Pragmatic wrote:
Linguistic wrote:
The Arabic uses the definite article. It refers to the ship: Noah's ark. I suggest,
{36:41} And a sign for them is that We carried their forefathers in the packed ship.
Forefathers?
You know I didn't even notice it? You're right and so are most translations. The word means offspring. This needs explaining, since whom were saved in the Ark are our forefathers, so how come God says He saved our offspring?
It's actually simple once you understand this other verse,
In 7:172, God tells us that all of the offspring of someone are in his backbone! Thus, when God saved our forefathers in the ark, He saved our offspring too. Now how do we convey this in a translation? Would this do?
{36:41} And a sign for them is that We carried their offspring (by saving their forefathers) in the packed ship.