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.  

Geocentrism is the notion that the Earth is the (immovable) center of our universe, thus all celestial bodies move around it. The ancient Greeks and the Europeans of the middle ages thought that the celestial bodies (the sun, the moon and the 5 known planets) all moved in celestial spheres around a spherical Earth. This was the theory of Ptolemy (d. 170 CE), who was followed by [[Islamic_Views_on_the_Shape_of_the_Earth#Greek_and_Indian_astronomical_knowledge|Muslim astronomers from the 9th century CE]], though Islamic texts expressing doubts about his ideas started to appear regularly from the 10th century.<ref>{{citation|last=Hoskin|first=Michael|title=The Cambridge Concise History of Astronomy|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=1999|isbn=978-0-521-57600-0|date=25 April 2021|page=60}}</ref> Aside from notable exceptions such as Aristarchus of Samos, heliocentrism was only advocated by occasional figures with small followings and widely rejected before the work of Copernicus.  

The geocentrism and cosmography in general of the Qur'an shows little or no influence from Ptolemaic concepts of heavenly spheres, each containing a celestial body, according to which paradigm the Qur'an and the word ''falak'' came to be interpreted<ref name="LanesLexiconFalak" /><ref name="vanBladelCords">{{citation|last1=van Bladel |first1=Kevin |date=2007 |title=Heavenly cords and prophetic authority in the Qur’an and its Late Antique context |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/40379198 |journal=Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies |volume=70 |issue=2 |pages=223-246 |doi= |access-date=25 April 2021}}</ref> In a paper on Qur'anic cosmography, Damien Janos notes that the "Qurʾānic cosmology stems from a different religious background and it does not contain any conspicuous signs of synthesis or assimilation with the cosmological trends indebted to Ptolemaic astronomy"<ref>{{citation |last1=Janos |first1=Damien |date=2012 |title=Qurʾānic cosmography in its historical perspective: some notes on the formation of a religious wordview |journal=Religion |volume=42 |issue=2 |pages=215-231}} See p. 224</ref> and observes that in various respects the two paradigms are incompatible, particularly as the celestial bodies move in the lowest part of the seven heavens in the Qur'anic model.<ref>Ibid. p. 221</ref> Rather, the Qur'an is more reflective of its Biblical and Mesopotamian predecessors (see also [[Cosmology of the Quran]]). In the same paper Janos does, however, theorise that the Qur'anic ''falak'' may contain Greek influence given how often it was interpreted in terms of circularity or sphericity by Muslim scholars. He also considers as a possible hypothesis that both the ''falak'' and seven heavens "can be construed as having not a fully spherical shape, but rather a hemispherical or domed-shape", and the sun would transit back to its origin in the east "via an underground passage", which "finds some support in traditional Arabic reports [...] and seems to have Mesopotamian antecendents".<ref>Ibid. p. 228</ref>

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.

First is the strongly implied idea that both the courses or orbits (''falak'') taken by the sun and moon should be visible to the people addressed in the Qur'an. Second is the Quran's assertion that the moon follows the sun. The "floating" or "swimming" (the verb جري) of the sun is always mentioned with that of the moon, and in these verses they are nearly always mentioned in the context of night and day.<ref>21:33, 39:40, 31:29, 35:13, and 39:5; the exception being 13:2. See also 14:33, though note that the word translated "constant in their courses" is daibayni, which is simply a verb meaning to strive, toil, labour, hold on or continue. Ref: dal-alif-ba [http://www.studyquran.org/LaneLexicon/Volume3/00000005.pdf Lane's Lexicon Volume 1 page 106]</ref>

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).

Fifth is the statement that "It is not for the sun to overtake the moon", though on the last day they will be joined together, which is thus suggestive of the two bodies orbiting the same central body and while being positioned at a relatively similar distance. Sixth is the idea that stars have certain fixed "settings" (or ''mawaqi''); and while the day, night, the sun and moon are mentioned as all floating in an orbit (''falak''), while there is no indication of the Earth possessing its own orbit or ''falak''.<ref>{{cite quran|56|75}}</ref> And seventh is the verse which approvingly quotes Abraham telling a king that Allah brings the sun from the east and challenging him to bring it from the west, and the verses in the Dhu'l Qarnayn story which describe the setting and rising places of the sun as concrete locations which humans can visit and have visited (and even resided nearby), historically.

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

Modern Islamic scholars have often argued that references in the Qur'an to the sun's movement concern its 225 million year orbit around our milky way galaxy rather than to a supposed geocentric orbit. Critics have responded that the the author of the Qur'an describes a movement of the sun (as well as of the moon) which he expects its listeners to see and that, for this reason, the reference cannot be to the sun's galactic orbit.

