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== Meteors as stars fired at devils ==
=== '''Introduction''' ===
Humans have always looked up at night and seen the stars lighting the sky. Folklore around stars, before our modern understanding of them as gigantic balls of gases, creating light energy via nuclear fusion,<ref>[https://courses.lumenlearning.com/suny-earthscience/chapter/nuclear-fusion/#:~:text=The%20Sun%20is%20Earth's%20major,all%20stars%20is%20nuclear%20fusion. https://courses.lumenlearning.com/suny-earthscience/chapter/nuclear-fusion/#:~:text=The%20Sun%20is%20Earth's%20major,all%20stars%20is%20nuclear%20fusion.]</ref>  has been creative and varied.
Due to their similar size and appearance, many ancient people have confused meteors, which are small rocky masses or grains of debris which burn up after entering the earth's atmosphere as stars streaking across the sky, which is why they were often called shooting stars(as we do in English), broken stars or falling stars.
On a typical night it means you might see just a few meteors an hour streaking randomly across the sky. These are called sporadic meteors. At certain times of the year these numbers can increase to around 100 meteors an hour in events called meteor showers, as Earth ploughs through denser streams of particles on its orbit around the Sun.<ref>https://www.skyatnightmagazine.com/space-science/what-causes-meteor-shower</ref>
=== Ancient beliefs around stars and meteors pre-Islam ===
'''Meteors as stars:'''
For example, in Ancient Egypt civilisation, we see a strong resemblance of a shooting star by the author of ‘[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tale_of_the_Shipwrecked_Sailor The Shipwrecked Sailor]’ (c. 2000-1900 BC), which recounts a series of many adventures fantastic adventures, including a star falling to Earth:
{{Quote|{{cite web| url=https://ia802907.us.archive.org/1/items/TheLiteratureOfAncientEgyptKellySimpsonBySamySalah/The%20Literature%20of%20Ancient%20Egypt%20-%20Kelly%20Simpson%20By%20Samy%20Salah.pdf | title=Literature of Ancient Egypt : An Anthology of Stories, Instructions, Stelae, Autobiographies, and Poetry. William Kelly Simpson, ed., The Literature of Ancient Egypt (Cairo, 2003), p. 51. }}|...Then a star fell.
And because of it these went up in fire.
This happened utterly...}}
A discussion linking this event to being a meteorite can be found [https://hcommons.org/deposits/objects/hc:27978/datastreams/CONTENT/content?download=true here]<ref>https://hcommons.org/deposits/objects/hc:27978/datastreams/CONTENT/content?download=true</ref> (“Then a Star Fell:” Folk-Memory of a Celestial Impact Event in the Ancient Egyptian Tale of the Shipwrecked Sailor? Dr Lloyd D. Graham. 2022).<ref>https://www.academia.edu/35137388/_Then_a_Star_Fell_Folk_Memory_of_a_Celestial_Impact_Event_in_the_Ancient_Egyptian_Tale_of_the_Shipwrecked_Sailor</ref> And for a further discussion of a theoretically catastrophic impact in ancient Egypt, see ''Aly Barakat, ‘Did the Kamil Meteorite Fall Contribute to the Downfall of the Old Kingdom?’, The Ostracon: Journal of the Egyptian Study Society, XXIV (Fall 2013), pp. 12–21.''<ref>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3_T0MWfFWfo</ref>
'''Biblical motifs'''
Though there is no direct stories of the functions of star in this way in the bible (or biblical literature), Dr Julien Decharneux notes in book exploring the connections between the cosmology of the Qur’ān and various cosmological traditions of Late Antiquity, with a focus on Syriac Christianity,<ref>[https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/9783110794083/html?lang=en#:~:text=About%20this%20book,a%20focus%20on%20Syriac%20Christianity. https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/9783110794083/html?lang=en#:~:text=About%20this%20book,a%20focus%20on%20Syriac%20Christianity.]</ref> there are some general motifs that link to this imagery; such as Talmudic stories of demons listening in to divine councils, and separately fire as weapons from the upper skies. However, there is no direct story for this (yet) found in biblical literature. He notes it is more likely rooted in Iranian mythology: {{Quote|Decharneux, Julien. Creation and Contemplation: The Cosmology of the Qur'ān and Its Late Antique Background (Studies in the History and Culture of the Middle East Book 47) (pp. 316-317). De Gruyter.|The image of fallen angels trying to approach the firmament in order to listen to the heavenly council is found in the Talmud. Crone in fact already notes the presence of the motif in the first-century Greek Testament of Solomon. Here however, demons are not chased by fiery missiles, but they themselves look like shooting stars after falling from the sky out of exhaustion. Although a systematic skimming of the sources would probably reveal the presence of the motif of stars chasing demons away from the heavenly council in patristic and Christian apocryphal literature, our sources show that it was still lively in the imagery of the 8th century in the Church of the East. Theodore bar Koni, in his Scolion, discusses the activity of demons:
<i>Can the demons ascend to the place on high anyway? They cannot because they are held back by the power of the one who destroyed them. It is not proper that defiled ones approach the Tent of the Saints […]. The fact that our Lord compared him to a lightning means two things: either that he lasted in his domination for the time of the sight of a lightning, or that when while he was shining as a lightning in glory, he was quenched at once and no traces of his splendour was left.</i>
