Does the Quran support "The Earth moves around the Sun" theory?

This article is a direct rebuttal to http://humanists.net/avijit/ (By Avijit Roy), which in my opinion is one the strongest articles written by "Free Thinkers" who attack all religions and scriptures.

Even though he is not a Jew nor a Christian, he starts his article by a quote from a Bangladeshi apostate woman:

"Koranic teaching still insists that the sun moves around the earth. How can we advance when they teach things like that?" [Taslima Nasrin, 'Time" magazine, Jan 31, 1994]

The Quranic and Islamic teaching does not insist nor directly claim that the sun moves around the earth, as I will clearly prove it in this article.

Personally I don't have a problem with anyone criticizing the Noble Quran or Islam, especially when they bring facts to the table. In fact I do honestly and truthfully appreciate these people, because after I clarify the Truth to them, I only strengthen my own and my brothers' and sisters' faith in Islam.

By the way, a Muslim brother proved from "kifaata", "Mihaada", "wada'aha" & "farsh" in the Noble Quran that the earth's motion was mentioned.

......They claim that the Qur'an provides a kind of scientific knowledge which was impossible to acquire by men of that time. This is also a proof that the Qur'an is the word of Allah !!!!

I have read the Qur'an and then the Hadith several times with a free mind and I saw just the opposite picture what my Muslim "scholars" claim. I don't want to explain anything about the Textual Variants of the Qur'an or The Origins of the Qur'an here, because many discerning words have already been spent on this issue.

Even though this is irrelevant to the subject, but I do want to bring to the reader's attention that the above two links that Mr. Avijit Roy mentioned had been refuted on this site at:

As an engineer, I do have much more interest in current practical issues rather than the historical. At first glance I wondered whether it is really true that the Qur'an holds such kind of precise knowledge that was impossible to be acquired by the ancient people? To examine such a hypothesis, I did not have to go for grandiose words like "Big Bang Theory", or "Anatomy, Embryology and Genetics" (if readers are interested in these kind of issues, they may refer to my Mukto-mona Article page );

To see the accurate scientific claims in the Noble Quran and Islam from the "Big Bang Theory and the Cosmic Crunch", to "Iron was sent down to earth through asteroids and wasn't formed by earth materials as other metals were", to "The Universe is expanding", to "The Human formation", to "Life originated from water", etc..., please visit:

rather I took a simple scientific fact which was proven a long time ago (but obviously not before the time when the Quranic verses were written or collected); and the simple fact is--"The Earth moves around the Sun". My enquiry is:

Ancient people believed that our Earth is flat and they thought that "it is not the Earth but the Sun that moves". In the Quran we see exactly the same picture that represents the idea of the people of that time. Not only the Quran ---but also the Bible, the Gita, the Mohabharat and the Vedas depict the same picture because these common “facts” were seen by the naked eyes of the ancient people in their everyday life. The people of the ancient world did not have prior knowledge about relative motion, they incorrectly thought that it is the Sun which moves, not the Earth !!

Well, without being biased nor try to answer away any error in Islam, but the Bible and the Pagan Gita, the Mohabharat and the Vedas clearly and DIRECTLY claim that the earth doesn't move and that the sun rotates around it:

"He set the earth on its foundations; it can never be moved. (From the NIV Bible, Psalm 104:5)"

"The sun rises and the sun sets, and hurries back to where it rises. (From the NIV Bible, Ecclesiastes 1:5)"

"Sabita made this Earth fixed by different devices (like hills and mountains) and sustains sky without pillars so that it does not move" [RIK VEDA]

"The sky is immovable, the Earth is immovable and these mountains are also immovable" [RIK VEDA 10-173-4]

However, no where in the Noble Quran or any Saying (Hadith) from Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him do you see a straight forward and DIRECT claim about the sun rotating around the earth and that the earth doesn't move.

Here I quote some of the verses from the Quran so that we can form the concept of the movement of the Sun:

".... And He has subjected the Sun and the moon. Each running for an appointed term. Verily, He is the All-Mighty….." [Az-Zumar(39:5)]

"...He has subjected the Sun and the moon (to continue going round)! Each running (its course) for a term appointed……" [ Ar-Ra'd (13:2)]

"And He it is Who has created the night and the day, and the Sun and the moon, each in an orbit running." [Al-Anbiya(21:33)]

"Allah merges the night into the day, and merges the day into the night, and has subjected the Sun and the moon, each running its course for a term appointed; and that Allah is aware of what you do." [Luqman(31:29)]

I'll also suggest that the interested reader to go through Al-Baqarah (2:258), Al-Kahf (18:86, 18:90) and Ta-Ha(20:130) to affirm the concept that Quran clearly states that Sun is moving.

