Discussion (16)¬

1. Peter says:

   July 27, 2022 at 3:59 pm

   Wow that’s a stretch:
   Then I swear by the setting place of the stars,

   And indeed, it is a mighty oath – if you could know. Surah Waqiah 56:75-76
   https://www.thelastdialogue.org/article/black-hole-mentioned-in-quran/

2. jveeds says:

   July 27, 2022 at 5:47 pm

   Yes, as Peter says, a stretch indeed. My main Qur’an (v.76) says “Nay, I swear by the shooting of the stars…

   But there’s a footnote giving an alternate phrasing: the 𝙢𝙤𝙤𝙧𝙞𝙣𝙜𝙨 of the stars…

   However, I consulted two other copies: one says “setting” and the other says “position”

3. Rrr says:

   July 27, 2022 at 8:11 pm

   “where the stars fell off their peg”?
   May be too Hollywoodish.
   In Hollywood, the stars shoot you!

4. TheZark says:

   July 27, 2022 at 10:33 pm

   Based on the previous commenters, this is yet another example of how translation can be very difficult, and is sometimes more an art than a science. It’s also a good example of how thelastdialogue can’t be trusted to interpret things. They either don’t understand the original words’ meanings, or are intentionally twisting the meaning. So it comes down to the usual “are you stupid, or are you lying?” Either way, I wouldn’t trust the writer of that thelastdialogue page with a fast food order.

5. postdoggerel says:

   July 28, 2022 at 6:10 am

   The meteoric rise of Koran exegesis
   tries to delude and please us
   with exemplary though contemptible
   attempts to discuss this

   should we yield to them
   and then see their way
   allah’s grace will try our poor minds
   then with subtle obfuscations to play

   and though it is a stretch for verse to catch
   or to accommodate some kind of meaning,
   these arguments always fail straight away
   to give me a gleaning of what they say

   and when astronauts flush their poop it falls
   to the earth very hot, in fact flaming,
   and that is how it is that I’m claiming
   so far,
   your poop will never be
   a shooting star.

6. M27Holts says:

   July 28, 2022 at 8:45 am

   My last five fast food orders have all been fuddled or forgotten…so perhaps they are trusted in Mcdonalds?

7. Laripu says:

   July 28, 2022 at 12:40 pm

   J is being syncretic with the remark “our god”. But fashions change. When does the Crusade happen?

8. M27Holts says:

   July 28, 2022 at 6:40 pm

   There were four or five crusades? Or have I over-egged my pudding? And there may be a sixth and final crusade yet to happen?

9. Rrr says:

   July 28, 2022 at 7:12 pm

   Yay, teh cruicide!

10. A. says:

    July 28, 2022 at 10:30 pm

    And they carry your loads to distant lands which you could not otherwise reach without great hardship. Surely your Lord is Ever Gracious, Most Merciful.
    And horses, mules, and donkeys both to ride and for adornment. And He creates other things you do not know. – Tesla Motors (Qur’an, 16:8)

11. jb says:

    July 29, 2022 at 6:35 am

    I’ve seen it claimed that because the Muslims in the Middle East considered themselves to be the victors in the crusader wars, there really wasn’t much resentment against Christian Europe over those wars in the centuries that followed. In fact the claim was that far from being a sore point, the Crusades had been largely forgotten in the Middle East until the 19th century, when outrage over them was whipped up from scratch as a response to European colonialism. I don’t know whether this particular claim is true, but it’s certainly true that not all ancient grievances are genuinely ancient.

12. Laripu says:

    July 31, 2022 at 2:11 pm

    Ah, the James Webb telescope photos… Given the speed of light, and red shift, Jesus would have to concede that creation could not have occurred under 6000 years ago… 5782 if you go by the Jewish year, which he might do.

    Except that when Jesus came, god created a New Covenant with physics, so the old rules no longer apply. It says so in Wikipedia here: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Covenant
    … so it must be true. 😉

    A non sequitur a day keeps reality away.

13. Laripu says:

    July 31, 2022 at 2:25 pm

    The promise of the New Covenant was that god would put the law into people’s hearts, that they would no longer have a heart of stone, but that their heart would be filled with god’s law.

    The proofs that god’s law filled people’s hearts are the unexpected Spanish Inquisition, the accusations, trials and executions of thousands of women for witchcraft, and that little dust-up in the years 1933-1945.

    Ya but, ya but, I killed Christ… I’ve been told. S’funny what you remember from childhood. 🙂

    Cruelty never ended, it just got sanctified.

14. M27Holts says:

    August 1, 2022 at 7:06 am

    Nobody expects…..

15. M27Holts says:

    August 2, 2022 at 8:14 pm

    And….I LOVE THE SMELL OF A NEW COVENANT IN THE MORNING…..

16. Genius says:

    November 7, 2022 at 3:22 pm

    Six sextillion stars in the universe, yet God gets miffed if I masturbate.

    This was the answer when some clever fellow was asked to present his best refutation of the existence of God.

    Can’t remember if it was on a Lex Fridman interview, or if the commenter was a Weinstein…