In fact, the motif of demons chased by flames finds particularly original renderings in the writings of Pseudo-Macarius and that of Syriac mystic authors studied in the second chapter. Building on the motif the inner divine fire that animates the mystic, they hold that it is the flames of this fire that chase away the demons from the heart. All in all, we see that Crone’s hypothesis of an eastern origin and development for the motif is quite likely. The image of fire and flames chasing demons away was not only widespread in Jewish circle as witnessed by the Babylonian Talmud, but it was also quite in use in the Church of the East tradition.}}'''Weapons against demons:'''
Many cultures had mythology surrounding meteors and meteorites, with some believing they were weapons, such as in ancient Africa and Mesopotamia:{{Quote|Golia, Maria, Meteorite: Nature and Culture (Earth), Reaktion Books, p. 72|'The indigenous San people of southern Africa also consider meteorites dangerous: ‘They can kill people, and at the times of the meteor showers when many are moving about and falling, the sky is very bad.’ Echoing themes from Mesopotamian and classical antiquity, the San god Koa xa, ‘lord of the animals’, used a meteorite to fight lions that attacked his son.'}}
And this may have inspired their use much later in [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zoroastrianism Zoroastrianism,] (which was a prominent religion in the Persian (Iranian) empire both before and during the time of the prophet Muhammad/beginning of Islam)), where we see the link between stars and meteors as weapons:
{{Quote|Golia, Maria. Meteorite: Nature and Culture (Earth) (p. 57). Reaktion Books.|..an understanding of the stars set men apart, as evidenced in the emergence of the prophet Zoroaster around 1100 BC. An early Christian text suggests that Zoroaster, ‘a very great observer of the stars’, used his wisdom to his advantage: ‘wishing to be regarded as a divine being [he] began to elicit sparks from the stars and show them to people’. This brief passage and a story recorded in the first century AD have been interpreted as describing a meteor shower that Zoroaster may have anticipated. The oldest portions of Avestan scripture, thought to record Zoroaster’s words, say the sky is made of ‘hardest stone’ and worn as armour by Ahura Mazda, god of creation and cosmic order. Avestan texts contain many astronomical references, and the word asana means both ‘sky’ and ‘stone’. On one occasion, Zoroaster was said to have defeated demons with ‘a massive stone received from God’...}}
== '''Islamic literature:''' ==
=== '''In the Qur'an''' ===
The Qur'an states that stars (kawakib ٱلْكَوَاكِبِ), lamps (masabih مَصَٰبِيحَ) and/or great stars/constellations (burūj بُرُوجًا) adorn the heavens and guard against devils (shayāṭīn شياطين).
The Qur'an further asserts that Allah has made them (the stars/lamps) missiles to ward away devils (who are believed to be [[jinn]] in Islam), who attempt to listen in on heavenly meetings (known as the Exalted Assembly). The Quranic concept has a close parallel in an earlier Jewish development from Zoroastrian mythology. Such myths are best understood as pre-modern attempts to explain the common phenomenon of meteors streaking across the night sky. The relevant verses are below:{{Quote|{{Quran|37|6–10}}|Surely We have made the sky of this world appear enticing by means of the splendor of <b>the stars [al-kawākibi],</b> and (We have made them) a (means of) protection from every rebelling satan [wa-ḥifẓan min kulli shayṭānin māridan]. They do not listen to the exalted Assembly, but they are pelted from every side, driven off – for them (there is) a punishment forever – except for the one who snatches a word, and <b>then a piercing flame pursues him [fa-’atbaʿa-hu shihābun thāqibun]. </b>}}{{Quote|{{Quran|67|5}}|Surely We adorned <b>the lower heaven [al-samā’a l-dunyā] with lamps [bi-maṣābīḥa], and made them missiles for the satans [wa-jaʿalnā-hā rujūman li-l-shayāṭīni]</b> – and We have prepared for them the punishment of the blazing (Fire).}}{{Quote|{{Quran|15|16-18}}|<b>Certainly We have made constellations in the sky [laqad jaʿalnā fī l-samā’i burūjan],</b> and made it appear enticing for the onlookers, and protected it from every <b>accursed satan [shayṭānin rajīmin]</b> – except any who (may) steal in to overhear, <b>then a clear flame pursues him [fa-’atbaʿa-hu shihābun mubīnun].</b>}}{{Quote|{{Quran|72|8-9}}|And that we touched the sky and found it filled with <b>harsh guards [ḥarasan shadīdan] and piercing flames [wa-shuhuban].</b> And that we used to sit there on seats to listen (in), but whoever listens now finds a piercing flame lying in wait for him [yajidu la-hu shihāban raṣadan].}}
The same Arabic words are used at the start of [https://quranx.com/67.5 Quran 67:5] as in [https://quranx.com/37.6 Quran 37:6] (زَيَّنَّا ٱلسَّمَآءَ ٱلدُّنْيَا), except that in [https://quranx.com/67.5 Quran 67:5] the word lamps is used instead of stars. The lamps that 'beautify the heaven' must refer to stars (and perhaps also the 5 visible planets), which are always there.