Let us look at the Noble Verses that Mr. Avijit Roy raised and some of the details and analysis about them:

"Hast thou not Turned thy vision to one who disputed with Abraham About his Lord, because God had granted him power? Abraham said: 'My Lord is He Who Giveth life and death.' He said: 'I give life and death'. Said Abraham: 'But it is God that causeth the sun to rise from the east: Do thou then cause him to rise from the West.' Thus was he confounded who (in arrogance) rejected faith. Nor doth God Give guidance to a people unjust. (The Noble Quran, 2:258)"

This Noble Verse has no scientific error. Here Abraham, the father of Ishmael and Isaac, peace be upon them, was trying to explain to his people that there is a GOD Almighty bigger and Greater than their idol gods. He causes the sun to rise from the east and set in the west, which their gods can't do.

"God is He Who raised the heavens without any pillars that ye can see; is firmly established on the throne (of authority); He has subjected the sun and the moon (to his Law)! Each one runs (its course) for a term appointed. He doth regulate all affairs, explaining the signs in detail, that ye may believe with certainty in the meeting with your Lord. And it is He Who spread out The earth, and set thereon Mountains standing firm, And (flowing) rivers: and fruit of every kind He made In pairs, two and two: He draweth the Night as a veil O'er the Day. Behold, verily In these things there are Signs For those who consider! (The Noble Quran, 13:2-3)"

In these Noble Verses, we see Allah Almighty declaring that the sun and the moon will keep running in their orbits until their time is up. This is scientifically been proven to be true and their time will end when the Cosmic Crunch occurs, which also was mentioned in the Noble Quran.

Also, "He Who spread out The earth" is "Wa huwa Al-lathi MADDA Al-Ard" in Arabic. The word "MADDA" which was translated as "spread out" actually means "expand" or "made bigger" or "grew". So the Noble Verse should read as "He Who expanded The earth". This Noble Verse doesn't at all suggest that the earth is flat. It simply means that Allah Almighty made the earth big enough to contain GOD Almighty's creations on earth without crowding or lack of space.

Notice also the scientific claim "and fruit of every kind He made In pairs, two and two:", which read in Arabic as "Wa min kulli al-thimar jaalaa feeha ZAWJAYN ITHNAYN". "Zawjayn Ithnayn" literally means either "two pairs" or "a married couple of two". "Zawjayn" either means "pair" or "married couple" or "joined couple" or "united couple", and "ithnayn" means "two".

So the Noble Verse could also be translated as "and fruit of every kind He made in a couple of two", which would coincide to a male and a female.

Important Note: No matter how you translate the Noble Verses, how is it possible for anyone 1400 years ago to even guess that even fruits are formed by male and female sexual connection.

The following is the commentary of Minister (Sheikh) Abdullah Yusuf Ali regarding Noble Verse 13:3:

"Plants like animals have their reproductive apparatus - male stamens and female pistils. In most cases the same flower combines both stamens and pistils, but in some cases these organs are specialised in separate flowers, and in some cases, even in separate trees. The date palm of Arabia and the Papaya of India, are instances of fruit trees which are unisexual. (Cf. 20:53 and 31:10)" [2]

" 'He Who has made for you The earth like a carpet Spread out; has enabled you To go about therein by roads (And channels); and has sent Down water from the sky.' With it have We produced Diverse pairs of plants Each separate from the others. (The Noble Quran, 20:53)"

In this Noble Verse we clearly see Allah Almighty describing the production of the plants through plants unisex.

I want to comment on the translation "The earth like a carpet Spread out", which is "Al-ard MAHDA". "Al-ard" means "the earth" and "mahda" means "to straighten" or "to make straight", or "to comfort (as in mahdi, the comfortor)" or "alleviate".

For instance, When workers build streets, they comfort (mahd) or alleviate the land for us to be able to drive our cars on it.

Again, the Noble Verse doesn't suggest that the earth is flat. It says that Allah Almighty alleviated the land for us "to go about therein by roads".

"He created the heavens Without any pillars that ye Can see; He set On the earth mountains Standing firm, lest it Should shake with you; And He scattered through it Beasts of all kinds. We send down rain From the sky, and produce On the earth every kind Of noble creature, in pairs. (The Noble Quran, 31:10)"

"I think that sex life in plants is referred to, as in 13:3, where see n. 1804, though the pairs here may refer to animals also. "Noble" (karim) may refer to the more beneficent plants and trees (and animals), which Allah has created for man's use." [3]

"Until, when he reached the setting of the sun, he found it set in a spring of murky water: Near it he found a People: We said: 'O Zul-qarnain! (thou hast authority,) either to punish them, or to treat them with kindness.' (The Noble Quran, 18:86)"

"Until, when he came to the rising of the sun, he found it rising on a people for whom We had provided no covering protection against the sun. (The Noble Quran, 18:90)"

"Therefore be patient with what they say, and celebrate (constantly) the praises of thy Lord, before the rising of the sun, and before its setting; yea, celebrate them for part of the hours of the night, and at the sides of the day: that thou mayest have (spiritual) joy. (The Noble Quran, 20:130)"

1- The sun had always risen from the east and set in the west in a constant circular motion. To our human perspective, the sun had always rose from the east, and set in the west, and then goes under the earth to rise back from the east and so on.

