Imam Al-Sadiq’s Scientific Precision
Since the year 90 AH (708-709 CE), Imam Ja’afar Al-Sadiq attended lessons given by his father, Imam Muhammad Al-Baqir. Historians are all in agreement that Imam Ja’afar Al-Sadiq started attending the lectures at the age of 10.
Those lessons, given in the school of and by Imam Muhammad Al-Baqir, are considered the highest degree of studies or that of advanced studies in the city of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him and his progeny). Most of Imam Al-Baqir’s students were intellectuals, scholars, and researchers. Therefore, it is safe to conclude that Imam Ja’afar Al-Sadiq started his advanced studies at the age of 10, which comes to no surprise for someone with divine blessings of an explicit memory and remarkable intelligence.
Those lessons, given in the school of and by Imam Muhammad Al-Baqir, are considered the highest degree of studies or that of advanced studies in the city of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him and his progeny). Most of Imam Al-Baqir’s students were intellectuals, scholars, and researchers. Therefore, it is safe to conclude that Imam Ja’afar Al-Sadiq started his advanced studies at the age of 10, which comes to no surprise for someone with divine blessings of an explicit memory and remarkable intelligence.
The first lesson Imam Ja’afar Al-Sadiq attended was about the geography of Claudius Ptolemy. It was Al-Sadiq’s first time hearing about the book Ptolemy’s Almagest and this great geographer, mathematician, astronomer, and astrologer’s opinion on the Earth and the structure of world. The opinion that Ptolemy discussed in the second century.
The theory of a spherical Earth was circling around for years within the Egyptians and Greeks; but with no proof until Ptolemy. He proved this theory in his book, Ptolemy’s Almagest. Ptolemy believed that the Earth is the center of the world, and that the sun, moon, and other stars circulate around Earth.
In the year 91 AH (709 CE), whilst Imam Ja’afar Al-Sadiq was still a student in his father’s school, an incident occurred which had a huge impact in revealing Al-Sadiq’s scientific talent and abilities. It was when a man by the name of Muhammad bn Fatah, which too was Imam Muhammad Al-Baqir’s student, returned from Egypt with a souvenir for his teacher. The souvenir was a sculpture made out of wood flour composed of a miniature ball based on a round surface, and in its sky are groups of stars just as Ptolemy envisioned in his book.
Ptolemy believed that there are 48 fixed astronomical groups that can be seen with the naked eye each with its own image and specific shape. Those astronomical groups were portrayed around the miniature ball with their names written on each in the ancient Egyptian language. On the miniature ball itself, 12 astronomical stars were engraved, from Aries to Pisces, in the form of a belt, encircling the miniature ball. The sun was placed behind the ball, indicating it’s rotation around the Earth and the zodiac once every year. The moon and other orbits were incised, and they rotate around the Earth as well.
The theory of a spherical Earth was circling around for years within the Egyptians and Greeks; but with no proof until Ptolemy. He proved this theory in his book, Ptolemy’s Almagest. Ptolemy believed that the Earth is the center of the world, and that the sun, moon, and other stars circulate around Earth.
In the year 91 AH (709 CE), whilst Imam Ja’afar Al-Sadiq was still a student in his father’s school, an incident occurred which had a huge impact in revealing Al-Sadiq’s scientific talent and abilities. It was when a man by the name of Muhammad bn Fatah, which too was Imam Muhammad Al-Baqir’s student, returned from Egypt with a souvenir for his teacher. The souvenir was a sculpture made out of wood flour composed of a miniature ball based on a round surface, and in its sky are groups of stars just as Ptolemy envisioned in his book.
Ptolemy believed that there are 48 fixed astronomical groups that can be seen with the naked eye each with its own image and specific shape. Those astronomical groups were portrayed around the miniature ball with their names written on each in the ancient Egyptian language. On the miniature ball itself, 12 astronomical stars were engraved, from Aries to Pisces, in the form of a belt, encircling the miniature ball. The sun was placed behind the ball, indicating it’s rotation around the Earth and the zodiac once every year. The moon and other orbits were incised, and they rotate around the Earth as well.
This sculpture was the first model of the Earth, stars, moon, and orbits that Imam Ja’afar Al-Sadiq has ever seen; he was 11 years old. Due to his exceptional intelligence, he found the fault in Ptolemy’s theory. “If the sun rotates around the Earth and transfers from constellation to another within 30 days to complete a full rotation once every year, then what is the secret of the sun’s absence every night to appear in the morning of the following day? And if the sun settles in every constellation for one month, then we must see the sun continuously, and it should not set every evening,” said Imam Al-Sadiq.
Imam Al-Sadiq’s criticism was precise and scientific. He crtisized Ptolemy on his view that there are two movements of the sun, a movement on the zodiac around the Earth once a year, and another movement around the Earth once every day and night. The latter movement, according to Ptolemy, is a daily movement, which justifies how we see the sun set every evening in the west only to rise every morning in the east. Imam Al-Sadiq saw the impossibility in the convergence of the two movements at the same time. As the sun travels along the zodiac, it cannot leave this path to orbit the Earth once every day.
Imam Al-Sadiq’s criticism was precise and scientific. He crtisized Ptolemy on his view that there are two movements of the sun, a movement on the zodiac around the Earth once a year, and another movement around the Earth once every day and night. The latter movement, according to Ptolemy, is a daily movement, which justifies how we see the sun set every evening in the west only to rise every morning in the east. Imam Al-Sadiq saw the impossibility in the convergence of the two movements at the same time. As the sun travels along the zodiac, it cannot leave this path to orbit the Earth once every day.
At that time, 560 years have passed since the passing of Ptolemy. Within those hundreds of years, no one has been reported to pay attention to or criticize this mistake, until 91 AH, where an outstanding 11 year old student did.
Sources
- Book: Imam Ja’afar Al-Sadiq in the Eyes of Western Scholars (pages 82-87)
- Figure 1: https://blog.britishmuseum.org/how-did-the-islamic-world-influence-western-art/
- Figure 2: https://www.slideshare.net/sarahjones78/the-universe-35449770
- Figure 3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Plxed3JVOnI