Geocentrism and the Quran: Difference between revisions

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.

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.

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).

===The visibility of the sun's movement===

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.

===The regular cycle of the sun===

{{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}}

==Modern heliocentric re-readings==

===Quran 91:1-4===

{{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}}

{{Quote|{{cite quran|7|54|style=ref}}|He covereth the night with the day, which is in haste to follow it}}

{{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.}}

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.