…this is the only sign, when it occurs, everyone will witness it and everyone will believe in the one true God, thus indicating the drastic impact of this event…
The prophet ﷺ mentioned 10 major signs that would occur, one after another, just before the Day of Judgement. Although all of the signs are difficult to fully conceptualize, the rising of the Sun from the West seems to be more complex than I initially thought. Both Islamic texts and the science have very strong concepts and ideas regarding the topic thus making it difficult to consolidate.
However, we shouldn’t have to consolidate everything between the religion and the science. It is perfectly fine to understand the same topic from two different spectrum because each has unique languages, audiences and purposes. The religion narrations focus to draw oneself closer to the Creator, while the Science focuses on understanding the creations. There are ways to bring both prospectives together for better understanding, but not at the expense of how the Creator Himself wants you to have understood.
Since the writing turned out to be longer then I anticipated, I divided it into two separate posts/parts – The Sign, that talks about the topic from the Islamic texts, and the Science that looks at from the modern cosmology. Hopefully we can try to understand the concept within their own terms.
The Sign
The Sun has been rising from the East since its creation. This fact is ingrained into human understanding from the very beginning. And from the apparent magnificent and heftiness of the Sun, no one doubted anything could ever change its course. That’s why when prophet Ibrahim (PBUH) wanted to challenge the most powerful king of his time, he said “Indeed, Allah brings up the sun from the east, so bring it up from the west” [Qur’an 2:258], knowing very well that this beyond capacity of any human being.
The sun will rise from the West
The Sun, however, will inevitability rise from the west. It is imminent as we draw closer to the End of Time. There are numerous authentic Hadith traditions that explicitly inform us about this event. Here is one of them collected by Bukhari:
لاَ تَقُومُ السَّاعَةُ حَتَّى تَطْلُعَ الشَّمْسُ مِنْ مَغْرِبِهَا فَإِذَا طَلَعَتْ وَرَآهَا النَّاسُ آمَنُوا أَجْمَعُونَ، وَذَلِكَ حِينَ لاَ يَنْفَعُ نَفْسًا إِيمَانُهَا
Bukhari
“The hour will not be established till the sun rises from the West; and when it rises (from the West) and the people see it, they all will believe. And that is (the time) when no good will it do to a soul to believe then.” Then he recited the whole Verse (6.158)
From this profound Hadith we learn few significant things about this Sign. Firstly, this would be the only event in human history, when it occurs, everyone will witness it and everyone will believe in Allah the one true God, thus indicating the drastic impact of this event. Secondly, at the same time, Allah’s mercy and acceptance from His creation will be lifted, therefore all hope for this world and its inhabitants would be lost. This is also clear from the Qur’an verse that the Prophet (P) recited after mentioning the previous hadith:
يَوْمَ يَأْتِي بَعْضُ آيَاتِ رَبِّكَ لَا يَنْفَعُ نَفْسًا إِيمَانُهَا لَمْ تَكُنْ آمَنَتْ مِنْ قَبْلُ أَوْ كَسَبَتْ فِي إِيمَانِهَا خَيْرًا
[Excerpt from Qur’an verse 6:158]
… The Day that some of the signs of your Lord will come no soul will benefit from its faith as long as it had not believed before or had earned through its faith some good.
Last moments of humanity
Thirdly, this event will occur toward very end of the time. This is because we know Allah, from His ultimate Mercy, never stops accepting repentance until the very end:
إِنَّ اللَّهَ عَزَّ وَجَلَّ لَيَقْبَلُ تَوْبَةَ الْعَبْدِ مَا لَمْ يُغَرْغِرْ
Ibn Majah (Hasan)
“Allah accepts the repentance of His slave so long as the death rattle has not yet reached his throat.”
We find that similar has been said about the event with regards to repentance:
مَنْ تَابَ قَبْلَ أَنْ تَطْلُعَ الشَّمْسُ مِنْ مَغْرِبِهَا تَابَ اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ
Muslim
He who seeks repentance (from the Lord) before the rising of the sun from the west (before the Day of Resurrection), Allah turns to him with Mercy.
Therefore, just as Soul reaching the throat is the last moment of one’s life, rising the sun from the west would be the last moment/phase of humanity, and the universe.
