Exploring Miraculous Events in the Quran: Literal or Metaphorical Interpretation

[Fusion]

Sure, Jkhan, I am really happy to see your responses becoming more straightforward.

I respect the miracles in the Quran and know they are important as signs from God, however my interpretations for now is different. I just wanted to show that amazing events, whether ancient or modern, remind us of God's power.

Belief in miracles is personal. It is up to each of us to look for and understand these signs through our own reflections and experiences.

Thank you

[good logic]

Peace Fusion.

Of course you are entitled to believe your own conclusions according to your own research. That is exactly what I am saying to you.
You have to and you owe it to your soul and peace of mind to do so.

From my part I do not expect nor ask for agreement with others about my findings with theirs.
And there is nothing wrong in sharing views and disagreeing amicably.
Oh and to believe in GOD does not mean to agree with others interpretations of His words- Qoran- You can have your own take and rightly so.

Many verses  we are still wrestling with now and we are getting them wrong but may be clear and evident to future generations like other verses  that have been understood differently through the generations.. The changing knowledge through the time plays a big factor as well.

GOD bless you brother.
Peace.

[Wakas]

peace Fusion, all,

Re: so-called isra and miraj
I prefer:
https://mypercept.co.uk/articles/meaning-masjid-al-haram-Quran.html

IMHO the above article is ahead of its time (no pun intended).

[Anoushirvan]

Hello,

Coming back to the topic.

I want to list these miraculous events and ask everyone for their opinions as short. Do you believe in the literal translation, or do you have another interpretation? and if yes why do you believe these are Allegorical in understanding?

Those are obviously allegorical, but their understanding must not be done by guessing or at random.
The first point is to understand to whom the message was delivered in first place (i.e. not us in 21st CE) and what was their religious background.
We know today that Arabia at the beginning of the 7th CE was not polytheistic.
Qur'an message was therefore not addressed to polytheists.
We can even understand that from internal understanding of Qur'an: in numerous places, Qur'an talks to "children of Israel". Most of the narrations are about biblical characters.

I will not show it here because it would be too long, but those "children of Israel" were actually Gnostics, so they practised a kind of Judaism that disappeared (or more accurately, became Islam as we know today), that Judaism was different from Rabbinic Judaism we know today.
We can think of this prior religion that saw emergence of Qur'an like a kind of Marabout Jewish Sufism with witchcraft and / or kabbalistic practices (like Islamic Sufism does in some countries).

With that background in mind, we have to learn how ancient Jewish scholars understood the Scriptures: they didn't explain them through Greek or Latin philosophical pitch as we are used to, but mostly through new stories.
The process of explaining the Scriptures, the Divine Law, the Divine will at ancient Jewish scholars is called "midrash" (this word is cognate to Arabic madrasa).

So we need to learn and understand the Jewish midrash in order to grasp how the ancient Jewish scholars understood the Scriptures, hence to understand Qur'an.

This is why the interpretations of G.A. Perwez are mostly wrong.

1. Splitting of the Sea (Moses)

Reference: Quran 26:63 (Arabic: "فَأَوْحَيْنَا إِلَىٰ مُوسَىٰ أَنِ ٱضْرِب بِعَصَاكَ ٱلْبَحْرَ فَٱنفَلَقَ فَكَانَ كُلُّ فِرْقٍ كَٱلطَّوْدِ ٱلْعَظِيمِ", English: "So We inspired to Moses, 'Strike with your staff the sea,' and it split, and each part became like a great mountain.")
Traditional Interpretation: A miraculous intervention by God, displaying His power to save Moses and the Israelites by parting the sea.

The staff is in principle the symbol of the lawgiver or ruler (I got that in a book in French, Germain Bienaimé: Moïse et le don de l'eau dans la tradition juive ancienne, which itself refers to the Document of Damas).

The sea in ancient Jewish thinking usually symbolizes idolatry (because water is salty and cannot be drunk, unlike sweet water which symbolizes the divine Law and can be drunk at will).

