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022:065
Seest thou not that God has made subject to you (men) all that is on the earth, and the ships that sail through the sea by His Command? He withholds the sky from falling on the earth except by His leave: for God is Most Kind and Most Merciful to man.

Yusuf Ali realizing the absurdity of this verse deceptively has added (rain) in parenthesis after the word sky. No other translator has done that and there is no mention of rain in the Arabic version. 

  وَيُمْسِكُ السَّمَاء أَن تَقَعَ عَلَى الْأَرْضِ  

(Yusuf Ali's translation of the Quran is the most deceptive and the least trustworthy. If you have to read the Quran in English I suggest read several translations simultaneously and trust the most damaging translation because it is the most truthful. All the translators of the Quran have done their best to disguise the absurdities and the violence of the Quran by choosing less incriminating words. Yusuf Ali has gone out of his way to do that. Rashed Khalifa is even wrose. He did not stop at mistranslating the Quran. He actually changed it completely. No wonder Muslims killed him.)  

What does 22:65 mean? Ibn Khathir the greatest commentator of the Quran explains:

“(..without any pillars that you can see.) meaning, `there are pillars, but you cannot see them,' according to Ibn `Abbas, Mujahid, Al-Hasan, Qatadah, and several other scholars. Iyas bin Mu`awiyah said, "The heaven is like a dome over the earth,'' meaning, without pillars. Similar was reported from Qatadah, and this meaning is better for this part of the Ayah, especially since Allah said in another Ayah.” And “(..that you can see), affirms that there are no pillars. Rather, the heaven is elevated (above the earth) without pillars, as you see. This meaning best affirms Allah's ability and power.”

So scholars debated whether the dome of the sky is sustained by invisible pillars or it is hovering over earth without pillars miraculously thanks to Allah's power. But everyone agreed that the sky is a dome. 

There are other verses where the Quran says Allah is holding the sky from falling on the heads of people just to show them a sign of his mercy.

What Supports the Earth?

If the dome of heaven is raised above the earth supported by invisible pillars, what supports the earth?    

According to Islamic cosmology, the earth, seen in this picture as a disk is surrounded by the sundering seas which are restrained by the encircling Qaf Mountains. It is supported on the back (sometimes horns) of an ox that stands on a fish in a bowl and all that is carried on the shoulders of an angel. This picture is reproduced in one of the most enduringly Arabic geographies of the Islamic Middle Ages Ajaib al-Makhluqat (The wonders of creation) by the Persian author Zakariya Qazwini (d. 1283 or 1284). 

The following is the Medieval Islamic Map of the World

This picture is by'Umar bin Muzaffar Ibn al-Wardi. published in Kharidat al-'Aja'ib wa Faridat al-Ghara'ib. (The Pearl of Wonders and the Uniqueness of Things Strange). Late seventeenth century. At the center of the map are the two holiest cities of Islam: Mecca and Medina. The map shows China and India in the north and the "Christian sects and the states of Byzantium" in the south. The outer circles represent the seas. The manuscript is a cosmology, not meant to be accurate geographically, but only to present the reader with a systematic overview of the existing knowledge about the world at the time. http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/world/earth.html

The following hadith sheds more light on the nature of the seven layers of heaven and earth.  

