101 Reasons Why We Left Islam – Chapter 3: Islam and Science – Reason 32
Quran 67:5 – https://myislam.org/surah-al-mulk/ayat-5/
“And We have certainly beautified the nearest heaven with stars and have made [from] them what is thrown at the devils and have prepared for them the punishment of the Blaze.”
This verse alone has two scientific mistakes. To start with, here is a question that even a school kid can answer: What are stars, and how far are they from Earth? Are they close or millions of light years away? How can Allah say the stars are just decorations in the “near heaven”? The Quran mentions several times that the universe is seven layers of earths under us and seven layers of heavens over us. To say the stars are some decorations in the nearest heaven is a big scientific mistake. This is what desert dwellers, at the time, would have said, having no idea that stars are actually suns that are millions of light years away. Our Sun, which is a star, is near, and our moon is nearer.
Then comes the concept of “shooting stars” – as their historical name indicates – people used to think meteorites flashing across the nightlight are actually “stars” that fall from the sky. Now we know they are not stars at all! They are bits of rocks that randomly hit Earth. Only desert dwellers with no understanding of the universe would invent a fairytale that meteors flashes are skydaddy throwing a star at the devil.
Issue 32.1. The Quran gets the location and purpose of the stars completely wrong. Thus, to claim that stars are located in the lower heaven is a blatant scientific mistake. Stars are suns in their own right. They exist millions of light years away. At this minute, there are still stars so far that their light has never reached us since the time of the big bang. You cannot get further than this to realise there is no way these stars can be considered the nearest layer of heaven to us. Only a person with limited and basic knowledge of the universe would make a claim like this.
Issue 32.2. The Quran suggest that the shooting stars, as was the traditional way of calling them, are actual stars that fall from the sky! That is again pointing to an author who does not have even a basic understanding of the universe. Meteorites are floating rocks. They are not stars and they were never stars, they are debris from the creation of our universe where planets collided and left rocks floating around. They regularly hit other planets and moons, and some even end up being swallowed by our Sun! Just take a look at pictures of our moon and see how many meteorite craters you can see on its surface.
Islamists Excuses:
Issue 32.1. The Quran is not a book of science but a book of signs. For Allah, the most powerful and great, the universe is proportionally nothing. Only then do you appreciate that even if the stars appear to be to us a million light years away, they are the nearest heaven to Allah. We do not know how far the universe expands beyond our limited human vision and technology. You are using your perspective and not Allah’s perspective.
>>> Our response: The Quran is meant to be understood from our perspective and not from Allah’s perspective because it says, “And We have certainly beautified the nearest heaven with stars…” It is clearly talking about the Earth; otherwise, it would not make sense. What is more, the Hadith regularly refers to the “nearest heaven” as the sky above us and nearest to Earth.
https://sunnah.com/search?q=nearest+heaven
For example, it says in Jami`at-Tirmidhi 3498 https://sunnah.com/tirmidhi:3498
Abu Hurairah narrated that the Messenger of Allah said:
- “Our Lord descends every night to the nearest heaven, until the last third of the night remains, so He says: ‘Who is calling upon Me so that I may answer him? Who is asking from Me so that I may give him? And who is seeking forgiveness from Me, so that I may forgive him.’”
Had the Quran wanted to be more accurate in its descriptions while avoiding conflict with people’s understanding of the universe, it could have simply said, “And We have certainly beautified the heaven with stars…” and left it at that. If it wanted to set itself a future claim to be a scientific miracle where people can claim ‘no one knew this at the time’, the Quran would have said, “And We have certainly beautified the heaven with stars that appear near but are at the furthest heavens…”
Issue 32.2. The Quran talks in people’s language at the time, and since people assumed meteorites were shooting stars, that would have been the language the Quran would have used. The term meteorite was first introduced in 1811. So, the Quran would not use a term unknown to people at the time. To call them ‘rocks’ that hit the Earth would have confused people. It does not take away from the message that Allah controls these, and when they hit the Earth, they are a sign of his all-mightiness.
>>> Our response: To repeat a common misconception is shortsighted as the Quran claims to be accurate words from God. The Quran could have avoided this language and remained vague. For one thing, it did not need to state, “And We have certainly beautified the nearest heaven with stars and have made [from] them what is thrown at the devils …” but a slight modification of the language by saying, “And We have certainly beautified the heavens with stars and shooting lights thrown at the devils…” And just like that, the verse no longer has scientific errors – even though the concept of meteorites chasing devils is equally ridiculous and nonsensical.
Final Thought:
When you open your mind and critically read the Quran, you start to see how it is full of scientific errors. Reading the Quran as a sponge means you have probably read this verse many times and never spotted these mistakes. To further confirm that the Quran was mirroring the Prophet’s understanding of his time, here is the Hadith that partially explains this verse and its scientific error.
Mishkat al-Masabih 4602, 4603 https://sunnah.com/mishkat:4602
Qatada said God most high created these stars for three purposes; He made them an adornment for the sky, missiles for the devils, and signs by which people find their way. If anyone explains them differently he makes a mistake, squanders what is allotted to him, and occupies himself with something he does not know.