Stars and visible planets were often called the same thing ([https://corpus.quran.com/qurandictionary.jsp?q=kwkb#(82:2:2) kawakib ٱلْكَوَاكِبِ]) due to their similar appearance, with stars appearing 'fixed' and planets notably 'moving', usually differentiated by astronomers by labelling them respectively. This is confirmed by astrologists such as [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abd_al-Rahman_al-Sufi Abd al-Rahman al-Sufi] who around 964 wrote the astronomical [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Book_of_Fixed_Stars book of fixed stars] كتاب صور الكواكب kitāb suwar ''al-kawākib''. As professor David Cook notes, '<nowiki/>''Eventually in Arabic, najm generally came to mean “a fixed star” while kawkab “a planetary body” but there are plenty of exceptions to this rule. Planets were believed to be moving stars.'''<ref>https://link.springer.com/referenceworkentry/10.1007/978-94-007-7747-7_8525</ref>
In {{Quran|67|5}}, the word translated "missiles" is rujūman (رُجُومًا), which are things that are thrown, especially stones.<ref>http://www.studyquran.org/LaneLexicon/Volume3/00000214.pdf</ref>
[https://corpus.quran.com/search.jsp?q=constellations Burūj بُرُوجًا] means great stars or constellations; Surah 85 (Al-Burūj) is called [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Burooj The Great Star].
Other relevant verses are {{Quran|55|33-35}} (flame of fire and smoke, though a slightly different context):
{{Quote|{{Quran|55|33-35}}|O company of jinn and mankind, if you are able to pass beyond the regions of the heavens and the earth, then pass. You will not pass except by authority [from Allah]. So which of the favors of your Lord would you deny? There will be sent upon you a flame of fire and smoke, and you will not defend yourselves.}}And Quran [https://quran.com/21?startingVerse=32 21:32], which many classical commentators have associated with protection against devils:
{{Quote|{{Quran|21|32}}|And We made the sky a protected ceiling, but they, from its signs, are turning away.}}
=== In the Hadith ===
A hadith in Sahih Muslim confirms that the 'pursuant flames / missiles' in the two verses refer to meteors which they saw shooting across the sky.
{{Quote|{{Muslim|26|5538}}|'Abdullah. Ibn 'Abbas reported: A person from the Ansar who was amongst the Companions of Allah's Messenger (pbuh reported to me: As we were sitting during the night with Allah's Messenger (pbuh), a meteor shot gave a dazzling light. Allah's Messenger (pbuh) said: What did you say in the pre-Islamic days when there was such a shot (of meteor)? They said: Allah and His Messenger know best (the actual position), but we, however, used to say that that very night a great man had been born and a great man had died, whereupon Allah's Messenger pbuh) said: (These meteors) are shot neither at the death of anyone nor on the birth of anyone. Allah, the Exalted and Glorious, issues Command when He decides to do a thing. Then (the Angels) supporting the Throne sing His glory, then sing the dwellers of heaven who are near to them until this glory of God reaches them who are in the heaven of this world. Then those who are near the supporters of the Throne ask these supporters of the Throne: What your Lord has said? And they accordingly inform them what He says. Then the dwellers of heaven seek information from them until this information reaches the heaven of the world. In this process of transmission (the jinn snatches) what he manages to overhear and he carries it to his friends. And when the Angels see the jinn they attack them with meteors. If they narrate only which they manage to snatch that is correct but they alloy it with lies and make additions to it.}}
This is confirmed in a hadith in Sunan Ibn Majah's collection:
{{Quote|{{Ibn Majah||1|1|194}}|The Prophet said: "When Allah decrees a matter in heaven, the angels beat their wings in submission to his decree (with a sound) like a chain beating a rock. Then "When fear is banished from their hearts, they say: 'What is it that your Lord has said?' They say: 'The truth. And He is The Most High, The Most Great." He said: 'Then the eavesdroppers (from among the jinn) listen out for that, one above the other, so (one of them) hears the words and passes it on to the one beneath him. The Shihab (shooting star) may strike him before he can pass it on to the one beneath him and the latter can pass it on to the soothsayer or sorcerer, or it may not strike him until he has passed it on. And he ads one hundred lies to it, and only that word which was overheard from the heavens is true."}}And here in Jami' at-Tirmidhi, where we see the word (najm/نجم) is used to describe the shooting star:
{{Quote|{{Al Tirmidhi||5|44|3224}}|Narrated Ibn 'Abbas:
"We were with the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ), while he was sitting with a group of his Companions, when they saw a glowing shooting star. The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: 'When you saw the likes of this during Jahiliyyah, what would you say about it?' They said: 'We would say that a great man died, or that a great man has been born.' The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: 'It is not shot due to the death of anyone, nor his coming into life. Rather when our Lord [Blessed is His Name and Most High] decrees a matter, He is glorified by the bearers of the Throne. Then He is glorified by the inhabitants who are below them, then those below them, until such glorification reaches this Heaven. Then the inhabitants of the sixth Heaven ask the inhabitants of the seventh Heaven: "What did your Lord say?" He said: 'So they inform them; then the inhabitants of each Heaven seek the information, until the news is conveyed to the inhabitants of the Heavens of the earth. The Shayatin try to overhear so they are shot at, so they cast it down to their friends. Whatever they came with is true, as it is, but they distort it and add to it.'"}}Showing this reinforcing the incorrect idea of stars being shooting stars and gives us yet a fourth word for stars as confirmation.
=== '''Muslim Historians''' ===
Meteor showers were of unknown cause to 7th Century Arabs, as the later (than the Quran's writing) historian and geographer [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ya%27qubi Al-Ya'qubi] reports several meteor showers that happened just before and during Muhammad's lifetime (In 571 AD and 609 AD), attributing them to shooting stars/planets striking devils<ref name=":0">https://articles.adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-iarticle_query?bibcode=1992QJRAS..33....5R&db_key=AST&page_ind=6&plate_select=NO&data_type=GIF&type=SCREEN_GIF&classic=YES</ref>, with the multitude of them potentially leading to the idea they are 'pelted from every side'. Further Muslim historians such as [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ibn_%27Idhari Ibn 'Idhari] and [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ibn_al-Jawzi Ibn al-Jawzi] confirm this understanding, with a summary of their assessment of meteor showers held in this Royal Astronomical Society [https://articles.adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-iarticle_query?bibcode=1992QJRAS..33....5R&db_key=AST&page_ind=6&plate_select=NO&data_type=GIF&type=SCREEN_GIF&classic=YES publication].
=== Versus modern science ===
As mentioned in the introduction, while stars are giant balls of gas thousands of times larger than the earth, meteors are now known to be distinct from the distant stars, being small rocky masses or grains of debris which burn up after entering the earth's atmosphere. They are often not much larger than grains of sand and only become visible for a second when they burn up, generating light in the Earth's atmosphere. Many ancient people confused the two, as meteors look like stars that are streaking across the sky; this is why they were often called shooting stars or falling stars. (see final section 'Further science on meteors' for full explanation of this topic).
Large increases in meteors occur on a predictable schedule each year as the Earth's orbit passes through the stream of particles and debris left in the wake of a number of comets (or in a few cases, of asteroids). The most visible is usually the annual [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perseids Perseid meteor shower] in August, which easily look like stars with flames being used a weapon in the sky, pelting the area. Meteor showers look like stars 'pelting' from every side. 
If the flaming missiles mentioned by the Quran are to be identified with meteors burning up in the Earth's atmosphere, this would locate the eavesdropping devils (or jinn) in the upper atmosphere too, which leaves no way for the (extremely distant) stars to serve as guards in this process as outlined in the verses.
Stars are an average 5 light years away from each other in our galaxy.<ref>https://public.nrao.edu/ask/what-is-the-average-distance-between-stars-in-our-galaxy/</ref> For context, a light year is the distance light travels in one year, which is 5.88 trillion miles/9.46 trillion kilometres.<ref>https://exoplanets.nasa.gov/faq/26/what-is-a-light-year/</ref> This again makes them an odd choice for a protection/guard, with trillions of miles/kilometers of mostly empty space between them. 
