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Cosmology of the Quran: Difference between revisions
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The Qur'anic universe comprises "the heavens and the earth, and all that is between them". In many verses it makes statements concerning various elements of and within this picture, without going into great detail. Overall, a picture emerges of a flat earth ( | The Qur'anic universe comprises "the heavens and the earth, and all that is between them". In many verses it makes statements concerning various elements of and within this picture, without going into great detail. Overall, a picture emerges of a flat earth (probably seven), above which are seven heavenly firmaments of uncertain shape (commonly assumed to be domed, though some have argued that the Qur'anic heavens are flat) and held up by invisible pillars. Celestial bodies circulate in the lowest of these heavens. Above this creation Allah sits on his throne. Academic work has situated this picture within the context of earlier cosmological ideas, while noting its own distinctive identity. | ||
==Introduction== | ==Introduction== | ||
Relatively few modern academics have made dedicated attempts to piece together the cosmography of the Quran, in whole or in part. The most comprehensive such survey has been conducted by Mohammad Ali Tabatabaʾi and Saida Mirsadri of Tehran University in 2016 (which is available to read with a free jstor.com account).<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Tabatabaʾi |first1=Mohammad A. |last2=Mirsadri |first2=Saida |date= | Relatively few modern academics have made dedicated attempts to piece together the cosmography of the Quran, in whole or in part. The most comprehensive such survey has been conducted by Mohammad Ali Tabatabaʾi and Saida Mirsadri of Tehran University in 2016 (which is available to read with a free jstor.com account).<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Tabatabaʾi |first1=Mohammad A. |last2=Mirsadri |first2=Saida |date=2016 |title=The Qurʾānic Cosmology, as an Identity in Itself |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/24811784 |journal=Arabica |volume=63 |issue=3/4 |pages=201-234}} also available on [https://www.academia.edu/23427168/The_Quranic_Cosmology_as_an_Identity_in_Itself academia.edu]</ref> They note that the new movement in the field commenced with Kevin van Bladel's work regarding individual elements of the picture in the context of the journeys of Dhu'l Qarnayn<ref>Van Bladel, Kevin, “The Alexander legend in the Qur‘an 18:83-102″, In The Qur’ān in Its Historical Context, Ed. Gabriel Said Reynolds, New York: Routledge, 2007</ref> and the heavenly cords (asbab) by which he traversed the world, and which, for example, Pharaoh attempted to reach by building a tower<ref>Van Bladel, Kevin, “Heavenly cords and prophetic authority in the Qur’an and its Late Antique context”, Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, 70:223-246, Cambridge University Press, 2007</ref>. | ||
By taking the Quranic descriptions in their own right and in the context of the more ancient cosmologies of Babylon and the Bible, but without appeal to later works of tafsir or hadith, which show the influence of Hellenic (Greek) ideas acquired by the Muslims after the advent of Islam, Tabataba'i and Mirsadri argue that in various ways the Quranic cosmology has its own distinctive characteristics as well as inherited concepts, just as it interacts with the ideologies of its environment, taking some things and rejecting others. Their observations in particular are regularly cited in this article. | By taking the Quranic descriptions in their own right and in the context of the more ancient cosmologies of Babylon and the Bible, but without appeal to later works of tafsir or hadith, which show the influence of Hellenic (Greek) ideas acquired by the Muslims after the advent of Islam, Tabataba'i and Mirsadri argue that in various ways the Quranic cosmology has its own distinctive characteristics as well as inherited concepts, just as it interacts with the ideologies of its environment, taking some things and rejecting others. Their observations in particular are regularly cited in this article. | ||
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===The Heavens and the Earth=== | ===The Heavens and the Earth=== | ||
Any accounting of the cosmology of the Qur'an must begin with the fact that the Islamic universe is extremely | Any accounting of the cosmology of the Qur'an must begin with the fact that the Islamic universe is extremely simple. It consists entirely of three components: "the heavens and the earth, and all that is between them" (see for example {{Quran|50|38}}), the latter of which contains such things as clouds ({{Quran|2|164}}) and birds ({{Quran|24|41}}). More often, just the heavens and earth are shorthand for the entirety of creation. | ||
{{Quote|{{Quran|31|26}}|To Allah belong all things in heaven and earth: verily Allah is He (that is) free of all wants, worthy of all praise.}} | {{Quote|{{Quran|31|26}}|To Allah belong all things in heaven and earth: verily Allah is He (that is) free of all wants, worthy of all praise.}} | ||
There is no | There is no indication of any of the other features of the universe that modern peoples take for granted. There is no concept of solar systems, of galaxies, or of “space.” There is no hint that the earth is a planet like the other planets visible from it, or that stars are other suns, just very far away. Qur'anic cosmology is primarily limited to that which is visible to the naked eye, and where it goes beyond this, [[Scientific Errors in the Quran|invariably strays]] from what has been learned by scientific investigation. | ||
