Saturday, July 30, 2005

"Astronomers point out 10th planet using Palomar Observatory photos." As soon as the news was announced, a Jordanian "scientist" appeared on Al-Arabiyya TV to declare the news a confirmation of the Qur'an. (He was obviously referring to a verse of Surat Yusuf (12:4) which says: "إِذْ قَالَ يُوسُفُ لِأَبِيهِ يَا أَبتِ إِنِّي رَأَيْتُ
أَحَدَ عَشَرَ كَوْكَبًا وَالشَّمْسَ وَالْقَمَرَ رَأَيْتُهُمْ لِي سَاجِدِينَ
(Behold! Joseph said to his father: "O my father! I did see eleven kawkaban [planets, but is sometimes translated as "stars"] and the sun and the moon: I saw them prostrate themselves to me!"). OK.