**Wednesday, October 26, 2016
HAS ALLAH FABRICATED (DISTORTED) SCIENCE AND CREATION?
1. The Qur’an allegedly anticipated modern science:
It teaches that the sun and the moon each follow an orbit and revolve on their axis (Surah 21:33; 36:27–40). The Qur’an also supposedly teaches the Big Bang theory that caused the creation of the world (Surah 21:30; 51:47–48).
The Arabic word falak means “orbit.” Astronomers tell us that the sun revolves around the center of the galaxy once every 250 million years. The Arabic word yasbahuna (from sabaha) means “to swim,” but some Muslims claim it means “to rotate in its own course.”
Response: This is daydreaming for two reasons:
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The words are not clear:
Falak is an Arabic word that can mean path or flowing in a course, and yasbahuna can mean “to hurry,” even though its more straightforward meaning is “to swim.” -
Muhammad himself clearly told us what it means, and he meant that the sun and the moon travel above the earth, moving across a dome-like sky over the world.
There are two primary Islamic sources that record Muhammad’s explanation:
“God created a sea three farsakhs (18 km) from heaven. The clouds are restrained, standing in the air by God’s command. None of its water falls. The seas do not move, but the sea moves with the speed of an arrow. It has the freedom to move in the air with equal measure, as if it were a stretched rope between east and west. The sun, the moon, and the returning stars [the five planets] run in the depths of its belly. This is what the word of God means: ‘Each one swims in its orbit.’ ‘The sky’ is the circle of chariots pulled by horses in the depths of that sea.”
— Al-Tabari, vol. 1, p. 235.
Abu Dharr narrated:
“One evening the Prophet asked me, ‘Do you know where the sun goes when it sets?’ I replied, ‘Allah and His Messenger know best.’ He said, ‘It goes (that is, it travels) until it prostrates beneath the Throne, and it seeks permission to rise again, and it is permitted. But a time will come when it will want to prostrate but its prostration will not be accepted…’”
— Bukhari, vol. 4, book 54, chapter 4, no. 441, p. 283; Sahih Muslim, vol. 1, book 1, chapter 73, no. 297–300, pp. 95–96 (also gives a more detailed account).
2. The Qur’an describes the sun’s axis near the center of our galaxy
Response:
The sun does not have its own unique axis around the galaxy. If the Qur’an was truly teaching modern science, it would have said that the sun, moon, earth, and the retrograde planets all rotate together around a single galactic center.
Again, we know exactly what Muhammad meant, because he explained it, as recorded in Bukhari and Al-Tabari (references above).
3. The “resting place of the sun” supposedly refers to the sun shining on the other side of the earth
Response:
No. We know exactly what Muhammad meant, because he explained it — and Bukhari and Al-Tabari recorded it. (References above)
4. The “resting place of the sun” supposedly means the sun’s complete destruction
Response:
Anyone reading this in any language can see the text refers to cycles, not literal destruction of the sun.
5. Poetic language: The sun, moon, and planets simply mark out a path in the sky
Some argue these verses were not meant to endorse or deny modern science, but were simply poetic descriptions showing that Allah controls the objects people saw in the sky.
Response:
This argument might make sense if Bukhari and Al-Tabari had not recorded Muhammad’s detailed explanations.
If Bukhari and Al-Tabari were wrong on this point, then what standard is there to claim they were right about anything else?
**That is why I say Allah is not Yahweh, the Almighty Creator of all things.
Allah has fabricated (distorted) the narrative of creation.**
I am Max Shimba,
A servant of Jesus Christ.
October 26, 2016
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