Saturday, March 26, 2011

Rebuttal to Agniveer on Moon's Light in Noble Qur'an

Dr. Zakir Naik :



THE LIGHT OF THE MOON IS REFLECTED LIGHT
It was believed by earlier civilizations that the moon emanates its own light. Science now tells us that the light of the moon is reflected light. However this fact was mentioned in the Qur’aan 1,400 years ago in the following verse:. Blessed is He Who made Constellations in the skies, And placed therein a Lamp And a Moon giving light.” [Al-Qur'aan 25:61]
The Arabic word for the sun in the Qur’aan, is shams. It is referred to as siraaj, which means a ‘torch’ or as wahhaaj which means ‘a blazing lamp’ or as diya which means ‘shining glory’. All three descriptions are appropriate to the sun, since it generates intense heat and light by its internal combustion. The Arabic word for the moon is qamar and it is described in the Qur’aan as muneer, which is a body that gives nur i.e. light. Again, the Qur’aanic description matches perfectly with the true nature of the moon, which does not give off light itself and is an inert body that reflects the light of the sun. Not once in the Qur’aan, is the moon mentioned as siraaj, wahhaaj or diya or the sun as nur or muneer. This implies that the Qur’aan recognizes the difference between the nature of sunlight and moonlight.
The Arabic word dahaha has been translated by A. Yusuf Ali as “vast expanse”, which also is correct. The word dahaha also means an ostrich-egg
Consider the following verses related to the nature of light from the sun and the moon: “It is He who made the sun To be a shining glory And the moon to be a light (Of beauty).” [Al-Qur'aan 10:5] “See ye not How Allah has created The seven heavens One above another, “And made the moon A light in their midst, and made the sun As a (Glorious) Lamp?” [Al-Qur'aan 71:15-16]‘

Agniveer :
As has been already shared, Aryabhatta not only explained that moon and other planets reflect the sun’s light but also explained eclipses. Dr. Naik needs to read about some great non-Arabic civilizations of the time (I wonder how he missed this one being born in a civilization as great as Indian – anyways).

