The Qur'an is not the word of God

I apologize for my short rebuttal as I have been short on time lately. Anyway let us investigate the truth in my opponents arguments. 1- DHU'L-QARNEYN I admit "muddy puddle" was not the best of translations. However here is Surah 18:86 in two of the best English translations of the Qur'an by Abdullah Yusuf Ali and Marmaduke Pickthall : Pickthall : till, when he reached the setting-place of the sun, he found it setting in a muddy spring, and found people thereabout. .. Yusuf Ali : until, when he reached the setting of the sun, he found it setting in a spring of dark mud, and he found near it a people. .. Does the sun really set in a muddy spring? First let us examine the plain meaning of the Surah and then I will explore muslim theories of the surah. # The plain meaning of the Surah Under the 'Abbasid Muslim rulers, Arabs and Persians made significant advances in astronomy, naming many stars, as well as copying and correcting Ptolmey's tables. However the sun is always much larger than the entire earth, and the earth travels around the sun. The sun does not set in the waters if a muddy spring. Who was Dhu'l-Qarneyn ? There exists no evidence that Muhammad told anyone who this man was. Muslim apologists have four views : - Alexander the Great (of Macedon) is the most popular view. Dhu'l-Qarneyn means "man of two horns". There exists a myth that Alexander the Great was a god and has two ram's horns on the sides of his head. - Cyrus I the Persian is another view. His empire was actually the empire of two related groups : Medes and Persians (Medo-Persian empire), but other then that there is no indication that two horns should apply to him. - A Yemeni king who wore a helmet with two ram's horns on it is a third view muslims hold. - The fourth is of an otherwise unknown person. It does not seem too coherent to tell details about people the speakers never heard of. Conclusion : It does not matter who Dhu'l-Qarneyn was. If he found that the sun set in a muddy spring, and the sun does not set in a muddy spring, then this is a falsehood, regardless of who Muhammad was speaking about. # Muslim theories regarding surah 18:86 Theory 1 : the sun does really set in a muddy spring! To early muslims, the Qur'an taught them that this literally occurs. The early muslim historian al-Tabari vol.1 p.234 shows this. As a second example, "[Dhu'l-Qarneyn] witnessed the setting of the sun in its resting place into a pool of black and foetid slime" according to al-Tabari vol.5 p.173-174. Complementary to this, the earth actually sits on a big fish according to al-Tabari vol.1 p.220 (839-923 AD) Theory 2 : The muddy spring is really Cyrus I seeing the Black Sea. However not only does the sun not set in the Black Sea, the sun would only appear to set over the Black Sea if Cyrus I was directly north and/or east of it. He was never in this area containing modern-day Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan. Furthermore, the Black Sea, with and area approximately of 464000 km^2, is not even close to looking like a spring, and everyone, from the Egyptians to further north, knew the sun did not set in the Black Sea! Note : Shakir's English translation of the Qur'an has "black sea" (lower case). However the Arabic word "eiyn" or "ain" can mean spring or even pool around a spring, but cannot mean sea. Of the eight English translations I have come across of the Qur'an (during my research in preparation for this debate), his is unique in representing to people that the Qur'an said "black sea", when actually the Arabic specifically says "muddy/murky spring". Notice how my opponent in his rebuttal last round incorrectly applies theory 2 (which applies to Cyrus I) to Alexander the Great. This alone falsifies his argument. 2- ROLE OF MOUNTAINS My opponent states : "My opponent offers no scientific evidence when he charges that the Qur'an is incorrect when it says : He created the heavens without pillars as you see them, and put mountains upon the earth lest it might convulse you" (surah 31:10)" Well here is the scientific evidence that you wanted which proves that earthquakes form mountains and are not prevented by the presence of mountains : "Mountains are formed by the slow gigantic movements of the earth's crust (the outer layer of the earth) when two slabs smash into each other the land can either be pushed downwards or upwards, forming mountains. Many of the greatest mountains ranges of the world (the Himalayas) have formed because of the enormous collisions between continents. .. " . http://www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk... This is evidently taught at even the lowest levels of geology. Here is another more advanced and extensive article which takes apart the Qur'an's claims of mountains preventing convulsion of the earth : . http://www.answering-islam.org... If one reads through this well documented and extensive article, it will become plain as daylight to see the false teachings of the Qur'an which teach that mountains prevent earthquakes! Such teachings disrespect our very education that we go to school for! 3- CONTRADICTIONS IN THE QUR'an Since my opponent has only replied to one of the contradiction arguments I have put forward, I will wait for him to answer all before presenting a rebuttal. 4- PROOF THAT THE QUR'AN IS THE REAL WORD OF GOD My opponent says : "Unlike other so called holy books, who are written by anonymous authors, the Qur'an was revealed to one man. " The fact that only one man attests to this alleged book of truth begs the question, and brings about skepticism of the claims made by this one man concerning the book as he is the only witness to its alleged divine revelation. Any piece of evidence, to be considered , in the furthest stretch of the mind, reliable requires at least a second witness. However the Qur'an was revealed to one man in a cave in Mecca! In court the less witnesses you have, the less credible your story becomes. The more witnesses you have, the more reliable you story is. Muhammad sadly was th only witness to the revelation of the Qur'an. This immediately demolishes the credibility if the Qur'an. And becomes severely unreliable as besides the book itself (which would be circular reasoning), Muhammad is its only witness! My opponent proceeds to state : "In the bible you have many men writing about God and you have in some places, the word of God speaking to men and still in other places you have some men simply writing about history" Firstly the bible has absolutely NOTHING to do with this debate. Secondly the fact that the bible was written by over 40 different authors, over a period of around 1500 years, and still contains a consistent coherent message from star to finish only attests to the credibility of the bible. My opponent proceeds : "The word Qur'an can be found in several places in the Holy book of Islam" This is circular reasoning The word "dictionary" can be found in the dictionary too. This now does not mean that the dictionary is the word of God. #All life comes from water ". .. And we made from water everything living. Will they not then believe ? " (Surah 21:30) If all life comes from water then what do we make of this surah : "Among His signs in this, that He created you from DUST; and then behold, ye are men scattered [far and wide] " (Surah 30:20) If all life comes from life as my opponent asserts from Surah 21:30, then this means there is a contradiction wit Surah 30:20. Thus from this the Qur'an is not from God because of this flaw. #Behavior of heavenly bodies This was known long before Islam even existed by the ancients greeks and great men like Ptolmey. There is nothing special about this. #The Big Bang Once one reads Surah 41:11 one will realize that the Big Bang claim to this surah is highly ambitious at best. The only parallel that could be made from any stretch of the imagination would be that heaven and earth allegedly spoke "we come willingly" and thus came together. One flaw of this is that if this is really an account of the Big Bang theory then what is earth doing here? #Erosion People already knew about soil erosion before, during and after Muhammad so this is nothing special. Just by looking at the soil beneath your feet, you cab observe and realize that soil erodes. There is nothing divine about this. As a result of all that I have presented, I still hold the position that the Qur'an is not the word of God. REFERENCES : *. http://www.answer-islam.org... *. http://www.surahkahf.com... *. http://www.muslimaccess.com... *. http://www.egyptsearch.com...