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In the Name of the Rose Various Muslims on the internet are claiming that science has only recently discovered what the Qur'an claimed 1400 years ago: that when the universe "dies," it will look like a rose in bloom. If this claim is true, it would make for a rather rosy future for Islamic science. Of course, that is a big "if," thus we asked the only Murtad we know who is both a florist and a lay astronomer to investigate this claim. [Go to the essay] Like Water for Dawa All over the internet one can find arguments by certain Muslims that attempt to correlate statements about water in the Qur'an and ahaadith with facts or alleged facts of science. Does the Qur'an discuss the pycnocline or the diffraction of light in water? Do the ahaadith correctly forshadow the discovery of bodies of water that reside below subterranean volcanoes? Our resident "aqualogist" examines the evidence. [Go to the essay] The Qur'an and the Big Bang Literally thousands of web sites on the net claim that the Qur'an foreshadows the Big Bang theory. Does the Qur'an state that the heavens and the earth once came from a single point and that the universe is expanding? Is this proof that the Qur'an is the word of God? Can such hermeneutic miracles be wrenched from other religious texts, such as the Bible?. [Go to the essay] Qur'anic Emrbyology Does the Qur'an contain information regarding embryonic development that no human being could have known? This article explores a popular Muslim apologetic and shows the flaws inherent therein. It is also shown that what can be found in (or read into) the text of the Qur'an, can also be found in (or read into) more ancient works. [Go to the essay] Survey of the Qur'an and Logic Is the Qur'an really free from error as the Muslims claim? This is a brief introduction to some of the logical and mathematical problems with the Qur'an. There are logical propositions that are false. There are numerical discrepancies. Defenses of these problems are also considered. [Go to the essay] Pharaoh's Magicians and Hadeethu Moosa Have you pondered the Qur'an? Have you heard the story of Moses? This is the FTMecca's response to an Islamic polemic that seeks to prove the Qur'an is from a divine source based on how the text differs from the Bible with regards to covering the meeting between Moses and Pharaoh's magicians. Strong evidence for a revisionist history of the Qur'an's origins. [Go to the essay] Midrash and the Sword of God Our article on Jewish Midrash being a possible source for Qur'anic material received quite a bit of criticism from Dr. Muhammad Saifullaah, a brilliant Muslim apologist from Cambridge University. This article looks into Dr. Saifullaah's criticisms, and attempts to show how they do not succeed in discrediting our original theory of borrowing. [Go to the essay] Towards a Theory of Borrowing For quite some time it has been believed that much of the Qur'an contains stories taken from other religious communities. The FTMecca takes a look at Muslim objections to the Western incarnation of this argument, particularly on the issue of Abraham and the smashing of the idols. [Go to the essay] Authors of the Qur'an The FTMecca's theory that the Qur'an is a work of multiple hands has become a bit of a cult classic among the kuffaar in the year since its creation. During that time no Muslim has attempted a serious response, until now. The author of the Bismika Allaahuma site has written an attempted refutation of the article, and this is the FTMecca's response. This long article serves as a good source of responses to often-repeated arguments. [Go to the essay] Arabo-Judaic Hermeneutics John Wansbrough was one of the few scholars to try and take the sort of literary criticism used on the Bible and apply it to the texts of the Islamic cannon, particularly the Qur'an. This article seeks to demonstrate that while no form of historical reconstruction is perfect, the structure of Islamic and Judaic literature is similar enough for the same methods to be applied to the study of either religion. It is further argued that this methodology's progress is slowed by the irenic approach of overly-sympathetic scholars. [Go to the essay] Embryonic Terrorist Dawaganda Have you ever read anything making mention of Keith Moore's hermeneutic miracles regarding Islamic embryology? Did you know that one of Keith Moore's textbooks may have been financed by Osamah bin Laden? The Freethought Mecca has been aware of this fact for some time, but was waiting for the NT Times to crack the case. Until then, we offer this small smidgen of proof. [Go to the essay] Revelation: Qur'an This article was originally published on Shlomi Tal's Metaphysical Naturalism Pages. The author offers a brilliant critique of Muslim support for Islam's holy book, including refutations of the fallacious "surah-like-it" challenge, claims of scientific accuracy, and claim of divine origin. Should we trust an ancient manuscript that uses bribery (Jannah) and coercion (Jahannam) to convince people of its validity? [Go to the essay] Surah Like It The challenge of the Qur'an to "create a surah like it" is wholly absurd and ridiculously ambiguous. While the Muslims try to claim this is proof the Qur'an is divine, the reality is that this challenge is designed so that Muslims can always squirm out of any attempt and say "not good enough." [Go to the essay] Uzayr: The Son of Adonai? This article looks into the claim of the Qur'an that Uzayr is son of God. While Muslims can come up with wild confabulations to reconcile this obvious error, we here at the Freethought Mecca have decided to just cover the basics, and then just point and laugh. [Go to the essay] The Politically Correct Qur'an Speaking of a "surah like it," we here at the Freethought Mecca decided to give that challenge a go. Believe it or not, the Qur'an, like the Tawraat and the Injeel, has been corrupted, and God has sent his angel, Bob, to correct this problem. A new Qur'an is to be written! [Go to the essay] The Miracle of Reinterpretation One of the Freethought Mecca's most popular articles. Is the Qur'an a divine work that contains scientific information that no seventh century desert nomad could know? Or is this merely a case of pious Muslims perpetrating pious fraud, by reinterpreting their manuscript in hindsight to fit recent scientific discoveries? [Go to the essay] The Not-So-Amazing Qur'an: A Response to Gary Miller Numerous Muslims have proudly paraded the writings of one of their favorite Western converts, Shayk Gary Miller, in front of our noses. they assume his article on "The amazing Qur'an" is proof that the Qur'an is of a divine origin. This is the Dajjal's response to Dr. Miller. [Go to the essay] Divine Parroting In case you didn't know, the Qur'an becomes more valid each time it is repeated. This sort of warped logic is the reason numerous Muslims so proudly proclaim that out there, there are Muslims who have memorized the entire Qur'an. Does pious parroting of a text add to its divine status? [Go to the essay] Profiles in Quackery: Qur'an in your DNA! Dr. Sameer Chouwadhary has revealed that the Qur'an is, believe it or not, written in our DNA! Another sign from our Lord! Now, as one Muslim put it, if this is true, then there is no more doubt that the Qur'an is from God... but is it true? [Go to the essay] Qur'an: A Work of Multiple Hands? Biblical criticism, often applied to Judeo-Christian texts, is here applied to the Qur'an. What is often assumed by Muslims to be the word of Allah, or by many critics to be the word of Muhammad, is proposed by the Freethought Mecca to be a compilation of variant traditions, possibly with multiple authors. [Go to the essay] |