In answer to the video "Paul Won Converts Through Peaceful Preaching; Muhammad Used Bribes and Threats (PvM 17)"
The believers are never once told to go forth to battle because of war booty and in fact the Quran says that only those who sell this world's material life for the hereafter are worthy of fighting in Allah's way for the defense of the helpless 4:74-5. This is particularly pictured through the oath sworn in 100:1-11 and the ungrateful use of resources and possessions for looting, causing chaos, bloodshed and corruption to spread in the earth.
Neither is fighting for the propagation of Islam once mentioned in the whole of the Quran. Prior to his migration to Medina, when he met with the leaders of Aws and the Khazraj, and that they pledged their loyalty to him they asked:
“Stipulate whatever conditions you wish to make for your Lord and for yourself.” The Prophet said: “For my Lord, I stipulate that you shall worship Him alone and associate no partners with Him. For myself, I make the condition that you shall protect me as you protect yourselves and your property.” They asked: “What shall we get if we fulfil our pledge?” The Prophet answered: “Paradise.” They said: “It is a profitable deal. We accept no going back and we will never go back on it ourselves".
All the Prophet’s promised them was the afterlife. Nothing more. Although they did ultimately get rewarded with victory, power, unity of the Arabian tribes, prosperity and much more, all these material gains were collateral, to those who sold this life for the next
"The person who participates in (Holy battles) in Allah's cause and nothing compels him to do so except belief in Allah and His Apostles, will be recompensed by Allah either with a reward, or booty (if he survives) or will be admitted to Paradise (if he is killed in the battle as a martyr)".
The prophet once used war booty as an incentive, but only after the war had ended, which means it had nothing to do with being a motive to go to war. It was meant to help the new Meccan converts to feel that they belong to their adoptive community. The prophet, in line with his well known selfless generosity forfeited his entire portion of the war acquisitions and urged the remaining believers to show similar empathy towards the less affluent and the weak among their new brethren in faith so that they see the reality of Islam. Most selflessly did so, those most firm in faith, while others initially grumbled but eventually regretted after the prophet emotionally pleaded with them and so they followed suit
"do you feel anxiety for the things of this world, wherewith I have sought to incline these people unto the faith in which you are already established?"
This happened after the victory of Hunayn. A superficial and prejudiced reading might argue that financial incentive to establish Islam in the hearts of certain people is akin to bribing them. This couldnt be further from truth. The gesture shows them that Islam, the religion that some had newly adopted actually opens the heart of its adherents to benevolence, solidarity and selflessness. Just as they are now benefitting from Muslim empathy, these new converts will eventually be called to display similar empathy towards the less fortunate. Many among them will readily do so, having grasped the message and philosophy of Islam, and adopted the faith so dearly that material riches would pale in significance to their eyes.
It is important noting that even those from the Medina community that had protested the division of spoils in favor of the new converts, they were more concerned that the prophet's heart had swerved for his Meccan ethnic affinity and became detached from his Medinan followers. They werent really worried about sharing from their wealth. But when he emotionally convinced them otherwise, that he would never abandon them, they tearfully joined in the contribution. Another time he used a portion of his own share of the gold acquired in Yemen for similar purposes, not to win over non Muslims but to establish some of them that had already converted, that they might feel considered and supported as full members of their new community. It is to be noted that in the prophetic history, going all the way back to Moses, the HB is replete with examples of promises of worldly blessings in return for obedience, including military victories, conquests and war booty.
In answer to the video "43 Scientific Mistakes in the Quran"
All the prophet's practices and utterances, outside of the Quran, cannot be automatically assumed as divinely inspired, and the Quran itself sometimes disapproves of some of his deeds and words 66:1,80:1-10.
The same is the case of other prophets, including as eminent as Ibrahim who, despite of being an illustrious example to emulate, immitating him does not include all aspects of his life deeds 60:4.
That is why the Quran repeatedly announces obedience to the messenger instead of 'Muhammad', albeit they are the same person. The 'message' remained connected to the 'messenger' and it was in this capacity of the 'messenger' that Muhammad needed to be obeyed.
The Prophet forbade Muslims to write down anything other than the Quran. And effectively, the traditions weren't compilled until centuries following his death. The reason was that he used to make statements and deal with people in different ways that were the result of particular circumstances, which narrators might believe to be of universal and permanent bearing. From divine knowledge, the prophet Muhammad had only access to what His Lord granted him 6:50,7:203,72:26-7. That knowledge took the form of a divine scripture to
16:64"make clear to them that about which they differ, and (as) a guidance and a mercy for a people who believe".
Muhammad believed
7:158"in Allah and His words (the Quran)"
this is why Allah tells us to
"follow him so that you may be guided".
To follow Muhammad means to follow what was sent to him from signs and/or revelation
7:157"and follow the light which has been sent down with him".
This reflects in the hypothetical scenario of a people not having received a messenger, complaining that had they had one in their midst, then they would have followed God's signs, not necessarily the messenger
28:47,20:134"..O our Lord! Why did You not send to us a messenger so we would have followed YOUR SIGNS (not the messengers) before we were humiliated and disgraced?".
Again with the example of the qiblah, we are told to only follow Muhammad in what Allah has commanded him
2:143"and We did not make the Qiblah that you observed in the past except that We know who follows the messenger from the one who turns back upon his heels".
It is very compelling to read how the Quran says that it is itself the best hadith.
39:23"Allah has revealed the best HADITH, a book conformable in its various parts, repeating, whereat do shudder the skins of those who fear their Lord, then their skins and their hearts become pliant to the remembrance of Allah; this is Allah's guidance, He guides with it whom He pleases; and (as for) him whom Allah makes err, there is no guide for him"
45:6"These are the communications of Allah which We recite to you with truth; then in what HADITH would they believe after Allah and His communications".
