As the world turns By Fatemah Farag There are very few things we can be certain of these days, yet every night we go to sleep thinking ourselves safe in the knowledge of the world's most basic facts - that Earth is a planet, that it spins about itself and the sun, that gravity holds us to the ground, and that there is a solar system of which we are but a small part. From the throne to the earth , would have us believe. The last page of the book is a photocopy of a statement of approval given by the Islamic Research Academy of Al-Azhar. The statement confirms that no part of the book's content contradicts Islamic belief and is dated 4 January 2000. On 11 April, however, Al-Azhar retracted its approval and claimed that the author had tricked them by presenting a version of the book other than that currently on the market.
Human beings are peculiar.
They go in pursuit of all creatures and leave the creator, even though this is not required of them. The result of this preoccupation with the material world is allegedly pathetic. For those of us who decide to forego Werdani's conclusions and accept that Earth is in fact a planet, a legitimate question that comes to mind is whether religion is in fact at odds with modern science. Many religious scholars have argued that such a contradiction does not exist. Mosalem Shaltout, an Azharite who published an extended critique of Werdani's book in the daily Al-Akhbar newspaper last week, takes up this argument.