The Moon Split?

(A Response to Sachiko
Tanaka)
By Christian Anarchist

So a while back, I started getting

into refuting Islams claims based
upon the Quran, Hadith and any
other type of argumentation that
needs a basis. So I eventually got
into a conversation with a Muslim
named Sachiko Tanaka, who was
quite unique. It was a Quran
Onlyist Muslim. He rejected the
hadiths and claimed the Quran

alone was sufficient for doctrine

and was scientifically accurate.
While he did refute me on the claim
about the Quran and sperm
reproduction, I noticed one
particular argument of his.
He claimed that one way to
prove the Quran is accurate with
science is the fulfilling of a
prophecy with science. Here is the
argument he sent me: One of the
signs can be found in the first
verse of the sura The Moon
(Qamar). The number of verses to
be counted from this verse to the
end of the Quran is 1389. The year
1389 in the Muslim calendar was
the year when man landed on the
moon for the first time. The Surah

starts right away by giving us news

about the splitting of the moon as
a sign that the end of the world is
drawing close. The moon has split
and the hour has drawn closer
(The Quran, 54:1). When did the
prophecy come to pass? To answer
that, one must keep the prophecy
in mind: The moon has split. Parts
of the moon have left its surface.
They no longer are part of the
moon. So, the prophecy does not
refer to the landing on the moon or
to the first step made by Neil
Armstrong but to the fact that
Armstrong and Aldrin collected 21
kilograms of lunar rocks to bring
back to earth. The prophecy was
fulfilled at the very moment the

astronauts left the moon in the

lunar module containing 21
kilograms of rocks that had
belonged to the moon. This can be
confirmed by checking the
definition of split in any
dictionary, among the definitions
given by Dictionary.com are to
divide, disunite, separate. The
date this prophecy came to pass
was on July 21 1969. The moment
the prophecy was fulfilled is
confirmed by the hour of departure
of the lunar module, which left the
lunar surface at 17:54:1 (Universal
Time) or 1:54:1 (EDT) and as you
have seen above, verse [54:1] is
the verse that deals with the
prophecy. Still not convinced? Lets

read the following verses after

(54:1) The moon has split and
the hour has drawn closer. Then
they saw a great miracle; but they
turned away and said, Old magic.
They disbelieved, followed their
opinions, and adhered to their old
traditions. (The Quran, from 54:1
to 54:3). Here, The Author of The
Quran specifically states the
moon has split, then people will
see a great miracle, yet they still
disbelieved. Could the great
miracle be the fulfillment of
prophecy?
So this argument is what we are
dealing with. Let us try breaking it
down one by one so we can deal
with the arguments inconsistency.

Before I begin, I should note that

he doesnt rely on most
translations due to them being
translated by hadithists. So in
order to refute him, I will use two
Qurans. Quran: A Reformist
Translation & The Message. I will
also avoid referring to the hadith
passages that comment on this
passage any further and stick
strictly with the Quran and its
content.
The first claim is The number of
verses to be counted from this
verse (54:1) to the end of the
Quran is 1389. The year 1389 in
the Muslim calendar was the year
when man landed on the moon for
the first time (1969). Now the

problem with this is that it

presupposes that the original
Muslims had kept a numbering
system in mind for verses?
However, just like the Tanakh and
New Testament, we dont see any
signs of these verse systems in the
manuscripts that date back to the
early periods. So whenever we look
at the mushafs or palimpsests of
the Quran, we only see the words
of the Quran, but no numerical
verse system. When this
numbering system came about, I
personally do not know.
However, whats also interesting
to point out is that the Quran then
has to deal with certain numbering
systems. His claim only deals with

the Qurans that do not have

certain numbering systems. Some
Quran translations differ on rather
or not to apply the Basmalah in
the beginning as a verse in the
chapter. However, one thing to
note is that both of Sachikos
preferred translations do put the
Basmalahs in the Quran as verses.
In fact, in the table of contents
page of the Reformist Translation,
we read the following: The sum of
all verses in the Quran is 6346
verses, including the 112
unnumbered Basmalahs (1).
When we add the numbers,
including the Basmalahs, we get
the following from the beginning
claim to the end of the quran:

1,448 verses. So show me where

in the Islamic Calendar it says that
we first landed or that the moon
was split.
The other problem is that if he
used the verse numbering system
without the Basmalahs, the actual
number of total verses would be
1,390 verses. So somewhere along
the way, Sachiko removed one.
This is similar to Dr. Caner
Taslaman, who made a similar
claim with his proposed amount of
verses and date in his book called
The Quran: Unchallengeable
Miracle. So was this accidental on
Sachikos behalf or was this was an
intentional change in the counting

so that he could make the Quran fit

with a prophecy?
The other problem is the claim
itself that this verse is referring to
a prophecy. Reading Surah 54:1
from the Reformist Translation, we
read this: The moment drew near,
and the moon was split. So the
Quran is being written here of a
past tense action. If it wanted to
read of a future prophecy ahead of
Muhammads time, it would have
said something along the lines of
the moment will draw near, and
the moon will be split. This can
by no means refer to a prophecy
since the actual Arabic tense of the
Quran is referring to a past tense
event. Meaning when Surah 54 was

written, the moon was already

split. At least according to the
Quran.
I could go into how the Arabic
word for split is referring to an
actual split, but for now, I think this
article has revealed enough
information that exposes Sachikos
inconsistency and errors. My advice
is that he works on the argument
he presents or that he leaves Islam
and converts to Christianity.

Sources/Citations

1) Yuksel, Edip, Layth Saleh. AlShaiban, and Martha SchulteNafeh, trans. Quran: A Reformist
Translation. United States of
America: Brainbow, 2007. (p.9)