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The following verse also alludes to the spherical shape of the earth:

“He created the heavens And the earth In true (proportions): He Makes the Night Overlap the Day, and the Day Overlap the Night�. [AI-Qur’an 39:5]

The Arabic word used here is ‘Kawwara’ meaning to coil-the way a turban is wound around the head. The coiling of the day and night can only take place if the earth is spherical.

THE LIGHT OF THE MOON IS REFLECTED LIGHT:
It was believed by earlier civilizations that the moon emanated its own light. Science now tell us that the light of the moon is reflected light. However this fact was mentioned in the Qur’an 1,400 years ago in the following verse :

“Blessed is He Who made Constellations in the skies And placed therein a Lamp And a Moon giving light�. [AI-Qur’an 25:61]

The Arabic word for the sun in the Qur’an, is ‘Shams’. It is referred to as ‘Siraaj’ which means a ‘torch having a light of its own’ or as ‘Wahhaaj’ which means ‘a blaizing lamp’ or as ‘Diya’ which means ‘shining glory’. All there descriptions are appropriate to the sun, since it not only emits its own light but also supplies essential energy to life on earth. The Arabic word for the moon is ‘Qamar’ and it is described in the Qur’an ‘Noor’ which is a reflection of light or as ‘Muneer’ which means borrowed light. Again, the Qur’anic description marches perfectly with the true nature of the moon, which we now know reflects the light of the sun. Not once in the Qur’an, is the moon mentioned as ‘Siraaj’ or ‘Wahhaaj’. This implies that the Qur’an recognized the difference between the nature of sunlight and moonlight.

Consider the following verses related to the nature of light from the sun and the moon:

“It is He who made the sun To be a shinning glory And the moon to be a light (Of beauty).� [AI-Qur’an 10:5]

“See ye not How Allah has created The seven heavens One above another, “And made the moon A light in their midst And made the sun As a (Glorious) Lamp?� [AI-Qur’an 71:15-16]

The Arabic word for star is ‘Kaukab’ or ‘Najm’, which means a visible heavenly body. The term ‘Najm’ also carries with it the notion of a heavenly body that may be either a generator of light or a mere reflector of light. A star is described in the Qur’an as ‘Thaquib’ which means that the light burns and consumes itself (as it pierces through the shadows of the night).

The Qur’an refers to starlight in the following verse: “(it is) the star Of piercing brightness�. (AI-Qur’an 86:3]

It is known that the light from stars pierces through the darkness of interstellar space.

There is thus, no conflict between the Qur’anic description of the sun, the moon, and the stars, and what astronomers have discovered long after the revelation of the Qur’an.

THE SUN ROTATES
For a long time European philosophers and scientists believed that the earth stood still in the centre of the universe and every other body including the sun moved around it. In the West, this geocentric concept of the universe was prevalent right from the time of Ptolemy in the second century B.C. Inn 1512, Nicholas Copernicus put forward his Heliocentric Theory of Planetary motion, which asserted that the sun is motionless at the center of the solar system with the planets revolving around it.

In 1609, the German scientist Yohannus Keppler published the ‘Astronomia Nova’. In this he concluded that not only do the planets move in elliptical orbits around the sun, they also rotate upon their axes at irregular speeds. With this knowledge it became possible for European scientists to explain correctly many of the mechanisms of the solar system including the sequence of night and day.

Consider the following Qur’anic verse:

“It is He who created The Night and the Day, And the sun and the moon: All (the celestial bodies), each Travelling in an orbit With its own motion�. [AI-Qur’an 21:33]

The Arabic word used in the above verses is ‘Yasbahoon’. The word ‘Yasbahoon’ is derived from the word ‘Sabaha’. It carries with it the idea of motion that comes from any moving body. If you use the word for a man on the ground, it would not mean that comes from any moving body. If you use the word for a man on the ground, it would not mean that he is rolling – it would he is walking or running. If you use the word for a man in water it would not mean that he is floating but would mean that he is swimming.

Similarly, if you use the word ‘Yasbah’ for a celestial body such as the sun it would not mean that it is only flying through space. Moss of the school textbooks have incorporated the fact that the sun rotates about its axis. The rotation of the sun about its own axis can be proved with the help of an equipment that projects the image of the sun on the table top so that you can examine the image of the sun without being blinded. You will notice that the sun has spots which complete a circular motion once every 25 days i.e. the sun takes approximately 25 days to rotate round its axis.

In fact, the sun travels through space at roughly 150 miles per second, and takes about 200 million years to complete one revolution around the center of our Milky Way Galaxy.

“ It is not permitted To the Sun to catch up The Moon, nor can The Night outstrip the Day: Each (just) swims along In (its own) orbit (According to Law).� [AI-Qur’an 36:40]

This verse mentions an essential fact discovered by modern astronomy, i.e. the existence of the individual orbits of the Sun and the Moon, and their journey through space with their own motion.

The ‘fixed place’ towards which the sun travels, carrying with it the solar system has been located exactly by modern astronomy. It has been given a name, the Solar Apex; the solar system is indeed moving in space towards a point situated in the constellation of Hercules (alpha Lyric) whose exact location is firmly established.

The moon rotates around its axis in the same duration that it takes to revolve around the earth. It takes approximately 291/2 days to complete one round.

