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The Quran and Mountains: Difference between revisions
→Mountains and stabilization of the Earth about its axis: Have added a section on the language in the Qur'an used for 'lest' implying the Earth would not shake at all, rather than 'reducing' it apologists interperate it as - which I think is an original point.
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(→Casting mountains into the earth: Added Tabatai & Mirsadri (2016) academic reference on mountains, further explaining their purpose and l-rawāsiya meaning) |
(→Mountains and stabilization of the Earth about its axis: Have added a section on the language in the Qur'an used for 'lest' implying the Earth would not shake at all, rather than 'reducing' it apologists interperate it as - which I think is an original point.) |
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Critics also argue here that it is nearly impossible to correlate this stabilization effect, how minimally real it may be, with any remotely plausible interpretation of the relevant verses. | Critics also argue here that it is nearly impossible to correlate this stabilization effect, how minimally real it may be, with any remotely plausible interpretation of the relevant verses. | ||
== Preventing/lest (أَن) verses 'reducing' == | |||
As has been discussed in the sections above, the apologists' claim rests on the (incorrect) assumption that mountains reduce the seismic impact of Earthquakes, (or occasionally some other kind of movement) to mean what is meant by Earth's swaying/shaking. However the Arabic word used in the verses is '[https://corpus.quran.com/wordmorphology.jsp?location=(16:15:5) أَن / an]', for 'lest'.<ref>[https://lexicon.quranic-research.net/data/01_A/138_An.html أَن] - Lane's Lexicon </ref> | |||
{{Quote|{{Quran|16|15}}|He cast firm mountains in the earth lest (أَن) it should shake with you, and [made] streams and ways, so that you may be guided.}} | |||
Thought the word 'lest' has fallen out of fashion in modern English,<ref>[https://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/radio/specials/1535_questionanswer/page68.shtml BBC World Learning Service]. Q&A.</ref> it's meaning is: ''in order to prevent any possibility that something will happen'',<ref>Cambridge Dictionary: [https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/lest Lest]</ref> i.e. to stop it from happening. It also be translated as 'otherwise' in these contexts. You can see used elsewhere where you can see [https://corpus.quran.com/search.jsp?t=1&q=lest here], for example: | |||
{{Quote|{{Quran|7|127}}|And (remember) when your Lord brought forth from the Children of Adam, from their loins, their seed (or from Adam's loin his offspring) and made them testify as to themselves (saying): "Am I not your Lord?" They said: "Yes! We testify," lest (أَن) you should say on the Day of Resurrection: "Verily, we have been unaware of this."}} | |||
No-one would ever claim mountains actually prevent earthquakes altogether, considering they do not and in fact given the correlation between them and mountain ranges ([[The Quran and Mountains#Mountains prevent the Earth from moving / convulsing / inclining|see above]]), nor any of the nice alternative processes are described as being stopped altogether. The apologists have essentially used a subtle substitution of 'lest' meaning to ''prevent or stop'', to ''lower/reduce'', yet the Qur'an does not say 'reduce/lower shaking' etc.,<ref>E.g. see alternative Arabic words for reducing that could have been used if that is what it meant here: [https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english-arabic/reduce Cambridge English to Arabic dictionary] and here: [https://www.arabicstudentsdictionary.com/word?word_id=b4b95ee3-4477-4df5-b43a-7dba8a4a5c7f&root_id=d734198e-e468-41a4-b6b7-3f7904ced653&action=wordLink Arabic Student's Dictionary]. This does not even include potential metaphors that could have been used to express lowering.</ref> nor does the Qur'an say mountains prevent the Earth shaking/swaying ''a lot'' - so we would expect to see no shaking/swaying from whichever alleged natural process this is referring to rather than simply a minor reduction - making the entire argument invalid. | |||
And once again, critics note that the language used perfectly matches a pre-modern worldview of mountains being tent pegs holding down a flat Earth that stops it from swaying, either in space or the cosmic ocean. | |||
==See Also== | ==See Also== | ||