Astronomy in the Qur'an

Monday, July 20, 2009 08:30:04 PM, Team ummid

The Qur'an is full of reflections on the heavens. In the preceding chapter on the Creation, we saw how the plurality of the heavens and earths was referred to, as well as what the Qur'an calls an intermediary creation 'between the heavens and the earth': modern science has verified the latter. The verses referring to the Creation already contain a broad idea of what is to be found in the heavens, i.e. of everything outside the earth.

Apart from the verses that specifically describe the Creation, there are roughly another forty verses in the Qur'an which provide information on astronomy complementing what has already been given. Some of them are not much more than reflections on the glory of the Creator, the Organizer of all the stellar and planetary systems. These we know to be arranged according to balancing positions whose stability Newton explained in his law of the mutual attraction of bodies.

The first verses to be quoted here hardly furnish much material for scientific analysis: the aim is simply to draw attention to God's Omnipotence. They must be mentioned however to give a realistic idea of the way the Qur'anic text described the organization of the Universe fourteen centuries ago.

These references constitute a new fact of divine Revelation. The organization of the world is treated in neither the Gospels nor the Old Testament (except for a few notions whose general inaccuracy we have already seen in the Biblical description of the Creation).

The Qur'an however deals with this subject in depth. What it describes is important, but so is what it does not contain. It does not in fact provide an account of the theories prevalent at the time of the Revelation that deal with the organization of the celestial world theories that science was later to show were inaccurate. An example of this will be given later. This negative consideration must however be pointed out.

A. General Reflections Concerning the Sky

Surah 50, verse 6.

. Do they not look at the sky above them, how We have built it and adorned it, and there are no rifts in it

Surah 31, verse 10:

. (God) created the heavens without any pillars that you can see...

Surah 13, verse 2:

God is the One Who raised the heavens without any pillars that you can see, then He firmly established Himself on the throne and He subjected the sun and moon...

These last two verses refute the belief that the vault of the heavens was held up by pillars, the only things preventing the former from crushing the earth.

Surah 55, verse 7:

. the sky (God) raised it....

Surah 22, verse 65:

. (God) holds back the sky from falling on the earth unless by His leave....

It is known how the remoteness of celestial masses at great distance and in proportion to the magnitude of their mass itself constitutes the foundation of their equilibrium. The more remote the masses are the weaker the force is that attracts one to the other. The nearer they are, the stronger the attraction is that one has to the other: this is true for the Moon, which is near to the Earth (astronomically speaking) and exercises an influence by laws of attraction on the position occupied by the waters of the sea, hence the phenomenon of the tides. If two celestial bodies come too close to one another, collision is inevitable. The fact that they are subjected to an order is the sine qua non for the absence of disturbances.

The subjection of the heavens to divine order is often referred to as well:

Surah 23, verse 86:

God is speaking to the Prophet.

. Say: Who is lord of the seven heavens and Lord of the tremendous throne?.

We have already seen how by 'seven heavens' what is meant is not 7, but an indefinite number of heavens.

Surah 45, verse 31:

. For you (God) subjected all that is in the heavens and on the earth, all from Him. Behold! In that are signs for people who reflect.

Surah 55, verse 5:

. the sun and moon (are subjected) to calculations.

Surah 6, verse 96:

. (God) appointed the night for rest and the sun and the moon for reckoning.

Surah 14, verse 33:

. For you (God) subjected the sun and the moon, both diligently pursuing their courses. And for you He subjected the night and the day.

Here one verse completes another: the calculations referred to result in the regularity of the course described by the heavenly bodies in question, this is expressed by the word da'ib, the present participle of a verb whose original meaning was 'to work eagerly and assiduously at something'. Here it is given the meaning of 'to apply oneself to something with care in a perseverant, invariable manner, in accordance with set habits'.

Surah 36, verse 39:

God is speaking:

. And for the moon We have appointed mansions till she returns like an old shriveled palm branch.

This is a reference to the curled form of the-palm branch which, as it shrivels up, takes on the moon's crescent. This commentary will be completed later.

Surah 16, verse 12:

. For you (God) subjected the night and the day, the sun and the moon; the stars are in subjection to His Command. Verily in this are signs for people who are wise.

The practical angle from which this perfect celestial order is seen is underlined on account of its value as an aid to man's travel on earth and by sea, and to his calculation of time. This comment becomes clear when one bears in mind the fact that the Qur'an was originally a preaching addressed to men who only understood the simple language of their every day lives. This explains the presence of the following reflections:

Surah 6, verse 97:

. (God) is the One Who has set out for you the stars, that you may guide yourselves by them through the darkness of the land and of the sea. We have detailed the signs for people who know.

Surah 16, verse 16:

. (God sets on the earth) landmarks and by the stars (men) guide themselves

Surah 10, verse 5:

. God is the One Who made the sun a shine and the moon a light and for her ordained mansions, so that you might know the number of years and the reckoning (of the time). God created this in truth. He explains the signs in detail for people who know.

This calls for some comment. Whereas the Bible calls the Sun and Moon 'lights', and merely adds to one the adjective 'greater' and to the other 'lesser', the Qur'an ascribes differences other than that of dimension to each respectively. Agreed, this is nothing more than a verbal distinction, but how was one to communicate to men at this time without confusing them, while at the same time expressing the notion that the Sun and Moon were not absolutely identical 'lights'?

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