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==  '''Introduction''' ==
==  '''Introduction''' ==
Local folklore around stars, before our modern understanding of them as gigantic balls of gases, creating light energy via nuclear fusion,<ref>[https://courses.lumenlearning.com/suny-earthscience/chapter/nuclear-fusion/#:~:text=The%20Sun%20is%20Earth's%20major,all%20stars%20is%20nuclear%20fusion. https://courses.lumenlearning.com/suny-earthscience/chapter/nuclear-fusion/#:~:text=The%20Sun%20is%20Earth's%20major,all%20stars%20is%20nuclear%20fusion.]</ref>  has been extremely creative and varied.  
Humans have always looked up at night and seen the stars lighting the sky. Folklore around stars, before our modern understanding of them as gigantic balls of gases, creating light energy via nuclear fusion,<ref>[https://courses.lumenlearning.com/suny-earthscience/chapter/nuclear-fusion/#:~:text=The%20Sun%20is%20Earth's%20major,all%20stars%20is%20nuclear%20fusion. https://courses.lumenlearning.com/suny-earthscience/chapter/nuclear-fusion/#:~:text=The%20Sun%20is%20Earth's%20major,all%20stars%20is%20nuclear%20fusion.]</ref>  has been extremely creative and varied.  


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 pre-Islam ==
== Ancient beliefs around 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:
{{Quote|{{cite web| url=https://ia802907.us.archive.org/1/items/TheLiteratureOfAncientEgyptKellySimpsonBySamySalah/The%20Literature%20of%20Ancient%20Egypt%20-%20Kelly%20Simpson%20By%20Samy%20Salah.pdf | title=Literature of Ancient Egypt : An Anthology of Stories, Instructions, Stelae, Autobiographies, and Poetry. William Kelly Simpson, ed., The Literature of Ancient Egypt (Cairo, 2003), p. 51. }}|...Then a star fell.  
{{Quote|{{cite web| url=https://ia802907.us.archive.org/1/items/TheLiteratureOfAncientEgyptKellySimpsonBySamySalah/The%20Literature%20of%20Ancient%20Egypt%20-%20Kelly%20Simpson%20By%20Samy%20Salah.pdf | title=Literature of Ancient Egypt : An Anthology of Stories, Instructions, Stelae, Autobiographies, and Poetry. William Kelly Simpson, ed., The Literature of Ancient Egypt (Cairo, 2003), p. 51. }}|...Then a star fell.  
And because of it these went up in fire.
And because of it these went up in fire.
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Though there is no direct stories of the functions of star in this way in the bible (or biblical literature), Dr Julien Decharneux notes in book exploring the connections between the cosmology of the Qur’ān and various cosmological traditions of Late Antiquity, with a focus on Syriac Christianity,<ref>[https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/9783110794083/html?lang=en#:~:text=About%20this%20book,a%20focus%20on%20Syriac%20Christianity. https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/9783110794083/html?lang=en#:~:text=About%20this%20book,a%20focus%20on%20Syriac%20Christianity.]</ref> there are some general motifs that link to this imagery. However he notes it is much more likely rooted in Iranian mythology: (CHECK CONTRADICTIONS)
Though there is no direct stories of the functions of star in this way in the bible (or biblical literature), Dr Julien Decharneux notes in book exploring the connections between the cosmology of the Qur’ān and various cosmological traditions of Late Antiquity, with a focus on Syriac Christianity,<ref>[https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/9783110794083/html?lang=en#:~:text=About%20this%20book,a%20focus%20on%20Syriac%20Christianity. https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/9783110794083/html?lang=en#:~:text=About%20this%20book,a%20focus%20on%20Syriac%20Christianity.]</ref> there are some general motifs that link to this imagery. However he notes it is much more likely rooted in Iranian mythology: (CHECK CONTRADICTIONS)
 
