The moon split is the whole reason i ended up researching Islam and got stuck in this mess and started doubting religion ...
Everybody falsely attributing the moons several fault lines of the moon to the Prophet and claiming NASA confirmed it when they actually denied it got "Split/divided" Into two separate pieces. Which was the biggest slap to Islam from Jews/Atheists and ZombieChrists. in my opinion.
But on one side you have muslims that claim the prophet didn't do it as miracles were for the times before which were rejected.
So i decided to take research into my own hands and make sure Muslims weren't "Cherry picking" themselves away from an error.
POINT 1 : When i analyse Surat Al Qamar. Not once do you see it saying specifically that "Muhammad split the moon". His name is not even mentioned in the chapter !
POINT 2: There are several prophet Miracles mentioned in the quran in PRECISE EXPLICIT DETAIL that Prophet Eisa or Musa did so and so. So the Quran would not be vague on this issue.
Point 3 : The word used for the moon incident was inshaqqa. Not INQASAMA or FAFAQNNAHA or FARAQNAHA which mean FULL DIVISION. Nor was PIECES even mentioned.. nor was one side here and one side there.
Point 4: In the light of all this. You will still find some scholars who claim that inshaqqa refers to full split. So i said what better way to prove them wrong than with the QURAN itself. In several verses you will find.. ( i had them in my gallery but my phones board literally died 3 days ago) You will find several verses which use THE SAME WORD INSHAQQA. FOR THE EARTH !!! In regards to the earth splits and water comes out and trees for fruits and so forth I'll try to find them soon cause i had many examples.
But does that mean... THE EARTH LITERALLY SPLIT IN TWO OH MY GOD ? Simple answer. No.
And several SURAHS use the words for FULL DIVISIONS AND SEPARATIONS that could've easily been used for the moon and were not.
If this were the case then why have older reliable scholars of the past said that he split it into two ?
Osama had already pointed out that they were not direct eye witnesses. I'm not saying Ibn Abbas is a liar. I'm saying they've explained the quran in the best possible way they can at the time. The fact that these Hadiths were not from direct eye witnesses and surprisingly enough those hadiths also contradict each other. They don't hold much weight. (one says two pieces then the other says one side here and one side here then one says the prophet flew up) They don't add up at all.
My friend's psychological professor at the Uni of Guelph gave a lecture regarding how we think if someone is from a prestigious school we just assume they're right about everything when their knowledge is extremely limited. Many tests have shown these professors knowledge is limited to a very specific topic.
At this point it's safe to say he didn't. I remember telling myself i would not be a muslim if the quran truly said the prophet did it. but little to my knowledge... and from all the bashing islam got from it... NOWHERE DOES IT SAY HE DID.
So what does that say about the surah ? All the surah is describing is the moons crack when ironically... It is freakking cracked. Which inshaqqa also means CRACKED. SPLIT also can make sense. BUT UNFORTUNATELY SOME TRANSLATIONS HAVE THE AUDACITY TO SAY INTO TWO PIECES WHICH IS MESSED UP.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1304627/Cracks-surface-Moon-reveal-closest-neighbour-actually-shrinking.htmlThe moon is clearly cracked and this is actually a damn miracle. But unfortunately people falsely attribute this to the prophet...
No cherrypicking or running around. Ive seen words in the quran itself that use the same word inshaqqah for earth and other words that mean full separation.
As for what scholars think about this. There are some scholars that say the prophet did not split the moon. You can find it under the splitting of the moon page of wikipedia.
I hope this helps because this topic was eating my brain for 8 months until i had to take matters into my own hands. Now some people might bash me and say im beating the bush or "trying" to side with science when in reality i have been an atheist before.. going back if the quran actually said he split it wouldnt have been a problem for me. BUT IT DIDNT. Therefore Allahuakbar. Most muslims dont like thinking outside the box and blindly follow other sheikhs.
I hope ive helped you brother.