Narrated AbuHurayrah
While Allah's Prophet (peace be upon him) and his companions were sitting clouds came over them and Allah's Prophet (peace be upon him) asked, "Do you know what these are?" On their replying that Allah and His Messenger knew best, he said, "These are the clouds (anan), these are the water-carriers of the Earth, which Allah drives to people who do not thank Him or call upon him." He then asked, "Do you know what is above you?" On their replying that Allah and His Messenger (peace be upon him) knew best, he said, "It is the firmament, a ceiling which is guarded and waves which are kept back." He then asked, "Do you know what is between you and it?" On their replying that Allah and His Messenger (peace be upon him) knew best, he said, "Between you and it are five hundred years." He then asked, "Do you knew what is above that?" On their replying that Allah and His Messenger (peace be upon him) best he said, "Two heavens with a distance of five hundred years between them." He went on speaking like that till he counted seven heavens, the distance between each pair being like between Heaven and Earth. He then asked, "Do you know what is above that?" On their replying that Allah and His Messenger (peace be upon him) knew best, he said, "Above that is the Throne, and the distance between it and the (seventh) heaven is the same as that between each pair of heavens." He then asked, "Do you know what is below you?" On their replying that Allah and His Messenger (peace be upon him) knew best, he said, "It is the earth." He then asked, "Do you know what is under that?" On their replying that Allah and His Messenger (peace be upon him) knew best, he said, "Under it there is another Earth with a journey of five hundred years between them," and so on till he had counted seven earths with a journey of five hundred years between each pair. He then said, "By Him in Whose hand Muhammad's soul is, if you were to drop a rope to the lowest earth it would not pass out of Allah's knowledge." He then recited, "He is the First and the Last, the Outward and the Inward, and He is omniscient." (Tirmidhi commented that Allah's Messenger's recitation of the verse indicates that it would go down within Allah's knowledge, power and authority, for Allah's knowledge, power and authority are everywhere, while He is on the Throne, as He described Himself in His Book.) [1]

Muhammad ibn 'Abd Allah al-Kisa'i writes: "And He commanded the rock to settle beneath the angel's feet. The rock, however, had no support, so God created a great bull with forty thousand heads, eyes, ears, nostrils, mouths, tongues and legs and commanded it to bear the rock on its back and on its horns. The name of the bull is al-Rayyan. As the bull had no place to rest its feet, God created a huge fish, upon whom no one may gaze at because it is so enormous and has so many eyes. It is even said that if all the seas were placed on one of its gills, they would be like a mustard seed in the desert. This fish God commanded to be a foothold for the bull, and it was done. The name of this fish is Behemoth. Then He made its resting place the waters, beneath which is the air, and beneath the air is the Darkness, which is for all the earths. There, beneath the Darkness, the knowledge of created things ends. [2] 

Poisonous Plants

(Dr. Naik) In the field of ‘Diet and Nutrition’ let’s analyze, what does the Bible say. The Bible says in the book of Genesis, Ch. No.1, Verse No.29, that… ‘God has given you all the herbs bearing seeds, the trees bearing fruits - those that bear seed, as meat for you.’ New International Version says… ‘The seed bearing plants and the trees bearing fruits bearing seeds are food for you, all of them.’ Today, even a layman knows that there are several poisonous plants like wild berries, stritchi, datura, plants containing alkaloid, polyander, bacaipoid - that which if you ingest, if you eat there are high possibilities you may die. How come the Creator of the universe and the human beings, does not know, that if you have these plants, you will die. I hope Dr. William Campbell does not give these vegetarian diet to his patients.

(Ali Sina) The fact that some plants and seeds are poisonous is not a new knowledge. This was known by very ancient people. Any reasonable person can understand that when the Bible says “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food”, it does not mean that you should eat even the poisonous ones. The poisonous plants can have medicinal benefits. The Bible makes it clear that as far as Jehovah is concerned no seed or plant is a forbidden food. It is up to humans to discover the benefits of each plant and use it in a way that would improve their lives. Prohibited foods in the Quran are specified, human flesh is not among them. Does that mean that Muslims are licensed to consume that? The god of the Christians and the Jews has given to his followers some commonsense too. So he knows they are not going to eat poisonous plants. Look who is at the vanguard of science and technology! Aren't the followers of this god whom you deride? What the followers of the All Knowing All Wise Allah have achieved?  Nothing! 

