Sun and light word count in the Qur'an

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This article lists all occurrences of the words sun (ٱلشَّمْس, ash-shams) and light (ٱلنُّور, al-noor) in the Qur'an to analyze the claim that they both appear 33 times.

Sun

The "translation" column also includes the context of the word, so that we know what the Qur'an actually says about the sun. Whether scientific facts or unscientific nonsense.

Count Verse Word in Arabic Translation
1 2:258 بِٱلشَّمْسِ [Allah moves] with the sun
2 6:78 ٱلشَّمْسَ [Abraham saw] the sun
3 6:96 وَٱلشَّمْسَ and the sun [made for reckoning]
4 7:54 وَٱلشَّمْسَ and the sun [and stars made Allah]
5 10:5 ٱلشَّمْسَ the sun [is light and moon is also light]
6 12:4 وَٱلشَّمْسَ [stars] and the sun
7 13:2 ٱلشَّمْسَ [Allah made heaven without visible pillars and subjected] the sun
8 14:33 ٱلشَّمْسَ [Allah made orbiting around earth] the sun
9 16:12 وَٱلشَّمْسَ and the sun [made subservient]
10 17:78 ٱلشَّمْسِ [pray during declining of] the sun
11 18:17 ٱلشَّمْسَ the sun [moves around a cave]
12 18:86 ٱلشَّمْسِ [setting place of] the sun [on earth]
13 18:90 ٱلشَّمْسِ [rising place of] the sun [on earth]
14 20:130 ٱلشَّمْسِ [glorify Allah when] the sun [rises and sets]
15 21:33 وَٱلشَّمْسَ [moon] and the sun [move in the sky]
16 22:18 وَٱلشَّمْسُ and the sun [bows down to Allah]
17 25:45 ٱلشَّمْسَ [Allah made] the sun [move with shadows]
18 27:24 لِلشَّمْسِ [people were bowing down] to the sun [instead of Allah, because of Satan]
19 29:61 ٱلشَّمْسَ [Allah created and made subservient] the sun
20 31:29 ٱلشَّمْسَ [Allah changes night and day and makes] the sun [move during day]
21 35:13 ٱلشَّمْسَ [Allah changes night and day and makes] the sun [move during day]
22 36:38 وَٱلشَّمْسُ and the sun [moves towards its setting place]
23 36:40 ٱلشَّمْسُ the sun [and the moon are running in the sky and Allah forbid the sun to catch the moon]
24 39:5 ٱلشَّمْسَ the sun [was subservient and moving for an appointed time]
25 41:37 وَٱلشَّمْسُ and the sun [is a sign of Allah]
26 41:37 لِلشَّمْسِ [do not bow down] to the sun
27 50:39 ٱلشَّمْسِ [praise Allah when] the sun [sets and rises]
28 55:5 ٱلشَّمْسُ the sun [and moon follow a reckoning]
29 71:16 ٱلشَّمْسَ the sun [is light and the moon is light]
30 75:9 ٱلشَّمْسُ the sun [will be joined with the moon in the sky]
31 76:13 شَمْسًا [disbelievers won't see] the heat of sun [as a punishment]
32 81:1 ٱلشَّمْسُ [when] the sun [will be wrapped]
33 91:1 وَٱلشَّمْسِ by the sun [and the moon which follows it]
  • The main subject of this article is the word count, so the scientific inaccuracy of the verses and apologist excuses for them will be discussed in other articles.

The word count is questionable. Should we count the words with the waw- (و) or bi- (ب) prefix? Should we count the word shamsan in the verse 76:13?

We have 33 occurrences, including 10 occurrences with a prefix and including the word shamsan (the heat of sun).

Light

Light is an interesting scientific subject, so in the translation column, there is also the context of the word. So that we can analyze whether the Qur'an tells us some interesting scientific facts, or whether it rather speaks poetically over and over again how Allah is "light", or leads to the "light".

