EXAMPLES FROM ASTRONOMY

The Challenge of The Qur’an ~ 357 ~ because the latest observations show that the celestial bodies exist in an infinite space with the invisible pull of gravity that holds them in position. Of the sun and other celestial bodies, the Quran says, “Each floats freely in an orbit of its own” (21:3). Ancient man was familiar with the movement of celestial bodies, so he was not confused by this, “floating” being the most appropriate term to describe the movement of celestial bodies in a vast and subtle space. And how much more significance had been lent to this word by recent discoveries. Day and night, the results of such movement by a celestial body, are depicted thus in the Quran: ‘He throws the veil of night over the day. Swiftly they follow one another’ (7:54). Dr. Maurice Bucaille, in his The Bible, the Quran and Science, lists a number of similar extracts from the Quran, which gave accurate descriptions of the alternation of day and night, long before modern deductions or the observations of cosmonauts bore this out. He then makes the important point that at a time when it was held that the Earth was the