Qur'an, Hadith and Scholars:Cosmology: Difference between revisions

Jump to navigation Jump to search
[unchecked revision][checked revision]
(22 intermediate revisions by 3 users not shown)
Line 1: Line 1:
{{QuranHadithScholarsIndex}}
{{QuranHadithScholarsIndex}}
{{QualityScore|Lead=2|Structure=4|Content=3|Language=3|References=4}}
No complete picture of Islamic cosmogony is given in the Qur'an, however, from what details are offered it does appear that the writer(s) of the Qur'an envisioned the earth as flat (see [[Islamic Views on the Shape of the Earth]]). The Qur'an also paints the picture of the universe in which both the sun and the moon revolve around the earth; the hadith add to the picture the detail that when not visible they prostrate themselves to Allah. On top of this, the [[Tafsir|mufasirrun]] add to the picture [[The Islamic Whale]], the mythological giant whale upon which the earth as a whole rests. The stars are portrayed as being roughly the size they appear, and also being castable from heaven by Allah, and all of the Islamic scriptures fail to evince the now apparent knowledge of the actual vastness of the universe vis-a-vis the earth.
==Qur'an==
==Qur'an==
{{Quote|{{Quran|2|258}}|Hast thou not Turned thy vision to one who disputed with Abraham About his Lord, because Allah had granted him power? Abraham said: "My Lord is He Who Giveth life and death." He said: "I give life and death". Said Abraham: "But it is Allah that causeth the sun to rise from the east: Do thou then cause him to rise from the West." Thus was he confounded who (in arrogance) rejected faith. Nor doth Allah Give guidance to a people unjust.}}
{{Quote|{{Quran|2|258}}|Hast thou not Turned thy vision to one who disputed with Abraham About his Lord, because Allah had granted him power? Abraham said: "My Lord is He Who Giveth life and death." He said: "I give life and death". Said Abraham: "But it is Allah that causeth the sun to rise from the east: Do thou then cause him to rise from the West." Thus was he confounded who (in arrogance) rejected faith. Nor doth Allah Give guidance to a people unjust.}}
Line 76: Line 80:
===Ibn Majah===
===Ibn Majah===


{{Quote|{{cite web|url=http://sunnah.com/urn/1251930 |title=Sunan Ibn Majah Vol. 1, Book 1, Hadith 194|publisher= |author= |date= |archiveurl= |deadurl=no}}|It was narrated from Abu Hurairah that: The Prophet said: "When Allah decrees a matter in heaven, the angels beat their wings in submission to his decree (with a sound) like a chain beating a rock. Then "When fear is banished from their hearts, they say: 'What is it that your Lord has said?' They say: 'The truth. And He is The Most High, The Most Great." He said: 'Then '''the eavesdroppers (from among the jinn) listen out for that, one above the other, so (one of them) hears the words and passes it on to the one beneath him. The Shihab (shooting star) may strike him before he can pass it on''' to the one beneath him and the latter can pass it on to the soothsayer or sorcerer, or it may not strike him until he has passed it on. And he ads one hundred lies to it, and only that word which was overheard from the heavens is true."}}
{{Quote|{{cite web|url=http://sunnah.com/urn/1251930 |title=Sunan Ibn Majah Vol. 1, Book 1, Hadith 194|publisher= |author= |date= |archiveurl= |deadurl=no}}|It was narrated from Abu Hurairah that: The Prophet said: "When Allah decrees a matter in heaven, the angels beat their wings in submission to his decree (with a sound) like a chain beating a rock. Then "When fear is banished from their hearts, they say: 'What is it that your Lord has said?' They say: 'The truth. And He is The Most High, The Most Great." He said: 'Then '''the eavesdroppers (from among the jinn) listen out for that, one above the other, so (one of them) hears the words and passes it on to the one beneath him. The Shihab (shooting star) may strike him before he can pass it on''' to the one beneath him and the latter can pass it on to the soothsayer or sorcerer, or it may not strike him until he has passed it on. And he ads one hundred lies to it, and only that word which was overheard from the heavens is true." (Sahih)}}


===Musnad Ahmad ibn Hanbal===
===Musnad Ahmad ibn Hanbal===
Line 127: Line 131:


===Al Tabari===
===Al Tabari===
{{Quote|{{Tabari|1|pp. 232-238}}|The other report, referring to a different concept, is what I was told by Muhammad b. Abi Mansur- Khalaf b. Wasil- Abu Nu'aym- Muqatil b. Hayyan- Ikrimah: One day when Ibn `Abbas was sitting (at home or in the mosque), a man came to him and said: Ibn `Abbas, I heard Ka'b, the Rabbi, tell a marvelous story about the sun and the moon. He continued. Ibn `Abbas who had been reclining sat up and asked what it was. The man said: He suggested that on the Day of Resurrection, the sun and the moon will be brought as if they were two hamstrung oxen, and flung into Hell. `Ikrimah continued. Ibn `Abbas became contorted with anger and exclaimed three times: Ka'b is lying! Ka'b is lying! Ka'b is lying! This is something Jewish he wants to inject into Islam. God is too majestic and noble to mete out punishment where there is obedience to Him. Have you not heard God's word: "And He subjected to you the sun and the moon, being constant" — referring to their constant obedience. How would He punish two servants that are praised for constant obedience? May God curse that rabbi and his rabbinate! How insolent is he toward God and what a tremendous fabrication has he told about those two servants that are obedient to God! He continued. Then he said several times: We return to God. He took a little piece of wood from the ground and started to hit the ground with it. He did that for some time, then lifting his head he threw away the little piece of wood and said: You want me to tell you what I heard the Messenger of God say about the sun and the moon and the beginning of their creation and how things went with them? We said: We would, indeed, May God show mercy unto you. He said: '''When the Messenger of God was asked about that, he replied: When God was done with His creation and only Adam remained to be created, He created two suns from the light of His Throne. His foreknowledge told Him that He would leave here one sun, so He created it as (large as) this world is from east to west. His foreknowledge also told Him that He would efface it and change it to a moon; so the moon is smaller in size than the sun.''' But both are seen as small because of the sun's altitude and remoteness from the earth.
{{Quote|{{citation|title=The History of al-Tabari|trans_title=Ta’rikh al-rusul wa’l-muluk|volume=vol. I|ISBN=0-88706-562-7|year=1989|publisher=SUNY Press|author=al-Tabari (d. 923)|editor1=Franz Rosenthal|editor2=W. Montgomery Watt|url=https://archive.org/details/HistoryAlTabari40Vol/History_Al-Tabari_10_Vol/page/n1/mode/2up|pages=232-238}}<BR>{{citation|title=تاريخ الرسل والملوك|author=أبو جعفر الطبري|url=https://app.turath.io/book/9783|publisher=al-Maktabah al-Shamilah|volume=vol.1|pages=63-70}}
|The other report, referring to a different concept, is what I was told by Muhammad b. Abi Mansur- Khalaf b. Wasil- Abu Nu'aym- Muqatil b. Hayyan- Ikrimah: One day when Ibn `Abbas was sitting (at home or in the mosque), a man came to him and said: Ibn `Abbas, I heard Ka'b, the Rabbi, tell a marvelous story about the sun and the moon. He continued. Ibn `Abbas who had been reclining sat up and asked what it was. The man said: He suggested that on the Day of Resurrection, the sun and the moon will be brought as if they were two hamstrung oxen, and flung into Hell. `Ikrimah continued. Ibn `Abbas became contorted with anger and exclaimed three times: Ka'b is lying! Ka'b is lying! Ka'b is lying! This is something Jewish he wants to inject into Islam. God is too majestic and noble to mete out punishment where there is obedience to Him. Have you not heard God's word: "And He subjected to you the sun and the moon, being constant" — referring to their constant obedience. How would He punish two servants that are praised for constant obedience? May God curse that rabbi and his rabbinate! How insolent is he toward God and what a tremendous fabrication has he told about those two servants that are obedient to God! He continued. Then he said several times: We return to God. He took a little piece of wood from the ground and started to hit the ground with it. He did that for some time, then lifting his head he threw away the little piece of wood and said: You want me to tell you what I heard the Messenger of God say about the sun and the moon and the beginning of their creation and how things went with them? We said: We would, indeed, May God show mercy unto you. He said: '''When the Messenger of God was asked about that, he replied: When God was done with His creation and only Adam remained to be created, He created two suns from the light of His Throne. His foreknowledge told Him that He would leave here one sun, so He created it as (large as) this world is from east to west. His foreknowledge also told Him that He would efface it and change it to a moon; so the moon is smaller in size than the sun.''' But both are seen as small because of the sun's altitude and remoteness from the earth.


