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For example, as you know, before the observations of the renowned astronomer of later times,[5] that is, from the first centuries down to the fifteenth century of the Christian era, all the mathematicians of the world were unanimous in upholding the centrality of the earth and the movement of the sun. This modern astronomer was the source of the new theory that postulated the movement of the earth and the fixity of the sun. Until his time, all the mathematicians and philosophers of the world held to the Ptolemaic system, and whosoever uttered a word against it was considered ignorant. It is true that Pythagoras, and Plato during the latter part of his life, conceived that the sun's annual movement around the zodiac did not proceed from the sun itself but from the earth's movement around it, but this theory was entirely forgotten and the Ptolemaic theory was universally accepted by all mathematicians. But in the Qur'an a number of verses were revealed which contradicted the Ptolemaic system. One of them, "The sun moves in a fixed place of its own",[6] alludes to the fixity of the sun and its movement around an axis. Likewise, in another verse, "And each swims in its own heaven",[7] the movement of the sun, the moon, the earth, and the other celestial bodies is specified. When the Qur'an was spread abroad, all the mathematicians scoffed and attributed this view to ignorance. Even the Muslim divines, finding these verses contrary to the Ptolemaic system, were obliged to interpret them figuratively, for the latter was accepted as incontrovertible fact and yet was explicitly contradicted by the Qur'an.
(7:14)
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