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, 8 October 2023→Ancient beliefs of stars and meteors: Another update in the very slow creation of this page..
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Due to their similar size and appearance, many ancient people have confused meteors, which are small rocky masses or grains of debris which burn up after entering the earth's atmosphere as stars streaking across the sky, which is why they were often called shooting stars (as we do in English) or falling stars. Large increases in meteors occur on a predictable schedule each year as the Earth's orbit passes through the stream of particles and debris left in the wake of a number of comets (or in a few cases, of asteroids). The most visible is usually the annual [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perseids Perseid meteor shower] in August. | Due to their similar size and appearance, many ancient people have confused meteors, which are small rocky masses or grains of debris which burn up after entering the earth's atmosphere as stars streaking across the sky, which is why they were often called shooting stars (as we do in English) or falling stars. Large increases in meteors occur on a predictable schedule each year as the Earth's orbit passes through the stream of particles and debris left in the wake of a number of comets (or in a few cases, of asteroids). The most visible is usually the annual [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perseids Perseid meteor shower] in August. | ||
=== Ancient beliefs of stars and meteors === | === Ancient beliefs of stars and meteors pre-Islam === | ||
'''Meteors as stars''' | '''Meteors as stars:''' | ||
For example, in Ancient Egypt civilisation, we see a strong resemblance of a shooting star by the author of ‘[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tale_of_the_Shipwrecked_Sailor The Shipwrecked Sailor]’ (c. 2000-1900 BC), which recounts a series of many adventures fantastic adventures, including a star falling to Earth: | For example, in Ancient Egypt civilisation, we see a strong resemblance of a shooting star by the author of ‘[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tale_of_the_Shipwrecked_Sailor The Shipwrecked Sailor]’ (c. 2000-1900 BC), which recounts a series of many adventures fantastic adventures, including a star falling to Earth: | ||
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For a discussion of a theoretically catastrophic impact in ancient Egypt, see ''Aly Barakat, ‘Did the Kamil Meteorite Fall Contribute to the Downfall of the Old Kingdom?’, The Ostracon: Journal of the Egyptian Study Society, XXIV (Fall 2013), pp. 12–21.''<ref>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3_T0MWfFWfo</ref> | For a discussion of a theoretically catastrophic impact in ancient Egypt, see ''Aly Barakat, ‘Did the Kamil Meteorite Fall Contribute to the Downfall of the Old Kingdom?’, The Ostracon: Journal of the Egyptian Study Society, XXIV (Fall 2013), pp. 12–21.''<ref>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3_T0MWfFWfo</ref> | ||
A further discussion of this as being a meteorite can be found [https://hcommons.org/deposits/objects/hc:27978/datastreams/CONTENT/content?download=true here]<ref>https://hcommons.org/deposits/objects/hc:27978/datastreams/CONTENT/content?download=true</ref> (“Then a Star Fell:” Folk-Memory of a Celestial Impact Event in the Ancient Egyptian Tale of the Shipwrecked Sailor? Dr Lloyd D. Graham. 2022).<ref>https://www.academia.edu/35137388/_Then_a_Star_Fell_Folk_Memory_of_a_Celestial_Impact_Event_in_the_Ancient_Egyptian_Tale_of_the_Shipwrecked_Sailor</ref> | A further discussion of this as being a meteorite can be found [https://hcommons.org/deposits/objects/hc:27978/datastreams/CONTENT/content?download=true here]<ref>https://hcommons.org/deposits/objects/hc:27978/datastreams/CONTENT/content?download=true</ref> (“Then a Star Fell:” Folk-Memory of a Celestial Impact Event in the Ancient Egyptian Tale of the Shipwrecked Sailor? Dr Lloyd D. Graham. 2022).<ref>https://www.academia.edu/35137388/_Then_a_Star_Fell_Folk_Memory_of_a_Celestial_Impact_Event_in_the_Ancient_Egyptian_Tale_of_the_Shipwrecked_Sailor</ref> | ||
'''Weapons against demons''' | '''Biblical motifs''' | ||
Though there is no direct stories or functions of stars in this way in the bible (or biblical literature), as Dr Julien Decharneux notes, there are some general motifs that link to this imagery: | |||