'''He continued: If God had left the two suns as He created them in the beginning, night would not have been distinguishable from day.''' A hired man then would not know until when he should labor and when he should receive his wages. A person fasting would not know until when he must fast. A woman would not know how to reckon the period of her impurity. The Muslims would not know the time of the pilgrimage. Debtors would not know when their debts become due. People in general would not know when to work for a livelihood and when to stop for resting their bodies. The Lord was too concerned with His servants and too merciful to them (to do such a thing). '''He thus sent Gabriel to drag his wing three times over the face of the moon, which at the time was a sun. He effaced its luminosity and left the light in it. This is (meant by) God's word: "And We have made the night and the day two signs. We have blotted out the sign of the night, and We have made the sign of the day something to see by." He continued. The blackness you can see as lines on the moon is a trace of the blotting. God then created for the sun a chariot with 360 handholds from the luminosity of the light of the Throne and entrusted 360 of the angels inhabiting the lower heaven with the sun and its chariot, each of them gripping one of those handholds. He entrusted 360 of the angels inhabiting (the lower?) heaven with the moon and its chariot, each of them gripping one of those handholds.'''
'''He continued: If God had left the two suns as He created them in the beginning, night would not have been distinguishable from day.''' A hired man then would not know until when he should labor and when he should receive his wages. A person fasting would not know until when he must fast. A woman would not know how to reckon the period of her impurity. The Muslims would not know the time of the pilgrimage. Debtors would not know when their debts become due. People in general would not know when to work for a livelihood and when to stop for resting their bodies. The Lord was too concerned with His servants and too merciful to them (to do such a thing). '''He thus sent Gabriel to drag his wing three times over the face of the moon, which at the time was a sun. He effaced its luminosity and left the light in it. This is (meant by) God's word: "And We have made the night and the day two signs. We have blotted out the sign of the night, and We have made the sign of the day something to see by." He continued. The blackness you can see as lines on the moon is a trace of the blotting. God then created for the sun a chariot with 360 handholds from the luminosity of the light of the Throne and entrusted 360 of the angels inhabiting the lower heaven with the sun and its chariot, each of them gripping one of those handholds. He entrusted 360 of the angels inhabiting (the lower?) heaven with the moon and its chariot, each of them gripping one of those handholds.'''
Line 142: Line 147:




{{Quote|{{Tabari|1|p. 241}}|Umar b. al-Khattab said at this point): I and my family are you ransom, O Messenger of God, but may I ask what is the Gate of repentance? The Prophet said 'Umar, God created a gate for repentance behind the west with two doorleaves of gold encrusted with pearls and jewels, set apart a distance requiring a speeding rider forty years to traverse. That gate has been open since God created His creation (and will stay open) to the morning of that night when the sun and the moon rise from (their positions in) the west. The repentance of any human being that repents from Adam to the morning of that night, enters that gate and is then lifted up by God.' }}
{{Quote|{{citation|title=The History of al-Tabari|trans_title=Ta’rikh al-rusul wa’l-muluk|volume=vol. I|ISBN=0-88706-562-7|year=1989|publisher=SUNY Press|author=al-Tabari (d. 923)|editor1=Franz Rosenthal|editor2=W. Montgomery Watt|url=https://archive.org/details/HistoryAlTabari40Vol/History_Al-Tabari_10_Vol/page/n1/mode/2up|page=241}}<BR>{{citation|title=تاريخ الرسل والملوك|author=أبو جعفر الطبري|url=https://app.turath.io/book/9783|publisher=al-Maktabah al-Shamilah|volume=vol.1 |page=73}}


|Umar b. al-Khattab said at this point): I and my family are you ransom, O Messenger of God, but may I ask what is the Gate of repentance? The Prophet said 'Umar, God created a gate for repentance behind the west with two doorleaves of gold encrusted with pearls and jewels, set apart a distance requiring a speeding rider forty years to traverse. That gate has been open since God created His creation (and will stay open) to the morning of that night when the sun and the moon rise from (their positions in) the west. The repentance of any human being that repents from Adam to the morning of that night, enters that gate and is then lifted up by God.' }}


{{Quote|{{Tabari|1|pp. 218-220}}|Someone might say: If it is as you have described, namely, that God created the earth before the heaven, then what is the meaning of the statement of Ibn ‘Abbas told all of you by Wasil b. ‘Abd al-A‘la al-Asadi- Muhammad b. Fudayl- al-A‘mash- Abu Zabyan- Ibn ‘Abbas: The first thing God created is the Pen. God then said to it: Write!, whereupon the Pen asked: What shall I write, my lord! God replied: Write what is predestined! He continued: And the Pen proceeded to (write) whatever is predestined and gong to be to the Coming of the Hour. '''God then lifted up the water vapor and split the heavens off from it. Then God created the fish (nun), and the earth was spread out upon its back. The fish became agitated, with the result that the earth was shaken up. It was steadied by means of the mountains,''' for they indeed proudly (tower) over the earth.
 
