The sun as a nuclear reactor is our world’s source of light and heat. The quantity of radiation reaching our world from the sun that warms our world in the cold of space is two per billion of the sun’s total quantity of radiation. The moon is not a source of heat and light like the sun. This difference between the sun and the moon finds its description in the Quran, i.e., the sun’s light is expressed by the Arabic word “ziya” (radiant) and the moon’s light is expressed by the word “noor” (light). The word “ziya” meaning radiation has the connotation of light and heat, while “noor” does not have such a connotation. Other attributes of the sun in the Quran are similes such as “seraj” (torch) or “wahhaj” (lamp). Both “seraj” and “wahhaj” emit heat and light through the fire burning within them. The fact that such attributes are not used for the light of the moon shows how refined the
style of the Quran is.
AMENITIES OF THE SUN
The energy generated by the sun in just one second is equal to the energy that three billion power stations would generate on earth in a year. The world receives but two per billion parts of the overall radiation coming from the sun. The slightest decrease in this quantity would turn our world into a place no longer habitable by human beings, as ice age would reign. The distance of our world from the sun, the size of the sun, and the power of reactions within the sun are all calculated infinitesimally. We are part of these calculations. The slightest change in the figures would make life on earth impossible. The creation and the perpetuation of these critical values are the sine qua non of our lives. The sun rotates around its own axis while moving towards a particular destination; the earth, on the other hand, has a variety of movements; it rotates around its own axis, revolves about the sun, being dependent on it, and is affected by the moon. In all the rapid movements, our world changes all the time according to the position of the solar system and galaxies. None of the movements affects our position in relation to the sun nor puts an end to our life on earth.Life requires carbon-based molecules. These are only generated between -20 degrees Celsius and +120 degrees Celsius. The range of temperatures is vast in the universe, the heat in stars rises to millions of degrees and falls until -273.15 degrees Celsius is reached. The bracket for the ideal medium for the formation of carbon-based molecules is just a thin slice, one per one hundred thousand of the existing heat differences. Had the world failed to conserve its existing heat and quit the bracket it is in, that would be the end of us. But our Creator is ever conscious of our actual needs and everything is controlled by Him.
The sun, about 150 million kilometers distant from us, renders life on earth possible. An aircraft traveling at 1000 km/hour would have trouble covering this distance in seventeen years. The temperature in the center of the sun, whose surface temperature is six thousand degrees Celsius, is 15 million degrees Celsius. Not even on the surface of this incandescent gaseous sphere can life be imagined. But at a reasonable distance for us, it is our planet’s closest friend and source of life.