Did the Noble Quran really say that the sun sets and rises on the earth??
The sections of this article are:
1- The Noble Quran's Divine Claims and detailed analysis
about them.
2- The Prophecies of the Iron Gates did come true, and the Iron Gates were
found!
3- The Miracles and Prophecies of the Noble Quran which prove its
Divinity.
4- Conclusion.
1- The Noble Quran's Divine Claims and detailed analysis about them:
Before we start, we have to first of all know that the Noble Quran does contain Divine Figurative Speech and Parables in it, as I documented many of It in good details, and it does contain speech that has to be taken literally such as the Divine Scientific Claims about how GOD Almighty Created things. In this article, we will examine whether certain Noble Verses were meant to be Figurative Speech or Literal One.
Let us look at the following Noble Verses from the Noble Quran. Please pay close attention to the bolded and underlined parts.
Let us look at Noble Verses 18:83-110:
83. They ask thee concerning Zul-qarnain [or Dhul-qarnain]. Say, 'I will rehearse to
you something of his story.'
84. Verily We established his power on earth, and We gave him the ways and the means to
all ends.
85. One (such) way he followed,
86. Until, when he reached the setting of the sun, he found it set in a spring
of murky water: Near it he found a People: We said: 'O Zul-qarnain! (thou
hast authority,) either to punish them, or to treat them with kindness.'
87. He said: 'Whoever doth wrong, him shall we punish; then shall he be sent back to his
Lord; and He will punish him with a punishment unheard-of (before).
88. But whoever believes, and works righteousness,- he shall have a goodly reward, and
easy will be his task as We order it by our Command.'
89. Then followed he (another) way,
90. Until, when he came to the rising of the sun, he found it rising on a
people for whom We had provided no covering protection against the sun.
91. (He left them) as they were: We completely understood what was before him.
92. Then followed he (another) way,
93. Until, when he reached (a tract) between two mountains, he found, beneath them, a
people who scarcely understood a word.
94. They said: 'O Zul-qarnain! the Gog and Magog (People) do great mischief on earth:
shall we then render thee tribute in order that thou mightest erect a barrier between us
and them?'
95. He said: '(The power) in which my Lord has established me is better (than tribute):
Help me therefore with strength (and labour): I will erect a strong barrier between you
and them:
96. Bring me blocks of iron.' At length, when he had filled up the space
between the two steep mountain-sides, He said, 'Blow (with your bellows)' Then, when he
had made it (red) as fire, he said: 'Bring me, that I may pour over it, molten lead.'
97. Thus were they made powerless to scale it or to dig through it.
98. He said: 'This is a mercy from my Lord: But when the promise of my Lord comes to pass,
He will make it into dust; and the promise of my Lord is true.'
99. On that day We shall leave them to surge like waves on one another: the trumpet will
be blown, and We shall collect them all together.
100. And We shall present Hell that day for Unbelievers to see, all spread out,-
101. (Unbelievers) whose eyes had been under a veil from remembrance of Me, and who had
been unable even to hear.
There are several points and proofs to notice here:
1- The sun had always risen from the east and set in the west in a constant circular motion. To our human perspective, the sun had always rose from the east, and set in the west, and then goes under the earth to rise back from the east and so on.
2- The sun could not physically set on a lake or Spring, because that area of water could not have space or hole under it where the sun would go through it to then go under the earth so it would rise back up again from the east.
3- Not a single Muslim scholar interpreted this Noble Verse as the SUN SETTING INSIDE THE Murky spring water.
4- On the contrary in point #3, the Muslim scholars were
the first to recognize earth as a spherical globe.
5- If the verses were to be taken literally,
then the sun would have to set in the west, and would have to then rise back from the
west, and then set in the east and then rise back from the east and so on.
Did the sun ever rise from
the west?
Did the sun ever bounce back and forth between the east and the west in its rising and setting?
6- If we take the above Noble Verses LITERALLY,
then this means that the sun would have to bounce back and forth between the west and the
east.
7- While the Noble Verses above don't give specific timing on how long it took Zul-Qarnayn to roam through the lands, but people back then were believed to do a lot of traveling on foot. While they didn't have the convenient and time-saving transportation that we have today, but nonetheless, they did travel through the lands without a problem. They were very physical in their life styles and they were able to build so much resistance against tiredness.
8- Clearly, the setting of the sun, is a figurative speech (see examples of Noble Verses) indicating that he reached a town with a spring or lake in it, and he meditated through the beautiful view of the setting of the sun on that town.
