Are there errors in the Qur’an?

“The Qur’an contains sentences which are incomplete and not fully intelligible without the aid of commentaries; foreign words, unfamiliar Arabic words, and words used with other than the normal meaning; adjectives and verbs inflected without observance of the concord of gender and number; illogical and ungrammatically applied pronouns which in rhymed passages are often remote from the subjects. These and other such abnormalities in the language have given scope to critics who deny the Qur’an’s eloquence…To sum up, more than 100 Qur’anic abnormalities from the normal rules and structure of Arabic have been noted.” (To sum up in easier language, the Qur’an was poorly written with many grammatical errors).

Are there errors in the Qur’an? – What about fulfilled prophecy?

Islamic evangelists make the claim that the Qur’an predicts Muslims would be victorious at home and abroad (Surah 30:1-5). But this can hardly be used as an argument, as no one goes to war without thinking they will win. Islamic military forces were, at the time in which the “prophecy” was made, was so strong that it was unlikely that anyone would lose. Has this prophecy continued to be true, or have Muslim nations lost in battles? Actually, the most embarrassing battle was the 6 day war in 1967, in which the Israeli Forces overwhelmed THREE muslim nations AT THE SAME TIME. Within 6 days the war was over! Egypt, Syria, and Jordan lost badly. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Six-Day_War)

So was the “prophecy” in Surah 30:1-5 fulfilled in that Muslims would be victorious at home and abroad? No.

Islamic prophecy does not even come close to the level of the prophecies in the Bible, many of which were written hundreds of years in advance, such as the prediction that Jesus would be born in Bethlehem (Micah 5:2).

What about scientific insights?

Yes, there are many errors in the Qur’an. For example;

• Surah 23:14 makes the claim that human beings are formed from a clot of blood.
• Surah 18:86 claims that the sun sets in a spring of murky water. Clearly, these statements immediately falsify any such notion of divine inspiration.
• "Now let man but think from what he is created! He is created from a drop emitted - Proceeding from between the backbone and the ribs:" S. 86:5-7 (Are men really created from the backbone and ribs? I believe science has proven that it comes from the genitals!)

What does the Bible say about science?

• Isaiah 40:22 The earth is round (circle). (see also Job 26:10) Scientists didn’t “discover” that the earth was round until after Christopher Columbus sailed in 1492.

"All the rivers run into the sea; yet the sea is not full; unto the place from whence the rivers come, there they return again" (Ecclesiastes 1:7)

For more on science found in the Bible, see the following pages!

Are there errors in the Qur’an? – Are there historical inaccuracies?

While the list of historical inaccuracies and anachronisms is vast, one has been selected for discussion here. Surah 20 relays the incident of the golden calf. In Surah 20:85-88, 95 we read:

“He [Allah] said, ‘We have tempted thy people since thou didist leave them. The Samaratin has led them into error.’ Then Moses returned…and we cast them [(gold) ornaments], as the Samaritan also threw them, into the fire.’ (Then he brought out for them a Calf, a mere body that lowed; and they said, ‘This is your god, and the god of Moses, whom he has forgotten.’)…Moses said, ‘And thou, Samaritan, what was thy business?’”

Now, let us consider this for just a moment. How can a Samaritan have led the Israelites astray at the time of Moses (approx 1400 B.C.) when the city of Samaria was founded by King Omri about 870 B.C.? The Samaritans did not exist until after the exile of the Northern Kingdom of Israel and the resettlement of the area under King Sargon II in 722 B.C. with non-Israelites who then adopted a syncretism (mixture) between the religion of the Jews and their own polytheistic background. The Samaritans did not exist until 530 years after Moses. By this mistake alone, the Qur’an can be rendered unreliable and certainly not an inerrant work of God.

Is the Qu’ran complete?

We have already seen that on the Day of Yamama not long after Muhammad's death texts of the Qur'an that were said to have been known only to those who perished in the battle were irretrievably lost. We also find many other instances in the historical record of the Qur'an text where individual verses and, at times, lengthy portions are said to have been omitted from it. There is, in fact, a virtually unanimous opinion among the early historians that the Qur'an, as it stands, is incomplete. Abdullah ibn Umar, in the earliest days of Islam, was quite emphatic about this:

It is reported from Ismail ibn Ibrahim from Ayyub from Naafi from Ibn Umar who said: "Let none of you say 'I have acquired the whole of the Qur'an'. How does he know what all of it is when much of the Qur'an has disappeared? Rather let him say 'I have acquired what has survived.'" (as-Suyuti, Al-Itqan fii Ulum al-Qur'an, p.524).

For more, go to https://www.answering-islam.org/Gilchrist/Jam/chap4.html

Are there errors in the Qur’an? – Conclusion

Having outlined just a handful of many problems and difficulties pertaining to the Qur’an as a divinely inspired work, we are all but forced to reject the Islamic claim that the Qur’an represents an error-free word of God to humanity. When a similar standard is applied to the Bible, the result is self-vindicating, for the Bible emerges flawless.