A Fortress of Iron or a Castle of Sand?

Masud Masihiyyen

People who have read my previous rebuttals to the assertions of the Turkish Islamic scholar Harun Yahya about the scientific miracles of the Qur’an are most likely aware of the great number of allegations on Yahya’s website (*) and how good he is at concocting new miracles. Although it is definitely possible to refute all of Yahya’s claims, it is better to be selective in this respect since many of the scientific miracles that Yahya asserts to have been encoded in the Qur’an are presented with few vague sentences and explained through misleading generalizations, being unworthy of a serious examination and refutation.

My previous rebuttals had the purpose to highlight, by way of example, various methods of perversion used by Harun Yahya in the invention of the so-called miracles of the Qur’an. This enables one to figure out the source of any particular scientific miracle made up by Yahya as all his theories are derived from certain strategies that help him to skillfully distort the Qur’an and conceal the truth from the reader. This is why I think it will be better and more useful to select those of Yahya’s assertions that demand more attention and are easily distinguished from the rest of the allegations for a few significant reasons.

Accordingly, I am selecting the article entitled “The Miracle of Iron” as this particular argument excellently displays how Yahya makes use of different strategies of perversion while endeavoring to produce a theory alien to the Qur’an by simply inserting his personal commentary and wishful thinking into the original text. The fake miracle of iron is definitely a product of Harun Yahya’s deliberate misinterpretations that are attached to the Qur’an through his play on the sense of a certain verb (send down), concealment of the original verse from the reader (by using incomplete and misleading quotation), and unsubstantiated hasty generalizations. In addition, Yahya’s peculiar attempt to embellish his fake miracle with the help of a mere numerical coincidence, which is unsurprisingly presented as a “mathematical code” proving the miraculous nature of the Islamic scripture, makes this specific “scientific miracle” regarding the origin of iron more interesting and attractive. 

Yahya and the supposed miracle of Iron in the Qur’an

On his specific page with the title “The Miracle of Iron” Harun Yahya talks at length of iron and binds it to the allegedly miraculous and divine origin of the Islamic scripture on the basis of a single verse:¹

Before proceeding to quote Harun Yahya’s remarks that formulate his basic allegation concerning iron, it is necessary to highlight the fact that the introductory sentence of the above quotation is misleading as it, from the start, forces the reader to presume that the Qur’an defines iron as an element and attaches more significance to it than all the other elements for a particular reason. Yahya will later construct his second theory on this misleading presumption, pretending to have substantiated one claim of his with another.

Literal versus Figurative

After quoting the above verse, Yahya explains the source of his theory and tells the reader why he thinks the particular verse about iron pertains to a newly discovered scientific miracle of the Qur’an:

Apparently, Harun Yahya’s allegation concerns the distinction between the literal and figurative meaning of the verb “send down”. At first, Yahya sounds rather honest and scholarly since he introduces his claim through modals denoting possibility (“could be” thought of…) and admits that the verb “send down” is sometimes used with its figurative meaning in the Qur’an. However, he feels impatient to conclude with certainty that in the verse quoted by him the literal meaning of the verb is used and that the physical descent of iron is implied. In order to strengthen his argument that the physical descent of iron is in view, Yahya finally draws a false parallelism between the descent of sunrays and rain and that of iron in the Qur’an. This is a false parallelism because of two reasons: first, the Islamic scripture does nowhere teach that the sun rays are sent down; second, the literal descent of rain in the Qur’an is not identical with what is meant by the physical descent of iron as pointed out in the astronomical findings highlighted by Yahya.

Unfortunately, Harun Yahya fails to prove his basic claims with the help of Qur’an verses. He most likely avoids using Islamic scriptural references because he knows that it is not possible to find the word “sunray” in the entire Qur’an. Similarly, Yahya is reluctant to quote the verses talking of the descent of rain probably because he can predict that those very verses will weaken his allegations and undermine his theory. First, in some verses of the Qur’an, the literal meaning of the verb “send down” is made clear through prepositional phrases indicating where the rain is sent down from. For instance:

However, the only Qur’an verse that supposedly refers to the physical descent of iron lacks the prepositional phrase, which shows that Yahya made a hasty and biased conclusion when he interpreted the verb “send down” in that verse literally rather than figuratively. 

