Apostate prophet reflects on higher meanings; Sun prostrates to Allah?

In answer to the video "The Quran and the Sun Setting in Muddy Spring"

The hadith stating the sun prostrates beneath the divine throne; it firstly is noteworthy that this particular report has been a controversial topic among Muslim scholars even before the scientific era. It wasnt because of scientific advancements that Muslims debated over its meaning. Some held that the sun stopped all motion during prostration, while others believed it did not.

Second the hadith does not give the cause of sunset, whether it is due to the sun's movement or not. Neither does it say that the sun sets under the throne. Also, the phenomenon of the sun's prostration and glorification of God is unknown to us, as said in the Quran 17:44. The sun isnt a human being for us to try and imagine it prostrating and glorifying God as we do. Thus solar prostration and rising from prostration, as spoken of in the hadith are both unrelated to observable physical motion. That is why even in medieval times, scholars understood that the sun is in perpetual movement regardless of rising/setting or prostrating, as further stressed in 36:38.

The divine throne according to the Quran 2:255 and the prophetic sayings, is an entity that encompasses all that exists. So whichever position the sun, and any other created thing is at any point, it is always encompassed by and underneath the divine throne

"the seven heavens in relation to the Kursi are like a ring thrown into a waterless desert. And the superiority of the Arsh over the Kursi is like the superiority of the desert over that ring". 

So the sun does not need to reach a specific spot to be underneath the throne and then perform the prostration.

Simply, during its perpetual orbital course accross the galaxy, there are times where it prostrates underneath the throne. At the time of sunset when the prophet was speaking, the sun was on an course until it glorified God in an unfathomable manner. This doesnt mean that every time a sunset occurs, it coincides with this phenomenon. It could happen at anytime of the day or night, and one of those time at which it occured was at sunset on the Arabian peninsula when the prophet made the statement. Also, this "permission to rise"  cannot be related to what is perceived as sunrise. Because this "rising" happens from the same place where permission was asked. Trying to argue for the opposite implies that sunrise must happen from the same place as sunset, which is absurd. It says this "rising" occurs after prostration underneath the throne. It is rising from prostration, not rising from sunset. 

Among several views reported by ibn Kathir, is that prostration of the sun is at midnight. Even this medieval geocentric view does not connect the sun's prostration to sunset, which happens much earlier than midnight 

"(The first view) is that it refers to its fixed course of location, which is beneath the Throne, beyond the earth in that direction. Wherever it goes, it is beneath the Throne, it and all of creation, because the Throne is the roof of creation and it is not a sphere as many astronomers claim. Rather it is a dome supported by legs or pillars, carried by the angels, and it is above the universe, above the heads of people. When the sun is at its zenith at noon, it is in its closest position to Throne, and when it runs in its fourth orbit at the opposite point to its zenith, at midnight, it is in its furthest position from the Throne. At that point it prostrates and asks for permission to rise, as mentioned in the Hadiths. Al-Bukhari recorded that Abu Dharr (may Allah be pleased with him) said, "I was with the Prophet in the Masjid at sunset, and he said..." 

He further reports the view that the sun never stops motion, regardless of sunrise and sunset. This doesnt agree with the interpretation that prostration and permission to rise entails temporary stop.

The hadith attributed to Abu Dharr where the prophet says the sun sets in a muddy spring is unreliable. The hadith authorities only graded the chain of narrators as reliable (sahih al isnad) but not the matn (content) because it contradicts the more reliable matn cited earlier. This is something very important to consider for those wishing to approach the Islamic texts hastily then run away with their faulty conclusions. In hadith science, it isnt because a chain of narrator is reliable that the content is necessarily accepted, hence the classification "sahih al isnad". Here again is the more reliable version of the hadith, in which no mention of the muddy spring is made

"Narrated Abu Dharr: The Prophet asked me at sunset, "Do you know where it goes (a weaker chain says "sets")?" I replied, "Allah and His Messenger know better." He said, "It goes till it prostrates Itself underneath the Throne. It then takes the permission (ie to rise from prostration), and it is permitted. Soon it will prostrate, but it will not be accepted from it, and it will ask permission (to rise from prostration), but it will not be permitted. It will be said to it; "return to where you came from". So it will rise from its place of setting. And that is the interpretation of the Statement of Allah: "And the sun runs on its fixed course, for an appointed term. That is the designing of the All-Mighty, the All-Knowing".

This is the most trustworthy and authentic narration cited by both Bukhari and Muslim, in which they have purposefully left out the bit about

"setting in murky water".

From all the channels of transmission, only one has these words, making it a hadith with anomaly/shaad which is a subgroup of weak reports. A noteworthy observation is that this hadith was uttered much later than sura kahf relating Dhul Qarnayn's journeys. Had the companions understood the verse of setting in a body of water literally, they would have applied it to the situation, yet they didnt. 

Further, the hadith is unrelated to Dhul Qarnayn's story. It is a comment on verse 38 of sura yasin, which is a verse about the day of resurrection. It speaks of the sun "running", which fits the sun's movement across the galaxy. The word denotes rapid movement contrary to the perceived motion of the sun during the day. The sun is "running", perpetually to its place of rest, its end point. During that perpetual course, it prostrates underneath the all encompassing divine throne. The hadith then describes apocalyptic events. It tells us what will happen when that time comes. When it reaches its decreed end, the sun will be in a state of prostration, but that prostration will be rejected. Neither will it be allowed to rise from prostration. Instead, it will be told to revert to where it came from prior to its prostration. That sudden change in course will make it appear to be rising from where it set.