Dhul-Qarnayn and the Sun Setting in a Muddy Spring - Part Two: Difference between revisions

Oceans and seas are not muddy. While an ocean might look dark at sunset, even up to the horizon, it would be clear the next day to observers that it is water rather than mud and is light or dark blue or blue-grey. It should now be very clear that “AAaynin hamiatin” does not mean any kind of sea or ocean and we can next examine the plausibility of an illusion.

An important point is that no one would think they could see where the sun set or appeared to set into just because they can see to the horizon. It appears no larger, and therefore no closer, wherever on Earth you observe sunset. If you knew that you had traveled west around 90km and believed you were now within 10km of the sun, you would expect the sun to have an apparent diameter at least 10 times larger than when you started. By traveling west, even to a sea, it would look no more like you had found where the sun sets than it would from the eastern end of the Mediterranean or any other west facing shore. Furthermore, our intuitive ability to use parallax to judge distances tells us from a short walk along a beach that the sun and distant clouds are a vast distance away.