Astrological astronomy: a way to pagan denial of God

7/31/2019 Astrological astronomy: a way to pagan denial of God

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Astrological astronomy: a way to pagan denial of God

By Dr.P.R.Palodhi

Perhaps we could have better insights of pagan astrology and its anthropomorphic

cosmogonies after reflecting to starry handwriting of God on the wall of the heavens. Psalm(19:1) says: ―the firmament shows His handiwork ‖. Psalm (147:4): "He counts the number of the stars, He calls them all by name ." David wrote in Psalm (8:3): ―the work of Your fingers ‖. Theletter ‗ Aleph‘ from which God‘s name begins, is the ―father‖ of the all Aleph-Bet, whose originalpictograph represents an ‗ox‘ or ‗strength‘. Aleph is derived from primordial symbol is that of theRam’s head (incidentally, Ram is the first sign of the Zodiacal constellations) and also relatedlater to the Bull’s head (the Age of Taurus, the primordial beginnings of human consciousness).God reveals in Qur‘an: ‘It is We Who have set out the Zodiacal Signs in the heavens, and made them fair- seeming to all beholders.’ (Q, 15: 16); ‘Do they see nothing in the government of theheavens and the earth, and all that God has created?’ (Q, 7: 185); ‘None can disputeabout the Signs of God but the Unbelievers.’ (Q, 40:4)

‘By the Sky and the Night -Vigilant therein; and what will explain to thee what the Night- Vigilant is? It is the Star of piercing brightness; there is no soul but a protector over it.Now let man but think from what he is created.’ (Q, 86: 1-5)

Long before advent of modern science ancient civilizations are found to possess amazinginformation about constellations and heavenly affairs. This knowledge originally came to earlymankind from two different sources: one, from the Prophets – through whom God sentknowledge pertinent to humanity‘s journey on earth. Thus from remote past people had their own type of calendar which is at the base of what is in use today. They knew the cycle of themoon, period of month in 29 and 30 days, and about 365-day year. They could navigate theoceans, and they used knowledge of stars to guide them.

[ A cuneiform clay tablet shows how the ancient people knew that ‘sun being circled by ten

Planets’ long before modern science discovered it]

They predicted sun risings and settings that were accurate enough to predict eclipses.Necessary to predict eclipses was knowledge of the shapes, movements, and relationshipsbetween the earth, moon, and sun. They accomplished this by using the same heliacal systemwe use today, by measuring the rising and setting of the stars and planets in our skies relativeto the sun. They kept accurate ephemerides, tables that predicted future positions of celestial

http://thealeph.info/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=41&Itemid=49






bodies. Those ephemerides were not based on observations, which were impossible with thenaked eye, but on mathematical formulas governed by rules handed down from some as yetundetermined source. And the other was from pre-human Jinns who used to steal the secretsof heaven (e.g. titan god Prometheus in Greek mythology who steals ‗fire‘ from heaven as a giftfor man). With this pilfered knowledge they could exert arcane influence on man; and men usedto worship Jinns mistaking them as some aspects or forms equal to the Creator God. Thus the

foundation of planetary knowledge laid by the Prophets used to get mixed up with God denyingastrology – where innumerable gods and goddesses were mythicized as the rulers of heavenlyand earthly phenomena.

ASTROLOGY – A LEGACY OF THE JINNS’ PAGANISM: Astrological astronomy continued to mesmerize people since unfathomable antiquity. Nothingcan prevail so long in history without some foundation of truth – thus incredible epoch of gods,goddesses, their idols and mythology prevailed because mysterious pre-humans truly existed;and tradition of astrology is lasting for many millennia because it has incurred vitality from thepartial elements of creational truth.