{{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. 131). De Gruyter.|These passages seek to convey the idea of heaven as a celestial fortress (cf. also Q 41:12). Besides the fact that it is defended by “guards”, the term burūj used in Q 15:16, usually translated as “constellation”, is probably better understood as a reference to “towers” (the term indeed means both “constellations” and “towers” in Arabic). As for the image of stars as “piercing flames” and fiery “missiles” pursuing demons, Crone suggested that it was rooted in Middle Eastern cosmological traditions, probably of Iranian and Jewish influence. This is not altogether impossible but once again, it is useful to provide here the bigger picture. The idea that angels play the role of sentries or watchman is often seen in scholarly literature as a possible link with the famous Book of Enoch, a section of which is called the Book of Watchers where shooting stars and flashes of light are indeed mentioned. Although the reference is not unhelpful, it has been pointed out that the motif is in fact grounded in biblical imagery already. In Gen 3:24, the text depicts cherubs as positioned by God at the entrance of paradise after Adam’s fall. The fiery element is already mentioned as their weapon of preference...}}{{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:  
{{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. 131, 316-317). De Gruyter.|These passages seek to convey the idea of heaven as a celestial fortress (cf. also Q 41:12). Besides the fact that it is defended by “guards”, the term burūj used in Q 15:16, usually translated as “constellation”, is probably better understood as a reference to “towers” (the term indeed means both “constellations” and “towers” in Arabic). As for the image of stars as “piercing flames” and fiery “missiles” pursuing demons, Crone suggested that it was rooted in Middle Eastern cosmological traditions, probably of Iranian and Jewish influence. This is not altogether impossible but once again, it is useful to provide here the bigger picture. The idea that angels play the role of sentries or watchman is often seen in scholarly literature as a possible link with the famous Book of Enoch, a section of which is called the Book of Watchers where shooting stars and flashes of light are indeed mentioned. Although the reference is not unhelpful, it has been pointed out that the motif is in fact grounded in biblical imagery already. In Gen 3:24, the text depicts cherubs as positioned by God at the entrance of paradise after Adam’s fall. The fiery element is already mentioned as their weapon of preference...
...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>
<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.}}
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.}}
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'''<br />Arabs understanding'''
'''<br />Arabs understanding'''


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].  
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 name=":0">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].  


== '''Islamic literature:''' ==
== '''Islamic literature:''' ==
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The word translated "missiles" is rujūman (رُجُومًا), which are things that are thrown, especially stones.<ref>http://www.studyquran.org/LaneLexicon/Volume3/00000214.pdf</ref>
The word translated "missiles" is rujūman (رُجُومًا), which are things that are thrown, especially stones.<ref>http://www.studyquran.org/LaneLexicon/Volume3/00000214.pdf</ref>
Stars and planets were often called the same thing as they were simple lights in the sky, with stars appearing 'fixed' and planets notably moving. Such as the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Book_of_Fixed_Stars book of fixed stars] '<nowiki/>''كتاب صور الكواكب kitāb suwar al-kawākib.'''
Burujun meaning: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Burooj


Other relevant verses are {{Quran|55|33-35}} (flame of fire and smoke, though a slightly different context) and {{Quran|72|8-9}} .
Other relevant verses are {{Quran|55|33-35}} (flame of fire and smoke, though a slightly different context) and {{Quran|72|8-9}} .