The words 'and that' (''wa anna'') towards the end of the verse indicate that "Do you not see" applies to the entire verse, suggesting that it is not just the day and night, but also the running of the sun and moon that the 7^th century listeners of the Qur'an were expected to know about. Critics maintain that implication here is that the audience could 'see' the night turn into day and vice versa, and that they could see the sun and the moon running their courses around the earth.

The word translated "running" (''yajree'' يَجْرِىٓ) in this and the next few verses quoted below was used in classical Arabic to describe the physical travelling of heavenly bodies along their courses, and in general means to run, or to flow like water (or even "swim"). It is used two verses later in {{Quran|31|31}} to describe the sailing of ships.<ref>jiim-ra-ya جرى [http://www.studyquran.org/LaneLexicon/Volume2/00000051.pdf Lane's Lexicon] page 415</ref>

{{Quran|13|2}} states that the sun and moon running their courses are signs (''ayaat'') to mankind, implying they are facts known to and appreciated by a 7th century Arabian audience. The verses state that these signs are explained in detail in the Qur'an in order to strengthen the faith of its listeners. Critics argue that this directly undermines the idea that the Quran could have been alluding to the galactic orbit of the sun, for such an orbit was not known to the Quran's audience, and thus could not strengthen their faith, until some fourteen centuries after the Quran's authorship.

{{Quote|{{Quran|13|2}}| […] '''He has subjected the sun and the moon! Each one runs for a term appointed'''. He regulates the matter, '''explaining the signs in detail''', so you can be certain of meeting with your Lord.

{{Quran-range|36|37|40}} state that the sun follows a daily cycle, which ends every night when the sun goes to its resting place (ِ''mustaqarrin'' مُسْتَقَرٍّ)<ref name="mustaqarrin" />. As usual in the Qur'an ({{Quran|13|2}} being the only exception), the sun's movement is mentioned in the context of night and day.

{{Quote|{{cite quran|36|37|end=40|style=ref}}| A token unto them is night. '''We strip it of the day, and lo! they are in darkness and the sun runneth on unto a resting-place for him.''' That is the measuring of the Mighty, the Wise. And for the moon We have appointed mansions till she return like an old shrivelled palm-leaf. It is not for the sun to overtake the moon, nor doth the night outstrip the day. They float each in an orbit.

<br>'''Word by word:''' ''Waalshshamsu'' (and the sun) ''tajree'' (runs) ''limustaqarrin'' (a resting point) ''laha'' (of it).}}

The phrase "It is not for the sun to overtake the moon" in {{Quran|36|40}} does not, critics point out, fit a heliocentric perspective, yet is quite natural from a 7^th century perspective where the sun and moon were believed to orbit the same world, and indeed, would one day be joined together (see below). The word translated 'for' in the phrase 'It is not for the sun...' in {{Quran|36|40}} is ''yanbaghee (''يَنۢبَغِى'')'', which means "fitting", "suitable", "proper", "behoves", "right and allowable", "good, "facilitated", "easy", "practicable", or "manageable"<ref>ba-ghayn-ya [http://www.studyquran.org/LaneLexicon/Volume1/00000269.pdf Lane's Lexicon Book 1 page 233]</ref> and the word translated 'overtake' is ''tudrika'' (تُدْرِكَ), which means "catches up and comes upon".<ref>dal-ra-kaf [http://www.studyquran.org/LaneLexicon/Volume3/00000039.pdf Lane's Lexicon Book 1 page 873]</ref>

 

{{Quran|25|45}} tells of an indirect observation of the sun's movement.

===The similar size and distance of the sun and moon===

In a passage about events on the day of resurrection, the Quran makes an assertion which, critics argue, implies that the sun and moon are of a similar size and are located a similar distance from Earth.

The word translated "are joined" is ''jumi'a'', a verb which means to collect together, gather together, bring together.<ref>Jama'a [http://www.studyquran.org/LaneLexicon/Volume2/00000091.pdf Lane's Lexicon Book 1 page 455]</ref> Critics note that this would require the moon to travel 98 million miles away from Earth and into the sun, which is over 600 times wider, which is less suitable as an apocalyptic event than if the ancient understanding of the cosmos was correct. To critics, on the ancient view, the collision of the moon and the sun would entail a far more dramatic and apocalyptically appropriate collision of two roughly equivalent celestial bodies in the sky above the Earth.