The mountain usually symbolizes the Law (because the Law was given to Moses on a mountain, the mountain is also the connection between Earth and Heavens).

In addition to these Jewish symbols, it's likely that Qur'an wants us to hear "furqan" in "firqin" / part, because furqan means salvation (and not criterion like I often sees in translations).
Also Tawd / mountain is the only place where this word is used, I suspect that audience in the 7th CE knew also Syriac where tawd means religion or belief.

Basically this is allegory of Moses as lawgiver to the Children of Israel turned idolatry into Law and salvation.

2. The Virgin Birth (Jesus)
Traditional Interpretation: A divine miracle where Mary gives birth to Jesus without any male intervention, highlighting the miraculous power of God.
Reference: Quran 19:20-21 (Arabic: "قَالَتْ أَنَّىٰ يَكُونُ لِي غُلَامٌ وَلَمْ يَمْسَسْنِي بَشَرٌ وَلَمْ أَكُ بَغِيًّۭا. قَالَ كَذَٰلِكِ ٱللَّهُ يَخْلُقُ مَا يَشَاءُ إِذَا قَضَىٰ أَمْرًۭا فَإِنَّمَا يَقُولُ لَهُۥ كُن فَيَكُونُ", English: "She said, 'How can I have a boy while no man has touched me and I have not been unchaste?' He said, 'Thus Allah creates what He wills. When He decrees something, He says to it only, 'Be,' and it is.")

GA Perwez's interpretation misses the whole point of this passage: that Mary is reluctant to welcome the good news of the birth of Jesus.

Mary is not physical person, or does not need to be.
She symbolizes the community of the pious (the "muttaqi" that is free from idolatry, i.e. virgin) that is reluctant to accept the leading role of guiding people to world to come.
Qur'an uses the world "ghulam" for boy instead of usual "bin", which seems a curious choice.
But the reason is that ghulam is graphically close in Arabic to 'alam which means world.

In the Jewish thinking, the olam haba is the world to come, i.e. the fulfillment of the promise of salvation.

3. Reviving the Dead
Traditional Interpretation: Prophets like Jesus were given the power to revive the dead as a sign of their divine authority and God's supremacy by the order of God.
Reference: Quran 3:49 (Arabic: "وَأُحْيِ ٱلْمَوْتَىٰ بِإِذْنِ ٱللَّهِ", English: "And I give life to the dead by the permission of Allah.") [and ˹make him˺ a messenger to the Children of Israel ˹to proclaim,˺ 'I have come to you with a sign from your Lord: I will make for you a bird from clay, breathe into it, and it will become a ˹real˺ bird—by Allah's Will. I will heal the blind and the leper and raise the dead to life—by Allah's Will. And I will prophesize what you eat and store in your houses. Surely in this is a sign for you if you ˹truly˺ believe]

GA Pervez:

GA Perwez's interpretation is mostly correct here.

4. The Night Journey (Isra and Mi'raj)
Traditional Interpretation: A physical and/or spiritual journey undertaken by Prophet Muhammad from Mecca to Jerusalem and then to heaven, affirming his prophethood and the miracles associated with it.
Reference: Quran 17:1 (Arabic: "سُبْحَـٰنَ ٱلَّذِي أَسْرَىٰ بِعَبْدِهِ لَيْلًا مِّنَ ٱلْمَسْجِدِ ٱلْحَرَامِ إِلَىٰ ٱلْمَسْجِدِ ٱلْأَقْصَا ٱلَّذِي بَـٰرَكْنَا حَوْلَهُۥ لِنُرِيَهُۥ مِنْ ءَايَـٰتِنَآ إِنَّهُۥ هُوَ ٱلسَّمِيعُ ٱلْبَصِيرُ", English: "Exalted is He who took His Servant by night from al-Masjid al-Haram to al-Masjid al-Aqsa, whose surroundings We have blessed, to show him of Our signs. Indeed, He is the Hearing, the Seeing.")

