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. Other traditions inform us about the grandiosity of things in Paradise as a means of increasing our hope in Allah for these amazing rewards
"Verily, in Paradise there is a tree in whose shade a rider could travel for one hundred years".
The metaphorical understanding of such statements is thus not far fetched either. As a side note, the Talmud has 3 views on Adam's height; he was immeasurably tall with his head reaching the dome of heaven while he stood on earth, or his body length spanned the distance from East to West, or he had a ‘post-fall' height of some 150 feet.

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