Historical Anachronisms
THE QUR’AN’S HISTORICAL PROBLEMS
Internal Historical Problems proving Human errors
The Qur’an introduces a Samaritan too early
Sura 20:85-87, 95-97: [Allah] said, "But indeed, We have tried your people after you [departed], and the Samiri has led them astray. So Moses returned to his people, angry and grieved. … [Moses] said, "And what is your case, O Samiri?"
Samaritans did not exist at the time of Moses (1400 BC)…
The Samaritans were created after the fall of the Northern Kingdom of Israel by Sargon II the Assyrian king in 722BC
And a Mosque too early
Sura 17:1 Glorified is He who took His slave for a journey by night from al-Masjid al-Haram [Mecca] to al-Masjid al-Aqsa [Jerusalem] (known as Mi’raj – 621 AD)
Dome of the Rock = 691 AD?
Masjid al Aqsa = 710 AD?
Mi’raj = 621 AD!
It cannot even be the Jewish temple of Jerusalem, as it was destroyed in 70 AD!
And Coats of Chain-Mail too early
Sura 34:10-11: “And We certainly gave David… And We made pliable for him iron, [Commanding him], "Make full coats of mail and calculate [precisely] the links”
David lived in 1,000 BC
Coats of chain mail were not invented until 200 BC
800 years later!
The Qur’an mis-places Crucifixions too early
S.7:120-124 [Pharaoh said to sorcerers at the time of Moses = 1400 BC] "Indeed, this is a conspiracy which you conspired in the city to expel therefrom its people. But you are going to know. I will surely cut off your hands and your feet on opposite sides; then I will surely crucify you all."
S.20:71 [Pharaoh said to magicians at the time of Moses = 1400 BC], "You believed him before I gave you permission. Indeed, he is your leader who has taught you magic. So I will surely cut off your hands and your feet on opposite sides, and I will crucify you on the trunks of palm trees, and you will surely know which of us is more severe in [giving] punishment and more enduring.“
S.12:41 [Pharaoh to a baker at the time of Joseph = 1800 BC], “O two companions of the prison! `As for one of you, he will pour out wine for his lord to drink; and as for the other, he will be crucified...“
Moses’s pharaoh = 1447 BC; Joseph’s pharaoh = 1800 BC
Crucifixions were not even used in Egypt
They were first introduced in 500 BC
Thus, the Qur’an’s crucifixions are in the wrong place, and 1,000 – 1,300 years too early!
Then Denies the Crucifixion of Jesus
The Qur’an in 7th-8th century:
S.4:157 And [for] their saying, "Indeed, we have killed the Messiah, Jesus, the son of Mary, the messenger of Allah." And they did not kill him, nor did they crucify him; but [another] was made to resemble him to them. And indeed, those who differ over it are in doubt about it. They have no knowledge of it except the following of assumption. And they did not kill him, for certain”
The Historical Record:
Thallus Greek (Samaritan hist. 52 AD)
Phlegon Greek (Rome writer 1st century)
Lucian Greek Satirist (2nd century)
Mara Bar-Serapion’s Letter Pagan (73 AD)
Josephus Jewish (AD 37 to 90)
Tacitus (Roman historian-110 AD)
Greek, Roman, and Jewish Historians from the 1st – 2nd century ALL agree that it was Jesus who was on the Cross.
It has got the Wrong Mary
Sura 19:28 = O Mary, you have certainly done a thing unprecedented. O sister of Aaron
Sura 66:12 = And Maryam, the daughter of Imran, who guarded her chastity
Sura 20:30 = Aaron, my [Moses] brother
Miriam is the sister of Aaron and Moses
All three are the children of Amran (Exodus 6:20)
In Luke the Father of Mary is not Amran, but Heli (Luke 3:23)
And she lived 1400 years after Aaron and Moses
It confuses the Qibla & the Ka’aba
The Qibla
Suras 2:144, 149-150: From 624 all Qiblas should be facing towards Mecca, yet we now find 4 QIBLAS!
624 – 706: All Qiblas are facing Petra (600 miles too far north)
727 = The first Qibla facing Mecca
727 – 822: 12% = Petra; 50% = Mecca, 38% = Confused
822 – 2018: All finally facing Mecca
The Ka’aba
Suras 5:97, 2:125, 127, 3:96-97; 14:37; 22:26-27: Abraham and Ishmael build it…
However the historical record has Abraham in Canaan
Kissing the black stone was a Nabatean worship practice before Muhammad, and 600 miles further north.
It confuses Pharaoh, the Tower of Babel, & Haman
Sura 28:38 “And Pharaoh said, "O eminent ones, I have not known you to have a god other than me. So kindle for me, O Haman, [a fire] upon the clay and make for me a tower“
Sura 40:36-37 “And Pharaoh said, "O Haman, construct for me a tower that I might reach the ways – The ways into the heavens – so that I may look at the deity of Moses; but indeed, I think he is a liar.“
Egypt never built any towers. They built pyramids and temples.
Genesis 11:1-9 = tower is in Chaldea (southern Iraq)
Haman was not an Egyptian, but a Persian
Esther 3:1 = Haman was the minister of the Persian king Ahasuerus (Xerxes 1 according to the Greeks) and reigned between 486 and 465BC.
Pharaoh (1500BC) and Haman (510BC) never met each other.
It makes Alexander the Great an amazing engineer
Sura 18:96: “Bring me sheets of iron" – until, when he had levelled [them] between the two mountain walls, he said, "Blow [with bellows]," until when he had made it [like] fire, he said, "Bring me, that I may pour over it molten copper."
He builds an iron and copper Wall between 2 mountains!
In 330 BC?
There is no Record of such a wall in his 3 biographies!
Such a feat would hardly be possible even today!
It refers to ‘futuristic’ coins (Dirham) too early
Sura 12:20 “a few dirhams counted out” (The coins used to buy Joseph)
A Sufyani Dirham (post 661 AD)
• Joseph lived in 1800 BC
• Coins were created = 600s BC by the Lydians
• Dirhams were introduced post 661 AD, by the Sufyani family
• Could this be a later Redaction?
• vs. Genesis 37:28 = Shekels = 0.2 kg of silver!
Conclusions on the Historical Anachronisms
• The Authors of the Qur’an do not seem to know history well
• God would not make these kind of mistakes
• This is further proof that the Qur’an includes intentional human interventions
• What about where the Qur’an came from?
• Let us now investigate the sources of the Qur’an…