Signs of the Quran - Astronomy

Allah expresses that the moon follows the sun in the first of these three Ayahs from completely different sections of the Quran. That is naturally the case, as we know today after the establishment of astronomical observation and calculation, since the moon, although it looks the same size as the sun, is over 1 million times smaller in volume and 400 times smaller in diameter. So the law of gravity causes it to follow the sun, just as the planets and all other objects in the solar system do, which only build up 0.2% of the mass of the whole solar system, a tiny fraction in comparison to the sun.

The second of the three Ayahs above expresses the precision of the courses of the sun and the moon. The fact that the sun moves at all was not known until the work of Newton had been accepted. There is a delicate natural balance that has been set up as a consequence of the complicated gravitational effects. This a result of the interaction of the various solid (Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, their Moons), gas-type (Saturn, Jupiter, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto) and plasmatic (Sun) objects of the solar system during the course of billions of years. Only during the relatively short period of the crystallisation of the earth and its falling into the sun, life has become possible on this planet. The "exact computing" (see Planets & Stars, Speed of light) of the courses of the sun and the moon make the measurement of time possible during the day (sun) and the night (moon and stars) as well as in space-flight.

Finally, the third of the three Ayahs above indicates the round shape of the earth and the winding or coiling movement that the shadow of the sun leaves on one side of the earth. It also covers it in darkness at night while the other side, which is exposed to the sun, is bright during the day. Tawakir is also the Arabic expression for coiling a turban around your head. All the three Ayahs together and also the ones above (see The Solar System, Course and Orbit) completely cover course, orbit and motion of the sun, moon and also the planets. In Sun & Moon their actual role is described and their difference as well as eclipses and stages or phases.

The picture shows NIGHT AND DAY CAUSED BY THE SHADOW AND LIGHT OF THE SUN. We can associate the following Ayah with it:

"He makes the Night overlap (tawakir) the Day and the Day overlap the Night:..."

Surah Az-Zumar, 5 Ayah 5