===The course of the sun in relation to the course of the moon===

The courses of the sun and the moon are designated as a pair of sorts, and are always mentioned together in the Qur'an.

{{Quote|{{cite quran|91|1|end=2|style=ref}}|By the sun and his brightness, And the moon when she followeth him

<br>'''Word by word:''' ''Waalshshamsi'' (and the sun) ''waduhaha'' (and its brightness) ''Waalqamari'' (and the moon) ''itha talaha'' (when it follows it)}}

In the view of critics, this suggests that the sun takes a path or action similar or at least comparable to that of the moon (which goes around earth once per month, and to an ancient person would appear to do so on a nightly basis). The word translated "follow" is used many other places to mean recite, but is primarily defined as "to follow", "go", "walk behind", or "follow in way of imitation" or "of action", and is often used for animals like camels following behind each other.<ref>Ta-Lam-Waw [http://www.studyquran.org/LaneLexicon/Volume1/00000350.pdf Lane's Lexicon Book 1 page 313]</ref> Critics note that while the moon neither follows behind the sun's movement nor provides its own light like the sun, a pre-modern observer would get the impression that the moon and sun, in a sense, "chase" one another in orbit about the Earth (an impression the Quran appears to agree with).

There are many other verses where the sun and moon are paired. In {{Quran-range|36|37|40}} the sun's movement (as well as day and night) is a token, or sign, that the hearers can readily observe.

{{Quote|{{cite quran|36|37|end=40|style=ref}}|A token unto them is night. We strip it of the day, and lo! they are in darkness and the sun runneth on unto a resting-place for him. That is the measuring of the Mighty, the Wise. And for the moon We have appointed mansions till she return like an old shrivelled palm-leaf. It is not for the sun to overtake the moon, nor doth the night outstrip the day. They float each in an orbit.}}

 

{{Quote|{{Quran|21|33}}|And He it is Who created the night and the day, and the sun and the moon. They all float in rounded courses.

<br>'''Word by word:''' ''khalaqa'' (created) ''allayla'' (the night) ''waalnnahara'' (and the day) ''waalshshamsa'' (and the sun) ''waalqamara'' (and the moon) ''kullun'' (each) ''fee'' (in) ''falakin'' (a rounded course) ''yasbahoona'' (they swim)}}

{{Quote|{{cite quran|35|11|end=13|style=ref}}|And Allah did create you from dust; then from a sperm-drop; then He made you in pairs. And no female conceives, or lays down (her load), but with His knowledge. Nor is a man long-lived granted length of days, nor is a part cut off from his life, but is in a Decree (ordained). All this is easy to Allah.  Nor are the two bodies of flowing water alike,- the one palatable, sweet, and pleasant to drink, and the other, salt and bitter. Yet from each (kind of water) do ye eat flesh fresh and tender, and ye extract ornaments to wear; and thou seest the ships therein that plough the waves, that ye may seek (thus) of the Bounty of Allah that ye may be grateful. He merges Night into Day, and he merges Day into Night, and he has subjected the sun and the moon (to his Law): each one runs its course for a term appointed. Such is Allah your Lord: to Him belongs all Dominion.}}  

===The shape of the sun's course===

{{Quran-range|18|84|90}} also describes the physical, terrestrial locations where the sun is supposed to rise and set in response to a question about an existing legend. Here, in the Quranic account of life of Dhul Qarnayan or Alexander the Great, the physical setting place of the sun, located in muddy spring, can be seen by human eyes. Indeed, in this account, a human tribe is said to live adjacent to this celestial setting place.

{{Quote|{{cite quran|18|84|end=90|style=ref}}| Lo! We made him strong in the land and gave him unto every thing a road. And he followed a road. '''Till, when he reached the setting-place of the sun, he found it setting in a muddy spring''', and found a people thereabout. We said: O Dhu'l-Qarneyn! Either punish or show them kindness. Then he followed a road. '''Till, when he reached the rising-place of the sun, he found it rising on a people for whom We had appointed no shelter therefrom.'''}}

===The movement of the sun and timekeeping===

====Solar "orbit" and the daily prayers====

In light of the many verses describing a geocentric system and the difficulties this poses in reconciling the Qur'an with the findings of modern science, many modern Islamic scholars have attempted to re-read the Quran as describing a heliocentric system. A major factor in these re-readings, as mentioned above, has been identifying the "orbit" or ''falak'' of the sun described in the Quran as a reference to the sun's orbit in the Milky Way galaxy. Likewise discussed above, {{Quran|36|40}} ('it is not for the sun to overtake the moon...') has been re-read in a manner concordant with a heliocentric model.