Monday, August 10, 2020

Islam Critiqued gets trampled under a giant; Height of Adam?

In answer to the video "Quran and Mysticism: "Bow Down Before Adam!""

He is amazed when he reads about giants roaming this earth but in the HB, the nefilim, existed before and after the flood. This race of people had the peculiarity of counting giants among them, who even survived the flood Numb13:22,33,Josh12:4. In proportion, these giants were to the Israelites what a grasshopper is to a regular human being.

Disregarding the basic laws of physics making it impossible for such giants to even exist, some Islam critics misuse a hadith speaking of Adam's stature as measuring some 25m (60 cubits). However the reports say that height was in the garden, a special place that might have had different laws of physics. These reports dont say whether his height was reduced after he exited the garden. But it can be infered from the statements that humanity has not ceased living in a state of decreased height and will be increased to Adam's stature only if they enter in heaven. The literal rendering is
"the creation is still lacking after him until now"
meaning mankind has continued to be deprived of that height, or that mankind has not achieved this height since Adam’s left the garden. It is to be noted that many channels of transmission of that hadith do not include the part about Adam's progeny, leading some scholars to conjecture it might have been an inserted comment by the reporter.

There are in addition Quranic verses saying the physics of the universe, and the nature of humans themselves will be very different after the resurrection. This could allow certain phenomenon like humans reaching gigantic proportions. The prophet did not bring up the detail of Adam’s height in a vacuum, he was discussing the topic of the afterlife which people often inquired about. This led to the talk about how people will be re-created differently, one aspect of that being their great height like their forefather Adam. Many passages of the Quran and hadith describe heaven as a place of vastness beyond measure (in contrast to the constriction of hell). So the idea of size increase of the humans themselves fits the theme of vastness.

From a practical standpoint 60 cubits is a little less than 30 meters, a height which was that of Adam in the special circumstances of the garden of Eden. Even if that were his height outside of it for a short time prior to the gradual diminishing of humanity’s size (downsizing is a phenomena already observed in nature among animals) it wouldnt be disproportionate in relation to primordial nature, considering the size of creatures that thrived and still live on this earth, from the dinosaurs to the whales. This kernel of truth in regards to Adam’s original size finds its way in Jewish traditions, but became exaggerated with some saying his size was immeasurably tall with his head reaching the dome of heaven while he stood on earth, or his body length spanning the distance from East to West, or that he had a ‘post-fall' height of some 150 feet.

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