{{Quote|Decharneux, Julien. Creation and Contemplation: The Cosmology of the Qur'ān and Its Late Antique Background (Studies in the History and Culture of the Middle East Book 47) (pp. 316-317). De Gruyter.|The image of fallen angels trying to approach the firmament in order to listen to the heavenly council is found in the Talmud. Crone in fact already notes the presence of the motif in the first-century Greek Testament of Solomon. Here however, demons are not chased by fiery missiles, but they themselves look like shooting stars after falling from the sky out of exhaustion. Although a systematic skimming of the sources would probably reveal the presence of the motif of stars chasing demons away from the heavenly council in patristic and Christian apocryphal literature, our sources show that it was still lively in the imagery of the 8th century in the Church of the East. Theodore bar Koni, in his Scolion, discusses the activity of demons: | |||
<i>Can the demons ascend to the place on high anyway? They cannot because they are held back by the power of the one who destroyed them. It is not proper that defiled ones approach the Tent of the Saints […]. The fact that our Lord compared him to a lightning means two things: either that he lasted in his domination for the time of the sight of a lightning, or that when while he was shining as a lightning in glory, he was quenched at once and no traces of his splendour was left.</i> | |||
In fact, the motif of demons chased by flames finds particularly original renderings in the writings of Pseudo-Macarius and that of Syriac mystic authors studied in the second chapter. Building on the motif the inner divine fire that animates the mystic, they hold that it is the flames of this fire that chase away the demons from the heart. All in all, we see that Crone’s hypothesis of an eastern origin and development for the motif is quite likely. The image of fire and flames chasing demons away was not only widespread in Jewish circle as witnessed by the Babylonian Talmud, but it was also quite in use in the Church of the East tradition.}} | |||
'''Weapons against demons:''' | |||
Many cultures had mythology surrounding meteors and meteorites, with some believing they were weapons, such as in ancient Africa and Mesopotamia:{{Quote|Golia, Maria, Meteorite: Nature and Culture (Earth), Reaktion Books, p. 72 (Kindle Edition)|'The indigenous San people of southern Africa also consider meteorites dangerous: ‘They can kill people, and at the times of the meteor showers when many are moving about and falling, the sky is very bad.’ Echoing themes from Mesopotamian and classical antiquity, the San god Koa xa, ‘lord of the animals’, used a meteorite to fight lions that attacked his son.'}} | Many cultures had mythology surrounding meteors and meteorites, with some believing they were weapons, such as in ancient Africa and Mesopotamia:{{Quote|Golia, Maria, Meteorite: Nature and Culture (Earth), Reaktion Books, p. 72 (Kindle Edition)|'The indigenous San people of southern Africa also consider meteorites dangerous: ‘They can kill people, and at the times of the meteor showers when many are moving about and falling, the sky is very bad.’ Echoing themes from Mesopotamian and classical antiquity, the San god Koa xa, ‘lord of the animals’, used a meteorite to fight lions that attacked his son.'}} | ||
And for example in [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zoroastrianism Zoroastrianism,] (which was a prominent religion in the Persian (Iranian) empire both before and during the time of the prophet Muhammad | And for example in [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zoroastrianism Zoroastrianism,] (which was a prominent religion in the Persian (Iranian) empire both before and during the time of the prophet Muhammad/beginning of Islam)), we see the link between stars and meteors: | ||
{{Quote|Golia, Maria. Meteorite: Nature and Culture (Earth) (p. 57). Reaktion Books.|..an understanding of the stars set men apart, as evidenced in the emergence of the prophet Zoroaster around 1100 BC. An early Christian text suggests that Zoroaster, ‘a very great observer of the stars’, used his wisdom to his advantage: ‘wishing to be regarded as a divine being [he] began to elicit sparks from the stars and show them to people’. This brief passage and a story recorded in the first century AD have been interpreted as describing a meteor shower that Zoroaster may have anticipated. The oldest portions of Avestan scripture, thought to record Zoroaster’s words, say the sky is made of ‘hardest stone’ and worn as armour by Ahura Mazda, god of creation and cosmic order. Avestan texts contain many astronomical references, and the word asana means both ‘sky’ and ‘stone’. On one occasion, Zoroaster was said to have defeated demons with ‘a massive stone received from God’...}} | {{Quote|Golia, Maria. Meteorite: Nature and Culture (Earth) (p. 57). Reaktion Books.