tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5057905349826643814.post5373279553859714824..comments2022-10-24T01:36:58.967-07:00Comments on The Rationalizer: iERA still on the Scientific Miracles band wagonXXXhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06526186296114594091noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5057905349826643814.post-69977768654120572832016-04-30T13:46:19.033-07:002016-04-30T13:46:19.033-07:00Keep up the good work Rash!!Keep up the good work Rash!!Free Thinker Toasterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03527312546332705643noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5057905349826643814.post-82580686590125429642016-04-24T08:50:12.975-07:002016-04-24T08:50:12.975-07:00And every night the heavens expand across the sky....And every night the heavens expand across the sky...it's really nothing even remotely remarkable!XXXhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06526186296114594091noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5057905349826643814.post-6116707193564279162016-04-24T06:30:12.352-07:002016-04-24T06:30:12.352-07:00In arabic grammar, the verse you mentioned can be ...In arabic grammar, the verse you mentioned can be translated: "Inna" (surely we are) "la" (verily) "moosi'oon" (expanders).<br /><br />It is correct that "expanders" is a noun, but in arabic language if you apply a noun then you strongly imply continuity. For instance, if you say "he is a thief" then this means that thievery continues. In arabic, you would never say "he is a thief" for somebody who committed theft in the past but then discontinued. You would say "he thieved" or "he used to commit theft".<br /><br />This is in fact also pointed to by the first half of the same verse, which you omitted to mention, where the Qur'an says "banaynaahaa" (we created) i.e. it says that God created the universe in the past verbal tense.<br /><br />So the correct translation literally word for word of the verse is: "and the heaven we created with hands and surely we are verily expanders". This strongly implies that the original creative act was in the past, and the expansion is ongoing, otherwise an arab would write "we expanded it" rather than "we are the expanders".<br /><br />I know you're probably tired of hearing about arabic linguistics, but just to mention that in arabic etymology the expression "hands" is often used to imply power, so some muslims would interpret this to mean that God created the universe literally with physical hands, and others would interpret this to mean it merely suggests the grandeur and power of the original creative process. This figurative use of the word "hands" is centuries old, and isn't the result of a modernist muslim apologetics.<br /><br />The other verse that muslims often take to point to the Big Bang also illustrates this distinction between past verbal and present ongoing noun in arabic language, where the Qur'an says the heavens and the earth were a closed-up mass in the past, and then the past verbal tense "fataqnaahumaa" (literally: we ripped it open). You can see the original verse here: https://www.alislam.org/quran/search2/quranSearch.php?st=advanced&swaotw=closed+mass&Submit=Search&swep=&swaootw=&swotw=&oicn=ALL&rpp=10&frm=0<br /><br />Taken together, the normal arabic understanding of these two verses would be that the universe was a very small mass, its initial expansion was a very violent powerful event in the past, and its expansion is ongoing.<br /><br />DarkeyedDarkeyedhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01490782265966144170noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5057905349826643814.post-7016310245245873542016-03-10T13:33:09.219-08:002016-03-10T13:33:09.219-08:00Thanks for the correction, I have updated the blog...Thanks for the correction, I have updated the blog!XXXhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06526186296114594091noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5057905349826643814.post-84431013895123326212016-03-10T10:49:05.293-08:002016-03-10T10:49:05.293-08:00Small correction - the OPERA experiment was a coll...Small correction - the OPERA experiment was a collaboration between CERN (which is a research organization) and the Italian LNGS laboratory. So the iERA pamphlet is technically correct, just poorly explained. Excellent points overall, however.Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15719726445237892405noreply@blogger.com