by Zaghlul El-Naggar
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Ibn Abbas RA narrated that the Prophet Sallallahu Alyhi Wa Sallam was asked,

"Where does the sun set, and where does it rise from? The Messenger of Allah Sallallahu Alyhi Wa Sallam answered, "It is going in a (nonstop) regular motion; it does not cease or disappears. If sets in one place and rises in another, and sets in another place and rises elsewhere and so on. So, some people would say the sun has set and others would say it has just risen (at the same moment). (al-Hamdaani)

The Prophet Sallallahu Alyhi Wa Sallam means that it does not disappear anywhere as they thought that it sets in a certain location, and rises again from that place.

There is a continuous alternate sunrise and sunset on earth. This could only take place if the earth is spherical or spheroid, and is, at the same time, continuously rotating around its axis facing the sun. This motion pattern leads to the continuous alternation of day once night on its surface, until life on earth comes to an end, i.e. until the Day of Resurrection.

The Messenger of Allah Sallallahu Alyhi Wa Sallam talked about all these cosmic facts in such accurate scientific style at a period of time when people thought that the earth was flat and stationary. This is definitely one of the signs, which testifies to the truthfulness of the Message of Muhammad Sallallahu Alyhi Wa Sallam. For sure, no one in the Arabian Peninsula at the time of revelation, and for centuries to follow realized the fact that the earth is spherical and that it rotates around its axis facing the sun. Needless to say that at that time, no one was able to perceive the real or the apparent motion of the moon; the sun and other celestial bodies as Arabia was but a simple and primitive environment.

All of the above facts mentioned and those in the Qur'an have urged early Muslims, at the time of the Abbasi~ Caliph ali-Mamun, to measure the circumference of the earth very accurately. Their motive was the firm belief that the earth is spherical and that it rotates around its axis facing the sun. Moreover, the Muslim scholar and scientist "al-Bayyruny" divided the earth into lines of longitude and latitude, in his book: "tahdid nihayat al-Amakin" which he wrote in 416 A.H (about 1040 A.C.).

The source of all this knowledge is the illuminating signs that are mentioned in the Qur'an and Sunnah of the Prophet Sallallahu Alyhi Wa Sallam, and each of them testifies to the truthfullness and the Divine nature of the Message of the last of the Prophets and Messengers. This accurate scientific knowledge could not be obtained except for a Divine Revelation.