{{Quote|{{Quran|55|33-35}}|O company of jinn and mankind, if you are able to pass beyond the regions of the heavens and the earth, then pass. You will not pass except by authority [from Allah]. So which of the favors of your Lord would you deny? There will be sent upon you a flame of fire and smoke, and you will not defend yourselves.}}{{Quote|{{Quran|72|8-9}}|And we have sought [to reach] the heaven but found it filled with powerful guards and burning flames. And we used to sit therein in positions for hearing, but whoever listens now will find a burning flame lying in wait for him.}}
{{Quote|{{Quran|55|33-35}}|O company of jinn and mankind, if you are able to pass beyond the regions of the heavens and the earth, then pass. You will not pass except by authority [from Allah]. So which of the favors of your Lord would you deny? There will be sent upon you a flame of fire and smoke, and you will not defend yourselves.}}{{Quote|{{Quran|72|8-9}}|And we have sought [to reach] the heaven but found it filled with powerful guards and burning flames. And we used to sit therein in positions for hearing, but whoever listens now will find a burning flame lying in wait for him.}}'Eventually in Arabic, ''najm'' came to mean “a fixed star” while ''kawkab'' “a planetary body” but there are plenty of exceptions to this rule.' Planets were believed to be moving stars. David Cook https://link.springer.com/referenceworkentry/10.1007/978-94-007-7747-7_8525
 
David Cook https://journals.openedition.org/remmm/247?file=1
 
Ibn Kathir on word 'Buruj' http://m.qtafsir.com/Surah-Al-Burooj/The-Interpretation-of-the-Word---
 
'''<nowiki/>'The Interpretation of the Word Buruj Allah swears by the heaven and its Buruj.'''
 
The Buruj are the giant stars, as Allah says,
 
﴿ تَبَارَكَ ٱلَّذِى جَعَلَ فِى ٱلسَّمَآءِ بُرُوجً۬ا وَجَعَلَ فِيہَا سِرَٲجً۬ا وَقَمَرً۬ا مُّنِيرً۬ا ﴾
 
(Blessed is He Who has placed in the heaven Buruj, and has placed therein a great lamp (the sun), and a moon giving light.) (25:61) Ibn `Abbas, Mujahid, Ad-Dahhak, Al-Hasan, Qatadah and As-Suddi, all said, "Al-Buruj are the stars.<nowiki>''</nowiki> Al-Minhal bin `Amr said,
 
﴿ وَٱلسَّمَآءِ ذَاتِ ٱلۡبُرُوجِ ﴾
 
(By the heaven holding the Buruj.) "The beautiful creation.<nowiki>''</nowiki> Ibn Jarir chose the view that it means the positions of the sun and the moon, which are twelve Buruj. The sun travels through each one of these "Burj<nowiki>''</nowiki> (singular of Buruj) in one month. The moon travels through each one of these Burj in two-and-a-third days, which makes a total of twenty-eight positions, and it is hidden for two nights.'
 
Given 3 different words for the stars, and then flame, which later called a shooting star.


=== In the Hadith ===
=== In the Hadith ===
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This is confirmed in a hadith in Sunan Ibn Majah's collection:
This is confirmed in a hadith in Sunan Ibn Majah's collection:


{{Quote|{{Ibn Majah||1|1|194}}|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|{{Ibn Majah||1|1|194}}|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."}}And here in Jami' at-Tirmidhi, where we see the word (najm/نجم) is used to describe the shooting star, showing this reinforcing the incorrect idea of stars being shooting stars:
{{Quote|{{Al Tirmidhi||5|44|3224}}|Narrated Ibn 'Abbas:
"We were with the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ), while he was sitting with a group of his Companions, when they saw a glowing shooting star. The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: 'When you saw the likes of this during Jahiliyyah, what would you say about it?' They said: 'We would say that a great man died, or that a great man has been born.' The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: 'It is not shot due to the death of anyone, nor his coming into life. Rather when our Lord [Blessed is His Name and Most High] decrees a matter, He is glorified by the bearers of the Throne. Then He is glorified by the inhabitants who are below them, then those below them, until such glorification reaches this Heaven. Then the inhabitants of the sixth Heaven ask the inhabitants of the seventh Heaven: "What did your Lord say?" He said: 'So they inform them; then the inhabitants of each Heaven seek the information, until the news is conveyed to the inhabitants of the Heavens of the earth. The Shayatin try to overhear so they are shot at, so they cast it down to their friends. Whatever they came with is true, as it is, but they distort it and add to it.'"}}


=== Vs the science ===
=== Vs the science ===
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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.  
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.  
Meteors are caused by asteroids and comet 'dust' (see final section for full explanation) not stars.
Meteor shower 'pelting' and link to these events but later Muslims: 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 name=":0" />, 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]. 


