The Solar System

The Solar System

Islam – The Creator of the Modern Age

1991 3 March 21-23 The Solar System (908)

An atmosphere of free investigation is vital to the progress of science. In former times, it was difficult for such an atmosphere to exist because of the prevalence of a whole range of man-made beliefs. There were many cases in those days of intelligent, scholarly men having come upon scientific truths in the course of their intellectual pursuits without, however, these truths having gained any credence, because the moment they were aired in public, they were found to be inconsistent with currently held superstitious beliefs. This caused the discoverers and their discoveries to be rejected out of hand. New thinking, in such an ambience, could hardly be expected to make any progress.

A case in point is that of Socrates, the renowned Greek philosopher, who was condemned to death by drinking hemlock in 399 B.C. He was accused of ignoring the gods worshipped by the Athenians, of making new inventions in religion and of corrupting the youth of Athens.

. Similarly, when Galileo (1564-1642) the Italian astronomer, declared that the Copernican system of the planets moving round the sun was true the church was offended. He was sentenced by a religious court and put in prison. When he saw that nothing but death awaited him, he had to recant his theories before the Inquisition. With both his hands on the Bible, he admitted being in the wrong, and withdrew his claim, describing it was ‘far-fetched’ and ‘abominable’.

There was nothing exceptional in this. This was the common reaction to Christian scholars of those times. The search for new truths and the discovery of nature’s secrets remained a forbidden pasture to them for centuries. Such endeavours were vilified as black magic, the result of satanic teachings, the rotation of the solar system being a notorious case in point. In such circumstances, it was impossible for research and investigation to make any progress.

Such work was begun in the Middle Ages for the first time by the Muslims, since Quranic teachings had removed all those mental blocks which had been in the way of such scientifically-minded people as Galileo. It was only after the Islamic revolution that a sound viewpoint on such matters could be fostered. But once scientific activity had got under way, its progress remained unhampered in succeeding centuries, and we are now all familiar with its spectacular culmination in present -day discoveries.

The astronomer who is said to have studied the solar system and presented the heliocentric theory for the first time was Greek, known by the name of Aristarchus of Samos. He died in 270 B.C. His theory of the sun being in the centre and of the earth revolving around it did not, however, gain currency at that time.

Then came the age of Ptolemy in the second century A.D. Ptolemy’s astronomical system represented the earth as the fixed centre of the universe, with the sun, moon, stars and planets revolving around it. This theory appeared to be in conformity with the beliefs developed by the early Christians. These beliefs were given the final seal of approval at the famous Church Council held in Nicaea, a city in Asia Minor, in 325. After Constantine the Great (280-337) accepted Christianity, the faith spread all over Roman territory. Invested with tremendous power, the Christians now patronised the theory of Ptolemy in particular. The curtain of darkness fell over the theory of Aristarchus.

According to Encyclopaedia Britannica (1984). “There was no further scope for cosmology in the model, which continued to be taught and used almost everywhere until the 17th century”. (18/1013)

The Muslims, however, did not fall into the error of regarding the non-sacred as sacred. They felt free to reflect upon such matters with open minds in a purely academic way. When they found that the heliocentric theory was more rational, they accepted it without any hesitation.

The heliocentric theory developed by Aristarchus (310-230 BC) is regarded today as .an established fact. (See the writings of Edward Mc Nall Burns). But, for about four hundred years this theory was relegated to the background, while Ptolemy’s geocentric theory dominated people’s minds all over the world. It was Hot until 1496 that Copernicus arrived at the conclusion that the earth was not the centre of the universe. After a long period of research, he formulated the theory that the planets revolved around the sun. But, fearing the opposition of the church, he refrained from publishing the conclusions of his research till 1543.

Of all the subjects to which the Spanish Muslims turned their attention, science afforded the greatest scope for development. In fact, in this field, their successes were such as had no parallel in history. They distinguished themselves in astronomy, mathematics, physics, chemistry, medicine, etc. “Despite their reverence for Aristotle, they did not hesitate to criticize his notion of a universe of concentric spheres with the earth at the centre, and they admitted the possibility that the earth· rotates on its axis and revolves around the sun. (p. 264).

If the Muslims were able to produce the correct hypothesis on the Solar System, it was entirely due to Islam having broken down the walls of conditioned thinking which had proved such a barrier to intellectual progress. As soon as these artificial barriers were swept away, the caravan of human thought began to go on its way at an ever-increasing speed until it reached the highly advanced stage m which we find it now in the twentieth century.