SURAH 18:86 – THE QUR’ANIC VERSE THAT DESTROYS ISLAM
Majority of Muslims today claim the scientific accuracy of the Quran and how it tells us about the facts which were not known by the desert dwellers of the 7th century and have just recently been discovered by contemporary science however evidence says otherwise. Not just that the claim that the Quran is scientifically miraculous is false it’s actually the opposite.
In Chapter 18 verse 86, Qur’an tells us where the sun goes every evening. Spoiler alert! It is ridiculous. The verse claims that a powerful man reached the setting place of the sun and he found it setting in a black muddy spring of water. In terms of scientific errors in the Qur’an it can’t get more blatant than this verse. For millennia, humans have looked up to the sky and tried to make sense of what is happening and were never really capable of hearing “we don’t yet know” answer. For example, in Egyptian Mythology the Divine personification of the sun known as Ra travels on a boat across the sky then setting somewhere on the earth and then travelling through the underworld to it’s rising place. To thoroughly explain this matter beyond doubt i will put forward a number of arguments here which go as follows.
LANGUAGE AND CONTEXT USED IN THE VERSE:
The context and revelational circumstances of this verse say that Mohammed was challenged to prove his prophethood by correctly relaying ancient stories including the story of a man called Dhul-Qarnayn ( the man with two horns). This man was given great power to the world and he ruled the entire world according to muslims. This man travels to the west to reach the setting place of the sun. Now let’s look at the verse in question:
Until, when he reached the setting of the sun, he found it setting in a spring of dark mud, and he found near it a people. Allah said, "O Dhul-Qarnayn, either you punish [them] or else adopt among them [a way of] goodness."
18:86
Modern muslim apologists tried to explain this verse as Dhul-Qarnayn’s perspective and that he was confused by seeing the sun setting over the horizon or may be saw the sun’s reflection on the spring and thought that the sun was setting into the spring. In all the cases, muslim apologists want to brush it under the carpet by saying that the Qur’an didn’t actually mean by what it says. So first off Qur’an claims itself to be clear in all these verses:
(12:1),(15:1),(16:89),(16:103),(27:1),(28:2),(43:2),(44:2)
It also says that it’s verses are explained in detail in these verses:
(11:1) and (41:3)
And it also tells us that it’s a book for which there is no doubt:
(2:2)
To say that the Qur’an is not clear goes against what the Qur’an claims about itself and also goes against the original meaning that Allah wanted to convey in this verse. And please be honest with yourselves if people had found some thousands of years after the death of Mohammed the sun actually setting in a muddy spring wouldn’t you be calling it a miracle or you still would argue that it’s not literal and the fact that we actually found it setting in a muddy spring was just a mere coincidence. Besides that i fairly believe that Qur’an is literal, why will Qur’an inlcude Dhul-Qarnayn’s mistaken perspective in the first place and even if for some mysterious reason Allah wanted to tell us that it’s only Dhul-Qarnayn’s mistaken thought, he could have told us in simple words like “ he thought as if” but no Qur’an used the most strongest word “He found it”. For further arguing, let me bring an example of an incident where the choice of words make it 100% clear and has absolutely no room for error and interpretation. The Qur’an states that Jesus wasn’t actually crucified and that it was only appeared to the people who crucified him and the eye-witnesssess:
And [for] their saying, "Indeed, we have killed the Messiah, Jesus, the son of Mary, the messenger of Allah ." And they did not kill him, nor did they crucify him; but [another] was made to resemble him to them. And indeed, those who differ over it are in doubt about it. They have no knowledge of it except the following of assumption. And they did not kill him, for certain.
(4:157)
Does the Qur’an say that they “Found” Jesus being crucified? The crucial part is that the Qur’an says:
وَلَٰكِن شُبِّهَ لَهُمْ
(it was made to appear to them)
It gives it all away you won’t find two tafseers contesting whether or not Jesus died on the cross because the verse is clear. It tells us that he didn’t die on the cross and he only appeared that way to the people. If Qur’an wanted to convey the same message for Dhul-Qarnayn then it should have used the same word but it uses a different word:
وَجَدَ
(to find)
The same word is used in 35 different verses in the Qur’an i challenge anyone to find me an example of the word being used to include something from a visual perspective of someone. The same word even appears twice in the verse we are speaking about:
Until, when he reached the setting of the sun, he found it setting in a spring of dark mud, and he found near it a people. Allah said, "O Dhul-Qarnayn, either you punish [them] or else adopt among them [a way of] goodness."
Did Dhul-Qarnayn really found the people around or he was being told to judge over people who only appeared to him visually? Clearly the former is the case here. Muslims here try to pretend that the same word is used with two different meanings in the verse because they now know from a scientific perspective that Dhul-Qarnayn couldn’t have possibly found the sun setting in the spring. Ofcourse, they do this with clearly no basis of linguistic or contextual perspective. As I said in the beginning this was a test for the Prophet to see whether he knew the stories or not so if we look at the context of this verse:
And they ask you about Dhul-Qarnain. Say, "I will recite to you about him a remembrance."