|..an understanding of the stars set men apart, as evidenced in the emergence of the prophet Zoroaster around 1100 BC. An early Christian text suggests that Zoroaster, ‘a very great observer of the stars’, used his wisdom to his advantage: ‘wishing to be regarded as a divine being [he] began to elicit sparks from the stars and show them to people’. This brief passage and a story recorded in the first century AD have been interpreted as describing a meteor shower that Zoroaster may have anticipated. The oldest portions of Avestan scripture, thought to record Zoroaster’s words, say the sky is made of ‘hardest stone’ and worn as armour by Ahura Mazda, god of creation and cosmic order. Avestan texts contain many astronomical references, and the word asana means both ‘sky’ and ‘stone’. On one occasion, Zoroaster was said to have defeated demons with ‘a massive stone received from God’...}} | ||
'''<br />Arabs understanding''' | |||
Meteor showers were | Meteor showers were of unknown cause to 7th Century Arabs, as the later (than the Quran's writing) historian and geographer [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ya%27qubi Al-Ya'qubi] reports several meteor showers that happened just before and during Muhammad's lifetime (In 571 AD and 609 AD), attributing them to shooting stars (and planets) striking devils<ref>https://articles.adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-iarticle_query?bibcode=1992QJRAS..33....5R&db_key=AST&page_ind=6&plate_select=NO&data_type=GIF&type=SCREEN_GIF&classic=YES</ref>, with the multitude of them potentially leading to the idea they are 'pelted from every side'. Further Muslim historians such as [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ibn_%27Idhari Ibn 'Idhari] and [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ibn_al-Jawzi Ibn al-Jawzi] confirm this understanding, with a summary of their assessment of meteor showers held in this Royal Astronomical Society [https://articles.adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-iarticle_query?bibcode=1992QJRAS..33....5R&db_key=AST&page_ind=6&plate_select=NO&data_type=GIF&type=SCREEN_GIF&classic=YES publication]. | ||
''' | === '''Islam - In the Quran:''' === | ||
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While stars are giant balls of gas thousands of times larger than the earth, meteors are small rocky masses or grains of debris which burn up after entering the earth's atmosphere. Many ancient people confused the two, as meteors look like stars that are streaking across the sky; this is why they were often called shooting stars or falling stars. Large increases in meteors occur on a predictable schedule each year as the Earth's orbit passes through the stream of particles and debris left in the wake of a number of comets (or in a few cases, of asteroids). The most visible is usually the annual Perseid meteor shower in August. | While stars are giant balls of gas thousands of times larger than the earth, meteors are small rocky masses or grains of debris which burn up after entering the earth's atmosphere. Many ancient people confused the two, as meteors look like stars that are streaking across the sky; this is why they were often called shooting stars or falling stars. Large increases in meteors occur on a predictable schedule each year as the Earth's orbit passes through the stream of particles and debris left in the wake of a number of comets (or in a few cases, of asteroids). The most visible is usually the annual Perseid meteor shower in August. | ||
{{Quote|{{Quran| | {{Quote|{{Quran|37|6-10}}|Indeed, We have adorned the nearest heaven with an adornment of stars And as protection against every rebellious devil [So] they may not listen to the exalted assembly [of angels] and are pelted from every side, Repelled; and for them is a constant punishment, Except one who snatches [some words] by theft, but they are pursued by a burning flame, piercing [in brightness].}}{{Quote|{{Quran|37|6–10}}|Surely We have made the sky of this world [al-samā’a al-dunyā] appear enticing by means of the splendor of the stars [bi-zīnatin <b>al-kawākibi</b>], and (We have made them) a (means of) protection from every rebelling satan [wa-ḥifẓan min kulli shayṭānin māridan]. They do not listen to the exalted Assembly, but they are pelted from every side, driven off – for them (there is) a punishment forever – except for the one who snatches a word, and then a piercing flame pursues him [fa-’atbaʿa-hu shihābun thāqibun].}}{{Quote|{{Quran|67|5}}|Surely We adorned <b>the lower heaven [al-samā’a l-dunyā] with lamps [bi-maṣābīḥa], and made them missiles for the satans [wa-jaʿalnā-hā rujūman li-l-shayāṭīni]</b> – and We have prepared for them the punishment of the blazing (Fire).}}{{Quote|{{Quran|15|16-18}}|Certainly We have made constellations in the sky [laqad jaʿalnā fī l-samā’i burūjan], and made it appear enticing for the onlookers, and protected it from every accursed satan [shayṭānin rajīmin] – except any who (may) steal in to overhear, then a clear flame pursues him [fa-’atbaʿa-hu shihābun mubīnun].}}{{Quote|{{Quran|72|8-9}}|And that we touched the sky and found it filled with <b>harsh guards [ḥarasan shadīdan] and piercing flames [wa-shuhuban].</b> And that we used to sit there on seats to listen (in), but whoever listens now finds a piercing flame lying in wait for him [yajidu la-hu shihāban raṣadan].}} | ||
