The Rotation of the Earth and the Rotation of the Sun
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Your Eminence! In our sixth-grade science class, we have a lesson on the rotation of the earth on its axis and around the sun. Is there anything in the Book or the Sunnah that confirms this? And what is the teacher’s position regarding this lesson?
As for whether the earth rotates or not, I do not know of anything in the Qur’an or the Sunnah that supports or refutes it.and His saying, the Exalted: [Al-Nahl: 15] This is the evidence for those who say: the earth does not move.And some say: The earth moves, how is that? [Al-Nahl: 15] Those who said the earth moves said: This is evidence for us.And the others said: This is evidence for us.Well, those who said: It is evidence for us, they said: Allah said: [Al-Nahl: 15] Therefore, it does not move.And the others said: [Al-Nahl: 15] Meaning: that it shakes, and that the shaking indicates the origin of movement.
In any case, I am withholding judgment on this and I cannot say: that it moves or rotates, nor do I say: that it does not rotate; because it has not been established for me in the Qur’an or the Sunnah that this is the case or not the case.
As for the sun, what I believe up to now is that the sun is the one that rotates around the earth, and that the alternation of night and day occurs by the sun running around the earth. This is what I believe; because this is the apparent meaning of the speech of Allah, and Allah Mighty and Majestic is the one who created the sun and the one who created the earth, and He knows it better than anyone else.Allah, Blessed and Exalted, said: [Al-Kahf: 17] There are two pronouns here now,Rises means: the sun,Withdraws means: the sun,If the rising of the sun were due to the rotation of the earth, he would have said: And you see the sun when it rises over them -Meaning: It rises and comes to us - when it rises it withdraws [Al-Kahf: 17] (when it sets) the pronoun refers to the sun (it shades them) the pronoun refers to the sun as well.And Allah the Exalted said about Sulayman: [Sad: 32] The sun was hidden by the veil,If that were due to the rotation of the earth, he would have said: until it was hidden from them,Meaning: the sun by the veil,And Allah the Exalted said about Dhul-Qarnayn: [Al-Kahf: 86] Meaning: in the sea, And the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said to Abu Dharr when the sun set: (O Abu Dharr! Do you know where it goes? He said: Allah and His Messenger know best.He said: Then it goes and prostrates beneath the Throne, and it asks permission of Allah Mighty and Majestic, shall I look or not?If He permits it, otherwise it is said: Return from where you came, so it returns and comes out from the west) All these pronouns refer to the sun, and the one who said that is Allah Mighty and Majestic, and He knows best what He created, and our minds are incapable of comprehending this. So as long as we have not seen a tangible matter that we witness, as we witness the sun, that the alternation of night and day is due to the rotation of the earth, then it is obligatory for us to take the apparent meaning of the Qur’an and the Sunnah. This is the obligation, and it is not permissible for us to take the word of so-and-so and so-and-so unless we see this with our own eyes.Meaning: If we were to be certain, like the sun, that the alternation of night and day is due to the rotation of the earth, we would say: that Allah the Exalted addressed people with what they understood at that time, and the rising and setting of the sun and its withdrawal would be according to the perception of the observer, not according to the reality. When do we say this? When we know it by sense with our own eyes; because the Qur’an does not contradict reality.
As for merely that they said: So,We say: So,They said: Matter is not newly created, nor is it an occurrence -Glorified is Allah- matter, in their view, does not perish and is not newly created. So who created it? [Al-An'am: 116] The entire universe is an occurrence, a creation created by Allah Mighty and Majestic from nothing.And as for its perishing, Allah the Exalted said: [Ar-Rahman: 26] And we see firewood as wood, and when it is burned by fire it becomes ash which the winds scatter. Is this ash the same as what was wood that changed? For this reason, some scholars, such as Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah, held to the purification of impurity by transformation.And he said: If impurity transforms into ash, it is ash and not impurity.
In any case, these are matters that we should not follow the opinions of those who spoke about them merely because they said so, while we have a revelation sent down from Allah Mighty and Majestic, unless it becomes clear to us by the eye in a possible way that we can interpret the verses to another meaning, then that is something with no harm.
As for whether the earth rotates or not, I do not know of anything in the Qur’an or the Sunnah that supports or refutes it.and His saying, the Exalted:
And He has cast into the earth firmly set mountains, lest it shift with you
وَأَلْقَى فِي الْأَرْضِ رَوَاسِيَ أَنْ تَمِيدَ بِكُمْAnd He has cast into the earth firmly set mountains, lest it shift with you
وَأَلْقَى فِي الْأَرْضِ رَوَاسِيَ أَنْ تَمِيدَ بِكُمْHe has cast into the earth firmly set mountains, lest it shift with you
َأَلْقَى فِي الأَرْضِ رَوَاسِيَ أَنْ تَمِيدَ بِكُمْHe has cast into the earth firmly set mountains, lest it shift with you
أَلْقَى فِي الأَرْضِ رَوَاسِيَ أَنْ تَمِيدَ بِكُمْIn any case, I am withholding judgment on this and I cannot say: that it moves or rotates, nor do I say: that it does not rotate; because it has not been established for me in the Qur’an or the Sunnah that this is the case or not the case.
As for the sun, what I believe up to now is that the sun is the one that rotates around the earth, and that the alternation of night and day occurs by the sun running around the earth. This is what I believe; because this is the apparent meaning of the speech of Allah, and Allah Mighty and Majestic is the one who created the sun and the one who created the earth, and He knows it better than anyone else.Allah, Blessed and Exalted, said:
you would see the sun when it rose, inclining away from their cave
وَتَرَى الشَّمْسَ إِذَا طَلَعَتْ تَزَاوَر عَنْ كَهْفِهِمْand when it set, passing away from them on the left
وَإِذَا غَرَبَتْ تَقْرِضُهُمْ ذَاتَ الشِّمَالِAnd he said, "Indeed, I gave preference to the love of good [things] over the remembrance of my Lord until the sun disappeared into the curtain [of darkness]."
فَقَالَ إِنِّي أَحْبَبْتُ حُبَّ الْخَيْرِ عَنْ ذِكْرِ رَبِّي حَتَّى تَوَارَتْ بِالْحِجَابِUntil, when he reached the setting of the sun, he found it [as if] setting in a spring of dark mud
حَتَّى إِذَا بَلَغَ مَغْرِبَ الشَّمْسِ وَجَدَهَا تَغْرُبُ فِي عَيْنٍ حَمِئَةٍAs for merely that they said: So,We say: So,They said: Matter is not newly created, nor is it an occurrence -Glorified is Allah- matter, in their view, does not perish and is not newly created. So who created it?
They follow not except assumption, and they are not but falsifying.
إِنْ يَتَّبِعُونَ إِلَاّ الظَّنَّ وَإِنْ هُمْ إِلَاّ يَخْرُصُونَEveryone upon the earth will perish,
كُلُّ مَنْ عَلَيْهَا فَانٍIn any case, these are matters that we should not follow the opinions of those who spoke about them merely because they said so, while we have a revelation sent down from Allah Mighty and Majestic, unless it becomes clear to us by the eye in a possible way that we can interpret the verses to another meaning, then that is something with no harm.