“O ye assembly of Jinns and men! If it be ye can pass beyond the zones of the heavens and the earth pass ye! Not without authority shall ye be able to pass!” (Surah 55:33).
It is further assumed that when the Qur’an speaks of seven heavens (e.g. Surah 78:12), the number seven merely means plurality. From that he concludes that the Qur’an clearly states that there would be many heavens and earths in the universe, a fact that could only be verified in our time (p. 141). One can surely question the logic of such an argument.
In fairness, one will have to also acknowledge that the Qur’an held the then prevailing worldview, that the earth is a disc and not a sphere, as we know today:
“Zul-qarnain (according to tradition Alexander the Great) . . . when he reached the setting of the sun he found it set in a spring of murky water” (Surah 18:83-86).
Without trying to say more that the text wants to say, let us compare a verse from the Bible, which was written about 3500 years ago:
“He (i.e. God) spreads out the northern [skies] over empty space; he suspends the earth over nothing” (Job 26:7).
The most prominent argument for the alleged existence of then unknowable scientific data in the Qur’an, however, is gynaecology, or more specific, embryology, the science of the conception and development of the human embryo in the uterus of its mother. Many an eloquent article is trying to interpret the Qur’an to mean something it does not say. In flowery language we are informed how medical doctors are stunned at the accuracy of the description of the reproductive system and its function. So let us have a look at these:
“We (i.e. Allah) created you out of dust then out of sperm then out of a leech-like clot then out of a morsel of flesh partly formed and partly unformed in order that We may manifest (Our power) to you; and We cause whom We will to rest in the wombs for an appointed term then do We bring you out as babes then” (Surah 22:5).
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