Geocentrism and the Quran: Difference between revisions

Even though some Muslims reject the Hadith and the [[Sunnah]] as being not-divinely inspired; that argument presupposes a priori that the Qur'an is divinely inspired and protected whilst these other documents are not. Obviously, such special pleading will not do in a scholarly examination of the Qur'an. The Qur'an alone cannot prove itself to be Prophet [[Muhammad|Muhammad’s]] words (let alone the words of [[Allah]]) without the support of hadiths. Not only are these sources useful as supporting evidence; they also tell us which interpretation is supported by Muhammad and (early) Muslims. This is also why this article includes the views of several medieval Muslim Astronomers: if the Qur'an had clearly described a cosmology that is not geocentric, they would simply not hold geocentric views. In addition, we will even include the opinions of a modern-day Muslim astronomer.

Let us see what makes the Qur'an geocentric:

For the Qur'an to be scientific, it must contain accurate statements in regards to all that is visible i.e. material objects and phenomena. How can Allah appeal to such things as proof of his power and existence if he fails to make his case obvious? A confusing text is not proof. If the Qur'an tells us the heavens and the earth are firmly held it their places, what are we to make of this? Why does the Qur'an not mention the same for the sun and the moon i.e. that they too are firmly held in their places? Instead the Qur'an indicates they are keeping strictly to their courses.  

[[Apologists]] may say that these detailed explanation are only correctly understood by them (since only they have knowledge); but this is of course circular reasoning. ("You first have to believe the Qur'an to be 100% true to be qualified to criticize its veracity.") Even if this were true, these Muslim possessors of 'true' knowledge should be able to provide us with a coherent, unambiguous explanation of the Qur'an and its miraculous signs - and if we look at how early learned Muslims, including Muhammad himself, explained these verses, we will find that they confirm a geocentric cosmology.

Here is how the Qur'an tells us of an indirect observation of the sun's movement. The author of the Qur'an explains how the shadow cast by the sun is guided by the sun's movement:

A standard apologetic claim is that references to the sun's movement concern its 225 million year orbit around the milky way. Such a meaning would have no relevance to human timescales, nor would it be "a token" or sign for 7th century listeners, nor would it make sense in the context about the night-day cycle. Moreover, the idea that the sun is prevented from overtaking the moon is a concept that would only make any kind of sense from a naive human perspective where they orbit the same world.

According to the Qur'an, the supposed course of the sun:

In addition to all these facts; great ancient, and even modern-day, Muslim astronomers agree that the Qur'an is geocentric, and the Hadiths also affirm this geocentric cosmology (so Muhammad or at least the people around him agree with it)