Refutation of the scientific miracle on the meeting of two seas in Qur'an

The verses which I will be considering in this thesis are:

055:019-020
YUSUFALI: He has let free the two bodies of flowing water, meeting together. Between them is a
barrier which they do not transgress.
PICKTHAL: He hath loosed the two seas. They meet. There is a barrier between them. They encroach
not (one upon the other)
SHAKIR: He has made the two seas to flow freely (so that) they meet together: Between them is a
barrier which they cannot pass.
Muslim apologists believe that these verses of Qur'an are scientifically accurate. They conclude that
since the process was unknown to humankind during the time of Muhammad, these verses are surely
revealed by God (Allah).
I am a physical oceanographer, so I think that I am in a better position to judge these claims. I don't
want you to believe what I am saying; I want you to critically examine my arguments and see whether
my arguments can be verified and validated. This is what we do in writing scientific articles and I will
follow the same methodology here. So go ahead...search Google, read books, articles and then make
your decision.

My thesis will be as follows:

i) I will explain why these two verses are nothing more than reflections of common experience
ii) I will explain the physical mechanism of the meeting of two seas or oceans with appropriate
references and conclude whether these verses are scientifically correct or not
iii) I will explain what are the shortcomings of the explanations given by the Islamic apologists.
There I will prove why their interpretations are
a) selective, b) generalization of a selective phenomena (which suits best) , c) self-contradicting (they
themselves have disproved Qur'an), d) makes some wrong scientific claims and hence e) extremely
misleading
iv) Finally, my advise!

i) The two verses which claims to have scientific miracles:

From common experience, we (as well as people in the ancient times) have seen that when we
cross from one ocean/sea to another, there is a change in the surface color of the sea. Since
scientific knowledge was not well developed during the time of Muhammad, the reason why the
two seas maintain a distinct separation at the surface was unclear. Since Muhammad could only
see the separating line on the surface and not what is going on inside the sea, he extrapolated his
observation (or may be it was a general notion at that time) and concluded that there is a barrier.
That's the reason why he mentions that two seas don't transgress each other. He assumes that this
separation or partition continues below the sea surface as well. Thus the only schematic that can
be logically drawn from these two verses is shown in Figure 1. If your imagination permits you to
draw something different, please let me know.
Figure 1: Description of the meeting of two seas without transgressing according to Qur'an

Note that I have made the barrier vertical, since if the barrier is slanted, then one sea is encroaching or
transgressing into the other's territory, and this is not permitted by the verses (even if this condition is
relaxed, still it can be proved that the physics is actually very different). Also nothing is specified about
the composition of the barrier (which means that the description is vague and allows one to be free to
choose anything what he or she likes).

ii) The real picture:

Figure 2: Thermohaline Circulation or Global Converyor Belt. (Reference:

http://science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/earth/oceanography/ocean-current3.htm).
What is Thermohaline Circulation (THC)?
Water movements driven by differences in density are also known as thermohaline circulation
because water density depends on its temperature (thermo) and salinity (haline). At the earth's poles,
when water freezes, the salt doesn't necessarily freeze with it, so a large volume of dense cold, salt
water is left behind. When this dense water sinks to the ocean floor, more water moves in to replace it,
creating a current. The new water also gets cold and sinks, continuing the cycle. Incredibly, this process
drives a current of water around the globe. THC begins with the cold water near the North Pole and
heads south between and Africa toward Antarctica, partly directed by the landmasses it encounters. In
Antarctica, it gets recharged with more cold water and then splits in two directions - one section heads
to the Indian Ocean and the other to the Pacific Ocean. As the two sections near the equator, they warm
up and rise to the surface (upwelling) . When they can't go any farther, the two sections loop back to
the South Atlantic Ocean and finally back to the North Atlantic Ocean, where the cycle starts again.
Few very good videos on this topic by NASA are here (I highly recommend you to watch these videos):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3niR_-Kv4SM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FuOX23yXhZ8

Why THC is important here?

What did we understand from the Figure 2 and the youtube videos? You are right. All the oceans are
connected. There is a global continuum of flow in the oceans. Thus the waters from Arctic Ocean is
coming to Atlantic, then to Antarctic and then to Indian and Pacific and so on so forth to complete the
cycle. Do you think it would have been possible if there were barriers between the oceans or seas? So
what the verse claims “Between them there is a barrier which they donot transgress” or “Between them
there is a barrier which they cannot pass” is completely wrong. THERE IS NO BARRIER AND
OCEANS/SEAS ALWAYS TRANSGRESS/ ENCROACH EACH OTHER. If they didn’t, our
climate and the marine ecosystem would have been very different.

