HERE IS THE ISLAMIC CLAIM:
To read the full original claim, click here:
God has said in the Quran:
“Or (the unbelievers’ state) is like the darkness in a deep sea. It is covered by waves, above which are waves, above which are clouds. Darknesses, one above another. If a man stretches out his hand, he cannot see it….” (Quran 24:40)
This verse mentions the darkness found in deep seas and oceans, where if a man stretches out his hand, he cannot see it. The darkness in deep seas and oceans is found around a depth of 200 meters and below. At this depth, there is almost no light (see figure 1). Below a depth of 1000 meters there is no light at all.[1] Human beings are not able to dive more than forty meters without the aid of submarines or special equipment. Human beings cannot survive unaided in the deep dark part of the oceans, such as at a depth of 200 meters.
Figure 1: Between 3 and 30 percent of the sunlight is reflected at the sea surface. Then almost all of the seven colors of the light spectrum are absorbed one after another in the first 200 meters, except the blue light. (Oceans, Elder and Pernetta, p. 27.)
Scientists have recently discovered this darkness by means of special equipment and submarines that have enabled them to dive into the depths of the oceans.
We can also understand from the following sentences in the previous verse, “…in a deep sea. It is covered by waves, above which are waves, above which are clouds….”, that the deep waters of seas and oceans are covered by waves, and above these waves are other waves. It is clear that the second set of waves are the surface waves that we see, because the verse mentions that above the second waves there are clouds. But what about the first waves? Scientists have recently discovered that there are internal waves which “occur on density interfaces between layers of different densities.”[2] (see figure 2).
Figure 2: Internal waves at interface between two layers of water of different densities. One is dense (the lower one), the other one is less dense (the upper one). (Oceanography, Gross, p. 204.)
The internal waves cover the deep waters of seas and oceans because the deep waters have a higher density than the waters above them. Internal waves act like surface waves. They can also break, just like surface waves. Internal waves cannot be seen by the human eye, but they can be detected by studying temperature or salinity changes at a given location.[3]
AND HERE IS THE REALITY:
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Before we, go into it, again look at how much of it is said in the Quran. “Or [the unbelievers’ state] are like the darkness of a fathomless sea which is covered by waves above which are waves above which are clouds, layers of darkness, one upon the other. If he puts out his hand, he can scarcely see it. Those Allah gives no light to, they have no light. (Qur’an, 24:40)“. Now again see which part of this sentence could not have been said by humans? Now God could have easily said “Ordinary humans like you cannot go beyond a certain depth in the sea in today’s age. After some centuries, humans will be able to go down in the sea much deeper than now using some equipment. But what ordinary humans do not know right now, I will tell.” Simple and clear! Actually, some parts of the Pacific Ocean are so deep that no one has ever touched the bottom even today, in this modern age. God could have easily told what is in those parts. God could have also directly told many things still unknown to man, such as the cause of cancer, cure on it on every case, or treatment for diseases like night blindness, colour blindness, or forgetful in the old age!
Here is the rebuttal:
Another “miracle” that has dumbfounded our Muslim friends is the verse 24:40:
Or [the unbelievers’ state] are like the darkness of a fathomless sea which is covered by waves above which are waves above which are clouds, layers of darkness, one upon the other. If he puts out his hand, he can scarcely see it. Those Allah gives no light to, they have no light. (Qur’an, 24:40)
Muslims claims that in deep seas and oceans, the darkness increases and since human beings are not able to dive to a depth of more than 70 meters without the aid of special equipment, the above verse indicates that Muhammad had divine knowledge.
This is an obvious self deluding fallacy. Anyone who has dived only a few meters in the sea can see that the light decreases with depth, especially if there layers of clouds blocking the sunlight. Since antiquity Arabs used to dive into the Red Sea to harvest coral. Claiming that only Muhammad knew that in deep seas there is little light is preposterous when this can be observed by anyone diving into the sea.
Such claims only prove the desperation of the Muslims to fabricate miracles for a book that contains nothing but absurdities and nonsense.
But that is not all. Muslims also see another miracle in this verse. They say the part that says “…like the darkness of a fathomless sea which is covered by waves above which are waves above which are clouds…” is another another miracle of the Qur’an because:
“Scientists have only recently discovered that there are sub-surface waves, which “occur on density interfaces between layers of different densities.” These internal waves cover the deep waters of seas and oceans because deep water has a higher density than the water above it. Internal waves act like surface waves. They can break, just like surface waves. Internal waves cannot be discerned by the human eye, but they can be detected by studying temperature or salinity changes at a given location.”
We can clearly see that Muhammad in this verse is not talking about any internal and underwater waves. His language is confused. That is why Muslims try to interpret his words in any way that please. How difficult was for him to be specific and say that in the sea there are internal waves? But he is talking about waves over wave as experienced by a person that is being drowned in the sea.
I am always amazed to see the desperation of the Muslims to find miracles in the most banal statements of the Quran.
This verse is not trying to explain to the readers how the deep oceans look but it is exemplifying the state of the unbeliever with something that is already known to the reader. This shows that people who read this verse already knew that the dept of ocean is dark (just as anyone knows today) and with this example Muhammad tried to make them visualize the state of the unbeliever. If they did not know that the deep waters are dark then the verse would not express what it intends to express. If I tell you my tie is the color of my hat, when you do know know what color is my hat, you would not understand what color is my tie and I would not be speaking clear to you. Remember, clarity is one of the claims of the Quran. But if I say my tie is red like cherry, you’ll soon know what color I am talking about because you have seen cherries and you are familiar with their color.
Furthermore Muhammad is not talking about “deep oceans”. In deep oceans you do not need to “stretch your hand” as Muhammad says, in order not to see it. You cannot see anything.
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