The study of heavenly bodies generator#

Here is the text in question: (Surah An-Nur: 35) “God is the light of the heavens and the earth. It is nevertheless of great interest to offer an account of the comparison it contains on the subject of the word that would seem to designate a ‘planet’. The eminently spiritual nature of its deeper meaning stands forth, and is moreover the subject of much debate among experts in exegesis. Joseph’s dream (sum 12) refers to eleven of them, but the description is, by definition, an imaginary one.Ī good definition of the meaning of the word kaukab in the Qur’an seems to have been given in a very famous verse. The Qur’an would seem to designate these by the word kaukab (plural kawakib) without stating their number. Three have been discovered in recent times: Uranus, Neptune and Pluto. While one may presume that others exist elsewhere, the only ones known are those in the solar system.įive planets other than Earth were known to the ancients: Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn. They revolve around the sun, Earth being one of them. It is difficult to say whether these are referred to in the Qur’an with the same exact meaning that is given to the heavenly bodies in the present day.

The same word is moreover used to designate shooting stars (Surah As-Saffaat, verse 10): the latter are the result of combustion. The evening star is qualified in the Qur’an by the word takib meaning ‘that which pierces through something’ (here the night shadows).

Surah At-Tariq, verses 1-3: “By the sky and the Night-Visitor, who will tell thee what the Night-Visitor is, the Star of piercing brightness.” To make it clear that the object so designated is a star, a qualifying phrase is added as in the following Surah:

The study of heavenly bodies generator#

either generator of light or mere reflector of light received. The word designates a visible heavenly body without saying of what kind, i.e.

The word ‘star’ appears 13 times in the Qur’an (najm, plural nujum) it comes from a root meaning to appear, to come into sight. They are heavenly bodies that produce their own light. They are the scene of various physical phenomena of which the easiest to observe is their generation of light. There is nothing in the text of the Qur’an that contradicts what we know today about these two celestial bodies.Īs we know, the stars are heavenly bodies like the sun. It is known that the sun is a star that generates intense heat and light by its internal combustions, and that the Moon,, which is an inert body (on its external layers at least) merely reflects the light received from the sun. What is interesting to note here is the sober quality of the comparisons, and the absence in the text of the Qur’an of any elements of comparison that might have prevailed at the time and which in our day would appear as phantasmagorial. The comparisons found in the Qur’an on this subject are therefore quite normal. The sun however is compared to a torch (siraj) or a blazing (wahhaj) lamp.Ī man of Prophet Muhammad’s (peace be upon him) time could easily distinguish between the sun, a blazing heavenly body well known to the inhabitants of the desert, and the Moon, the body of the cool of the night. Here the moon is defined as a body that gives light (munir) from the same root as nur (the light applied to the Moon). Surah An-Naba, verses 12-13: “We have built above you seven strong (heavens) and placed a blazing lamp.” Surah Nuh, verses 15-16: “Did you see how God created seven heavens one above another and made the moon a light therein and made the sun a lamp?” Surah Al-Furqan, verse 61: “Blessed is the One Who placed the constellations in heaven and placed therein a lamp and a moon giving light.” The difference between sun and moon will be made clearer by further quotes from the Qur’an. The same author attributes to the substantive in question the meaning of ‘light.’ In fact there is little difference in meaning since diya belongs to a root (dw) which, according to Kazimirski’s authoritative Arabic/French dictionary, means ‘to be bright, to shine’ (e.g. This translation would appear to be more correct than those given by others, where the two terms are inverted. The sun is a shining glory (diya) and the moon a light (nur).