Sunday 26 June 2016

MYTH: Quran Describing Moonlight as Reflected

According to Zakir Naik, the Quran describes moonlight as reflected light. He claims that the Arabic word "nur" used to describe moonlight in quran means "reflected light". Here is a part of his debate with William Campbell where he makes the claim: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q3P_WDTeInA

Zakir quotes the verse 25:61 of the Quran: http://corpus.quran.com/translation.jsp?chapter=25&verse=61

Yusuf Ali: "Blessed is He Who made constellations in the skies, and placed therein a Lamp and a Moon giving light"

Pickthall: "Blessed be He Who hath placed in the heaven mansions of the stars, and hath placed therein a great lamp and a moon giving light!"

The Quran uses the word "siraj" for describing sunlight and "munir" for describing moonlight. According to Zakir, siraj means "its own light" and munir is derived from the Arabic word "nur" which means "reflected light". If that was true, then the Quran describes moonlight as reflected light.

But wait... Zakir Naik lied when he said nur/munir means reflected light. Nur actually means "light", NOT reflected light. Munir actually means luminous/shining/giving light, not reflecting light. It is easy for him to fool an audience who do not know Arabic. But we do have dictionaries available to expose the truth!

Here is the proof from six different Arabic dictionaries and the word by word grammar of the quran:

1) Munir - Adjective ( منير )
http://www.arabdict.com/en/english-arabic/منير
http://mobile-dictionary.reverso.net/arabic-english/منير
http://dictionary.sensagent.com/منير/ar-en/
http://www.wordreference.com/aren/منير
https://glosbe.com/ar/en/منير
http://en.bab.la/dictionary/arabic-english/منير

http://corpus.quran.com/wordbyword.jsp?chapter=25&verse=61#(25:61:5)

2) Nur - Noun ( نور )
http://www.arabdict.com/en/english-arabic/نور
http://mobile-dictionary.reverso.net/arabic-english/نور
http://dictionary.sensagent.com/نور/ar-en/
http://www.wordreference.com/aren/نور
https://glosbe.com/ar/en/نور
http://en.bab.la/dictionary/arabic-english/نور

http://corpus.quran.com/wordbyword.jsp?chapter=24&verse=35#(24:35:35)

As you can see, none of these six Arabic-to-English dictionaries give the meaning reflected light for munir/nur. Similar wording is used for describing the moonlight in verses 10:5 and 71:16 too.

Since Zakir Naik has a decent knowledge of Arabic, it is most likely that he was lying and was not ignorant about the meanings. By inserting false meanings for arabic words, he can only fool people who take his words for granted and not bother to check if what he is telling is right. We cannot expect many Muslims to come up with the truth when the lies told by Zakir is helping Islam grow and make the Quran look like a miracle.

However, even those Muslims who acknowledge the true meanings of the words nur and munir have a point to make: Why does the author of the Quran mention moon as simply "a light" and sun as "a lamp (light source)"? They argue that this is because the author knew that the sun is actually the source of the light of the moon. Let us look at the meaning of the word "siraj" that is used to describe sunlight: http://www.arabdict.com/en/english-arabic/سِرَاجًا

The meaning of siraj is "dazzling lamp" or "great lamp". Besides, sunlight is mentioned in the Quran as wahaaj/diya meaning blazing torch/shining glory. If you look at this, it is clear that the author of the Quran is simply describing sunlight as a "greater light" and moonlight as simply "light". This is what anyone in the seventh century knew! That sunlight is far brighter than the moonlight.

In fact, the Greeks like Aristotle knew that moonlight was reflected, about a thousand years before Muhammad was even born. It is something that was understood over time in many countries such as India by observing the phases of the moon. By the middle ages, even Arabs got to know this by the same method. From then on, efforts were always underway to reinterpret the Quran in order to make it compatible with the new discoveries.

35 comments:

  1. This is interesting and I pritned it out to reread it later. I will have a link to your blog to check in my spare time.

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  2. the idea that moon relfects sunlight was known before to greek astronomers as well as indian astronomers.
    the indian astronomer/mathematician aryabhatta describes that moon reflects sunlight as well as greek astronomer aristotle also described it.

