Cosmology in medieval Islam

Islamic cosmology is the cosmology of Islamic societies. It is mainly derived from the Qur'an, Hadith, Sunnah, and current Islamic as well as other pre-Islamic sources. The Qur'an itself mentions seven heavens.Qur'an 2:29

Metaphysical principles

Duality

In Islamic thought the cosmos includes both the Unseen Universe ( ar, عالم الغيب, ') and the Observable Universe ( ar, عالم الشهود, ''Alam-al-Shahood''). Nevertheless, both belong to the created universe. Islamic dualism does not constitute between spirit and matter, but between Creator (God) and creation. The latter including both the seen and unseen.

Sufi cosmology

Sufi cosmology ( ar, الكوزمولوجية الصوفية) is a general term for cosmological doctrines associated with the mysticism of Sufism. These may differ from place to place, order to order and time to time, but overall show the influence of several different cosmographies:

*The Quran's testament concerning God and immaterial beings, the soul and the afterlife, the beginning and end of things, the seven heavens etc.
*The Neoplatonic views cherished by Islamic philosophers like Avicenna and Ibn Arabi.
*The Hermetic- Ptolemaic spherical geocentric world.
*The Ishraqi visionary universe as expounded by Suhrawardi Maqtul.

Quranic interpretations

There are several verses in the Qur'an (610–632) which some medieval and modern writers have reinterpreted as foreshadowing modern cosmological theories. An early example of this can be seen in the work of the Islamic theologian Fakhr al-Din al-Razi (1149–1209), in dealing with his conception of physics and the physical world in his ''Matalib''. He discusses Islamic cosmology, criticizes the idea of the Earth's centrality within the universe, and explores "the notion of the existence of a multiverse in the context of his commentary" on the Qur'anic verse, "All praise belongs to God, Lord of the Worlds." He raises the question of whether the term "worlds" in this verse refers to "multiple worlds within this single universe or cosmos, or to many other universes or a multiverse beyond this known universe." He rejects the Aristotelian view of a single world or universe in favour of the existence of multiple worlds and universes, a view that he believed to be supported by the Qur'an and by the Ash'ari theory of atomism.

Cosmology in the medieval Islamic world

Cosmology was studied extensively in the Muslim world during what is known as the Islamic Golden Age from the 7th to 15th centuries. There are exactly seven verses in the Quran that specify that there are seven heavens, "He it is who created for you all that is in the earth; then he turned towards the heavens, and he perfected them as seven heavens; and he has perfect knowledge of all things."
One verse says that each heaven or sky has its own order, possibly meaning laws of nature. Another verse says after mentioning the seven heavens "and similar earths".

In 850, al-Farghani wrote ''Kitab fi Jawani'' ("''A compendium of the science of stars''"). The book primarily gave a summary of Ptolemic cosmography. However, it also corrected Ptolemy's ''Almagest'' based on findings of earlier Iranian astronomers. Al-Farghani gave revised values for the obliquity of the ecliptic, the precessional movement of the apogees of the sun and the moon, and the circumference of the earth. The books were widely circulated through the Muslim world, and even translated into Latin.

Cosmography

Islamic historian Michael Cook states that the "basic structure" of the Islamic universe according to scholars interpretation of the verses of the Quran and Islamic traditions was of seven heavens above seven earths.
*"Allah is He Who Created seven firmaments and of the earth a similar number. Through the midst of them (all) descends His command: that ye may know that Allah has power over all things, and that Allah comprehends all things In (His) Knowledge."

The seven earths formed parallel layers with human beings inhabiting the top layer and Satan dwelling at the bottom. The seven heavens also formed parallel layers; the lowest level being the sky we see from earth and the highest being paradise (Jannah). Other traditions describes the seven heavens as each having a notable prophet in residence that Muhammad visits during Miʿrāj: Moses (Musa) on the sixth heaven, Abraham (Ibrahim) on the seventh heaven, etc.

