Science in the Glorious Quran: Motion of the Earth

“أَلَمْ نَجْعَلِ الْأَرْضَ كِفَاتًا” (المرسلات:25).

“Have We not made the earth KEFATAN” (Qur’an, 77:25).

In the Arabic language “kefatan” means “fast”, “the helical gait of a flying bird”, or “to collect and include things”. These meanings collectively describe the motion of the Earth.

The Sun is in a fast orbit around the galaxy (500,000 miles/hour) and the planets orbit around the Sun. The planets orbit on ellipses which are tilted with respect to one another. This means that the planets are sometimes relatively or slightly ahead of the Sun, and they are sometimes relatively behind it. On the other hand, the gravitational force of the Earth is strong enough to keep things on the surface from flying off.

Both the heliocentric motion around the fast-moving Sun, which results in a helical gait, and the gravitational force of the Earth that keeps things on its surface are described in the above verse as kefatan.

The planets and the Earth move around the fast-moving sun in tilted orbits. Therefore, they have a helical gait motion around the Sun (kefatan) (left). The helical gait of a flying bird (right).