Posted: May 09, 2011 9:35 pm
Yeah, I think that does happen. I get the impression the tafseerists were forced into a corner by the science with this one so they had to try to force (badly) a compatible meaning into these verses. It's amazing what you can get away with when it comes to revealed religion, especially with a language like Arabic which may have a precise grammar, but each word can have many different meanings so you can choose what suits you. No worries about lack of replies btw, I just thought it was worth posting in case people found it interesting. This sun setting business is the most conspicuous blunder in the Quran that I've seen. I think it's a good polemic in the sense it leaves little or no room for apologetics to escape. On the other hand, it takes so many words to debunk something thoroughly that few will ever read it. That's a problem with debunking religious texts generally it seems. The believers just need one escape route to maintain their claims, but the polemicist has to cover them all.