Anything besides that best hadith, Allah tells us that the rightly guided are those people who use their brains and reflect over them, following only the best and discarding what is inapplicable or that contradicts the Quran
39:18"Those who listen to the word (qawl or saying), then follow the best of it; those are they whom Allah has guided, and those it is who are the men of understanding".
The Quran contains such warning because
31:6"of men is he who takes instead frivolous hadith to lead astray from Allah's path without knowledge, and to take it for a mockery".
These verses warning to keep the best hadith and discard all frivolous and counterproductive talks, useless and misleading narratives, provide clear evidence that idle tales were even being disseminated at the Prophet's time. If this was then already a problem reaching such levels that the Quran had to correct it, then how much worse did the problem potentially manifest after the prophet's death? It further tells us to investigate thoroughly any information of importance related by an untrustworthy source 49:6. It does not request the outright dismissal of the report based on the unreliability of the source but simply advises utmost caution in the authentication process of the narration itself which doesnt only include reliability of the transmitor but also of the information in light of certain established facts. This opens the way to the possibility that the source might be telling the truth despite its untrustworthiness.
Hadith scholars mostly stress on scrutinizing the narrator and do not give much importance to scrutinizing the content of the report. It should also be noted, a few verses down in 49:12 it warns not to harbour ill thoughts of others who have not shown through their words or deeds any misapropriateness or imorality. People should first and foremost think well of one another, abandon the kind of outright suspicion and ill founded inquisitiveness (with harmful objectives).
In answer to the video "43 Scientific Mistakes in the Quran"
When a prophet of God, the last human capable of willfully sinning, asks for God's mercy not even following a sin, but out of fear of not performing an act of worship to its full extent, then how much more so should the regular believer be conscious of his shortcomings in regards to God?
This is the characteristic of the men of God, who never become complacent and arrogant, whether in their duties towards fellow men or towards God, especially so when they reach the climax of their power and glory and that before that point they were constant and steadfast upon the straight path regardless of their ordeals. Success instead causes them increase in spirituality and far sightedness in their dealings with men and their duties towards God. The prophet, and the Muslims through him, is told to do the following, after seeing the unfolding of the prophecy of entire victory
110:3"Then celebrate the praise of your Lord, and ask His forgiveness; surely He is oft-returning (to mercy)".
In addition to teaching man spiritual humbleness, this also conveys the idea that should one attain some victory, it should not lead to pride and vanity, but to remembrence of God and gratitude, as well as seeking ghafr/covering, protection from sins. Even if the prophecy proved true in the days of Muhammad, and even more so today as Islam is still spreading worldwide, a believer shouldnt be boastful about it as many Muslims usually are when speaking of the spread and success of their religion.
The prophet was therefore certainly not "uswa hasana" in how he ate (with the right hand because the left was used for relieving in cleaning oneself after), slept or saw the nature around him. Anyone is free to imitate his lifestyle and adopt his worldviews as found in extra Quranic writings, if one finds any personal benefits in doing so but that isn't a religious requirement nor relevant to it, and that is explicitly stated in the Quran itself.
With that in mind, when the prophet made deductions as related in the ahadith, pertaining to his natural environement, general causality and basic observation of certain phenomenon, it is only expected from him that they would fit what the ancients of his time would find "plausible". These views however, right or wrong, no matter how extraordinary they might seem in light of our current knowledge, have no bearing on the Quran itself, which is again, pledged to be fully protected. It would have been interesting to have had written records of how the previous prophets saw the world, as we have with Muhammad, and see who among them held the most "unscientific" personal views.
Just as Muhammad was uswa hasana, Ibrahim and the believers in his nations are called uswa hasana 60:4-6 and to follow the prophet 3:31 means to follow the revelation sent to him 6:106,33:2.
Muhammad and the Muslims are told to follow the way of Ibrahim, this can only be achieved through the Quran which is the reminder of his way 16:123,4:125,3:95. It was indeed the Quran that guided Muhammad to the way of Ibrahim 6:161. The Quran also says to follow the pious, humble believers 31:15 and this again only means to follow them in their obedience to Allah's commands, in their belief in His revelation because
6:116"if you obey most of those in the earth, they will lead you astray from Allah's way; they follow but conjecture and they only lie".
The prophetic sunna is thus the manner in which the prophet applied the timeless ordinances of the Quran in his own time and place. It does not necessarily include his personal likes and dislikes, or particular recommendations which in the vast majority of cases the prophet himself never claimed were inspired.
He gently declined eating a roasted lizard out of personal taste, leaving those around him to freely eat as they wished.
Certain of his own standards of body hygiene, like trimming the mustache, letting the beard grow, using the toothstick, sniffing water into the nose, clipping the nails, washing the knuckles, removing hair from the underarms, shaving pubic hair, cleaning the private parts with water, rinsing the mouth etc, or the manner he slept, ate or dressed, all reflected the needs, culture and manners of a specific time in history.
In answer to the video "43 Scientific Mistakes in the Quran"
Of course that the prophet wasnt aware of the latest scientific discoveries. Those who assert the contrary are ignorant of both the Quran and the prophetic traditions.
In the Quran, the prophet is called uswa hasana. As is explicit in the Quran, the divine protection of the carriers of the revelation pertains strictly to the revelation itself. But in everyday affairs, the messengers, who are still humans endowed with freewill and thus the potential, if not to sin due to their heightened level of spiritual awareness, to make mistakes, they are left to their own devices in their everyday lives to fight off the assaults of evil forces. No prophet was in a constant state of communication with the divine realm. The hadith and Quran itself speak of long periods where revelation had stopped, and the subsequent tauntings of his enemies on the issue, the questions of his followers and his anxious anticipation.
