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Allah the Almighty has repeatedly cited the day and night, and the sun and moon in the Holy Qur’an, …
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Allah
the Almighty has repeatedly cited the day and night, and the sun and
moon in the Holy Qur’an, in a manner that perfectly complies with the
respective astronomical cycle of each; an indication of a sublime
coherence between the universe and the Qur’an.
God Almighty is the One and Only Creator of the universe, and also the One who sent down the Holy Qur’an. Both
are profound creations; we therefore believe that a certain pattern of
consistency must exist between the universe and the Holy Qur’an.
The Moon’s Cycle
If
we happen to go out on a moonlit night, take a picture of the full
moon, then come back and take a picture the next night, there will be a
difference, regardless of whether we notice it. This difference will be in terms of both its position in the sky and the amount of light that it reflects. The
night after, it will again be slightly more different: its position
will have somewhat changed, and it will no longer be the full moon it
was two nights ago.
Performing
the same experiment a month later will also give us different results,
and none of the pictures we take will perfectly match. Here, we remember God Almighty’s words: {It is He Who made the sun to be a shining glory and the moon to be a light (of beauty), and measured out stages for her;
that ye might know the number of years and the count (of time). Nowise
did God create this but in truth and righteousness. (Thus) doth He
explain His Signs in detail, for those who understand.} [Yunus, 10:5].
And now we ask: when does the first picture we took repeat itself? In other words, when does the moon appear again both as a full moon and in the exact same position in the sky?
This
question has been studied for thousands of years, and scientists have
discovered that what is known as the Moon’s Metonic Cycle (named after
the Greek astronomer Meton of Athens) occurs every 19 years. That first image we took of the moon will reassume precisely the same position as a full moon approximately 19 years later.
The Sidereal Period
There are many different types of orbital periods. The sidereal period
is considered an object’s true orbital period, because it represents
the time it takes a celestial object to make one full orbit around the
sun, relative to the fixed stars. In astronomy,
when an object’s ‘orbital period’ is mentioned without further
explanation, it is naturally assumed that the sidereal period is being
referred to.
That
being said, the sidereal (or orbital) period of the moon is 27.3 days,
which means that, approximately, the moon makes a complete orbit around
the Earth every 27 days. Similarly, the word “moon” is mentioned precisely 27 times in the Qur’an!
Please note that this differs from the moon’s synodic period
of about 29.5 days, which is the time it takes the moon to return to
approximately the same position as seen by an observer on Earth. This
figure is not the moon’s actual orbital period, because it is affected
by both the rotation of the Earth and the Earth’s revolution around the
sun.
The Earth takes about 365 ¼ days to complete one full revolution around the sun. Furthermore,
the sun orbits the centre of the Milky Way Galaxy, and completes one
full revolution in approximately 250 million years. Here, we are reminded of God Almighty wisdom when He states: {It is not permitted to the Sun to catch up the Moon, nor can the Night outstrip the Day: Each (just) swims along in (its own) orbit (according to Law).} [Yaasin, 36:40].
When
observing the rotation of electrons at atomic level, we find that they
rotate from left to right, or counter-clockwise; the same direction as
the various rotations and revolutions of the sun, moon and Earth. To be more specific, the moon rotates counter-clockwise around its orbit. Similarly, the moon performs counter-clockwise revolutions around the Earth. The same is true with regards to the Earth’s rotations around its own orbit and its revolutions around the sun. In short, all these celestial movements take place in one and the same direction; counter-clockwise, from left to right.
Putting
this into perspective for Muslims in particular, during the Hajj
season, Muslims complete seven laps around the Ka’aba in Mecca. The
direction of movement of these worshippers is always from left to
right, in perfect congruence with the rest of the universe.
God Almighty says:
{The
seven heavens and the earth, and all beings therein, declare His glory:
there is not a thing but celebrates His praise; And yet ye understand
not how they declare His glory! Verily He is Oft-Forbear, Most
Forgiving!} [Al-Isra’, 17:44]
The Sun’s Cycle
The
sun’s solar cycle is witnessed by counting the placement and frequency
of visible sunspots on the sun, which appear as a result of intense
magnetic activity. These sunspots face significant variations, rising and falling in an irregular cycle that takes place about every 11 years.
The Sun and Moon in the Qur’an
If we take a closer look at the verses of the Holy Qur’an, we notice that the word “sun” always comes before the word “moon”. For instance, God Almighty says: {God
is He Who raised the heavens without any pillars that ye can see; is
firmly established on the throne (of authority); He has subjected the sun and the moon
(to his Law)! Each one runs (its course) for a term appointed. He doth
regulate all affairs, explaining the signs in detail, that ye may
believe with certainty in the meeting with your Lord.} [Al-Ra’d, 13:2].
And
from this, we can conclude from this that God indeed preceded the sun’s
mention over the moon’s because the sun is the ultimate source of
light. In other words, referring to the sun
before the moon is but a sweet indication of the origin of the moon’s
light, which is the sun, because the moon merely reflects the sun’s
light and emanates no light in and of itself.
Another lovely fact that caught my attention was that “sun” is mentioned in the entire Qur’an more times than “moon”. That is, the word “sun” is mentioned precisely 33 times in the Qur’an, and the word “moon” is cited 27 times.