My Response :
I agree that some people even before Aryabhatta reasoned that moon's light is a reflection but what Dr. Zakir meant was that this idea was not unanimously accepted everywhere on earth until recent times.
The ancient Greek philosopher Anaxagoras (d. 428 BC) reasoned that the Sun and Moon were both giant spherical rocks, and that the latter reflected the light of the former.
Although the Chinese of the Han Dynasty believed the Moon to be energy equated to qi, their 'radiating influence' theory also recognized that the light of the Moon was merely a reflection of the Sun.
As seen above it was put forward by ancient people but it was not accepted overall until recent scientific observations confirmed it.
Agniveer :
Now if Dr. Naik is to be believed, Nur means reflected light. No previous Islamic scholar has made this scandalous claim before – and do you know why? Because one of the 99 Names of the God of Quran (Allah) is AN-Nur. If we translate this word according to Dr. Naik’s definition Allah’s name would become:THE REFLECTED LIGHT! Now the question to ask Dr. Naik is that if Allah is “reflected light” who is the Original Light Source? [We await Dr. Naik's answer to this question eagerly]
My Response :
Meaning of the word Noor :
نور  (noor):  بيّن (bayyan)  reveal, reflect.
نور (noor):  be revealed, to be lighted, to receive light.
Now Agniveer claims that No previous Islamic scholar has made this scandalous claim before :
Ibn Kathir (May Allah Be Pleased With Him) (1301–1373) says in his Tafsir of The Noble Qur'an :
the sun rises each day and sets at the end of the day, giving one kind of light all the time, but it moves, rising and setting at different points in the summer and winter, thus making the days and nights longer or shorter alternatively according to the season. Its authority is in the daytime, for it is the heavenly body that dominates the day. As for the moon, Allah has decreed that it should pass through different phases. At the beginning of the month, the moon appears small when it rises. It gives off little light, then on the second night its light increases and it rises to a higher position, and the higher it rises the more light it gives -- even though it is reflected from the sun -- until it becomes full on the fourteenth night of the month.
Coming to the name of Allah as An-Noor , it actually refers to the spiritual light of Allah which is reflected in the Heavens and Earth moreover the verse (24:35) in which Allah is referred as An-Noor smokes Agniveer itself (if thought that An-Noor actually refers to physical light of Allah) when read fully :
 اللَّهُ نُورُ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ ۚ مَثَلُ نُورِهِ كَمِشْكَاةٍ فِيهَا مِصْبَاحٌ ۖ الْمِصْبَاحُ فِي زُجَاجَةٍ ۖ الزُّجَاجَةُ كَأَنَّهَا كَوْكَبٌ دُرِّيٌّ يُوقَدُ مِن شَجَرَةٍ مُّبَارَكَةٍ زَيْتُونَةٍ لَّا شَرْقِيَّةٍ وَلَا غَرْبِيَّةٍ يَكَادُ زَيْتُهَا يُضِيءُ وَلَوْ لَمْ تَمْسَسْهُ نَارٌ ۚ نُّورٌ عَلَىٰ نُورٍ ۗ يَهْدِي اللَّهُ لِنُورِهِ مَن يَشَاءُ ۚ وَيَضْرِبُ اللَّهُ الْأَمْثَالَ لِلنَّاسِ ۗ وَاللَّهُ بِكُلِّ شَيْءٍ عَلِيمٌ
Allah is the Light of the heavens and the earth. The example of His light is like a niche within which is a lamp, the lamp is within glass, the glass as if it were a pearly [white] star lit from [the oil of] a blessed olive tree, neither of the east nor of the west, whose oil would almost glow even if untouched by fire. Light upon light. Allah guides to His light whom He wills. And Allah presents examples for the people, and Allah is Knowing of all things.
The phrases Light of the heavens and the earth  and  Allah guides to His light whom He wills  clearly show that it refers to the spiritual light of Allah which is reflected in the Universe. However for those who insist that it is physical the rest of example   The example of His light is like a niche within which is a lamp, the lamp is within glass, the glass as if it were a pearly [white] star lit from [the oil of] a blessed olive tree, neither of the east nor of the west, whose oil would almost glow even if untouched by fire. shows that Allah has his own light which he reflects himself just like a halogen lamp which gives its own light and also has a reflector provided which reflects its own light.
Agniveer :
Dr. Naik, probably embarrassed, has not shared the entire verses 71:15-16. Here they are
15-16 “See ye not 
how Allah has created the seven heavens one above another. And made the moon a light in their midst, and made the sun as a (Glorious) Lamp?” So what do we have here:
–Again the Greek/Judaic philosophical thought of 7 heavens in which various stars and planets and sun and moon can be SEEN by the naked eye. Hence Allah’s insistence in this verse too. He is asking everybody to look at the planets which are visible at dawn and dusk, the stars, the planets, the moon all believed to be stationed in their respective layers of the 7 layered heaven
–Another blunder is that Moon is placed IN BETWEEN (in the midst of) these Layers. Another verse tells us that stars are in the lower heavens.. implying that moon is farther than the stars from us.
My Response :
Do you not consider how Allah has created seven heavens in layers.And made the moon therein a [reflected] light and made the sun a burning lamp?
Allah asks the modern human's of today that don't they consider how Allah has made all this. Regarding 7 heavens it has been refuted above. Noble Qur'an does not say that moon is in between the  heavens it says that Allah has made the moon in the heaven (notice the word therein , it does not say in between them) so Agniveer's statement    implying that moon is farther than the stars from us.  falls apart.
Agniveer :
Another big hole in this argument is that it ties Nur with Moon. Aryabhatta told us 100 years before Quran that ALL PLANETS reflect sun light. Earth is also a Nur (borrowing Dr. Naik innovative translation) when looked from the Moon. [Ask Rakesh Sharma or Neil Armstrong. Better use Google].
My Response :
Is this an argument ? Does the Noble Qur'an anywhere deny that the Earth is Noor ?

3 comments:

  1. lolzzzz...
    bhai BTW we dun need to answer Fool lyk him...fir bhi u doin a gud work,,,keep it up :)

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  2. The foolishness of agniveer is laughable. He never produces any valid claim. Perhaps that's why his website is not taken seriously.

    Qur'an 71:15

    Sahih International:
    And made the moon therein a reflected light and made the sun a burning lamp?

    Asad:
    and has set up within them the moon as a light [reflected] and set up the sun as a [radiant] lamp?

    Ali Ünal‘:
    And He has set up within them the moon as a light (reflected), and has set up the sun as a lamp.


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