Speed of Light in the Qur'an calculated by Dr. Mansour Hassab-Elnaby (heaven, miracle)

[TheresACatForThat]

The Qur'an uses natural metaphors (i.e. the moon, the sun, the earth) to give a precise value for the speed of light
... which is universal, it can be phrased in all time epochs, all lands, all units
... plus it doesn't even make it explicit that the speed of light is being encoded - it is just lecturing offhandedly
... plus it does it all in metered verse





Based on a verse from the Qur'an 32:5[SIZE=2]:[/SIZE]
Sahih International: He arranges [each] matter from the heaven to the earth; then it will ascend to Him in a Day, the extent of which is a thousand years of those which you count.
Pickthall: He directeth the ordinance from the heaven unto the earth; then it ascendeth unto Him in a Day, whereof the measure is a thousand years of that ye reckon.
Yusuf Ali: 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.
Shakir: He regulates the affair from the heaven to the earth; then shall it ascend to Him in a day the measure of which is a thousand years of what you count.
Muhammad Sarwar: He sends the regulation of the affair from the heavens to the earth, then on the day which is equal to one thousand years of yours, it will ascend to Him.
Mohsin Khan: He arranges (every) affair from the heavens to the earth, then it (affair) will go up to Him, in one Day, the space whereof is a thousand years of your reckoning (i.e. reckoning of our present world's time).
Arberry: He directs the affair from heaven to earth, then it goes up to Him in one day, whose measure is a thousand years of your counting.




The natural metaphors: the rotation of the earth to give "a day", the distance travelled by the earth around the sun in 1,000 lunar years. So we have: earth, moon, sun.


Add mention of angels (they convey tidings of the cosmos to Allah) who are made of light.

Mix it all together under the direction of the above verse, and you get the speed of light.


Result:

Based on Qur'an 32:5, Dr. Hassab-Elnaby gives the speed of light as: 299,792.5 km/s
Google gives the speed of light as: 299,792.458 kilometres / second
The difference = 42 metres / second = 151.2 km / hour
The difference is negligible. That could easily be explained by the error of our instruments or the difference in atmosphere e.g. vacuum of space versus Earth's atmosphere etc etc




Note that it is not saying that Angels travel through the universe to a location where Allah physically is. In fact the entire universe is within Allah, he is the only real thing.


What happens with regard to this verse is that once light speed is reached, another plane of existence is reached. Once you hit light speed, you don't continue travelling through the physical cosmos. You transcend the physical.

The Qur'an also gives an even higher speed (1 day : 50,000 years) in another verse (Qur'an 70:4). We can therefore infer there are different levels of nearness to Allah. Different hyperrealities.







The calculations are here:

http://www.islamicity.com/Science/960703A.SHTML
Another version with cool animations: http://www.miracles-of-quran.com/speed-light/speed_of_light_12000.htm




Please discuss, but please accept that if you have an actual rebuttal, you will be polite, make your arguments free of sophistry, free of logical fallacies. Please, be civil. We are all as nothing compared to Allah.



Let me propose a rebuttal: Show that you, too, can compose a metered verse in an offhanded style, which, through citing natural phenomena, obliquely encodes the speed of light with great accuracy, in a format that works no matter which units are used.

If you can't do that, then ask yourself why? Is the Qur'an supernatural? Does it surpass our mundane abilities?

[TheresACatForThat]

I forgot to explain Dr, Hasseb-Elnaby's take on this:

Distance travelled by the Earth in 1,000 lunar years divided by time in one day = speed of light

Another way of rebuttal: show how the mathematics / physics is incorrect. There are a few such rebuttals online but when you look closely, they don't actually say anything, they just seem to trail off after voicing some kind of displeasure and contempt ...




Peace be upon you all and your parents and family. Bye for now.

[Ken_N]

Is the Quran proving science to be true, or is science proving the Quran to be true?

Which is the standard of truth?

