nor does reason, or anything known through reason, provide grounds for denying it.

Such a groundless categorical denial is merely like the denial by some ignorant people that the celestial spheres are round. Some categorically deny this, while others deny that anyone can be certain of it. Both positions are ignorance. What basis does a person have for denying this, or for denying that anyone in creation knows it, when he has no evidence beyond what he may grasp through his own deficient understanding?

Yet the Book, the Sunnah, and the consensus of the scholars of the Muslim community establish that the celestial spheres are round. Allah Most High says:

“Among His signs are the night and the day, and the sun and the moon.”

He also says:

“It is He who created the night and the day, and the sun and the moon, each floating in an orbit.”

And He Most High says:

“It is not for the sun to overtake the moon, nor does the night outstrip the day; each floats in an orbit.”

Ibn ‘Abbās said: “In a circular form, like the whorl of a spindle.” Such is also its meaning in the Arabic language: a falak is something round. Hence the expression tafallaka thadyu al-jāriyah, meaning that a young woman’s breast has become round.

He Most High says:

“He wraps the night around the day and wraps the day around the night.”

Tak wīr means making something round. Hence the expressions kāra al-‘imāmah and kawwarahā, meaning that someone wound a turban around. From this, too, a ball is called a kurah: it is a round body. This is why the celestial spheres are described as spherical in shape. The original form of kurah is kawarah: the wāw bore a vowel and was preceded by an a-vowel, so it was changed into an alif. Likewise, kawwartu al-kārah means “I made the bundle round.” Related to this is the hadith:

“Indeed, the sun and the moon will be rolled up on the Day of Resurrection