2- The sun could not physically set on a lake or Spring, because that area of water could not have space or hole under it where the sun would go through it to then go under the earth so it would rise back up again from the east.

3- Not a single Muslim scholar interpreted this Noble Verse as the SUN SETTING INSIDE THE Mercy spring water.

4- On the contrary in point #3, the Muslim scholars were the first to recognize earth as a spherical globe.

5- If the verses were to be taken literally, then the sun would have to set in the west, and would have to then rise back from the west, and then set in the east and then rise back from the east and so on.

Did the sun ever bounce back and forth between the east and the west in its rising and setting?

6- If we take the above Noble Verses LITERALLY, then this means that the sun would have to bounce back and forth between the west and the east.

7- While the Noble Verses above don't give specific timing on how long it took Zul-Qarnayn to roam through the lands, but people back then were believed to be huge. It was much easier for people to roam through the lands on foot than what we can do today. This means that a person could walk through a great area of land before he/she tires out.

8- Clearly, the setting of the sun, is a figurative speech indicating that he reached a town with a spring or lake in it, and he meditated through the beautiful view of the setting of the sun on that town.

9- Some might say that the Noble Verse meant to say that the sun set on a place or through a hole near that Spring. In this case, this interpretation had refuted their "Literal Speech" interpretation, because they now had NULLIFIED their point and fixed position about the sun setting exactly in that mercy lake or spring. Since they now agree that it doesn't NECESSARILY mean that the sun literally set on the water, then the "setting through a hole near the water" claim is only and interpretation without clear cut certainty and proofs.

Having established point #9, we now can indisputably say that the Speech in the above Noble Verses is Figurative and not Literal. Otherwise, we are left with the explanation of why the sun never rose from the west. Not even once!

Here the rising and the setting of the sun have nothing to do with the earth's or the sun's rotations, nor does it say that there is a hole in the earth that the sun sets in. In Noble Verses 18:86 and 90, it was talking about the morning and the evening times, and in Noble Verse 20:130, Muslims are commanded to praise and glorify Allah Almighty before dawn and after sun set.

Even today we still use phrases like "sun rise" and "sun set", despite the fact that we know that the earth rotates around the sun. The Noble Verses above do not make any DIRECT claim about the sun rotating around the earth, nor do they suggest that the sun rises from a hole and sets in another hole on earth.

Important Note: Given our advanced astronomical knowledge today, if a person wanted to describe two events where the first one occurred after he saw the sun rise while looking at the big sea at dawn, and the second one occurred after he saw the sun set on the big sea at evening, how different today would he say it from Noble Verses 18:86 and 90?

The weakness that the critics of the Noble Quran and Islam have is that: No where in the Noble Quran do we see any direct scientifically wrong claim about anything in astronomy as we clearly see it in the Bible and the Hindu pagan books in Psalm 104:5 and Ecclesiastes 1:5, and Rik Veda and Rik Veda 10-173-4 respectively as clearly shown above in the article.

No where in the Noble Quran nor any Saying of our Prophet does it say nonsense like "the earth is set on foundations and it can never move" or "the sun hurries back to where it rises", etc...

"It is He Who created the Night and the Day, and the sun and the moon: all (the celestial bodies) swim along, each in its rounded course. (The Noble Quran, 21:33)"

"Seest thou not that God merges Night into Day and he merges Day into Night; that He has subjected the sun, and the moon (to his Law), each running its course for a term appointed; and that God is well-acquainted with all that ye do? (The Noble Quran, 31:29)"

"And the sun runs his course for a period determined for him: that is the decree of (Him), the Exalted in Might, the All-Knowing. (The Noble Quran, 36:38)"

"He created the heavens and the earth in true (proportions): He makes the Night overlap the Day, and the Day overlap the Night: He has subjected the sun and the moon (to His law): Each one follows a course for a time appointed. Is not He the Exalted in Power - He Who forgives again and again? (The Noble Quran, 39:5)"

The following article clearly explains the above Noble Verses, especially Noble Verse 21:33. It shows how early Muslim scholars all agreed that the Earth was round. It is only the later Muslim scholars in the 1500s that deviated from this belief.

