Answering Christianity Research Center

But Dahaha doesn't mean spread out, because ALLAH(swt) in other place used the word Madadnah which is commonly used in the Arabic world to mean spread out:

 وَالأَرْضَ مَدَدْنَاهَا وَأَلْقَيْنَا فِيهَا رَوَاسِيَ وَأَنبَتْنَا فِيهَا مِن كُلِّ شَيْءٍ مَّوْزُونٍ (19)
 


YUSUFALI: And at the Earth, how it is spread out?

PICKTHAL: And the earth, how it is spread?

SHAKIR: And the earth, how it is made a vast expanse?.
[The Quran ; 88:20]



That's why it's a miracle as arabs know the language and they know that no arabic speaker can write something like it. In egypt they used the word Daha to make something into a ball that looks like an egg, i.e. it is not a perfect ball . As mentioned in Lexicon it also means the earth was propelled, removed from its place, like a stone thrown by the hand( referring to its elliptical orbit like the trajectory of a stone propelled by throwing it by one's hand).

Daha common use isto make anything in the shape of an imprfect circle. And both of these meanings of Dahaha perfectly fits our description of earth and there is no other word the could have described it so accurately.

Notwithstanding, Hamza is not a scholar. So, please, oh please, don't take him seriously!

The Bible indicates in several places that the universe has been “stretched out” or expanded. For example, Isaiah 40:22 teaches that God “stretches out the heavens like a curtain, and spreads them out like a tent to dwell in.”
Well instead of stretching (sorry) the English meaning lets look at the Hebrew:

Several usages,
• Stretch or extend one’s hand:
o To stretch out or extend one’s hand, i.e. literally (Ex 8:5, 16) o To extend or show mercy or peace to someone (Gen 39:21; Is 66:12) o With an outstretched hand indicating power (Ex 6:6) o To stretch out one’s hand against someone (to fight against them) (Job 15:25)
• To pervert justice (Ex 23:2, 6) – related to extending favour to one party over another
• Incline:
o To incline one’s heart to follow someone (Josh 24:23; Judges 9:3) o To incline one’s ear to hear (2 Ki 19:16)
• Turn:
o To turn aside, away or to (someone, something or some place) (Gen 38:16) o To turn in or stay with someone at their place (Gen 38:1) – related to stretching out or spreading out one’s stuff in order to lay down for the night?
• Stretch out, spread out or extend:
o To stretch out or lay down upon something (Amos 2:8) o To stretch or extend a line (as for measuring ) (Job 38:5) o A shadow which goes down, lengthens or stretches out (like at the end of the day)(2 Ki 20:10, Ps 102:11) o Geographical features (e.g. hills or rivers) which extend or stretch out (Num 21:15) o To pitch or set up a tent (Gen 12:8; royal pavilion Jer 43:10) o To stretch out curtains (Is 54:2) o To stretch out the heavens (e.g. like a curtain) (Ps 104:2; Is 40:22) o The firmament spread out (Ezek 1:22) – see the note below.
• Bow or bend:
o To bow or bend or bend down, i.e. literally (Gen 49:15; Hos 11:4) o To bow or bend the heavens (for God to come down) (2 Sam 22:10) o To lean over or bow, as in a wall about to topple over (Ps 62:3)
• Other less frequent usages in the Old Testament:
o To let down or lower a pitcher into a well (Gen 24:14) o To offer or give some options (1 Chr 21:10) o To intend or plot (evil) against (Ps 21:11)

_________________________________________________________________________________________________


None of the other verses or usages imply a stretching or lengthening, like dough being rolled out or metal being beaten. The closest is the shadow which lengthens. In most situations it is just a spreading out of something folded up or rolled up (e.g. measuring line/tape measure, or curtain), bending (e.g. arm) or turning.
or, go with me on this, maybe a TENT being unfolded and erected like the cloth that would be found in a curtain?
Of course you have to look at the other side of the coin, is there any Hebrew word that means to stretch in an a elastic deforming way?
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Yup ... Hebrew רָקַע (raqa` ), as in Isa 40:19 The workman melteth a graven image, and the goldsmith *spreadeth it over with gold, and casteth silver chains., or Exo 39:3 And they did *beat the gold into thin plates, and cut it into wires, to work it in the blue, and in the purple, and in the scarlet, and in the fine linen, with cunning work.
So, an English word which can mean the same thing as another word in English and abused it to fit whilst ignoring the original meaning
Sometimes, a tent ( even as a metaphor) is just a tent.

Quote

The question remains, where are Thamud's vestiges?

It might be at the exact same place or different. For ancient civilization in desert, they shall revolve around source of water. And if the source of water still exist, the location may still attract inhabitants even millenias later.

For Thamud's carving on mountains being 1000 years older than egypt one, the carvings may have withered much

This might be of interest to you:
Archaeologists are still trying to unravel the history of the Nabataeans, which in large remains unknown. Just how they managed to make the rapid conversion from a Nomadic tribe to the builders of great cities is mind-blowing, and has led some to doubt whether they were in fact the original creators of these great cities and monuments. 


http://www.ancient-origins.net/news-general/oldest-arabic-inscription-provides-missing-link-between-nabatean-and-arabic-writing

Notwithstanding, Nabatean were nomads, were just like the gypsy traders roaming the rest of the world. So how did they manage to build such a magnificent city cut out of solid rock? Moreover, how could they have become such excellent town planners and carving niches and doorways into solid rock faces? Jordanian government says these mysterious people have left no written records of their times.

That's the biggest load of bull i have ever heard since the evolution story. What if the Nabateans didn't build Petra?

Quote from: submit on July 06, 2015, 01:22:08 AM

Quote

—Ibn Khaldun, Muqaddimah Chapter II Bedouin civilization, savage nations and tribes and their conditions of life, including several basic and explanatory statements, 21 As long as a nation retains its group feeling, royal authority that disappears in one branch will, of necessity, pass to some other branch of the same nation ( note amalekites are the Imliq). — From Prophets and Patriarchs.

When Thamud in turn was destroyed, the remaining sons of Iram were called Arman — they are Nabateans. The origin of the Nabateans remains obscure, but they were Aramaic speakers, and the term "Nabatean" was the Arabic name for an Aramean of Syria and Iraq.

Location of Thamud is said to be scattered between Madinah and Syria

The question remains, where are Thamud's vestiges? As i aforementioned if the sites related to Thamud were in an advanced state of decay(7:78 Whereupon the earthquake overtook them, and so they lay prostrate in their own homes.) in the time of Prophet Mohammed(PBUH), is it plausible
they were completely destroyed( couple of earthquakes and a storm or two) in a few centuries after?

Assalamu alaikum dear brothers,

Quote

Because we simply don't have any fossil record of 90-feet giants,

Many mythologies say that there were Titans or Giants before us. Could that be connected to this? Because it is possible that all mythologies are altered (or super altered!) truth, as prophets and scriptures were sent to every nation.

I also heard that Jinns (perhaps they are the 'titans' in mythologies ) used to dominate the earth before humans, (as they were also created to worship Allah). Perhaps that's the reason the angels were concerned about creating humans.

Tahmeed

History became legend. Legend became myth.

Watch this:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=9-4sI34aIZ0