The results of many stellar size measurements over the years have shown that most nearby stars are roughly the size of the Sun, with typical diameters of a million kilometers or so.<ref>[https://courses.lumenlearning.com/suny-astronomy/chapter/diameters-of-stars/#:~:text=The%20results%20of%20many%20stellar,a%20million%20kilometers%20or%20so. https://courses.lumenlearning.com/suny-astronomy/chapter/diameters-of-stars/#:~:text=The%20results%20of%20many%20stellar,a%20million%20kilometers%20or%20so.]</ref> An example of a calculation to demonstrate the size of this, is the sun can fit around 22 billion billion billion (10^28) people in, with the full workings found in this Quora [https://www.quora.com/How-many-people-can-fit-in-the-sun answer] as an estimate. This of course makes them absurdly large to be used as an object to be thrown by angels at jinn, both of which are approximately human size and visit Earth.
Also, stars do not actually 'burn' or cause flame which is caused by chemical burning on Earth needing oxygen.<ref>[https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg24733000-900-lighting-fires-in-space-is-helping-us-make-greener-energy-on-earth/#:~:text=Fires%20can't%20start%20in,in%20strange%20and%20beautiful%20ways. https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg24733000-900-lighting-fires-in-space-is-helping-us-make-greener-energy-on-earth/#:~:text=Fires%20can't%20start%20in,in%20strange%20and%20beautiful%20ways.]</ref> Stars create energy via nuclear fusion instead with no flames.
However, these verses would of course fit a relatively small universe as imagined by 7th century Arabs, in which a heavenly firmament is adorned with stars able to pelt shooting stars at any devils or jinn in their vicinity, seeming to cover interstellar distances in a flaming streak across the sky.
== Modern Apologists ==
=== Meteors come from stars ===
Some apologists, for example, the highly influential [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abul_A'la_Maududi Ala-Maududi] (d. 1979 AD) writing in light of much more modern science in his modern tasfir wrote:{{Quote|{{cite web| url=https://myislam.org/surah-al-mulk/ayat-5/#:~:text=Ala%2DMaududi,9. | title= Tasfir Ala-Maududi 67.5}}|This does not mean that the stars themselves are pelted at the Satans, nor that the meteorites shoot out only to drive away the Satans, <b>but it means that the countless meteorites which originate from the stars and wander in space at tremendous speeds and which also fall to the earth in a continuous shower prevent the Satans of the earth from ascending to the heavens.</b> Even if they try to ascend heavenward these meteorites drive them away. This thing has been mentioned here because the Arabs believed about the soothsayers, and this also was the claim made by the soothsayers themselves, that the Satans were under their control, or that they had a close contact with them, and through them they received news of the unseen, and thus, could foretell the destinies of the people. That is why at several places in the Quran, it has been stated that there is absolutely no possibility for the Satans ascending to the heavens and bringing news of the unseen. For explanation, see (Surah Al-Hijr, ayat 16-18) note 9-12, (Surah As-Saaffat, ayat 7-10) note 6,7. As for the truth about meteorites, man’s information in this regard is still without a scientific basis. However, the theory which seems best to account for all the facts known today and the information gathered from the examination of the meteorites fallen on the earth, is that meteorites originate from the disintegration of one or more planets and wander in space and sometimes fall to the earth under its gravitational pull. (See Encyclopedia Britannica, vol. XV, under Meteorites).}}
'''Objections to this claim'''
The claim appears to be that stars create heavier elements<ref>[https://new.nsf.gov/science-matters/stars-within-us#:~:text=Creation%20of%20heavier%20elements%20requires,such%20as%20carbon%20and%20iron. https://new.nsf.gov/science-matters/stars-within-us#:~:text=Creation%20of%20heavier%20elements%20requires,such%20as%20carbon%20and%20iron.]</ref> which eventually go on to become the sources of debris which can become meteors.
However, there are objections to this interpretation.
1. Qur'an does not state that the shooting stars 'come from stars' (mostly many billions of years ago), which would be very easy to do - so put bluntly this isn't what is being said in the text. It is the stars themselves that are a protection and are thrown. I.e. you state that something is a missile, all rules of grammar and logic lead you to assume that it's the thing that is mentioned that is the missile, not something that part of it get its elements from after going through many other processes to become billions of years later.
2. Meteors do not even come directly from stars, but rather form asteroids and comets either hitting earth or occasionally breaking into Mars or the Moon, with the debris getting burned up in Earths atmosphere ((see final section 'Further science on meteors' for full explanation of this topic). It is only true to say all the elements which make up everything (and not just space debris) in the universe were once part of a star.
3. In light of the previous point, naming stars/lamps/constellations as a protection is a totally pointless link to make as they have nothing to do with the story, which should focus only on the flames if meteors were what was being mentioned. The stars could have been described as being made for anything else in the universe as they create heavy elements for everything, yet they only are in this context where it is easy for humans to confuse the two.
4. If it meant something the unknown sources of meteors at the time, it easily could have used another of the many generic words for objects/things in the heavens rather than those which have a different meaning.
In other words, this has involved twisting the text into something that isn't there.