A Beautiful Meeting of Moon and Sun!
Astronomers have established that a natural 19-year cycle exists between the moon and the sun. That is, they interact together in a cycle which takes about 19 years to complete. Very interestingly, we find that the words “sun” and “moon” have been mentioned together exactly 19 times in the Holy Qur’an. In other words, there are precisely 19 Qur’anic verses which contain the combined phrase “the sun and the moon”.
Night and Day in the Qur’an
One of the important facts of our universe is that night originally prevailed before day or light ever appeared. That
is, our universe, in the beginning of its existence, encountered a
lengthy period of darkness, and afterwards, light and day emerged. In
the same way that night appeared before day, we find that in the
Qur’an, in all the verses which mention night and day, the word “night”
always comes before “day”! For instance, God Almighty says: {He has made subject to you the Night and the Day; the sun and the moon; and the stars are in subjection by His Command: verily in this are Signs for men who are wise.} [Al-Nahl, 16:12].
Moreover, the word “night” is mentioned more times than the word “day”! That
is, “night” is mentioned 92 times and “day” 57 times, making the very
order of night and day in our universe consistent with the repetition of
each phenomenon in the Qur’an.
The Night, the Day, the Sun and the Moon
The words “night”, “day”, “sun” and “moon” are all found in the Qur’an. However,
they have been mentioned together in the same verse on two occasions,
and interestingly, the order is the same on both occasions: “night” is
mentioned first, followed by “day”, “sun”, and “moon”. For example, God says: {It is He Who created the Night and the Day, and the sun and the moon: all (the celestial bodies) swim along, each in its rounded course.} [Al-Anbiya’, 21:33]
But
more amazingly, the number repetitions of each of these words in the
Holy Qur’an is in that very same order: “Night” has been repeated the
most, followed by “day”, then “sun”, and finally “moon”!
The word “night” is repeated 92 times.
The word “day” is repeated 57 times.
The word “sun” is repeated 33 times.
The word “moon” is repeated 27 times.
Qur’anic and Universal Compatibility!
God Almighty is the Creator of this universe and the One who revealed the Holy Qur’an to mankind. Therefore,
it is necessary for consistency to be found between the Qur’an and the
universe, and this was something that truly caught me by surprise when I
came across the following profound numeric miracle.
We have already established that the moon reassumes the same form in exactly the same position every 19 years. The sun’s cycle, on the other hand, repeats itself every 11 years. In
other words, we can say that the universal cycles of the sun and moon
repeat themselves every (19 x 11) years, or every 209 years.
Since
the degrees of dark and light (or night and day) are determined by the
sun’s solar cycle and the moon’s metonic cycle, which are represented by
the numbers 11 and 19 respectively, we can also say that the cycles of
night, day, the sun and the moon repeat themselves every (19 x 11)
years, or every 209 years.
That
being said, when we count the repetitions of the words “night”, “day”,
“sun” and “moon” across the entire Qur’an, we find that they are
repeated:
92 + 57 + 33 + 27 = 209 times!
And the number 209 is equal to 19 x 11. In
other words, the cycles of the night, the day, the sun and the moon
take place every 209 years, and the repetition of those very four words
in the Qur’an is also 209, resembling the exact number of those years!
The Miracles in Brief
1- The
word “night” in the Qur’an always comes before the word “day”, and in
this fact lies two observations, a universal and numeric observation. Universally, night, or darkness, originated first, and is accordingly mentioned first. Numerically, “night” is mentioned more times than “day”, and for that reason too, is accordingly mentioned first.
2- The word “sun” in the Qur’an always comes before the word “moon”, and again, our observations are the same. In
our universe, the sun is the source of light, and the moon merely
reflects this light, therefore, it is only fitting for it to be
mentioned first. And in terms of numbers, “sun”
is mentioned more times than “moon”, and it thus makes sense that it is
mentioned first for that reason as well.
3- The
words (The night and the day, and the sun and the moon) appear in that
order wherever they are mentioned in the Qur’an (two instances), and
there is also both a universal and numerical significance here. First, universally, night (or darkness) prevails over almost the entire universe. That is, it covers more than 99% of it. Day (or light) has its presence in less than 1% of the universe. Next comes the sun, which is larger than the moon, and so we notice a descending order in terms of size. Numerically, of course, as we stated before, the repetition of these words is also in the same descending order.
4- The
sun’s solar cycle, which is a sign of day, is repeated every 11 years,
and the moon’s Metonic cycle, which is a sign of night, is repeated ever
19 years. And the words
“night”, “day”, “sun” and “moon” are repeated a total of 11 x 19 times
in the Qur’an, in a manner that matches their respective cycles.
Finally, we can only ask: Could this beautiful coming together of universal and Qur’anic marvels have occurred by chance? Can
coincidence be used to explain this immaculate compatibility, or is the
Creator of this universe Himself the One who sent down this Holy
Scripture? He explains in the Qur’an: {God is the Creator of all things, and He is the Guardian and Disposer of all affairs.} [Al-Zumar, 39:62].
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By: Abduldaem Al-Kaheel