Ibn Taymiyah (d. 728 H / 1328 CE), may Allah be merciful with him, in his famous treatise, ar-Risalah al-'Arshiyah, refutes the position of the neo-Platonic philosophers who identified Allah's Throne with the ninth celestial sphere (Majmu'ul-Fatawa, Vol. 6, pp. 546-ff). In the course of his response, Ibn Taymiyah discusses the question of the earth is it round or flat? He writes:

[That] celestial bodies are round (istidaaratul-aflaak) - as it is the statement of astronomers and mathematicians (ahlul-hay'ah wal-hisab) - it is [likewise] the statement of the scholars of the Muslims; as Abul-Hasan ibn al-Manaadi, Abu Muhammad ibn Hazm, Abul-Faraj ibn al-Jawzi and others have quoted: that the Muslim scholars are in agreement [that all celestial bodies are round]. Indeed Allah - taala - has said: And He (i.e., Allah) it is Who created the night and the day, the sun and the moon. They float, each in a falak (The Noble Quran, 21:33). Ibn Abbas says: A falaka like that of a spinning wheel.

Ibn Taymiyah continues: The [word] falak [in the Arabic language] means that which is round. From which is the statement [of the Arabs]: <<The young girl's breasts have ta-fa-la-ka when they become round.>> (Vol. 6, pp. 566-567)

In an earlier passage (Vol. 6, pp. 565-566), Ibn Taymiyah discusses why those on the other side of the earth are not below us, just like we are not below them. He writes:

As for the other side of the earth it is surrounded by water. [Note: Admittedly, Ibn Taymiyah - as all Muslim scholars of his day- were not aware of the Americas and believed that the Old World was encompassed by an ocean.] There are no human beings or anything like that [on that side]. Even if we were to imagine that people were on that side of the earth, such individuals would still be on the face of the earth. Those on that side of the earth are not below those who are on this side; just like those on this side are not below those on that side. For as all spherical bodies surround a center point (markaz), no one side of a spherical body is under the other, nor is the north pole under the south [Note: Unlike Western maps, Muslim cartographers (map-makers) would draw the world with the south-side up.] or vice versa.

In another passage (Vol. 5, p. 150) Ibn Taymiyah clearly states the earth is spherical.

Significantly Abu Ya'la in his work Tabaqatal-Hanabilah (Biographical Entries of the Hanabali Scholars) quotes the unanimous consensus (ijma) of all Muslim scholars that the earth is round.

This consensus was mentioned by the scholars of the second generation (the students of the Prophet's Companions) and was based upon Ibn Abbas' explanation to 21:33 (previously cited) and other evidences.

The later belief of Muslim scholars, like as-Suyuti (died 911 AH / 1505 CE) that the earth is flat represents a deviation from this earlier opinion.

Now, I quote the following verses which clearly state that according to the Qur'an the Earth is fixed.

"And among His Signs is that the sky and the Earth stand by His Command…." [ Ar-Rum(30:25)]

"Verily! Allah grasps the heavens and the Earth lest they move away from their places,…" [ Fatir (35:41)]

"He has created the heavens without any pillars, that you see and has set on the Earth firm mountains, lest it should shake with you……" [Luqman (31:10)]

"It is god who has made for you the Earth as a resting place and sky as a canopy" [Al-Baqara (02:22)]

"And He has affixed into the Earth mountains standing firm, lest it should shake with you, ..." [An-Nahl (16:15)]

Don't be surprised by these verses. Ancient people did not have the accurate astronomical knowledge. They did not know the actual fact behind Sunset and Sunrise. They had a severe problem to solve --"Where exactly does the Sun stay at night !!!".

Let us look at the Noble Verses that Mr. Avijit Roy raised and some of the details and analysis about them:

"Who has made the earth your couch, and the heavens your canopy; and sent down rain from the heavens; and brought forth therewith Fruits for your sustenance; then set not up rivals unto God when ye know (the truth). (The Noble Quran, 2:22)"

There are no false scientific claims in this Noble Verse. No where here do we see Allah Almighty claiming that the earth is set and can never move.

"And He has set up on the earth mountains standing firm, lest it should shake with you; and rivers and roads; that ye may guide yourselves; (The Noble Quran, 16:15)"

"He created the heavens without any pillars that ye can see; He set on the earth mountains standing firm, lest it should shake with you; and He scattered through it beasts of all kinds. We send down rain from the sky, and produce on the earth every kind of noble creature, in pairs. (The Noble Quran, 31:10)"

Actually what Mr. Avijit Roy doesn't see in these Noble Verses and in Geology is that it's been scientifically proven that the mountains and the hills do actually help the earth to stay balanced during it's rotation around itself. If we didn't have those mountains and hills, the earth would be in a constant shake because of the high speed in rotation.

This Noble Verse was addressed in good details above. I will paste what I already wrote about it and about Noble Verses 18:90 and 20:130 for the reader's convenience:

"Until, when he came to the rising of the sun, he found it rising on a people for whom We had provided no covering protection against the sun. (The Noble Quran, 18:90)"

3- Not a single Muslim scholar interpreted this Noble Verse as the SUN SETTING INSIDE THE Mercy spring water.

