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Geocentrism and the Quran: Difference between revisions
New section: Counter-arguments, with 91:3-4 comprehensively refuted.
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The picture is pretty clear: the apparent daily course of the sun dictates the time of each and every daily prayer and the only examples of the sun being used for timekeeping in the Qur'an employs the sun's daily movement along the sky. | The picture is pretty clear: the apparent daily course of the sun dictates the time of each and every daily prayer and the only examples of the sun being used for timekeeping in the Qur'an employs the sun's daily movement along the sky. | ||
===Counter-arguments=== | |||
Despite all the verses discussed above that strongly indicate a geocentric worldview, Islamic websites present a few counter arguments to try to prove heliocentricism in the Qur'an. We saw above that the galactic orbit interpretation for the sun's falak does not stand up to scrutiny. Two other verses are sometimes used to try to demonstrate knowledge that the Earth rotates on its axis. | |||
{{Quote|{{cite quran|91|1|end=4|style=ref}}|By the sun and his brightness, And the moon when she followeth him, And the day when it revealeth him, And the night when it enshroudeth him}} | |||
Waalnnahari (and the day) itha (when) jallaha (it displays it) | |||
Waallayli (and the night) itha (when) yaghshaha (it covers it) | |||
At first it seems plausible to suppose that 'day' and 'night' refers to the process of the earth's rotation revealing and obstructing the view of the sun. But this idea quickly falls apart when comparing with other verses as detailed below, but also even examining it in isolation. For the Earth is a globe, and there are no specific times 'when' (itha) the day reveals the sun or the night conceals it. Rather at all times half the Earth is in daytime and half in nighttime, so the sun is at all times both revealed and concealed. This problem wouldn't arise if the word 'when' (itha) was absent in these verses. | |||
There are other verses that mention the night covering (with the same Arabic verb as 91.3), which show that the verb in this context does not simply mean the body of the earth blocking the line of sight to something. In verses 92:1-2 identical words are used as in 91:3-4, but without the pronoun suffix at the end. The night is when things generally are covered, and the day when things can be seen. Clearly the verbs are meant in a poetic sense. | |||
{{Quote|{{cite quran|92|1|end=2|style=ref}}|By the night enshrouding, And the day resplendent}} | |||
Waallayli (and the night) itha (when) yaghsha (it covers) | |||
Waalnnahari (and the day) itha (when) tajalla (it displays) | |||
Indeed, in the verse below the night's covering (same verb as 91:4) applies to anything, not just the sun, so how can it mean the body of the earth hiding the sun in 91.4? (The word "cloak" in the translation means portion or piece). | |||
{{Quote|{{cite quran|10|27|style=ref}}|They have no protector from Allah - as if their faces had been covered with a cloak of darkest night}} | |||
With the same arabic word for cover yet again, this time it is the day doing the covering, and it is quite a stretch if not impossible to interpret it as the earth blocking the view of anything. | |||
{{Quote|{{cite quran|7|54|style=ref}}|He covereth the night with the day, which is in haste to follow it}} | |||
==Supporting Evidence== | ==Supporting Evidence== | ||