The Test of the Bible 

(Dr. Naik) The Bible has a scientific test how to identify a true believer. It is mentioned in the Gospel of Mark, Ch. No.16, Verse No.17 and 18 - It says that… ‘There will be signs for true believers and among the signs - In my name they shall cast out devils, they shall speak foreign tongues, new tongues, they shall take up serpents - And if they drink deadly poison, they shall not be harmed - And when they place their hand over the sick, they shall be cured.’ This is a scientific test - In scientific terminology, it is known as the ‘confirmatory test’ for a true Christian believer.

In the past 10 years of my life, I have personally interacted with thousands of Christians, including missionaries - I have not come across a single Christian, who has passed this confirmatory test of the Bible. I have not come across a single Christian who took poison - I have not come across any who took poison, and who has not died. And in scientific terminology, this is also called as the ‘falsification test’ That means if a false person tries and does this test… takes poison, he will die. And a false person will not dare attempt this test - If you are not a true Christian believer, you will not dare attempt this test. Because you try and attempt the falsification test, you will fail. So a person who is not a true Christian believer, will never attempt this test.

(Ali Sina) It’s not my job to offer apologetic treaties on the Bible. But any rational person can see that these are figurative speeches. I have said that mountains will move aside to make way for one who is determined. A cynic could hold me to that and demand I should prove this by asking a rock to move. Now this is not my fault if this person lacks intelligence and can’t differentiate between a figurative speech and a literal one. Apart from the fact that these verses should not be taken literally, the subject of mind over matter is a fascinating subject. People can walk on fire without getting burned and do other amazing things that sound impossible. A few days ago CNN showed a video clip of a three year old girl from India picking scorpions from the backyard or her house and playing with them. The scorpions crawled all over her body, without hurting her. Now try to explain that scientifically. There is a world that we don't know yet. Someone asked why I am reluctant to call myself atheist, I said because I do not want to be counted in the same league with atheists who see nothing beyond the material world. The reality does not end here. There are other realities that are not known to us - parallel worlds that may have different dimensions. There is a lot that cannot be explained with our known science. Nonetheless, this does not mean any absurdity that has been proven wrong, could also be true. What can be proven false is false. Islam is false because it has been proven false. But do we have a soul? I think we certainly do. Does this soul survives after death? This I don't know. Does God exist? It depends what do you mean by God. 

Assuming these Biblical statements are literal, which I don't think they are, are they more ridiculous than the Quranic claim that Allah transformed the Jews into apes and swine? 2.65, 5.60 7.166 How about the verse 2:72-3 where Allah brings to life a dead man to solve his own murder mystery and testify against his own murderer? Let us not even talk about the hadith where you’ll come to see naked Moses chasing a stone who is running away with his cloths and starts beating it as punishment. Then the narrator says that by Allah the stone still shows the marks from that excessive beating Bukhari4.55.16.  Bukhari3.39.517 also narrates that Muhammad told his followers of a wolf who could speak and Abu Bakr and Umar believed that. This tells you the level of intelligence of these men who later became the rulers of the Muslim world. No, let us not open that Pandora box; there are plenty of ridiculous statements in the Quran alone, like the claim that Muhammad went to the seventh heaven riding on a winged horsy or that he split the moon. We have already covered some of the ridiculous claims of the Quran that Muslims call "miracle". 

Speaking Tongues 

(Dr. Naik) I have read the book ‘The Qur’an and the Bible in the light of history and science’ written by Dr. William Campbell. And I assume - that he is a true Christian believer, and at least I would like him to confirm to me about the falsification test. Please be rest assured…  Please be rest assured, I will not ask Dr. William Campbell to have deadly poison - Because I don’t want to jeopardize the debate. What I’ll do - I will only ask him to speak in foreign tongues…  In new languages. And as many of you may be aware that India is a land, which has more than 1000 languages and dialects. Only thing I request him is, to say these 3 words… ‘One hundred rupees’, in the 17 official languages. There are only 17 official languages in India and to make it easier for Dr. William Campbell, I have got a ‘One hundred-rupee note.’ And this has all the 17 languages mentioned here. Besides English and Hindi, I will help him.  I give him a beginning –‘Ek sav rupaiya, In Hindi. The remaining 15 languages are here - I request him to read. I know the test says… ‘They will speak foreign languages on their own, without the help of reading’ - but I want to make the test easier, I want to see someone passing the test - I’ve not seen any one. So if he cannot say it on his own, or from his memory, at least read it. I don’t mind I’ll accept it. And I would request the chairperson to give it to Dr. William Campbell. He has his rebuttal - 15 languages, ‘Ek sav rupaiya’… 3 words only.