9- Some might say that the Noble Verse meant to say that the sun set on a place or through a hole near that Spring. In this case, this interpretation had refuted their "Literal Speech" interpretation, because they now had NULLIFIED their point and fixed position about the sun setting exactly in that murky lake or spring. Since they now agree that it doesn't NECESSARILY mean that the sun literally set on the water, then the "setting through a hole near the water" claim is only an interpretation without clear cut certainty and proofs. See the sections below regarding the mentioned Iron Gates (only mentioned in the Noble Quran and no where else) were indeed found, and see the Scientific and Divine Miracles in the Noble Quran along with the modern scientific proofs confirming their Truthfulness.
Having established point #9,
we now can indisputably say that the Speech in the above Noble Verses is Figurative
and not Literal. Otherwise, we are left with the explanation of why the sun never
rose from the west. Not even once.
2- The Prophecies of the Iron Gates did come true, and the Iron Gates were found!
To further support my proofs above, it is important to know that the Iron Gates were found, and the description that the Noble Quran Gave perfectly matched their geographic location. I have detailed explanations and proofs about this in the following article:
The story of Gog and Magog and the Iron Gates in the Noble Quran.
3- The Miracles and Prophecies of the Noble Quran which prove its Divinity:
From www.answering-christianity.com/sci_quran.htm:
Allah Almighty promising to show us His Miracles in the outside Universe and in our Embryology:
"We will soon show them Our signs in the Universe and INSIDE THEIR SELVES, until it will become quite clear to them that it is the truth. Is it not sufficient as regards your Lord that He is a witness over all things? (The Noble Quran, 41:53)"
Very Important Discovery:
A new star forming out of a cloud of gas and dust (nebula), which is one of the remnants
of the "smoke" that was the origin of the
whole universe. (The Space Atlas, Heather and Henbest, page 50)
Allah Almighty said: "Then He turned to the heaven when it was smoke...(The Noble Quran, 41:11)"
The Noble
Quran on the Origin of the Universe
Only Islam claims that the universe was originated from Dust
and Hot Gas, or Smoke.
Another Very Important Discovery:
Allah Almighty Said: "And when
the heaven splitteth asunder and becometh ROSY LIKE RED HIDE - (The Noble Quran, 55:37)"
What Allah Almighty is Saying here is that when
Galaxies explode, they form a red-rose-shaped explosion. He
is also telling us that the Universe will all turn into red exploded galaxies
looking like red or reddish roses when the Day of Judgement
happens.
In the Arabic Noble Verse, "wardatan"
was translated as "ROSY"
above. The root word "WARDA" in
Arabic LITERALLY means "ROSE" or "FLOWER".
The "tan" at the end of "wardatan" is
not part of the word. It is only an Arabic PUNCTUATION that only changes the sound
of the word for grammatical rules. It is pronounced as "ten",
with the "a" being short. The reason why the above word was not written as
"wardaten" is because in many parts of the world, the English word
"ten" (number 10) is pronounced as "tin". Only the
American-English pronounce the "e" as a short "a". Most of the
world uses the British-English system and they pronounce the "e" as
"i", and the "o" as it is, such as "stop" pronounced as
"stope". The American-English pronounces the "o" as a
thick "a". Also, if we were to add two Arabic characters,
"alif" and "noon" at the end of "warda", it would change the
pronunciation to "taan" (wardataan), and it then becomes
two "wardas"; plural.
****
Explosion of Galaxies can not be seen with the naked eye. It also can not be seen
with regular telescopes. You need the special Government-owned and NASA-owned
"Hubble Space" Super Telescope. The point from all of this is that
Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him could not have come up with any of this on his own 1500
years ago!
Dr. Zahlool Al-Najjar is a great Muslim
Geologist and Scientist who wrote many
books, publications (131 publications as shown on his
resume in English), and
10s of journals and reports proving many of the Noble Quranic Geological and
Scientific Claims to be accurate through Modern Science and Technologies.
He is well known in the
Scientists community of Geology in both the US and
Europe, because much of his work and research, especially during his early
days of scientific research, was done in these countries while he
resided and
studied in them.
Science in Islam:
The sub sections here are:
1- Life originated from water and dust
in the Noble Quran.
2- The Earth's rotation, formation, and Oceanology.
3- The Universe, Astronomy, UFOs and Space Shuttles.
4- Embryology, Human Anatomy, Formation, and Creation from the time of sexual
intercourse to the time of birth.
5- The number 19 code in the Noble Quran.
6- Medicine, Insects and Animals.
7- Psychology.
8- Great Web Sites and Online Books. More great resources and web site are available online.