I don't know what this one refers to, I'm not even sure it speaks of Qur'an messenger, seems rather Moses.

5. Creation of Adam
Traditional Interpretation: God created Adam from clay as the first human, breathing life into him, demonstrating God's creative power.
Reference: Quran 38:71-72 (Arabic: "إِذْ قَالَ رَبُّكَ لِلْمَلَـٰٓئِكَةِ إِنِّى خَـٰلِقٌۢ بَشَرًۭا مِّن طِينٍۢ فَإِذَا سَوَّيْتُهُۥ وَنَفَخْتُ فِيهِ مِن رُّوحِى فَقَعُوا۟ لَهُۥ سَـٰجِدِينَ", English: "When your Lord said to the angels, 'Indeed, I am going to create a human being from clay. So when I have proportioned him and breathed into him of My [created] soul, then fall down to him in prostration.'")

This verse is not about the creation of human species per se.
First of all, human being is the translation of "bashar", which is cognate to "bushra" which means good news.
Bushra, i.e. bessora in Hebrew, that has given evangelion in Greek, is a very important concept of the ancient Jewish thinking.
It is the annonciation of the salvation, end of exile, redemption, coming of the Messiah, etc.

The clay is a raw material, i.e. without knowledge of the divine Law, so again, it symbolizes idolatry.
It needs the Holy Spirit (the breath of God) to turn it into annonciation of salvation.

6. Solomon and the Ants
Solomon was granted the ability to understand animals, demonstrating his unique prophetic wisdom. The story illustrates his compassion and awareness, as he heeds the warning of an ant to avoid harming it and its fellow ants unintentionally.
Reference: Quran 27:18-19 (Arabic: "حَتَّىٰٓ إِذَآ أَتَوْا۟ عَلَىٰ وَادِ ٱلنَّمْلِ قَالَتْ نَمْلَةٌۭ يَـٰٓأَيُّهَا ٱلنَّمْلُ ٱدْخُلُوا۟ مَسَـٰكِنَكُمْ لَا يَحْطِمَنَّكُمْ سُلَيْمَـٰنُ وَجُنُودُهُۥ وَهُمْ لَا يَشْعُرُونَ", English: "Until, when they came upon the valley of the ants, an ant said, 'O ants, enter your dwellings that you not be crushed by Solomon and his soldiers while they perceive not.'")

The story of Solomon and the ants exists also a Jewish midrash, though it is not clear who influenced who.
In fact, naml in Arabic means ant but also lie.
So the story is an allegory about Solomon destroying lies with truth without even caring.

7. Age of Noah:

Traditional Interpretation: Noah is one of the longest-lived prophets in Islamic tradition. According to the Quran, he preached to his people for 950 years before the great flood occurred. This extended lifespan is seen as a testament to his perseverance in delivering God's message despite the continued disbelief of his people.
Reference: Quran 29:14 (Arabic: "وَلَقَدْ أَرْسَلْنَا نُوحًا إِلَىٰ قَوْمِهِ فَلَبِثَ فِيهِمْ أَلْفَ سَنَةٍ إِلَّا خَمْسِينَ عَامًا فَأَخَذَهُمُ الطُّوفَانُ وَهُمْ ظَالِمُونَ", English: "And We certainly sent Noah to his people, and he remained among them a thousand years minus fifty years, and the flood seized them while they were wrongdoers.")

I don't know about this one.

I have given an example translation from GA Pervez which is sort of complete extreme version of not taking things literally and my understanding differs from his but I quoted him as an example:
For example: His interpretation of the chapter 105: The elephand which atleast I grew up understanding from my elders is quite different: I was told to believe the literal translation that أَبَابِيلَ [not a known species of bird] i do not know carrying stones protected the sacred site by pelting the army, leading to their destruction.

See below:

SURAH 105 : Al-Fîl

This one is complicated.
For those who read French, here is a theory about it, that I don't share though: https://www.lechampdumidrash.net/hadith-et-tradition-musulmane/les-elephants/