[TheresACatForThat]

Originally Posted by Ken_N

Is the Quran proving science to be true, or is science proving the Quran to be true?

Which is the standard of truth?

Hi there Sir, the topic, as per my opening 2 posts is:


- Can you make a similar verse, which encodes the speed of light, via natural metaphor, in metered verse, whilst actually being discrete about encoding the speed of light, ie. with the verse talking in an offhanded manner, and in such a way that it's universally true, regardless the units used? If not, why not? Why could the Qur'an do it?


- Can you find an error in the math?








OK but l will indulge you still, but l fear it will detract from the OP.

Logical Fallacy: False Equivalence.
The Qur'an is an object. The Qur'an is complete. It is the basis of Islam, invented by Allah.
Science (modern science) is a method of investigating the truth. The zen of fishing for the truth if you will. The modern scientific method was first formulated by a Muslim, the mediaeval polymtath Ibn Haytham of Basra, in what is modern Iraq. That is, observe, test, objectively critique, tentatively conclude. Something like that.
So, Science is a method, not an object, and is open-ended. It was invented by a Muslim.


Logical Fallacy: Red Herring.
Scientific lore is not a set tome like the Qur'an is. It is predicated on doubt and is regularly revised.


Logical Fallacy: Red Herring.
The Qur'an came before our understanding of the Speed of Light. I'm surprised it hasn't struck you how miraculous it is for an Arab of the 6th century to reveal this to mankind, in metered verse, without even being explicit, and in a way that makes it true regardless what units are used, and thus regardless which culture understands it.



Avoid logical fallacies sir! Peace

[Huckleberry3911948]

People us the Bible as a basis for math theory too
Did you see the film - a beautiful mind ?
Btw I have read the Quran twice -it’s not a math primer

One of the worst apologetic attempts I've seen.

[TheresACatForThat]

Originally Posted by Huckleberry3911948

People us the Bible as a basis for math theory too
Did you see the film - a beautiful mind ?
Btw I have read the Quran twice -it’s not a math primer

1. Red Herring Logical Fallacy: This is not about the Bible, and it doesn't impact the OP even if valid
2. Red Herring Logical Fallacy: You make it appear that any claims to prescience of universal physical constants in the Bible are true, otherwise why mention it? In fact, you've not given an example, nor shown the example to be true.
3. Beautiful Mind? Chewbacca is a Wookie. He has a beautiful mind. Or maybe he does not. Start a blog I may even help you do it, but it doesn't come under the remit of this here thread
4. Appeal to Authority Logical Fallacy: You claim some authority on the basis of an achievement (reading the Qur'an twice) which is unproven, and not even proven to be relevant to the OP.
5. Red Herring Logical Fallacy: The OP was not claiming the Qur'an to be a mathematical primer.




Please avoid logical fallacies, they are a form of intellectual dishonesty sir! Be well, peace

[Ken_N]

Originally Posted by TheresACatForThat

Hi there Sir, the topic, as per my opening 2 posts is:


- Can you make a similar verse, which encodes the speed of light, via natural metaphor, in metered verse, whilst actually being discrete about encoding the speed of light, ie. with the verse talking in an offhanded manner, and in such a way that it's universally true, regardless the units used? If not, why not? Why could the Qur'an do it?


- Can you find an error in the math?

[...]

Peace
[/b]

The error is in the form of the argument itself. You give science (rightfully) a place of judgement as a standard of truth. By doing this you place the Quran beneath science as a source of truth.

[turf3]

Huh?


The Quran is a religious work written (compiled) by people who had limited scientific understanding and limited instrumentation. Its subject is not science, nor is it meant to be.


Don't mix oil and water. If you want to get an accurate determination of the speed of light consult the latest scientific research.

[Ken_N]

Psalm 90 - “... In thy sight, a thousand years are but as yesterday, that has come and gone, or as one of the night-watches...”

2 Peter - “...with the Lord a day counts as a thousand years, and a thousand years count as a day...”