Tank Armor Piercing in the Quran
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WikiIslam Archive,
Archives of the first iteration of WikiIslam, prior to acquisition and revamp by Ex-Muslims of North America
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According to some Islamic apologists, the Quran predicted that you will not be victorious, because your tank will be bombarded with high-explosive anti-tank warhead. Apologists didn't explain who "you" is referring to. The sources for their scientific claims are Wikipedia and a website of an online game called "World of Tanks".
The "miracle"
A high-explosive anti-tank (HEAT) warhead is a type of shaped charge explosive that uses the Munroe effect to penetrate thick tank armor. The warhead functions by having the explosive charge collapse a metal liner inside the warhead into a high-velocity superplastic jet. This superplastic jet is capable of penetrating armor steel to a depth of seven or more times the diameter of the charge but is usually used to immobilize or destroy tanks. Wikipedia, High-explosive anti-tank warhead, 2019
Contrary to popular belief, HEAT rarely reaches above 600°C and is incapable of melting treated steels, which can easily withstand temperatures of 1400°C. It is the sheer pressure from the explosion that pushes through the armour, projecting inside the tank a blast of copper fragments from the liner that was holding the charge together. World of Tanks, Anti-Tank Rounds, 2019
The explosion pushes and reshapes the copper liner and this is what actually penetrates into the armor. However this armor-piercing technique was portrayed in the Quran 1400 years before it was discovered.
Quran [55.35] You will be bombarded with projectiles of fire and copper, and you shall not be victorious.
Projectiles of fire and copper turned out to be an armor-piercing technique.
How could an illiterate man who lived 1400 years ago have known about armor-piercing?
The verse
This is the apologetic translation:
You will be bombarded (يرسل عليكما, yursalu alaykumaa) with projectiles (شواظ, shuwaaz) of fire and copper (نحاس, nuhaas), and you shall not be victorious.
yursalu means "to send", not "to bombard". From the same word we have the word rasul. Muhammad is rasul ("messenger") of Allah. The messages are sent to him, not bombarded on him. The verse 55:35 is usually translated with the word "send":
Yusuf Ali: On you will be sent (O ye evil ones twain!) a flame of fire (to burn) and a smoke (to choke): no defence will ye have:
Sahih International: There will be sent upon you a flame of fire and smoke, and you will not defend yourselves.
Muhsin Khan: There will be sent against you both, smokeless flames of fire and (molten) brass, and you will not be able to defend yourselves.
Pickthall: There will be sent, against you both, heat of fire and flash of brass, and ye will not escape.
shuwaaz means "flame", not "projectiles". The four translations above translated it as "flame" or "heat". It was also the interpretation of Ibn Abbas:
Ali bin Abi Talhah reported from Ibn `Abbas that Shuwaz is the flame of fire
The word nuhaas means "copper" in modern dictionary, but it is usually not understood as copper in the translations of the verse, although it is one of interpretations:
(and Nuhas) `Ali bin Abi Talhah reported from Ibn `Abbas; "The smoke of the fire. Similar was reported from Abu Salih, Sa`id bin Jubayr and Abu Sinan. Ibn Jarir said that the Arabs used to call the smoke of the fire, Nuhas and Nihas. But he said that the scholars of Qur'anic recitation said that in this Ayah, the word recited is Nuhas. Mujahid said, "Molten brass poured over their heads. Qatadah held the same view. Ad-Dahhak said,"Nuhas is liquid copper. The Ayah means, `if you, mankind and the Jinns, try to escape on the Day of Resurrection, then the angels, including those among them who guard Hellfire, will bring you back by directing smoke of fire and molten brass on you.
The meaning
The apologists interpret the verse to mean "You will not be successful, because your tank will be bombarded by high-explosive anti-tank warhead", but they didn't explain who is "you". Is it a message for the Muslims? They will lose?
The verse contains pronouns and verbs in the dual form, so it most probably refers to previous verses in which men and jinns are mentioned. It is explicitly expressed in Muhsin Khan translation:
55:31 We shall attend to you, O you two classes (jinns and men)!
55:32 Then which of the Blessings of your Lord will you both (jinns and men) deny?
55:33 O assembly of jinns and men! If you have power to pass beyond the zones of the heavens and the earth, then pass (them)! But you will never be able to pass them, except with authority (from Allah)!
55:34 Then which of the Blessings of your Lord will you both (jinns and men) deny?
55:35 There will be sent against you both, smokeless flames of fire and (molten) brass, and you will not be able to defend yourselves.
So are men and jinns going to ride in tanks and be bombarded by high-explosive anti-tank warheads? And against whom will they wage war? War with tanks against god? And god will use high-explosive anti-tank warheads? Apologists didn't explain.
It's much more probable that the verse refers to the previous verse 55:33 which says men and jinn can't pass beyond the zones of the heavens. And if they try it, flames of fire and brass will be sent on them. Or the already mentioned interpretation of Ibn Kathir: "if you, mankind and the Jinns, try to escape on the Day of Resurrection, then the angels, including those among them who guard Hellfire, will bring you back by directing smoke of fire and molten brass on you".
