4,682
edits
The Islamic Whale: Difference between revisions
Jump to navigation
Jump to search
no edit summary
| [checked revision] | [checked revision] |
No edit summary |
No edit summary |
||
| Line 237: | Line 237: | ||
==Conclusion== | ==Conclusion== | ||
From all of the earliest Sunni and Shi'a sources today available to us, it does appear that the earliest Muslims believed the letter "nun" in the Qur'an surah 68:1 refers to a giant whale upon whose back the entire earth rests. This belief is attributed by all of the trusted sources of Islamic jurisprudence to "tarjumaan al-qur'aa" ibn Abbas and was reaffirmed thereafter by every trusted Islamic scholar all the way up until the 19th century. According to the cosmogony, the earth (actually the 7 earths are) is attached to the back of the whale by means of the mountains, which are pegs to balance the earth upon the Nun's back. This cosmogony fits in with a widespread ancient belief that the world was balanced upon the back of giant animals, and the even more primordial belief that the world is surrounded by a giant, unending body of water. | |||
==See Also== | ==See Also== | ||