A Guide to the Qur'anic Contradictions-10 (last part)
After Part-9
(A few readers wanted to know why I am repeating some contradictions. The answer is: I am not repeating; Allah is repeating many verses; I am just following what Allah had done in the Qur'an—Abul Kasem)
Sura 54: al‑Qamar (The Moon)
54:18‑21 Allah tells the story of the Ad people; how Allah destroyed them in a day. Contradiction: 41:16 says Allah destroyed the Ad people in several days. Contradiction: 69:6‑7 says Allah destroyed the Ad people in seven nights and eight days with a violent storm.
54:23‑31 Allah narrates the history of the Thamud people. One (54:29) person killed the she camel of Salih. Three days after they killed the she‑camel, Allah destroyed them with a mighty blast. Contradiction: 7:77, 26:157, 91:14 say several people killed the she‑camel.
Sura 56: al‑Waqia (The Inevitable Event)
56:7 Allah will sort out people in three classes. Contradiction: 90:17‑19 says Allah will sort out people in two distinct groups.
Sura 57: al‑Hadid (Iron)
57:22 Even before Allah created the heavens and the earth, He had predetermined the fate of everything. Contradiction: 44:3‑4 says every year, on the night of Laylatul Qadr, angels write down our fate, as decreed by Allah, for the coming year.
Sura 58: Mujadila (The Woman who Pleads)
58:22 If they resist Allah and Muhammad, then Muslims cannot take even their fathers, brothers, or sons as friends. These Muslims are the party of Allah; that is, Muslims cannot be friendly with the unbelievers even though they are their blood relations. Contradiction: 17:23, 31:15 say respect parents even when they are unbelievers, and attempt to bring back the converts of Islam to idolatry.
Sura 60: al‑Mumtahan (The Woman to be Examined)
60:10 Test the believing women refugees; believing women are not lawful wives of the unbelievers; believing men are not lawful husbands of unbelieving women (i.e., Muslim, male cannot marry non‑Muslim women.) Contradiction: 5:5 says Muslim men can marry women of the people of the Book, i.e., Christian and Jewish women.
60:13 Do not be friendly with the disbelievers; they are Allah's enemies. Contradiction: 5:82 says closest in friendship are Christians.
Sura 63: al‑Munafiqun (Hypocrites)
63:5 The hypocrites turn back even when Muhammad tells them he will seek Allah's forgiveness for them. Contradiction: 4:107 says Allah does not like disloyalty; He will not forgive the hypocrites.
Sura 65: at‑Talaq (Divorce)
65:4‑5 For menopause women, the waiting time for divorce is three months, same for women who are yet to menstruate. A child‑girl who is yet to menstruate, her waiting period is three months, same as for a menopause woman; for the pregnant women, the waiting time is until she delivers the child. Contradiction: 4:5‑6 says orphan girls must reach marriageable age, which is taken as fifteen years, before they could be married.
Sura 66: at‑Tahrim (Prohibition)
66:8 If you repent then Allah will remove ills and will send you to Islamic Paradise under which rivers flow; the believers' light will radiate in front of them and on to their right side. Contradiction: 19:71 says every soul has to pass through Islamic Hell.
Sura 69: al‑Haqqa (The Sure Reality, Catastrophe)
69:6‑7 Allah destroyed the Ad people with a furious wind, which lasted seven nights and eight days; they were left as headless bodies. Contradiction: 41:16 says the furious wind lasted several days. Contradiction: 54:19 says the furious wind lasted one day.
69:25‑32 Those who receive the records on their left hands will regret their past actions; their wealth was of no use. They will be in hell; they will be seized, bound, and marched in a chain of seventy cubits (each cubit will be the forearm's length of an angel—ibn Kathir) long; then burnt in a blazing fire. (It will be entered into his buttocks and pulled out of his mouth. Then they will be arranged on this chain just like locusts are arranged on a stick that is being roasted—ibn Kathir. Insert the chain in his anus and extract it from his mouth—ibn Abbas.) Contradiction: 84:10 says they will receive their records behind their backs.
69:35‑37 For the unbelievers their only food in hell will be bitter ones: filth and pus. Contradiction: 37:62‑66 says unbelievers in Islamic hell will only eat fruits of Zaqqum trees. Contradiction: 88:6 says they will eat only bitter Dari.
Sura 70: al‑Maarij (The Ways of Accent, the Ladders)
70:4 The angels and the spirits ascend to Allah in a day; one day equals fifty thousand human years in Allah's reckoning. Contradiction: 22:47, 32:5 say one day of Allah equals 1,000 human years. Contradiction: 50:16 says Allah is closer than the jugular vein.
