Geocentrism and the Quran: Difference between revisions

Geocentrism and the Quran (view source)

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 The Qur'an in several places and contexts advances or alludes to descriptions of the heavenly bodies which explicitly or implicitly entail a geocentric model of the solar system. Seven such distinct assertions form the crux of the discussion on geocentrism in the Quran.
-First is the strongly implied idea that both the courses or orbits (''falak'') taken by the sun and moon should be visible to the people addressed in the Qur'an. Second is the Quran's assertion that the moon follows the sun. The orbital "floating" or "swimming" (the verb جري) of the sun is always mentioned with that of the moon, and in these verses they are nearly always mentioned in the context of night and day.<ref>21:33, 39:40, 31:29, 35:13, and 39:5; the exception being 13:2. See also 14:33, though note that the word translated "constant in their courses" is daibayni, which is simply a verb meaning to strive, toil, labour, hold on or continue. Ref: dal-alif-ba [http://www.studyquran.org/LaneLexicon/Volume3/00000005.pdf Lane's Lexicon Volume 1 page 106]</ref>
+First is the strongly implied idea that both the courses or orbits (''falak'') taken by the sun and moon should be visible to the people addressed in the Qur'an. Second is the Quran's assertion that the moon follows the sun. The "floating" or "swimming" (the verb جري) of the sun is always mentioned with that of the moon, and in these verses they are nearly always mentioned in the context of night and day.<ref>21:33, 39:40, 31:29, 35:13, and 39:5; the exception being 13:2. See also 14:33, though note that the word translated "constant in their courses" is daibayni, which is simply a verb meaning to strive, toil, labour, hold on or continue. Ref: dal-alif-ba [http://www.studyquran.org/LaneLexicon/Volume3/00000005.pdf Lane's Lexicon Volume 1 page 106]</ref>
 Third, in {{Quran-range|36|37|40}}, which is a passage about night and day, right after describing the change from day to night the passages states that the sun runs on to a designated resting place (see footnotes regarding the Arabic word here, which differs from similar verses).<ref>"''And a Sign for them is the Night: We withdraw therefrom the Day, and behold they are plunged in darkness; And the sun runs his course for a period determined for him: that is the decree of (Him), the Exalted in Might, the All-Knowing. And the Moon,- We have measured for her mansions (to traverse) till she returns like the old (and withered) lower part of a date-stalk. It is not permitted to the Sun to catch up the Moon, nor can the Night outstrip the Day: Each (just) swims along in (its own) orbit (according to Law).''" - {{cite Quran|36|37|end=40|style=ref}}</ref><ref name="mustaqarrin">A few translations use instead, "appointed term", though in nearly all other verses where we find  mustaqarrin (qaf-ra-ra قرر [http://www.studyquran.org/LaneLexicon/Volume7/00000029.pdf Lane's Lexicon Volume 1 page 2501]) as a participle they translate it as a place of settlement or an abode or resting place. There are other verses (35:13, 31:29, 39:5, 13:2) that mention the sun and moon floating/swimming (with the same verb as is translated "run" in 36:38) for a term appointed, but these use the words لِأَجَلٍ مُّسَمًّى which do indeed mean a term appointed, but note that mustaqarrin مُسْتَقَرٍّ in 36:38 is a different word.</ref> There are also sahih hadith that use the same Arabic word as in {{Quran|36|38}} to identify "a resting place" as part of the sun's daily cycle.<ref>{{Muslim|1|297}}. For the Arabic of this hadith, see [http://sunnah.com/muslim/1/306 here]</ref> An alternative view is that this refers to the sun's final resting on the last day rather than some temporal location. Another similar sahih hadith apparently supports this view.<ref>With a different ending indicating that the مُسْتَقَرٍّ (resting place) in 36:38 refers to the end of the world when the sun is asked to rise from its setting place (مِنْ مَغْرِبِهَا). Ref: {{Bukhari|9|93|520}}. For the Arabic see [http://sunnah.com/bukhari/97/52 here]</ref> Whichever meaning was originally 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.