The fundamental status of the “heavens and the earth” as the two main components of [[creation]] is emphasized repeatedly in the Qur'an, and it is the “separation” of the two that stands as the initial creative act of [[Allah]]. | The fundamental status of the “heavens and the earth” as the two main components of [[creation]] is emphasized repeatedly in the Qur'an, and it is the “separation” of the two that stands as the initial creative act of [[Allah]]. | ||
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{{Quote|{{Quran|2|29}}|He it is Who created for you all that is in the earth. Then turned He to the heaven, and fashioned it as seven heavens. And He is knower of all things.}} | {{Quote|{{Quran|2|29}}|He it is Who created for you all that is in the earth. Then turned He to the heaven, and fashioned it as seven heavens. And He is knower of all things.}} | ||
===The Earth or Earths=== | |||
Tabataba'i and Mirsadri note that the Quran "takes for granted" the flatness of the earth, a common motif among the scientifically naive people at that time<ref>Mohammad Ali Tabatabaʾi and Saida Mirsadri, ''The Qurʾānic Cosmology, as an Identity in Itself'' p. 211</ref> (though the ancient Greeks and certain Christian scholars of the 6th century, in dispute with their counterparts in the east, believed in its sphericity, as noted by van Bladel<ref>Van Bladel, Kevin, ''Heavenly cords and prophetic authority in the Qur’an and its Late Antique context'' pp. 224-226</ref>). Damien Janos in another paper on Qur'anic cosmography has similarly noted that while the exact shape of its boundaries are not described, "what is clear is that the Qurʾān and the early Muslim tradition do not uphold the conception of a spherical earth and a spherical universe. This was a view that later prevailed in the leaned circles of Muslim society as a result of the infiltration Of Ptolemaic astronomy".<ref>Damien Janos, "Qurʾānic cosmography in its historical perspective: some note on the formation of a religious wordview", Religion 42(2), 2012, pp. 217-218</ref> | |||
Repeatedly, the authors of the Qur'an use various Arabic terms that convey a flat earth, spread out like a carpet. For a much more comprehensive complilation of verses, see [[Islamic Views on the Shape of the Earth]]. | |||
{{Quote|{{Quran|15|19}}|And the earth We have spread out (like a carpet); set thereon mountains firm and immovable; and produced therein all kinds of things in due balance.}} | |||
{{Quote|{{Quran|71|19}}|And Allah has made the earth for you as a carpet (spread out), }} | |||
In fact, at one point the Qur'an even emphasizes how much flatter the earth would be were it not for the mountains that disrupt the view. | |||
{{Quote|{{Quran|18|47}}|One Day We shall remove the mountains, and thou wilt see the earth as a level stretch, and We shall gather them, all together, nor shall We leave out any one of them.}} | |||
As Tabataba'i and Mirsadri also note<ref>Ibid. p. 211</ref>, the mountains are heavy masses described as pegs to [[The Quran and Mountains|prevent the earth from shaking]]. | |||
{{Quote|{{Quran|16|15}}|And He has set up on the earth mountains standing firm, lest it should shake with you; and rivers and roads; that ye may guide yourselves;}} | |||
{{Quote|{{Quran-range|78|6|7}}|Have We not made the earth as a wide expanse, And the mountains as pegs?}} | |||
One unclear facet of Islamic cosmology is the fact that the Qur'an likens the creation of the earth to the seven heavens, [[Science and the Seven Earths|seven earths]]: | |||
{{Quote|{{Quran|65|12}}|Allah it is who hath created seven heavens, and of the earth the like thereof. The commandment cometh down among them slowly, that ye may know that Allah is Able to do all things, and that Allah surroundeth all things in knowledge..}} | |||
Tabataba'i and Mirsadri observe that the plural for earth (al ard) is never used in the Quran, though most Muslim commentators interpreted this verse to mean seven earths. Instead, they consider the verse to be likening the earth to the heavens in shape and extent (i.e. a flat expanse) as part of a broader argument in their paper that the Qur'an describes a set of seven flat, stacked heavens (see below).<ref>Ibid. pp. 211 and 221</ref> | |||
In the hadiths, the idea of seven earths, one above the other is already apparent. | |||
{{Quote|{{Muslim|10|3923}}|Sa'id b. Zaid reported: | |||
I heard Allah's Apostle say: He who took a span of earth wrongly '''would be made to wear around his neck''' seven earths on the Day of Resurrection.}} | |||
Janos notes that Sumerian incantations dated to the 1st millenium BCE mention both the seven heavens and seven earths (citing Wayne Horowitz, who translated them as "the heavens are seven, the earths are seven").<ref>Ibid. p. 221</ref> | |||
===The Heavens and their Denizens=== | ===The Heavens and their Denizens=== | ||
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{{Quote|{{Quran|72|8}}|And (the Jinn who had listened to the Quran said): We had sought the heaven but had found it filled with strong warders and meteors.}} | {{Quote|{{Quran|72|8}}|And (the Jinn who had listened to the Quran said): We had sought the heaven but had found it filled with strong warders and meteors.}} | ||
===Where are Paradise and Hell?=== | ===Where are Paradise and Hell?=== | ||