RE: islamic forums
January 10, 2013 at 6:39 pm
(This post was last modified: January 10, 2013 at 6:58 pm by ThatMuslimGuy.)
(January 10, 2013 at 6:02 pm)paulpablo Wrote:(January 10, 2013 at 4:18 pm)ThatMuslimGuy Wrote: Sorry was at college. Ive explained how yaum or ayaum has various meanings such as day, age, period of time. And in the Qur'an a specific yaum has been used to refer to a 1000 years and a yaum being 50,000 years showing that a yaum doesn't always specifically mean a 24 hour day. Whenever ive been in Islamic lectures the speaker who understands arabic always specifies if 6 "yaums" are mentioned that in arabic it can mean a day or a period of time. Ive been in lectures from graduates of Medina university in saudi arabia who have said this. And as they have studied in the one of the best islamic university's in the world and know Arabic fluently they obv understand arabic. The point is it doesnt say "Day" it says yaum or plural ayaum which can mean day,age,period of time.
In response to why refer to why give an amount. Because Allah is saying he created the universe in six stages.
But as i just said the word "days" plural in english can mean age, period of time and so on. The days of shakespear the old days, the good old days and so on. But quantifying an unspecific quantity just seems odd.
Like walking into a shop and saying "ill have a few of those" makes sense. But saying "ill have 6 fews please"
Like i said i dont know arabic but it seems strange to me and i will look into it more. my main argument on the last forum i was in was with the man arguing with me saying day doesnt mean day, and we got so caught up on that we didnt even debate what the quran was saying.
Please inform me with what you find. But doesn't seem odd to me. God created the universe in six stages. Each with their own time span.
But as we don't know arabic all i can trust is the dictionaries and people who know it.
P.S. Just got my fluent arabic speaker friend to check the word يوم yaum pl. ايام ayyam.
My friend just checked his dictionaries. The meanings he got were day, era and age.
He said that Hans Wehr’s is the best dictionary and this is where i got the translations "يوم yaum pl. ايام ayyam day; pl. also: age, era, time…" from.
P.S wanted to point out (duno if it was said later on in the post) but one of your translations you posted uses period.
Shakir
Surely your Lord is Allah, Who created the heavens and the earth in six periods, and He is firm in power, regulating the affair, there is no intercessor except aher His permission; this is Allah, your Lord, therefore serve Him; will you not then mind?
