Astronomy in the Quran

Astronomy in the Quran

The Sun and the Moon

The Sun is a shining glory (diya') and the Moon a light (nur).
This translation would appear to be more correct than those given by others, where the two terms are inverted. In fact there is little difference in meaning since diya' belongs to a root (dw') which, according to Kazimirski's authoritative Arabic/French dictionary, means 'to be bright, to shine' (e.g. like a fire).
The same author attributes to the substantive in question the meaning of 'light'.
The difference between Sun and Moon will be made clearer by further verse from the "Blessed is the One Who placed the constellations in heaven and placed therein a lamp and a moon giving light."-(Quran-25:61)

"Did you see how God created seven heavens one above an other and made the moon a light therein and made the sun a lamp?"-(Quran 71:15-16)

"We have built above you seven strong (heavens) and placed a blazing lamp."
The blazing lamp is quite obviously the sun.(Quran 78:12-13)

Here the moon is defined as a body that gives light (munir) from the same root as nur (the light applied to the Moon).
The Sun however is compared to a torch (siraj) or a blazing (wahhaj) lamp.
A man of Muhammad (SAW) time could easily distinguish between the Sun, a blazing heavenly body well known to the inhabitants of the desert, and the Moon, the body of the cool of the night.
The comparisons found in the Quran on this subject are therefore quite normal. What is interesting to note here is the sober quality of the comparisons, and the absence in the text of the Quran of any elements of comparison that might have prevailed at the time and which in our day would appear as phantasmagorial.
It is known that the Sun is a star that generates intense heat and light by its internal combustions, and that the Moon, which does not give of flight itself, and is an inert body (on its external layers at least) merely reflects the light received from the Sun.
There is nothing in the text of the Quran that contradicts what we know today about these two celestial bodies.
CELESTIAL ORGANIZATION
The information the Quran provides on this subject mainly deals with the solar system. References are however made to phenomena that go beyond the solar system itself: they have been discovered in recent times.
There are two very important verses on the orbits of the Sun and Moon:
"(God is) the One Who created the night, the day, the sun and the moon. Each one is travelling in an orbit with its own motion."-(Quran 21: 33)

"The sun must not catch up the moon, nor does the night outstrip the day. Each one is travelling in an orbit with its own motion."-(Quran 36: 40)

Here an essential fact is clearly stated: the existence of the Sun's and Moon's orbits, plus a reference is made to the travelling of these bodies in space with their own motion.
A negative fact also emerges from a reading of these verses: it is shown that the Sun moves in an orbit, but no indication is given as to what this orbit might be in relation to the Earth. At the time of the Quranic Revelation, it was thought that the Sun moved while the Earth stood still. This was the system of geocentrism that had held sway since the time of ptolemy,
Second century B.C., and was to continue to do so until Copernicus in the Sixteenth century A.D. Although people supported this concept at the time of Muhammad, it does not appear anywhere in the Quran, either here or elsewhere.

The Existence of the Moon's and the Sun's Orbits

The Arabic word falak has here been translated by the word 'orbit'. many French translators of the Quran attach to it the meaning of a 'sphere'. This is indeed its initial sense. Hamidullah translates it by the word 'orbit'.

The Sun

The word caused concern to older translators of the Quran who were unable to imagine the circular course of the Moon and the Sun and therefore retained images of their course through space that were either more or less correct, or hopelessly wrong. Sir Hamza Boubekeur in his translation of the Quran cites the diversity of interpretations given to it: "A sort of axle, like an iron rod, that a mill turns around; a celestial sphere, orbit, sign of the zodiac, speed, wave . . .", but he adds the following observation made by Tabari, the famous Tenth century commentator: "It is our duty to keep silent when we do not know." (XVII, 15).
This shows just how incapable men were of understanding this concept of the Sun's and Moon's orbit. It is obvious that if the word had expressed an astronomical concept common in Muhammad's day, it would not have been so difficult to interpret these verses. A Dew concept therefore existed in the Quran that was not to be explained until centuries later.

It is more difficult to conceive of the Sun's orbit because we are so used to seeing our solar system organized around it. To understand the verse from the Quran, the position of the Sun in our galaxy must be considered, and we must therefore call on modern scientific ideas.
⦁ Our galaxy includes a very large number of stars spaced so as to form a disc that is denser at the centre than at the rim.
⦁ The Sun occupies a position in it which is far removed from the centre of the disc.
⦁ The galaxy revolves on its own axis which is its centre with the result that the Sun revolves around the same centre in a circular orbit.
Modern astronomy has worked out the details of this. In 1917, Shapley estimated the distance between the Sun and the centre of our galaxy at 10 kiloparsecs i.e., in miles, circa the figure 2 followed by 17 zeros.
To complete one revolution on its own axis, the galaxy and Sun take roughly 250 million years.
The Sun travels at roughly 150 miles per second in the completion of this.
The above is the orbital movement of the Sun that was already referred to by the Quran fourteen centuries ago. The demonstration of the existence and details of this is one of the achievements of modern astronomy.

MOVEMENT OF SUN& MOON:

-The Moon completes its rotating motion on its own axis at the same time as it revolves around the Earth, i.e. 291/2 days (approx.), so that it always has the same side facing us.
-The Sun takes roughly 25 days to revolve on its own axis. There are certain differences in its rotation at its equator and poles, (we shall not go into them here) but as a whole, the Sun is animated by a rotating motion.
It appears therefore that a verbal nuance in the Quran refers to the Sun and Moon's own motion. These motions of the two celestial bodies are confirmed by the data of modern science, and it is inconceivable that a man living in the Seventh century A.D.-however knowledgeable he might have been in his day (and this was certainly not true in Muhammad's case) -could have imagined them.
In the Sixth century B.C., they defended the theory of the rotation of the Earth on its own axis and the movement of the planets around the Sun. This theory was to be confirmed by modern science. By comparing it with the case of the Pythagoreans, it is easy to put forward the hypothesis of Muhammad as being a brilliant thinker, who was supposed to have imagined all on his own what modern science was to discover centuries later.

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