Second, Yahya’s contention that the literal meaning of the verb “send down” is applicable to the verse referring to the “descent of iron” because rain is literally descended from the sky is obviously fallacious. Claiming that iron was literally sent down from the sky just like rain was makes no sense unless an open parallelism is drawn between iron and rain on the basis of the verb “send down” in a Qur’an verse. In other words, it is Yahya’s duty to quote a single verse where such a linguistic or thematic association is manifested. This is out of possibility since the current Qur’an will never allow that sort of an association.

Third, Yahya’s hastiness and eagerness to suggest that the sense of the verb “send down” is identical when used with the word “rain” and “iron” undermines his theory since scientific facts will force him to admit that the way rain is physically sent down from the sky is different than the way iron is physically descended.² This is because when the Qur’an says that “Allah descends rain from the sky”, it does not mean that rain is sent down to our planet from the giant stars in outer space. The teaching of the Qur’an associates rain with the clouds formed in our world. For example:

The astronomical findings about the source of iron, on the other hand, show that the literal descent of iron from the sky to our world cannot be the same as the physical descent of rain from the clouds. Since science never teaches that rain is formed outside our world or in the giant stars in outer space, the following scientific information presented by Yahya ironically refutes his theory about the “miracle of iron” in the Qur’an:

Despite the overt contrast between the scientific description of the physical descent of iron and that of rain, Harun Yahya once more refutes himself by maintaining that his fallacious parallelism between “iron” and “rain” in terms of their descent to our world prove the alleged divine origin of the Islamic scripture:

Apparently, Harun Yahya’s basic assertion entitled “The Miracle of Iron” comes to a tragic end since neither is the physical descent of rain identical with the physical descent of iron nor is there a Qur’an verse that authorizes Yahya’s literal interpretation of the verb “send down” with regard to iron in Surah 57. Thus, at a very early stage of this debate, Yahya’s foundational theory collapses altogether as he fails to convince the objective reader that in the verse quoted by him the verb “send down” must be taken literally.

As an interesting note, some Islamic commentators’ reluctance to interpret the descent of iron literally in Surah 57 is reflected in their peculiar translations. For instance, Shakir’s translation does not have the verb “descend” or “send down” since he concludes that the Arabic verb in the verse actually refers to the formation of iron by Allah:

Pickthall suggests that the verb used in this verse points to the revelation of iron to mankind:

Yusuf Ali’s translation, on the other hand, is closest in form to the one provided by Harun Yahya as it presents the words “send down” as the English equivalent of the Arabic word “anzalna”, but this does not mean that Yusuf Ali’s peculiar translation endorses the literal interpretation of the verb “anzalna” in the 25^th verse of Surah 57. It is crucial to compare the following Qur’an verses to see that Ali’s English translation of the Arabic word “anzalna” remains the same in different cases:

According to the Qur’an, Allah, who supposedly sent down iron (Surah 57:25), also sent down cattle for mankind! The literal interpretation of the same verb occurring in this verse will give birth to a theory that some animals were not created in this world, but came down from outer space. We do not know if Harun Yahya is willing to insist that the descent of certain animals be construed literally for the sake of their adaptation to certain scientific facts. It is not difficult to guess that Yahya will most likely reject the literal interpretation of the verb “send down” in Surah 39:6 since there has been no scientific discovery that ascribes the existence of some animals on earth to their fall from giant stars. Consequently, Yahya’s theory entitled “the miracle of iron” is a hoax derived from the adaptation of a Qur’an verse to a scientific discovery through the arbitrary and inconsistent literal interpretation of a particular verb.

It is worth noting that the Qur’an does not connect the two words “iron” and “star(s)” anywhere and in any way. Specifically, it does not say that “iron was formed in stars” or “iron originated from the stars”.³ In final analysis, Yahya’s claims are merely the result of his fertile imagination and deceptive manipulation of the text.

While explaining why the particular reference to iron came in the Medinan period of the Qur’an rather than in its early era, Ibn Kathir, a famous Islamic commentator, states that Allah “brought forth” iron. Ibn Kathir’s commentary has nothing to support Harun Yahya’s theory and interpretation:

In other words, “brought forth iron” is a metaphorical expression employed to indicate the beginning of fighting with swords between the believers and the unbelievers.

