@Omar del Sur
With regards to the story of Ibrahim AS and the sun rising and setting this is from the POV of Ibrahim AS
With regards to the story of Ibrahim AS and the sun rising and setting this is from the POV of Ibrahim AS
The above hadith has caused much controversy in our times and many critics of Islam use it to disprove the authenticity of Islam. It is also one of the hadiths used by Quranists in an attempt to show the unreliability of hadith literature. However, if we really sincerely ponder over this hadith, it becomes quite clear that critics are just exaggerating in their critiques.“It goes and prostrates beneath the Throne, then it asks for permission (to rise) and permission is given to it. Soon it will prostrate, but it will not be accepted from it, and it will ask for permission (to rise) but permission will not be given to it; it will be said to it: “Go back to where you came from.’ So it will rise from its place of setting and that is what Allah, may He be Glorified, refers to in the verse: ‘And the sun runs its fixed course for a term (decreed). That is The Decree of (Allah) The Exalted in Might, The All-Knowing (Qur’an 36:38)'”.
Ibn Taymiyyah said:“It cannot be denied that it [the sun] halts beneath the Throne, in a manner that we cannot see or comprehend; rather this is speaking about a matter of the unseen. So we should not disbelieve in it or ask how it happens, because our knowledge cannot comprehend it.”
The problem is that these critics try to give a shape to the prostration in a way that a human being does, but the sun is not a human being. We have our way of prostrating to the Creator and rest of creation has its own way. Much like how different creatures on this planet have their own unique way of communicating with each other. What would small bugs think of our prostration? Do they comprehend what we’re doing?“Prostration is a form of humility, so the prostration which includes all creatures implies the utmost submission and humility. For every created thing submits to His greatness and humbles itself before His might and power. This does not mean that everything prostrates like human beings do, on seven parts of the body, putting the forehead on the ground. This kind of prostration is only for human beings. Some other nations bow but do not prostrate, and that is their prostration…Sujood (prostration) is a generic term but because the way in which Muslims prostrate is so well known, many people think that this is how everything prostrates”