(Ali Sina) I don’t think Dr. Naik’s lack of understanding is a fault of the Bible. Mark 16:17 says "And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues." What obviously speaking-in-tongues means is that the believers would go to other countries and speaking in the language of those people, they witness the glad tiding of the coming of Jesus. Driving out demons is driving out ignorance. That is what I am doing with Muslims. I am driving out the demon of ignorance that has possessed them for 1400 years and has reduced them into savages. So as you see I am also an exorcist fighting against ignorance and stupidity in the name of logic, reason and science.   

Dr. Naik is not the only confused person on this matter. Many Christians also think speaking in tongues means uttering gibberish that no one can understand. Muslims had to learn the art of war to spread their religion and Christians had to learn the language of the people to whom they took the message of their Lord. The Bible does not say that the knowledge of these new languages will come to the believers miraculously overnight.    

Unscientific Statements in Bible and Quran 

(Dr. Naik) What does the Bible say regarding ‘Hydrology’? Bible says in Genesis, Ch. No.9, Verse No.13 to 17, that… ‘After God, at the time of Noah submerged the world by flood, and after the flood’ subsided, He said… ‘I put up a rainbow in the sky as a promise to the humankind never to submerge the world again, by water. To the unscientific person it may be quite good…  ‘Oh rainbow is a sign of Almighty God, never to submerge the world by flood again.’ But today we know very well, that rainbow is due to the refraction of sunlight, with rain or mist. Surely there must have been thousands of rainbows before the time of Noah, (peace be upon him). To say it was not there before Noah’s time you have to assume that the law of refraction did not exist - which is unscientific.’

(Ali Sina) Yes the Bible is full of unscientific statements. But is the Quran without them? Dr. Naik is engaging in the favorite Islamic fallacy of tu quoque and instead of refuting the charges brought against the Quran, he is trying to find faults in the Bible. Tu quoque, or the “you too” argument is a logical fallacy. If the Bible is proven unscientific, it does not mean that the Quran is scientific.   

(Dr. Naik) In the field of medicine, the Bible says in the book of Leviticus, Ch. No.14, Verse No.49 to 53 - it gives a novel way for disinfecting a house from plague of leprosy…  disinfecting a house from plague of leprosy. It says that… ‘Take two birds, kill one bird, take wood, scale it - and the other living bird, dip it in water… and under running water - later on sprinkle the house 7 times with it. 

Sprinkle the house with blood to disinfect against plague of leprosy? You know blood is a good media of germs, bacteria, as well as toxin - I hope Dr. William Campbell does not use this method of disinfecting the OT, the operation theatre.

(Ali Sina) Yes this is quite silly. But does this mean there are no silly things in the Quran and the hadith?

4:43 “…If ye are ill, or on a journey, or one of you cometh from offices of nature, or ye have been in contact with women, and ye find no water, then take for yourselves clean sand or earth, and rub therewith your faces and hands. For Allah doth blot out sins and forgive again and again.”

How scientific is this? I’d like to ask Dr. Naik, if by accident he falls into a cesspool and does not find water to clean himself, will he become clean if he rubs his hand and face with clean dirt?  There is nothing scientific in this ritual. If the instruction was to rub the soiled part with clean dirt this would have made some sense, but how can one become clean by rubbing his hands and face with dirt when another part of his body is soiled?