=== Cosmic rays ===
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abul_A'la_Maududi Ala-Maududi] (d. 1979 AD) also wrote:{{Quote|{{cite web| url=https://myislam.org/surah-al-hijr/ayat-18/ | title= Tasfir Ala-Maududi 15.18}}|In Arabic the word shihab-i-mubin literally means a fiery flame. In Surah (Surah As-Saffat, Ayat 10), the same thing has been called shihab-i-thaqib (flame that pierces through darkness). <b>This may or may not necessarily be a meteor for it is just possible that it may be some type of rays such as cosmic rays or even a stronger type which we have not been able to discover as yet. </b>Anyhow, if the fiery flame that pursues Satans may be taken to be a meteor, a countless number of these can form a fortification around our sphere of the universe. Scientific observations made with the help of the telescope have shown that billions of these meteors are rushing from space in a mass of rainfall. towards the earth’s atmosphere. Such a scene was witnessed in an eastern pan of North America on November 13, 1833. This is so strong a fortification that it can prevent Satans from passing through any fortified sphere.}}''Note the meteor shower being referred to here Leonid Meteor Storm, where fragments of ice, rock, and dust left behind by the Comet Tempel-Tuttle. About every 33 years, the Leonid meteor shower intensifies, increasing the possibility of a dazzling display of lights.<ref>https://blog.newspapers.com/november-12-13-1833-the-night-the-stars-fell/</ref> This comes from a predictable pattern of material left behind by the comet entering earths atmosphere and burning up,<ref>https://www.rmg.co.uk/stories/topics/leonid-meteor-shower-when-and-where-see-it-uk</ref> they do not actually form a flame in space which is impossible due to there being no oxygen.<ref>https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg24733000-900-lighting-fires-in-space-is-helping-us-make-greener-energy-on-earth/#:~:text=Fires%20can't%20start%20in,in%20strange%20and%20beautiful%20ways</ref>''
Two alternative interpretations popular in modern times<ref>https://www.facebook.com/100PROOFSGODEXISTS/photos/are-meteors-or-shooting-stars-used-as-missiles-for-the-devilsjinn-answer-no1-qur/1438650339514784/</ref> are that the Quran is referring to [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coronal_mass_ejection coronal mass ejections] (large eruptions of charged matter from the sun or other stars), or [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cosmic_ray cosmic rays] (high energy, sub-atomic particles travelling through interstellar space). However, coronal mass ejections move slowly in cosmic terms, disperse over distance and do not come from surprise directions ([https://quran.com/en/as-saffat/8 Quran 37:8] states that the devils are pelted from every side, and pursued by a piercing flame if they escape with anything they overheard). Cosmic rays do not emit light as they travel through space and therefore nor could these be the flaming missiles of fire and smoke in the Quran.
== Conclusion ==
The Quran and subsequent Islamic literature shows it confirming local folklore around stars being the same as shooting stars, and that one of their functions is to be used as missiles to keep spying evil [https://wikiislam.net/wiki/Jinn jinn] away from angel meetings, just how they were understood in their historical context. Modern times have meant apologists have come up with explanations often not included in the text, or that are themselves based on faulty science (such as cosmic rays).
This is an attempt to come up with an explanation for an unknown natural phenomena, being the flames across the sky which look like stars, which has made it into Islamic scripture. These verses and story would of course fit a relatively small universe as imagined by 7th century Bedouins, with the stars appearing visible distances away from each other, and were assumed to be the same thing as 'shooting stars'/meteors, as it was interpretated at the time (including by many other cultures), and backed up by 'sahih' (authentic) hadith.
On a separate note, though stars are described as an ornament or beauty for the sky in [https://quranx.com/37.6 Quran 37:6], and [https://quranx.com/67.5 Quran 67:5], there are an estimated minimum c.100 septillion stars in the known universe, but only a few thousand are actually visible to the naked eye.
There is also nothing said of their function of holding planetary systems together,<ref>https://science.nasa.gov/astrophysics/focus-areas/how-do-stars-form-and-evolve/</ref> which could have easily been done by differentiation of fixed stars from moving stars, and shown genuine scientific foreknowledge.
== Further science on meteors ==
=== '''Technical definitions used throughout'''<ref><nowiki>https://www.dictionary.com/e/meteor-vs-asteroid-vs-comet/</nowiki>> </ref>''':''' ===
''Meteors'' are the meteoroids that enter Earth’s atmosphere, where they often burn up—meaning they can often be seen with the naked eye. This is what we sometimes call a shooting star. When there are a lot of them at once, we call it a meteor shower.
''Meteorites'' are the meteoroids that have made it all the way to Earth’s surface (though these two terms are sometimes used interchangeably).
''Asteroids'' are rocky objects that vary in size, but on average they’re between the size of a meteoroid and a planet. Asteroids are mostly found within the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.