9- Rebuttals.
10- Prophecies.
1- Life originated from water and dust in the Noble Quran:
Life originated from water in the Noble Quran.
2- The Earth's rotation, formation and Oceanology:
The Noble Quran confirms that the earth is rotating around its axle.
Allah Almighty said that the earth is "egg-shaped".
The Earth is round according to Islam.
Did the Noble Quran really say that the sun sets and rises on the earth?
| The amazing
creation of earth and iron in the Noble Quran. Iron
came from space, and the Noble Quran mentioned it. The 7 properties of earth in the Noble Quran and Science. Read the first section of the article. Rebuttal to the "Heaven" and "Stars in the lower Heaven" in Noble Verses 37:6 and 65:12. Read the "Rebuttals" section in the article. This was an attempt to refute the fact that Allah Almighty Claimed that He Created 7 Ozone Layers as well as 7 different Heavens. The dead turning into Fossils and Iron. The Noble Quran Claimed it, and Science today Confirmed it!
http://www.universalunity.net/iron.htm This article shows the Mathematical Codes of Iron in the Noble Quran and Science, and shows how Science confirmed Allah Almighty's Divine Claim in Noble Verses 17:49-50 about the dead converting into rocks and iron. In case the web site is down, you can access the article on my site. http://www.universalunity.net/iron2.htm More elaborations on Noble Verses 17:49-51. In case the web site is down, you can access the article on my site. |
Living
Creatures were sent down from space. Science confirms the Noble Quran's Claim.
The amazing creation of earth and mountains in the Noble Quran. Science confirms that mountains prevent the earth from shaking while it is revolving around itself. The Noble Quran made a similar claim.
Geology in the Noble Quran - See the Scientific confirmation.
Oceanology in the Noble Quran - See the Scientific confirmation. The barriers between waters in both science and the Noble Quran.
3- The Universe, Astronomy, UFOs and Space Shuttles:
The amazing creation of earth and iron in the Noble Quran. Iron came from space, and the Noble Quran mentioned it.
Living Creatures were sent down from space. Science confirms the Noble Quran's Claim.
The Noble Quran and Astronomers both claim that the Universe is 18 billion years old.
The Big Bang Theory and the Cosmic Crunch in the Noble Quran. Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him predicted around the time when the Cosmic Crunch occurs, the Sun would rise from the West.
The Noble Quran on the Origin of the Universe. This article has pictures and quotes from Western scientific books that accurately confirm the astronomical claims of the Noble Quran. The Noble Quran was the only book that claimed that the universe originated from Hot Gas or Smoke. Science proved that this claim is true.
Comparison between Allah Almighty's claims about His Creation, and the scientific discoveries that 100% agree with Him. Claims such as: The universe is expanding, the existence of the sun's orbit, the protective atmosphere to the earth, Embryology and many more.
The "Clot" and the Creation of the Universe in the Noble Quran.
Is there mention of U.F.Os or other Human Planets in the Noble Quran?
Einstein's time relativity in the Noble Quran.
UFOs and Space Shuttles were explicitly mentioned in the Noble Quran! Even the communication with UFOs was prophesied in the Noble Quran.
Aliens and UFOs in the Noble Quran.
Black Holes and Piercing Stars in the Noble Quran were confirmed by Science.
4- Embryology, Human Anatomy, Formation and Creation from the time of sexual intercourse to the time of birth:
The Noble Quran on Human Embryonic Development.
Embryology in the Noble Quran. The three stages of the fetus formation in the Noble Quran and Science.
Abortion in Islam is a crime! The fetus is a human child in Islam.
The Noble Quran on the Cerebrum: Lying is generated from the person's forehead.
The region in the brain that controls our movements - In Noble Quran and confirmed by Science.
Sex determination and human creation in Islam. Allah Almighty and Prophet Muhammad both claimed that the human gender is determined by the male's ejaculated semen.
Were human cloning and gender alteration prophesied in Islam?
Why does the Noble Quran, while speaking about determination of the identity of the individual, speak specifically about finger tips? The Noble Quran recognized that finger tips (finger prints) are unique!
The blood circulation and the production of milk in the Breast: In the Noble Quran and Science.
Breastfeeding for 2 years in the Noble Quran. Science had confirmed Islam's Divine Claims.
Thinking with the heart besides the brain in the Noble Quran was proven by Science.
5- The number 19 code in the Noble Quran:
The Miracle of the number 19 in the Noble Quran. Yes, the number 19 is miraculous in the Noble Quran and was proven to be essential in many of the Scientific Theories and Discoveries. But it doesn't at all support Rashad Khalifa's removal of two Noble Verses from the Noble Quran, and his claim to be GOD Almighty's Messenger.