A claim of Muhammad about Jesus that is utterly ridiculous and not even in the Bible is the verse 5:110 where Allah say to Jesus “behold! thou makest out of clay, as it were, the figure of a bird, by My leave, and thou breathest into it and it becometh a bird by My leave.” Is this scientific? Why Muhammad could not perform miracles like that?

Bukhari 4:54:537  
The Prophet said "If a house fly falls in the drink of anyone of you, he should dip it (in the drink), for one of its wings has a disease and the other has the cure for the disease."  

Does Dr. Naik practice this kind of medicine for himself and his loved ones? God knows how many people must have become sick and died during these centuries by foolishly following the prescriptions of Dr. Muhammad bin Abdullah.   

Bukhari 7:71:590 says that Muhammad prescribed the urine of camel as medicine. Is there any scientific proof that drinking the urine of camel is beneficial? Urine is the concentrated toxin and refuses of the body. How can this utterly unhygienic thing be medicinal? Does Dr. Naik follow his beloved prophet’s instruction for his own health and longevity? Beer is prohibited in Islam,  why not bottled camel urine served chilled for Muslims? The world’s dependency on oil is going to end within a few decades. Bottled camel urine exported to all Muslim countries could be a good source of income for Saudi Arabia.  

Indeed absurdities in the Quran and Hadith abound. But as long as there are errors and absurdities in the Bible Dr. Naik and his fellow co-religionists are not bothered by them.  

(Dr. Naik) It is mentioned in the book of Leviticus , Ch. No.12, Verse No.1 to 5, and we know medically, that after a mother gives birth to a child, the post-partal period, it is unhygienic. To say it is ‘unclean’, Religiously - I have got no objection. But Leviticus , Ch. No.12 Verse No.1 to 5, says that… ‘After a woman gives birth to a male child, she will be unclean for 7 days, and the period of uncleanliness will continue for 33 days more. It she gives birth to a female child, she will be unclean for two weeks, and the period of uncleanliness will continue for 66 days. In short, if a woman gives birth to a male child… ‘a son’, she is  unclean for 40 days. If she gives birth to a female child… ‘a daughter’, she is unclean for 80 days. I would like Dr. William Campbell to explain to me scientifically, how come a woman remains unclean for double the period, if she gives birth to a female child, as compared to a male child.

(Ali Sina) Yep, that is pretty wrong and unfair. But is the Sharia any better?

According to the Islamic law, the a'yan najisah are nine in number. They are as follows:

1. urine;
2. stool;
3. semen;
4. blood;
5. corpses;
6. dogs;
7. pigs;
8. kafir;
9. Alcoholic liquids.

Source: http://www.imamreza.net/eng/imamreza.php?print=4759

9:28 says "Verily, the Mushrikûn (unbeleivers) are Najasun (unclean). Is this scientific? How can one become unclean by just discovering some errors in Islam and deciding not to believe in it? And how can a kafir who is unclean become clean simply by saying his shahada? This is not scientific. It is hocus-pocus.

Does Dr. Naik believe that alcohol is unclean? Alcohol is used to disinfect things that are unclean. Did he use camel urine to disinfect his instruments instead of alcohol, when he was practicing medicine? How can alcohol be considered unclean? You can say drinking it is unhealthy, but certainly it is not unclean. This is as absurd as using bird blood as disinfectant.    

(Dr. Naik) The Bible also has a very good test for adultery - How to come to know a woman has committed adultery, in the book of Numbers, Ch. no.5 Verse No..11 to 31. I’ll just say in brief. It says that… ‘The priest should take holy water in a vessel, take dust from the floor, and put it into the vessel - And that is the bitter water ‘And after cursing it, give it to the woman And if the woman has committed adultery, after she drinks it, the curse will enter her body, the stomach will swell, the thigh will rot, and she shall be cursed by the people. If the woman has not committed adultery, she will remain clean and she will bear the seed. A novel method of identifying whether a woman has committed adultery or not. You know today in the world, there are thousands of cases pending in different parts of the world, in different courts of law - only on the assumption that someone has alleged that a woman has committed adultery. I had read in the newspapers, and I came to know from the media, that the President of this great country Mr. Bill Clinton, he was involved in a sex scandal about 2 years back. I wonder, that why did not the American court use this ‘bitter water test’ for adultery? He would have gone scot-free immediately. Why did not the Christian missionaries of this great country, specially those who are in the medical field like my respected Dr. William Campbell, use this bitter water test to bail out their President, immediately?