''ʿAjā'ib al-makhlūqāt wa gharā'ib al-mawjūdāt'' ( ar, عجائب المخلوقات و غرائب الموجودات, meaning ''Marvels of creatures and Strange things existing'') is an important work of cosmography by Zakariya ibn Muhammad ibn Mahmud Abu Yahya al-Qazwini who was born in Qazwin year 600 ( AH (1203 AD).

Temporal finitism

In contrast to ancient Greek philosophers who believed that the universe had an infinite past with no beginning, medieval philosophers and theologians developed the concept of the universe having a finite past with a beginning (see Temporal finitism). The Christian philosopher, John Philoponus, presented the first such argument against the ancient Greek notion of an infinite past. His arguments were adopted by many most notably; early Muslim philosopher, Al-Kindi (Alkindus); the Jewish philosopher, Saadia Gaon (Saadia ben Joseph); and the Muslim theologian, Al-Ghazali (Algazel). They used two logical arguments against an infinite past, the first being the "argument from the impossibility of the existence of an actual infinite", which states:

:"An actual infinite cannot exist."
:"An infinite temporal regress of events is an actual infinite."
:"∴ An infinite temporal regress of events cannot exist."

The second argument, the "argument from the impossibility of completing an actual infinite by successive addition", states:

:"An actual infinite cannot be completed by successive addition."
:"The temporal series of past events has been completed by successive addition."
:"∴ The temporal series of past events cannot be an actual infinite."

Both arguments were adopted by later Christian philosophers and theologians, and the second argument in particular became more famous after it was adopted by Immanuel Kant in his thesis of the first antinomy concerning time.

Amount of time

The Quran states that the universe was created in seven ayyam (days), in verse 50:38 among others. According to verse 70:3, one day in Quran is equal to 50,000 years on Earth. Therefore, Muslims interpret the description of a "seven days" creation as seven distinct periods or eons. The length of these periods is not precisely defined, nor are the specific developments that took place during each period.

According to Michael Cook "early Muslim scholars" believed the amount of finite time creation had been assigned was about "six or seven thousand years" and that perhaps all but 500 years or so had already passed. He quotes a tradition of Muhammad saying "in reference to the prospective duration" of the community of the Muslim companions: `Your appointed time compared with that of those who were before you is as from the afternoon prayer (Asr prayer) to the setting of the sun'". Early Muslim Ibn Ishaq estimated the prophet Noah lived 1200 years after Adam was expelled from paradise, the prophet Abraham 2342 years after Adam, Moses 2907 years, Jesus 4832 years and Muhammad 5432 years.

The Fatimid thinker al-Mu’ayyad fi’l-Din al-Shirazi (d. 1078) shares his own views about the creation of the world in 6 days. He rebukes the idea of the creation of the world in 6 cycles of either 24 hours, 1000 or 50,000 years, and instead questions both how creation can be measured in units of time when time was yet to be created, as well as how an infinitely powerful creator can be limited by the constraints of time, as it is itself part of his own creation. The Ismaili thinker Nasir Khusraw (d. after 1070) expands on his colleague’s work. He writes that these days refer to cycles of creation demarcated by the arrival of God’s messengers (''ṣāḥibān-i adwār''), culminating in the arrival of the Lord of the Resurrection (''Qāʾim al-Qiyāma''), when the world will come out of darkness and ignorance and “into the light of her Lord” (Quran 39:69). His era, unlike that of the enunciators of divine revelation (''nāṭiqs'') before him, is not one where God prescribes the people to work. Rather, his is an era of reward for those “who laboured in fulfilment of (the Prophets') command and with knowledge”.

Galaxy observation

The Arab astronomer Alhazen (965–1037) made the first attempt at observing and measuring the Milky Way's parallax, and he thus "determined that because the Milky Way had no parallax, it was very remote from the earth and did not belong to the atmosphere." The Persian astronomer Abū Rayhān al-Bīrūnī (973–1048) proposed the Milky Way galaxy to be "a collection of countless fragments of the nature of nebulous stars." The Andalusian astronomer Ibn Bajjah ("Avempace", d. 1138) proposed that the Milky Way was made up of many stars which almost touched one another and appeared to be a continuous image due to the effect of refraction from sublunary material, citing his observation of the conjunction of Jupiter and Mars on 500 AH (1106/1107 AD) as evidence. Ibn Qayyim Al-Jawziyya (1292–1350) proposed the Milky Way galaxy to be "a myriad of tiny stars packed together in the sphere of the fixed stars".