This fact would be self-evident to the people due to the magnitude of the effects and consequently putting everyone into panic. Everyone will submit to the power of All Mighty Allah, but that day it would be too late as the door to repentance and acceptance will be closed.
The Sun prostrates
Through out the Qur’an and related hadiths we find the idea of the movement of the Sun. The same idea is also mentioned with regards to the Sun rising from the west in the following hadith:
يَا أَبَا ذَرٍّ هَلْ تَدْرِي أَيْنَ تَذْهَبُ هَذِهِ ”. قَالَ قُلْتُ اللَّهُ وَرَسُولُهُ أَعْلَمُ. قَالَ ” فَإِنَّهَا تَذْهَبُ تَسْتَأْذِنُ فِي السُّجُودِ فَيُؤْذَنُ لَهَا، وَكَأَنَّهَا قَدْ قِيلَ لَهَا ارْجِعِي مِنْ حَيْثُ جِئْتِ. فَتَطْلُعُ مِنْ مَغْرِبِهَا ”
Bukhari. Similar hadiths has been narrated by Muslim and every other hadith books.
“O Abu Dharr! Do you know where this (sun) goes?” I said, “Allah and His Apostle know best.” He said, “It goes and asks permission to prostrate, and it is allowed, and (one day) it, as if being ordered to return whence it came, then it will rise from the west.”
Literal understanding of this hadith seems to suggest that, the Sun is performing the movement that causes nights and days, which seems to be contradicting with our current understanding of The Solar system. Same idea is also established in various places in the Qur’an, for example:
وَالشَّمْسُ تَجْرِي لِمُسْتَقَرٍّ لَهَا ۚ ذَٰلِكَ تَقْدِيرُ الْعَزِيزِ الْعَلِيمِ
Qur’an 36:38
And the sun runs [on course] toward its stopping point. That is the determination of the Exalted in Might, the Knowing.
Islamic scholars have explained this concept in few different ways. Some by translating the verses metaphorically, others by consolidating with the modern science and others took the literal meaning and rejecting our understanding of the Solar system.
First, we need to be firm on what Allah and His messenger (PBUH) said is absolute truth. That is because, if information comes from the Creator who created the matter we are disputing about, how then can we have a blink of a doubt?
Second, anything pertains to science and knowledge of the unseen, Qur’an and Hadiths use very eloquent and abstract words so that people of all time can understand and set focus to the bounty and favours of the Creator. When people used to see the beauty of the sunrise and the sunset, they would wonder about it. But how do you explain to people 1400 years ago that 1) the Earth is round, 2) it is spinning on its own axis 3) yet we don’t fall off because of gravity and constant speed 4) the Earth is orbiting the sun at the same time, 5) the Moon is also orbits around the Earth… and all of these together make the day and night that we see and love. Most of us even in “modern” times don’t care about all of these information. We look at the Sun and we still say sun is rising, and sun is setting. We don’t say the Earth’s quarter rotation is completed so its evening now! Therefore it is more befitting to address majority of readers regardless of time and space, and speak from their perceived view port to the sky just as Allah has setup for them to see; yet remind them that all of these are in prostration (meaning submissive) and abiding the rules set by the creator.
With that being said, through out the entire Qur’an, Allah encourages us to ponder over His creations and try to find how He created the universe and everything in it. This is where Allah allows mankind to slowly advance in the knowledge and discover the science, so that we may glorify Him even more, the perfect the Creator.
The beginning of the end
The Sun will rise from the West. This is one of the last major sign that Allah and His messenger (ﷺ) promised would take place. However, from the context it seems that this sign is not meant to make people believe in Allah, because that day it will be too late as acceptance door will be closed. Rather the sign is related to the ending of the human history. A dramatic shift of the universe that seems to be starting from the stars, space and eventually to the Earth as mankind moves toward the Day of Judgement.
In the next part I will discuss the topic purely from the modern science prospective. There are some interesting ideas that we can use to analyze the event from our current understanding of the cosmos, and perhaps make a connection for the benefit of conceptualizing this great event.
Next part: The rising of the Sun from the West (Part 2) – The Science
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