Geocentrism and the Quran: Difference between revisions

In several verses the [[Qur'an]] describes the movement of the sun and moon, a few times mentioning that they travel in an orbit or sphere/hemisphere (''fee falakin'' فِى فَلَكٍ), but does not mention once that the Earth does too.<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> The geocentric (Earth-centered) view 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. In the Qur'an, 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 appears, to the unaided eye, to traverse the sky each night when it is visible.