Early Islamic Cosmology: Difference between revisions

Early Islamic Cosmology (view source)

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Noted that ibn Kathir translator omits the word "by night"

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 The solitary piece of evidence that Ibn Taymiyyah can bring from the companions about round heavens is that ibn 'Abbas and others said regarding {{Quran|36|40}} and the heavenly bodies swimming in a falak (rounded course):
-{{Quote|1=al-Tabari and ibn Kathir Tafsirs for 36:40|2=فِي فَلْكَة كَفَلْكَةِ الْمِغْزَل
+{{Quote|1=al-Tabari and ibn Kathir Tafsirs for 36:40<ref name="TafsirArabic">For the Arabic, see [http://quran.al-islam.com/Loader.aspx?pageid=215 quran.al-islam.com]</ref>|2=فِي فَلْكَة كَفَلْكَةِ الْمِغْزَل
 fee falka, ka-falkati almighzal
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 in a whirl (whorl), like the whirl of a spindle}}
-See the comments and footnotes about falak in the article [http://wikiislam.net/wiki/Geocentrism_and_the_Quran Geocentrism and the Quran] (a whirl was a small wheel or hemisphere that span around a spindle<ref>الفَلَكُ falak - [http://www.studyquran.org/LaneLexicon/Volume6/00000228.pdf Lane's Lexicon] Volume 1 page 2444. See also the [http://www.studyquran.org/LaneLexicon/Volume6/00000227.pdf previous page]. Lane says that the falak was generally imagined as a celestial hemisphere by the Arabs, but also that the Arab astronomers applied the term to seven spheres for the sun, moon, and the five visible planets, rotating about the celestial pole. This must reflect the post-Qur'anic influence of Ptolemy, whose astronomical work was translated for the Arabs from the 8th century onwards.</ref>). Now given that the sun and moon appear both to arc across the sky, even to those who imagined the Earth was flat and the heavens a dome (or a sphere), such people would also imagine some path for them continuing beneath the Earth after they have set so they can return whence they came (as also in the hadith from Abu Dharr discussed later in this article). Indeed, this is precisely what we read from ibn 'Abbas as noted by ibn Kathir in his Tafsir for {{Quran|31|29}}. The sun runs in its falak (فَلَكهَا) in the sky / heaven (السَّمَاء) during the day, and when it sets it runs at night in its falak beneath the Earth:
+See the comments and footnotes about falak in the article [http://wikiislam.net/wiki/Geocentrism_and_the_Quran Geocentrism and the Quran] (a whirl was a small wheel or hemisphere that span around a spindle<ref>الفَلَكُ falak - [http://www.studyquran.org/LaneLexicon/Volume6/00000228.pdf Lane's Lexicon] Volume 1 page 2444. See also the [http://www.studyquran.org/LaneLexicon/Volume6/00000227.pdf previous page]. Lane says that the falak was generally imagined as a celestial hemisphere by the Arabs, but also that the Arab astronomers applied the term to seven spheres for the sun, moon, and the five visible planets, rotating about the celestial pole. This must reflect the post-Qur'anic influence of Ptolemy, whose astronomical work was translated for the Arabs from the 8th century onwards.</ref>). Now given that the sun and moon appear both to arc across the sky, even to those who imagined the Earth was flat and the heavens a dome (or a sphere), such people would also imagine some path for them continuing beneath the Earth after they have set so they can return whence they came (as also in the hadith from Abu Dharr discussed later in this article). Indeed, this is precisely what we read from ibn 'Abbas as noted by ibn Kathir in his Tafsir for {{Quran|31|29}}. The sun runs in its falak (فَلَكهَا) in the sky / heaven (السَّمَاء) during the day, and when it sets it runs during the night (بِاللَّيْلِ - ommitted from the translation) in its falak beneath the Earth:<ref name="TafsirArabic"></ref>
 {{Quote|1=[http://www.qtafsir.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1784 Tafsir ibn Kathir for 31:29]|2=Ibn Abi Hatim recorded that Ibn ’Abbas said, “The sun is like flowing water, running in its course in the sky during the day. When it sets, it travels in its course beneath the earth until it rises in the east.” He said, “The same is true in the case of the moon.” Its chain of narration is Sahih.}}
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 Islamic apologists have failed to provide any evidence that Muhammad or the earliest Muslims knew that the Earth was round. In contrast, there is lots of evidence to show them believing the Earth to be flat.
-This evidence can be used as a foundation for other arguments concerning the flat Earth verses in the Qur'an, that they cause a justifiably suspicion that the author of the Qur'an was just as unaware as his nearby contemporaries about the shape of the Earth. It can also be used to make the point that it is another major weakness of the Qur'an to use such language when it will inevitably encourage 7th century Muslims to maintain their false notion that the Earth is flat (and indeed for many centuries later for some Muslims, such as al-Suyuti in his Tafsir al-Jalalyn).
+This evidence can be used as a foundation for other arguments concerning the flat Earth verses in the Qur'an, that they cause a justifiably suspicion that the author of the Qur'an was just as unaware as his nearby contemporaries about the shape of the Earth. It can also be used to make the point that it is a secondary major weakness of the Qur'an to use such language when it will inevitably encourage 7th century Muslims to maintain their false notion that the Earth is flat (and indeed for many centuries later for some Muslims, such as al-Suyuti in his Tafsir al-Jalalyn).
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