The same Arabic words are used at the start of [https://quranx.com/67.5 Quran 67:5] as in [https://quranx.com/37.6 Quran 37:6] (زَيَّنَّا ٱلسَّمَآءَ ٱلدُّنْيَا), except that in [https://quranx.com/67.5 Quran 67:5] the word lamps is used instead of stars. The lamps that 'beautify the heaven' must refer to stars (and perhaps also the 5 visible planets), which are always there. Meteors, on the other hand, are now known to be distinct from the distant stars. They are often not much larger than grains of sand and only become visible for a second when they burn up, generating light in the Earth's atmosphere. | The same Arabic words are used at the start of [https://quranx.com/67.5 Quran 67:5] as in [https://quranx.com/37.6 Quran 37:6] (زَيَّنَّا ٱلسَّمَآءَ ٱلدُّنْيَا), except that in [https://quranx.com/67.5 Quran 67:5] the word lamps is used instead of stars. The lamps that 'beautify the heaven' must refer to stars (and perhaps also the 5 visible planets), which are always there. Meteors, on the other hand, are now known to be distinct from the distant stars. They are often not much larger than grains of sand and only become visible for a second when they burn up, generating light in the Earth's atmosphere. | ||
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Two alternative interpretations popular in modern times are that the Quran is referring to coronal mass ejections (large eruptions of charged matter from the sun or other stars), or cosmic rays (high energy, sub-atomic particles travelling through interstellar space). However, coronal mass ejections move slowly in cosmic terms, disperse over distance and do not come from surprise directions (Quran 37:8 states that the devils are pelted from every side, and pursued by a piercing flame if they escape with anything they overheard). Cosmic rays do not emit light as they travel through space and therefore nor could these be the flaming missiles of fire and smoke in the Quran. | Two alternative interpretations popular in modern times are that the Quran is referring to coronal mass ejections (large eruptions of charged matter from the sun or other stars), or cosmic rays (high energy, sub-atomic particles travelling through interstellar space). However, coronal mass ejections move slowly in cosmic terms, disperse over distance and do not come from surprise directions (Quran 37:8 states that the devils are pelted from every side, and pursued by a piercing flame if they escape with anything they overheard). Cosmic rays do not emit light as they travel through space and therefore nor could these be the flaming missiles of fire and smoke in the Quran. | ||
Stars are an average 5 light years away from each other in our galaxy | Stars are an average 5 light years away from each other in our galaxy.<ref>https://public.nrao.edu/ask/what-is-the-average-distance-between-stars-in-our-galaxy/</ref> For context, a light year is the distance light travels in one year, which is 5.88 trillion miles/9.46 trillion kilometres.<ref>https://exoplanets.nasa.gov/faq/26/what-is-a-light-year/</ref> This again makes them an odd choice for a protection/guard, with trillions of miles/kilometers of mostly empty space between them. | ||
On a separate note, though stars are described as an ornament or beauty for the sky in [https://quranx.com/37.6 Quran 37:6], and [https://quranx.com/67.5 Quran 67:5], there are an estimated minimum c.100 septillion stars in the known universe,<ref>https://universe.nasa.gov/stars/basics/</ref> but only a few thousand are actually visible to the naked eye.<ref>https://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Space_Science/Herschel/How_many_stars_are_there_in_the_Universe</ref> | |||
=== Further Science and the argument of meteors === | |||
'''Meteors, meteorites and asteroids:''' | '''Meteors, meteorites and asteroids:''' | ||