Did the sun ever bounce back and forth between the east and the west in its rising and setting?

6- If we take the above Noble Verses LITERALLY, then this means that the sun would have to bounce back and forth between the west and the east.

No where in the Noble Quran nor any Saying of our Prophet does it say nonsense like "the earth is set on foundations and it can never move" or "the sun hurries back to where it rises", etc...

"Or, Who has made the earth firm to live in; made rivers in its midst; set thereon mountains immovable; and made a separating bar between the two bodies of flowing water? (can there be another) god besides God? Nay, most of them know not. (The Noble Quran, 27:61)"

Again, in this Noble Verse there are no false scientific claims. The Arabic word that was translated as "firm" in "Qarara", which also means "solid" or "compressed". This is all normal and scientifically fine, because Allah Almighty claims in the Noble Quran that life originated from water. He created every living creature from water. So when earth was originally a body of water and then Allah Almighty created land and creatures from it which by the way it's been scientifically proven to be true , then Allah Almighty's claim about Him making the earth "firm" in Noble Verse 27:61 is true.

No where does the Noble Verse suggest that the earth can never move as the Bible and the Hindu Rik Veda falsely claim.

"And among His Signs is this, that heaven and earth stand by His Command: then when He calls you, by a single call, from the earth, behold, ye (straightway) come forth. (The Noble Quran, 30:25)"

This Noble Verse doesn't make any scientific claim about the earth not moving. The word "stand" is "taqooma", which literally means "stand", "stand up", "stand to", "stand for", "continue to do something or work (as in "She is still taking care of her parents", "hiya ma tazal taqoom bi walidayha")".

And her taking care of her parents means also that she is standing up for them. This is the relationship between the words "stand" and "continue to do something" in the word "taqoom" or "taqooma" in Arabic.

So Noble Verse 30:25 could also read as "And among His Signs is this, that heaven and earth CONTINUE TO WORK by His Command...."

The words "by His Command" clearly prove that Allah Almighty means that everything in the heaven and the earth works and continues to work only under His Command and as He desires. This is verified in the Noble Verse after 30:25:

"To Him belongs every being That is in the heavens And on earth: all are Devoutly obedient to Him. (The Noble Quran, 30:26)"

"It is God Who sustains the heavens and the earth, lest they cease (to function): and if they should fail, there is none - not one - can sustain them thereafter: Verily He is Most Forbearing, Oft-Forgiving. (The Noble Quran, 35:41)"

Again, this Noble Verse doesn't make any scientific claim about the earth not moving. Just because Allah Almighty is supporting the heavens and the earth by "sustaining" them, it doesn't mean that He is DIRECTLY claiming that the earth is standing still and it can never move as the Bible and the Hindu Rik Veda DIRECTLY claim.

The support that Allah Almighty is providing the earth is preventing it from ceasing to function. Only Him can sustain it: "if they should fail, there is none - not one - can sustain them thereafter". It is Allah Almighty that makes sure that we always have enough Oxygen to breath, have enough food to eat, have enough water to drink, have reasonable temperature on earth to enable us to survive, have lesser natural disasters that could wipe us all out in a heart beat such as volcanoes and harocains and earth quakes, etc....

I don't see any scientific errors in this Noble Verse or in any of the ones above so far.

The Qur'an says that one of the righteous men of God's servants saw the Sun setting in a certain place of the Earth-in a particular a well full of water and mud. There, this man found some people. Let us read what is recorded in the Qur'an (chapter "the Cave", verse 86):

"When he reached the setting place of the Sun, he found it setting in a muddy spring and found a people thereabout. We said: 'O Dhul-Qarneyn! Either punish or show them kindness" [Al-Kahf (18:86)].

Mr. Avijit Roy had already mentioned this Noble Verse twice in his article before, and I have replied twice to it. This Noble Verse was addressed in good details above. I will paste what I already wrote about it and about Noble Verses 18:90 and 20:130 for the reader's convenience:

"Until, when he came to the rising of the sun, he found it rising on a people for whom We had provided no covering protection against the sun. (The Noble Quran, 18:90)"

3- Not a single Muslim scholar interpreted this Noble Verse as the SUN SETTING INSIDE THE Mercy spring water.

Did the sun ever bounce back and forth between the east and the west in its rising and setting?

6- If we take the above Noble Verses LITERALLY, then this means that the sun would have to bounce back and forth between the west and the east.

No where in the Noble Quran nor any Saying of our Prophet does it say nonsense like "the earth is set on foundations and it can never move" or "the sun hurries back to where it rises", etc...