‘I have only created Jinns and men, that they may serve (worship) Me.’ (Q, 51: 56); ‘And the Jinn race, We created before, from the fire of a scorching wind’ (Q, 15:27); ‘Yet they make Jinns equals with God, although God did create the Jinns.’ (Q, 6:100); ‘And Jinnsdid pry into the secrets of heaven, but found it filled with stern guards and flaming fires’ (Q, 72: 8); ‘If they (pagan Jinns) had only remained on the right Way, We should certainly have bestowed on them Rain in abundance; that We might try them by that means. But if any turns away from the remembrance of his Lord, He will cause him to undergo ever- growing Chastisement.’ (Q, 72: 16-17); ‘True, there were persons among humankind whotook shelter with the persons among the Jinns. But they increased them in folly’ (Q, 72:6); ‘Men worshipped the Jinns and most of them believed in them’ (Q, 34: 41); ‘ Verily ye unbelievers, and the false gods that ye worship besides Allah, are but fuel for Hell! To it will ye surely come’! (Q, 21: 98)

The Qur‘an informed about the God denying Jinns created before humankind – who by virtue of their fire-based origin were capable of celestial movements. Stealing information from celestialorbits and Zodiacal signs was habit of the Jinns – by which they could develop charms of astrology, psychic magic etc and subdue mankind. But their pilfered knowledge was only partial,because, in such celestial ventures many had been destroyed by the flaming fires (i.e. comets)of Divinely protected heaven (Q, 15; 16-18; 67:5). This has been corroborated by the mention of

Aztec calendar stone: If a comet, or “star that smokes,” appeared in the sky, it foretold the death of their noble person . Moreover, heavenly parameters are dependent on God‘s Will – and not towhims and fancies of man or Jinns. God has shaken the heavens in the past; God shakes theearth out of its place (Job 9: 6). God changes the time and season (Kgs 20: 11; Is 38: 8; Josh10: 13-14; Dan 2: 21). God said, ―Once more….I will shake the heavens‖ (Hag 2:6). If God

shook the heavens, many of the ‗star dating‘ can be challenged. Hence the inadequateknowledge astrological astronomy delivered to man proves to be out of the religiouscontexts and twisted more with falsehoods than straightening with truth. The imposedastrological astronomy upon men based on half-truth has deceived ancient generation‘s questfor knowledge and understanding of Divine omnipotence. How astrological abstractions divorceman from the ways of Divine was noticed by the prolific scholar Al-Biruni in context of Hinduism.He quoted in his ‗Indica‘ (ed. Dr. E.C. Sachau): ‗Hindus can never speak of anything, be it anobject of intellect or of imagination, without representing it as a personification, an individual.They at once marry him, make him celebrate marriage, make his wife pregnant and give birth to



something. Thus Vishnu Dharma relates ‗Atri ‘ the star who rules the stars of Great Bear,married the direction, represented as ‗one person‘ though they are eight in number, and thatfrom her the Moon was born. They relate The Sun, the son of Kasyapa and of Aditya, his wife,was born in the sixth Manabantara on the lunar station ‗Visakha ‘; the Moon, the son of Dharmawas born on the station ‗Krittika ‘; Mars the son of Prajapati on ‗Puvashadha ‘; Mercury the son of Moon on ‗Dhanishtha ‘; Jupiter the son of Angiras on ‗Puvaphalguni ‘; Venus the daughter of

Bhrigu on ‗Pushya ‘; Satern on ‗Revati ‘; the bearer of tail, the son of Yama the death, on‗Aslesha ‘ and the head on ‗Revati .‘

From pagan Jinns later human followers inherited the unfair knowledge of cosmos, with whichthey used to deny God - firstly by associating origin of the world, functions of the heavenlybodies, geophysical features and the natural forces of earth with the demigods, heroes, andspirits etc. Thus sky god Zeus in Greek or Indra in Vedic etc used to rule the sky of paganmythologies. Secondly, such traditions bestowed power upon the pagan gods and celestial starsto decide the destiny of man and societies, rather than laws of God to give man the power tolearn and use natural phenomena beneficially. The heritage of pagan Jinns tended to exalt bymaking a notion that the gods and goddesses are the determining principles of universe.

Although God reveals that: it is not those gods or Jinns, rather human (Insaan ) is chosen as the

vicegerent for this earth. Hence we find that Jinns‘ days on earth are becoming limited graduallyby way of increasing the human population and raising certain spheres of human instinct andintellect.