Indeed, We [We] established [for] him in the earth, and We gave him of every thing a means.
And he followed a road
So, if Dhul-Qarnayn only wanted to see the sun setting over the horizon what’s the purpose of him following a road? Couldn’t he just stand there and wait for the sun set to see the sun setting over the horizon? Furthermore, he physically reaches the place and the arabic word used for reaching is:
بَلَغَ
(to reach time or place)
While, the word can be used for both time and place but it’ll be stupid to say that he reached the time of the sun set rather than the place as we look at the context he found people there and also the previous choice of words indicate the phyiscal place of the sun setting. Furthermore, as we continue down the verses:
Till, when he reached the rising-place of the sun, he found it rising on a people for whom We had appointed no shelter therefrom.
So, he follows another road and this time all the way to the east to the rising place of the sun and he yet again finds people there. In Tafsirs of Ibn-Kathir and Al-Tabari those people are called black or Zinj in arabic indicating the old belief that their skins were burned under the scorching heat of the sun whom they had no protection from.
Until, when he reached [a pass] between two mountains, he found beside them a people who could hardly understand [his] speech.
The word Balaga is used yet again in this verse and any person with common sense can reasonably conclude that the word balaga points to a physical location between the mountains and not the time of mountains. Moving on to my next point the arabic word used for the water is :
عَيْنٍ
(Spring)
As for the counter-argument that Dhul-Qarnayn saw the sun setting over the horizon, we would look at the arabic words used for the bodies of water:
محيط
(ocean)
بحر
(sea)
بحيرة
(lake)
نهر
(river)
عَيْنٍ
(Spring)
Now, is there any spring anywhere in the world which would appear to stretch all the way to the horizon? Even the biggest spring in the world (frying pan lake) is only 200 diameters long and no one can be fooled into thinking that the sun sets in that spring.
WHAT MOHAMMED SAID ABOUT THE SUN SETTING:
Now, there’s another major flaw in the argument of apologists who claim that it was only from Dhul-Qarnayn’s perspective. There’s a hadith from Mohammed confirming where the sun goes in the evening:
Narrated Abu Dharr:
I was sitting behind the Messenger of Allah (PBUH) who was riding a donkey while the sun was setting. He asked: Do you know where this sets ? I replied: Allah and his Apostle know best. He said: It sets in a spring of warm water (Hamiyah).
Grade
: Sahih in chain (Al-Albani)
Reference
: Sunan Abi Dawud 4002
In-book reference
: Book 32, Hadith 34
English translation
: Book 31, Hadith 3991
There’s a similar hadith along with this one:
Narrated Abu Dhar:
The Prophet (PBUH) asked me at sunset, "Do you know where the sun goes (at the time of sunset)?" I replied, "Allah and His Apostle know better." He said, "It goes (i.e. travels) till it prostrates Itself underneath the Throne and takes the permission to rise again.
Sahih al-Bukhari 3199
Both the hadiths don’t contradict one another and further talk about the sun setting and rising which is not possible on a spherical earth as the sun remains stationary in the milky way and doesn’t go anywhere, these hadiths talk about a phenomena which is only possible on a flat earth.
HOW EARLY MUSLIM SCHOLARS UNDERSTOOD THE VERSE:
The most fascinating part of this discussion are the views of early Muslim scholars regarding this verse, all the present Muslim scholars of today came centuries after the time of Muhammad. They themselves have to rely on the Tafsirs (Exegesis) which were written and compiled by the early scholars of Islam. These early scholars of Islam hold the key to the understanding of the teachings of Allah as it was originally taught by the Prophet of Islam.These early scholars have dedicated their entire lives to understanding the religion of Islam. It is the knowledge of these scholars that I need to seek to know the true teachings of Islam. And I will do just that. The two most recognized Tafsirs are that of Ibn Kathir and Al-Tabari. These early Muslim Scholars have made it possible for Islam to stand where it is now and undoubtely they are the heavy weights in Islam.
Al-Tabari on verse 18:86:
Then he said: For the sun and the moon, He created easts and wests (positions to rise and set) on the two sides of the earth and the two rims of heaven, 180 springs in the west of black clay-this is meant by God’s word: “He found it setting in a muddy spring,” meaning by “muddy (hami’ah)” black clay-and 180 springs in the east likewise of black clay, bubbling and boiling like a pot when it boils furiously. He continued. Every day and night, the sun has a new place where it rises and a new place where it sets. The interval between them from beginning to end is longest for the day in the summer and shortest in winter.This is (meant by) God’s word: ”The Lord of the two easts and Lord of the two wests,” meaning the last (position) of the sun here and the last there. He omitted the positions in the east and the west (for the rising and setting of the sun) in between them. Then He referred to east and west in the plural, saying: “(By) the lord of the east and the wests.” He mentioned the number of all those springs (as above).