Some important facts

Figure 3: A cross-sectional longitudinal profile of the Atlantic Ocean from 60 degrees N to 60 degrees
S showing the location of the mixed layer, pycnocline, and deep layer. Note that the ocean (and deep
layer) extend to depths of 4000 to 6000 m. Reference:
http://oceanmotion.org/html/background/ocean-vertical-structure.htm
All the oceans and seas are density stratified (light water at top and heavy salty cold water at bottom) as
shown in Figure 3. The light water at the top (surface layer or mixed later, of depth on average around
100m from the sea surface) is affected by sun and wind (ambient conditions) and that's what creates
surface currents. Surface currents affect 10% of the ocean circulation. Sunlight cannot penetrate to deep
waters (the average depth of oceans are around 4-5 km), neither wind has the ability to move the deep
waters. So the deep waters are unaffected by local conditions. The movement of deep water is caused
only because of Thermohaline Circulation (THC). These deep ocean currents constitute 90% of the
circulation (References: 1. Oceanography: an invitation to marine science by Tom Garrison, pg 261 2.
Atmosphere, ocean, and climate dynamics: an introductory text by John Marshall, R. Alan Plumb,
Chapters 9-11). Note that if Thermohaline Circulation was not there, the global climate and marine
ecosystem would have been very different.

Why we see that line of separation (two different colors) when two seas meet?
Surface water (which constitutes only around 2-5% of the ocean at mid-depth) properties of two seas
are not same (that's why they are two seas), hence two seas scatter blue light in different amounts and
we see different shades of blue. Even the same sea has different shades of blue. As one moves from the
coast towards open sea, the depth of the sea increases and the shade of blue slowly gets deeper. These
things have nothing to do with the deep water (which constitutes 95-98% of the ocean at mid-depth)
movements, governed by THC, which constitute 90% of the oceanic circulation.

How does the surface waters behave?

Figure 4: Instantaneous speed of surface currents (Reference: Atmosphere, ocean, and climate
dynamics: an introductory text by John Marshall, R. Alan Plumb, pg 192 )

Surface waters on the long term follow the THC (Figure 2, shown by red lines), but in short term or
instantaneously they have all kinds of motion patterns. Short term pattern depends on wind circulation,
sunlight distribution, Ekman pumping, etc. A great video to understand how surface currents work is
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H5OHZH6yvpE

The development of supercomputing facility has enabled us to predict with good accuracy how the
surface waters around the globe behave at a particular instant. This is shown in Figure 4. So, even if
someone tells you that surface currents don't encroach and there is barrier, show them this Figure 4 and
the youtube video. Hope they will understand how complicated the mechanisms are and how simplistic
and stupid claims they make.
Conclusion
The two verses which claims to be scientific miracle are not only wrong, they also contradict
scientific understanding.

iii) Answering Islamic apologists who claim that there is scientific miracle in those verses

Figure 5: The meeting of Mediterranean Sea and Atlantic Ocean at the Strain of Gibraltar

The claims Islamic Apologists make

“Modern Science has discovered that in the places where two different seas meet, there is a barrier
between them. This barrier divides the two seas so that each sea has its own temperature, salinity, and
density. [ Principles of Oceanography - Davis, pp. 92-93]

For example, Mediterranean Sea water is warm, saline and less dense, compared to Atlantic Ocean wa-
ter. When Mediterranean Sea water enters the Atlantic over the Gibraltar sill, it moves several hundred
kilometers into the Atlantic at a depth of about 1,000 meters with its own warm, saline and less dense
characteristics. The Mediterranean water stabilizes at this depth. [Principles of Oceanography p. 93]

The Mediterranean Sea water as it enters the Atlantic over the Gibraltar sill with its own warm, saline
and less dense characteristics, because of the barrier that distinguishes between them. Temperatures are
in degrees Celsius (C). Even in depths (indicated here by darker colors) up to 1,400 meters and at dis-
tances ranging from a minus -100 to +2,500 meters, we find that both bodies of water maintain their in-
dividual temperatures and salinity. Although there are large waves, strong currents, and tides in these
seas, they do not mix or transgress this barrier.”
(Copied from
http://scienceislam.com/quran_seas_rivers.php.
There are hundreds of sites where the same thing is written over and over, e.g.
http://quran-m.com/firas/en1/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=253:the-description-of-the-barrier-
between-two-seas&catid=35:universe&Itemid=91 ,
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kurdistany/2262006089/ ,
http://www.quranandscience.com/earth/127-the-description-of-the-barrier-between-two-seas.html)
Refuting the claims