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On a separate note, though stars are described as an ornament or beauty for the sky in [https://quranx.com/37.6 Quran 37:6], and [https://quranx.com/67.5 Quran 67:5], there are an estimated minimum c.100 septillion stars in the known universe, but only a few thousand are actually visible to the naked eye. | On a separate note, though stars are described as an ornament or beauty for the sky in [https://quranx.com/37.6 Quran 37:6], and [https://quranx.com/67.5 Quran 67:5], there are an estimated minimum c.100 septillion stars in the known universe, but only a few thousand are actually visible to the naked eye. | ||
=== '''Islamic Commentators:''' === | |||
'''Islamic Commentators:''' | |||
''For verse 67:5'' | ''For verse 67:5'' | ||
Ibn ‘Abbas says: (And verily We have beatified the world’s heaven) the first heaven (with lamps) with stars, (and We have made them) i.e., the stars (missiles for the devils) such that some of them become bewitched, some are killed while others are burnt, (and for them) for the devils (We have prepared) in the Hereafter (the doom of flame). | Ibn ‘Abbas says: (And verily We have beatified the world’s heaven) the first heaven (with lamps) with stars, (and We have made them) i.e., the stars (missiles for the devils) such that some of them become bewitched, some are killed while others are burnt, (and for them) for the devils (We have prepared) in the Hereafter (the doom of flame). | ||
Al-Jalalayn say: And verily We have adorned the lowest heaven the one closest to the earth with lamps with stars and made | Al-Jalalayn say: And verily We have adorned the lowest heaven the one closest to the earth with lamps with stars and made | ||
Ibn Kathir says: To those who ponder and look repeatedly at the dazzling signs and wonders that are to be seen in the creation, Allah mentions His creation of the heavens, with their immense height, and both the fixed and moving heavenly bodies with which He has adorned it... Allah made the “shooting stars’’ to guard it against the evil devils who try to listen to information conveyed at the highest heights. If any devil breaches it and advances hoping to listen, a clear “shooting star’’ comes to him and destroys him. He may already have passed on whatever he heard before the fire hit him, to another devil below him; the latter will then take it to his friends (among humans), as is stated in the Sahih. | |||
''For verse 72:8-9:'' | ''For verse 72:8-9:'' | ||
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Ibn Kathir says: Allah informs about the Jinns when He sent His Messenger Muhammad and revealed the Qur’an to him. Among the ways He protected it (the Qur’an) was by filling sky with stern guards guarding it from all of its sides. The devils were then expelled from the places where they used to sit prior to that. This was so that they could not steal anything from the Qur’an and tell it to the soothsayers, thereby causing matters to be confused and mixed up. If this happened it would not be known who was being truthful. Allah did this out of His kindness to His creation, His mercy upon His servants and His protection of His Mighty Book (the Qur’an). This is why the Jinns said, and we have sought to reach the heaven; but found it filled with stern guards and flaming fires. And verily, we used to sit there in stations, to (steal) a hearing, but any who listens now will find a flaming fire watching him in ambush. Meaning, whoever would like to steal some information by listening, he will find a flaming fire waiting in ambush for him. It will not pass him or miss him, but it will wipe him out and destroy him completely. | Ibn Kathir says: Allah informs about the Jinns when He sent His Messenger Muhammad and revealed the Qur’an to him. Among the ways He protected it (the Qur’an) was by filling sky with stern guards guarding it from all of its sides. The devils were then expelled from the places where they used to sit prior to that. This was so that they could not steal anything from the Qur’an and tell it to the soothsayers, thereby causing matters to be confused and mixed up. If this happened it would not be known who was being truthful. Allah did this out of His kindness to His creation, His mercy upon His servants and His protection of His Mighty Book (the Qur’an). This is why the Jinns said, and we have sought to reach the heaven; but found it filled with stern guards and flaming fires. And verily, we used to sit there in stations, to (steal) a hearing, but any who listens now will find a flaming fire watching him in ambush. Meaning, whoever would like to steal some information by listening, he will find a flaming fire waiting in ambush for him. It will not pass him or miss him, but it will wipe him out and destroy him completely. | ||
Haqq, Abdul. The Qur'an's Difficult Verses Explained (pp. | Haqq, Abdul. The Qur'an's Difficult Verses Explained (pp. 121-124). Evaluation Press. . | ||