The “God of the Gaps” fallacy and the Koran
“Grace” and “Command”
Lokman-31 Seest thou not that the ships sail through the ocean by the Grace of Allah?- that He may show you of His Signs? Verily in this are Signs for all who constantly persevere and give thanks.
In this verse it is told that “ships are sailing with the grace of God”. If carefully read it will be easy to catch that it is not stated as float. Floating is based on the laws of nature. But the sailing is bound to this law of nature and the “grace”. This “grace” is the wind. Blowing of the wind is an example of the chaotic order and having this chaotic order as a benefit to human beings is a grace of God. The verse below is referring to the “command” of God for the buoyancy of water and its importance in this matter.
Rum-46 Among His Signs is this, that He sends the Winds, as heralds of Glad Tidings, giving you a taste of His Mercy,- that the ships may sail by His Command and that ye may seek of His Bounty: in order that ye may be grateful.
Alternation of Night and Day
Nur-44 It is Allah Who alternates the Night and the Day: verily in these things is an instructive example for those who have vision! Furkan-62 And it is He Who made the Night and the Day to follow each other: for such as desire to be mindful or to show their gratitude. Neml-86 See they not that We have made the Night for them to rest in and the Day to give them light? Verily in this are Signs for any people that believe! Yunus-6 Verily, in the alternation of the night and the day, and in all that Allah hath created, in the heavens and the earth, are Signs for those who fear Him.
Yunus-67 He it is that hath made you the night that ye may rest therein, and the day to make things visible (to you). Verily in this are Signs for those who listen (to His Message).
Nahl-12 He has made subject to you the Night and the Day; the sun and the moon; and the stars are in subjection by His Command: verily in this are Signs for men who are wise.
Ali Ýmran-190 Behold! In the creation of the heavens and the earth, and the alternation of night and day,- there are indeed Signs for men of understanding, Casiye-5 And in the alternation of Night and Day, and the fact that Allah sends down Sustenance from the sky, and revives therewith the earth after its death, and in the change of the winds,- are Signs for those that are wise.
In these verses, alternation of night and daytime of the earth is attributed to God and set forth as a sign. Moreover, in some of these verses, the nature of the sign in this alternation is explained.
Alternation of night and daytime as in the case of the earth is not a necessity. Furthermore, such an alternation may have never existed. The very example of this is in the sky. Those having basic knowledge about the moon surely know that one face of the moon is permanently toward the world whereas the other is permanently opposite which is never seen from the world and the reason of this is the fact that rotation of the moon around its axis takes the same time with its one full rotation around the earth.
If the same case had occurred also for the world and the sun, one face of the world would have been permanently bright, i.e. daytime, whereas the other permanently dark, i.e. nighttime. Another example is the day and night of the planet Mercury. One day in this planet equals to some 50 world-days. However, the case for the world is not like any one of these examples and night and day continuously follows each other within a period of 24 hours. Surely, there are reasons for this. However, these reasons are by no means necessity, and a clear mind can see God beyond them or a disbeliever may explain this solely based upon coincidences.
Additionally, the Koran already explains what kind of a sign/lesson is in the alternation of day and night: Perfect match of the night and day durations with creatures! If night and daytimes of the world had been as in the case of Mercury, i.e. a day corresponds to some 50 days, what would be our situation?