Quranic Verses Cited for Scientific Inaccuracy or Impossibility

List of Quranic Verses Cited for Scientific Inaccuracy or Impossibility

This post presents a collection of Quranic verses that are often discussed in relation to claims of scientific inaccuracy or miraculous events that are impossible. 

1. Parting of the Sea

• Surah Al-Baqarah 2:50: "And [recall] when We parted the sea for you and saved you and drowned Pharaoh’s people within your sight."
• Surah Ash-Shu'ara 26:63-66: "Then We inspired to Moses, 'Strike with your staff the sea,' and it parted, and each portion was like a great towering mountain. And We advanced thereto the pursuers. And We saved Moses and those with him, all together. Then We drowned the others."

2. Splitting of the Moon

• Surah Al-Qamar 54:1-2: "The Hour has come near, and the moon has been split. But if they see a sign, they turn away and say, 'Passing magic.'"

3. Noah’s Ark Full of Animals

• Surah Hud 11:40: "Until, when Our command came and the oven gushed forth, We said, 'Load upon it of each kind, two, and your family, except those against whom the word has already gone forth, and those who have believed.'"
• Surah Al-Mu’minun 23:27: "So We inspired to him, 'Construct the ship under Our observation and Our inspiration, and when Our command comes and the oven gushes forth, take on board of each kind two, and your family, except those against whom the word has already gone forth.'"

4. Talking Ant

• Surah An-Naml 27:18-19: "Until, when they came upon the valley of the ants, an ant said, 'O ants, enter your dwellings that you not be crushed by Solomon and his soldiers while they perceive not.' So [Solomon] smiled, amused at her speech, and said, 'My Lord, enable me to be grateful for Your favor.'"

5. Talking Bird (Hoopoe Speaking to Solomon)

• Surah An-Naml 27:20-22: "And he took attendance of the birds and said, 'Why do I not see the hoopoe—or is he among the absent? I will surely punish him with a severe punishment or slaughter him unless he brings me clear authorization.' But the hoopoe stayed not long and said, 'I have encompassed [in knowledge] that which you have not encompassed, and I have come to you from Sheba with certain news.'"

6. Man Talking to Animals (Solomon Communicating with Animals)

• Surah An-Naml 27:16: "And Solomon inherited David. He said, 'O people, we have been taught the language of birds, and we have been given from all things. Indeed, this is evident bounty.'"
• Surah An-Naml 27:27: "[Solomon] said, 'We will see whether you have told the truth or are of the liars.'"

7. Person Sleeping for Hundreds of Years Then Reviving (People of the Cave)

• Surah Al-Kahf 18:11-12: "So We cast [a cover of sleep] over their ears within the cave for a number of years. Then We awakened them that We might show which of the two factions was most precise in calculating what [time] they had remained."
• Surah Al-Kahf 18:19: "And thus We awakened them so that they might question one another. Said a speaker from among them, 'How long have you remained [here]?' They said, 'We have remained a day or part of a day.' They said, 'Your Lord is most knowing of how long you remained. So send one of you with this silver coin of yours to the city...'"
• Surah Al-Kahf 18:25: "And they remained in their cave for three hundred years and exceeded by nine."

8. Flying on a Donkey (No Explicit Reference)

Note: The Quran does not explicitly mention a prophet flying on a donkey. The concept is associated with the Isra and Mi’raj (Night Journey), but no donkey is specified. The closest reference is:

• Surah Al-Isra 17:1: "Exalted is He who took His Servant by night from al-Masjid al-Haram to al-Masjid al-Aqsa, whose surroundings We have blessed, to show him of Our signs. Indeed, He is the Hearing, the Seeing."

9. Man Not Burnt When Thrown into Fire (Prophet Ibrahim)

• Surah Al-Anbiya 21:68-69: "They said, 'Burn him and support your gods—if you are to act.' We said, 'O fire, be coolness and safety upon Abraham.'"

10. Man Curing Father’s Blindness with a Shirt (Prophet Yusuf and Ya’qub)

• Surah Yusuf 12:93-96: "Take this, my shirt, and cast it over the face of my father; he will become seeing. And bring me your family, all together.' And when the caravan departed [from Egypt], their father said, 'Indeed, I find the smell of Joseph, although you think me weakened in mind.' They said, 'By Allah, indeed you are in your [same] old error.' And when the bearer of good tidings arrived, he cast it over his face, and he returned [to being] seeing. He said, 'Did I not tell you that I know from Allah that which you do not know?'"

11. Other Verses Cited for Scientific Inaccuracy

• Surah Al-Kahf 18:86: "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."
• Surah Tariq 86:6-7: "He was created from a fluid, ejected, emerging from between the backbone and the ribs."
• Surah Al-Mulk 67:5: "And We have adorned the nearest heaven with lamps and made them missiles to drive away the devils."
• Surah Fussilat 41:9-11: "Say, 'Do you indeed disbelieve in He who created the earth in two days and attribute to Him equals? That is the Lord of the worlds. And He placed on the earth firmly set mountains over its surface, and He blessed it and determined therein its [creatures’] sustenance in four days without distinction—for those who ask. Then He directed Himself to the heaven while it was smoke and said to it and to the earth, “Come [into being], willingly or by compulsion.” They said, “We have come willingly.”'"
• Surah Al-Insan 76:2: "Indeed, We created man from a sperm-drop mixture that We may try him; and We made him hearing and seeing."
• Surah Al-Anbiya 21:30: "Have those who disbelieved not considered that the heavens and the earth were a joined entity, and We separated them and made from water every living thing?"
• Surah An-Nur 24:40: "Or [they are] like darknesses within an unfathomable sea which is covered by waves, upon which are waves, over which are clouds—darknesses, one above another."
• Surah Al-Furqan 25:53: "And it is He who has released [simultaneously] the two seas, one fresh and sweet and one salty and bitter, and He placed between them a barrier, a partition forbidden to be passed."
• Surah Adh-Dhariyat 51:47: "And the heaven We constructed with strength, and indeed, We are [its] expander."
• Surah Nuh 71:15-16: "Do you not see how Allah has created the seven heavens in layers and made the moon therein a light and made the sun a burning lamp?"
• Surah Ya-Sin 36:40: "It is not allowable for the sun to reach the moon, nor does the night overtake the day, but each, in an orbit, is swimming."