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  3. the idea that moon relfects sunlight was known before to greek astronomers as well as indian astronomers.
    the indian astronomer/mathematician aryabhatta describes that moon reflects sunlight as well as greek astronomer aristotle also described it.

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  4. Think you need to post the video link too ... that would be better.

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  5. Don't you people understand the difference between shining and glowing. An objects shines only when light falls on it. So the word Munir = shining truly justifies that moon reflects the light.

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    Replies
    1. Yeap that was what i thinking also, when we say that water is shining it doesnt mean that water has light, some other light hits the water to make it shine

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    2. Yeap that was what i thinking also, when we say that water is shining it doesnt mean that water has light, some other light hits the water to make it shine

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    3. It's not necessary that an object has to shine when the light is given on it.it can happen by its own light

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  6. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  7. ▶️The blog "Exposing Islam Without Fear" is bunch of lies and deception. On his website the author states that Quranic verses mention moon as a source of light.
    ☹️Following sentences are quoted from his blog,
    "Nur actually means "light", NOT reflected light. Munir actually means luminous/shining/giving light, not reflecting light. He is bluffing"
    ➡️Definition of منیر Munir in Arabic dictionary:
    - lightened; illuminated 
    - shiny, bright 
    ✔️Now let's see meaning of illuminate in various English dictionaries.
    ⏺️Meaning if illuminate in Oxford dictionary.
    illuminate:
    Light up;
    e.g.
    ‘a flash of lightning illuminated the house’
    ‘A golden light was shining down illuminating Isabelle's face.’
    ⏺️Meaning of illuminate in Cambridge Dictionary,
    illuminate:
    e.g.
    to light something and make it brighter:
    "The streets were illuminated with strings of coloured lights."

    ✔️SO IT'S CRYSTAL CLEAR FROM ABOVE THAT WORD "MUNEER" WHICH MEANS TO ILLUMINATE IS NOT USUALLY USED FOR SOURCE OF LIGHT.

    🔷Following verses from Holy Quran add to the fact that sun is the source of light which illuminates the moon.
    ▶️Quran 71:16
    And illuminated the moon in midst and sun as (burning) lamp
    🔷Quran 25:61
    Blest is he who hath placed big stars in the heaven and hath placed therein a lamp (sun) and illuminated the moon.
    🔷Quran 10:05
    It is God who has made the sun as lamp and the moon luminous and has appointed for the moon certain phases so that you may compute the number of years and other reckonings. God has created them for a genuine purpose. He explains the evidence (of His existence) to the people of knowledge.

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    Replies
    1. ▶️Word Muneer منیر as per Arabic dictionary is defined as "illuminated".
      ✔️Following verses of Quran not only describe Moon has a reflected light but also describe Moon is illuminated by the light of Sun.

      🔷Quran 71:16
      And illuminated the moon in midst and sun as (burning) lamp
      🔷Quran 25:61
      Blest is he who hath placed big stars in the heaven and hath placed therein a lamp (sun) and illuminated the moon.

      🚫Show A Bit Of Honesty and Truthfulness. Maligning Any Religion With Lies And Deception Is Not Courage.

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    2. The meaning is not illuminated its illuminating.stop lying.the word muneer or munir means just luminous or illuminating.nice try but wont work now

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  8. //Don't you people understand the difference between shining and glowing. An objects shines only when light falls on it. So the word Munir = shining truly justifies that moon reflects the light.//

    We also say that sun Shines. That statement obviously doesnt mean that sun is reflecting light.

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    Replies
    1. 🌅 For sun word "Siraj" "سراج" is used which means lamp or light source.
      ➡️See Dictionary link below.. https://en.glosbe.com/ar/en/%D8%B3%D8%B1%D8%A7%D8%AC

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  9. //Word Muneer منیر as per Arabic dictionary is defined as "illuminated".//

    From the most respected Classical Arabic - English dictionary, Muneer ( منير ) means "GIVING LIGHT" aka "luminous".

