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Dhul-Qarnayn and the Sun Setting in a Muddy Spring - Part Two: Difference between revisions
Dhul-Qarnayn and the Sun Setting in a Muddy Spring - Part Two (view source)
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There is an argument<ref name="vid"></ref> that whatever wajada means, the things that Dhu’l Qarnayn found (whether actually or just in his opinion) are described in figurative language. For example, we talk about the sun rising even today, but we mean that actually, the Earth has revolved enough so that the sun becomes visible to us. If the phrases about the sun’s setting and rising are meant to be figurative in 18:86 and 18:90 we could even remove the word wajada from those phrases and they should not cause any conflict with what we know in reality. We can define figurative language as a way of expressing with words a meaning that is not necessarily true when read plainly. | There is an argument<ref name="vid"></ref> that whatever wajada means, the things that Dhu’l Qarnayn found (whether actually or just in his opinion) are described in figurative language. For example, we talk about the sun rising even today, but we mean that actually, the Earth has revolved enough so that the sun becomes visible to us. If the phrases about the sun’s setting and rising are meant to be figurative in 18:86 and 18:90 we could even remove the word wajada from those phrases and they should not cause any conflict with what we know in reality. We can define figurative language as a way of expressing with words a meaning that is not necessarily true when read plainly. | ||
If we ignore the context | If we ignore the context, the phrase about the sun rising on (AAala, “on” or “above”) a people could possibly be a meant as a figure of speech as with the hadith about the sun rising on Thabir mountain (“tashruqa a'''l'''shshamsu AAala thabeerin”) ({{Bukhari|5|58|179}}).<ref>For the Arabic, see #3626: [http://hadith.al-islam.com/Page.aspx?pageid=192&TOCID=2164&BookID=24&PID=3636 here], or alternatively, but without vocalization marks, see #3549: [http://www.ekabakti.com/hadith.php?hds=bukh&rcd=5355&bab=5750&stype=hads&hadid=5758 here]</ref> | ||
There it clearly means that the sun starts to shine on the mountain, on which the sun shines earliest in that location because of its height, rather than the sun actually being overhead above the mountain. Another example is {{Muslim|20|4643}}: “…(anything) on which the sun rises or sets”, “…talaAAat AAalayhi a'''l'''shshamsu wa gharabat”.<ref>For the Arabic, see #1883: [http://hadith.al-islam.com/Page.aspx?pageid=192&TOCID=890&BookID=25&PID=3567 here], or alternatively, but without vocalization marks, see #3474: [http://www.ekabakti.com/hadith.php?app=&hds=musl&rcd=4365&bab=4481&stype=hads&hadid=4486 here]</ref> | There it clearly means that the sun starts to shine on the mountain, on which the sun shines earliest in that location because of its height, rather than the sun actually being overhead above the mountain. Another example is {{Muslim|20|4643}}: “…(anything) on which the sun rises or sets”, “…talaAAat AAalayhi a'''l'''shshamsu wa gharabat”.<ref>For the Arabic, see #1883: [http://hadith.al-islam.com/Page.aspx?pageid=192&TOCID=890&BookID=25&PID=3567 here], or alternatively, but without vocalization marks, see #3474: [http://www.ekabakti.com/hadith.php?app=&hds=musl&rcd=4365&bab=4481&stype=hads&hadid=4486 here]</ref> | ||
Ignoring the context, you could argue that 18:90 is meant to be a figure of speech that Dhu’l Qarnayn found the sun began to shine on the people, just as it does for everyone on Earth when their day begins. | Ignoring the context such as the people's lack of protection from the sun, you could argue that 18:90 is meant to be a figure of speech that Dhu’l Qarnayn found the sun began to shine on the people, just as it does for everyone on Earth when their day begins. | ||
This does not, however, mean that the phrase in which the sun “set in a spring of murky water” could be a figure of speech because 18:86 is not an exact mirror of 18:90. 18:86 is describing the place that the sun sets into using the word “fee” meaning in or into. If 18:90 had said, “wajadaha tatluAAu ''min''”, meaning “he found it rising ''from''” somewhere (i.e. the rising place that the sun emerges out of, as in Sahih Muslim book 1, no. 297 quoted above), it would be describing for sunrise the corresponding action of that described in 18:86 for sunset. Then there would be no case that the phrase in 18:90 could be a figure of speech either. | This does not, however, mean that the phrase in which the sun “set in a spring of murky water” could be a figure of speech because 18:86 is not an exact mirror of 18:90. 18:86 is describing the place that the sun sets into using the word “fee” meaning in or into. If 18:90 had said, “wajadaha tatluAAu ''min''”, meaning “he found it rising ''from''” somewhere (i.e. the rising place that the sun emerges out of, as in Sahih Muslim book 1, no. 297 quoted above), it would be describing for sunrise the corresponding action of that described in 18:86 for sunset. Then there would be no case that the phrase in 18:90 could be a figure of speech either. | ||