How did "an atom's weight" come to be mentioned in translations of the Qur'an?

IslamWeb lists Qur'an 10:61 as a miracle of the Qur'an (*That matter is made up of sub-atomic particles (chapter 10, verse 61)*.). The verse is: > وَمَا تَكُونُ فِي شَأْنٍ وَمَا تَتْلُو مِنْهُ مِن قُرْآنٍ وَلَا تَعْمَلُونَ مِنْ عَمَلٍ إِلَّا كُنَّا عَلَيْكُمْ شُهُودًا إِذْ تُفِيضُونَ فِيهِ وَمَا يَعْزُبُ عَن رَّبِّكَ مِن **مِّثْقَالِ ذَرَّةٍ** فِي الْأَرْضِ وَلَا فِي السَّمَاءِ وَلَا أَصْغَرَ مِن ذَٰلِكَ وَلَا أَكْبَرَ إِلَّا فِي كِتَابٍ مُّبِينٍ

> And, [O Muhammad], you are not [engaged] in any matter or recite any of the Qur'an and you [people] do not do any deed except that We are witness over you when you are involved in it. And not absent from your Lord is any [part] of **an atom's weight** within the earth or within the heaven or [anything] smaller than that or greater but that it is in a clear register.
> Qur'an 10:61 ; other English translations are at Islam Awakened The relevant Arabic words are (translations from Wiktionary): - مثقال (miṯqāl) = weight (physical object) - ذرة (ḏarra) = atom; tiny particle, speck, mote Clearly the word ذرة in the Qur'an predates atomic theory , which began scientific development circa 1800. This leads me to my question: **Question**: How did "an atom's weight" come to be mentioned in translations of the Qur'an? Searching quran.com for ذرة reveals it is also mentioned in: - Qur'an 99:7-8 , *So whoever does an atom's weight of good will see it, And whoever does an atom's weight of evil will see it.*; - Qur'an 4:40 , *Allah does not do injustice, [even] as much as an atom's weight*; - Qur'an 34:3 , *Not absent from Him is an atom's weight within the heavens or within the earth or [what is] smaller than that or greater, except that it is in a clear register*; and - Qur'an 34:22 , *They do not possess an atom's weight [of ability] in the heavens or on the earth*. Searching sunnah.com for ذرة reveals it is also mentioned in: - Sahih al-Bukhari , which describes Qur'an 99:7-8 being revealed, although this translation says *weight of an atom (or a smallest ant)*; - Muwatta Malik , *A'isha said, 'Are you amazed? How many atoms' weights do you see in this grape?' " (referring to Sura 99 ayat 7).* There's probably other sources I have not found. Searching the Islam-critical site WikiIslam.com for atom did not yield anything relevant; they usually have pages for "debunking" claims of miracles in the Qur'an. (*Meta comment*: I proposed this as a draft question (here ), although I feel like I've mostly answered it in researching the topic. Thus, I'll post that as an answer below. Perhaps someone can give a better answer.)