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 Fourth is the idea that the sun and moon each float in an orbit ({{Quran|21|33}} and {{Quran|36|40}}), or more precisely, each in a ''falak'', a word with various meanings related to the celestial sphere or dome-shaped things, as described in Lane's lexicon of classical arabic.<ref name="LanesLexiconFalak" /> The main definition Lane provides is of the place of the revolving of the stars, the celestial sphere, generally imagined to be a hemisphere by the Arabs, or the pole of the heavens. The more common English translations, 'orbit', or 'rounded course', seem to be based on the meanings related to roundness or circling. Ibn 'Abbas is recorded in the ''tafasir'' (commentaries) of al-Tabari and of ibn Kathir explaining that the sun and moon swimming in a falak means 'in a whirl (whorl), like the whirl of a spindle' (a hemisphere-shaped object).<ref>The Arabic reads:فِي فَلْكَة كَفَلْكَةِ الْمِغْزَل fee falka, ka-falkati almighzal - at-Tabari and ibn Kathir on 36:40 [http://quran.al-islam.com/Loader.aspx?pageid=215 quran.al-islam.com] (select the tafsir, surah and ayah). Similarly for 21:33 in ibn Kathir, "Ibn Abbas said, 'Spinning like as spins the spindle in a whirl'". Lane translates the exact same words attributed to ibn 'Abbas as "the whirl of a spindle...thus called because of its roundness...it is a piece of wood, generally of hemispherical form, or nearly so, through the middle of which the upper part of the spindle-pin is inserted" (see link to his lexicon page 2444 in an earlier footnote for falak above).</ref> It may also be based on another ibn 'Abbas comment, as noted by ibn Kathir, that the sun runs in its falak in the sky or heaven during the day, and when it sets, it runs at night in its falak underneath the Earth until it rises in the east.<ref>"Ibn Abi Hatim recorded that Ibn `Abbas said, 'The sun is like flowing water, running in its course [falakha] in the sky [alssama] during the day. When it sets, it travels [at night - bi al-layli (omitted in the translation)] in its course [falakha] 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."<BR>[http://www.qtafsir.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1784 Tafsir ibn Kathir for Qur'an 31:29]<BR>For the Arabic, see [http://quran.al-islam.com/Page.aspx?pageid=221&BookID=11&Page=1 quran.al-islam.com]</ref> Al-Tabari further mentions other opinions, such as that it means the pole of the heavens, and similarly, the shape of an iron millstone (or perhaps the iron axis thereof).
-Fifth is the statement that "It is not for the sun to overtake the moon", though on the last day they will be joined together, which is thus suggestive of the two bodies orbiting the same central body and while being positioned at a relatively similar distance. Sixth is the idea that stars have certain fixed "settings" (or ''mawaqi''); and while the day, night, the sun and moon are mentioned as all floating in an orbit (''falak''), while there is no indication of the Earth possessing its own orbit or ''falak''.<ref>{{cite quran|56|75}}</ref> And seventh is the verse which approvingly quotes Abraham saying that Allah brings the sun from the east along and the verses in the Dhu'l Qarnayn story which describe the setting and rising places of the sun as concrete locations which humans can visit and have visited (and even resided nearby) historically.
+Fifth is the statement that "It is not for the sun to overtake the moon", though on the last day they will be joined together, which is thus suggestive of the two bodies orbiting the same central body and while being positioned at a relatively similar distance. Sixth is the idea that stars have certain fixed "settings" (or ''mawaqi''); and while the day, night, the sun and moon are mentioned as all floating in an orbit (''falak''), while there is no indication of the Earth possessing its own orbit or ''falak''.<ref>{{cite quran|56|75}}</ref> And seventh is the verse which approvingly quotes Abraham telling a king that Allah brings the sun from the east and challenging him to bring it from the west, and the verses in the Dhu'l Qarnayn story which describe the setting and rising places of the sun as concrete locations which humans can visit and have visited (and even resided nearby), historically.
 ===The visibility of the sun's movement===
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 There is [[Dhul-Qarnayn and the Sun Setting in a Muddy Spring - Part One|historical evidence]] from early Quranic commentaries and other sources, including contemporary Arabic and Syriac poems of the same legend, to the effect that early Muslims took this account literally.
-Critics conclude that the Qur'an is clear about the course of the sun: it does not describe a complete orbit, but rather a rounded course, presumably in a hemisphere (''falak''<ref name="LanesLexiconFalak" />) that has a beginning, an end, and a highest point.</ref>
+Critics conclude that the Qur'an is clear about the course of the sun: it does not describe a complete orbit, but rather a rounded course, presumably in a hemisphere (''falak''<ref name="LanesLexiconFalak" />) that has a beginning, an end, and a highest point.
 ===The regular cycle of the sun===
-According to several verses in the Qur'an, the sun's cycle is repeated on a regular basis and is comparable in this respect to the orbit of the Moon as well as the cycle of and night and day.