The Quran never came to correct the prophet's worldviews in terms of knowledge of nature and general causality, neither of his contemporaries but rather guide him and the rest of humanity through him, to the most complete, advanced human spiritual knowledge. The divine protection therefore only pertained to the Quran which is the source of that perfect spiritual knowledge. The prophet was "uswa hasana" in his application of the Quran, just as following Jesus' way, as he is quoted saying in the NT, meant following his footsteps in his application of the Torah. "The way" of Jesus Jn14:6 is outlined in Lk10:25-28 where he commands strict observance of Jewish laws. In that passage from Luke he is asked about the conditions of salvation and the questionner quotes from 2 passages. The first is Lev19 which details certains laws like the observence of the sabbath and admonishes to
"Keep all my decrees and all my laws and follow them. I am the LORD".
The 2nd passage quoted by the questionner is the second is Deut6 which speaks of loving the One God and obeying His commandements
"keep the commands of the LORD your God and the stipulations and decrees he has given you. Do what is right and good in the LORD's sight..obey all this law before the LORD our God, as he has commanded us, that will be our righteousness".
As one can clearly see, one is justified before God, not by faith alone but by deeds too. Consequently the Nazarenes, Jesus' early group of small band of followers, observed all Jewish customs outlined in the Torah but differed from Jews in that they recognized Jesus as the Messiah. The Nazarenes grew among the Israelites but persecutions forced them to go into hiding, with Paul playing a central role in their persecution prior to his convertion. After he joined their ranks, he started influencing the group leaders, namely Peter and James, to reach out to Gentiles.
With more non-Jews entering the fold, many Jewish customs were abandonned Acts15:1-29 and the Nazarenes who were centered in Jerusalem gradually became isolated. The main Christian movement started looking up to Paul for leadership, instead of Jesus' brother James, a strict observer of Jewish Law and considered as Jesus' successor in non-canonical Gospels.
With the establishment of Christianity as a state religion in Rome by Constantine in the 4th century, this small original band definetly fled Jerusalem, in the surrounding deserts and managed to survive outside Palestine as they are mentionned by Jerome upto 380AD to have lived in the Syrian desert. Among them the Ebionites (who claimed to descend from the original Jewish disciples led by James) and Elchasites who rejected Paul as a charlatan and his teachings as falsehood, as well as the Zadokites, Essenes, Rechabites, Sabeans, Mandaeans etc. They had their own writing which they considered scripture, composed of an oral tradition attributed to Jesus, and some HB books. Their writings are known, among others as Gospel of the Nazareans, Gospel of the Hebrews and Gospel of the Ebionites. They would later write that Paul was a false apostle who taught heresy based on the fact he was a failed convert who was disappointed with Judaism and therefore motivated to teach against its laws (circumcision, kashrut, etc..). Unfortunately the group that opposed them and their practices gained more converts, obviously as it appealed much more to non-Jews, more particularily the hellenized Romans and Greeks.
The Nazarenes and similar groups were inevitably marginalised while the more and more dominant groups decided what the Church’s organizational structure would be, as well as its official creeds, or which books would be accepted as Scripture. The group that became "orthodox", further sealed its victory, by the pens of early writers like Iraeneus Justin Martyr and Tertullian, claiming that it had always been the majority opinion of Christianity, Jesus and his apostles.
This uswa hasana in no way implies that the prophet was a perfect creation. For example, After describing their outstanding moral and spiritual qualities, the Quran nevertheless asks the prophets to keep seeking istighfar/protection (from sins), for themselves and their followers too 47:19 and several prophets are quoted throughout the Quran asking for ghafr 30:24,35,71:28. This way the Quran teaches an important lesson; when the foremost among God's servants are denied any sense of complacency, then how far should regular believers be from harboring a feeling of perfect righteousness or prideful accomplishment in front of God
53:32"therefore do not attribute purity to your souls; He knows him best who guards (against evil)".
The believer should keep in mind that only God is perfection and as a demonstration of his understanding of such concept, should constantly seek God's forgiveness for any shortcoming as well as protection for future potential flaws and blemishes. This concept is pervasive throughout the Quran, starting with the single most repeated sura, sura fatiha. This type of spiritual humility is requested even from those that perform the most commendable deeds of the religion, so that they never fall into arrogance and self-righteousness 73:1-20. It was under this state of mind that the prophet implored his Lord for ghafr in this world, just as he will do in the hereafter 66:8. Some reports say he used to implore Allah for protection one hundred times every day, as he was commanded by the Quran itself.
And he used to do so even after 48:2 was revealed telling him his past, present and future sins are forgiven. He did so out of humility and to set the standard of modesty in face of divine perfection
"The Prophet used to offer night prayers till his feet became swollen. Somebody said, to him," "Allah has forgiven you, your faults of the past and those to follow." On that, he said, "Shouldn't I be a thankful slave of Allah?"
No human, no matter how close to Allah in terms of revelational experience, will ever be faultless. This verse 48:2 does not say what type of sin, intentional or not, major or minor, was commited by the prophet. No indication of major sins, let alone intentional, are found concerning the prophet, anywhere in the hadith corpus or the Quran. Yet we find the Quran reproaching him even the slightest unfitting action for a man of his standing, actions which none would find problematic.
