Response by Fariduddien Rice to "Stars created
to be thrown at devils?"
Jochen Katz wrote:
And We have (from of old), adorned the
lowest heaven with lamps,
and we have made such (Lamps as) missiles to drive away
Satans, ...
-- Sura 67:5
The above appears to be an adapted translation from Yusuf
Ali. Usually Arberry is more literal in his translations; he
translates this verse as:
And We adorned the lower heaven with lamps,
and made them things to stone Satans; and We have prepared
for them the chastisement of the Blaze.
Note that the Arberry translation does not say they are
to "drive away" Satans; these words are also not found in
the Pickthall or Asad translations.
We have indeed decked the lower heaven
with beauty (in) the stars, (for beauty) and for guard
against all obstinate rebellious Satans.
(So) they should not strain their ears in the
direction of the Exalted Assembly but be cast away from
every side.
-- Sura 37:6-8
The above is from the Yusuf Ali translation.
See also Suras 15:16-18, 55:33-35 etc.
which seem to speak about the same thing.
The stars were created by Allah as missiles to throw
at the devils? In order to not let them eavesdrop on the
heavenly coucil? Not exactly a "scientific" world view.
Jochen misinterprets the meaning of these verses. When
they are understood correctly, we see that they constitute
no problem regarding the Qur'an and science.
What is meant by these verses? Marmaduke Pickthall
writes, in a short comment on 67:5 in his translation of the
Qur'an:
On the authority of a tradition going back to
Ibn 'Abbas, the allusion is to the soothsayers and
astrologers who saw the source of good and evil in the
stars.
Muhammad Asad's commentary on 67:5, in his translation
and commentary to the Qur'an, reports that Baydawi also said
that the allusion here is to astrologers, who are here
denoted as "Satanic" due to their misguidance in trying to
foretell the future.
Given this information, a clear understanding presents
itself. Astrologers and soothsayers observe celestial
phenomena, such as the positions of the planets and stars in
the sky, and occurrences such as meteors (or "shooting
stars"), in order to try to foretell the future. However,
the Qur'an replies to them, saying that these people are
"Satanic." It furthermore says (in 67:5) that, rather than
being a source of guidance for them, these celestial
phenomena are there to "stone" them. This means, their
misuse of celestial phenomena, and misguidance, will be a
source of punishment for them on that Day when all will be
held to account.
The other verses say that the heavens are made "secure"
from these "Satanic" astrologers and soothsayers. Regarding
this, Muhammad Asad, in his commentary on 15:17, writes:
The statement that God has made the heavens
"secure" against such satanic forces obviously implies that
He has made it impossible for the latter to obtain, through
astrology or what is popularly described as "occult
sciences," any real knowledge of "that which is beyond the
reach of human perception" (al-ghayb).
Thus we see, that when properly understood, these verses
present no problem regarding science, because they are not
talking about celestial phenoema as objects of scientific
study, but instead talking about celestial phenomena as
sources of misguidance for soothsayers and astrologers. In
brief, the Qur'an simply says about them that for
astrologers, their misguidance regarding celestial phenomena
will be a source of punishment for them, and that they can
gain no information about the future by trying to look at
the stars.
Fariduddien Rice
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