Signs of Allah – shooting stars, meteors

4:05

20 Nov 2011

Astronomy, Extraterrestrials

This compilation video uses footage of meteors and from documentaries about meteors and Unidentified Flying Objects (UFOs, specifically a sighting in Keckburg, PA) to illustrate verses of the Qurʾān that mention shooting stars, and meteors.  The linkage to UFOs is unclear, as none of the verses included have anything to do with extraterrestrial life.

The verses in the opening (surah 37, verses 6-10 and 67:5) are rarely used to demonstrate “convincing proof” (as one of the verses used in the end notes) because “falling stars” or meteors have been a well known phenomenon for as long as humans have been looking at the night sky, far longer than the Qurʾān has been recited.

Evaluation:

The material on Islam is within the bounds of what Muslims have historically understood as acceptable. The translations into English of the Qurʾānic material are awkward, however.

There is barely anything here that one might understand as scientific.  Certainly everyone knows that meteors exist.  The “Kecksburg UFO incident” has generated a variety of investigations and re-investigations.  Even as iʿjāz / miracles this doesn’t qualify, as nothing is new or unusual about meteors.

There is insufficient historical material on which to base an evaluation.