''Comets'' are made up of mostly ice and dust and are known for the tail of gas and dust that gets blown away from them when they’re near the sun. Some, like asteroids, orbit the sun and come around in regular intervals.
''Stars''<ref>[https://skyandtelescope.org/astronomy-resources/what-is-a-star/#:~:text=But%20just%20what%20is%20a,the%20closest%20star%20to%20Earth. https://skyandtelescope.org/astronomy-resources/what-is-a-star/#:~:text=But%20just%20what%20is%20a,the%20closest%20star%20to%20Earth.]</ref> are a luminous ball of gas, mostly hydrogen and helium, held together by its own gravity. Nuclear fusion reactions in its core support the star against gravity and produce photons and heat, as well as small amounts of heavier elements. The Sun is the closest star to Earth.
=== '''Further Science on meteors''' ===
Although not the main argument of this page, which is to show the conflation of stars and meteors (shooting stars), it is worth noting the issues of meteors being used as weapons as many apologists claim, in light of modern science, and clarify the differences for the casual reader.
'''Asteroids:'''
Clarifying the technical definition again: Asteroids are rocky bodies in space found in space.<ref>https://www.amnh.org/explore/news-blogs/on-exhibit-posts/meteor-meteorite-asteroid</ref>
Meteors are objects that enter Earth’s atmosphere from space, which are typically pieces of dust no larger than a grain of rice, burn up before reaching the ground, though can be larger (meteorites refer to rocks that survive left over on Earth). As they vaporize, they leave behind the fiery trails sometimes called “shooting stars,” even though meteors are not really stars.
The main source of meteors are asteroids (~94% of all), either directly by them being pulled out of the belt by Jupiter's gravity, then moving to the inner solar system where they collide with Earth (99.8% of them),<ref>https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/asteroids-comets-and-meteors/meteors-and-meteorites/in-depth/</ref> or indirectly as they collide with other rocky objects, i.e. the moon or Mars (0.02% of them) which then come into Earths gravitational tug.<ref>https://www.astronomy.com/science/where-do-meteorites-come-from/</ref>
Other than the fact that these asteroids are not stars or 'star-like', but just rocks and metal with no light source, and therefore cannot accurately be said to match the description of 'lamps' - the most densely populated space for these is the asteroid belt.
This is problematic as despite there being many millions of objects in the asteroid belt, the average distance between them is ~600,000 miles (about 1 million km).<ref>https://earthsky.org/space/what-is-the-asteroid-belt/</ref> Making them very difficult to use for a protection as the angels could only be close to a maximum of one at a time, having to move millions of miles to pick up another, leaving them unable to ward off one if they miss just once, or one coming after another at different points in time, or multiple using any flanking method. Especially to line up with 'pelted every side', which only appears to match a meteor shower.
Another problem arises in that they are said to be pursued with flame, however there is no oxygen in space,<ref>https://science.nasa.gov/fire-space</ref> so you can't start a fire (or get smoke).<ref>https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg24733000-900-lighting-fires-in-space-is-helping-us-make-greener-energy-on-earth/#:~:text=Fires%20can't%20start%20in,in%20strange%20and%20beautiful%20ways</ref> Let alone by throwing a rock through space. They only burn in Earths atmosphere due to friction from travelling extremely fast in a vacuum which takes no energy, to being compressed by air in the atmosphere, rising the temperature and setting fire where there is oxygen.<ref>https://science.howstuffworks.com/question308.htm</ref> (Stars like our sun create heat through nuclear fusion, which is a completely different process to chemical burning that creates flame).
The distance between Earth and the closest edge of the Belt is approximately a minimum ~179.5, to 329 million km (111.5 to 204.43 million mi). But of course, at any given time, part of the Asteroid Belt will be on the opposite side of the Sun relative to us as well, far, far further than that.<ref>https://www.universetoday.com/130136/far-asteroid-belt-earth</ref> Therefore, for them to make a 'clear flame' by turning into meteors, this would have to be thrown a minimum ~179.5 million km / 111.5 million miles while the jinn are still in the Earths atmosphere, with the flame 'pursuing them' for only a tiny fraction of the process (<0.01%), adding to the problematic nature of these verses. Also meteor paths are dictated by physics, so it is unclear how they could pursue a jinn/devil that moved of it's directed course.
