Geocentrism and the Quran: Difference between revisions

It seems the author of the Qur'an thought that the sun (and the moon and the five known planets) followed a curved (rounded) course (a Falak <ref>Falak [http://www.studyquran.org/LaneLexicon/Volume6/00000227.pdf Lane's Lexicon Volume 1 page 2443]</ref>). According to the Qur'an this falak starts in the east (where the sun goes up), goes high above the earth and ends after sunset with the Sun resting at night at a hidden place. All this took place around an earth that was spread out and had a firmament built on invisible pillars above it. This was a common belief at the time and can be found with the Babylonians, ancient Hebrews, the Assyrians and other cultures in the region. In that regard it may be interesting to note that the Tawaf (the circling of the Ka'aba) mimics these seven orbits.

Even though some Muslims reject the Hadith and the [[Sunnah]] as being not-divinely inspired; that argument presupposes a priori that the Qur'an is divinely inspired and protected whilst these other documents are not. Obviously, such special pleading will not do in a scholarly examination of the Qur'an. The Qur'an alone cannot prove itself to be Prophet [[Muhammad|Muhammad’s]] words (let alone the words of [[Allah]]) without the support of hadiths. Not only are these sources useful as supporting evidence; they also tell us which interpretation is supported by Muhammad and (early) Muslims. This is also why this article includes the views of several medieval Muslim Astronomers: if the Qur'an had clearly described a cosmology that is not geocentric, they would simply not hold geocentric views. In addition, we will even include the opinions of a modern-day Muslim astronomer.

# It is very clear from the Qur'an and scientific observations that the moon makes rounds around the earth. The Qur'an mentions the sun and the moon in such a way as if they are following each other <BR>[ {{cite quran|91|1|end=2|style=ref}} - By the sun and his brightness, And the moon when she followeth him] <BR>What could this actually mean other than that the sun takes a path similar to that of the moon (which does indeed go around the earth once per month, and to an ancient person seems 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 or walk behind, follow in way of immitation, of action etc. 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 volume 1 page 313]</ref>.

# The floating/swimming/running (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 (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>).

# <p>{{cite Quran|36|37|end=40|style=ref}} Qur'an 36:37-40 is a passage about night and day. Right after describing the change from day to night it says that the sun runs on to a resting place for it (a few translations use instead, "appointed term", though in nearly all other verses where we find قرر <ref>mustaqarrin (qaf-ra-ra) [http://www.studyquran.org/LaneLexicon/Volume7/00000029.pdf Lane's Lexicon Volume 1 page 2501]</ref> as a participle they translate it as a place of settlement or an abode or resting place). There are also sahih hadith that use the same Arabic word as in verse 36:38 to mean a resting place as part of the sun's daily cycle {{Muslim|1|297}} (for the Arabic of this hadith, see [http://sunnah.com/muslim/1/306 here]). </p><p>The alternative view was that it refers to the sun's final resting on the last day. 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 (لِأَجَلٍ مُّسَمًّى which does have that meaning - مُسْتَقَرٍّ in 36:38 is a different word). Another version of the above mentioned hadith (e.g. {{Bukhari|9|93|520}} - for the Arabic see [http://sunnah.com/bukhari/97/52 here]) probably supports this view, 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). Whichever interpretation was 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.</p>

[[Apologists]] may say that these detailed explanation are only correctly understood by them (since only they have knowledge); but this is of course circular reasoning. ("You first have to believe the Qur'an to be 100% true to be qualified to criticize its veracity.") Even if this were true, these Muslim possessors of 'true' knowledge should be able to provide us with a coherent, unambiguous explanation of the Qur'an and its miraculous signs - and if we look at how early learned Muslims, including Muhammad himself, explained these verses, we will find that they confirm a geocentric cosmology.

Here is how the Qur'an tells us of an indirect observation of the sun's movement. The author of the Qur'an explains how the shadow cast by the sun is guided by the sun's movement:

According to the Qur'an, the shadow that the sun casts are moving because of the sun. And we should be able to see this. Of course, this is exactly how it would appear to someone observing the phenomena standing here on earth; however, this is not how you would describe it if you were viewing from outside our solar system. It is not the sun but the rotation of earth which causes shadows to change shape.  

A standard apologetic claim is that references to the sun's movement concern its 225 million year orbit around the milky way. Such a meaning would have no relevance to human timescales, nor would it be "a token" or sign for 7th century listeners, nor would it make sense in the context about the night-day cycle. Moreover, the idea that the sun is prevented from overtaking the moon is a concept that would only make any kind of sense from a naive human perspective where they orbit the same world.

In the days of Muhammad it was common practice to use the sun for timekeeping, so there's little wonder that the Qur'an tells us the supposed course of the Sun is a sign from Allah to keep track of the time of day (and likewise the course of the moon is a monthly calendar)

Take a look at these verses which explain to us the shape of the sun's course.  Apparently the sun goes up from east, travels high and eventually goes down to the west.

The Qur'an clearly tells the sun ends its daily cycle every night when the sun goes to its resting place. (ِمُسْتَقَرٍّ or mustaqarrin - see notes above in the section [http://wikiislam.net/wiki/Geocentrism_and_the_Quran#Primary_Evidence Primary Evidence] regarding the translation of this word).

The Qur'an also describes the locations where the sun can be seen to go up and down.  It can be seen by human eyes in the story of [[Dhul-Qarnayn]] (possibly Alexander the Great):

For a detailed discussion of the key words in these verses, see the article [http://wikiislam.net/wiki/Dhul-Qarnayn_and_the_Sun_Setting_in_a_Muddy_Spring Dhul Qarnayn and the Sun Setting in a Muddy Spring]

The word translated "are joined" is Arabic 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>. Now given that this would actually require the moon to travel 98 million miles away from Earth and into the sun, which is over 600 times wider, it is far less suitable as an apocalyptic event than if the ancient understanding of the cosmos was correct, and it is not credible that an author with accurate knowledge of the solar system would describe such an event using the words found in these verses.

Even though these Hadiths are all deemed '[[sahih]]' (authentic) according to Islamic scholars, some apologists will deny them without any valid reason other than for their stupidity. Of course the Hadiths, at the very least, tell us what Muslims around the time of Muhammad (or not long after his demise) believed about the sun and how to interpret the Qur'an correctly.

What else can one conclude, other than the Qur'an is geocentric? Whoever wrote the Qur'an thought that the sun orbits our planet. We know this is not true: the sun is not orbiting our planet and it is certainly not in some bizarre daily rounded path that looks like half a circle.  

In ancient times, many people - but certainly not all - did not know any better than what they seemed to observe everyday: the sun appeared to be going around the earth through our skies. We cannot blame a 7^th century Bedouin for not knowing this, but should not the omnipresent, omnipotent, omniscient creator of the universe know better?