‘O you assembly of Jinns! much toll did you take of men .’ (Q, 6: 128)

As we turn to ancient civilizations we come across countless mythological abstractions of astrological astronomy. Mesopotamians associated their divinities with specific heavenly bodies.

A similar system was later adopted by the Greeks and by the Romans, after whose deities theplanets now have their English names. In India, too, the planets have been worshipped as minor divinities for the past two millennia at least, and each of them has one of the principal gods of Hinduism as its overlord. Thus cosmologies turned into anthropomorphic cosmogonies.

Anthropomorphism is the interpretation of what is not human or personal - in terms of human or personal characteristics. One form of an anthropomorphic worldview in animism, the belief thatall things are animated by the will of different spirits, all of which hold some opinion towardhumans, and any of which may actively aid or frustrate human plans. Less purelyanthropomorphic cosmologies may hold that some portions of the universe are inanimate butare created and affected by animate beings, perhaps by a pantheon of gods as well as humans.In a Chinese legend we find: Buddha summoned all animals to come to him before he wasdeparted from earth. Only twelve came to bid him farewell. As a reward he named a year after each one in the order that it arrived, first came Rat, then the Ox, the Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon,Snake, Horse, Sheep, Monkey, Rooster, Dog and Boar. Such myth had foundation in pre-existing knowledge of the twelve animal signs of the Zodiac in China known since at least thetime of the Shang (Shing or Yin) dynasty (1766 BC – 1050 BC). Coincidences between

positions of astronomical objects and cyclical nature of events on earth also gave rise to mythsunder guise of mnemonics for remembering the correlations.

A VIEW TO ASTROLOGY OF ANCIENT GEREATIONS:

‘As for disbelievers, whether thou warn them or thou warn them not it is all one for them;they believe not. They think to beguile God and those who believe, and they beguile none save themselves; but they perceive not.’ (Qur’an, 2: 6-7)



Pagan Sumerian astrology is purported to be based on a theory of polytheistic government of the world; all the great gods had their seats in the heavens. The movements of the sun, moonand five planets were regarded as representing the activity of the five gods in question, together with the moon-god Sin and the sun-god Shamash, in preparing the occurrences on earth. If,therefore, one could correctly read and interpret the activity of these powers, one might know

what the gods were aiming to bring about. Of the planets, five were recognized – Jupiter,Venus, Saturn, Mercury and Mars – to name them in the order in which they appear in theolder cuneiform literature; in later texts Mercury and Saturn change places. These five planetswere identified with the gods of the Babylonian pantheon as follows:• Jupiter with Marduk ;• Venus with the goddess Ishtar ,• Saturn with Ninurta (Ninib ),• Mercury with Nabu (Nebo ),• Mars with Nergal .

Sumerian Heavenly Gates(providing either ascent into the high Heavens or into the Underworld and/or watery abyss, the Abzu of Enki).

The Ancient Egyptians divided the night sky into 36 groups of stars, star-gods or constellations, known as ‗decans‘, which rose above the horizon at dawn for a period of tendays every year. The Dog star Sirius (goddess Sopdet , Septet ) was the most important one.The ceilings of many royal tombs show that the ‗decans‘ moving across the sky in boats. Somepainted wooden coffin lids of the early Middle Kingdom, and also the Late Period, showcalendars consisting of 36 columns, that list the 36 decans and the rising period of each. Thiscalendar was flawed because its year was six hours short, thus losing ten days every 40 years.

Since the Egyptians had a zodiac with 36 decans, some speculate that the Greeks took theBabylonian zodiac and added their own ideas to create the round zodiac ceiling from the templeof Hathor at Denderah. This proposes that the outer ring of 36 decans stars is in concordancewith the Greek astrological zodiac. The temple of Hathor contains two representations of theheavens, a round zodiac ceiling (i.e. Denderah Zodiac) and a square zodiac (i.e. Grand Temple)in the outer hypostyle hall.The Northern Stars were: Ursa Majoris, Draconis, Capella, and Spica.The Southern Stars were: Phact, Centauri, Canopus, and Sirius.