{{Quote|{{citation|title=The History of al-Tabari|trans_title=Ta’rikh al-rusul wa’l-muluk|volume=vol. I|ISBN=0-88706-562-7|year=1989|publisher=SUNY Press|author=al-Tabari (d. 923)|editor1=Franz Rosenthal|editor2=W. Montgomery Watt|url=https://archive.org/details/HistoryAlTabari40Vol/History_Al-Tabari_10_Vol/page/n1/mode/2up|page=218-220}}
<BR>{{citation|title=تاريخ الرسل والملوك|author=أبو جعفر الطبري|url=https://app.turath.io/book/9783|publisher=al-Maktabah al-Shamilah|volume=vol. |page=49-52}}
|Someone might say: If it is as you have described, namely, that God created the earth before the heaven, then what is the meaning of the statement of Ibn ‘Abbas told all of you by Wasil b. ‘Abd al-A‘la al-Asadi- Muhammad b. Fudayl- al-A‘mash- Abu Zabyan- Ibn ‘Abbas: The first thing God created is the Pen. God then said to it: Write!, whereupon the Pen asked: What shall I write, my lord! God replied: Write what is predestined! He continued: And the Pen proceeded to (write) whatever is predestined and gong to be to the Coming of the Hour. '''God then lifted up the water vapor and split the heavens off from it. Then God created the fish (nun), and the earth was spread out upon its back. The fish became agitated, with the result that the earth was shaken up. It was steadied by means of the mountains,''' for they indeed proudly (tower) over the earth.


I was told about the same by Wasil - Waki’ - al-A‘mash - Abu Zabyan - Ibn ‘Abbas.
I was told about the same by Wasil - Waki’ - al-A‘mash - Abu Zabyan - Ibn ‘Abbas.
Line 188: Line 197:
===Muhammad Husayn Haykal===
===Muhammad Husayn Haykal===
{{Quote|1= {{cite book |title= The Life of Muhammad|page= 154|last= Haykal|first= Muhammad Husayn|year = 2008|date= |url= |location= |publisher= |isbn= |accessdate= }} |2="He led a fantastical steed, Boraq ('Lightning'), with a human head and two eagles' wings; it approached Mahomet, allowed him to mount and was off like an arrow over the mountains of Mecca and the sands of the desert toward the North . . . The Angel accompanied them on this prodigious flight. On the summit of Mt. Sinai, where God had spoken to Moses, Gabriel stopped Mahomet for prayer, and again at Bethlehem where Jesus was born, before resuming their course in the air. Mysterious voices attempted to detain the Prophet, who was so wrapped up in his mission that he felt God alone had the right to stop his steed. When they reached Jerusalem Mahomet tethered Boraq and prayed on the ruins of the Temple of Solomon with Abraham, Moses, and Jesus. '''Seeing an endless ladder appear upon Jacob's rock, the Prophet was enabled to mount rapidly to the heavens. "The first heaven was of pure silver and the stars suspended from its vault by chains of gold;''' in each one an angel lay awake to prevent the demons from climbing into the holy dwelling places and the spirits from listening indiscreetly to celestial secrets.}}
{{Quote|1= {{cite book |title= The Life of Muhammad|page= 154|last= Haykal|first= Muhammad Husayn|year = 2008|date= |url= |location= |publisher= |isbn= |accessdate= }} |2="He led a fantastical steed, Boraq ('Lightning'), with a human head and two eagles' wings; it approached Mahomet, allowed him to mount and was off like an arrow over the mountains of Mecca and the sands of the desert toward the North . . . The Angel accompanied them on this prodigious flight. On the summit of Mt. Sinai, where God had spoken to Moses, Gabriel stopped Mahomet for prayer, and again at Bethlehem where Jesus was born, before resuming their course in the air. Mysterious voices attempted to detain the Prophet, who was so wrapped up in his mission that he felt God alone had the right to stop his steed. When they reached Jerusalem Mahomet tethered Boraq and prayed on the ruins of the Temple of Solomon with Abraham, Moses, and Jesus. '''Seeing an endless ladder appear upon Jacob's rock, the Prophet was enabled to mount rapidly to the heavens. "The first heaven was of pure silver and the stars suspended from its vault by chains of gold;''' in each one an angel lay awake to prevent the demons from climbing into the holy dwelling places and the spirits from listening indiscreetly to celestial secrets.}}
===Miscellaneous===
Quran 50:1 says "''Qaf''. I swear by the glorious Koran!" but the book never explains what ''Qaf'' is.
{{Quote|[[w:Al-Tha'alibi|Al-Tha’alabi]], ''Arais al-Majalis'' (a Qisas Al-Anbiya collection), pp. 7-8|“Allah, highly exalted, created a great mountain of a green chrysolite, to which the sky owes its greenness. It is called Mount Qaf, and it encompasses all the earth. It is by this mountain that Allah swore when He said, ‘Qaf by the glorious Qur’an.”}}
{{Core Science}}


==See Also==
==See Also==
Line 207: Line 206:
[[Category:QHS]]
[[Category:QHS]]
[[Category:Islam and Science]]
[[Category:Islam and Science]]
[[Category:Cosmology]]
Editors, recentchangescleanup, Reviewers
4,547

edits

Navigation menu