+According to several verses in the Qur'an, the sun's cycle is repeated on a regular basis and is comparable in this respect to the orbit of the Moon as well as the cycle of night and day.
 {{Quote|{{Quran|13|2}}|[…] He made the Sun and the moon subservient (to you); '''each one pursues its course to an appointed time'''; He '''regulates''' the affair, making clear the signs}}
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 ==Modern heliocentric re-readings==
-In light of the many verse describing a geocentric system and the difficulties this poses in reconciling the Qur'an with the findings of modern science, many modern Islamic scholars have attempted to re-read the Quran as describing a heliocentric system. A major factor in these re-readings, as mentioned above, has been identifying the "orbit" or ''falak'' of the sun described in the Quran as a reference to the sun's orbit in the Milky Way galaxy. Likewise discussed above, {{Quran|36|40}} ('it is not for the sun to overtake the moon...') has been re-read in a manner concordant with a heliocentric model.
+In light of the many verses describing a geocentric system and the difficulties this poses in reconciling the Qur'an with the findings of modern science, many modern Islamic scholars have attempted to re-read the Quran as describing a heliocentric system. A major factor in these re-readings, as mentioned above, has been identifying the "orbit" or ''falak'' of the sun described in the Quran as a reference to the sun's orbit in the Milky Way galaxy. Likewise discussed above, {{Quran|36|40}} ('it is not for the sun to overtake the moon...') has been re-read in a manner concordant with a heliocentric model.
 ===Quran 91:1-4===
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 {{Quote|{{cite quran|10|27|style=ref}}|they will have no one to save them from Allah; as if their faces are covered with pieces of the dark night}}
-The same Arabic word for cover appears again in {{Quran|7|54}}, where it is the day doing the "covering", or possibly the other way round (the Arabic is ambiguous and translations differ, while tafsirs take the view that it means either or both). Critics argue that it is far from clear how verse could be interpreted as describing a rotating Earth blocking the night (however that conception may be interpreted) in a manner analogous to the heliocentric interpretation of {{Quran|91|4}}. Critics then assert, instead, that the plain sense of these verses and the Quran at large hold the day and night to be active, concrete, and physically independent entities.
+The same Arabic word for cover appears again in {{Quran|7|54}}, where it is the day doing the "covering", or possibly the other way round (the Arabic is ambiguous and translations differ, while tafsirs take the view that it means either or both). Critics argue that it is far from clear how the verse could be interpreted as describing a rotating Earth blocking the night (however that conception may be interpreted) in a manner analogous to the heliocentric interpretation of {{Quran|91|4}}. Critics then assert, instead, that the plain sense of these verses and the Quran at large hold the day and night to be active and physically independent entities.
 {{Quote|{{cite quran|7|54|style=ref}}|He covereth the night with the day, which is in haste to follow it}}
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 {{Quote|{{cite quran|39|5|style=ref}}|He created the heavens and earth in truth. He wraps the night over the day and wraps the day over the night and has subjected the sun and the moon, each running [its course] for a specified term.}}
-As with {{Quran|7|54}} and {{Quran|36|37}} and the verses where the day and night (as well as the sun and moon) are said to swim in a ''falak''<ref name="LanesLexiconFalak" /> (see above), the night and day in this verse are referred to as some kind of entities. Here, critics argue that it would make sense to describe the Earth as passing through night and day or to say that night and day wrap around the earth, as one might spin an item in order to wrap it with something. But, the critics note, the Qur'an instead says that Allah wraps the day and night over one another rather than the earth, suggesting that the night and day possess some manner of corporeal form.
+As with {{Quran|7|54}} and {{Quran|36|37}} and the verses where the day and night (as well as the sun and moon) are said to swim in a ''falak''<ref name="LanesLexiconFalak" /> (see above), the night and day in this verse are referred to as some kind of entities. Here, critics argue that it would make sense to describe the Earth as passing through night and day or possibly to say that night and day wrap around the earth, as one might spin an item in order to wrap it with something. But, the critics note, the Qur'an instead says that Allah wraps the day and night over one another rather than the earth, suggesting that the night and day possess some manner of corporeal form.
 To this, some modern Islamic scholars have responded that 'day' here refers to that half of the Earth that is currently sunward and that 'night' refers to the shadow of the Earth cast by the sun. Critics are, however, unsatisfied with this rebuttal. They note that if this argument is accepted, then in order to make the next phrase work, the 'night' would instead have to refer to that half of the Earth that is currently opposite the sun, and, moreover, the 'day' would have to refer to the light from the sun.