Response by Randy Desmond to Contradictions in
the Qur'an: Further numerical discrepancies
Resolving the proposed "Days" conflict:
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Surah:Verse
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Context
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22:47
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This verse talks about the unbelievers wanting
God to hasten on their punishment. Then it says "a
day in the sight of your lord is like a 1000 years
of your reckoning.
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32:5
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In the end will all affairs go up to Him in a
day equal to 1000 years of your reckoning.
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70:4
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The angels and the spirit ascend to Him in a day
equal to 50,000 years of your reckoning.
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For the presented arguement to be correct, these verses
would have to be talking about the same things at the same
time from the same points of view. Angels are not affairs. A
day in God's sight is not a day for which the angels ascend.
At best we could say that the day when all affairs go up to
Him is the same length as a day in God's sight. So please
notice that the days which differ in terms of years of our
reckoning are not even related to the same subject matter.
The only inherently obvious connection between these verses
is the fact that the days are reckoned in human years. It
should then be clear that there is no contradiction among
these verses at all.
Resolving the proposed "(The/A) Garden(s)" conflict:
"The Garden" is "a garden" consisting of many "gardens"
each of which can be referenced as "a garden".
Resolving the proposed "Number of Groups for Judgement"
conflict:
Let's look at the verses that are claimed to
contradict...
Surah 56:7
And you shall be sorted out into three
classes.
Continuing in Surah 50 the classes are mentioned;
Companions of the Right Hand, Companions of the Left Hand,
and those Nearest to God. (Note: those Nearest to God are
defined as those foremost in faith)
Surah 90:18-19
(18) Such are the Companions of the Right
Hand. (19) But those who reject Our signs, they are the
Companions of the Left Hand.
Here it does not mention the third group. Does that mean
the third group does not exist? It does not say "You will be
sorted into two groups." In fact, looking at verse 17 of the
same surah in conjunction with these verses we see that
these verses are plain. They are defining who are the
Companions of the Right Hand and of the Left Hand, and not
counting the total number of groups for judgement.
Surah 99:6-8
(6) On that day will men proceed in companies
sorted out to be shown there deeds that they had done. (7)
So anyone who has done an atom's weight of good will see it
(8) and anyone who has done an atom's weight of evil will
see it.
This does not mention what the companies are or how they
will be sorted, it only mentions what the people will see;
their deeds. And it should be pointed out that companies is
plural, not singular and not dual. So we can infer from
these verses that there are at least three groups.
What we then have from these verses respectively is (1) a
count of the number of groups and naming of the groups (2) a
definintion of two of the groups already mentioned, and (3)
a description that there will be at least three groups for
Judgement and people will see their deeds. Where is the
conflict or contradiciton?
Resolving the proposed "Who at the Time of Death"
conflict:
If you look at the solution of "Messengers to Pharaoah"
below, you will notice that it is possible and quite
reasonable that an assignment of a task can be done with a
chain of command under the one assigned to the task.
Let me illustrate it. If a leader is credited with saving
his country's economy, did he not assign tasks to the people
under him? And did not those under him further assign tasks
to complete the work? Then who is it that saved the economy?
The leader? Those directly under him? or those workers under
the the appointees of the leader? The answer is they all
did.
Resolving the proposed "Messengers to Pharaoh" conflict:
If we look in Surah 20:24, Moses (Peace be upon him) is
given the order from God to go to Pharaoh. Reading on, in
20:29, Moses (Peace be upon him) is praying to God that his
brother, Aaron (Peace be upon him), would be sent as a
helper, and in 20:31-32, Moses (Peace be upon him) qualifies
his need of his brother which is to add to Moses(Peace be
upon him)'s strength and share in the his task. Please
notice that the purpose is to share in Moses(Peace be upon
him)'s task. Knowing this, please reread those verses Jochen
mentions and verify for yourself that there is no
contradiction.
Resolving the proposed "Number of Wings on the Angels"
conflict:
The verse mentioned does not say that the angels have
"only" 2 or 3 or 4 pairs of wings. In fact, the Arabic does
not say "or" in between the 2,3 and 4. The Arabic says "and"
denoting possibilities. Having more wings is just not
qualified or disqualified. It is interesting to note that
the same verse continues on saying God adds to creation as
He pleases.
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