If the Qur'an really is Allah's/God's final revelation, one has to wonder why He couldn't have been more original and felt the need to apparently plagiarise theories about the cosmos from other religions.
Take, for example, the description of the Seven Heavens in the Qur'an.
"Say: Who is the Lord of the seven heavens and the Lord of the might dominions?" 23:86
"Do you not see how Allah has created the seven heavens, one above the other?
And made the moon A light in their midst, and made the sun As a (Glorious) Lamp?" 7:15 -16
"So He ordained them seven heavens in two periods, and revealed in every heaven its affair; and We adorned the lower heaven with brilliant stars…" 41: 12
The seven heavens were common belief of many ancient religions, so it is surely not surprising that many have concluded that Mohammad copied this idea.
We find it, for example, in Hindu mythology ( In Classical Hindu Mythology - a reader in the Sanskrit puranas by Cornelia Dimmitt, Johannes Adrianus Bernardus Buitenen Temple University Press (p24) we read: "Upwards from the Earth extend seven heavens, layered spheres of space.") and in Judaism (In Myth and Legend of Ancient Israel, Volume 1 By Angelo S. Rappoport the third chapter is entitled The Seven Heavens or Firmaments... and lists numerous sources where such a myth is repeated: "The doctrine of the seven heavens is also found among the parsees. The Slavonic Enoch and The Testament of the Twelve Patriachs also speak of the seven heavens".
Indeed the ancients, it seems, thought the planets, the moon and the sun made up these seven heavens as follows:
Moon Mercury Venus Sun Mars Jupiter Saturn
We can understand how and why those in the pre-copernican world who were observing the skies before telescopes might have come to believe the above, but it is surely inconceivable that an omniscient God would have done so.
So how do Muslims explain this apparent ignorance on the part of the author of the Qur'an?
Some miracle seekers try to suggest that in fact Allah was referring to the seven layers of the atmosphere.Of course! In Miracles of the Qur'an.com we read the following:
The word "heavens," which appears in many verses in the Qur'an, is used to refer to the sky above the Earth, as well as the entire universe. Given this meaning of the word, it is seen that the Earth's sky, or the atmosphere, is made up of seven layers.These charlatans fail to explain why Allah should have placed the moon (as a light) and the sun (as a lamp) in amongst the layers of the atmosphere, nor how the stars happen to be in the lowest of these levels.
Today, it is known that the world's atmosphere consists of different layers that lie on top of each other.19 Based on the criteria of chemical contents or air temperature, the definitions made have determined the atmosphere of the earth as seven layers.20 According to the "Limited Fine Mesh Model (LFMMII)," a model of atmosphere used to estimate weather conditions for 48 hours, the atmosphere is also 7 layers. According to the modern geological definitions the seven layers of atmosphere are as follows:
1. Troposphere
2. Stratosphere
3. Mesosphere
4. Thermosphere
5. Exosphere
6. Ionosphere
7. Magnetosphere
despite your blog title (ironic I assume...)you don't really equate Islam with rationality, do you?
ReplyDeleteI've yet to meet a single Muslim who can give a sensible explanation for these verses.
THE WHOLE VISION OF THE UNIVERSE IN THE QURAN IS WRONG. AS YOU MENTION BEFORE, THE SEVEN HEAVENS WAS AN ANCIENT BELIEF BASED ON THE 7 HEAVENLY BODIES KNOWN AT THE TIME, SUN, MOON, MERCURY, VENUS, MARS, JUPITER, SATURN. OF COURSE, THE OTHER PLANETS WERE NOT KNOWN, OTHERWISE THERE WOULD HAVE BEEN MORE HEAVENS. IT CAN STILL BE SEEN IN REPRESENTATIONS OF THE UNIVERSE FROM THE MIDDLE AGES.
ReplyDeleteIT ALSO GIVES A GEOCENTRIC VISION OF THE UNIVERSE. THE SEVEN HEAVENS ARE AROUND THE EARTH AND NOT INFINITE SPACE WHERE THE EARTH IS NOTHING BUT A MINUTE DOT. THE QURAN MENTIONS THE ORBIT OF THE SUN, OF COURSE, BUT IT DOEN'T TALK ABOUT THE ORBIT OF THE EARTH, AS IF THE SUN TURNED AROUND THE EARTH.
41:9-12 TELLS US THAT GOD CREATED THE EARTH AND THEN THE HEAVENS AND THE STARS, WHICH IS SCIENTIFICALLY WRONG BECAUSE PLANETS FORM FROM STARS AND NOT THE OPPOSITE. IT ALSO SAYS THAT "STARS ARE LAMPS TO DECORATE THE SKY". OF COURSE THIS MEANS THAT THE EARTH IS THE CENTER OF THE UNIVERSE AND THOSE STARS ARE ONLY THERE SO THAT THEY LOOK BEAUTIFUL FROM EARTH, AS THE CENTER.
THE FUNNIEST TEXTS ARE 67:5 WICH SAY THAT "STARS ARE MISSILES TO SHOOT THE DEVIL" OR "STARS ARE MISSILES TO SHOOT DEMONS WHO COME TO HEAVEN TO LISTEN TO THE DEVINE ASSEMBLY", 37:6-8. THIS WAS THE ANCIENT VISION OF THE UNIVERSE. THEY DIDN'T KNOW THAT STARS ARE HUGE SUNS. THEY CONFUSE STARS WITH METEORITES. EVEN TODAY WE SAY "SHOOTING STAR" TO REFER TO A METEORITE BECAUSE IT WAS THOUGHT THAT STARS WERE DOTS OF LIGHT IN THE SKY THAT USED TO FALL. THIS IS THE VISION OF THE UNIVERSE PRESENTED BY THE QURAN.
OF COURSE MUSLIMS MAKE A LOT OF PROPAGANDA FROM VERY VAGUE TEXTS OF THE QURAN, BUT WHEN THE QURAN SAYS SOMETHING CLEARLY UNSCIENTIFIC AND THAT, FURTHERMORE, WAS PART OF THE CONCEPTION ANCIENT PEOPLE HAD OF THE UNIVERSE, THEY LOOK FOR ALL KINDS OF ILLOGICAL EXPLANATIONS TO DENY IT.
I am sorry to spoil your day, but the seven heavens means the whole universe and 6 other heavens after that. The universe is the lowest heaven decorated with stars and the sun and moon.
ReplyDeleteMay Allah guide you all.