However, these verses would of course fit a relatively small universe as imagined by 7th century Arabs, in which a heavenly firmament is adorned with stars able to pelt shooting stars at any devils or jinn in their vicinity, seeming to cover interstellar distances in a flaming streak across the sky. This is further supported by [https://quranx.com/21.32 Quran 21:32] which describes the heaven as a guarded ceiling.
However, these verses would of course fit a relatively small universe as imagined by 7th century Arabs, in which a heavenly firmament is adorned with stars able to pelt shooting stars at any devils or jinn in their vicinity, seeming to cover interstellar distances in a flaming streak across the sky. This is further supported by [https://quranx.com/21.32 Quran 21:32] which describes the heaven as a guarded ceiling.


=== Modern Apologists - meteors come from stars ===
== Modern Apologists ==
 
=== Meteors come from stars ===
'''Those making the claim'''
'''Those making the claim'''


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'''Problem - this is a distortion of the text that simply isn't what being said'''
'''Problem - this is a distortion of the text that simply isn't what being said'''


However, the Qur'an simply does not state that the shooting stars 'come from stars' (mostly many billions of years ago), which would be very easy (and arguably pointless as they have nothing to do with the story - not to mention every element and therefore 'thing' in the universe comes from stars, so again it would be pointless and confusing to mention, let alone without specifying) to write, as they need not mention stars/lamps at all but rather only the flame -  but rather they are themselves the missiles.
However, there are objections to this interpretation.
 
1. Qur'an does not state that the shooting stars 'come from stars' (mostly many billions of years ago), which would be very easy to do - so put bluntly this simply isn't what is being said
 
2. Meteors do not even come directly from stars, but rather form asteroids (see bottom section 'Further Science and the Argument of Meteors'. It is only true to say all the elements which make up everything in the universe were once part of a star.
 
3. Naming stars/lamps/constellations as a protection in the context of number 2., means it is a completely pointless link to make that has nothing to do with the story - making it confusing to even mention, let alone without specifying they are
 
4. If you state that something is a missile, all rules of grammar and logic lead you to assume that it's the thing that is mentioned that is the missile, not something that part of it get its elements turn into after going through many other processes to become an asteroid or meteor become billions of years later. The stars/lamps/constellations are the subject
 
5. Stars have so many other functions, why include one's that reinforce ancient incorrect beliefs? (Add ornaments for the sky)?
 
This has involved twisting the text into something that isn't there.
 
(and arguably pointless as they have nothing to do with the story - not to mention every element and therefore 'thing' in the universe comes from stars, so again it would be pointless and confusing to mention, let alone without specifying) to write, as they need not mention stars/lamps at all but rather only the flame -  but rather they are themselves the missiles.


Meteors do not even come directly from stars, only the elements that make them up (as they do for everything else in the universe) once are likely to have passed through a star before it 'died'. (See section below 'Further Science and the argument of meteors'.
Meteors do not even come directly from stars, only the elements that make them up (as they do for everything else in the universe) once are likely to have passed through a star before it 'died'. (See section below 'Further Science and the argument of meteors'.
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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,<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>
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>
== Conclusion ==
The Quran and subsequent Islamic literature shows it confirming local folklore around stars being the same thing as shooting stars, and that one of their functions is to be used as missiles to keep spying evil [https://wikiislam.net/wiki/Jinn jinn] away from angel meetings, just how they were understood in their historical context. Modern times have meant apologists have come up with explanations often not included in the text, or that are themselves based on faulty science (such as cosmic rays).
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.
== Further science and the argument of meteors ==


=== Further Science and the argument of meteors ===
=== Further Science and the argument of meteors ===
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