MOONLIGHT IS REFLECTED LIGHT
It was believed by earlier civilizations that the moon emanates its own light. Science now tells us that the light of the moon is reflected light.
However this fact was mentioned in the Quran 1,400 years ago in the following verse:
تَبَارَكَ الَّذِي
جَعَلَ فِي السَّمَاء بُرُوجًا وَجَعَلَ فِيهَا سِرَاجًا وَقَمَرًا مُّنِيرًا
“Blessed is He Who made Constellations in the skies, and placed therein a Lamp
and a Moon giving light.” [Al-Quran 25:61]
Merging here means that the night slowly and gradually changes to day and vice versa. This phenomenon can only take place if the earth is
spherical. If the earth was flat, there would have been a sudden change from night to day and from day to night.
The following verse also alludes to the spherical shape of the earth:
خَلَقَ
السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضَ بِالْحَقِّ يُكَوِّرُ اللَّيْلَ عَلَى النَّهَارِ
وَيُكَوِّرُ النَّهَارَ عَلَى اللَّيْلِ
“He
created the heavens and the earth in true (proportions): He makes the Night overlap the Day, and the Day overlap the Night.”
[Al-Quran 39:5]
** The Arabic word dahaahaa has been translated by A. Yusuf Ali as “vast expanse”, which also is correct. This word also means an ostrich-egg.
The Arabic word for the sun in the Quran, is shams. It is also referred to as siraaj which means a ‘torch’ or as wahhaaj meaning
‘a blazing lamp’ or as diya which means ‘shining glory’. All three descriptions are appropriate to the sun, since it generates
intense heat and light by its internal combustion. The Arabic word for the moon is qamar and it is described in the
Quran as muneer which is a
body that gives noor i.e. reflected light.
Again, the Quranic description matches perfectly with the true nature of the moon which does not give off light by itself and is an
inactive body that reflects the light of the sun. Not once in the Quran, is the moon
mentioned as siraaj, wahhaaj or diya nor the sun as noor or muneer. This implies that the
Quran
recognizes the difference between the nature of sunlight and moonlight.
The following verses relate to the nature of light from the sun and the moon:
هُوَ الَّذِي
جَعَلَ الشَّمْسَ ضِيَاء وَالْقَمَرَ نُورًا
“It is
He who made the sun to be a shining glory and the moon to be a light (of
beauty).” [Al-Quran 10:5]
أَلَمْ تَرَوْا
كَيْفَ خَلَقَ اللَّهُ سَبْعَ سَمَاوَاتٍ طِبَاقًا
71:15 وَجَعَلَ الْقَمَرَ فِيهِنَّ
نُورًا وَجَعَلَ الشَّمْسَ سِرَاجًا 71:16
“It is
“See ye not how Allah has created the seven heavens one above another, “And made the moon a light in their midst, and made the sun
as a (Glorious) Lamp?” [Al-Quran 71:15-16]
The Glorious Qur'an and modern science, are thus in perfect agreement about the differences in the nature of sunlight and moonlight.
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