One cannot help but be amazed at the scientific accuracy of the Qur’anic verses. Should we not ponder over the question: “What was the source of knowledge contained in the Qur’an ?�

THE SUN WILL EXTINGUISH AFTER A CERTAIN PERIOD
The light of the sun is due to a chemical process on its surface that has been taking place continuously for the past five billion years. It will come to an end at some point of time in the future when the sun will be totally extinguished leading to extinction of all life on earth. Regarding the impermanence of the sun’s existence the Qur’an says :

“And the Sun Runs its course For a period determined For it; that is The decree of (Him) The exalted in Might, The All-Knowing “. [AI-Qur’an 36:38]1

The Arabic word used here is ‘mustaqar’, which means a place or time that is determined. Thus the Qur’an says that the sun runs towards a determined place, and will do so only up to a pre-determined period of time – meaning that it will end or extinguish.

THE PRESENCE OF INTERSTELLAR MATTER
Space outside organized astronomical systems was earlier assumed to be a vacuum. Astrophysicists later discovered the presence of bridges of matter in this interstellar space. These bridges of matter are called plasma, and consist of completely ionized gas containing equal number of free electrons fourth state of matter (besides the three known states viz. Solid, liquid and gaseous). The Qur’an mentions the presence of this interstellar material in the following verse:

1A similar message is conveyed in the Qur’an in 13:2, 35:13, 39:5 and 39:21.

“He Who created the heavens And the earth and all That is between.� [AI-Qur’an 25:59]

It would be ridiculous, for anybody to even suggest that the presence of interstellar galactic material was known 1400 years ago.

THE EXPANDING UNIVERSE

In 1925, an American astronomer by the name of Edwin Hubble, provided observational evidence that all galaxies are receding from one another, which implies that the universe is expanding. The expansion of the universe is now an established scientific fact. This is what AI-Qur’an says about the nature of the universe:

“With the power and skill Did We construct The Firmament: For it is We Who create The vastness of Space�. [AI-Qur’an 51:47]

The Arabic word ‘Mu’si’oon’ is correctly translated as ‘expanding it’, and it refers to the creation of the expanding vastness of the universe.

Stephen Hawking, in his book, ‘A Brief History of Time’, says, “The discovery that the universe is expanding was one of the great intellectual revolutions of the 20th century�. The Qur’an mentioned the expansion of the universe, before man even learnt to build a telescope!

Some people may say that the presence of astronomical facts in the Qur’an is not surprising since the Arabs were advanced in the filed of astronomy. They are correct in acknowledging the advancement of the Arabs in the filed of astronomy. However they fail to realize that the Qur’an was revealed centuries before the Arabs excelled in astronomy. Moreover many of the scientific facts mentioned above regarding astronomy, such as the origin of the universe with a Big Bang, were not known to the Arabs even at the peak of their scientific advancement. The scientific facts mentioned in the Qur’an are therefore not due to the Arabs’ advancement in astronomy. Indeed, the reverse is true. The Arabs advanced in astronomy because astronomy occupies a place in the Qur’an.

PHYSICS

THE EXISTENCE OF SUBATOMIC PARTICLES
In ancient times a well-known theory by the name of ‘Theory of Atomism’ was widely accepted. This theory was originally proposed by the Greeks, in particular by a man called Democritus, who lived about 23 centuries ago. Democritus and the people who came after him, assumed that the smallest unit of matter was the atom. The Arabs used to believe the same. The Arabic word ‘Zarra’ most commonly meant an atom. In recent times modern science has discovered that it is possible to split even an atom. That the atom can be split up further is a development of the 20th century. Fourteen centuries ago this concept would have appeared unusual even to an Arab. For him the ‘Zarra’ was the bottom beyond which one could not go. The following Qur’anic verse however, refuses to acknowledge this limit :

“The unbelievers say, ‘Never to us will come The Hour’: Say, ‘Nay! But most surely, By my Lord, it will come Upon you – by Him Who knows the unseen – From Whom is not hidden The least little atom In the Heavens or on earth : Nor is there anything less Than that, or greater, but Is in the Record Perspicuous". [AI-Qur’an 34:3]1

This verse refers to the Omniscience of God, His knowledge of all things, hidden or apparent. It then goes further and says that God is aware of everything, including what is smaller or bigger than the atom. Thus the verse clearly shows that it is possible for something smaller than the atom to exist, a fact discovered only recently by modern science.

1. A similar message is conveyed in the Qur’an in 10:61

GEOGRAPHY

THE WATER CYCLE
In ancient times a well-known theory by the name of ‘Theory of Atomism’ was widely accepted. This theory was originally proposed by the Greeks, in particular by a man called Democritus, who lived about 23 centuries ago. Democritus and the people who came after him, assumed that the smallest unit of matter was the atom. The Arabs used to believe the same. The Arabic word ‘Zarra’ most commonly meant an atom. In recent times modern science has discovered that it is possible to split even an atom. That the atom can be split up further is a development of the 20th century. Fourteen centuries ago this concept would have appeared unusual even to an Arab. For him the ‘Zarra’ was the bottom beyond which one could not go. The following Qur’anic verse however, refuses to acknowledge this limit :

The water cycle is described by the Qur’an in the following verses :“Seest thou not that Allah Sends down rain from The sky, and leads it Through springs in the earth ? Then He causes to grow, Therewith, produce of various Colors.�[AI-Qur’an 39:21]

“He sends down rain from the sky And with it gives life to The earth after it is dead: Verily in that are Signs For those who are wise.� [AI-Qur’an 30:24]

“And We send down water From the sky according to (Due) measure, and We cause it to soak in the soil; And We certainly are able To drain it off (with ease).� [AI-Qur’an 23:18]

No other text dating back 1400 years ago gives such an accurate description of the water cycle.