether this man could have known them. He was the Prophet (ﷺ), a merchant of Mecca who could not read, at a time when Greek learning was not yet in Arabic. And could he have known them all at once, without taking on the errors named on this page?
“And thou wast not (able) to recite a Book before this (Book came), nor art thou (able) to transcribe it with thy right hand: In that case, indeed, would the talkers of vanities have doubted.”
The standard history of the Graeco-Arabic translation movement. It shows that the translation of Greek science and philosophy into Arabic was an Abbasid project centred on Baghdad, running from the second half of the eighth century to the tenth, with Greek works earlier available in the region mainly in Syriac.
The making of man
The Qur'an describes a mingled drop from both parents. Then comes an alaqah (a thing that clings), then a mudghah (a chewed-looking lump), then bones clothed with flesh, in three veils of darkness. The word alaqah is used for a leech and for a clot. Yusuf Ali, the translation shown here, renders it 'clot'. This page rests on the primary meaning, clinging. At three weeks the embryo is a speck clinging to the wall of the womb. Galen, a Greek physician of the second century, and other Greek physicians knew of stages. But they also taught a two-horned womb, boys on the right, and a child fed on menstrual blood. The Qur'an repeats none of it. The full account is on the embryology page.
“Man We did create from a quintessence (of clay); Then We placed him as (a drop of) sperm in a place of rest, firmly fixed; Then We made the sperm into a clot of congealed blood; then of that clot We made a (foetus) 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!”
“Verily We created Man from a drop of mingled sperm, in order to try him: So We gave him (the gifts), of Hearing and Sight.”
“He created you (all) from a single person: then created, of like nature, his mate; and he sent down for you eight head of cattle in pairs: He makes you, in the wombs of your mothers, in stages, one after another, in three veils of darkness. such is Allah, your Lord and Cherisher: to Him belongs (all) dominion. There is no god but He: then how are ye turned away (from your true Centre)?”
Galen's short anatomy of the womb, drawn largely from the dissection of animals, which describes the human uterus as having two horns.
A history of embryology from antiquity to the eighteenth century. It sets out the Greek and Galenic teaching that the embryo is formed from and nourished by the mother's menstrual blood, and the ancient view that males develop on the right side of the womb and females on the left.
The mountains
The Qur'an calls the mountains pegs, and a peg is mostly underground. In the 1850s the survey of India found that the Himalayas pulled plumb-lines (weights hung on strings) less than their size required. Geologists concluded that mountain ranges have deep roots of lighter crust, reaching down into the rock below. No one in the seventh century had any way to measure how far a mountain goes down.
“Have We not made the earth as a wide expanse, And the mountains as pegs?”
Explains the small pull of the Himalayas by proposing that a mountain range is held up by a root of lighter crust reaching down into the denser rock beneath, much as a floating block rides deep in water. This became the standard account of mountain roots.
The heavens
The Qur'an says the heavens and the earth were once joined and then parted. It says the sky was once dukhan (smoke). It says God (﷾) makes the sky vast (musi'un), which many modern readers take to mean expanding. It says God (﷾) raised the heavens "without any pillars that ye can see", a phrase also read "without pillars, as you see". It winds night over day with the verb used for winding a turban. It gives the sun and moon each an orbit. These verses do not teach the Big Bang. They are consistent with what astronomy later found. And they never set the earth on pillars, although the Bible itself speaks of the pillars of the earth.
“Do not the Unbelievers see that the heavens and the earth were joined together (as one unit of creation), before we clove them asunder? We made from water every living thing. Will they not then believe?”
“Moreover He comprehended in His design the sky, and it had been (as) smoke: He said to it and to the earth: "Come ye together, willingly or unwillingly." They said: "We do come (together), in willing obedience."”
“With power and skill did We construct the Firmament: for it is We Who create the vastness of pace.”
“Allah is He Who raised the heavens without any pillars that ye can see; is firmly established on the throne (of authority); He has subjected the sun and the moon (to his Law)! Each one runs (its course) for a term appointed. He doth regulate all affairs, explaining the signs in detail, that ye may believe with certainty in the meeting with your Lord.”
“He created the heavens and the earth in true (proportions): He makes the Night overlap the Day, and the Day overlap the Night: He has subjected the sun and the moon (to His law): Each one follows a course for a time appointed. Is not He the Exalted in Power - He Who forgives again and again?”
“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.”
“It is not permitted to the Sun to catch up the Moon, nor can the Night outstrip the Day: Each (just) swims along in (its own) orbit (according to Law).”
“for the pillars of the earth are the Lord’s, and he hath set the world upon them.”
“Which shaketh the earth out of her place, and the pillars thereof tremble.”