In the 10th century, the Persian astronomer Abd al-Rahman al-Sufi (known in the West as ''Azophi'') made the earliest recorded observation of the Andromeda Galaxy, describing it as a "small cloud". Al-Sufi also identified the Large Magellanic Cloud, which is visible from Yemen, though not from Isfahan; it was not seen by Europeans until Magellan's voyage in the 16th century. These were the first galaxies other than the Milky Way to be observed from Earth. Al-Sufi published his findings in his ''Book of Fixed Stars'' in 964.

Possible worlds

Al-Ghazali, in ''The Incoherence of the Philosophers'', defends the Ash'ari doctrine of a created universe that is temporally finite, against the Aristotelian doctrine of an eternal universe. In doing so, he proposed the modal theory of possible worlds, arguing that their actual world is the best of all possible worlds from among all the alternate timelines and world histories that God could have possibly created. His theory parallels that of Duns Scotus in the 14th century. While it is uncertain whether Al-Ghazali had any influence on Scotus, they both may have derived their theory from their readings of Avicenna's ''Metaphysics''.

Multiversal cosmology

Fakhr al-Din al-Razi (1149–1209), in dealing with his conception of physics and the physical world in his ''Matalib al-'Aliya'', criticizes the idea of the Earth's centrality within the universe and "explores the notion of the existence of a multiverse in the context of his commentary" on the Qur'anic verse, "All praise belongs to God, Lord of the Worlds." He raises the question of whether the term "worlds" in this verse refers to "multiple worlds within this single universe or cosmos, or to many other universes or a multiverse beyond this known universe." In volume 4 of the ''Matalib'', Al-Razi states:

Al-Razi rejected the Aristotelian and Avicennian notions of a single universe revolving around a single world. He describes the main arguments against the existence of multiple worlds or universes, pointing out their weaknesses and refuting them. This rejection arose from his affirmation of atomism, as advocated by the Ash'ari school of Islamic theology, which entails the existence of vacant space in which the atoms move, combine and separate. He discussed in greater detail the void, the empty space between stars and constellations in the Universe, in volume 5 of the ''Matalib''. He argued that there exists an infinite outer space beyond the known world, and that God has the power to fill the vacuum with an infinite number of universes.

Refutations of astrology

The study of astrology was refuted by several Muslim writers at the time, including al-Farabi, Ibn al-Haytham, Avicenna, Biruni and Averroes. Their reasons for refuting astrology were often due to both scientific (the methods used by astrologers being conjectural rather than empirical) and religious (conflicts with orthodox Islamic scholars) reasons.

Ibn Qayyim Al-Jawziyya (1292–1350), in his ''Miftah Dar al-SaCadah'', used empirical arguments in astronomy in order to refute the practice of astrology and divination. He recognized that the stars are much larger than the planets, and thus argued:

Al-Jawziyya also recognized the Milky Way galaxy as "a myriad of tiny stars packed together in the sphere of the fixed stars" and thus argued that "it is certainly impossible to have knowledge of their influences."

Early heliocentric models

The Hellenistic Greek astronomer Seleucus of Seleucia, who advocated a heliocentric model in the 2nd century BC, wrote a work that was later translated into Arabic. A fragment of his work has survived only in Arabic translation, which was later referred to by the Persian philosopher Muhammad ibn Zakariya al-Razi (865–925).

In the late ninth century, Ja'far ibn Muhammad Abu Ma'shar al-Balkhi (Albumasar) developed a planetary model which some have interpreted as a heliocentric model. This is due to his orbital revolutions of the planets being given as heliocentric revolutions rather than geocentric revolutions, and the only known planetary theory in which this occurs is in the heliocentric theory. His work on planetary theory has not survived, but his astronomical data was later recorded by al-Hashimi

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