Firstly, I don’t actually need to refute these claims since I have already proved that the two verses are
scientifically inaccurate, rather contradicts scientific knowledge. But I am refuting the claims of the Is-
lamic apologists just to show that their claims are:

a) selective,
b) generalization of a selective phenomena(which suits best),
c) self-contradicting (they themselves have disproved Qur'an)
d) makes some wrong scientific claims
e) extremely misleading

a) Why selective?
Ask yourself. Why do they select the Strait of Gibraltar only? Why not for example Strait of Juan de
Fuca? Or any other place where two oceans meet? Did the verses mention about Strait of Gibraltar
only? I don’t think so. There are lots and lots of instances where two oceans or seas are meeting on this
earth. The answer is that they are trying to fool you. In oceanography, Strait of Gibraltar is a very rare
and thus interesting case. Such big density difference between two seas are usually very uncommon.
Because of this density difference, these two water bodies try to mix less than what they do under usual
circumstances.

b) Why Generalization of a selective phenomena (which suits best)?

I have highlighted a region in the section “The claims Islamic apologists make” with blue color. I am
restating it here:
“Modern Science has discovered that in the places where two different seas meet, there is a barrier
between them. This barrier divides the two seas so that each sea has its own temperature, salinity, and
density. [ Principles of Oceanography - Davis, pp. 92-93]

The apologists are generalizing the very special case of the Strait of Gibraltar and claiming that
whenever two seas meet, there is a barrier between them. This is an extreme falsehood. The book does-
n't claim anything like that . Also they distort the science to suit their claims. I will be discussing this in
details in (c) , (d) and (e).

c) Why self-contradicting and how they themselves disprove Qur'an?

Islamic Apologists know very well that the book they have cited is an old book (So you cannot double-
check its contents so easily). That is why I took the pain to scan those two pages and provide it to
you.
 Figure 6: The two pages (pg. 92 and 93) of Principles of Oceanography by Davis. Muslim apologists
cite these two pages.

So, we now have the two pages from the book. Great! Now lets see what the Muslim apologists claim:

“Modern Science has discovered that in the places where two different seas meet, there is a barrier
between them. This barrier divides the two seas so that each sea has its own temperature, salinity, and
density. [ Principles of Oceanography - Davis, pp. 92-93]”

One will certainly ask: what is the definition of barrier in this context? The book says that “...Gibraltar
sill serves as a partial barrier” (go to the right half of Figure 6 and look at line 4 underlined with red).
Keep this in mind for sometime.
Now, let's have a deep look at Figure 6 and try to find whether the book claims anything similar to the
text highlighted by blue (the claim made by apologists) . Did the book claim that in the places when
two seas meet, there is a barrier between them? No, never.(By now you already know that
Thermohaline Circulation (THC) drives the ocean circulation. So if there were barriers in the places
where two seas meet, how could THC work?) Rather, the book is explaining something different in
these two pages. It's explaining something called “Water Masses”. (What is Water Mass?: An
oceanographic water mass is an identifiable body of water which has physical properties distinct from
surrounding water. Properties include temperature, salinity, chemical - isotopic ratios, and other
physical quantities. Ref: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_mass). So this passage is actually
describing how water mass is produced at the Gibraltar sill and how barriers like Gibraltar sill
help in production of water masses.

I am quoting another claim made the the Islamic apologists:

“Although there are large waves, strong currents, and tides in these seas, they do not mix or
transgress this barrier.”

Lets see what the book says (see Figure 6). On the left page (pg. 92), I have underlined few words in
red which says “without appreciable mixing”. Does “they do not mix” and “without appreciable
mixing” have same meaning?

