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The Stars
The stars are heavenly bodies like the Sun. They are the celestial bodies of various physical phenomena generating their own light. The word 'star' appears thirteen times in the Quran (najm, plural nujum); it comes from a root meaning to appear, to come into sight. To make it clear that the object so designated is a star, a qualifying phrase is added as in the following sura:
By the sky and the Night-Visitant, who will tell thee what the Night-Visitant is? (It is) the Star of piercing brightness (86:1-3)
Here, the sky and a star are used to bear witness to the importance of what is to come next in the text. The evening star is qualified in the Quran by the word takib meaning ‘which pierces through something' (here the night shadows). The same word is moreover used to designate shooting stars (sura 37, verse 10): the latter are the result of combustion.
The Planets
The planets do not have their own light and revolve, like the earth, around the Sun. While one may presume that others exist elsewhere, the only ones known are those in the solar system. Five planets other than Earth were known to the ancient astrologers: Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn. Three have been discovered in recent times: Uranus, Neptune and Pluto. The Qur'an seems to designate them by the word kaukab (plural kawakib) without stating their number. A good definition of the meaning of the word kaukab in the Qur'an seems to have been given in a very famous verse of Sura ‘Noor”:
"God is the light of the heavens and the earth. The similitude of His light is as if there were a niche and within it a luminary. The luminary is in a glass. The glass is as if it were a planet glittering like a pearl." (24:35)
Here the subject is the projection of light onto a body that reflects it (glass) and gives it the glitter of a pearl, like a planet that is lit by the sun. This is the only explanatory detail referring to this word to be found in the Qur'an. In the following verse:
We have indeed adorned the lowest heaven with an ornament, the planets (14:37)
We come to know about heavenly bodies, which are called as planets. The expression 'lowest heaven' is likely to mean the 'solar system'. It is known that among the celestial elements nearest to us, there are no other permanent elements apart from the planets, the Sun being the only star in the system that bears its name.
EVOLUTION OF THE HEAVENS
Modern data lead us to believe that in the solar system, and more generally in the Universe itself, the evolution still continues.
How can anybody who is aware of these ideas fail to make a comparison with certain statements found in the Qur'an in which the manifestations of divine Omnipotence are referred to. The Qur'an reminds us several times that:
(God) subjected the sun and the moon: each one runs its course to an appointed term (13:2)
Seest thou not that God merges Night into Day and he merges Day into Night; that He has subjected the sun, and the moon (to his Law), each running its course for a term appointed (31:29)
He merges Night into Day, and he merges Day into Night, and he has subjected the sun and the moon (to his Law): each one runs its course for a term appointed (35:13)
He created the heavens and the earth in true (proportions): He makes the Night overlap the Day, and the Day overlap the Night: He has subjected the sun and the moon (to His law): Each one follows a course for a time appointed (39:5)
‘In the Universe We live in’ writes John Robinson, “the sun is always tending to explode; it is swollen with heat and further blown out by an electric charge which pervades the whole interior. The counter, pulling-in power of gravitation, however, keeps it in check and helps regulate the outflow of radiation.” The miracle of quiet, unseen strength, the sun, keeps the earth circling in its orbit by a gravitational grip that is equal to a steel rod or bar nearly 5,000 miles thick – that is to say, if gravitation ceased to actthere would be required to keep the earth revolving round the sun a gigantic stel rod connecting them much thicker than the Atlantic is broad. “Subjecting the sun and the moon to His law” is a phenomenon that is extremely astounding.
In addition to this, the idea of a settled place is associated with the concept of a destination place:
The Sun runs its course to a settled place. This is the decree of the All Mighty, the Full of Knowledge (36:38)
'Settled place' is the translation of the word mustaqarr and there can be no doubt that the idea of an exact place is attached to it.
How do these statements fare when compared with data established by modern science?
The Qur'an gives an end to the Sun for its evolution and a destination place. It also provides the Moon with a settled place. To understand the possible meanings of these statements, we must remember what modern knowledge has to say about the evolution of the stars in general and the Sun in particular, and (by extension) the celestial bodies that automatically followed its movement through space, among them the Moon.
The Sun is a star that is roughly 4 billion years old, according to experts in astrophysics. It is possible to distinguish a stage in its evolution, as one can for all the stars. At present, the Sun is at an early stage, characterized by the transformation of hydrogen atoms into helium atoms. Theoretically, this present stage should last another 5 billion years according to calculations that allow a total of 10 billion years for the duration of the primary stage in a star of this kind. It has already been shown, in the case of these other stars, that this stage gives way to a second period characterized by the completion of the transformation of hydrogen into helium, with the resulting expansion of its external layers and the cooling of the Sun. In the final stage, its light is greatly diminished and density considerably increased; this is to be observed in the type of star known as a 'white dwarf'. From modern data there is a possibility of an end to the Sun after a few billion years as the conditions prevailing in the solar system will not be the same as they are today. The sun along with its entire solar system is swiftly moving to its settled place at the speed of 12 miles per second.
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