(Ali Sina) Dr. Naik feels frolicsome. His Muslim audience is ebullient. The spirits are high and our doctor is in full swing of his acting. The applauses of his Muslim audience have given him the confidence to launch his sarcasms and to take cheap shots at his opponent. He has assumed quite the air of the victor. His audience remain oblivious to the fact that he has not refuted logically any of the charges that Dr. Campbell leveled against the Quran and that the absurdities of the Bible do not prove the Quran to be a book of revelations. He completely ignored that the Quran contains far more ridiculous statements. Take for example the verse 3.61

“If any one disputes in this matter with thee, now after (full) knowledge Hath come to thee, say: "Come! let us gather together,- our sons and your sons, our women and your women, ourselves and yourselves: Then let us earnestly pray, and invoke the curse of Allah on those who lie!"

Here Muhammad is challenging his opponents to engage in a “cursing contest" to see who is telling the truth. This is really funny. How can truth be revealed through cursing and invoking Allah’s wrath on each other? This shows the prophet of Islam was superstitious and a fool. He was indeed a very stupid man. Does cursing work? If it does why Muhammad asked his followers to wage war for him and kill innocent people? All they had to do was sit at home and curse their enemies and wait for calamity to strike them. Cursing does not work. Mr. Edip Yuksel once tried it and he was so confident that it would work that he wrote by February 19th 2004 a calamity will strike me. Well, that day came and passed and nothing happened to me. God cannot be manipulated by the whims of people.  

Abu Dawud 28:3875 The Prophet (peace_be_upon_him) said: No spell is to be used except for the evil eye or a scorpion sting. 28.3879 says that spell is also good for snake bite  

Is spell an antidote to scorpion sting and snake bite? Is this what they use in Islamic hospitals? Why Muslim doctors learn the western science when they have these divine teachings?  Evil eye? Isn’t this just superstition?  

Dr. Muhammad pbuh had more medical advises:  

Abu Dawud 28.3878  
Narrated Ash-Shifa', daughter of Abdullah,:  
The Apostle of Allah (peace_be_upon_him) entered when I was with Hafsah, and he said to me: Why do you not teach this one the spell for skin eruptions as you taught her writing." 

Can skin eruptions go away with a spell? Is this scientific? Did Dr. Naik prescribe spell for his patients with skin eruptions or dud he follow the science of the Kafirs and their therapy? Heavens! Shouldn't the Indians be grateful that this doctor has hung his diploma and is not playing with human lives? Muhammad believed in witchcraft. Isn’t it ridiculous that the man who claimed to be the prophet of God was unable to cure skin eruptions and asked someone else to teach his wife how to cure this disease with spell? He claimed Allah told him lots of secrets for example that the Bani Nadir were planning to assassinate him, giving him an excuse to attack them and take their properties and banish them. There were lots of other self serving secretes like this that were "revealed" to him alone. I wonder why he was never taught the secrets of medicine? Except of course the great knowledge that one fly wing has the antidote for the other wing's poison and that camel urine is good for stomach.  

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1. Ahmad and Tirmidhi transmitted it. (Al-Tirmidhi, Number 1513- taken from the ALIM CD-ROM Version)
2. Muhammad ibn 'Abd Allah al-Kisa'i, Tales of the Prophets-Qisas al-anbiya, trans. Wheeler M. Thackston Jr. [Great Books of the Islamic World, Inc., Distributed by Kazi Publications; Chicago, IL 1997], pp. 8-10]

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