This is the etiquette that Islam has taught to man. A man might have performed the highest possible service to Allah's Religion, might have offered countless sacrifices in its cause, and might have exerted himself extremely hard in carrying out the rites of His worship, yet he should never entertain the thought that he has fulfilled the right his Lord had on him wholly, the Sustainer who maintains him and the universe at each instant. Rather he should always think that he has not been able to fulfill what was required of him.
This reveals an important point, something the prophets have always been aware of as seen in their constant prayers for forgiveness and protection, the inherent imperfection of humans, their shortcomings in the face of divine perfection. One should therefore never feel self-righteous or self-sufficient in any endeavour.
In answer to the video "43 Scientific Mistakes in the Quran"
Those to whom the verse was primarily addressed, the Arabs, were land and sea travellers. They passed through estuaries and points where a river met the ocean to see both bodies of water mixing. The Arabic "bahr" means a vast water expanse, be it the ocean, a big river or lake. None of the verses 25:53,27:61,55:19 say that a barrier prevents them from mixing. In fact it clearly says that they meet and mix/maraja 55:19.
The verse immediately follows by saying that despite this mixing, there is an unbreakable barrier between the 2 water types referred to earlier. And it is the phenomenon that sustains life on this earth by keeping the water types perpetually appart, salt and sweet, despite their perpetual mixing when they meet. The verse comes in the context of providing evidence of God's bounties, the primary example being exactly this, the constant phenomenon of having 2 distinct water types available, despite their continuous flow and mixing into one another. Had this phenomenon of evaporation and filtration of salt not existed, life as we know it would have been impossible
55:21"Which then of the bounties of your Sustainer will you deny?"
A river meeting the ocean without mixing is not a bounty from God and is irrelevant in stimulating the gratefulness of the reader and audience, which is the whole point of the passage. Another spiritual parallel the verses make with that phenomenon is the existence of 2 types of humans, the spiritually aware and the rest. In this world they mix and mingle on a physical level but will remain separate on the metaphysical sphere. But the Merciful has placed in everyone the potential to thrive spiritually, even the sinner, if he chooses to repent. And so, the verse also states that pearls can be harvested from fresh and saltwater, just as there is spirituality in the righteous as well as the sinner. The imagery is beautiful and uplifting, as opposed to the NT's exclusivist and racist notion of "avoid sharing your pearls with pigs" Matt7. Corals, as a side note, live and grow in seawater but may be found in rivers, such as the massive reef of the Amazon. Corals can also thrive in estuaries, where the 2 bodies of water meet.
Talking about everlasting, unbreakable barrier, the Hebrew Bible in Jer5:22 speaks of the sea as unable to permanently invade and inundate dry land, forcibly kept till the end of times behind the shore, thus also showing ignorance of the phenomenon of tides
"I made sand a boundary for the sea, an everlasting ordinance, which it cannot pass, and [its waves] toss themselves, yet they cannot prevail; and its waves roar, but they do not pass it."
In answer to the video "43 Scientific Mistakes in the Quran"
In the Quran, there are physical and spiritual senses. One can have for instance the physical eye to see the material world without the spiritual eye which is necessary to see the spiritul world
7:179,10:42-3,22:46"For surely it is not the eyes that are blind, but blind are the hearts which are in the breasts".
One can have the mind/aql to process material information while being totally unable to deduct the spiritual implications inherent in all material things, because of a hardenned QALB/heart 2:73-4. The Hebrew Bible too is repleat with such references
Ezek12:2,Jer5:13"they have eyes yet they see not, they have ears yet they hear not".
A more striking metaphore for spiritual perception used by the Quran is the phrase
"possessors of hands and vision"
when speaking of some of the most eminent prophets who mastered their selves outwardly with great power (hands) and internally (vision, ie insight) 38:45. These verses speak of spiritual insight, not the material or wordly hearing, vision and deductions. The more one trains his spiritual receptivity the more it becomes aware of spiritual matters and the more God increases its capacity to perceive
91:7-10"And (by) a soul and He Who proportioned it. And inspired it with its wickedness and its virtue. One has succeeded whoever purified it. And one has failed whoever corrupted it".
With the prophet Muhammad, that capacity reached such a high peak that the spiritual vision could perceive the powerful angel of revelation, an entity invisible to the physical eye. The Quran precisely states in 53:12 that it was the heart, not the eye, that "saw". This is how intricately and flawlessly the Quran connects its ideas throughout its passages.
These verses describe the working of spiritual, not intellectual processing in the human body. The spiritual organs, eyes or ears (the list isnt meant to be exhaustive) have their same physical counterpart but do not converge in the same nervous system. While the physical organs like the eyes and ears, converge in the nervous system of the brain, the spiritual nervous system converges in the heart. Hence the often repeated notion that the blinding of the heart causing one to be unable to see and hear the spiritual world.
The physical attributes and the intellect arent enough when it comes to spiritual perception, one needs an open and receptive heart which translates the information gathered from the physical senses into spiritual language. This way one hears and sees both with his physical senses and spiritual senses.
The Quran says the QALB/heart is where spiritual insight and deductions occur, and further locates it in the the SADR 22:46,49:7.
SADR means CHEST, as well as the additional conceptual meaning of container of secrets. The Quran doesnt say that the source of intellectual, material, wordly thought is in the sadr/chest and as shown, one may have the aql/mind but lack the capacity to deduct the spiritual implications because of a hardened heart. Elsewhere the Quran says that the origin of lying and deception is in the forehead region, again pointing to it being aware that intellectual thought processes occur in the head 96:13-16, not the heart.
In answer to the video "43 Scientific Mistakes in the Quran"
23:14"[We] then formed the drop into a clot and formed the clot into a lump and formed the lump into bones and clothed the bones in flesh; and then brought him into being as another creature..."
