Topic: Qur'an

Hi. Can you tell me whether this error in the Quran is valid or not. Is it true that Quran contains errors? Following are some errors from the Quran. Pls reply to me your conclusions whether this is an error or not. Please answer in details. Truth Seeker.

1. Creation: The biblical Genesis account says God created all in six days (see Genesis 1:1 - 2:2). The Qur'an, however, has a real problem here as Surah 41:9, 10, 12 have a total of eight days of creation (4+2+2=8). Meanwhile, Surah 10:3 gives the total number of days of creation as six. This is a problem of self-contradiction.

2. Pharaoh: According to the Qur'an (Surah 7:120-125) Pharaoh used crucifixion in dealing with the sorcerers - a practice which historical evidence gives no precedent to before the Babylonian Empire. This is once again a problem of historical compression.

3. The Golden Calf: According to the Qur'an (Surah 20:90-100) a Samaritan helped the Israelites build the golden calf, and it mooed after coming out of the fire. In reality, Samaritans did not exist as a people until at least 1000 years after the time of the Moses and the Israelite exodus from Egypt. Again a problem of historical compression.

4. Judaism: According to the Qur'an (Surah 9:30) the Jews believe that Ezra is the Son of God - the Messiah. This never has been a tenet of Judaism. This is a clear problem of distorted knowledge of other religions and historical fact.

5. Alexander the Great: According to the Qur'an (Surah 18:89-98) Alexander the Great was a devout Muslim and lived to a ripe old age. Historical records however show that Alexander the Great died young at 33 years of age (b. 356 B.C. - d. 323 B.C.), and believed he was divine, forcing others to recognize him as such. In India on the Hyphasis River (now Beas) Alexander erected twelve altars to twelve Olympian gods. Once again the Qur'an shows errors in historical and religious fact.

6. The Trinity: According to the Quran (Surah 5:116, 5:73-75) the Christians believe in "three Gods" - Father, Mother, and Son. This shows the influence of heretical 'Christian' sects in central Arabia at the time of Muhammad. In contrast, Christianity has always distinctly stated that the Trinity is the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The teaching of the Qur'an on the Trinity has undoubtedly led to confusion among many Muslims on what the Bible (and thus Christianity) teaches about the Triune God.

7. Mary: According to the Qur'an (Surah 19:28, 3:33-36), Mary, the mother of Jesus, was the daughter of Imran or Amram, the father of Moses and Aaron. Mary is also said to be the sister of Moses and Aaron. Clearly Muhammad confused Mary with Miriam. A second interesting point about Mary is the story of the date palm speaking and offering its fruit to her (Surah 19:23). This legend is easily traced to similar legends found in the apocryphal "Protoevangelium of James" the "Pseudo-Matthew" and "the Gospel of the Nativity of Mary" all of which have been dated to the fourth to sixth centuries, and were again believed by the sects found in Arabia. (More in-depth information on Quranic sources may be found in Rev. W. St. Clair Tisdall's The Religion of the Crescent).

8. Textual Variants in the Qur'an: Many Muslims claim that the Qur'an today is identical to the revelations received by Muhammad. However, there is overwhelming unanswered evidence to the contrary. This includes evidence of variations both prior to, and after Uthman.

Dear seeker of truth Let me start by saying that my reply would be a very brief. No accusation or false charge that people today would launch on the Qur'an but the same was raised in the past. So, no one can bring any new charges against Qur'an. Muslim scholars are very aware of all those charges and answered all of them intelligently. Let me make one important notice here. If someone is not well versed in Arabic, hadith and history or sirah, h/she can't ever have a good understanding of the Qur'an. The fact of the matter is Muslims and non-Muslims are at cross road. Having said this let me answer your questions.

1. Lack of the understanding of the word "thumma" made you to see what you think as contradiction. Among the meanings of "thumma" is meanwhile, but you understand it as then. Furthermore, Al-Razi one of the greatest scholars in Isalm, mentioned that Muslim scholars explained the verse as 'the creation of the Earth and placing and firmly setting over its surface, and blessing it etc. altogether took four days. He further used his linguistic skill to give an example. He said like one says: I traveled from al-Basra to Bagdad in 10 days and traveled to Kufa in 15 days. He said this two journey together took 15 days. This is how Arab understand it

2. Who said that there is no precedence of crucifixion before the Babylonian? Furnish me with concrete evidence.

3. The Qur'an used the word "al-Samiriyy" let me say for the sake of argument, if the Samaritants have any link of relationship with "al-Samiryy" why he cannot be their perished father as prophet Adam was your perished father?.

4. Please read the history of Jews when they lost the Torah. There you will understand whether or not some of them considered Ezra "'Uzayr" as a son of God.

5. Alexander the Great is not the "Dhul Qarnayn" which the Qur'an referred to. Read "Tafhim al-Qur'an " by Mawdudi. Chapter 18.

6. Well, there are two possible answers for the this question. Either the father of Maryam came from the family of Imran so he was called by his family's name. This is common practice in that region (Middleast) or the name of her father is Imran who is contemporary of Azan, the father of Zakariyya, but not the father of Musa. That is imam Al-Razi's preference.

7. This is not a claim. It is true that the Qur'an we have today is the same revelation received by the Prophet Muhammad. If you have any proof to show otherwise bring it forth.