What is the ruling on our saying that the sun is stationary and that the planets revolve around it? Does this contradict His saying, "And the sun runs toward its appointed place"?
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The questioner : May Allah preserve you: Modern science, O Shaykh, proves that the sun is stationary.
The Shaykh : What?
The questioner : The sun is stationary and the planets revolve around it; is it permissible to hold this belief, and does it contradict the verse:[Ya-Sin 36:38]?
The Shaykh : I see that a person should take the apparent meaning of the Qur'an, because the Creator, Mighty and Majestic, spoke the Qur'an, and He knows His creations best. The sun is in a place that we cannot reach, and no one can reach it. So if Allah the Exalted says:[Ya-Sin 36:38], and says: [Al-Kahf 18:17]: to whom are these four actions attributed?
To the sun: when it rises, it departs; when it sets, it cuts them off. The principle in attributing an action to its doer is that the action is performed by it. So you see that the sun is the one that rises, the one that departs, the one that sets, and the one that cuts off. We must believe in this according to its apparent meaning. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said to Abu Dharr when the sun set:. He said: It goes. He said: It prostrates. He said: It returns. So we must believe in this apparent meaning unless we are given a matter of certainty, such as the sun: that the sun is stationary, and that the alternation of night and day is due to the rotation of the earth. In that case, we believe in this, and it is possible to interpret the Qur'an to mean that His saying: means: in the view of the eye. Because, according to the claim of those who say that the alternation of night and day is due to the rotation of the earth, is it the sun that rose over us, or are we who rose over it? I ask you?
We are the ones who rose over it, because we are the ones who came to it. As long as the alternation of night and day is due to the rotation of the earth, it means that we are the ones who came to it until we saw it, while it remains standing in its place. Then the earth rotated, so we are the ones who came, and we are the ones who rose over it.
In any case: we do not know the unseen except what Allah, Mighty and Majestic, has taught us. So we believe in the apparent meaning of the Qur'an, and we say that the sun and the moon, by their movement, cause the alternation of night and day. This is the apparent meaning for us. So if it were decreed that we knew with certainty that the matter is not as it appears, it would be possible to divert the verses from their apparent meaning to a meaning that does not contradict them.
The Shaykh : What?
The questioner : The sun is stationary and the planets revolve around it; is it permissible to hold this belief, and does it contradict the verse:
And the sun runs [on course] toward its stopping point
وَالشَّمْسُ تَجْرِي لِمُسْتَقَرٍّ لَهَاThe Shaykh : I see that a person should take the apparent meaning of the Qur'an, because the Creator, Mighty and Majestic, spoke the Qur'an, and He knows His creations best. The sun is in a place that we cannot reach, and no one can reach it. So if Allah the Exalted says:
And the sun runs [on course] toward its stopping point
وَالشَّمْسُ تَجْرِي لِمُسْتَقَرٍّ لَهَاyou would see the sun when it rose, inclining away from their cave on the right, and when it set, passing away from them on the left
وَتَرَى الشَّمْسَ إِذَا طَلَعَتْ تَزَاوَرُ عَنْ كَهْفِهِمْ ذَاتَ الْيَمِينِ وَإِذَا غَرَبَتْ تَقْرِضُهُمْ ذَاتَ الشِّمَالِTo the sun: when it rises, it departs; when it sets, it cuts them off. The principle in attributing an action to its doer is that the action is performed by it. So you see that the sun is the one that rises, the one that departs, the one that sets, and the one that cuts off. We must believe in this according to its apparent meaning. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said to Abu Dharr when the sun set:
Do you know where it goes? I said: Allah and His Messenger know best. He said: It goes and prostrates beneath the Throne and asks for permission. If it is given permission, it does so; otherwise, it returns from where it came.
أتدري أين تذهب؟ قلت: الله ورسوله أعلم، قال: فإنها تذهب فتسجد تحت العرش وتستأذن فإن أُذن لها وإلا رجعت من حيث جاءتWhen it rises
إذا طلعتWe are the ones who rose over it, because we are the ones who came to it. As long as the alternation of night and day is due to the rotation of the earth, it means that we are the ones who came to it until we saw it, while it remains standing in its place. Then the earth rotated, so we are the ones who came, and we are the ones who rose over it.
In any case: we do not know the unseen except what Allah, Mighty and Majestic, has taught us. So we believe in the apparent meaning of the Qur'an, and we say that the sun and the moon, by their movement, cause the alternation of night and day. This is the apparent meaning for us. So if it were decreed that we knew with certainty that the matter is not as it appears, it would be possible to divert the verses from their apparent meaning to a meaning that does not contradict them.