The literary perfection of
the Qur'an is a widely-held tenet of Muslims. The Qur'an is written with
“clear proofs” or “clear signs”; the Qur’an is meant to be clear. But it
is easy to show the Qur'an often uses imprecise language historical inaccuracies and, in places, flatly
contradicts itself. This makes the Qur’an anything but clear.
Below I point out two
contradictions in the Qur’an on the topic of Allah’s creation.
Was Satan Created from Water
or Fire?: The Qur'an claims that Allah created every living creature from
water (Qur'an 24:45). Some versions of Qur'an state this verse with not
"every living creature" but "every animal".
Clarifying the language, the Arabic is actually "every daaba"
which means that every living creature is created of water.
But notably, this verse
forgets about Satan. Satan was created from fire. In the following
verse, Satan thought he was better than man so he refused to prostrate himself
before Adam. This is Satan’s response:
He said, “I am better than him. You created me from fire, and created him from clay.” Qur'an 38:76, Usmani
In surah 18:50, Satan
(Iblis) is described as a jinn. Jinns are living creatures (Qur’an
51:56). According to this hadith, Jinn are said to have
lived on the earth, and can actually become Muslims.
The jinn are
even known to have sex with women:
In them there will be maidens restraining (their) glances, whom neither a man might have touched before them, nor a Jinn. Qur'an 55:56, Usmani
(Aside: Al Tabari’s commentary
on this verse says that, “When a man has intercourse with his wife and does not
name [Allah], the jinn coils around his urethra and has intercourse along with
him.” This is a disgusting thought, and shows Muslims can be a very
superstitious lot. Reference
is here. )
So the Qur'an has an
apparent contradiction here. Either the language of the Qur'an is
imprecise or Mohammed somehow forgot that Satan was created from fire.
More information on the
contradiction on Satan’s creation is here.
Do All Living Creatures have
Two Legs or Four Legs?: Muhammad seems to exclude insects and
spiders as not being part of his creation in surah 24:45.
Allah has created every moving creature from water. So, some of them move on their bellies; and some of them move on two legs, and some of them move on four. Allah creates what He wills. Surely, Allah is powerful over everything. Qur'an 24:45, Usmani
The context in this verse at
the start is "every living creature". The verse mentions
creatures that "walk on their bellies", creatures with two legs and
with four legs, but no mention of creatures with six or eight legs. There
is no mention of the centipede. These too are Allah's creation. The
context of the verse is all living creatures. This leads to an apparent
contradiction. The omissions impact the literal quality of the verse.
Another point, the English
versions of the Qur'an say that "some of them MOVE on their
bellies". However, the language issue is that the Arabic
actually uses the word “yamshi” for "walk". This is a problem
because snakes don't walk.
Do you think these examples are consistent with literary
perfection of the Qur'an?
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