The sea
The Qur'an pictures darkness in the deep ocean, layer on layer, with waves topped by waves. Light fades quickly with depth, and below about 200 metres there is almost none. It speaks of sweet and salt water kept apart by a barrier. A river's fresh water rides over the sea and stays apart for a long way. It also speaks of two seas meeting with a barrier that neither transgresses. At the Strait of Gibraltar the salty Mediterranean runs out under the Atlantic. It mixes strongly at first, yet it stays saltier than the water around it. It spreads far into the Atlantic as a separate body of water, so each keeps its own character. The Prophet (ﷺ) is not recorded as ever having sailed, and no one could measure beneath the surface in his time.
“Or (the Unbelievers' state) is like the depths of darkness in a vast deep ocean, overwhelmed with billow topped by billow, topped by (dark) clouds: depths of darkness, one above another: if a man stretches out his hands, he can hardly see it! for any to whom Allah giveth not light, there is no light!”
Explains that sunlight fades quickly with depth: it may be detected as far as 1,000 metres down, but there is rarely any significant light below 200 metres, and below that the ocean grows ever darker.
“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.”
“He has let free the two bodies of flowing water, meeting together: Between them is a Barrier which they do not transgress:”
Measures the salty, dense water that pours out of the Mediterranean through the Strait of Gibraltar. It mixes strongly with Atlantic water as it first runs down the slope west of the strait, then flows on westward and settles inside the Atlantic, where it remains an important, distinct body of water.
The storm and the heavy clouds
In one verse the Qur'an describes clouds driven gently, joined, heaped up, with hail and lightning that nearly blinds. Aristotle, whose account was taught for centuries, said thunder and lightning are a dry vapour striking the clouds and catching fire. The Qur'an says nothing of the kind. It also calls the clouds heavy with rain. Anyone can see rain clouds are full, but few would guess the weight. An ordinary cumulus cloud (a heaped, puffy cloud) holds roughly 500 tonnes of water.
“Seest thou not that Allah makes the clouds move gently, then joins them together, then makes them into a heap? - then wilt thou see rain issue forth from their midst. And He sends down from the sky mountain masses (of clouds) wherein is hail: He strikes therewith whom He pleases and He turns it away from whom He pleases, the vivid flash of His lightning well-nigh blinds the sight.”
Aristotle teaches that the sun draws two exhalations from the earth: a moist one, vapour, and a dry, smoke-like one (Book I, ch. 4). In Book II, ch. 9 he explains thunder as the dry exhalation, trapped in a cloud and forced out, striking the surrounding clouds, and lightning as that same ejected exhalation burning with a fine, faint fire.
“It is He Who doth show you the lightning, by way both of fear and of hope: It is He Who doth raise up the clouds, heavy with (fertilising) rain!”
Works out the weight of the water in an ordinary cumulus cloud from its size and the amount of water per cubic metre, and arrives at roughly 500 tonnes (about 1.1 million pounds). It explains that the cloud still floats because its water is spread as tiny droplets through about a cubic kilometre of air, which makes the cloud less dense than the drier air beneath it.
| Subject | What the Qur'an says | What his age believed or could know |
|---|---|---|
| The making of a child | A mingled drop from both parents, then a thing that clings (alaqah), then a lump, then bones clothed with flesh. | Galen and the Greek physicians taught a two-horned womb, and a child fed on menstrual blood. |
| The mountains | Mountains are like pegs, and a peg is mostly underground. | No one in the seventh century could see inside a mountain. |
| The heavens | The heavens and the earth were once joined, then parted. It never sets the earth on pillars. | The Bible itself speaks of the pillars of the earth. |
| The sea | Darkness in the deep ocean, layer on layer, with waves topped by waves. | No one could see or measure beneath the surface, and the Prophet (ﷺ) is not recorded as ever having sailed. |
| The storm | Clouds driven, joined and heaped up, with hail and lightning. Clouds are heavy. | Aristotle, taught for centuries, said lightning is a dry vapour striking the clouds and catching fire. |
The Qur'an repeats none of the errors of its age shown here. Getting one subject right could be luck. Getting five right at once, with the world's errors all around it, is a sign.
The Bible as the control case
The Bible is a scripture from the same region, and critics say it was the source of the Prophet (ﷺ). It did not avoid the errors of its time. It sets the earth on pillars. It says God (﷾) shakes the earth out of its place and its pillars tremble. Christians reply that these are poems. The Qur'an speaks in pictures too, so the test is the same for both: does the picture fit the world? Pegs fit what lies beneath mountains; pillars under the earth do not. Genesis, the first book of the Bible, also has grass and fruit trees growing on the third day and the sun made on the fourth. Maurice Bucaille, a French surgeon, compared the two books. He argued that a plant kingdom before the sun cannot be squared with what is known. He argued that the Qur'an has no error of this kind. A copyist would have copied them.
“for the pillars of the earth are the Lord’s, and he hath set the world upon them.”