Denderah zodiac

In China astrology was always regarded very highly. The 60 year cycle combining the fiveelements with the twelve animal signs of the Zodiac has been documented in China since at

least the time of the Shang (Shing or Yin) dynasty (1766 BC – 1050 BC). Oracles bones havebeen found dating from that period with the date according to the 60

Replica of an oracle bone – turtle shell

year cycle inscribed on them, along with the name of the diviner and the topic being divinedabout. Astrology in China also became combined with the Chinese form of geomancy known asFeng shui . Chinese refers to the 5 major planets by the one of the Wu Xing they wereassociated with:

Venus—Metal (White Tiger)

Jupiter —Wood (Azure Dragon)

Mercury—Water (Black Tortoise)

Mars—Fire (Vermilion Bird) Saturn—Earth (Yellow Dragon)

Harappan – Vedic tradition: Although the Harappan script is still un-deciphered, there arenumerous indications that Harappans were well versed in astronomical astrology. Archaic formsof Zodiacal signs are traceable from several Indus seals (2347, 7038, 7040, and 7711) [1]. Thecentaur (Greek: kentaur , Vedic: gandhara ) depicted in the seals can be compared to the 12



main nakhsatras or moon-houses of the Zodiac [2]. Vedic Aryans, after separating from Avestanbrothers, are known to have adopted Harappan astrology. The star-calendar used by the later Vedic Aryans in India has no references to it in the Avesta, or in the oldest books of the Rig-Veda. On the other hand, astronomical evidence dates the compilation of this calendar ataround the 2300 BC, when the Indus civilization flourished at its peak. The Pleiades hold aprominent place as the mothers or wet nurses of the newborn infant in one of the most ancient

Hindu myths, that of the birth of the war-god Rudra/ Skandha, who evidently represents, amongother things, the victorious rising sun (and as vernal sun the new-year).

Pleiades – the wives of seven sages

The Pleiades are said to have been the wives of the seven sages, who are identified with theseven stars of the Great Bear. The Great Bear‘s Old Tamil name elu-meen ‗seven-star‘corresponds to the combination of the pictograms ‗7‘ + ‗fish‘, which alone constitutes the entiretext of one finely carved Indus seal. The Satapatha-Brahmana states that the six Pleiades wereseparated from their husbands on account of their infidelity; other texts specify that only one of the seven wives, Arundhati , remained faithful and was allowed to stay with her husband: she isthe small star Alcor in the Great Bear, pointed out as a paradigm of marital virtue to the bride inthe Vedic marriage ceremonies. Evidence for the Harappan origin of this myth is provided,among other things, by Indus seals which show a row of six or seven human figures; their female character is suggested by the one long plait of hair, which to the present day hasremained characteristic of the Indian ladies.

Meso-America: Codex Vaticanus A is a wealthy source of information on how Mayans viewedthe universe. The Mayans tracked the movements of Vevus, Mercury, Mars and Jupiter, andpossessed a zodiac of some kind. The Mayan name for the constellation Scorpio was also'scorpion', while the name of the constellation Gemini was 'peccary '. There is evidence for other constellations being named after various beasts, but it remains unclear [3]. Tonatiuh , a redeagle with a large and all-seeing eye, was the god associated with the sun. Moon representedby a female deity who had powerful influence on terrestrial events. A waxing moon had theattributes of the beautiful, ideal woman, while a waning moon was considered to be an oldfemale deity who ruled over childbirth. Venus held a particular attraction for the Mayans. It wasconsidered to be connected with the major deity Quetzalcoatl . It was called Xux Ek , the ―GreatStar ‖. The Pleiades was called tianquiztli , which meant ―market-place‖.