Sura 76: ad‑Dahr (Time) or Insan (Man)
76:21‑22 The serving boys (Ghilmans) will wear green garments of fine silk and heavy brocade, adorned with bracelets/ bangles of silver; Allah will give everyone to drink a pure holy wine (Sharaban Tahura); these will be the rewards for the dwellers of Islamic Paradise Contradiction: 5:90 says wine is the handiwork of Satan.
Sura 78: an‑Nabaa (The Great News, the Tidings)
78:23 The unbelievers will remain in Islamic Hell for ages (Huqb is seventy or eighty years, and every day of it is like one thousand years according to your reckoning in this life—ibn Kathir.). Contradiction: 2:167, 20:101, 32:14, 98:6 say the dwellers of Islamic Hell will stay there for eternity.
Sura 83: al‑Tatfif or Mutaffiffin (Dealing in Fraud, Unjust)
83:25 In Islamic Paradise, Allah will quench the thirst of its dwellers with pure, sealed (expensive), exclusive wine. Contradiction: 5:90 says wine is Satan's handiwork.
Sura 88: al‑Gashiya (The Overwhelming Event)
88:6 For the dwellers of Islamic Hell the only food will be a bitter, thorny, smelly plant, Dari. Contradiction: 37:62‑66 says the inmates of Islamic Hell will eat only the fruits of Zaqqum tree. Contradiction: 69:36 says they will eat only pus and filth.
88:12 In Islamic Paradise, there is one bubbling spring. Contradiction: 18:31 says multiple gardens with rivers flowing underneath.
Sura 90: al‑Balad (The City)
90:17‑19 The believers are the companions of the right hand (paradise); the unbelievers are the companions of the left hand (hell), (two distinct groups of people). Contradiction: 56:7 says three distinct groups.
Sura 91: al‑Shams (The Sun)
91:14 Allah obliterated the Thamud people for rejecting their prophet, and for hamstringing Allah's she‑camel. Contradiction: 54:29 says one person killed the she‑camel.
Sura 99: al‑Zilzal (The Convulsion, the Earthquake)
99:6‑8
Allah will sort out people according to their deeds—good or evil deeds (two distinct groups of people—the people of paradise and the people of hell). Contradiction: 56:7 says three distinct groups.
Sura 109: al‑Kafirun (those who disbelieve)
109:6 To you be your way (means disbelief—ibn Kathir), to me is mine (means Islam—ibn Kathir). Contradiction: In 3:85 Allah says He only accepts Islam. Contradiction: 9:5 says kill the non‑Muslims wherever they are found.
Conclusion:
It appears that Allah is not sure and confident of Himself. He often hesitates, stumbles and errs of what He wants Muslims to emulate and follow. Just like a human being, Allah is prone to inconsistencies, mistakes and blunders. This demonstrates that the Qur'an cannot be the words of Allah, the all‑knowing, perfect, and precise creator of all things in the heavens and on earth. We might wonder how the creator and the sustainer of all things in the Heavens and on earth could construct such a platitude and slovenly written document.
We cannot imagine what might happen to the universe if this demented, imbecile, imbroglio, hesitant, and imprudent Allah is to rule and run it according to His words and laws in the Qur'an.
How could this unsure, uncertain, and self-doubting Allah send the Qur'an to guide the mankind?
Interestingly, Many Islamists consider these contradictions as Allah's miracles.
PS: A few Muslim readers have sent this link to refute any contradictions in the Qur'an. I shall recommend the readers to visit these sites. According to the narrator of this document there is not a single contradictory verse in the Qur'an:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zsllge0QhQE&feature=channel https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LqU4suOQkQc&feature=channel
References:
Ibn Musa al-Yahsubi, Qadi 'Iyad. Ash-Shifa. Tr. Aisha Abdarrahman Bewley. Medina Press, P.O. Box 5531, Inverness IV5 7YA, Scotland, UK, fifth print 2004.
Walker, Benjamin. 2004. Foundations of Islam. Rupa & Co. New Delhi. First published in Great Britain by Peter Owen Publishers, 1998.
Tafsir ibn Abbas and Jalalyn: https://www.altafsir.com/
The three translations of the Qur'an: https://www.usc.edu/dept/MSA/reference/reference.html
Maududi: https://www.tafheem.net/main.html
Ibn Kathir's Tafsir (exegesis) of the Qur'an: www.qtafsir.com
THE END
- A Bengali freethinker and is a teacher by profession
- Ccontributed in Leaving Islam – Apostates Speak Out and Beyond Jihad – Critical Voices from Inside
- Written extensively on Islam in various websites and is the author of several e-Books including: A Complete Guide to Allah, Root of Terrorism ala Islamic Style, Sex and Sexuality in Islam, Who Authored the Quran? and Women in Islam
- Mr. Kasem lives in Sydney, Australia
- Latest contribution is in the book Why We left Islam, edited by Susan Crimp et al.
- Can be contacted at abul88 at hotmail dot com and nirribilli at gmail dot com