Tafsir Al-Tabari Vol 1 page 234-235
Tabari is quoting Abd Allah Ibn Abbas here. Ibn Abbas (619 CE – 687 CE) was a cousin of Muhammad. He was not only an esteemed scholar of Islam but he was also personally taught by Muhammad. Ibn Abbas was known for his authoritative interpretation of the Qur’an by both sunnis and shias. He is widely respected for his authority on Islam. Even the Caliphs of Islam who are known as Guardians of the Islamic Faith, frequently consulted him on vital matters pertaining to the interpretations of the Qur’an. The verse is considered both by Ibn Abbas and Tabari as literal, those who still want to argue about the verse as being from Dhul-Qarnayn’s perspective are claiming to understand Qur’an better than one of the closest companions of the Prophet and the one of the most senior Scholar of Islam. Furthermore, what’s interesting is that some people in scientific circles, already knew that the sun was a star that was much larger than the earth and they also understood that the earth was spherical atleast a thousand years before Mohammed was even born. So it can’t be true that the muslims didn’t know about this fact at the time when Mohammed revealed this verse, they simply had no reason to trust science over Allah’s word and they kept believing it was true until it became absolutely impossible to keep believing this in the face of growing evidence.
TAFSIRS (EXEGESES) IN CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER:
Let’s look at some early tafsirs and see when they mentioned something about the verse only being from a false visual perspective.
1. Tafsir Mujahid (104 Hijri)
2. Tafsir Ghareeb al-Quran (204 Hijri)
3. Muqatil bin Sulaiman (150 Hijri)
4. Tafsir Sufyan al-Thawri (161 Hijri)
5. Tafsir AbdulRazaq al-Sunaani (211 Hijri)
6. Tafsir Al-Quran - Al-Tustari (283 Hijri)
7. Tafsir al-Hibri (286 Hijri)
8. Tafsir Furat al-Kufi (3rd century Hijri)
9. Tafsir al-Hiwari (3rd century Hijri)
10. Tafsir al-Nisa’i (303 Hijri)
11. Tafsir al-Tabari (310 Hijri)
12. Tafsir Nazhat al-Quloub (330 Hijri)
13. Ta’wilat Ahlul Sunnah (333 Hijri)
14. Tafsir Bahr el-uloum (375 Hijri)
15. Tafsir Ibn Abi Zamanayn (399 Hijri)
16. Tafsir Ali Ibrahim al-Qimmi (4th century Hijri)
17. Haqa’iq al-Tafsir - Al-Silmi (412 Hijri)
18. Tafsir al-Kashf wal bayan (427 Hijri)
19. AlHidaya ila bulugh alNihaya (437 Hijri)
20. Tafsir Al-Mawirdi (450 Hijri)
21. Tafsir Al-Tibyan-Al-Tusi (460 Hijri)
The first Tafsir was written 90 years after the death of Mohammed and doesn’t say the verse means something else and also gives some details like about the nature of spring. Same with the other Tafsirs none of them don’t even give us a hint about the sun setting only from someone’s perspective. Tabari gathered all the narrations he could find about the verse and none of them talked about an optical illusion rather they seem to contradict each other on the nature of spring like whether it was black or muddy or warm or just all of them. The 18th Tafsir is an important one as it says that the sun goes through the underworld after setting in the spring to reach the rising place towards the other spring. This crushes all the apologetic arguments about the optical illusion. Furthermore, it also reveals where Mohammed got his idea for his verse, He cites a poem by an ancient Yemini King called Tuba who lived 700 years before Mohammed. The poem is about a man called Dhul-Qarnayn which is roughly translated as follows:
“DhulQarnayn was a submitter before me, a King who was adorned by Kings, He reached the west and the east. In roads laid down by the wise guide. So he saw the sun as it was setting in a spring of black mud.”
Now we know the origins of this verse, is this just some mere grand coincidence? Is Islam really our test of faith or a test of gullibilty and stubborness. Now the bible also has a verse very similar to this:
The sun rises and the sun sets, and hurries back to where it rises.
Ecclesiastes 1:5
The Bible verse is pretty vague as compared to the Qur’an but as we can see it conveys the same idea. After a whopping 440 years after the death of Mohammed we finally get our first hint, The 20th Tafsir says that the Qur’an verse is literal but then it also states a second opinion that the sun could have set over the horizon. 450 years after the death of Mohammed which corresponds to the western year 1067, The 21th Tafsir talks about the muslims who figured out that the sun was too big to set in a spring but it was still dispute, a scholar called Al-Akhshad rejected this new interpretation despite contrary scientific Evidence. He says:
“No, it does set in a muddy spring, exactly as the Quran clearly says.”
Ibn Al-Akhshad
No matter how heavily you were indoctrinated this should clear even the shadow of a doubt that the Qur’an verse wasn’t clear. Modern muslim apologists claim their new interpretation as the correct one as if they knew the Qur’an better than all the major early muslim scholars 450 years following the death of Mohammed combined. The fact that the Qur’an actually meant that the sun sets into a spring is simply undeniable.