PROPHETIC ROLE:

‘Behold! In the creation of heavens and the earth, and the alternation of night and day – there are indeed Signs for men of understandings. Men who remember God standing,sitting, and lying down on their side, and contemplate the wonders of creation in the



heavens and the earth, with saying: “Our Lord not for naught hast Thou created all this! Glory to Thee! Give us salvation from the Chastisement of the Fire.’ (Q, 3: 190-191)

‘When the stars fall, losing their lustre ……….then shall each soul know what it has put forward. So verily I call you to witness the Planets – that recedes, go straight, or hide; and the night as it dissipates; and the dawn as it breathes away the darkness.’ (Q, 81: 1-

18)

‘It is We Who have created you: why will you not witness the Truth? ’ (Q, 56:57); ‘O you children of Adam! Let not Satan seduce you, in the same manner as he got your parents out of the Garden, stripping them of their raiment, to expose their shame: for he and his tribe watch you from a position where you cannot see them: We made the evil ones friends only to those without faith.’ (Q, 7: 27).

Prophet Noah‘s son Shem was 98 years old when the Flood came; he started Sumeriancivilization probably prior to the Flood and continued it for centuries after it. This would explainthe ―sudden civilization‖ in that area of the world after the waters receded. In later course of history the Semitic Akkadians are among the first people credited to have kept astronomical

records, and the earliest date from around 2500 BC. They lived in the northern part of what waslater called Babylon. Pagan Sumerians of unknown ethnic origin came from eastern mountains.The astrologer-priests that lived later in Babylon were able to use the records of the Akkadiansto predict some of the motions of the sun, Earth‘s moon, and stars. Both in Egypt andMesopotamia, the farmers, priests and businessmen were used to a time table; Pyramid textsappear to show that it was in full working order before 2400 BC. Egyptians were able to figureout the length of a year based upon the movements of the sun and the flooding of the NileRiver. The Egyptians were one of the first to create an accurate calendar.

Shah Wali Allah [4] explained in Hadith: ‗Abraham‘s story is his hankering after acquisition of thetrue religion (fitra ). When Abraham dedicated entirely to God – he was addressed (throughintermediary of al-mala al-ala i.e. supreme Angels) in a loud voice by a tongue of Divine will

and election, from an opening for light in the heaven of the ‗Godly man‘ (i.e. prototype of humansp. from whom institution for mankind descend). So he brought to light the falsehood of astrology, magianism and polytheism. In this instruction God restored to a particular contrivance. Since it had turned out that from magianism inconsistent schools of thought(syncretism) resulted and that through astrology polytheism expanded; for removing thisfalsehood – God commanded to follow true religion (fitra ) and to obey the tongue of the Divinewill instead of directing oneself to the course of heavenly bodies. In the beginning of our aeonthe things that happened in the world were direct effects of the powers of celestial spheres andelements (‗anasir ‘; Gr. Stoichia ). And that was the creation up to. So Prophet Idris had spokenof science relating thereto. After that, in the Holy compound (hazira al-quds ) the al-mala al-ala steadily increased and crowded together. Well then, each of those supreme Angels couldfunction, so to speak, as a secret mechanism in which a potency of the celestial sphere had

been laid. Now, if God wanted something to be done, there had to be a ‗restrain or letting loose‘(see Arabic verse of Q. 2: 246/5) of the causal process on earth, effected by the al-mala al-ala .In that way He could have His intention realized. The celestial spheres did no longer keepunlimited command (as we know from Qur‘an they were the first to surrender to Divine will).Hence Abraham came to refute the importance attributed to the stars, to teach monotheism, andto call attention to Divine ‗irradiation‘ (tadjalli ) produced in the Holy compound.‘

Again after arrival of the Persians, the Euphrates Valley received a religion which differedmarkedly from the Babylonian polytheism. Prophet Zarathrustra was Divinely ordained with a



task of establishing a ‗solar observatory‘ on an island on Helmand Lake in Eastern Iran. Thepurpose of this observatory was to establish the correct time of the Spring Equinox. It was usedto measure the exact time of NoRuz , the Persian New Year, which would be the equivalent of an astronomically precise Easter. Since very ancient time Indo-Europeans are known toobserve in the spring the New Year, NuRoz (means New Day). As to the Winter Solstice, theIndo-Europeans celebrated a Yule tide festival at mid winter. The early followers of Zarathrustra,

or perhaps even Zarathrustra himself used to observe a Mid Winter Gahan Bar , but either because of a renewal of the early tradition, or for other reasons, it got mixed up with the Yuletide and became what is now known as Yalda . These festivals were concentrated on studyingpreaching and singing the Gathas for ―Five Gathas Days‖. Gradually spread of astronomy wascoincident with the rise of a scientific phase of astronomy in a newer world. All these factorsweakened the hold of deep rooted astrology – a traditional practice of all ancient civilizations.

