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<blockquote data-quote="ibnanv" data-source="post: 17937376" data-attributes="member: 218596">[FONT=Arial, Arial, Helvetica]&nbsp; [FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica]C. CELESTIAL ORGANIZATION[/FONT]&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; The information the Quran provides on this&nbsp; &nbsp; subject&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; mainly deals with the solar system. References are&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; however made to phenomena that go beyond the solar system&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; itself: they have been discovered in recent times.&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; There are two very important verses on the orbits of&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; the Sun and Moon:&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; --sura 21, verse 33:&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; &quot;(God is) the One Who created the night, the day,&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; the&nbsp; &nbsp; sun and the moon. Each one is travelling in an orbit&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; with its&nbsp; &nbsp; own motion.&quot;&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; --sura 36, verse 40:&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; &quot;The sun must not catch up the moon, nor does the&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; night outstrip the day. Each one is travelling in an&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; orbit with&nbsp; &nbsp; its own motion.&quot; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; Here an essential fact is clearly stated: the&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; existence of the Sun's and Moon's orbits, plus a&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; reference is made to the travelling of these bodies in&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; space&nbsp; &nbsp; with their own motion.&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; A negative fact also emerges from a reading of&nbsp; &nbsp; these&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; verses: it is shown that the Sun moves in an orbit, but&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; no indication is given as to what this orbit might be in&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; relation to the Earth. At the time of the Quranic&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; Revelation,&nbsp; it was thought that the Sun moved while the&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; Earth&nbsp;&nbsp; stood still.&nbsp; This was the system of geocentrism&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; that had held&nbsp;&nbsp; sway since&nbsp; the time of ptolemy, Second&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; century B.C., and was&nbsp;&nbsp; to continue&nbsp; to do so until&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; Copernicus in the Sixteenth&nbsp; century&nbsp; A.D.&nbsp; Although people&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; supported this concept at the&nbsp; time of&nbsp; Muhammad,&nbsp; it does&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; not appear anywhere in the Quran,&nbsp; either&nbsp; here or&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; elsewhere.&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; [FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica]&nbsp; The Existence of the Moon's and the Sun's Orbits[/FONT]&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; The Arabic word falak has here been&nbsp; &nbsp; translated&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; by the word 'orbit'. many French translators of the&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; Quran attach to it the meaning of a 'sphere'. This is&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; indeed its initial sense. Hamidullah translates it by the&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; word&nbsp; 'orbit'.&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; The word caused concern to older translators of&nbsp; &nbsp; the&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; Quran who were unable to imagine the circular course of&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; the Moon and the Sun and therefore retained images of&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; their course through space that were either more or less&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; correct, or hopelessly wrong. Sir Hamza Boubekeur in his&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; translation of the Quran cites the diversity of&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; interpretations&nbsp; &nbsp; given to it: &quot;A sort of axle, like&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; an iron rod, that a mill&nbsp; &nbsp; turns around; a celestial&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; sphere, orbit, sign of the zodiac,&nbsp; &nbsp; speed, wave . .&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; .&quot;, but he adds the following observation&nbsp; made&nbsp;&nbsp; by Tabari, the famous Tenth century commentator: &quot;It is&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; our&nbsp;&nbsp; duty to keep silent when we do not know.&quot; (XVII,&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; 15).&nbsp; This&nbsp;&nbsp; shows just how incapable men were of&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; understanding this&nbsp; concept&nbsp;&nbsp; of the Sun's and Moon's orbit.&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; It is obvious that if&nbsp; the word&nbsp;&nbsp; had expressed an&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; astronomical concept common in&nbsp; Muhammad's&nbsp; day,&nbsp; it would&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; not have been so difficult to&nbsp; interpret these&nbsp; verses.&nbsp; A&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; Dew concept therefore existed in&nbsp; the Quran that was&nbsp; not&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; to be explained until centuries later.&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; [FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica]&nbsp; 1. The Moon's Orbit[/FONT]&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; Today, the concept is widely spread that the&nbsp; &nbsp; Moon is a&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; satellite of the Earth around which it revolves in&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; periods of twenty-nine days. A correction must however be&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; made to the absolutely circular form of its orbit, since&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; modern astronomy ascribes a certain eccentricity to this,&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; so&nbsp; &nbsp; that the distance between the Earth and the Moon&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; (240,000&nbsp; &nbsp; miles) is only the average distance.