Interpretation of verse; "Stars are missile shots at devils"

Stars are missile shots at devils,Response;

This is what wikiIslams author says

The Qur'an says that stars (kawakib ٱلْكَوَاكِبِ) / lamps (masabih مَصَٰبِيحَ) adorn the heavens and guard against devils.

The author of the Qur'an does not seem to know the difference between stars (giant balls of gas thousands of times larger than the earth) and meteors which are small rocky masses of debris which brighten up after entering the earth's atmosphere. Many ancient people confused the two, as meteors look like stars that are streaking across the sky; this is why there were often called shooting stars or falling stars. In the following verse, the Qur'an claims that Allah uses stars as missiles to ward away devils. This repeats a common Arab myth at the time the Qur'an was first recited.

We have indeed decked the lower heaven with beauty (in) the stars, (For beauty) and for guard against all obstinate rebellious evil spirits, (So) they should not strain their ears in the direction of the Exalted Assembly but be cast away from every side, Repulsed, for they are under a perpetual penalty,Save him who snatcheth a fragment, Except such as snatch away something by stealth, and they are pursued by a flaming fire, of piercing brightness.

Qur'an 37:6-10

The same Arabic words are used at the start of verse 67:5 as in 37.6 (زَيَّنَّا ٱلسَّمَآءَ ٱلدُّنْيَا), except the stars are described as lamps. Clearly the lamps that 'beautify the heaven' refer to stars (and perhaps also the 5 visible planets), which are always there. Meteors are generally not much larger than grains of sand and are only visible for a second when they burn up, generating light in the Earth's atmosphere after millions of years in darkness, but the author of the Qur'an believes that meteors (the 'missiles') are a kind of star.

And verily We have beautified the world's heaven with lamps, and We have made them missiles for the devils, and for them We have prepared the doom of flame.

Qur'an 67:5

In Sahih Muslim we have a hadith confirming that the pursuing flames / missiles in the two verses refer to what we would call meteors which they saw shooting across the sky.

'Abdullah. Ibn 'Abbas reported: A person from the Ansar who was amongst the Companions of Allah's Messenger (pbuh reported to me: As we were sitting during the night with Allah's Messenger (pbuh), a meteor shot gave a dazzling light. Allah's Messenger (pbuh) said: What did you say in the pre-Islamic days when there was such a shot (of meteor)? They said: Allah and His Messenger know best (the actual position), but we, however, used to say that that very night a great man had been born and a great man had died, whereupon Allah's Messenger pbuh) said: (These meteors) are shot neither at the death of anyone nor on the birth of anyone. Allah, the Exalted and Glorious, issues Command when He decides to do a thing. Then (the Angels) supporting the Throne sing His glory, then sing the dwellers of heaven who are near to them until this glory of God reaches them who are in the heaven of this world. Then those who are near the supporters of the Throne ask these supporters of the Throne: What your Lord has said? And they accordingly inform them what He says. Then the dwellers of heaven seek information from them until this information reaches the heaven of the world. In this process of transmission (the jinn snatches) what he manages to overhear and he carries it to his friends. And when the Angels see the jinn they attack them with meteors. If they narrate only which they manage to snatch that is correct but they alloy it with lies and make additions to it.

REPLY

The first line by the wikiIslam,s author is wrong.He said that Kwakib and Masabeh both mean star which is a wrong thing. kwakib means star it is right but masabih also means star is not right. Masabih means lamps and it is used metaphorically because there is no meaning of misbah as star. Many of Muslim interpreters new and old ones have written in their tafsirs that the meaning of this verse is beyond their knowledge and knowledge of their time See Tafsir Jalalain, Tafseer roh ul Maani Tafseer e Namoona . They did not know about meteors so they translated as stars. Now look at the metaphor beautifully manifested. Misbah is chiragh if we look at its manufacturing it is made of stone ( which is mud dried and hardened) and have a flame on one end.If we through the chiragh like the motion of meteors ,it will provide the same scene.Hence Masabih was a metaphor which could not be understood by the interpreters and people of that time so they took stars from them. The verses 37- 6-10 does not have any demor. The only proof by them is the hadith of Sahih Muslim which does not discusses the meaning of Misbah in that verse but it is a conversation between Holy Prophet SAW and some non Muslims . The words used are shooting stars .As we have already discussed in the section about verse regarding Hazrat Abraham As that Prophets always talk in the language of people talking with them. So he used the word shooting star. There is no reason to translate the word Misbah as star but one have to translate according to his knowledge and knowledge of his time.