ASTRONOMY Vs ASTROLOGY:

Confucius reflected to astrology by saying: "Heaven sends down its good or evil symbols and wise men act accordingly." [5]. Ancient star-reading later developed into the art of pagan

astrology; especially under the Chaldeans it turned into astrological astronomy during the reignof king Nabonassar (747 BC) when observations of sky became continuous with keeping of records on file list. Wikipedia and other sources informed that: Astrology and astronomy wereindistinguishable for a very long time. In Medieval Europe the word Astronomia was often usedto encompass both disciplines as this included the study of astronomy and astrology jointly andwithout a real distinction; this was one of the original Seven Liberal Arts. Copernicus didn‘tpractice astrology (nor empirical astronomy; Newton most likely rejected astrology, however (asdid his contemporary Christian Huygens) [6]. Newton said that as a young student, he had reada book on astrology, and was "soon convinced of the vanity and emptiness of the pretendedscience of judicial astrology". In compilation work Etymologiae Isidore of Seville author notedexplicitly the difference between the terms astronomy and astrology (Etymologiae, III, xxvii) andthe same distinction could be traced in the famous work of Al-Biruni [7]. Isidore identified the two

strands entangled in the astrological discipline and called them astrologia naturalis andastrologia superstitiosa . Kepler was cautious in his opinion; he spoke of astronomy as the wisemother, and astrology as the foolish daughter, but he added that the existence of the daughter was necessary to the life of the mother. He may have meant by this that the "foolish" work of astrology paid for the serious work of astronomy.

From their great centers of learning in Damascus and Baghdad Arabs revived the learning of the ancient Greeks in Islamic astronomy, astrology, Islamic mathematics and Islamic medicinewhich Europe had forgotten before but developed it afterwards. Their knowledge was thenimported into Europe, during and after the Latin translations of the 12th century, helping to startthe Renaissance. Albumasur was the greatest of the Arab astronomers, whose work'Introductorium in Astronomiam' was later highly influential in Europe. Also important was Al

Khwarizmi, the Persian mathematician, astronomer, astrologer and geographer, who isconsidered to be the father of algebra and the algorithm. The Arabs greatly increased theknowledge of astronomy, naming many of the stars for the first time, such as Aldebaran, Altair,Betelgeuse, Rigel and Vega. In astrology they discovered a system still known as Arabic parts,which accorded significance to the difference or "part" between the ascendant and each planet.The mode of astrological study was refuted by several medieval Muslim astronomers such as

Al-Farabi (Alpharabius), Ibn al-Haytham (Alhazen), Avicenna, Abu Rayhan al-Biruni and Averroes. Their reasons for refuting astrology were often due to both scientific (the methodsused by astrologers being conjectural rather than empirical) and religious reasons [8]. Ibn



Qayyim Al-Jawziyya (1292 –1350), in his Miftah Dar al-Sa Cadah , used empirical arguments inastronomy in order to refute the practice of astrology and divination [9]. Al-Jawziyya alsorecognized the Milky Way galaxy as ―a myriad of tiny stars packed together in the sphere of thefixed stars‖ and thus argued that [10] ―it is certainly impossible to have knowledge of their influences.‖ The distinguishing features of astronomy and astrology are:

■ Mechanical astronomy aims to probe into the physics of the universe which in turn proceedstoward the understanding of the integral harmony of the universe emanating from theomnipotence of the Creator. Contrarily, astrology uses astronomical calculations for thepositions of celestial bodies in an attempt to correlate celestial events (astrological aspects, signpositions) with gods, goddesses, earthly events and human affairs. Astronomers consistentlyuse the scientific method, naturalistic presuppositions and abstract mathematical reasoning toinvestigate or explain phenomena in the universe. The scientific method is not consistently usedby astrologers; instead they use mystical or pseudo-religious reasoning as well as traditionalfolklore, symbolism and superstition blended with mathematical predictions to explainphenomena in the universe by denying the Creator God and His aspects of creation.

