Description of the Rotation of the Earth and the mention of the Orbit of the Moon and Sun in the Quran.

     In this blog, I have written about the description of the Rotation of the Earth and the mention of the Orbit of the Moon and Sun in the Quran.

Translation of Verse 5 of Surah Az-Zumar

He created the heavens and the earth for a purpose. He wraps the night around the day, and wraps the day around the night. And He has subjected the sun and the moon, each orbiting for an appointed term. He is truly the Almighty, Most Forgiving.

Explanation 

                      In this verse of Surah, Az-Zumar Allah has told us how night changes into day and how day changes to night. If you look at the sky just around the time of sunset you would perceive it as night wrapping around day and at just around the time of sunrise day wrapping around night. The only 2 ways for this to be possible are that the Earth should rotate along its axis and that the Earth is spherical in shape. Now today we know that Earth takes one day(24 hours) to complete its rotation along its axis and this is how night transforms into day and day transforms into night. In the Muslim world, this fact was scientifically proven by a 10th-century scientist named Al-Buruni(973-1048 CE). Other scientists of the Muslim world such as Ibn Yunus(950-1059 CE) and Nasir al-Din Tusi(1201-1274 CE) also wrote on this but the main credit goes to Al-Biruni. In the West Copperenicus(1473-1573) was the first to prove the rotation of Earth.

          This verse also mentions that the moon and sun are also orbiting. As the moon orbits the earth the sun is also orbiting the earth. The fact that the moon orbits the earth was discovered by a 2nd-century Roman Egyptian astronomer Claudius Ptolemy. However, his model had some errors which were corrected by a 14th-century Muslim scientist Ibn-Shatir who along with many other Muslim scientists had a great influence on Copernicus and other Western scientists. Below is the image of Ibn-Shatir's Lunar model.

   Another thing which this verse mentions is that the sun is also orbiting a supermassive black hole named Sagittarius A which is located at the centre of our home galaxy the Milky Way. The speed with which our sun and solar system orbit the supermassive black hole is around 500,000 miles an hour (800,000 km/hr). The credit for the discovery of these scientific facts can be given to several scientists such as Vera Rubin(1928-2016), Jacobus Kapteyn (1851-1922) and many other such scientists etc. These facts were discovered by scientists just recently while the Quran told these facts 1400 years ago. It is a clear proof that the Quran is the word of Allah. Although it contains many scientific facts with great accuracy but the Quran is not a book of science it is the book of guidance. These scientific facts are mentioned only so that we can ponder upon the greatness of Allah Almighty.

    One thing to keep in mind is that there can be various others explanations of this verse and only Allah  knows what is the correct explanation.

My previous blog

Quran on the Beginning of the Universe

In my next blog, I will write about the mention of the shape of the earth in the Quran.

My next blog

Shape of the Earth mentioned in the Quran