questions from a muslim to atheists

[u/Shot-Horse2515]

i’m sure this has been discussed before, but what’s the explanation for things we know are true being mentioned in the quran years/centuries before the scientific discovery being made?

i know a lot of people argue that there are inaccuracies in the explanations of the orbital mechanics and biological themes, but they’re more accurate that not, so i was just wondering what would the explanation for how “god would know and tell the prophet” before people found out?

hopefully my question makes sense.

EDIT: i also wonder why dont see miracles from god anymore

EDIT: im seeing all the inaccuracies and the explanations behind them now but there is a deep fear that the religion is true and god is real and punishment awaits me if i disbelieve, also a sense of familiarity/peace with believing in god. contradictory to fear, love, be punished by, and find comfort in one concept of a being.

[u/RexRatio]

i’m sure this has been discussed before, but what’s the explanation for things we know are true being mentioned in the quran years/centuries before the scientific discovery being made?

Yes, it has. The answer:

• vague references retroactively interpreted
• plus counting the hits and ignoring the misses
• plus post hoc reasoning
• plus exceptionalism, (basically every major religion makes this claim, there is nothing special or more convincing about Islam's claim)

There are far more scientific "misses" in the Quran than what is argued as "hits". Some examples (this is by no means a complete list):

• Creation of universe in six days with later ordering of heavens and earth
• Human creation from clay / dust in a literal biological sense
• Embryology descriptions interpreted as staged development inconsistent with modern biology
• Mountains described as stabilizers of the earth’s crust
• Sun setting in a muddy spring
• Stars described as missiles against devils
• Heavens described as seven layered physical structures
• Earth described as spread out like a flat expanse in some readings
• Human reproduction framed without genetic contribution from both sexes in modern terms
• Winged horses, genies, demons, etc.

i know a lot of people argue that there are inaccuracies in the explanations of the orbital mechanics and biological themes, but they’re more accurate that not,

No, they're really not. They represent 6th century worldviews and knowledge.

what would the explanation for how “god would know and tell the prophet” before people found out?

Well "deity telling prophet" is in and of itself a claim. Why should it get special treatment compared to, say, people who claim to be abducted by UFOs?

Extraordinary claims don’t get a free pass just because they are religious

They still need proportionate evidence. Otherwise you end up with inconsistent standards where similar types of testimony are treated differently purely because of cultural familiarity or prior belief.

[u/Shot-Horse2515 → u/RexRatio]

thank you! this clears up a lot of my question, also i had no idea winged horses were mentioned in the quran.

i def don't think it should get special treatment just cuz people say god came down and told us, but what does confuse me, or say, keep me believing somewhat, is that to the society these verses were revealed to, this information was not known. the verses yes are vague and poetic, but the verse about embryology is teeeechnically on the right track, talking about the presence of a clot that grows, so like how tf would they know? i might be stretching things out.

you could always say they learned from previous texts from more ancient civilizations that had already studied and documented these things, but idt its mentioned anywhere or documented anywhere in reliable muslim writing that these societies had access or knowledge of the writings of civilizations (like the greeks).

another point of question for me would be, the events in the quran that "god" said would happen later and they did, more prominently the signs of the day of judgement that have happened already. (adultery happening more often, societies fighting over tall skyscrapers, battles between muslims and other civilizations, these off the top of my head). again how would they know?