Have you ever seen this? I think it is interesting. This website claims the Qur'an gives us the speed of light! —Matt Lovacheff
The passage the link refers to is Surah 32.5: (Allah) Rules the cosmic affair from the heavens to the Earth. Then this affair travels to Him a distance in one day, at a measure of one thousand years of what you count.
I think the language is intended to indicate the greatness of Allah, not tell us the speed of light. (Especially in a book where the sun is said to set in a muddy pool every evening!) Some Muslims are claiming that the exact speed of light is specified in their scriptures. But this is highly unlikely, in my view.
Many things in the Qur’an (written in the 600s AD) are drawn (often erroneously) from the Old and New Testaments. In this case, Mohammed got his one day/1000 years equivalency from the Bible (Psalm 90 and 2 Peter 3). So if it is true that the Qur'an yields c, the speed of light, then the same must be true of the Old and New Testaments. In other words, the wisdom or insight has been borrowed! (Not that I accept this, because the interpretation is not well grounded.)
This article is copyrighted and is for private use and study only. © 2006. Reprints or public distribution is prohibited without the express consent of Douglas Jacoby.