Also the Iron? Is iron one of several “sent down” elements?

Although Harun Yahya is unable to substantiate his fundamental theory, which is based on the peculiar and literal interpretation of the verb “send down” in Surah 57:25, he tries to derive another so-called scientific miracle from his unproven assertion. This he does by focusing on the word “also” appearing in some English translations of the verse in question. In the light of the scientific discoveries that highlight the significance of “iron” among some other elements similarly descended to our world from outer space, Yahya contends that the structure of the sentence in Surah 57:25 implies not only the addition of iron into the general category of all the “sent down” elements, but also the outstanding and distinct features of iron:

As we said before, the second part of Yahya’s theory makes sense only if the Qur’an defines iron as an element. However, this is not the case since the Qur’an does not have the word “element” or “metal”. The lack of a reference to the category of elements in the entire Islamic scripture instantly destroys the parallelism that Yahya is eager to draw between iron and the other indefinite elements through the use of the word “also” with regard to the descent of iron in Surah 57. What then does the word “also”⁴ in that particular verse refer to if not to the inclusion of iron into the category of elements fallen from the sky? In order to solve this mystery and rebut Yahya’s assertion about the highlighted features of iron among the other elements in the Qur’an, we have to quote the 25^th verse of Surah 57 in its entirety:

It is clear like daylight that Harun Yahya chose to omit some parts of the 25^th verse of Surah 57 because he knew that the full citation of the verse would not allow him to put forward his theories about the prediction of a scientific teaching concerning the descent of iron in the Qur’an. We can understand from the citations above that iron is specifically added into the group of the two other “sent down” things (namely the Book and the Balance) rather than to the group of the other descended elements as suggested by Yahya.

More to the point, the inclusion of iron by the authors of this chapter into the same category as the Book and Balance through the use of the same verb “send down” reveals the parallelism drawn between iron and the other two things (the Book and the Balance) with regard to their descent. In other words, the structure of the verse is meant to imply that iron was sent down in precisely the same way as the Book and the Balance were. This is why Yahya has no liberty to interpret the verb “send down” differently with regard to iron since the occurrence of the same verb determines one and the same type of descent for the Book, the Balance, and iron. Consequently, Harun Yahya has got two options: he will either conclude that not only iron, but also the Book and Balance literally came to our world from the giant stars in outer space – or admit his fallacious interpretation and apologize, saying that through the verb “send down” in Surah 57:25 the Qur’an by no means refers to the physical descent of iron, but only uses figurative language to express the idea that Allah created iron and gave it to mankind.

For the sake of honesty, we must confess that a third option arises from the commentaries of some Islamic scholars on Surah 57:25. In his project named “A Comprehensive Commentary on the Qur’an”, E.M. Wherry quotes from Sale, who says “Some think that a balance was actually brought down from heaven by the Angel Gabriel to Noah, the use of which he was ordered to introduce among his people”. Sale’s remark illustrates that some scholars were in favor of the literal interpretation of the verb “send down” in the 25^th verse of Surah 57. As for the use of this verb with regard to iron, Sale makes a reference to Zamakhshari, who first construes it figuratively, saying: “That is, we taught them how to dig the same from mines”, but later adds: “Adam is said to have brought down with him from Paradise five things made of iron, viz., an anvil, a pair of tongs, two hammers, a greater and a lesser, and a needle” (*). Obviously, even the traditional belief that iron was literally sent down to mankind is not compatible with Harun Yahya’s allegations since Adam’s taking with him some iron objects while departing from Paradise has nothing to do with the scientific “fall” of iron from the giant stars in outer space.

From the closer examination of the Qur’anic statement below arise two more problems that consolidate the absurdity of Yahya’s literal interpretation:

First, the sentence reads “sent down WITH THEM”, which sounds like the book, the balance, and the apostles were all sent down together. The adaptation of this teaching to Yahya’s peculiar interpretation would mean that Allah’s apostles literally fell from the sky along with the book and the balance.

