This is a continuation from the previous segment (https://answeringislamblog.wordpress.com/2019/10/13/the-qurans-geographical-errors-pt-1/).
8.
The Valley of Towa
Question 8: We read in Sura Ta Ha
20:12: “I am thy Lord; put off thy shoes; thou art in the holy valley, Towa.”
Muslim scholars agree unanimously that the valley where God
first appeared to Moses is Towa. But the Bible teaches us that, when Moses was
grazing the sheep of Jethro, his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, he drove
the sheep out of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. The
angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire from the midst of a bush.
And he beheld the bush burning with fire without being consumed. Then the Lord
called to him, “Do not draw near this place. Take your sandals off your feet,
for the place where you stand is holy ground” (Exodus 3:1-5). So this happened
to Moses in Horeb, the mountain ofGod. Where did the Qur’an find the name
“Towa”, when in fact Horeb was a well-known mountain on the Sinai Peninsula?
9.
Olives on Mount Sinai
Question 9: We read in Sura
al-Mu’minun 23:19,20: “Then We produced for you therewith gardens of palms and
vines wherein are many fruits for you, and of them you eat, and a tree issuing
from the Mount of Sinai that bears oil and seasoning for all to eat.”
Commentators said that the tree refers to olives, and the seasoning
refers to the food eaten with the bread (al-Tabari, Jami’ al-Bayan 18:13).
We ask: Wouldn’t it have been more appropriate to refer to
Canaan, which is known for olives, and notSinai, where God had to provide manna
for the Israelites, owing to the barrenness of the land? In other words, the
Sinai Desert is not known for its olives.
10.
The Sun Runs to a Resting Place
Question 10: We read in Sura Ya
Sin 36:38: “And the sun – it runs to a fixed resting-place; that is the
ordaining of the All- mighty, the All-knowing.”
Al-Baidawi said:
“The sun – it runs to a fixed resting-place” refers to a certain
limit at which its cycle comes to an end. It is compared to the resting place
of a traveller after his journey, or to the centre of the sky where it moves
slower, so that one thinks it has come to a halt. [The poet says, ”The sun is
gone astray and revolves in the sky.’1lt can also mean a settled and certain
course, or an appointed end for each day from the east to the west. For it has
a cycle of three hundred and sixty sunrises and sunsets; it rises every morning
from arising place and sets in a setting place, only to retum to them the
following year. This could also be a reference to the destruction of the world
when it ceases to rotate. Another reading is: “with no resting-place to it”;
namely, it does not rest, but moves all the time.
We ask: How can the Qur’an say that the sun runs, or that it has
a resting place to which it is bound to go? The sun is a stationary star that
does not move anywhere. Rather, it is the earth that revolves around the sun.
As for the claim that a variant reading of the Qur’an points to
the sun running and not stopping, this only proves that the Qur’an has widely
different interpretations which change the meaning. Thus the commentator
himself contests the alleged soundness and accuracy of the Qur’an.
11.
The Moon Is Like a Palm Frond
Question 11: We read in Sura Ya
Sin 36:39,40: “And the moon – We determined it by stations, till it runs like
an aged palm bough. It behoves not the sun to overtake the moon, neither does
the night outstrip the day, each swimming in the sky.”
Al-Baidawi said:
“And the moon – we determined” means its course is determined by
stations. These stations are [twentyseven]. They are as follows: Saratan [‘Cancer’], Batin [‘the
Ventricle’], Thurayya [‘the
Pleiades’], al-Dabaran, al-Mihqama, aI-Hata’a, Dhira’ [‘the
Arm’], al-Natra, Tara’ [‘the
End’], Jaiha [‘the
Countenance’], Zabra [‘the
Lion’s Shoulder’], Sarfa [‘the
Lion’s Heart’], ‘Uwa’ [‘the
Lion’s Thigh’], al-Samalik, al-Zayana, Iklil [‘the
Wreath’], Qalb [‘the
Heart’], Shauka [‘the
Thorn’], al-Ta’a’im,
Balda [‘the Town’], Sa’d
al-Dhabih [‘Said of the Sacrifices’], Sa’d Bala’, Sa’d al-Su’ud, Sa’d al-Ahbiya, Fargh al-Dilw al-Muqaddam [‘the
advanced Aquarius’], Fargh
al-Dilw al-Mu’akhkhar [‘the delayed Aquarius’], and Risha [‘the
Whale’s Belly’]. Every night the moon rests at a station, neverexceeding it,
and never late to it. When it is at its last station, which precedes the
meeting, it tapers and tums into a crescent, “till it runs like an aged
palm-bough” or an old palm frond, or a year-old palm frond. “It behoves not the
sun” means it does not fit the sun “to overtake the moon” in speed. “Neither
does the night outstrip the day” means it does not run before it and leave it
lagging behind.
“Each” refers to the suns and the moons. “Swimming in a sky”
means they glide easily in it.
12.
Mount Qaf Encompasses All the Earth
Question 12: We read in Sura Qaf
50:1: “Qaf by the glorious Qur’an.”
In Ara’is
al-Majalis (pp. 7, 8) Tha’labi says, “God, highly exalted,
created a great mountain of a green chrysolite, to which the sky owes its
greenness. It is called Mount Qaf, and it encompasses all the earth. It is by
this mountain that God swore when He said, ‘Qaf by the glorious Qur’an.”’ In a
book entitled Qisas
al-Anbiya (p. 5) it is written that “(Abdallah Ibn Salam
inquired of Muhammad, saying, ‘What is the highest peak in the world?’ Muhammad
said, ‘It is Mount Qaf.’ He asked, ‘And what is it?’ Muhammad said, ‘It is of
green chrysolite, to which the sky owes its greenness.’ He said, ‘You have
spoken the truth, Messenger of God. And what is the height of Mount Qaf?’
Muhammad answered, ‘It is a journey of five hundred years!’ He asked him
further, ‘How long does it take a man to cover its circumference?’ He answered,
‘It is a joumey of two thousand years.’ ”
This story of Mount Qaf owes its origin to the Jewish
book, Hagiga.
In chapter 11, section 1 of this book, the author tries to explain the rarely
used Hebrew word tohu [“emptiness
or formlessness”], which occurs in Genesis 1:2. The said book reads: “Tohu is the green
line encompassing the entire world, from which darkness issues.” The Hebrew
word translated as “line” in this book is qav. On hearing the word, the Companions did
not know it meant a line, but fancied it to be a majestic mountain chain called
Qaf! (There is no letter v in
Arabic.)
Now if the Qur’an was revealed by God, as Muslims claim, how
could it allege that the horizon, which is an imaginary line, is a mountain?
Source: https://answeringislamblog.wordpress.com/2019/10/13/the-qurans-geographical-errors-pt-2/
IHS
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