Count Verse Word in Arabic Translation
1 2:17 بِنُورِهِمْ [Allah took] (with) their light 1
2 2:257 1 ٱلنُّورِ [Allah leads to] the light
3 2:257 2 ٱلنُّورِ [Taghut leads from] the light
4 4:174 3 نُورًا [Allah sent] a light
5 5:15 نُورٌ 4 a light [from Allah]
6 5:16 5 ٱلنُّورِ [Allah leads to] the light
7 5:44 وَنُورٌ [in the Torah is a law] and a light
8 5:46 وَنُورٌ [the Gospels are a law] and a light
9 6:1 وَٱلنُّورَ [Allah created both darkness] and light
10 6:91 6 نُورًا a light [in the book of Moses]
11 6:122 نُورًا 7 [muslims were given] a light [from Allah, so they are superior to other people]
12 7:157 8 ٱلنُّورَ [believers follow] the light
13 9:32 نُورَ 9 [evil disbelivers want to put out] a light [of Allah]
14 9:32 نُورَهُۥ [Allah makes] his light [perfect] 2
15 10:5 نُورًا 10 [Moon's] light *
16 13:16 وَٱلنُّورُ [disbelievers and believers are like darkness] and (the) light
17 14:1 11 ٱلنُّورِ [this book leads to] the light
18 14:5 12 ٱلنُّورِ [Moses was commanded to bring people to] the light
19 24:35 نُورُ 13 [Allah is] a light [of the heavens and the earth]
20 24:35 نُورِهِ his light [is like a niche in which is a lamp] 3
21 24:35 14 نُّورٌ a light [of Allah..]
22 24:35 15 نُورٍ [..is a light upon] light
23 24:35 لِنُورِهِ [Allah leads] to his light [whom he wants] 4
24 24:40 16 نُورًا [if god doesn't make] light [to someone..]
25 24:40 17 نُّورٍ [..then he doesn't have] a light
26 33:43 18 ٱلنُّورِ [Allah leads to] the light
27 35:20 19 ٱلنُّورُ [the darkness and] light [are not equal just like disbelievers and believers]
28 39:22 20 نُورٍ [Muslims follow] a light [from Allah]
29 39:69 بِنُورِ [the earth shall beam] with the light [of its lord]
30 42:52 نُورًا 21 [faith is] a light
31 57:9 22 ٱلنُّورِ [Allah leads from darkness to] the light [via Muhammad]
32 57:12 نُورُهُم their light [of believers, wil be running before them and on their right hand] 5
33 57:13 نُّورِكُمْ [the hypocrites will ask: give us some of] your light [oh you true believers..] 6
34 57:13 23 نُورًا [..response to hypocrites: go back and ask there for] a light
35 57:19 وَنُورُهُمْ [those who believe will get a their reward] and their light 7
36 57:28 24 نُورًا [Allah gives] a light
37 61:8 نُورَ 25 [evil disbelievers want to put out] a light [of Allah]
38 61:8 نُورِهِ [Allah perfects] his light 8
39 64:8 وَٱلنُّورِ [believe in Allah, his messenger] and light
40 65:11 26 ٱلنُّورِ [Allah via Muhammad leads to] the light
41 66:8 نُورُهُمْ their light [will run before them and on their right] 9
42 66:8 نُورَنَا [oh Allah make perfect] our light 10
43 71:16 27 نُورًا [Allah made the Moon to be] a light [in heaven]
  • (*) In the verse 10:5, the word noor is sometimes translated as "a reflected light" to hide the ignorance of the author of the Qur'an about the fact that the Moon does not have its own light, but a reflected light. But the word "reflected" is not present in the Arabic original.

We have 43 occurrences of this word.

If we count only the occurrences:

  • النور (al-noor) - the light
  • نور (noor) - a light
  • نورا (nooran) - a light (accusative)

We get 27 occurrences. Even when counting the accusative form with the suffixed ا (alif) we still fail to get to the number 33.

As it turns out, apologists excluded only the forms with possessive pronoun suffixes like "his", "our" and "their", but did not exclude the forms with prefixes like "and", "with", "for". That way they excluded the 10 forms counted in the "Translation" column. This method of word count is very specific and questionable.

Muneer

There is also the word muneer (enlightening) from the same root نور (n-w-r) which is sometimes translated as "light":

Count Verse Word in Arabic Translation
1 3:184 ٱلْمُنِيرِ the enlightening [Scripture]
2 22:8 مُّنِيرٍ enlightening [Scripture]
3 25:61 مُّنِيرًا [Moon is] enlightening
4 31:20 مُّنِيرٍ enlightening [book]
5 33:46 مُّنِيرًا [Muhammad is] enlightening [torch]
6 35:25 ٱلْمُنِيرِ enlightening [Book]

Conclusions

This word count is questionable because there are many ways of counting.

  • The word "sun" appears 33 times in all its forms
  • The word "light" appears 43 times in all its forms
  • The word "sun" appears 23 times without any suffixes or prefixes. Or only 22 times when we also don't count the accusative alif suffix.
  • The word "light" appears 27 times without any suffixes or prefixes. Or only 18 times when we also don't count the accusative alif suffix.
  • The way to get 33 occurrences in both of them is by excluding the forms with possessive pronoun suffixes like "their", "his", "our" and not excluding the accusative alif suffix and not excluding any prefixes.
    • Calling these occurrences "simple forms" is misleading, because how can words with suffixes be counted as "not simple forms" and words with prefixes as "simple forms"? If the phrase "simple form" means anything, then it should be a word without any prefixes or suffixes!

See also

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