■ Astrologers practice their discipline geocentrically, considering the universe to be harmonious,

changeless and static; while astronomers have employed the scientific method to infer that theuniverse is without a center and is dynamic, expanding outward.

■ Both astrologers and astronomers consider Earth as being an integral part of the universe,that Earth and the universe are interconnected as one cosmos (not as being separate anddistinct from each other). However, astrologers philosophically and mystically ascribe thesupernatural and metaphysical essence of universe to gods and goddesses who activelyinfluence world events and the personal lives of people. Astronomers cannot use in their scientific articles explanations that are not derived from empirically reproducible conditions,irrespective of their personal convictions. Scientific discourses must provide explanations basedon known measurable laws of nature, according to which Earth is just as integral a part of theuniverse as are celestial objects.

Concluding remark: From the basic truth that God set out the Zodiacal Signs in the heavens,and made them fair-seeming to all beholders‘ (Q, 15: 16), eventually sprang up pagan myths of astrological god-hoods. Hence to overcome the spells of pagan falsehoods, wiser approach of scientific comprehension of astronomy was necessary. But again human quest for truth is under spell of another hegemony that tends to reduce science into God-less materialism and divertastronomy towards self-willed apprehension of cosmos. With apparent success of materialisticscience present euphoria must not hoodwink us from the fact that atomic/molecular domain inuniverse is only 4%, and rest of 96% is yet unknown dark-matter and dark-energy.

‘ O ye assembly of Jinns and men! If it be ye can pass beyond the zones of the heavens and earth, pass ye! Not without authority shall ye be able to pass!’ (Q, 55: 31-33)

[Republished from my article in Articlesbase.com http://www.articlesbase.com/religion-articles/astrological-

astronomy-a-way-to-pagan-denial-of-god-6140292.html]References:1. E. Richter-Ushanas. (1997), ‗The Indus Script and the Rg-Veda ‘, p. 82, (MotilalaBanarasidas, New Delhi).2. H. Frankfort. (1937), ‗Cylinder Seals ‘, London. 3. Michael D. Coe, (2005)'The Maya' , pp. 227 –29, Thames and Hudson, London.



4. ‗Shah Wali Allah‘s Ta’wail Al - Ahadith’ , Trans. by J.M.S Baljon (E.J. Brill, Leiden,Netherlands), 19735. Derek and Julia Parker, "The New Compleat Astrologer " Crescent Books, New York, 19906. D.T. Whiteside, M.A. Hoskin & A. Prag (eds.), The Mathematical Papers of Isaac Newton (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1967), vol. 1, pp. 15-197. S. Pines (1964). "The Semantic Distinction between the Terms Astronomy and Astrology

according to al-Biruni ".8. Saliba, George (1994b), A History of Arabic Astronomy: Planetary Theories During the Golden Age of Islam , New York University Press, pp. 60 & 67 –69, ISBN 08147802379. Livingston, John W. (1971), "Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyyah: A Fourteenth Century Defense against Astrological Divination and Alchemical Transmutation ", Journal of the American OrientalSociety 91 (1): 96 –103,10. Livingston, John W. (1971), "Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyyah: A Fourteenth Century Defense against Astrological Divination and Alchemical Transmutation ", Journal of the American OrientalSociety 91 (1): 96 –103 [99]

[Other References: Hugh Thurston. (1994). Early Astronomy , (New York: Springer-Verlag); Anthony Aveni, ‗Sky watchers of Ancient Mexico ‘ Univ. of Texas Press, 1980; Michael Coe,

―Native Astronomy in Mesoamerica ‖ In Archaeo-astronomy in Pre-Columbian America edited by Anthony Aveni. Univ. of Texas Press 1975]

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Astrological astronomy: a way to pagan denial of God