Why doesnt the Quran mention dinosaurs?

Question

Islam is a literalist religion. Fundamentalism is mainstream in Islam.

Muslims believe all science comes from the quran. This is all so odd to me cause I can honestly say that I have never read anything as absurd and violent as the quran. But maybe I missed something that the other billion illiterate muslims see more clearly...if the quran is the source of all science then there must be dinosaur descriptions. Show me.

Answer 1

Scientific Errors In The Qur'an

by Robert A. Morey
© 1996 Research and Education Foundation

If the Qur'an is the infallible Word of God, then it stands to reason that it would not contain factual errors of science. By "factual errors" we mean errors that can be physically examined. We are not talking about contradictions between scientific theories and the Qur'an. We are talking about hard evidence that can be checked out.

But first, there is a question we must answer: "is it legitimate to judge the Qur'an?" Many Muslims believe in the Qur'an as a blind leap of faith. They really do not care if it is filled with mistakes and contradictions. As far as they are concerned, they were born Muslim and they will die Muslim. The more closed minded they are, the more fanatical they become in their religion. When ignorance unites with arrogance, fanaticism is born.

We pity those whose religion is only the product of an accident of birth and culture. They blindly follow whatever religion they were born into. How sad it is to have an unexamined faith; a faith that cannot stand up to reason and science; a faith that merely shouts slogans, stamps its feet and beats its breast in a mindless mob. They do not believe in Islam because it is true. To them Islam is true because they believe it.

A poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the stage and then is heard no more; it is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing. (Macbeth Act V, Scene 5)

Thankfully, there are millions of Muslims today who have received a university education and understand that an unexamined faith is a worthless faith. They are open minded to scientific facts and evidence. They want the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.

The Setting of the Sun

One of the questions which puzzled the ancient Arabs was, "Where did the sun go when night time came?" The Qur'an gave them Allah's answer.

He [i.e. Zul-qarnain] followed, until he reached the setting of the sun. He found it set in a spring of murky water.
(Surah XVIII ( Kahf) vs. 85-86)

We agree with Muslim scholars that Zul-qarnain refers to Alexander the Great (see Yusuf Ali's appendix on this subject in his translation of the Qur'an). According to this surah, Alexander the Great traveled west until he found out what happened to the sun. It went down into and under the murky waters of a pond. When it was completely covered by the water, darkness fell upon the earth.

To the early Muslims, this surah gave the divine answer as to why darkness fell when the sun set in the West. They assumed that the sun, like the moon, was the size perceived by the human eye, about the size of a basketball. Darkness came when with a mighty hissing roar it went down under the dark waters of a pond. They boldly and proudly proclaimed that this marvelous answer proved that the Qur'an was indeed the Word of God.

Today, modern Muslims are quite embarrassed by this passage and try to ignore it or to quickly dismiss it as poetry. But the passage is not part of a poem. Thus it cannot be dismissed as figurative language or poetic license. In the context, it is part of a historical narrative which relates several historical incidences in the life of Alexander the Great.

The mistake was based on the erroneous assumption that the earth was flat. The authors of the Qur'an did not know that the earth was a sphere which revolved around the sun.

The reader must ask himself if he is prepared to believe and to defend the Qur'an in this passage. Either the sun sets in a pond or it doesn't. It is either one way or the other. There can be no middle ground, no compromise, no evading the issue. If you agree with us that the sun is shining on the other side of the earth and thus it does not go down into murky water, then you must also agree with us that the Qur'an contains scientific errors.

"So what?" you ask. "Who cares!" you cry. Only those who are brave enough to seek the truth will care. Those who are intellectually lazy or dishonest will close their eyes and pretend to see nothing.

It only takes one error to disprove the Qur'an. That's right. Just one little error and the whole book goes down in defeat! You have just discovered one irrefutable error in the Qur'an. What are you going to do about it?

Answer 2

You're clearly misinformed NO Muslim believes that the Quran is the source of ALL science but it is a book of signs. So therefore if the Quran doesn't talk about dinosaurs it doesn't really matter. I guess
God didn't bother to tell Muslims because he put the oil fields in their lands as evidence instead.

But it is true that there is science in it the Quran talks about the Big Bang, Geology, Astronomy, finger printing, embryology etc.

I for one second do not believe that you have read the Quran in it's entirity. I'm sure you've visted websites to see if quotes were actually there but you've probably not read the Quran.

For the guy above stating the Zulqarnain story. HE as in Zulqarnain saw this, i.e. Jim saw the sun set into the sea, the sun doesn't set into the sea but this is what Jim saw. If Allah wants us to know something He lets us know like this, here are a few examples:

THE BIG BANG

Do not the Unbelievers see that the heavens and the earth were joined together (as one unit of creation), before we clove them asunder? We made from water every living thing. Will they not then believe? (Quran 21:30)

FINGERPRINTING

Does man think that We cannot assemble his bones? Nay, We are able to put together in perfect order the very tips of his fingers. (Quran 75: 3-4)

Answer 3

What would be the wisdom behind mentioning dinosaurs? However, in general terms the Quran mentioned every thing. The Quran is not meant to be a book of science, but as it is a miracle for all people and this era is characterized by scientific revolution it is not surprising to find few scientific facts mentioned in the Quran as evidence for people of reason and understanding. For the first generation of Arabs these facts had no meaning but as they were the masters of language beauty the Quran was unbeatable challenge for them. Find out more at this site:

http://www.sultan.org

Answer 4

my answer is very simple. even quran not specifically mentioned a name of dinosaur but quran stated clearly that all the animals live and ever live in the world were created in form of many varieties forms and habitats. quran also did stated that humans in early age were physically big and live longer thousand/hundred years.this is actually a logic and scientific explanation of the existing of dinosaur which was a specifies of animals that live long side a big and live longer humans .quran is a book of direction which give all kind of direction as a guide to the live and the history of live.direction means a statement given is a general statement and its up to us all to study and understand the meaning of the direction.

Answer 5

It was written after dinosaurs so how could he know about them. The only science was the blood clot but that was for making humans not dinosaurs, but maybe it was for dinosaurs????? Yes, that's it, the clot of blood is for every living thing, even if it's dead.

Answer 6

Dinosaurs had not been discovered at the time it was written. Actually, the Qur'an is not the source of any science, as I discovered when reading it. (I am a scientist, and was particularly on the lookout for scientific references; there were none.) It does, however, contain errors, one of which is extremely serious.

Answer 7

Dinosaurs are not mentioned in the Q'uran for the same reason that they are not mentioned in the Bible.

Islam (like Judaism and Christianity) does not believe in Darwinism.

Answer 8

i would surmise, that like most other major religions, dinosarus are a mute point. your relationship w/God will neither be enhanced or detracted from by mentioning them, & since they don't exist anymore, or even didn't when the books were written then...why mention them?
religion is meant to teach you & draw you closer to God, not to give every non-relavent detail about things past that cannot lead you to a closer walk with Him.
good luck finding an answer.

Answer 9

cause no one knew what a dinosaur was until 150 years ago

Answer 10

the word dinosaur came into existance in the nineteenth century, long after the quran was writter