not as the pretenders to knowledge nowadays would have us believe. They claim that the sun is motionless and that the earth revolves around it—yet this is the very opposite of what the Quran states: “And the sun runs on to its appointed place” (Ya-Sin 36:38). They insist that the sun is fixed—exalted is Allah above what they allege!

As for the stars—that is, the planets—they are subjugated by His command, ceaselessly running and revolving without pause. This is a rebuttal to those who worship the sun, the moon, and the planets: all of them are compelled by Allah’s decree. It is Allah who makes them move, and Allah who halts them whenever He wills; they are managed and governed, possessing no authority of their own.

He, glorified be He, commands them, and they move, orbit, and shine by His universal command: one rises while another sets, and they succeed one another in turn. In the verse, “the sun, the moon, and the stars” are set in the accusative because they are conjoined to “the heavens,” which itself appears in the accusative as a direct object; its case-sign is a kasrah standing in for the fatḥah because it is a sound feminine plural. “The earth” likewise comes in the accusative with a fatḥah, after which “the sun and the moon” are linked to an accusative word, and whatever is conjoined to an accusative likewise takes the accusative.

“Musaḵḵarāt” (subjugated) is an accusative circumstantial expression, meaning “while they are subjugated,” and its case-sign is the kasrah replacing the fatḥah because it belongs to the class treated like the sound feminine plural. Then He says: “Behold, to Him belong the creation and the command.”