6.Decoding the verses of the Holy Quran
Today we are going to decipher the Holy Quran and see how Allah has explained the moon.
The Moon
The Holy Quran emphasizes that the moon is not a dying star, dimmer star or of the star family. It says:
“placing the moon within them as a ˹reflected˺ light, and the sun as a ˹radiant˺ lamp?”– Chapter 71 (Nuh), vers 16
The Quran has used the word “nur” and hinted at the fact that the moon is not radiating its own light.
Ancient mythologies about moon
Moon has been a goddess of the Romans (Luna1) and Greeks (Selene2). According to a Hindu mythology, the moon is a storehouse of the elixir called soma, which gods drink. The marks on the moon are explained in various ways. Like The Eskimos say that these marks the ashes which were smudged by her sister, the Sun. Whereas the mantra believed that the dark spots were a tree. In Sanskrit it is said that a hare was taken up to the moon for protection, and the god smote the moon in the face with a hare.
What does the Quran say about the moon?
The Holy Quran says, in chapter number 17 verse 12:
“We made the day and night as two signs. So We made the sign of the night devoid of light, and We made the sign of the day ˹perfectly˺ bright, so that you may seek the bounty of your Lord and know the number of years and calculation ˹of time˺. And We have explained everything in detail.”
– Chapter 17(Al- Isra), verse 12
We must first familiarize ourselves on the most recent scientific findings. The moon’s origin is mysterious. It is one of the enigmatic occurrences about which we humans know nothing. The moon is thought to be 4.5 billion years old, which is the same age as the earth. According to the most widely accepted view, numerous other planetary bodies were present when the Earth formed, about 4.5 billion years ago. One of the rocks crashed at an angle into the earth. This huge impact blew out one huge chunk of the earth in space along with some other small rocks. That huge chunk of rock, along with smaller rocks and dust, went into orbit around the sun, and slowly the small pieces coalesced into what we call today the moon. To elaborate: Allah took away moon’s light and kept the sign of the day- the sun. In another verse, it is said:
“They ask you ˹O Prophet˺ about the phases of the moon. Say, “They are a means for people to determine time and pilgrimage.”
– Chapter 2 (Al-Baqarah), verse 189
What does Quran says about the splitting of the moon?
Perpetual nights on the earth
Ask ˹them, O Prophet˺, “Imagine if Allah were to make the night perpetual for you until the Day of Judgment, which god other than Allah could bring you sunlight? Will you not then listen?”
Allah has the power to remove the sun, leaving the earth in a state of darkness. Life on Earth cannot exist if the sun disappears. So the Quran might have simply stated that Allah has the authority to wipe out all life, nevertheless, if that was its intended meaning. But the interesting thing is that the phrase “if Allah were to make the night perpetual for you” is used here. We now know that it is not essential to take away the sun to create darkness upon mankind with the condition that life survives. For example, the moon period of rotation matches with the speed of its revolution around the earth; so that, it moves in its round by an amount that keeps its one face perpetually towards the earth. The other side that the humans never see is called as the Dark Side.
Now in this verse, Allah says that He could make the arrangement between the earth and the sun in its circles, allowing the earth to turn as much on its axis to expose only half of the earth to the sun.
How many times moon mentioned in Quran?