Search In Fatwa

Describing water barrier is miracle of Quran

Question

The Quran states something about two seas/oceans that are mixing, but this fact has been stated before the existence of the Quran. "The drinkable, sweet water, then, is light and is all of it drawn up: the salt water is heavy and remains behind.” -Aristotle (382 BC to 322 BC). I have also been told that all the facts stated in the Quran have been stated in books before the existence of the Quran and that the Quran coppied them. I tried asking this question before, but you misinterpreted my question. So my question is: did the Quran copy books that came before it, or were these facts first stated in the Quran?

Answer

All perfect praise be to Allah, The Lord of the worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allah and that Muhammad  sallallaahu  `alayhi  wa  sallam ( may  Allaah exalt his mention ) is His slave and Messenger.

Before investigating the Quran and its precedence and miracles on the subject of water barriers (the meeting of two water masses without mixing or transgressing the invisible barrier between them), we should first ask the question: Is the statement of Aristotle true in itself? Was he really speaking about the phenomenon of water barriers?

By going back to the entire statement of Aristotle, you will find that his statements are not true; rather, it is a naive misapprehension and a wrong explanation of the reason of the salinity of the sea and the location of fresh water, and it has nothing to do with the phenomenon of water barriers, which the Quran referred to.

In order to realize this truth, we should refer to the full text of the words of Aristotle, and we will find that it represents a stage of the initial stages of the human philosophical perception of the source of water on the earth and its original location, the difference between fresh water and salty water, and the reason of its salinity. We also find that Aristotle criticizes the doctrine of his teacher Plato in this regard; and modern science proves that both of them were wrong.

As regards what the Quran says about the water barrier, then it is completely a different matter and a real miracle. For more benefit in this regard, please refer to fatwas 256738 and 84259.

Finally, it should be noted that the Prophet  sallallaahu  `alayhi  wa  sallam ( may  Allaah exalt his mention ) was illiterate and used to live among illiterate Arabs, and he was not known to have studied the previous holy Books, let alone the Greek philosophy books, and he was not absent from his people for a period that would be enough to learn from others. So who informed the Prophet  sallallaahu  `alayhi  wa  sallam ( may  Allaah exalt his mention ) about the news of the preceding centuries and the destroyed nations? Who informed him about the hidden and future events which we only came to know after they happened? Allah says (what means): {And you did not recite before it any scripture, nor did you inscribe one with your right hand. Otherwise the falsifiers would have had [cause for] doubt.} [Quran 29:48]

Allah knows best.

Related Fatwa