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    1. 🔷I am unable to post photos here, otherwise would have posted photo from Most Authentic Arabic dictionary,For now see link below.
      ➡️Link of Arabic Dictionary,
      https://www.almaany.com/en/dict/ar-en/%D9%85%D9%86%D9%8A%D8%B1/

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  10. ▶️From Oxford dictionary, Using word "illuminated" in sentences
    ‘A golden light was shining down illuminating Isabelle's face'
    🚫You would say Isabelle's face was emitting light.
    😆
    😆
    😆

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  11. 🚫You don't speak Arabic,
    🚫You don't understand Arabic,
    🚫You don't know where a word is used as noun or verb or adjective,
    🚫You don't know Arabic vocabulary,
    🚫When you don't understand such basic things why you are making fun of yourself by posting something from dictionaries drawing your own wrong interpretations.
    🚫I would suggest you learn basic Arabic first before becoming "authority" of translations.

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  12. Its from Lanes Lexicon. Its far far more authentic than Almaany.

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  13. http://www.studyquran.org/LaneLexicon/Volume8/00000120.pdf

    Nayyir ( نیّر ) - Giving Light, Shining, Bright, or Shining brightly; (A, Msb) AS ALSO MUNEER ( منير )

    Read it. From Lanes Lexicon, the Most authentic Classical Arabic - English dictionary.

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  14. //From Oxford dictionary, Using word "illuminated" in sentences
    ‘A golden light was shining down illuminating Isabelle's face'
    🚫You would say Isabelle's face was emitting light. //

    Irrelevant. Because Muneer means GIVING LIGHT aka LUMINOUS.

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  16. 🚫Again your lack of knowledge in Arabic grammer, You don't even know difference of verb, noun, adjective.
    By the way definition of "luminous" is also reflecting light
    Both ways your claims are denied.

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    Replies
    1. Luminous means shining,lightning.it doesn't mean reflected light.stop fooling peoples

      Delete
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  18. ✔️According to Marriam-Webster Dictionary word "luminous" implies emission of steady, suffused, glowing light by reflection.
    ✔️So it's glowing by REFLECTION.
    ✔️So whether you use "Munir منیر" as noun, adjective or verb، MOST appropriate description is "reflection of light" and NOT "it's own light."
    ✔️Quranic verses describing sun as source of light which illuminates moon or moon is luminous due to reflection of sun light.
    ✔️As Quran says "falsehood is bound to perish."

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    Replies
    1. You are too much ignorant

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    2. No verse in the quran tells that son is giving light to moon neither the word nur means reflected light.illuminating means light giving,making light available to everyone.and luminous means shining,cristal clear you cant just change the meaning of a word by your own to relate quran with modern science

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  19. //🚫Again your lack of knowledge in Arabic grammer, You don't even know difference of verb, noun, adjective.
    By the way definition of "luminous" is also reflecting light
    Both ways your claims are denied.//

    You are a terrible joker. Luminous means "giving light", not "reflecting light". If you deny this, you donot know English.

    Like i posted from the Lane's Lexicon, Muneer means "Luminous" or "giving light". Your own interpolated meanings have no weight in Arabic.

    You just got owned.

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  20. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/luminous

    Definition of luminous

    1 a :EMITTING OR reflecting usually steady, suffused, or glowing light

    Here, read this you shameless liar. According to Merriam Webster itself, luminous is not necessarily "reflecting". It can be emitting (ie, own light) as well.

    You dont know english. And you lie about arabic. Again, you got badly owned by facts.

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    Replies
    1. I agree worb you.clown zakir naik and this busterds know that quran is not scientifically accurate from anywhere.still they change the meaning of words in qurans verses and relates with modern science.

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  21. Rashidah, don't get too excited because of your findings.
    Do u know what exposing Isam means?
    Well it means exposing Allah and the quran. Ur basis of exposing islam is wrong, Allah didn't say that the moon has reflected light.He simply says it's nur and that it's light is munir. How u translate it is up to u. Like it's been translated in dictionaries the word nur is light and munir giving light, there is no contradiction between what Allah says and that.
    Refer that hostility in ur wordings to Dr Zakir Naik not the quran or Allah
    He's a human being who's prone to error that's if he is indeed wrong.
    Even if he erred in that verse, we need to acknowledge the fact that much of what he said is true. Alhamdulillah and that it explains that the Quran is scientifically a miracle

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