Second, the same statement gives an implicit answer to the question WHEN the apostles, the book, and the balance were all sent down as it continues and gives the reason for their existence: “that mankind may stand forth in justice”, which shows that they were clearly sent at a time when there already was “mankind”, i.e. when human beings lived on this earth. Similarly, the iron is also sent down to benefit mankind. If we take the parallel formulation into account, this seems to say that iron was also sent at a time when mankind was around – in stark contradiction to what the scientific theories say.

Mathematical codes in the verse about Iron?

After asserting that iron is one of the several elements that descended to our planet from outer space and making this assertion plausible by concealing the context of the verse with the help of incomplete and misleading citation, Harun Yahya ventures into a different realm and seeks ways of mystifying his theory. The principle of coincidence, which begets many numerological “miracles”, runs to Yahya’s aid and enables him to contend that the number of the chapter in which iron is said to have been sent down contains two mathematical codes. Unsurprisingly, Yahya once again binds these codes to the allegedly highlighted significance of iron in the Qur’an:

To begin with the first so-called mathematical code, Yahya seems totally ignorant of the fact that Surah “al-Hadid” was made the 57^th chapter of the Qur’an not by Allah, but by “men” during the compilation of the Islamic scripture. Since the form of today’s Qur’an is not based on the chronological order of the chapters, arguing that the particular verse about the descent of iron appears in Surah 57 leads us nowhere. According to the chronological order of the Qur’an the 57^th Surah is entitled “Luqman” whilst Surah “Al-Hadid” has the 94^th place (*). Yahya’s first supposed mathematical code is thus easily demolished.

However, there are other ways of exposing the erroneous nature of Harun Yahya’s reasoning. First, not a single verse within the Qur’an stipulates that the 57^th chapter be named after iron. Relevantly, the numerological values of the Arabic word “Al-Hadid” may really add up to 57, but this fails to constitute a mathematical code as the naming process of the Qur’an chapters was rather arbitrary, not being based on divine guidance or a system. Second, the Arabic word for iron does not appear only in the currently 57^th Surah of the Islamic scripture nor can one claim that this word occurs in this particular chapter for the first time. Some chapters of the Qur’an contain the word “iron” although they belong to an earlier period than the Surah named “Al-Hadid” (Iron):⁵

In another Surah of the Meccan period, it is written that King David used iron which manifested God’s grace towards him:

Finally, the 18^th chapter teaches that Zul-qarnain made use of iron while filling up the space between two mountains as a precaution against the attack of the enemy:

The occurrence of the word “iron” in the chapters prior to the Medinan period proves that the writers of the Qur’an did not intend to make any affiliation between the numerological values of the Arabic word and the numbers or names of the chapters. Strikingly, the word “iron” never appears in the Surah named “Luqman”, which is the 57^th chapter according to the chronological order of the Qur’an.

The second so-called mathematical code regarding the significance of iron in the Qur’an and discovered by Harun Yahya is again related to the numerological value of the Arabic word after its definite article is dropped. We cannot stop wondering what instigates Yahya to calculate the value of the Arabic word “hadid” without its definite article since the word is used with the definite article in this verse. The most important question that awaits an urgent answer from Yahya is why he rejoices and exults after facing the fact that the atomic number of iron is equal to the numerological value of the Arabic word “hadid” although neither the system of assigning numerical values to letters and words in Arabic nor the atomic number of elements is in any way associated with the Qur’an! If what Yahya points at is truly a mathematical code, this code exists independently of Islam and disregards religious affiliation because what makes the two numbers in view equal is apparently not the Qur’an.

It is worthy of note that Harun Yahya’s flirting with numerology concerns the comparison of the numerological value of the Arabic word for “iron” with the atomic number of iron and the number of the Surah in which the descent of iron is talked of, but ignores the number of the verse on which he bases all of his theories under the title “Miracle of Iron”. Isn’t this weird? What prevents Yahya from reconciling numerology with the number of the verse about iron in Surah 57? The problem is that the number of this particular verse is 25, which betrays Yahya’s efforts by objecting to reconciliation with both the numerological value of the word “hadid” and the atomic number of iron. We are sure that Harun Yahya is terribly upset and disappointed because of the number of the verse containing the word “iron” in Surah 57. This is why he simply ignores the number of this verse, which falls short by one of forming another mathematical code directly linked to the Islamic scripture, and consequently feels obliged to look for a mathematical code outside the Qur’an. The fact that the verse of iron in Surah 57 has the number 25 instead of 26 should teach Yahya not to trust numerology and not to mistake coincidences for divinely inspired or revealed mathematical codes.

