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Scientific Errors in the Quran: Difference between revisions
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→Geocentricism: Previously a line simply stated some exegetes had a different interpretation of the sun's resting place verse - however I had added some context of the later tasfirs working with the now accepted astronomers geocentric view of planets orbiting the Earth. References are given where appropriate :)
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(→The sky/heaven as a guarded ceiling: I have added another more recent example of the skies 'non-protection' in 2013 Russia of meteors going through the atmosphere that is known to have injured humans. The first link is National Geographic confirming the size of the earths atmosphere for context, showing the meteor penetrated it. The second link is to the NASA article about the meteor/event listing the damage caused, which you can see is largely copied from the final paragraph of that page.) |
m (→Geocentricism: Previously a line simply stated some exegetes had a different interpretation of the sun's resting place verse - however I had added some context of the later tasfirs working with the now accepted astronomers geocentric view of planets orbiting the Earth. References are given where appropriate :)) |
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{{Quran-range|36|37|40}}, occurring in a passage about night and day, right after describing the change from day to night, states that the sun runs on to a resting place for it (لِمُسْتَقَرٍّ لَّهَا). There are also [[sahih]] [[hadith]] ({{Muslim|1|297}}) that mention the sun's daily cycle using the same Arabic word to mean a resting place, which is underneath Allah's throne, and is where each night the sun prostrates and is asked to go and rise 'from its rising place' (مِنْ مَطْلِعِهَا). This cycle repeats, until one day Allah asks the sun to rise 'from your setting place' (مِنْ مَغْرِبِكِ). | {{Quran-range|36|37|40}}, occurring in a passage about night and day, right after describing the change from day to night, states that the sun runs on to a resting place for it (لِمُسْتَقَرٍّ لَّهَا). There are also [[sahih]] [[hadith]] ({{Muslim|1|297}}) that mention the sun's daily cycle using the same Arabic word to mean a resting place, which is underneath Allah's throne, and is where each night the sun prostrates and is asked to go and rise 'from its rising place' (مِنْ مَطْلِعِهَا). This cycle repeats, until one day Allah asks the sun to rise 'from your setting place' (مِنْ مَغْرِبِكِ). | ||
An alternative view among exegetes, favoured by many apologists today, was that this refers to the sun's final 'resting' on the last day, such as Ibn Kathir (d. 1373 CE)<ref>https://www.britannica.com/biography/Ibn-Kathir</ref> giving a secondary opinion: <blockquote>(The second view) is that this refers to when the sun's appointed time comes to an end, which will be on the Day of Resurrection, when its fixed course will be abolished, it will come to a halt and it will be rolled up. This world will come to an end, and that will be the end of its appointed time. This is the fixed course of its time.<ref>https://quranx.com/Tafsir/Kathir/36.40</ref></blockquote>However these appear far after the Greek spherical planetary model contained in Ptolemy's Almagest was translated into Arabic<ref>https://www.britannica.com/topic/Almagest</ref> in the late 8th and early 9th centuries, which stated the sun constantly revolved around a fixed (and geocentric Earth)<ref>https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Almagest</ref> (and so did not 'rest' or have a 'resting place'). This soon became the general view of astronomers in the Islamic caliphates/empires with improvements being made over time made<ref>https://www.academia.edu/attachments/55944098/download_file?s=portfolio</ref>, and would certainly have been known to a highly educated man like Ibn Kathir (b. 1300)<ref>https://www.britannica.com/biography/Ibn-Kathir</ref> and later educated commentators who had contact with astronomers, or learned about their field, and sought to reconcile science with scripture. | |||
Other verses talk about the sun swimming for a 'term appointed' (using a different Arabic word). Another version of the above hadith probably supports this view (for details of all these things see footnotes [https://wikiislam.net/wiki/Geocentrism_and_the_Quran#Primary_Evidence in the main article]). Whichever interpretation was intended, the sun's movement is nevertheless mentioned right after describing day and night, just as the next verse mentions the different mansions appointed for the moon each night. The whole passage is about day and night and the sun and moon's movement in that context. | |||
{{Quote|{{Quran|21|33}}|And He it is Who created the night and the day, and the sun and the moon. They float, each in an orbit.}} | {{Quote|{{Quran|21|33}}|And He it is Who created the night and the day, and the sun and the moon. They float, each in an orbit.}} | ||