The Moon-Splitting Fairy Tale

7:49

13 Apr 2018

Miracles / I'jaz, Astronomy

Apostate Prophet

The Apostate Prophet’s video blog (vlog) presents the lack of evidence to support the multiple narratives, found in both ḥadīth and the Qurʾān, that the Moon was split in order to demonstrate God’s power.

The Apostate Prophet presents the Qurʾānic narrative for the splitting of the Moon, verses 54.1-3.  He also provides short summaries from the ḥadīth in the Sahīh Bukhārī.  He notes that Muslims understand this as being God’s action, not Muḥammad’s.

Using a flat map of the globe, he then shows that were such a thing to have happened, then large parts of the world would have witnessed it as well.  He notes that some Muslims attempt to understand the narratives without necessarily understanding it as a literal 7th-century event.

He notes that some Muslims have picked up on rills on the Moon’s surface and sought to use these NASA images to prove that the Moon had been split.  This is a form of iʿjāz ʿilmii (“scientific miracles”), which some Muslims understand as putting the Muslim scriptures below the authority of science.  The Apostate Prophet also notes that NASA scientists have rejected this interpretation.

The Apostate Prophet is also known as Ridvan Aydemir.  He is active on a variety of social media, and regularly produces vlogs on a variety of topics.

Evaluation:

Islam:  Although the majority of what the Apostate Prophet says about the Qurʾān and ḥadīth is an accurate reflection of common Sunni narratives, his mocking of these narratives is not.

Science:  The Apostate Prophet accurately presents consensus views of contemporary scientists.

History:  Although the absence of narratives from the seventh century is not in itself proof that an event did not occur, there are no known corroborations from outside the Muslim world.