TWhenever
I describe to Westerners the details the Qur'aan
contains on certain points of astronomy, it
is common for someone to reply that there
is nothing unusual in this since the Arabs
made important discoveries in the field of
astronomy long before the Europeans. But,
this is a mistaken idea resulting from an
ignorance of history. In the first place,
science developed in the Arab World at a considerable
time after the Qur'anic revelation had occurred.
Secondly, the scientific knowledge prevalent
at the highpoint of Islamic civilization would
have made it impossible for any human being
to have written statements on the heavens
comparable to those in the Qur'aan.
The material on this subject is so vast that
I can only provide a brief outline of it here.
The
Sun and Moon
Whereas
the Bible talks of the sun and the moon as
two lights differing only in size, the Qur'aan
distinguishes between them by the use of different
terms: light (noor) for the moon, and lamp
(siraaj) for the sun.
| |
| |
| "Did
you see how Allah created seven heavens,
one above the other, and made in them
the moon a light and the sun a lamp?"
An Naba" (The [Great]
News) Qur'aan, 78:12-13 |
The moon is an inert body which reflects light,
whereas the sun is a celestial body in a state
of permanent combustion producing both light
and heat.