Muhammed also failed to give the correct answer to one of his shahabas about the sunset. Let's analyze the Prophet's speech in the Hadith (Where does the Sun go to at night? Volume 4 Number 421)

The Prophet asked me at Sunset, "Do you know where the Sun goes (at the time of Sunset)?" I replied, "Allah and His Apostle know better." He said, "It goes (i.e. travels) till it prostrates Itself underneath the Throne and takes the permission to rise again, and it is permitted and then (a time will come when) it will be about to prostrate itself but its prostration will not be accepted, and it will ask permission to go on its course but it will not be permitted, but it will be ordered to return whence it has come and so it will rise in the west. And that is the interpretation of the Statement of Allah: "And the Sun Runs its fixed course For a term (decreed). that is The Decree of (Allah) The Exalted in Might, The All-Knowing."

What would you understand from the speech of Muhammad, who is considered by the Muslim as the greatest (***!!!***) scientists and philosopher ever the world produced ? Is it that "the Sun prostrates underneath the throne of Allah at night" should be considered as a scientific fact according to the knowledge of modern science or does it just resembles the inaccurate scientific knowledge of the ancient Arabs?

Let us look at all of the Sayings of Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him regarding the setting of the sun:

Narrated Abu Dhar: "The Prophet asked me at sunset, 'Do you know where the sun goes (at the time of sunset)?' I replied, 'Allah and His Apostle know better.' He said, 'It goes (i.e. travels) till it prostrates Itself underneath the Throne and takes the permission to rise again, and it is permitted and then (a time will come when) it will be about to prostrate itself but its prostration will not be accepted, and it will ask permission to go on its course but it will not be permitted, but it will be ordered to return whence it has come and so it will rise in the west. And that is the interpretation of the Statement of Allah: 'And the sun Runs its fixed course For a term (decreed). that is The Decree of (Allah) The Exalted in Might, The All-Knowing.' (36.38) (Translation of Sahih Bukhari, Beginning of Creation, Volume 4, Book 54, Number 421)"

Narrated Abu Huraira: "Allah's Apostle said, 'The Hour will not be established........and till the sun rises from the West. So when the sun will rise and the people will see it (rising from the West) they will all believe (embrace Islam) but that will be the time when: (As Allah said,) 'No good will it do to a soul to believe then, if it believed not before, nor earned good (by deeds of righteousness) through its Faith.' (6.158) And the Hour will be established while two men spreading a garment in front of them but they will not be able to sell it, nor fold it up; and the Hour will be established when a man has milked his she-camel and has taken away the milk but he will not be able to drink it; and the Hour will be established before a man repairing a tank (for his livestock) is able to water (his animals) in it; and the Hour will be established when a person has raised a morsel (of food) to his mouth but will not be able to eat it.' (Translation of Sahih Bukhari, Afflictions and the End of the World, Volume 9, Book 88, Number 237)"

In the two Sayings (Hadiths) above, no where do we see a claim about the earth being set on foundations and can never move. It is important to know that unlike the Bible and the Hindu Rik Veda, no where in any Islamic book do we see any false claim about the earth's shape and astronomical activities.

It is important to know that the claims of the Noble Quran are generally more precise and accurate in terms of scientific explanation than the Sayings of Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him. This is not my way to "ANSWER AWAY" any obvious error here.

I just want the reader to be fully aware that as far as the Muslims are concerned, the Noble Quran comes first. It is the one and only "Holy Book" in Islam. Prophet Muhammad's Sayings come secondary. Even though they are very important to us, especially in the commands that deal with social issues, but we don't regard them as much as we regard the Noble Quran especially in the extremely sensitive and controversial issues which we face today that they didn't face 1400 years ago, because Prophet Muhammad as a human being didn't know everything about the people and things in the generations to come after him.

In fact, Allah Almighty told Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him and the Muslims that He only shared little of His Knowledge to us:

"They ask thee concerning the Spirit (of inspiration). Say: 'The Spirit (cometh) by command of my Lord: of knowledge it is only a little that is communicated to you, (O men!)' (The Noble Quran, Noble Verse 17:85)"

And Allah Almighty made the Noble Quran be for every time and every place, that no matter how much we advance, we will always find the Noble Quran steps ahead of us. Allah Almighty didn't give the knowledge to Prophet Muhammad to explain every scientific thing in the Noble Quran, because they were impossible to be comprehended by people at that time. Take the following examples:

If the above Sayings were Noble Verses in the Noble Quran, then we would have absolutely nothing to argue about here. But since it is a Saying from our Prophet, then it not only comes under questioning and investigation, since the Sayings of Prophet Muhammad were documented on paper in a 200 years span, but also the description and the claims of it were made for people that existed 1400 years ago. So not all of them could be narrated as accurate as our Prophet said them.

Note on the "social issues": Allah Almighty said: "O ye who believe! Obey God, and obey the Apostle, and those charged with authority among you. If ye differ in anything among yourselves, refer it to God and His Apostle, if ye do believe in God and the Last Day: That is best, and most suitable for final determination. (The Noble Quran, 4:59)" The word "obey" is for the social issues and problems that people face in their daily lives. This is verified in "If ye differ in anything among yourselves refer it to God and His Apostle..." No where in the Noble Quran does Allah Almighty tell the Muslims to take their scientific knowledge from Prophet Muhammad, especially when knowing that the Sayings of our Prophet peace be upon hi were documented on paper in a 200 years span. So not all of them could be narrated as accurate as our Prophet said them.