This embryology verse, read without any preconceived notions and with the correct understanding of each Arabic word is very straightforward. It all starts with a nutfa, or drop. This singular nutfa is connected in 76:2 to the plural "amshajin" denoting it being a blend of components. So until now, we know that embryonic life necessitates, not only the drop, ie the sperm, but the drop to be mixed with other components.
This wasnt revealing to the primary Arab addressees anything they didnt already know in terms of knowledge of nature. They obviously understood that complex life could not simply spring from a drop of sperm, they understood they needed to impregnate a woman. They also knew that impregnation wasnt sometimes enough as women could be infertile. So they knew, just as the verse is saying, that the sperm needs to be mixed with the appropriate female components for the first stages of life to be possible. Hence the statement attributed to the prophet
"man is created from a man's nutfa and a woman's nutfa".
The verse continues, after the "drop" stage, comes the clot. The word used is ALAQA, meaning something that sticks, or attaches to another. The famous poems hanged on the Kaaba in pre-islamic times were called mu-allaqaat. In abstract, it expresses one's emotional attachement. The early embryo shares many concrete features with the alaqa. A blood clot, because it is sticky, is called ALAQA but the term is by no means used exclusively for it. After the "sticky thing" stage comes the mudghata which means a lump of flesh. That lump is elsewhere described with an expression denoting its very primitive state
22:5"formed and unformed".
This evokes the image of the small aggregate of embryonic cells before their complete differentiation. Within this lump, bones are formed and are covered with flesh. At this point the verse doesnt say whether that flesh was shaped before, after or together with the bones. All the passage speaks of is the COVERING of the bones with flesh, not the making of this flesh itself. The particle used to link every stage is called FA isti'nafiya which simply connects 2 statements without indicating sequential order. And even if for argument's sake we take the particle as denoting sequence, it remains irrelevant to the contention that this covering flesh was formed after the bones. This is because, as already noted, the FORMATION of the flesh is nowhere mentionned. This silence does not warrant the arbitrary conclusion that it must have formed after the bones. For that conclusion to be justified one would need an absolute assertion "ALL the lump was made into bones". Also one expects the formation of the flesh to be listed, just as it lists the previous relevant stages in the verse.
Finally, to justify the "flesh after bones" theory, no statement elsewhere in the Quran should allow the possibility that something other than bones could be formed in that lump. But the Quran neither uses absolute terms (all), nor does it list the formation of the flesh among the stages of the fetus. That omission, and the flexible use of words are both highly relevant, testifying to the Quran's surgical precision and internal consistency. Because in fact, there is in 22:5 a statement allowing for the bones and flesh to have formed within the lump, which is a stage prior to the "covering" of the bones with flesh. It says the completed human being is made from the mudgha/lump. This of course includes his bones, flesh and every particle making up his body. At most, what a critic could try arguing is that first the bones were formed, then they were covered with flesh. Obviously, a non-existent entity cannot be covered with flesh. Bones need to first exist or begin their formation for them to be covered with flesh.
In answer to the video "43 Scientific Mistakes in the Quran"
Although revealed in an environement where poetry and oratory speeches were loaded with explicitly lustful and indecent language and allusions, the Quran never departs from its pattern of using respectable language and concepts. This is particularily made clear in sura Yusuf, the "best of stories", when detailing the mistress' attempted seduction of Yusuf.
The Quran beautifully combines in that context, precision in expression with a dignified vocabulary, and despite the fact that it talks about lust, utilizes the principles of piety, morals and respect without being paralysed in the process. When the Quran addresses the themes of sex or sexual organs, its eloquence necessitates that it does not directly speak of testicles, penis or vagina. This is an established Quranic pattern accross several topics.
Contrary to the Bible with its known rude language and unsophisticated imageries, as is amply found in modern pop culture, news, and magazines, the Quran seeks not to flood the imagination with crude details so as to not trivialize certain themes. There are ample examples, such as 2:222 where it refers to sexual intercourse by using the imagery of the farmer cultivating his tilth with tenderness and deep consideration aforehand, or as "touching" the mate 2:236,237,4:43,5:6,33:49etc.
The word for 'touching' is laamastum from the root L-M-S that means skin feeling an object interactively. It is used to mean mainly sex, or at least some form of foreplay. Other terminologies used in the Quran to refer to sexual intercourse is "covering" the mate 7:189 or in the context of refraining from sex it says
"guarding the private parts"
23:5,33:35. In some instances where the Quran refers to women's sexual organs it literaly speaks of
60:12"what lies between their legs and hands"
among other apellations. Now we come to the passage in question which is of interest to this youtuber. 86:5-7 speaks of the fluid "coming out". It doesnt speak of origin or formation, but exiting.
All people know from where seminal fluid exits from. The determination of the location where the fluid is formed is irrelevant to the point of the verse. The verse speaks of man's humble and simple origins despite him growing into a highly complex creature, and how he will inevitably be humbled once again to simple elements then recreated and brought forth to render account. The rejecters of resurrection saw it as a far fetched thing, an impossibility for a human being to be grown back after its death, decay, and return to the earth.
So instead of telling these arrogant people, who see their current state as a highly complex entity impossible to re-create, that they were once a simple fluid that exited from their father's penises, it says they exited
"from between the sulb and the taraaib".
Sulb stems from S-L-B, implying strength, hardness, firmness, uprightness. Words like the backbone or the saleeb/crucifix, because of standing firmly upright, are derived from it.
