Home > Surah 25 - The Criterion
1. Optical Illusion:
The text treats a shadow as an independent, pre-existing entity that God "extends" before introducing the sun as a "guide." This reflects a primitive, visual illusion. Scientifically, shadows are not independent physical objects; they are merely the mathematical absence of light.
2. Inverted Causality:
By framing the sun as a guide for the shadow rather than its direct cause, the text reverses the laws of optics. This inverted description betrays a layman's flat-earth observation rather than precise, scientific knowledge.
The Quran Verse
Surah 25:45-46:
Have you not considered your Lord—how He extends the shadow? ... Then We made the sun a guide for it.
The text describes the shadow as an entity that God "extends" and then brings the sun in as a "guide" to indicate it.
his reflects a geocentric, visual perspective. In reality, the sun (light) is the cause of the shadow, not a "guide" for it. Shadows are merely the absence of light.
The Quranic wording suggests the shadow is an independent "thing" that is stretched out, and the sun is then introduced to show where it is—rather than the shadow being the mathematical result of an object blocking light.