around the day and wraps the day around the night, and has made the
Sun and Moon subservient, each one running for a specified term. Is
He not indeed the Almighty, the Endlessly Forgiving? ( Surat
az-Zumar, 5)
In the above verse the movement of the Earth is described by the word
"yukawwiru," which comes from root verb "takwir," meaning "to
cover up a spherical body," in the way that the rotation of the
Earth gives rise to night and day, like the winding of a turban. In
addition to the spherical shape of the Earth the word is also the
most accurate expression of its movement around the Sun. Because
of the Earth's spherical shape and its movement around the Sun, the
Sun always illuminates one side of the Earth while the other is in
darkness. The side in shadow is shrouded by the darkness of night,
to be replaced by the brightness of day when the Sun rises. The
positions of the Sun and Earth are revealed as follows in Surah Ya
Sin:
And the Sun runs to its resting place. That is the decree of the
Almighty, the All-Knowing. And We have decreed set phases for the
Moon, until it ends up looking like an old palm spathe. It is not
for the Sun to overtake the Moon nor for the night to outstrip the
day; each one is swimming in a sphere. (Surah Ya Sin, 38-40)
The movements of the Sun and Moon in verse 40 of Surah Ya Sin are
described by the Arabic word "yasba h oon a ," meaning "flowing,
passing or swimming." This word refers to an action performed by
someone on their own. Someone acting according to this verb
continues to perform it alone, with no intervention from anyone
else. The above verses may therefore be referring to the Sun's
independent movement in the universe, independent of any other
celestial body. (Allah knows the truth.) It is impossible for us to
see or follow the movement of the Sun with our own eyes. It is only
possible to determine that movement using special technological
equipment. As stated in verse 39 of Surah Ya Sin, in addition to
rotating around its own axis once every 26 days, the Sun also moves
through its own course.
The verse also reports that the Sun is not allowed to "overtake the
Moon," and the Qur'an thus states that the Sun and Moon do not
revolve around the same body, as astronomers put it. At the same
time, the verse makes it clear that there is no connection between
the motion responsible for night and day and the movement of the
Sun and Moon. (Allah knows the truth.)
Until the 16th century it was thought that the Earth was the center
of the universe. This view is known as the "geo-centric model,"
from the Greek words geo (Earth) and centron (center). This belief was
questioned by the famous astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus in 1543 in
his book De Revolutionibus Orbium Coelestium (Of the Revolutions of
Heavenly Spheres), in which he suggested that the Earth and the
other planets revolve around the Sun. But as a result of
observations using a telescope performed by Galileo Galilei in 1610,
it was scientifically established that the Earth revolves around
the Sun. Since it had hitherto been thought that the Sun revolved
around the Earth, most scholars of the time rejected Copernicus'
theory. The famous astronomer Johannes Kepler's views setting out
the movements of the planets confirmed the helio-centric model in
the 16th and 17th centuries. In this model, whose name comes from
the words Helios (Sun) and centron (center), the Sun is the center of
the universe, rather than the Earth. Other heavenly bodies also
revolve around the Sun. Yet this was all revealed 1400 years ago in
the Qur'an.
By saying that the Earth was the center of the universe, the ancient
Greek astronomer Ptolemy was responsible for the geo-centric idea
of the universe that prevailed for hundreds of years. For that
reason, at the time of the revelation of the Qur'an, nobody knew
that the Earth-centered model that accounted for the formation of
day and night in terms of the movement of the Sun was incorrect. On
the contrary, all the stars and planets were regarded as revolving
around the Earth. Despite these prevalent errors of the time, the
Qur'an contains many expressions that agree with the scientific
facts regarding day and night:
By the Sun and its morning brightness, and the moon when it follows
it, and the day when it displays it, and the night when it conceals
it (Surat ash-Shams, 1-4)
As set out in the above verse, day, the brightness of the Sun, is
the result of the movement of the Earth. It is not the movement of
the Sun that is responsible for night and day. In other words, the
Sun is immobile in terms of night and day. The information in the
Qur'an refutes the thesis that the Earth is fixed while the Sun
revolves around it. The Qur'an is clearly descended from the
presence of our Lord, He Who is unfettered by space and time. As
science and technology advance more and more examples of the
compatibility between the Qur'an and science are coming to light.
This is set out in another verse from the Qur'an:
There is instruction in their stories for people of intelligence.
This is not a narration which has been invented but confirmation of
all that came before, a clarification of everything, and a
guidance and a mercy for people who believe. (Surah Yusuf, 111)
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