&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; We have seen above how the Quran underlined the&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; usefulness of observing the Moon's movements in&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; calculating time (sura 10, verse 5, quoted at the&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; beginning of&nbsp; &nbsp; this chapter.) This system has often been&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; criticized for&nbsp; being&nbsp;&nbsp; archaic, impractical and&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; unscientific in comparison to&nbsp; our&nbsp;&nbsp; system based on the&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; Earth's rotation around the Sun,&nbsp; expressed&nbsp;&nbsp; today in the&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; Julian calendar.&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; This criticism calls for the following two remarks:&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; a) Nearly fourteen centuries ago, the Quran was directed&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; at the inhabitants of the Arabian Peninsula who were used&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; to&nbsp; the lunar calculation of time. It was advisable to&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; address&nbsp; &nbsp; them in the only language they could understand&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; and not to&nbsp; &nbsp; upset the habits they had of locating spatial&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; and temporal&nbsp; &nbsp; reference-marks which were nevertheless&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; quite efficient. It is&nbsp; &nbsp; known how well-versed men living&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; in the desert are in the&nbsp; &nbsp; observation of the sky. they&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; navigated according to the stars&nbsp; &nbsp; and told the time&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; according to the phases of the Moon. Those&nbsp; &nbsp; were the&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; simplest and most reliable means available to them.&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; b) Apart from the specialists in this field,&nbsp; &nbsp; most&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; people are unaware of the perfect correlation between the&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; Julian and the lunar calendar: 235 lunar months&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; correspond exactly to 19 Julian years of 365 1/4 days.&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; Then&nbsp; &nbsp; length of our year of 365 days is not perfect&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; because it has to&nbsp; &nbsp; be rectified every four years (with a&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; leap year) .&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; With the lunar calendar, the same phenomena&nbsp; &nbsp; occur&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; every 19 years (Julian). This is the Metonic cycle, named&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; after the Greek astronomer Meton, who discovered this&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; exact correlation between solar and lunar time in the&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; Fifth&nbsp;&nbsp; century B.C.&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; [FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica]&nbsp; [/FONT][/FONT][FONT=Arial, Arial, Helvetica][/FONT]</blockquote>

[QUOTE="ibnanv, post: 17937376, member: 218596"] [FONT=Arial, Arial, Helvetica] [B][FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica][COLOR=#006666]C. CELESTIAL ORGANIZATION[/COLOR][/FONT][/B] [SIZE=2]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.[/SIZE] [SIZE=2]There are two very important verses on the orbits of the Sun and Moon:[/SIZE] [SIZE=2]--sura 21, verse 33: "(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."[/SIZE] [SIZE=2]--sura 36, verse 40: "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."[/SIZE] [SIZE=2]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.[/SIZE] [SIZE=2]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.[/SIZE] [B][FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica][COLOR=#006666] [I]The Existence of the Moon's and the Sun's Orbits[/I][/COLOR][/FONT][/B] [SIZE=2]The Arabic word [I]falak[/I] 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'.[/SIZE] [SIZE=2]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.[/SIZE] [B][FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica][COLOR=#006666] [I]1. The Moon's Orbit[/I][/COLOR][/FONT][/B] [SIZE=2]Today, the concept is widely spread that the Moon is a satellite of the Earth around which it revolves in periods of twenty-nine days. A correction must however be made to the absolutely circular form of its orbit, since modern astronomy ascribes a certain eccentricity to this, so that the distance between the Earth and the Moon (240,000 miles) is only the average distance.[/SIZE] [SIZE=2]We have seen above how the Quran underlined the usefulness of observing the Moon's movements in calculating time (sura 10, verse 5, quoted at the beginning of this chapter.) This system has often been criticized for being archaic, impractical and unscientific in comparison to our system based on the Earth's rotation around the Sun, expressed today in the Julian calendar.[/SIZE] [SIZE=2]This criticism calls for the following two remarks: a) Nearly fourteen centuries ago, the Quran was directed at the inhabitants of the Arabian Peninsula who were used to the lunar calculation of time. It was advisable to address them in the only language they could understand and not to upset the habits they had of locating spatial and temporal reference-marks which were nevertheless quite efficient. It is known how well-versed men living in the desert are in the observation of the sky. they navigated according to the stars and told the time according to the phases of the Moon. Those were the simplest and most reliable means available to them.[/SIZE] [SIZE=2]b) Apart from the specialists in this field, most people are unaware of the perfect correlation between the Julian and the lunar calendar: 235 lunar months correspond exactly to 19 Julian years of 365 1/4 days. Then length of our year of 365 days is not perfect because it has to be rectified every four years (with a leap year) .[/SIZE] [SIZE=2]With the lunar calendar, the same phenomena occur every 19 years (Julian). This is the Metonic cycle, named after the Greek astronomer Meton, who discovered this exact correlation between solar and lunar time in the Fifth century B.C.[/SIZE] [B][FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica][COLOR=#006666] [/COLOR][/FONT][/B][/FONT][FONT=Arial, Arial, Helvetica][SIZE=2][/SIZE][/FONT] [/QUOTE]

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