Taraaib stems from T-R-B, implying some sort of resemblence, uniformity, harmony, symetry. It is used for example for turab/soil or dust, because dust grains are resembling and corresponding.
Elsewhere it denotes how the mates of paradise match oneanother in many aspects 56:37,78:33 and it can similarily describe how certain body parts like the eyes, the hands, the legs, or the ribs etc. are matching. The statement
"exiting from between the sulb/backbone and the taraaib/legs or ribs"
refers to man's sexual organ just like
"what lies between their legs and hands"
subtely alludes to women's sexual parts. Any other propostition would suggest the people back in 7th century Arabia, or whomever the sceptics allege wrote the Quran, were ignorant of the function of testicles. This of course is an untenable assertion. For example, they used to practice castration on animals, and knew of the existence of eunuchs. An equally valid interpretation as noted by the early tafasirs, including Makki ibn abi Talib, al Mahdawi or ibn Atiya, is that yakhruju/exiting may refer to the human being spoken of earlier. This is valid both linguistically and biologically, as the womb is located between the backbone and ribs of the woman. Between, as a side note, does not entail "middle".
In answer to the video "43 Scientific Mistakes in the Quran"
On a general note first, Contrary to Christians who went to such extent in their over-exaltation of their prophet that, in the absence of a birthday for Jesus went searching in the pagan calendar for a date to artificially ascribe as Jesus' birthday, the Muslims do not celebrate their prophet's birth or death. The importance is focused on the message and this is why we celebrate the only month mentioned by name in the Quran, that of Ramadan. We gratefuly fast, which is a symbol of self sacrifice, in remembrance of God's sending in this month, a guiding light for all of mankind, to the heart of His prophet on a night of Ramadan, the Night of Destiny/laylatul Qadr. The root is R-M-Dhad, meaning "heat". RAMADAN was the month of heat because it fell in the heat of the summer.
The pre-Islamic Arabs used a combined Lunar/Solar calendar, and would periodically add a month in order to compensate for the shorter lunar year as opposed to the solar year. This resulted in fixing their rituals, like the yearly pilgrimage, to more convenient times from certain aspects. However, Islam banned the addition of such months 9:36-7. This meant that the month of Ramadan is now rotating through the year in a 33 year cycle. This avoids the convenient fixation of certain religious practices according to human whims, for purely worldly motives, violating God's established sacred months and allowing an ordinary month to be observed as sacred and vice versa.
For example the pre-Islamic Arabs used this practice to avoid the disadvantages for their trade. Banning the intercalary month opens up the way for spiritual improvement, training one to perform his duties at all times of the year and under all circumstances. Also, from the viewpoint of the universality of religion, it is obvious that the periods of fasting and performing Haj cannot satisfy all if they be fixed, always falling in the same season and month in different places-summer or winter or very hot or very cold or rainy or dry or harvesting or sowing-year after year. The Islamic time-keeping system is in fact the most scientifically relevant, because it does not require intercalation and thus making its precise reference point known to the day.
Add to this the fact that the Islamic calendar is the only one that is divested from all elements of overt and parenthetical shirk, such as how the days of the week and the months of the year are named. Fasting is an act of great virtue and piety practiced by nations and prophets long before Muhammad 2:183-187,Ex24:18,Joel2:11-13,Matt4:2,6:16-18etc The abstinence prescribed, from gratifying material desires, satisfying the body's lust and inclinations purges the soul from the love of worldly affairs, focuses the attention on the spiritual realm. It is a period of self-improvement, where Muslims start a spiritual and moral training that shapes their lives for the months ahead, from one Ramadan to the next. It is a command literally aimed at "doing guarding"/laAAlakum tattaqqun 2:183. Often translated "fear", taqwa stems from w-q-w meaning guarding, or protection (see 73:17). In Arabic, as in any language, synonyms have one or more common elements but every synonym on its own carries some sort of specific nuance. For example many words are used in the Quran to denote fear, including khushuaa, Khawf, Hadhr, rawaa, awjas, rahb, ruaab, taqwa etc. The common denominator between these words is fear but every time with a nuance highly meaningful to the context. The specificity of the taqwa type of fear is that it is the fear of future consequences, hence the implicit notion of guarding oneself. The prophet is reported to have stated that
"A person might fast and he gets nothing from his fast but hunger".
That is because he did not do it with taqwa, guarding his spirituality.
So, just as the body must go through physical training to become protected in specific situations, the soul needs the same in order to be guarded from deviations. Fasting, along with all its spiritual implications is one of the means given in the Quran for the achievement of that objective. This taqwa/guarding of the soul happens through consciousness of God in all deeds, by increasing help to the underprivileged members of society, working towards improving social interactions, including strengthening ties of kinship, showing forgiveness and compassion. Fasting also teaches one that if he can abstain from that which is otherwise lawful and a primary need such as food, natural sexual desires and passions, how much more necessary is it that he should abstain from the evil ways which are forbidden by God and are not only unnatural but oppose one's own conscience.
It is made compulsory except on the sick or temporarily incapacitated from travel
"but whoever among you is sick or on a journey".
That person must later redeem himself by fasting the same number of missed days (when the conditions become more favorable for a fast) and in addition must feed a needy person if he can afford it (the pronoun HU in yatiqunahu refers to taam/feeding). In all cases, whether it be to redeem a missed fast or not
"whoever does good spontaneously it is better for him; and that you fast is better for you if you know".