6- Medicine, Insects and Animals:
Animals' urine and it's relationship to medicine in Islam.
Camels could help cure humans.
Honey was proven to be healing for humans as was mentioned in the Noble Quran.
The fly insect and its cure: Mentioned in Islam and confirmed by Science (Bacteriophages).
7- Psychology:
The psychological Wisdom of Prayers in Islam was proven in Science and Psychology.
The Wisdom of the age of 40 in the Noble Quran, which had been Scientifically and Psychologically proven to be True. See why Allah Almighty is more forgiving to those who are under the age of 40, and how Science and Psychology proved that people under 40 are less mature and tend to make more irresponsible decisions (i.e., mistakes and sins).
8- Great Web Sites:
http://www.it-is-truth.org/ This is an awesome web site that has Western scientific information that accurately confirms the Noble Quran's claims about astronomy, biology, geology and other sciences.
http://www.universalunity.net/universe.htm A great site with excellent articles that are backed quotes and proofs about science in the Noble Quran.
Brother Muhammad Asadi's web site IS RICH with irrefutable scientific facts and details
that match many of the Noble Quran's Verses. He has done a wonderful job in
explaining things in good details and providing detailed OBJECTIVE analysis that prove the
Noble Quran's Scientific Miracles. You can visit his web site at: http://www.rationalreality.com.
A great book that contains several articles backed by good Scientific references that
prove several of the Noble Quran's Scientific Miracles. http://www.islam-guide.com/.
http://www.harunyahya.com/
http://www.harunyahya.com/c_refutation_darwinism.php
http://www.harunyahya.com/c_refutation_atheism.php
http://www.harunyahya.com/c_design_nature.php
Miracles of the
Noble Quran. Video files.
http://www.harunyahya.com/c_miracles_quran.php
http://www.harunyahya.com/c_quran_archaeology.php
http://www.harunyahya.com/c_myth_called_matter.php
The Bible, the Quran and Science. Written by Dr Maurice Bucaille. In his work, Dr. Baucille proves that the Quran correctly stated scientific facts unknown at the time of the Prophet - showing its divine origin!
A web site for the number 19 miracle in the Noble Quran.
Evaluating Islam as a Religion based on Divine Revelation.
Quran Prior to Science and Civilization, Astro, Islam, Mlivo.
Black Holes and Piercing Stars in the Noble Quran were confirmed by Science.
9- Rebuttals:
Does the Noble Quran support "The Earth moves around the Sun" theory? Rebuttal to Mr. Avijit Roy's challenge.
My rebuttal to Avijit Roy's "Does the Quran support the Earth moves around the Sun theory" response.
My rebuttal to Avijit Roy's "Does Quran have any Scientific miracles?" article.
Did the Noble Quran really say that the sun sets and rises on the earth?
A Muslim response to criticism of Embryology in the Noble Quran. By Nadeem Arif Najmi.
Allah Almighty said that the earth is "egg-shaped". Rebuttal to the Christian "Answering Islam" team about "dahaha" in the Noble Quran.
10- Prophecies:
Please visit The Noble Quran section, and read the "Prophecies" sub section to see the great Prophecies that were fulfilled only in the Noble Quran. The Noble Quran also made mention and promised the discovery of lost ancient cities and people's bodies, and these promises were all fulfilled today.
4- Conclusion:
Given the fact that the Noble Verses in question could have both possibilities of a literal and figurative speech (see examples of Noble Verses) interpretations, and given the fact that the Prophecies in the Noble Verses were fulfilled, and the Iron Gates that were only mentioned in the Noble Quran and not in any other book such as the Bible were found, we can only conclude that the Divine Speech was indeed Figurative and not Literal.
Otherwise, the critics would have to explain to us why the sun, that supposedly
literally set inside the murky spring, never rose back up again from the west?
How come the sun never bounced back and forth between the west and the east in its
risings and settings?
And why should we accept only the Literal Speech interpretation, when the Noble Quran is FILLED with ample Figurative Speech in it? (click here)
Why can't the above Noble Verses be another set of Figurative Noble Verses??
Back to the Science Miracles in the Noble Quran and Islam.
The Noble Quran confirms that the earth is rotating around itself.
Rebuttals, and exposing the lies of the Answering Islam team section.
Rebuttals to Avijit Roy articles.
The story of Gog and Magog and the Iron Gates in the Noble Quran.