What should I say to those who say, “Did your Lord forget the Poles since He does not mention them in the Quran?”

Dear Brother / Sister,

First of all, the infinite knowledge and wisdom of Allah is dominant in the Quran -not the whims and desires of people. Allah knows best what He will mention and what is beneficial for people.

The main purpose of the Quran is to prove the oneness of Allah, the prophethood of the Prophet Muhammad and the existence of the resurrection, and to establish justice and worshipping in the human community. All other issues in the Quran aim to serve those purposes.

“The evidence must be clearer than the claim” so that it will be convincing for the addressees. That is the reason why the Quran does not mention scientific knowledge in detail, unlike what science does. If the Quran had discussed today’s issues of physics, astronomy, chemistry and geography fifteen centuries ago, the evidence would have been more covered than the claim, which would not be a logical style in terms of eloquence. The same thing holds true for the issue of poles.

However, there are verses indicating the poles in the Quran; there is also information in hadiths regarding the issue.

We regard it useful to cite the following information from Niyazi Beki’s “Tafsir of the Chapter of Rahman”:

“(He is) Lord of the two Easts and Lord of the two Wests.” (ar-Rahman, 55/17)

The phrase “two Easts - two Wests” in the verse indicates more than one fact:

a) As it can be understood from verse 5 “The sun and the moon follow courses (exactly) computed” of the same chapter, it means “The easts and wests of the sun and the moon”. (cf al-Hazin, VI/139; al-Alusi, XXVI/105)

b) It means “The easts and wests according to lengthening and shortening of days in winter and in summer.” (az-Zamakhshari, IV/445; al-Baydawi, VI/139)

Accordingly, both sides of the seasons are mentioned in the verse, and the everyday notion of the east and west between those two ends is left to people’s minds.

“Now I do call to witness the Lord of all points in the East (Mashariq) and the West (Magharib) that We can certainly!” (al-Maarij, 70/40)

In the verse above, the plural forms of the words east and west are used to indicate their everyday states.

c) Since the Earth is round in the shape of a sphere, one east and one west are pointed out according to each hemisphere. Accordingly, the verse also indicates that the Earth is round. A point that is considered east is also considered west, and a point that is considered west is also considered east. (cf. Ibn Ashur, XXVI/247; Yazır, VII/370-371)

d) The rise of the dawn and the rise of the sun, the setting of the dawn and the setting of the sun. This view is attributed to Ibn Abbas. (cf. al-Alusi, XXVI/105)

It can be explained as follows:

When the rays of the Sun, which is much larger than the Earth, reach the face of the Earth facing the sun, that side of the Earth becomes daytime. The sun’s rays pass by both sides of the Earth at the same time. Therefore, both sides of the sphere remain half-illuminated since the rays do not hit the Earth directly. The middle part of the Earth not facing the Sun’s rays is completely dark. Consequently, sections in the form of full light and little light, full darkness and little darkness appear in the round-shaped Earth. Thus, two lights and two darks occur, enabling the meaning of two east and two west to be understood. (cf Eminoğlu, Kur’an Işığında Kâinat, p. 88) It is also possible to understand the polar regions, where a day is six months and a night six months, from this expression of the Quran.

The Prophet states the following in the hadith known as the hadith of Dajjal (Antichrist):

“Dajjal will remain on earth for forty days. Of those forty days, one day will be like a year, one day like a month, one day like a week, and the other days will be like your normal days.” (Muslim, Kitabul-Fitan wa Ashratus-Saat, 20)

As it is known, in the Arctic region, the whole year consists of one night and one day. If you go toward the south, you can see places where the sun does not set for a month. As you move further toward the south, you will see places where the sun does not set for a week.

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