The Quran claims all life was made from water.
But is that true, and if so is it evidence that the book comes from God?
Stay tuned to find out.
In my last video, I demonstrated that it's very easy to imagine scientific foreknowledge,
or what Muslims call scientific miracles, in any text at all.
As such, I suggested 5 criteria to help tell the difference between legitimate evidence
of divine authorship and a trick of the mind.
To recap, they are Number one, the claimed insight must be true;
that is, match current scientific consensus
Number two, it must go beyond what could be
obtained from careful observation using 7th century technology
Number three, it must be original to the Quran; that is, not found in previous texts.
Number four, the text must actually say what is claimed, as evidenced by the classical
tafsir.
And number five, the insight must go beyond a lucky guess.
For further explanation on any of those, see my previous video introducing the subject
by clicking the icon above.
With the criteria set, let's start our investigation by looking at a video by Merciful Servant
called “9 Shocking Facts From the Quran!”
With over 1.7 million views it is the most popular scientific miracle video I found.
So, it's a good place to start.
First on their list is a portion of surah 21:30 which reads:
“We made from water every living thing.”
Or in another translation:
“we made every living thing of water”
Merciful servant explains the alleged miracle:
In this verse, water is pointed out as the origin of all life.
All living things are made of cells.
We now know that cells are mostly made up of water.
For example, 80% of the cytoplasm (basic cell material) of a standard animal cell is described
as water in biology textbooks.
Is it true?
Yes, the description is cytoplasm is a little clunky, but 80% water is about right.
Plants come in at 80-90% water overall, and animals run 50-75% water, so the idea is generally
accurate.
Some scientists speculate that water is not actually essential for life, but that remains
speculation.
So the first criteria is met.
Is this something any 7th century person could determine?
Merciful Servant tries to argue no:
The fact that living things consist mostly of water was discovered only after the invention
of the microscope.
In the deserts of Arabia, the last thing someone would have guessed is that all water came
from water
Actually, a desert dweller is far more likely to appreciate the importance of water than
someone who has plenty of it and takes it for granted.
So, this is a rather silly argument.
Other Muslims may point out that many life forms, such as bacteria, hadn't been discovered
yet, at that time.
That is true, but it's also just a technicality.
Any person, desert dweller or otherwise, could easily determine that all known life – plants
and animals – was dependent on water and cutting either open reveals liquid inside.
So it's a very small leap to suggesting that all life is made of water.
But, as we are about to see, there's an even better explanation why someone would make
this guess in the 7th century.
So the second criteria is mostly not met.
Was this idea new to the Quran?
Here the answer is a clear no.
By the mid-first millennia BC, Greek philosophers were discussing all things being composed
of four elements – earth, fire, water, and air or wind.
Similar ideas are found in other cultures, suggesting the idea was quite ancient indeed,
and likely predates even the start of philosophical writing.
On water specifically, sometime around 600 BC Thales of Miletus suggested water to be
the fundamental element from which all things are made.
About the same time Anaximander declared:
Living creatures arose from the moist element as it was evaporated from the sun
and in another place
The first living creatures were produced in the moist element.
By the time of the Quran, four element theory was so wide spread that it was taken as established
fact.
Could this be the origin of the Quran's claim that all things are made from, that is out
of, water?
It's impossible to say for sure, but consider the following pair of verses.
He created man from sounding clay like unto pottery, And He created Jinns from fire free
of smoke
In this couplet all four elements are present – clay is earth and water combined, while
smoke is often used synonymously with air in four element literature.
Granted, the Bible uses an analogy of clay to describe humans, so it's possible the author
of the Quran simply heard the analogy and mistook it as a literal origin story.
Likewise, extra-Biblical Jewish literature sometimes describes angels as being made up
of fire.
Still, the presence of the four elements in one verse is interesting, especially considering
the verse is discussing what things are made of.
Whether the Quran was consciously drawing upon four element theory or not, it is clear
the idea of living things being composed of water is not original to the Quran, but instead
goes back to at least the speculation of four element theorists.
Therefore, the third criteria is not met.
What I quoted of surah 21:30 may seem straightforward enough, saying that living creatures were
made out of water, but when we turn to the classical tafsir, we see that's not actually
the case.
Let's first read the full verse in English to understand why.
Have not those who disbelieve known that the heavens and the earth were of one piece, then
We parted them, and we made every living thing of water?
Will they not then believe?
Thus, there's an implied causal relationship between the “parting” of heaven and earth
and the creation of water.
And that is exactly what the tafsir say as well.
Ibn Kathir ties it all together, saying the split caused rain to fall, presumably through
the newly created gap.
Do they not see that the heavens and the earth were joined together, i.e. in the beginning
they were all one piece, attached to one another and piled up on top of one another, then He
separated them from one another, and made the heavens seven and the earth seven, placing
the air between the earth and the lowest heaven.
Then He caused rain to fall from the sky and vegetation to grow from the earth.
He says “And We have made from water every living thing.
Will they not then believe” meaning, they see with their own eyes how creation develops
step by step.
Al Tabari lists several opinions, with most of the debate concerning the way the heavens
were split.
In regards to the water part, everyone seems to agree it relates to rain.
Tasfair al-Jalalayn too agrees on this point:
it is meant that the heaven was parted and began to rain when it did not use to do so
and that the earth was parted and began to produce plants when it did not use to do so...
in other words water is the cause of such things having life.
So according to the classic tafsir, what the verse actually means is that Allah caused
it to rain, and the rain caused life to spring forth from the earth.
And I didn't find any less authoritative commentaries that said anything materially different, but
if the Muslims watching have something, I'd love to hear it.
Until then, the forth criteria fails as the verse appears to teach rain water caused life
to arise, not that the living things are composed primarily of water.
The final criteria is difficult to evaluate as it's not clear what “insight” we should
look at, but let's stick to the claim of the so-called miracle – that all living things
are composed of water.
If we go by contemporary belief – that there were four elements from which everything is
composed – then the passage's author could have only guessed water, earth, wind, or air,
or some combination of those.
One could easily argue that all living things are actually composed of earth, in addition
to water, and most also need air.
So, the guess is not at all impressive, since two or three out of the four options would
be correct in some sense.
However, a guesser wouldn't necessarily be limited to those options, but could theoretically
claim every living thing is made up of stone or of wood or whatever, as silly as the idea
might seem.
So on the basis of evaluating a completely random guess, we can be generous and say “maybe.”
In summary, we see that the scientific claim of Merciful Servant is true and arguably could
go beyond a lucky guess.
However, we see that the conclusion could easily be deduced by any intelligent person
of the 7th century, wasn't original to the Quran, and likely isn't even what the verse
in question means to begin with.
Thus, there's no miracle here, just the creativity of Muslim minds imagining a miracle where
common sense is a sufficient explanation for the origin of what the Quran says.
If you liked this video, let me know in the comments what other miracles you'd like me
to look at, and then make sure you are subscribed to catch my analysis of more scientific miracles
in the Quran.
Thanks for watching.