Differences
Analysis · argument tier
Questions raised about the text
Linguistic, historical, scientific and internal-consistency questions, verse by verse. Each item is an argument, with the sources it cites and a place for the responses.
Browse by category
All categoriesAmbiguity · old site “Ambiguity”
Passages whose meaning the commentators dispute.
60
Open question
31% of items
60 original · 0 proposed · old “Question”
39
Linguistic
20% of items
39 original · 0 proposed
24
Internal contradiction
13% of items
24 original · 0 proposed · old “Quranic Contradiction”
24
Historical background
13% of items
24 original · 0 proposed · old “Historical Background”
21
Historical
11% of items
21 original · 0 proposed
15
Ambiguity
8% of items
15 original · 0 proposed
5
Parallels with earlier sources
3% of items
5 original · 0 proposed · old “Copied from other sources”
3
Scientific
2% of items
3 original · 0 proposed
0
Geographical
0% of items
0 original · 0 proposed
Each item is filed under one category from the old site's list (its most specific one); the other categories it carries still show as tags.
- 7:54 Ambiguity Historical background Argument The verse describes the attribute of Allah that he has the right to create and command. Based on this idea, the linguists said that the words of Allah are ancient (eternal), not caused (or created). They declared that Allah “dist…
- 10:754 verses Ambiguity Argument According to the context of these verses, Moses asks Pharaoh and his people to believe in the faith of Moses and abandon the faith of their ancestors. This request is clearly seen in verse 78, and Islamic commentator al-Rāzī stat…
- 10:88 Ambiguity Argument This verse describes Moses calling on his Lord to destroy the splendor and riches of Pharaoh and his chiefs, wealth that Moses acknowledges was bestowed by God on his enemies. But Moses asks for more than the destruction of his e…
- 10:94 Ambiguity Argument This verse addresses Muḥammad. It instructs Muḥammad to ask those who have read the Book before him whenever he is in doubt concerning the veracity of the revelation. Al-Zamakhsharī comments, “As if it was said: if you were to do…
- 12:52 Ambiguity Argument Unlike the Palmer English translation, “(said Joseph),” the current Arabic Qur’ān does not remove the ambiguity regarding the speaker in this verse. Islamic commentators offer two opinions regarding the speaker’s identity: The sp…
- 14:28 Ambiguity Argument The verse singles out an unnamed group of people as “those who have changed God’s favours for misbelief.” Islamic scholars offer the following possibilities for this group of people: Quraysh “Hypocrites”. Quraysh tribesmen who fo…
- 17:42 verses Ambiguity Open question Argument Verse 4 informs that Allah decreed that the Children of Israel (the Israelites) in the Book (Torah) will do evil “in the earth twice.” When the threat of the first evil came, people “endued with violence” came to the Children of …
- 17:78 Ambiguity Argument Islamic scholars offer differing opinions regarding the time and religious purpose of the “declining of the sun.” One group holds that the time is when the sun sets and the appropriate prayer is the sunset (al-maghrib) prayer. An…
- 18:50 Ambiguity Argument The verse presents a problem concerning the identity of Iblīs: Is he an angel or a jinn? The verse begins with Allah commanding the angels to bow down to Adam. They all obey except for Iblīs because he “was of the ginn.” If the c…
- 19:16 Ambiguity Argument This text mentions the details of Mary’s distancing herself from her family by going toward an eastern region. Some Islamic commentators have stated that the location is east of Jerusalem. Others believe that she went into seclus…
- 19:17 Ambiguity Argument The verse states that Allah sent his “spirit” to Mary. Muslim exegetes explain that the spirit is Jibrīl, who appeared to her as a human. It is said that Jibrīl is called the “spirit” “figuratively, out of love for him”. On the o…
- 19:26 Ambiguity Argument The verse states that Mary was asked to say that she vowed to fast. Muslim exegetes agree that the intended fast is silence. For this reason, some of the readers read the word as samtan (“silence”). Some also read it as sawman sa…
- 22:15 Ambiguity Argument Ambiguity exists regarding the intended person referenced with the Arabic pronoun “him” (ه), as in “help him.” Muslim exegetes provide two opinions: The phrase “help him” refers to Muhammad. Al-Ţabarī explains that whosoever doub…
- 25:37 Ambiguity Argument The verse states that the people of Noah “said the apostles were liars'' in the plural, even though the verse is about the people of Noah calling him (in the singular) a liar. Muslim exegetes have attempted to resolve this gramma…
- 25:44 Ambiguity Argument The verse compares the misbelievers to livestock, stating that they are “like the cattle.” Al-Ţabarī explains that “they are not but like animals that do not understand what is said to them nor comprehend”. On the other hand, Q 1…