101 Reasons Why We Left Islam – Chapter 3: Islam and Science – Reason 38
Iron falling from the sky must be exhausted propaganda on the “miracle of the Quran” that has been milked by Dawah social media pages since the late 2010s. In 2017, researchers from the University of Texas confirmed that all the iron found on Earth originated from outside space. Analysis suggested that iron on Earth has arrived from meteorites and asteroids as it is different in composition from the ones found in the core of the Earth. Islamic Dawah picked up on that and linked it to Quran 57:25, which says:
“Indeed, We sent Our messengers with clear proofs, and with them We sent down the Scripture and the balance ˹of justice˺ so that people may administer justice. And We sent down iron with its great might, benefits for humanity, and means for Allah to prove who stand up for Him and His messengers without seeing Him. Surely Allah is All-Powerful, Almighty.”
We now know that Iron falling from the sky is a well-known fact from the Prophet’s time and as much as 2500 years earlier. Many ancient cultures knew about this.
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/premium/article/how-ancient-cultures-discovered-iron-feature
Ancient Egyptians used iron from meteorites as daggers for their kings. Arabs knew iron falls as meteorite rock and had wondered where it is coming from. Meteorite hunters search for these rocks in the desserts and ice caps because the black meteorite rock stands out against its surroundings. In fact, the Blackstone of the Kaaba is believed to be an iron-based meteorite rock although the Saudi authorities refuse to allow any independent analysis of it.
Now, what about the word used in the Quran to describe the process? We find Quran 57:25 uses (أنزل) Anzala as “sent down” in singular because ‘iron’ is one element. In another verse, Quran 39:6 uses “sent down” in plural Arabic as أنزلنا Anzalna to describe how Allah sent down different types of cattle to humanity. However, because this version of the Quran is embarrassing to say “Allah sent down cattle”, Quran.com and other websites replaced it with “created”. Yet, in Arabic, there is absolutely no dispute about what it is saying. Several classical websites still show the original translations: http://en.noblequran.org/quran/surah-az-zumar/ayat-6/
What you see here is how Islamic pages, including ones that translate the Quran, actively change translations based on what can convince the masses. So, because we now know Iron came from the sky, the word is translated as ‘came down’, and because we know cattle clearly did not fall from the sky, they translated it as ‘created’.
Note: With ‘Debunk’ reasons for leaving Islam we do not provide Islamic excuses as the debunk is meant to address a false claim for a miracle. Debunking a claim works particularly better for people who converted to Islam or held onto their Islamic belief based on these claims. Also, more and more Islamic Dawah pages have moved away from using these techniques, see the conclusion of Chapter 3.
Final Thoughts:
If you read verses 57:25 and 39:6 in full again, you get the context of both verses. This is not about ‘sending down’ but rather about providing under the same context of saying ‘everything is provided by Allah’. In the case of Iron, it is a call for Jihad and war from which iron makes swords. You don’t believe me? Read the verse again. There was no purpose in reinventing the verse to justify belief in Islam other than desperate Dawah social media pages needing to convert people or make people believe when the actions of ISIS had presented a real PR challenge for them.