The Motion of the Sun Around the Earth and the Clear Islamic Belief from the Quran and Sunnah

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Ibn Bāz (may Allāh’s mercy be upon him): “As for the motion of the earth and its rotation, indeed I reject it, and I have clarified the proofs regarding its futility, but I do not declare one who speaks with it to be an unbeliever. However, I do declare one to be an unbeliever who says: ‘The sun is fixed without motion because that goes against what is clear in the Noble Qur’ān and the authentic pure Sunnah.'” (Majmū Fatāwā Ibn Bāz 9/228)

When the doubters read what we have to say about the motion of the Sun and the stillness of the earth, they scoff at us because they think they have the science ‘locked down’! Let us consider for a moment what they expect us to believe and what they indoctrinate children with:

Now, let us consider the Revelation sent to the Prophet Muhammad (salallāhu ʿalaihi wasallam) and I ask that you measure that with your God-given senses and your capacity to detect and experience the stimuli in your environment using your sight, hearing, perceptions, etc. So, look in the sky and watch the Sun and its motion as it rises, travels and sets, look at the steadiness of the mountains, the flow of rivers into the seas, the stillness of the oceans, the movement of clouds, the falling of the rain, the flight of birds, the constancy of your aeroplane as it flies from one country to another, and so on. All of this points to the truthfulness of what the Quran and Sunnah teach –– and know for sure that scientists are not omniscient beings having (or seeming to have) unlimited knowledge of the workings of the universe as this age of the rise of atheism (and rejection of God) wants people to believe!

حَدَّثَنَا عَيَّاشُ بْنُ الْوَلِيدِ، حَدَّثَنَا وَكِيعٌ، عَنِ الأَعْمَشِ، عَنْ إِبْرَاهِيمَ التَّيْمِيِّ، عَنْ أَبِيهِ، عَنْ أَبِي ذَرٍّ، قَالَ سَأَلْتُ النَّبِيَّ صلى الله عليه وسلم عَنْ قَوْلِهِ ‏{‏وَالشَّمْسُ تَجْرِي لِمُسْتَقَرٍّ لَهَا‏}‏ قَالَ ‏”‏ مُسْتَقَرُّهَا تَحْتَ الْعَرْشِ

Abu Dharr said: I asked the Prophet (salallāhu ‘alaihi wasallam) regarding the verse, “And the sun runs on its course to its settling place.” (Quran 36:38) He said, “Its settling place is underneath Allah’s Throne.” (Bukhari 7433)

حَدَّثَنَا أَبُو نُعَيْمٍ، حَدَّثَنَا الأَعْمَشُ، عَنْ إِبْرَاهِيمَ التَّيْمِيِّ، عَنْ أَبِيهِ، عَنْ أَبِي ذَرٍّ ـ رضى الله عنه ـ قَالَ كُنْتُ مَعَ النَّبِيِّ صلى الله عليه وسلم فِي الْمَسْجِدِ عِنْدَ غُرُوبِ الشَّمْسِ فَقَالَ ‏”‏ يَا أَبَا ذَرٍّ أَتَدْرِي أَيْنَ تَغْرُبُ الشَّمْسُ ‏”‏‏.‏ قُلْتُ اللَّهُ وَرَسُولُهُ أَعْلَمُ‏.‏ قَالَ ‏”‏ فَإِنَّهَا تَذْهَبُ حَتَّى تَسْجُدَ تَحْتَ الْعَرْشِ، فَذَلِكَ قَوْلُهُ تَعَالَى ‏{‏وَالشَّمْسُ تَجْرِي لِمُسْتَقَرٍّ لَهَا ذَلِكَ تَقْدِيرُ الْعَزِيزِ الْعَلِيمِ‏}‏‏”‏

Abu Dharr said: Once I was with the Prophet (salallāhu ‘alaihi wasallam) in the mosque at the time of sunset. The Prophet (salallāhu ‘alaihi wasallam) said, “O Abu Dharr! Do you know where the sun sets?” I replied, “Allah and His Messenger know best.” He said, “It proceeds until it prostrates underneath Allah’s Throne. And that is Allah’s saying: ‘And the sun runs on its course to its settling place.'” (Quran 36:38) (Bukhari, 4802)

فَإِنَّهَا تَذْهَبُ حَتَّى تَسْجُدَ تَحْتَ الْعَرْشِ، فَتَسْتَأْذِنَ فَيُؤْذَنَ لَهَا، وَيُوشِكُ أَنْ تَسْجُدَ فَلاَ يُقْبَلَ مِنْهَا، وَتَسْتَأْذِنَ فَلاَ يُؤْذَنَ لَهَا، يُقَالُ لَهَا ارْجِعِي مِنْ حَيْثُ جِئْتِ‏.‏ فَتَطْلُعُ مِنْ مَغْرِبِهَا

In another narration, the Messenger (salallāhu ‘alaihi wasallam) said: “The Sun proceeds until it prostrates itself under the Throne and seeks permission to rise again, and it is permitted. 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 from where it has come and so it will rise in the West.” (Bukhari 3199)

فَغَزَا فَدَنَا مِنَ الْقَرْيَةِ صَلاَةَ الْعَصْرِ أَوْ قَرِيبًا مِنْ ذَلِكَ فَقَالَ لِلشَّمْسِ إِنَّكِ مَأْمُورَةٌ وَأَنَا مَأْمُورٌ، اللَّهُمَّ احْبِسْهَا عَلَيْنَا ‏فَحُبِسَتْ، حَتَّى فَتَحَ اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ

In a narration, the Messenger (salallāhu ‘alaihi wasallam) said: “The Prophet Yoosha’ (Joshua) carried out a military expedition and when he reached the town at the time or nearly at the time of the ‘Asr prayer, he said to the Sun, “O Sun! You are under Allah’s command and I am under Allah’s command. O Allah stop it from setting on us.” It was stopped until Allah made him victorious.” (Bukhari, 3124) Note the benefit: It was not the earth that stopped, rather it was the Sun.

إن الشمس لم تُحْبَسْ لبَشَرٍ إلا ليوشع لَيَاِلَي سافَرَ إلى بيت المقدس

From Abu Hurairah, the Prophet (salallāhu ‘alaihi wasallam) said: “The Sun was not held back for any human being except Joshua (Yoosha’) as he was marching to Jerusalem.” (Ahmad in Al-Musnad 2/325, Al-Hākim 2/130 – the narration is authentic to the conditions of Bukhari)

يوشع كان محتاجا إلى ذلك؛ لأن القتال كان محرما عليهم بعد غروب الشمس؛ لأجل ما حرم الله عليهم من العمل ليلة السبت، فخاف يوشع عليه السلام.

Ibn Taymiyyah (rahimahullāh) stated: “Joshua was in need of that (i.e. the Sun being held back) because fighting was forbidden after sunset due to the prohibition of Allah upon them from engaging in work on the night before Saturday. So that is what Joshua feared.” (See Minhāj as-Sunnah 1/187)

The same is stated in the Bible (Joshua 10:12): “12: Then Joshua spoke to the Lord in the day when the Lord delivered up the Amorites before the sons of Israel, and he said in the sight of Israel, “O Sun, stand still at Gibeon, And O moon in the valley of Aijalon.” 13: So the sun stood still, and the moon stopped until the nation avenged themselves of their enemies.”

By Abu Khadeejah Abdul-Wāhid

abukhadeejah.com | @AbuKhadeejahSP

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