Important Note: That is why I said that we don't regard the Sayings of our Prophet as we regard the Noble Quran for the issues that are extremely sensitive and controversial which we face today that didn't exist 1400 years ago, because Prophet Muhammad as a human being didn't know everything about the people and things in the generations to come after him. Allah Almighty purposely didn't grant Prophet Muhammad that knowledge.

Having said all of that, let me make the point that I don't believe that there is any scientific error in the Sayings above, but rather a lack of explanation (to our current standards) to people who didn't know anything about real astronomy as we know it today. The Sayings above are referring to what we call today the "Cosmic Crunch", which is the event that will take place when the Universe comes to an end.

The Muslims who still believe that the Qur'an is unique, the Qur'an is amazing, the Qur'an is miracle, the Quran is scientific, the Quran is accurate....... for them I place a simple challenge here:

In Arabic "ARD" means the Earth and "FALAK" is rotation/movement. Can you show me any of the verses from the Qur'an that contains these two words one after another ?

I'm sure that you will not be able to because it is not stated anywhere in the Qur'an. I give you my challenge is this regard : If you can prove it, I'll apologize to you all for my previous misconceptions, delete this page from the World Wide Web and convert to Islam at once.

"When you look at the mountains, you think that they are standing still. But they are moving, like the clouds. Such is the manufacture of GOD, who perfected everything. He is fully Cognizant of everything you do. (The Noble Quran, 27:88)"

Why did Allah Almighty say in the Noble Quran that the mountains pass like the clouds in the sky do? We all know that to humans, the earth doesn't really move. Everything is standing still, except during the times of earth quakes.

So what is the purpose from Allah Almighty telling us that the mountains are moving? By the way, the "mountains" here is not just limited to mountains, but rather it includes the whole ground we're standing on, since like I said, to us humans, the earth doesn't move, except during the times of earth quakes. And the mountains are obviously connected with the ground.

By the way, clouds never really move away. They only rotate around the earth and travel above the earth; above land to land. So if the mountains (the whole ground of earth since the mountains are part of earth) are "moving, like the clouds", then this means that the earth is also moving in circle around its axle.

So, why didn't Allah Almighty just say so? Allah Almighty 1500 years ago did not want to make irrational and CRAZY statements that would've been refused and considered as absurd and utter nonsense to the people who lacked a great deal of knowledge about astronomy and geology. The Miracle of the Noble Quran is that while Allah Almighty made the statement in Noble Verse 27:88 acceptable to the people back then, He also included the scientific claim in it for us today, and told us that the earth does indeed move around its axle.

"And the earth We have spread out; set thereon mountains firm and immovable; and produced therein all kinds of things in due balance. (The Noble Quran, 15:19)"

"He created the heavens [sky] without any pillars that ye can see; He set on the earth mountains standing firm, lest it should shake with you; and He scattered through it beasts of all kinds. we send down rain from the sky, and produce on the earth every kind of noble creature, in pairs. (The Noble Quran, 31:10)"

"And He has set up on the earth mountains standing firm, lest it should shake with you; and rivers and roads; that ye may guide yourselves, and marks and signposts and by the stars (men) guide themselves. (The Noble Quran, 16:15-16)"

The mountains, like pegs, have deep roots embedded in the ground. (Anatomy of the Earth, Cailleux, p. 220)
Allah Almighty said: "Have We not made the earth as a bed, and the mountains as pegs? (The Noble Quran, 78:6-7)"
He the Almighty also said: "And He has set firm mountains in the earth so it would not shake with you....(The Noble Quran, 16:15)"

So, why did Allah Almighty say in the Noble Quran 1500 years ago that the earth is moving like the clouds?

"The day is defined to be the time between one dawn (or noon) and the next' i.e., the day is defined with respect to the position of the Sun in the sky. Now, the earth revolves around the sun in the sky and so the time taken for the Sun to come to the same position in the sky is longer than the time taken for the Earth to rotate once around itself. You can convince yourself about this by drawing a picture of the Earth in orbit around the Sun and rotating around itself at the same time.

So, the Earth's rotation period is actually 4 minutes less than what we call as one day. As a result of this, the Sun's position in the sky at noon is roughly fixed, but the stars slowly drift apart. So, the stars which are overhead at midnight today will slowly move in the sky until they will be overhead at noon 6 months apart.

If instead we defined a day to be the time taken by the Earth to rotate round itself exactly once, then as you mention, the Sun will be overhead on some day at midnight."

