Answering wikiislam.net
The main concern of this blog is to answer wikiislam.net,a famous antiislamic website . To read articles by wikiislam.net go to following web url
https://wikiislam.net/wiki/Scientific_Errors_in_the_Quran
This url does not work in Pakistan because this website is blocked here.
EARTH REVOLVES AROUND THE SUN MENTIONED IN QURAN
Wikiislam refers in this article that there is no where mentioned in Quran that Earth revolves around the sun nor any Islamic text refers to. We quote from Holy Quran Surah An Namal Chapter 27 verse 88;
"Thou seest the mountains and thinkest them firmly fixed: but they pass like the passing of the clouds: (such is) the artistry of God, who disposes of all things in perfect order: for he is well acquainted with all that ye do. (The Noble Quran, 27:88)"
We now quote esteemed Tafseer work by shia Muhaqqiq Nasir Makarim Sherazi, Tafseer e Namoona vol 15 page 443 under the above quoted verse;
" The result we deduce from above Tafseer is that the mountains we consider stationery are moving with a high velocity and certainly the motion of mountains is meaningless without motion of Earth which is associated with them. Hence in other words this verse means that Earth is moving fast as the clouds do.
Today according to scientists Earth is moving around its axis with a speed of 30 kilometer per minute and around sun sun its motion is faster than this.
There arises the question that why Holy Quran taken mountains as subject matter ? Then probably then probably it is because the suspension, weight and gravity of mountains is proverbial and they can be taken as model to explain the authority of Allah."
Here we quote a hadith from Holy Prophet SAW which is recorded in Musnad Imam Abi Ishaq Hamdani
"Ibn e Abbas narrated thet Holy Prophet SAW was asked ,Where does the sun set and where does it rise from?The messenger of Allah answered ,"It is going in a regular motion: It does not cease or disappear .It sets in one place and rises in another, it sets in one place and rises in another and so on.So some people will say that sun has set while some will say that it has just risen."
Hence it is proven from Islamic texts and Tafseer interpretations that Holy Quran also refers to the motion of Earth.So wikiislam,s first line which says that Quran does not refer to motion of Earth is absurd.
Now we are going to prove it from another shia text MUGHZ E MUTAFAKHIR JEHAN AL SHIA that has been included in the course of Iranian universities; This book refers about our sixth imam Hazrat Jaffer Al Sadiq (AS) that;
"At the age of 11, the Imam refuted the theory that the sun, moon and the planets rotated
around the earth. He said that the sun, during its course round the earth, passes through the 12
constellations in one year and remains in each constellation for 30 days, so why does it then
disappear from sight during the night. It should remain visible in each constellation for 30 days.
Ptolemy** theory said that the sun has two movements. One of its movements is that it crosses
the sign of the zodiac and goes round the earth in one year and the other movement is that it
goes round the earth in one night and one day, as a result of which we see it rise in the east
and set in the west.
** Ptolemy was a geographer and astronomer who was born in Alexandria in the 2nd century
B. C. He enriched his knowledge by reading the books of great scholars of
Greece
in the library of
Alexandria
. He borrowed from Euclid, the great mathematician, the idea that the sun rotated round the
earth and then developed his own theory known as the Ptolemaic System. Since then up to the
8th century BC no one refuted this theory.
Aristotle was a great thinker and philosopher. His books, Arganan and Physics, are the most
precious literary treasures of mankind, but his theory that the earth is stationary and the sun and
stars rotate around it, delayed the progress of the science of Astronomy and kept mankind in
the darkness of ignorance for 1800 years.
The Imam remarked that those two movements were not compatible. When the sun had to
pass through the sign of the zodiac in one year and stay in each constellation for
30 days how could it change its course and go round the earth in 24 hours?
He also announced that the earth rotated around its own axis. The great scholar Poincare who
lived in the 20th century made fun of this theory. When such a scholar could refuse to believe
this, how could people in the 1st and 2nd century of the Hijra believe in the theory of the Imam.
The rotation of the earth on its own axis could be proved by observation only. When astronauts
landed on the surface of the moon, and directed their telescope towards the earth they
observed that it was rotating slowly on its axis.
Some people might say that it was only by guesswork that Imam Jafar as-Sadiq (a) said that
the earth rotates on its own axis. Sometimes it happens that guesswork proves to be correct.
But the question arises as to why no one else had guessed that for such a long time. This
proves that he knew the laws of astro-physics which enabled him to make that discovery. If he
had not known those laws, it would have been impossible for him to discover the rotation of the
earth on its axis. This discovery could not have been accidental. One must know the cause to
know its effect.
Tragically, for reasons stated above, the real credit of discovery of the movement of the earth
round the sun was given to Copernicus who was an astronomer and mathematician, in the 15th
Century. The theory of the earth rotation around its own axis went to Galileo who discovered the
telescope."
We think that above proofs are enough to prove that motion of Earth is mentioned in Holy Quran ,its Tafseer by Shia Muhaqqiq and works of Imam in shia books. In the next section we will answer to the verses taht are quotyed by wikiislam regarding geocentric system in the Holy Quran.