“Which shaketh the earth out of her place, and the pillars thereof tremble.”
“And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so. And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind: and God saw that it was good. And the evening and the morning were the third day.”
“And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years: And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so. And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also. And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth, And to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness: and God saw that it was good. And the evening and the morning were the fourth day.”
A French surgeon compares what the Bible and the Qur'an say about the natural world. On Genesis 1 he argues that a plant kingdom reproducing by seed could not have appeared before the sun existed, and that the Genesis order cannot be reconciled with established knowledge. He argues that the Qur'an's statements on the same subjects contain no such errors.
Verses critics raise
Qur'an 16:15 — Surat al-Nahl (The Bee), verse 15
“And He has set up on the earth mountains standing firm, lest it should shake with you; and rivers and roads; that ye may guide yourselves;”
Cited for
Critics say the Qur'an claims mountains stop the earth from shaking, which is false, since earthquakes happen.
The response
The Arabic is an tamida bikum, from a root meaning to sway or tilt. The earth was made a steady place to live, not a rolling deck. When the Qur'an means an earthquake, it uses other words, rajfah and zilzal, and it describes earthquakes plainly. A builder who sets a house on firm foundations has not promised it will never feel a tremor.
Where it lands — The verse speaks of a stable earth, not a world without earthquakes, so there is no error.
Qur'an 41:9-12 — Surat Fussilat (Explained in detail), verses 9-12
“Say: Is it that ye deny Him Who created the earth in two Days? And do ye join equals with Him? He is the Lord of (all) the Worlds. He set on the (earth), mountains standing firm, high above it, and bestowed blessings on the earth, and measure therein all things to give them nourishment in due proportion, in four Days, in accordance with (the needs of) those who seek (Sustenance). Moreover He comprehended in His design the sky, and it had been (as) smoke: He said to it and to the earth: "Come ye together, willingly or unwillingly." They said: "We do come (together), in willing obedience." So He completed them as seven firmaments in two Days, and He assigned to each heaven its duty and command. And We adorned the lower heaven with lights, and (provided it) with guard. Such is the Decree of (Him) the Exalted in Might, Full of Knowledge.”
Cited for
The Qur'an also makes the earth and its provision before the heaven, so it has the same problem as Genesis.
The response
41:10 says God (﷾) measured the earth's nourishment in four Days, that is, decreed and set its provision. It does not say that plants grew. Where the Qur'an says the earth's water and pasture were actually brought forth, it places that later (79:27-31). That is after the heaven was built and its night and day were made. The commentators (scholars who explain the Qur'an) have discussed the order in 41:9-12 for centuries. What the Qur'an never says is that grass and fruit trees grew before there was a sun.
Where it lands — The Qur'an nowhere has plants growing before the sun; 79:27-31 puts the earth's pasture after the heaven and its night and day.
Qur'an 18:86 — Surat al-Kahf (The Cave), verse 86
“Until, when he reached the setting of the sun, he found it set in a spring of murky water: Near it he found a People: We said: "O Zul-qarnain! (thou hast authority,) either to punish them, or to treat them with kindness."”
Cited for
Critics say the Qur'an teaches that the sun sets in a muddy spring.
The response
The verse reports what Dhul-Qarnayn, a traveller the Qur'an tells of, saw: "he found it set in a spring of murky water". It reports what a traveller saw at the western sea, as anyone on a shore sees the sun go down into the water. The same Qur'an gives the sun its own orbit.
Where it lands — The verse describes what a traveller saw, and elsewhere the Qur'an gives the sun an orbit.
Perspectives
The Islamic perspective
The Qur'an's statements about nature are signs. They were revealed to the Prophet (ﷺ). They say true things on many subjects at once, and repeat none of the errors of their age named here. No man of that time and place could have done this alone.
The Qur'an describes the stages of the child. It passes from a mingled drop, to a clinging thing, to a chewed-looking lump, to bones clothed with flesh.
Galen and the Greek physicians taught a two-horned womb and a child fed on menstrual blood. The Qur'an repeats neither.
The Qur'an calls mountains pegs, and mountains have deep roots. That fact was found only in the nineteenth century.
The Qur'an calls clouds heavy and describes the growth of a storm cloud without Aristotle's burning-vapour theory.
The Bible, from the same region, speaks of the earth set on pillars that tremble.
Genesis has plants growing on the third day and the sun made on the fourth. Bucaille argued that this order cannot be squared with what is known, and that the Qur'an has no such error.
A text that is right on several subjects at once cannot plausibly come from luck. The same is true of a text free of the confident errors of its age named here. Nor can it come from an unlettered man of seventh-century Arabia.
The Qur'an promises that God (﷾) will show His signs in the universe and in people themselves. This will go on until it is clear that the Qur'an is the truth.