Retrograde Motion of Planets

And a Novel misinterpretation of the rising of the Sun from the West

by Dr. Zahid Aziz

The Light (UK), June 2007 Issue (pp. 6–7)

Most of us are familiar with “chain” e-mails, forwarded by their recipients to all their contacts and so on and on, claiming to present evidence in support of some Islamic idea or teaching. It is to be regretted that most often the information in these e-mails is simply baseless and absurd. Recently I came across such an e-mail, originating in Pakistan, which attracted my attention as the subject was: Sunrise from the West. It is signed by someone who describes himself as Vice-President, Head of Operations, MCB Asset Management Company Limited, Karachi. It is headed:

“NASA: Sunrise from the West.
Get ready, be prepared.
Please read, very interesting article.”

NASA is the world-famous U.S. Space exploration agency. The author of the e-mail claims to have derived the following information from a NASA article:

He then quotes a couple of Hadith reports about the rising of the sun from the west, and declares:

“And it is also good material for calling others to Allah, whether Muslims or the non-believers. When we show this hadith that was told 1400 years ago about this miracle, you will see Inshallah, a lot will enter this beautiful religion. And the Muslims if they see this phenomena happening in Mars, who knows maybe it would bring them closer to our Creator.”

I am sorry, and I am embarrassed as a Muslim, to say that if the writer presents this argument to “non-believers” they will tell him that they, the non-believers, have had two robotic rovers moving around actually on the surface of Mars itself since January 2004, sending back observations and data every day, and no such “phenomena happening in Mars” has been reported by these rovers, nor by the space craft that are currently orbiting Mars. It is sad and deplorable that Muslims who used to lead the world in Astronomy, which is why so many stars have Arabic names, are today mired in such lamentable ignorance.

The writer has completely misunderstood the normal, natural phenomenon of retrograde motion of planets. As he has access to the Internet to send his e-mail, he could have easily checked what this phenomenon is by going to any astronomical website presenting information for the general public, such as those of NASA. Retrograde motion of a planet such as Mars does not mean that anything whatsoever happens to its actual motion, either to its orbital movement around the sun, or, as is relevant in this case, to its rotation on its axis. The sun has not been rising from the west on Mars.

“Retrograde motion” is a normal, regular occurrence related to the apparent motion of planets against the background of the stars from one evening to the next. For a simplified explanation please visit this link which also shows an animation:

www.scienceu.com/observatory/articles/retro/ [Page no longer available]

Please note that the example animation is not showing the movement of Venus during the course of one evening as you look at the sky. It is showing the movement of its daily position from one evening to the next. To quote from this website:

“Planets, as we noted, move relative to the stars, and they do so, generally, moving from west to east in the sky. If we look at the sky, at the same time of the night on two different nights, we will generally notice that the planets have moved a little to the east. But every once in a while, a planet will do something funny: it will slow down its motion, will appear to ‘stop’ for a short while, and will then start moving in the opposite direction, to the west. Eventually, it will stop again, and resume its movement towards the east.”

This retrograde effect is observed when the Earth in its orbit is passing another planet. This “passing” is rather like when an athlete running faster on an inside track “laps” another one running less fast on an outside track. This happens about once every two years for Earth and Mars.

Let me give an analogy, albeit inexact, of retrograde motion which Muslims would find easier on the basis of their experience of observing the moon. On the evening when the new moon is observed at sunset, it is in the west just slightly higher than the sun and is following the sun on its way down to setting. The next evening at sunset, the moon is higher than on the first evening, and again on its way down to setting. On the third evening at sunset it is again higher than on the second evening, on its way downwards to setting. Quite obviously, the increasing height at sunset from one evening to the next does not mean that if we stand looking at the newish moon we will see it moving upwards.

The interpretation given by the Founder of the Ahmadiyya Movement to the sign of the sun rising from the west is very well-known. He wrote:

“As regards the rising of the sun from the West, we do believe in it; but what has been shown to me in a vision is this — that the rising of the sun from the West signifies that the Western world which has been involved of old in the darkness of unbelief and error shall be made to shine with the sun of Truth, and those people shall have their share of Islam.” (Izala Auham, p. 515)

It is interesting to note that, within half a century of his death, human beings became capable of observing literally the sun rising from the west. If you fly westwards at a sufficiently high speed (which would have to exceed 1000 miles per hour if you were at the equator), taking off just after sunset, you will soon observe the sun reversing its course and rising from the west. As an example, if the former supersonic airliner Concorde left London for New York, say, at 7 p.m. it would arrive in New York at 5 p.m. local time. If this was on a day in late March or September, when the sunset time in the whole world is about 6 p.m., then the travellers would see the sun rise from the west during their journey. One can conjecture whether this is also part of the fulfilment of the sign given in Hadith.

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