I am a 42 years old Successful Software Entrepreneur, Alhamdulilah. I have been gifted with an analytical brain as well as a believing heart. However, I believe both knowledge and belief are like Yin/Yang. One dies off without the other. Not until we marry both Knowledge and Action, Humility and Confidence, Fear and Hope, Truth and Love, Religion and Science, Ritual and Spiritual, Happiness and Patience, Belief and Inquiry - we can't become both holy and whole at the same time.
I think, most of the the problems of Muslims stem from outdated translations, exegesises and interpretations. Think about it, the first translation of Quran in English by a Muslim was done in 1910. After that we see some translations of Quran which carry a similar theme and without much creative dismantling of the message of God. Translations or Exegesises of Quran are currently more like words of popular people, which you either accept or reject. When was Truth about popular opinion of People or labels? Shouldn’t truth be a free inquiry? Should we fear God alone or the popular view among Muslims?
What I don’t like about the state of affairs of Muslims is our reliance on Schools of Thoughts than our own Self-Knowledge and original Sources of Islam. Especially now, when a lot of Science we’ve discovered and a lot of knowledge we have gained, the text in Quran translations remain the same, ambiguous, unfulfilling or unapproachable for the most part.
But nothing is lost! I am trying to bring together people who can work with me on this great cause and do it with me. My idea is to create a wiki/open-source one translation and exegesis of Quran that is open with debate format for skeptics, believers, philosophers, theologians, epistemologists, psychologists, economists, legalists, and scientists. Everyone has a say, the only thing is he/she has to prove why his/her translation is more accurate/updated/legit/simple/clear/scientific/true. And this way, the work on Quran is also never closed but remains open for all and is continuous.
Shouldn’t this be the case from the day one? I mean, Quran is not like a Harry Potter novel, which if once translated by someone, should become stale, unchallenged and uncreative with repetitive thoughts and hopeless attitudes. Quran is not a work of fiction. It is a book of Wisdom, Guidance, Lessons, Science, Miracles, Realizations and so many meaningful things. A single human is beyond the capacity to translate it accurately. We all have to put our efforts now that we're in 2022.
So if you're with me on this cause, lets join hands together and form a body that helps us in our mission. This might be the biggest service to Islam you can undergo instead of siding with Sectarian forces in Religion which are dividing it. In the same Token, I would like to broadcast my message to free-minds.org, if they want, we can begin this noble cause on their own platform. I am a Software Business Entrepreneur and Alhamdulillah successful as well. Maybe you use one of my products as well. More about me later when we get to a certain direction together. So I have skillsets to bring this vision to reality due to my entrepreneur skills in Full Stack Software Development.
So instead of distributing one PDF through free-minds.org, we will now have a complete debatable platform for Quran's One Translation, that can be challenged 'verse by verse', 'word by word' and the most convincing of the arguments will win, instead of the so-called 'popular opinion among Muslims'. Blind following blind both end up in a ditch. If Muslims were so advanced with what we have now, we wouldn't be having sites like free-minds.org There is definitely a problem here and I believe the intellectuals on this website as well as superb people behind free-minds.org can really help.
To clarify my points of view in a more succinct manner about how this is a serious issue in Muslims, I made a video on Quran’s Science, particularly on the topics of Cosmology and Evolution that you can view here https//www.youtube.com/watch?v=xuq23pklsx4
In it I prove without doubt, how Seven Heavens in Quran are actually Seven bodies of Classical Antiquity, 'The Sun', 'The Moon', 'Mercury', 'Venus', 'Mars', 'Jupiter' and 'Saturn' which are visible through naked eyes. All seven bodies visible through naked eyes are the above. If you search Google for 'Seven Bodies of Classical Antiquity' you'll know what I am referring to. How the word 'lowest' for 'ad-dunia' is mistranslated where it should mean 'worldly' instead of 'lowest'. How the words 'Ardhi Mislahunna' have been mistranslated to mean Seven Earths even when the word 'Ardhi' is singular. It actually means 'Earth is just like Planets'. How 6 periods for Universe creation and 2 periods for Earth creation are accurate to the ratio of 4.54 billion years (Earth's age) / 13.8 billion years (Universe's age) matching perfectly with Quranic ratio of 2/6.
How the 4 periods for the age of 'Plate Tectonics', loosely translated as Mountain is 9 billion years. How the other bodies of Solar System are 2 periods as well, meaning 4.5 to 4.6 billion years. How the Cosmological accounts of Muslims in the past is wrong to mean Big Bang and how it is actually Solar System Creation story. How Evolution is true, even the Adamic Evolution and how it doesn't disrupt the general understanding of God creating Adam's Soul in Heaven. I am currently making part 2 of the Video and am exited to share it as well once it is done.
I tried to be as intellectually honest and unbiased as possible in the video. Please view the Video and tell me how you find it. I left no stones unturned. But even with all my efforts, I am just a feeble human being. I want to join hands with people who are well versed with Arabic. Since I have a Science background and an analytical brain, I think a marriage of these two would indeed help a lot in my cause which is mentioned above.
The foundation of argument is incorrect.
أَ لَمْ تَرَوْا۟ كَيْفَ خَلَقَ ٱللَّهُ سَبْعَ سَـمَٟوَٟتٛ طِبَاقٙا .١٥
Have you people not given a thought how Allah the Exalted has created seven skies? They are created in the manner of vertically layered one above another in harmony/adjoining one above another.
A rhetorical question is a question used for dramatic effect, getting the point across, and is not intended to be answered by the audience the question was directed.
Celestial bodies are specifically mentioned in Qur'an.