Greg Krehbiel
Anybody know much about the Koran?
by Greg Krehbiel on 3 November 2009
The NYT has an article about creationism in the Islamic world which says young-Earth creationists are rare in the Islamic world because “although the Koran, the holy text of Islam, says the universe was created in six days, the next line adds that a day, in this instance, is metaphorical: ‘a thousand years of your reckoning.’”
Which line is that?
Sura 7:54 says “Your Lord is the one GOD, who created the heavens and the earth in six days, then assumed all authority. The night overtakes the day, as it pursues it persistently, and the sun, the moon, and the stars are committed to serve by His command. Absolutely, He controls all creation and all commands. Most Exalted is GOD, Lord of the universe.”
Then a footnote says that “day” is allegorical.
What the heck?
This sounded ridiculous, even for a religion reporter at the NYT, so I looked up every reference I could find and all of them were pretty clear. Six days with no mumbling about allegory.
With one possible exception. The “thousand years” thing looks like it comes from Surah 32:4-5, which reads as follows.
It is Allah Who has created the heavens and the earth, and all between them, in six Days, and is firmly established on the Throne (of Authority): ye have none, besides Him, to protect or intercede (for you): will ye not then receive admonition?
He rules (all) affairs from the heavens to the earth: in the end will (all affairs) go up to Him, on a Day, the space whereof will be (as) a thousand years of your reckoning.
Sounds like the “thousand year day” thing is referring to judgement day, not creation. But … again … I am no expert on the Koran.
This page, responding to Christian accusations of a contradiction in the Koran, seems to make no bones about 6 days.
In any event, maybe now the “scientific left” will start turning their ire on Islam.
2009-11-03 » Greg Krehbiel
3 November 2009 @ 3:24 pm
I doubt the “scientific left” will turn on Islam. Critics of Christianity ought to turn their ire on Islam 10-fold for it’s scientific absurdities, intolerance, misogyny, neglect of human rights, etc. but they don’t.
Islam is insulated on two fronts. First they get protection by those who are willing to look past Islam’s flaws in the name of tolerance and multiculturalism. And second there is just the threat of violence which results in self-censorship.
Yale Press prints a book about the Danish cartoon incident and lacks the stones to print the cartoons? I read a piece with the director of “2012″ where earth’s most iconic cities, from Paris to Machu Pichu are destroyed. But not Mecca.
“That’s the problem with our world. If you would destroy Mecca, I would have a fatwa on my head. So we stayed away from it.” The Vatican on the other hand? It crumbles to dust, taking out a few thousand Catholic worshippers on the way.
3 November 2009 @ 3:46 pm
Guess you guys have missed the video clips of Islamic creationists and wacky “scientific” ideas I’ve seen on science blogs. They come up less frequently because of the Western-centric bias of these blogs.
Most religions have ideas about reality that are demonstrably and laughably wrong from a scientific point of view. Some sects within some religions, and some believers are better then others at limiting the cognitive dissonance, but I’m not sure any one religion is much better than any other.
3 November 2009 @ 4:50 pm
I don’t spend a lot of time on “science” blogs, so maybe they’ve already taken their lives into their hands by criticizing the religion of peace. (“Islam is violent.” “We’ll kill you for saying that!”)
3 November 2009 @ 6:23 pm
This, for instance.