The important point about fasting as said in the passage's opening statement is that it is aimed at increasing piety, God-consciousness. It is thus the responsibility of the one seeking spiritual betterment to make all necessary preparations for the attainment of that objective. This doesnt only apply to fasting but to all other religious practices, like praying, spending for charity, going on pilgrimage or fighting in self-defense when required. All religious rites demand the fulfillment of certain conditions to be valid and so is the practice of fasting, counting among its conditions the witnessing of certain natural phenomena. These phenomena are the start and end of a lunar month
"whoever of you witnesses the month"
and the start and end of a day
"and eat and drink until the whiteness of the day becomes distinct from the blackness of the night at dawn, then complete the fast till night".
The Quran strongly refutes spiritual determinism, the idea that the performance of one's religious duties is solely dependant on circumstantial factors. Things like lifestyle, living area, social atmosphere should all be molded either permanently or temporarily (geographical location suited for fasting for example) to allow the performance of one's spiritual duties, just as one readily sacrifices, among other things, his own health for the attainment of worldly objectives
"A Muhajir (emigrant) is the one who gives up (abandons) all what Allah has forbidden."
Herein lies the whole Quranic concept of hijra, migrating unto God
4:97-100"Surely (as for) those whom the angels cause to die while they are unjust to their souls, they shall say: In what state were you? They shall say: We were weak in the earth. They shall say: Was not Allah´s earth spacious, so that you should have migrated therein? So these it is whose abode is hell, and it is an evil resort. Except the weak from among the men and the children who have not in their power the means nor can they find a way (to escape); So these, it may be, Allah will pardon them, and Allah is Pardoning, Forgiving. And whoever flies in Allah´s way, he will find in the earth many a place of refuge and abundant resources".
When the conditions are such that one has no choice but to remain in an environment that is unfavorable for the performance of the religious duties, then the Quran states to simply act sincerely and with God consciousness
73:20"and Allah measures the night and the day. He knows that you are not able to do it, so He has turned to you (mercifully), therefore read what is easy of the Quran. He knows that there must be among you sick, and others who travel in the land seeking of the bounty of Allah, and others who fight in Allah´s way, therefore read as much of it as is easy (to you), and keep up prayer and pay the poor-rate and offer to Allah a goodly gift, and whatever of good you send on beforehand for yourselves, you will find it with Allah; that is best and greatest in reward; and ask forgiveness of Allah; surely Allah is Forgiving, Merciful".
This is the Quran's supreme realism. The Quran continues, even in those spiritually challenging circumstances, one should never comprise the principles of the religion and its virtues in order to assimilate in an environment devoid of proper morality, no matter how attractive it might be
5:100"The evil and the good are not equal, though the abundance of evil may dazzle you. So be in awe of Allah, O' possessors of intellects, that you may be prosperous".
In answer to the video "43 Scientific Mistakes in the Quran"
It has already been established in previous videos how the Quran draws a parallel between the hospitability of our world for life, and a comfortable and well secured tent.
Then the Quran talks about the mountains as pegs 78:6-7,79:32. Pegs provide stability to the sheltering tent as implied in the imagery. Without these pegs it would fall or be blown away by storm.
The Quran calls the mountains pegs, in the context of drawing a picture of creation. These huge, stabilizing, sheltering objects are part of the system that allows mankind to develop and thrive physically. Just as by their massive presence, they allow human life to physically thrive, they do have their equivalent, on an even more massive scale in the metaphysical realm to allow humans to thrive, this time, spiritually. The revelation, should it descend in our material world, it would instantly shatter the most massive of those mountains by virtue of its spiritual weight
13:31,59:21"Had We sent down this Quran on a mountain, you would certainly have seen it falling down, splitting asunder because of the fear of Allah, and We set forth these parables to men that they may reflect".
In the darkest times of his prophetic mission, towards the beginning, the prophet Muhammad would often retreat in fear and would thus be pulled out from reclusion by revelation. He would be told to rise and through acts of devotion, to prepare himself spiritualy to be able to bear what is about to come down on him from on high
73:5"Surely We will make to light upon you a weighty Word".
The Quran often uses the image of vastness, greatness found in nature and more particularly the mountains when it wants to express the massive importance of a thing, more specifically of this Revelation 14:46,10:22-23,42:33. This kind of imagery is pictured in many places, and is meant at contrasting those whose hearts are more inert and harder to penetrate by divine guidance, than a massive mountain would be. This literary style also serves the purpose of picturing the importance of Revelation as already pointed earlier; it takes a special kind of creature with a special kind of internal disposition to be able to bear it, in addition to bearing the consequences of having to communicate it.
The Israelites begged Moses to be their intermediary with God instead of receiving revelation themselves. The experience at Horeb was so violent and traumatic that they did not want God to speak directly to them anymore, fearing they would die. The word used in sura sharh to describe what kind of burden Muhammad was relieved from through God's expansion of his chest is wizr, used for something nearly unbearable
94:1-3"Have We not expanded for you your breast, And taken off from you your burden, Which pressed heavily upon your back".
What is rendered "pressed heavily" is anqada which actually is used when something is about to break. The prophet Moses at the beginning of his call and prior to his confrontation with Pharao requested from God the same spiritual relief and strengthening 20:25. We see here how the Quran consistently keeps its notions, although scattered all throughout the divine writings, connecting them together.
Back to the mountains as a physical object and the way they affect nature around them. The Arabs were familiar with mountains, considering the landscape around Mecca and Medina. The mountain was a refuge when the earth shook as it absorbs a great deal of the shock. A person would naturally seek refuge by or behind huge, stable and immovable objects, such as mountains, when the earth shook
16:15,81"And Allah has made for you of what He has created shelters, and He has given you in the mountains places of retreat".