'''Comets:'''
Comets, which are the other source (~6%) of meteors, almost all through leaving behind debris, are arguably just as if not more problematic than asteroids. These are similar to asteroids, however they aren't just made of rock but also frozen gases, ice and dust, and orbit the Sun.<ref><nowiki>https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/asteroids-comets-and-meteors/comets/overview/?page=0&per_page=40&order=name+asc&search=&condition_1=102%3Aparent_id&condition_2=comet%3Abody_type%3Ailike</nowiki></ref>
Similar to asteroids in the asteroid belt, the source of comets are from extremely distant sections of the solar system, the Kuiper belt (beyond Neptune) being the closest source. The inner edge of the Kuiper Belt begins at the orbit of Neptune and a distance of around 2.8 billion miles (4.8 billion kilometers) from the sun, with its main concentration of bodies ending at around 4.6 billion miles (7.4 billion km) from the star. It's thickness is approximately ~930 million miles (~1.5 billion kilometers / (10AU)).<ref>[https://www.e-education.psu.edu/astro801/content/l11_p8.html#:~:text=The%20Kuiper%20Belt%20is%20a,Belt%20is%20approximately%2010%20AU. https://www.e-education.psu.edu/astro801/content/l11_p8.html#:~:text=The%20Kuiper%20Belt%20is%20a,Belt%20is%20approximately%2010%20AU.]</ref> The Kuiper Belt is far larger than the main asteroid belt, up to 20 times as wide and 20 to 100 times it's mass according to Nine Planets. In fact, astronomers estimate there are hundreds of thousands of objects in the region that are larger than 60 miles (100 kilometers) wide or larger, and potentially trillions overall, however, the total mass of all the material in the Kuiper Belt is estimated to be no more than about 10% of the mass of Earth.<ref>https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/solar-system/kuiper-belt/overview/</ref>  Occasionally, one will break of from this orbit and reach the inner solar system, though for one to come anywhere near Earth is rare,<ref>https://www.space.com/comets.html</ref><ref>https://astronomy.stackexchange.com/questions/7721/how-near-to-earth-do-comets-pass</ref> and for two that also happen to be appropriately sized, to be near enough to be used as objects is near impossible, making them extremely sparse for use as weapons to pelt jinn from every side from. 
As mentioned briefly earlier, comets do not make flames or have fire at their head, but ice melting and disintegrating under a barrage of solar radiation. For this reason, they only sprout a tail near the sun. In fact the tails direction more influenced by direction of the sun than the Comet trajectory.<ref>[https://www.lpi.usra.edu/education/explore/comets/background/#:~:text=Because%20sunlight%20and%20solar%20wind,is%20moving%20in%20its%20orbit. https://www.lpi.usra.edu/education/explore/comets/background/#:~:text=Because%20sunlight%20and%20solar%20wind,is%20moving%20in%20its%20orbit.]</ref> Comet ion tails are comprised of glowing lightweight gases ionised by UV light, this reflecting sunlight, not a flame.<ref><nowiki>https://www.google.com/amp/s/solarsystem.nasa.gov/asteroids-comets-and-meteors/comets/in-depth.amp</nowiki></ref> These do not match the flaming pursuing lamps of the jinn - which would be scientifically inaccurate. When they are far from their stars comets are just cold dark space bodies movies on a highly eccentric ellipse path.
Once again to burn up in the atmosphere to create an actual flame would require them being thrown distances of usually hundreds of millions of miles to finally create a flame near Earth, other than an unbelievably rare instance of close planet encounters.
They also travel from around 2,000mph to over 100,000mph,<ref>https://www.mrsd.org/cms/lib/NH01912397/Centricity/Domain/245/comets.pdf</ref> making them very awkward sources for weapons to defend against a meeting being held.
'''Meteor Showers'''
It is extremely rare for comets to cause a meteor directly, but in theory meteorites could come from meteors from them directly from the few 'near' Earth (it's extremely rare for one to come within 0.1AU of Earth),<ref>ttps://astronomy.stackexchange.com/questions/7721/how-near-to-earth-do-comets-pass#:~:text=It%20is%20rare%20for%20a,with%200.1%20AU%20of%20Earth.</ref> but none (meteorites) have been traced indefinitely. As meteor shower occurs when the Earth passes through the trail of debris left by a comet or occasionally an asteroid.<ref>https://www.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/741990main_ten_meteor_facts.pdf</ref> When a meteoroid from these enters Earth’s upper atmosphere, it heats up due to friction from the air. The heat causes gases around the meteoroid to glow brightly, and a meteor appears.<ref>https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/meteor/</ref>
Meteors showers are what the later Muslim historians such as [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ya%27qubi Al-Ya'qubi] [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ibn_%27Idhari Ibn 'Idhari] and [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ibn_al-Jawzi Ibn al-Jawzi] understood to being blocking jinn from listening to the exalted assembly.
= External Links =
* https://atheism-vs-islam.com/index.php?view=article&id=101:7-scientific-blunders-in-a-single-quranic-story-of-shooting-stars&catid=15 - an article covering this topic
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MuhtSEY91kU The Exalted Assembly] ''- YouTube Video''
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