"It is He Who created the Night and the Day, and the sun and the moon: all (the celestial bodies) swim along, each in its rounded course. (The Noble Quran, 21:33)"

Therefore, I will answer your challenge by saying yes, He didn't directly and clearly talk about it as he did with the other scientific facts such as sending the iron to earth from space through asteroids, but he also didn't not support it. The Arabic word "falak" used for planets and planets' movements in Noble Verse 21:33 and others is very deep. It certainly can be interpreted in several ways. The Noble Quran is always several steps ahead of us every time we have a new scientific discovery.

The Bible and the Pagan books on the other hand, do denounce the idea of the roundness and the movement of the earth as shown below:

"He set the earth on its foundations; it can never be moved. (From the NIV Bible, Psalm 104:5)"

"The sun rises and the sun sets, and hurries back to where it rises. (From the NIV Bible, Ecclesiastes 1:5)"

"Sabita made this Earth fixed by different devices (like hills and mountains) and sustains sky without pillars so that it does not move" [RIK VEDA]

"The sky is immovable, the Earth is immovable and these mountains are also immovable" [RIK VEDA 10-173-4]

"An unbiased study of Quran shows that far from being a “miracle” that book is a hoax. Once Quran is scrutinized with rational thinking, almost every sentence proves to be false. Quran is replete with scientific heresies, historic blunders, mathematical mistakes, logical absurdities and grammatical errors. Could possibly the author of this Universe be as ignorant as it appears to be in Quran?" --- Dr. Ali Sina

Well, I also without being biased toward the Noble Quran advise Dr. Ali Sina to read the following section of articles that directly debunk his unlearned comment:

I have directly refuted many of the false claims said about the Noble Quran and Islam which were similar to Dr. Ali Sina's.

Some readers may think that I am against the Qur'an because I was born into a different religion. This is not true (although I was born in a Hindu family, I identify myself as an Atheist and I do not hold any specific (so called) religious values (for details please read some of my posts in mukto-mona discussion forum). I used some of the verses of the Qur'an and the Hadith as examples because of the claims of some so-called scientists and philosopher of Islam regarding the scientific accuracies of Qur'an on a regular basis. Frankly speaking, every divine(?) scripture such as the Bible, the Gita and the Vedas hold the same kind of scientific misconceptions. For example here I quote some verses from the Bible and the Vedas to illustrate the same misconception (The Earth is fixed and the Sun rotates):

"The Earth is permanently established. It will not move" [PSLAMS-93/1,96/10 and 104/5]

or,
"Sabita made this Earth fixed by different devices (like hills and mountains) and sustains sky without pillars so that it does not move" [RIK VEDA]

or,
"The sky is immovable, the Earth is immovable and these mountains are also immovable" [RIK VEDA 10-173-4] etc.

Actually, as I explained before, people of the ancient world did not have proper scientific knowledge, they had numerous wrong concepts about our solar system - They erroneously believed that the Earth is fixed and is the center of the universe, while the Sun, moon and the planets move around the Earth. Their fallacious reasoning made them conclude that the sky is a canopy of the Earth and can sustain itself without pillars by the grace of God (see the verses that I quoted above) and the firm mountains have been created by God to prevent the Earth from shaking - beliefs which are not true. So the ancient books like the Quran, the Bible, the Gita, the Mohabharat and the Vedas etc. which are written by ancient people are not free from scientific misconceptions, flaws and contradictions.

The difference between the Noble Quran, and the Bible and the Pagan Gita, the Mohabharat and the Vedas books is that:

1- The Noble Quran never denounced the theory of the rotation and the movement of the earth around itself and the sun respectively. The Bible and the Pagan Gita, the Mohabharat and the Vedas clearly did.

2- The Noble Quran is very accurate in its scientific claims, where the Bible and the Pagan books aren't.

4- It is arguable to say that Allah Almighty in the Noble Quran didn't support "the earth moves around the sun" theory, because in Noble Verse 21:33 and the others mentioned above, He clearly talked about the movement of the planets in space. Yes, he didn't directly and clearly talk about it as he did with the other scientific facts such as sending the iron to earth from space through asteroids, but he also didn't not support it. The Arabic word "falak" used for planets and planets' movements in Noble Verse 21:33 and others is very deep. It certainly can be interpreted in several ways. As I mentioned in point #3, the Noble Quran is always several steps ahead of us every time we have a new scientific discovery.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank Mr. Avijit Roy for giving me the opportunity to further explore Islam and the other religions, which had resulted me in further appreciating Islam and stronger believing in it.

1- The Meaning of the Holy Qur'an.
Author: Abdullah Yusuf Ali.
Published by: Amana Publications, 10710 Tucker Street, Suite B, Beltsville, Maryland 20705-2223 USA.
Telephone: (301) 595-5777.
Fax: (301) 595-5888.
ISBN: 0-91597-59-0 (HC).