Science and Mythology in the Quran and the Bible
By Dr. Rafat Amari
In stark contrast to the Quran, he Bible has no myths of any kind. Instead, we find the scientific facts about the earth and the cosmos. The facts would have sounded strange to the people to whom they were written. However, they were later found to be true.
For example the Bible in Job 26:7 tells us, “He hangs the earth on nothing.” Mohammed thought it was riding on the back of a whale.
In Isaiah 40:22 the Bible declares the earth to be spherical. It says, “God sits above the circle of the earth.” The Qur'an speaks of the earth as flat in Suras 84:3 and 51:48.
The Bible refers to the circuit of the wind as it moves around the earth. We have since discovered that the wind circulates from the equator to the south and north poles, then returns back, circulating in continuous circuits called cells. Here is how this scientific concept about the movement of the wind is explained in chapter 1, verse 7, in the book of Ecclesiastes dated around 940 B.C. “The wind goes towards the south, and turns about towards the north. It turns about continually, and the wind returns again to its circuits.”
This is a scientific concept stated in scientific terms describing wind currents around a spherical earth. Yet in Suras 21:81 and 34:12, the Qur'an calls the wind a servant of King Solomon who goes where he commands it. This expresses the ancient Mesopotamian mythology that the wind is a small deity who is ordained by superior gods to carry them where they wish to go.
The Bible has declared that the earth, which is a sphere suspended on nothing, is dominated by superior ordinances in heaven. God speaks to Job in the book of Job, chapter 38, verse 33 as God says, “Do you know the ordinances of the heavens? Do you determine their rule over the earth?”
Scientists today still fail to fully understand the ordinances of heaven that keep billions of galaxies in continual movement without colliding with each other.
Recently we discovered that the sun moves in its own path under superior gravity exercised by our galaxy. The circuit of the sun, according to science, is great and covers thousands of hundreds of years. In Psalm 19:6, the Bible has described the sun’s circuit as “going forth from the end of the heavens and its circuit unto the ends of it.” There is a circuit to the sun, which is far superior to our imagination.
The ancients thought of the earth as the center of the cosmos. The Qur'an, in Suras 23:17 and 78:12, speaks of heaven as a building of seven layers where Mohammed visited. The stars are lamps attached to heaven’s ceiling.
The Qur'an speaks of heaven as a building of seven layers where Mohammed has visited; Sura (23:17; 78:12,); the stars as lamps attached to its “ceiling.” The Qur'an also speaks of seven earths, of which our earth is the superior, with six earths beneath us similar to ours. Into each of the seven skies and earths, Allah sent his inspired word (Sura 65:12). In each layer of sky live a source of believers, where the sun and the moon go from layer to superior layer, in order to illuminate for the inhabitants of each layer.
The Bible speaks of the earth as we saw being under the dominion (gravity) of the heavenly ordinances much superior to it.
We could continue these comparisons between the Qur’an and the Bible showing how much the Qur’an matches ancient mythology, while the Bible states scientific facts. The facts were not understood by the generation in which the prophets wrote, but we know the truth of the Bible is consistent with modern scientific facts. This proves that the prophets of the Bible wrote under the inspiration of the living Creator of the universe.
The most important message the Bible declares is not on the subject of astronomy, but the announcement that salvation has come from God. He became a man and, in His perfect human nature, He died for our sins on the cross, according to the prophecies of the Bible.
This liberating salvation from sin is for everyone who believes in Jesus. God became flesh, and died as a perfect man on the cross for our iniquities, and through His resurrection from the dead; He gives the believer the power to live a victorious life.
The Bible is the true book of God, proven by hundreds of prophecies about Christ spoken by many prophets who lived in different time periods between 2,000 and 400 years B.C. All of them point to God who became man, expressing His humanity and dying for our sins, and His resurrection the third day after His death and burial.
This gives the Bible a credibility as God’s word. You should trust it and read it continuously. In its pages, you read about the Savior who came to earth to be touched and seen by men. He died for your sins, and rose from the dead in order that you may have life and victory.
Copyright 2017 by Dr. Rafat Amari.
All international rights reserved.