11-11-2004, 03:20 PM
Quote:Furthermore, a book which purports that the earth is flat is clearly not from God. Sura 18:86 says ???Till, when he [the traveller Zul-qarnain] reached the setting-place of the sun, he found it going down into a muddy spring??? and Sura 18:90 says ???Till, when he reached the rising-place of the sun, he found it rising on a people for whom We had appointed no shelter from it.
Yes, Sura 18:66 is idiomatic.
???Till, when he reached the setting place of the sun??????, means that Zul Qarnain followed a route until he reached the furthest point that could be reached in the direction of the sun???s setting, which is the west of the earth. It does not say that Zul-Qarnain reached the place where the sun sets LITERALLY, rather it means here that Zul-Qarnain was facing the direction in which the sun is setting.
???he found it setting in a muddy spring?????? means that he saw the sun as if it were setting in the ocean. This is something that everyone who goes to the coast or beach can see: it looks as if the sun is setting into the sea, but in fact it never leaves its path in which it is fixed.The Qur'an is obviously describing what Dhul-Qarnain saw. What Dhul-Qarnain saw was the image of the sun setting in a dark body of water. Since the Qur'??n is clearly describing this from Dhul-Qarnain's direct point of view (the Qur'an is quite explicit here in doing that), there is in fact no problem with the description of what Dhul-Qarnain saw.
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What does the sun look like it's doing?
Matthew 12
42. The Queen of the South will rise at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for she came from the ends of the earth to listen to Solomon's wisdom, and now one greater than Solomon is here.
This statement is just as silly or just as idiomatic. After all, "a book which purports that the earth is flat is clearly not from God."
Quote:Paul, I can guarantee you that what is written here, as being true, is silly.
Don't lie to Paul.
???Do not give up, for that is ignorance and not according to the rules of this art... Like the lover, you cannot hope to achieve success without infinite perseverance.???