As a basic law of physics, even the tiniest piece of rock would dissipate the force somewhat of an earthquake, but it is so minuscule, it would make absolutely no difference to a major earthquake. Shallow earthquakes however do not travel for long distances because the waves are absorbed by loose earth materials. Mountains are the most significant natural earthquake shock absorbers both because of their size and the bedrock underneath. And when those mountains over a significant period of time, become ranges, earthquake force is dissipated even more. The mechanism of mountain formation itself is a stabilizing factor. When 2 earth surfaces collide and the earth's crust bends upward to form a mountain, the energy from the collision is diffused. If the mountains were not formed then the tension would be much higher, continuous, and devastating with no mechanism by which to diffuse the energy from plate collisions. Interestingly, a hadith seems to refer to that situation
"When Allah created the earth, it started shaking/oscillating. So He created the mountains, and said to them: ‘Upon it’ so it began to settle. The angels were amazed at the strength of the mountains.."
The Quran in the context of creation alludes to that mechanism too
21:31,50:7,31:10"He set in/FEE the earth anchors/RAWASI".
FEE primarily means IN or inside. RAWASI linguistically means Anchors. The main word for mountain is jabal, not rawasi (the Quran also uses tur or tawd 26:63 for a very large mountain as seen from its use in preislamic poetry). So although rawasi can sometimes be used for mountains, it does not mean it means mountains in every context. These rawasi fee al ard/anchors in the earth, could be anything including the forces that create the mountains and prevent disasters when two earth plates collide. RAWASI then fits perfectly because the anchors themselves created the mountains and anchored the land plate and the mountain as well. As stated in
41:10"He made in it RAWASI from above it".
The Arabic is difficult to translate and clearly implies an entity from within the earth towering above it.
To corroborate further,
88:19"and the mountains, how they are fixed/erected".
The word nusibat carries both the meanings of raised up and fixed, which correctly describes mountains. 78:7 similarly says
"WALJIBAL ARSAHA/and the mountains, He anchored them".
The Quran in places describes the earth as made to receive these rawasi in it 16:15. Alqa/to receive fits the concept of rawasi fee al ard, as it is a phenomenon which God made to exist within the earth.
In the Arabian peninsula, the mountains are among the most ancient and their surfaces are dense and solid, immune to land-sliding in general. In places like the Himalayas, damage is done primarily because of lightly-packed soil which results in land-slides.
The Quran is simply saying, the mountains provide a stabilizing factor in preventing the land from shaking, so as to take men with them. It doesnt say the mountains stabilize the earth as a whole and completely prevent earthquakes.
Such an assertion predicates that the Arabs, or whomever this youtuber supposes wrote the Quran, believed there was no such thing as earthquakes, or that they never experienced them because the mountains allegedly prevent such phenomena. This of course is absurd considering because Arabs did experience earthquakes. The Hijaz is part of the Great Rift Valley. What the Arabs believed, and what the law of physics are clear on, is that mountains act as a stabilizing force against the shocks of earthquakes, absorbing a great deal of its energy.
So the protection is not absolute. Similarly the sky as a canopy, as per the imagery of the hospitable tent, does not always provide protection when calamities fall from above or bad weather comes, some inhospitable areas of the earth do not conform to the imagery of a carpet spread for honoring guests inside the comfortable tent. These various imageries point out the general benefits man gets from these phenomenons, without giving an absolute description of their functions. There are many such usages in the Quran, for example garments are said to have the purpose of protection from heat 16:81 and this is because the verse's primary addressees were desert dwellers, who also experienced the harsh cold of the night and used these garments for warmth.
As always the Quran, being a book of guidance, whenever it points to a natural phenomenon it isnt solely on account of its material function. It is always trying to make the reader and listener ponder upon these entities and find a link between them and the spiritual realm. Besides their protective and sheltering nature, mountains also serve as a guidance to the traveller, just like Allah sent His prophets to guide mankind towards the ultimate destination, protecting them from the calamities of a mighty Day
21:31"And We have made great mountains in the earth lest it might be convulsed with them, and We have made in it wide ways that they may follow a right direction".
When the Quran refers to the power unleashed on the Day of Judgement, it states these mountains, which are in human psyche the last natural objects one would think could be uprooted, the ultimate shelter one can find, yet it says that through a single blow they will all be thrown from their roots 69:14,20:105, tossed in the sky 52:10, floating like clouds 27:88, ripped appart like carded wool 70:9,101:5 shattered and scattered 73:14,77:10,56:5.
As an interesting linguistic observation here, testimony once more to the Quran's surgical use of words and the way in which its interconnects its statements at different places with great consistency, in these places describing the state of the mountains during the cataclysm of the last day, when it compares them to soft wool beaten and tossed around in the air, it isnt any kind of wool that is meant. It is the type of wool as said in 70:9 above, that is dyed in different colors and this is because elsewhere, in a completely different context, when attracting the reader's attention to the variety in God's creation, it speaks of mountains existing in many different types and colors 35:27. One must keep in mind that the Quran is composed of revelations instantly recited then put to writing and memorized, with several witnesses present everytime, making it impossible for the prophet to retract a statement, go back on it and re-edit any of its contents. And yet, despite it being revealed in public in so many different contexts and situations, over a long period of 23 years, it still manages to connect even the most apparently insignificant details throughout its passages.
In parallel to the obliteration of the mountains, the earth's surface will be smoothed and levelled 18:8,47,20:105-7 therefore striping men from any place of concealment and shelter from the judgement. This day, as is here described through the stripping away of all places of refuge, even the most massive, is a day that will catch men no matter where they hide in the heavens or earth to bring them to account 29:22, and leave men standing in ranks
18:48"as We created you at first"
with only their deeds to shield them from the punishement of that Day.