Next, we see at the best part. Apologists claim that that they (meaning Mediterranean and Atlantic)
do not transgress this barrier (barrier means Gibraltar sill as defined in the book). They show
Figure 5 as their claim. So, let's check that claim. Let's have a look at Figure 5. This figure is taken
from Islamic websites (for references see section “The claims Islamic Apologists make”). The original
version of the figure is in pg 93 of the book by Davis (see Figure 6). The figures are same! That's great,
Muslim apologists are honest about it. But wait, the story is incomplete. What surprised me is that in
none of those Islamic websites, I found a proper caption to the figure. Surprise! Surprise! Just have a
look at the caption to the diagram in Figure 6. It says “Mediterranean sea water as it enters the
Atlantic over the Gibraltar sill”. That means Mediterranean water has “transgressed” or
“encroached” or “passed into” the Atlantic. It has not only “passed into” Atlantic, it has entered by a
long margin of few hundred kilometres (note that I am using the verbs in “ ” to highlight that the top
three English translators of Qur'an have used these verbs). This means that the figure which Muslim
apologists use to claim the scientific miracle of Qur'an on seas is actually a figure which
completely contradicts the claim. No wonder why they don't use the caption along with the figure.

So the Islamic Apologists have contradicted themselves completely and actually disproved the
Qur'anic verses. This is what happens when scientifically ignorant people based on blind faith
makes scientific claims. This is the fate of argument from ignorance.

d) What are those wrong scientific claims?

Two of their claims made in section “The claims Islamic apologists make” are scientifically wrong.
One is highlighted with blue color and the other with orange color.

Wrong Claim 1: (In blue) “....in the places where two different seas meet, there is a barrier between
them” and they cite Principles of Oceanography - Davis, pp. 92-93. The book says that “...Gibraltar sill
serves as a partial barrier” (go to the right half of Figure 6 and look at line 4 underlined with red). The
book never claims that when two seas meet, there will be a barrier (please take your time and
read each and every line of Figure 6). Even the barrier at Gibraltar is partial. So this way the Islamic
aplogists distort scientific facts. If there were always a barrier when two seas meet, there wouldn't be
any Thermohaline Circulation (Figure 2).

Wrong Claim 2: (In orange) They claim that “...they do not mix.”, i.e. Mediterranean and Atlantic do
not mix. This is wrong. The book itself doesn't claim that (another example of distortion of scientific
fact). The book uses these words “without appreciable mixing”. Whenever there is a flow as shown in
Figure 5, it is bound to mix to a certain extent. Why? Whenever there is a flow over a sill like this, it
will cause an internal hydraulic jump on the propagating Mediterranean sea front. This hydraulic jump
will cause mixing. Also there are various instability mechanisms, primarily Kelvin Helmholtz instabil-
ity that will cause mixing. If all these sound really difficult, I give you an easy answer. There is a fam-
ous article published on the mixing in the strait of Gibraltar. The article is:
Wesson, J. C., and Gregg, M. C. (1994), Mixing at Camarinal Sill in the Strait of Gibraltar, J. Geophys.
Res., 99(C5), 9847–9878

Notice the name of the article “Mixing...at the Strait of Gibraltar”. This article has been cited 101
times till date. An excerpt from the article is “Here we examine the mechanisms of control at the sill
and the intense mixing they produce.” (pg. 9847). So fellow Islamic apologists, please do your home-
work.

e) Why extremely misleading?

This is a question of academic ethics. If one cites some academic material, then he/she should represent
what is in that citation. Distortion of scientific facts in this way is going to damage the society,
especially the Islamic society. People will learn wrong things and will claim those as scientific facts
and eternal truths. If you see this video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FuOX23yXhZ8), you will
see that school students in US are learning what the actual science in the ocean is. But if the muslims
continue to make up science just to prove that Qur'an is from God and thus their religion is superior,
then common Muslim students will be misled. Isn't it detrimental?

iv) My advise

Lets see what are the factors which makes us vulnerable to be cheated
a) Majority of people knows very little beyond their own subject
b) Many people thinks science is difficult and confusing
c) Majority of people although has common sense doesn't bother to apply it
d) You are already gullible, you want to be cheated by them
So how they cheat you in general?
a) Using scientific terms without explaining (and at times they themselves don't understand that).
b) Distorting facts
c) Using non sequitur logic. This means that to prove something, they will tell you many true facts but
none of those facts have anything with that proof. Thus you will be confused.
d) Ignore history. Many of the claims in Qur'an are actually the common believes at that time. So,
please dig into the history.
e) They use fallacious logic and argument from ignorance.
f) They take the advantage of vague words. For example, the word “heaven” can mean anything..from
seven heavens (seven layers of atmosphere) to universe to the place where people go when die. Such
vague words have no place in science.

My suggestion to Muslim students: don't believe in the claims made by Islamic apologists on the
scientific miracles of Qur'an. If you have the courage to learn the truth, first go to the references which
they cite. You will find yourself that they are cheating you.