Geocentrism and the Quran: Difference between revisions

{{QualityScore|Lead=1|Structure=3|Content=4|Language=2|References=2}}The [[Qur'an]] mentions a few times that the sun and the moon travel in an orbit or sphere/hemisphere (fee falakin فِى فَلَكٍ<ref name="LanesLexiconFalak">Falak [http://www.studyquran.org/LaneLexicon/Volume6/00000227.pdf Lane's Lexicon Volume 1 page 2443] and [http://www.studyquran.org/LaneLexicon/Volume6/00000228.pdf page 2444] Lane also says that the Arab astronomers said there were seven of these 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>), but does not mention once that the Earth does too. This is consistent with an Earth-centered (geocentric) view of the cosmos that places a motionless Earth at the center of the universe and all "heavenly bodies" travel around the Earth. This was the prevailing understanding of the universe prior to the 16th century when Copernicus helped explain and popularize a sun-centered (heliocentric) view of the universe. Tellingly, the sun's orbit is almost always mentioned in the context of night and day (Quran 13:12 being the only exception) and is always mentioned with that of the moon (which does in fact orbit the Earth each month), and the sun's orbit likewise appears, to the unaided eye, to traverse the sky each night when it is visible.