Yahya’s reliance on numerology and his subsequent impertinence caused by his disappointment most likely arise from the faulty presumption that the 25^th verse of Surah 57 has a unique place in the Qur’an and through it Allah aims to draw attention to the significance of iron. This is not the case though, for Surah 57:25 is only one of the ordinary verses referring to iron, being not different from the verses having the word “iron” in the Meccan period of the Qur’an. Even though this is the first and last verse in which the verb “send down” is used with “iron”, the reason for this distinctive usage is explained by Ibn Kathir, who associates the existence of the verse to the use of swords by Muslims in defense of the Islamic faith in the post-migration era:⁶

Ibn Kathir’s commentary with regard to the temporal peculiarity of this verse sounds reasonable because Surah 57:25 seems to have been formed through additions to the verse below, which belongs to Meccan period and appears as the source of the later idea that iron was revealed to mankind:

This timing itself is further evidence that this is the meaning of adding the part on the “iron” to the earlier verse. In Mecca Muhammad preached “peacefully” and called to Islam, but in Medina he starts to fight violently against the unbelievers, and therefore the earlier verse is expanded to include this aspect and reflect the actual new strategy of Islam.

Healing Through Iron?

From the realm of numerology Harun Yahya finally jumps into the science of medicine and wants to convince the reader that Surah 57:25 also has a scientific prediction concerning the recent use of iron in the treatment of patients suffering from cancer:

Yahya’s final and weakest allegation is based on wishful thinking and supported only by the ambiguity of the phrase “many uses for mankind” in the Qur’an verse. Being open to interpretation, it allows the invention of new scientific miracles and unscientific assertions. It is necessary to state that Ibn Kathir’s commentary does not agree with Yahya’s theory:

More, Ibn Kathir believes that the primary function and benefit of iron was related to the defense of Islam and its prophet against the army of disbelievers:

Harun Yahya’s attempts to associate Surah 57:25 with the scientific discoveries in the field of medicine should not be taken seriously also because this verse does not talk about health or healing and does not even imply that mankind is unaware of some benefits of iron although Yahya is absolutely unaware of this fact. The Quran talks about the KNOWN uses of iron, the uses that were already appreciated by Muhammad’s audience, not about uses that may be discovered centuries later. The identification of the various benefits of iron for mankind with the particular use of iron in medicine illustrates how recklessly Yahya wants to present his conjecture as facts.

Conclusion

Harun Yahya thinks he can make a strong iron castle for the defense and praise of the Qur’an, but his theories related to the supposed miracle of iron in the Islamic scripture turns out to have been built on sand. No matter how many efforts he makes in order to invent a scientific miracle in the Qur’an and for the Qur’an, all his allegations are rebutted as easily as a huge edifice made of glass can be shattered into pieces beyond repair. Insisting on the literal interpretation of a verb with no scriptural evidence and ignoring its figurative usage in the entire Qur’an, concealing the context of a verse from the reader with the help of an incomplete quotation, seeking help from numerology and presenting coincidences as codes, adapting ambiguous statements of the Qur’an to specific scientific facts and discoveries with no evidence are the things that Yahya employs for the invention of the alleged miracle of the Qur’an regarding iron, but the truth is stronger than Yahya’s imagination as his miracle of iron is pulverized when carefully analyzed and when the techniques he uses in the distortion of the truth are exposed and condemned.

APPENDIX

History testifies to the fact that other ancient cultures, e.g. the Egyptians, Sumerians and Hittites witnessed the fall of meteorites and revered them as heavenly gifts/sacred objects:

More to the point, some of these meteorites naturally had iron in them and thus made some tribes aware of iron’s connection with the sky:

The discovery of iron in the meteorites did not only make ancient civilizations aware of the fact that iron was “sent down” from the sky, but also taught them that these fallen stones were the best source of iron:

In the light of this historic evidence, should we conclude that ancient civilizations were surprisingly guided by Allah, who revealed the source of iron to idolaters thousands years before the Qur’an and thus spoiled Harun Yahya’s allegations?