The Islamic Whale: Difference between revisions

But as we'll see, it is necessary to understand the existence of the Islamic whale for understanding other verses of the Qur'an (for example, about mountains being like pegs).

First, we will quote the whole commentary on the verse 68:1 from the English abridged version of the tafsir Ibn Kathir:

{{Quote|Ibn Kathir, English abridged version, on the verse 68:1|}}

'''Nun is a big whale.'''

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Ibn Abbas gives us some details about how the whale was created:

{{Quote|Ibn Kathir tafsir on 68:1 <ref>altafsir.com/Tafasir.asp?tMadhNo=0&tTafsirNo=7&tSoraNo=68&tAyahNo=1&tDisplay=yes&UserProfile=0&LanguageId=1</ref>|ابن عباس قال: أول ما خلق الله القلم قال: اكتب، قال: وماذا أكتب؟ قال: اكتب القدر، فجرى بما يكون من ذلك اليوم إلى قيام الساعة، ثم خلق النون، ورفع بخار الماء، ففتقت منه السماء، وبسطت الأرض على ظهر النون، فاضطرب النون، فمادت الأرض، فأثبتت بالجبال؛  

{{Quote|{{Quran|11|7}}|And it is He who created the heavens and the earth in six days - and '''His Throne had been upon water'''}}

We can also read about the Islamic whale from the Shia hadiths. This narration explains the connection between the whale and earthquakes:

{{Quote|Al-Kafi, vol. 8, part 6 <ref>Page 45. https://shiapdfresources.files.wordpress.com/2014/08/alkafi_vol8_part-6.pdf</ref>|H 14813  –  From  him,  from  Salih,  from  one  of  his  companions,  from Abdul Samad Bin Basheer, who has reported the following: Abu Abdullah (asws) has said that: ‘'''The whale which is carrying the earth''' secretly said to itself that it is carrying the earth by its own strength. So Allah (azwj) the High  Sent to it a fish smaller than a palm’s length, and larger than a finger. So it entered in its gills and shocked it. It remained like that for forty days. Then Allah (azwj) Raised it and was Merciful to it, and Took it out. So whenever Allah (azwj) Intends the earth  to be in a quake, He (azwj) Sends that (small) fish to that (big) fish. So when it sees it, it becomes restless, so the earth gets engulfed by the earthquake’. }}