Ask an Alim

In the Name of Allah, the All-Beneficent, the All-Merciful.
Wa-Alaykum Assalam Wa Rahmtu-Allah,

How you answer your friend will depend on the knowledge and skills they have and you have. However, if there is something conflicting between science which is empirical and the Holy Qur’an – then it is either because:
We misunderstood the Holy Qur’an
The science is wrong (remember “science” and the facts they give us has changed over time… )
So let us have a look at some verses which are claimed to be imperfect:
(Please note these links are not an endorsement of the sites, you can search other sources. They are just showing what “science” says.

Q1) Body was made from a clot of blood – ref 96:2 is assumed?
Alaq is something that clings on to something else which is what a fertilised egg in the womb will do. As an example see https://www.ucsf.edu/news/2003/01/97060/scientists-discover-what-makes-human-embryo-attach-uterus

Q2) 41:11 Earth is made from smoke
Look at what the ayah actually says:
ثُمَّ ٱسْتَوَىٰٓ إِلَى ٱلسَّمَآءِ وَهِىَ دُخَانٌ فَقَالَ لَهَا وَلِلْأَرْضِ ٱئْتِيَا طَوْعًا أَوْ كَرْهًا قَالَتَآ أَتَيْنَا طَآئِعِينَ ﴿١١﴾
Then He turned to the heaven, and it was smoke, and He said to it and to the earth, ‘Come, willingly or unwillingly!’ They said, ‘We come obediently.’

Now it could be that the words here mean that the sky was made from smoke (and not the earth)… but may also include both. You can look at different exegeses for opinions on these.
then look at what science says about the creation of the solar system and galaxies and how they came about. Example:

“Galaxies
Our galaxy, the Milky Way, is typical: it has hundreds of billions of stars, enough gas and dust to make billions more stars, and at least ten times as much dark matter as all the stars and gas put together. And it’s all held together by gravity.”
“https://science.nasa.gov/astrophysics/focus-areas/what-are-galaxies”

So stars come from gases – after the big bang…. and see also “Formation” in this site: https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/solar-system/our-solar-system/in-depth/#:~:text=Formation-,Formation,spinning%2C%20swirling%20disk%20of%20material.

These are from NASA!

Q3) 16:66 Cattle make milk from belly
“There is indeed a lesson for you in the cattle: We give you a drink pleasant to those who drink, pure milk, which is in their bellies, between [intestinal] waste and blood.”

It is there, not that it is made there, and even if so, remember we sometimes refer to a part by the whole so the udder is under the belly of the cow and so there is no conflict. Furthermore, if any one has the right to ask the question it would have been the Arabs living with the Prophet SAWA, especially those who were trying to discredit him, it is not as if they did not know where milk came from. If you read the tafseers and read the science you can also marvel at how accurate this is in that the blood is what contains the nutrients from food absorbed and the chewed food that has no waste is excreted, making milk a status being above waste and below food!

Q4 – is 86:7 – A number of different opinions in which some are – the back is an indication of the male (strength) and the breast the women (delicate) – so the sperm comes from the joining of the two, or that the sperm comes from somewhere between his back and chest (in the torso of his body, not his head, not his leg etc) or other explanations like the birth of a baby from the womb being between her back and chest….

Q5: “When he reached the place where the sun sets, he found it setting over a warm sea, and by it he found a people. We said, ‘O Dhul Qarnayn! You will either punish them, or treat them with kindness.’”
Again – the arabs would have given the prophet SAWA a very hard time if your friend was right… please read some tafseers on this.

Q6 20:53 earth is flat – The ayah says “He, who made the earth for you a cradle, and in it threaded for you ways, and sent down water from the sky, and with it We brought forth various kinds of vegetation.”

Even if it says flat the Earth is a large sphere and so appears flat when you are walking on it and that is how it was created for us so we can travel on it and benefit from it.

Hope that helps.

S.L. Al-Hakim