Posted: May 07, 2011 9:21 am
I saw this fairly new article about the sun setting in a muddy spring in the Quran and I wonder what you guys make of it? There is a longer version but it is very long and the short version (a big chunk of which is just references) gives the main points.
It's about the verses that say -
18:86 "Till, when he reached the setting-place of the sun, he found it setting in a muddy spring, and found a people thereabout. We said: O Dhu'l-Qarneyn! Either punish or show them kindness."
18:90 "Till, when he reached the rising-place of the sun, he found it rising on a people for whom We had appointed no shelter therefrom." (Pickthall)
Muslims generally say it means this guy went to the far west and east, or that the arabic for the words "setting-place" and "rising-place" really means "setting-time" and "rising-time" here. This article seems to refute that and other apologetics by examining the arabic. It seems to be quite a unique approach to attacking these verses compared to other polemics on this part of the Quran. The most interesting thing in there for me though is how it seems to come from a legend about Alexander the Great and Arabic poems.
It's about the verses that say -
18:86 "Till, when he reached the setting-place of the sun, he found it setting in a muddy spring, and found a people thereabout. We said: O Dhu'l-Qarneyn! Either punish or show them kindness."
18:90 "Till, when he reached the rising-place of the sun, he found it rising on a people for whom We had appointed no shelter therefrom." (Pickthall)
Muslims generally say it means this guy went to the far west and east, or that the arabic for the words "setting-place" and "rising-place" really means "setting-time" and "rising-time" here. This article seems to refute that and other apologetics by examining the arabic. It seems to be quite a unique approach to attacking these verses compared to other polemics on this part of the Quran. The most interesting thing in there for me though is how it seems to come from a legend about Alexander the Great and Arabic poems.