Peace..
23:27 "So We inspired to him, "Construct the ship under Our observation, and Our inspiration, and when Our command comes and the oven overflows, put into the ship from each [creature] two mates and your family, except those for whom the decree [of destruction] has proceeded. And do not address Me concerning those who have wronged; indeed, they are to be drowned..
Would you pls explain the verse 23:27 connecting to your above explanation
Thank you..
Yes, I will address this in two parts. First, this reflects the complexity and multiple meanings of the Arabic language and the Quran.
'Zawj' can mean "pairs" or "kinds" or "sorts". It is not clear which one is the case--it can mean either thing depending on the context of the Quran, and sometimes the context of the Quran doesn't give us the answer and remains ambiguous.
'Min kol' can mean "a part of every/each" or "a part from/of the set of all" (ie. a part from [all things]). In other words, it can mean a 'portion of each thing', or it can mean a 'portion of/from the set of all things' (ie. a portion of/from [all things]) For example, imagine the number set [1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9]--we will call this set "Set A". If I say "pick numbers from the whole Set A"--it is ambiguous. Does it mean pick some numbers from Set A, or pick all the numbers of Set A? The way I worded it allows for both translations and is thus ambiguous. This too is ambiguous and can mean either depending on the context of the Quran and sometimes the context does not reveal which is the case. The Quran tells us that it is sometimes deliberately ambiguous in 3:7.
Ambiguity is a strength of the Quran, not a weakness--it allows support of 7th century dispositions while not contradicting ours. Maybe this is one of the reasons why Allah chose it to be revealed in Arabic, which is a rich language containing words with multiple meanings.
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Now, the second part:
With the above said, I want to mention a nuance in those two verses (13:3 and 23:27)--specifically, Allah's word choice.
If you notice in both verses it says:
zawjayni ith'nayniIn Arabic, there are three types of nouns:
- Singular
- Dual
- Plural
(In English, there is only singular and plural)
Zawjani is a dual noun. Ith'nayni is also a dual noun.
https://imgur.com/a/GWLDCyNSo
even if "Zawjani" is translated as "kinds" rather than "pairs", it is in
dual form--so it means "2 kinds" which means the same thing as a "pair". Thus the verses that say "zawjayni ith'nayni" would be saying "two kinds two". It is using the number 2 twice. 2 x 2.
Some English translators have picked up on this, for example: In translating 13:3, Yusof Ali writes "and fruit of every kind He made in pairs,
two and two". Other English translators have also written "two pairs"--see:
Dr. Laleh Bakhtiar, T.B.Irving, Abdul Hye, Abdul Majid Daryabadi, Muhammad Mahmoud Ghali, Syed Vickar Ahamed, Farook Malik, Dr. Kamal Omar, Maududi, Ali Bakhtiari Nejad, A.L. Bilal Muhammad, Sayyed Abbas Sadr-Ameli, Mir Aneesuddin etc. Allah could've just simply said "and fruits he made Zawjani" which would say "fruits made in pairs"--but Allah didn't say that. He added the redundant word "ith'nayni". It is clear from the science what Allah is referring to--double marriages, double mating, double fertilization IN fruit. Notice how the verse says "Fiha" which means In/inside. It is saying INSIDE the fruit there are double pairings of mates. Male and female gametes/cells are inside the fruit. It is not a contradiction at all--in fact, given the deliberate seemingly unnecessary redundancy of using "Ith'nayni" in 13:3, Allah is pointing to that redundancy INSIDE fruits. Literally double spouses; double fertilization.
Part of the miracle is that Allah used the word "inside" when referencing the double pairings in fruit. "inside" ("fiha" in Arabic) also seems to be an unnecessary thing to say if Allah was just saying 'fruits, he made them pairs'--rather, Allah instead put the word "inside", which directs our attention to something happening
inside fruits, rather than fruits having genders. The specificity of Allah's use of language in this verse is very telling.
As a side note, notice how the Quran does not rule out the existence of a multiplicity of double fertilization in fruits (eg. Fruits can have multiple seeds--each seed is doubly fertilized)--it just said inside fruits, there are double matings. It didn't say how many double matings are occurring, as thus, it does not explicitly rule them out. It's kind of like saying: "In plants, there is X"<---When I say this, I am not ruling out that plants also have Y--I just said they have X in them: that is a true statement.
Now, regarding 23:27, I think we should consider Allah's word choice--he is saying "2 pairs"--as in two sets of a mating pair (as in 4 animals). Likewise, If I tell you to give me 2 pairs of socks, I am asking for 4 socks.
Interestingly, in the bible, it says "seven pairs" rather than "two pairs" in Genesis 7:3. If you look at a mechanical word for word translation
https://www.mechanical-translation.org/mtt/G7.html it says:
"From all of the clean beasts you will take for you seven seven males and females"--so 7 pairs of males and females.
https://www.chabad.org/library/bible_cdo/aid/8170/jewish/Chapter-7.htm The Jews translate it as:
"Of all the clean animals you shall take for yourself seven pairs, a male and its mate". So this could be a corruption in the bible. But note that the common understanding that they only took ONE male and female only of each animal is
not correct in either the Bible nor the Quran.
As a side note, the Quran does not conclusively lay out whether the flood was a local or global event, nor does it say if they took animals from all the Earth or just from all the animals that they use for subsistence (like the grazing animals--Quran just said take 2 pairs each and thus could be referring to what was around or proximal to Noah's settlement--it didn't say take 2 pairs of each living being on the planet) and thus this ambiguity allows for either understanding.