No. The Quran does not teach that giant suns are removed from their places and hurled at devils. It teaches that the nearest heaven is adorned with heavenly lights, and that devils who try to steal a hearing are driven away by a shihab - a blazing shooting flame. This is an unseen matter with a visible sign, not a crude claim that fixed stars are being consumed or depleted.
The Quranic Verses in Question
The main verses are these:
Indeed, We have adorned the nearest heaven with an adornment of stars, and as protection against every rebellious devil. They cannot listen to the exalted assembly and are pelted from every side, repelled, and for them is a constant punishment. Except one who snatches [some words] by theft, but they are pursued by a burning flame, piercing [in brightness].
Quran 37:6-10
And We have certainly adorned the nearest heaven with lamps and have made them missiles for the devils, and We have prepared for them the punishment of the Blaze.
Quran 67:5
And we sought to reach the heaven but found it filled with powerful guards and burning flames. And we used to sit there in positions for hearing, but whoever listens now finds a burning flame lying in wait for him.
Quran 72:8-9
The Projectile Is Called a Shihab
The objection usually depends on reading the English word "star" in a narrow modern technical sense, as though the Quran were saying that an enormous distant sun is physically detached and thrown. The Quranic wording is more careful than that.
- Quran 67:5 says the nearest heaven is adorned with masabih, meaning lamps or luminous lights.
- Quran 37:10 identifies the thing pursuing the devil as a shihab thaqib, a piercing blazing flame.
- Quran 72:8-9 likewise speaks of shuhub, burning flames lying in wait.
In Arabic, shihab is used for a bright flame or shooting blaze seen in the sky. Thus the Quran itself points to a blazing streak or shooting light, not to the absurd idea that a whole star like the sun falls out of its place. Even in English, people still say "shooting star" without meaning that an actual star has fallen.
How Classical Tafsir Understood It
The early Muslims affirmed the reality of what the Quran describes: devils attempt to steal a hearing from the heavenly realm, and Allah repels them. This belongs to the unseen and is known through revelation.
At the same time, a well-known explanation in classical tafsir is that the visible fixed lights are not being plucked out of the heaven. Commentators such as al-Baghawi and al-Qurtubi mention that the meaning of "made them missiles" is that Allah made their shuhub, or blazing projectiles associated with them, missiles against devils. In other words, the verse may be understood with an omitted genitive: "We made their flames/projectiles missiles." This reading is supported by the other verses, which explicitly name the pursuing object as a shihab.
Al-Bukhari also cites the early tafsir statement of Qatada that Allah created the stars for three purposes: adornment for the heaven, missiles against devils, and signs by which people navigate. This is a statement of tafsir, not a hadith of the Prophet (PBUH), and it is not a license for astrology. Its point is that the heavenly lights serve purposes Allah assigned to them, while speculative claims beyond revelation are rejected.
The Authentic Hadith
The Prophet (PBUH) also corrected superstitious beliefs about shooting stars. In an authentic hadith in Sahih Muslim, a shooting star was seen while the Prophet (PBUH) was with his Companions. He asked what people used to say about such a sight in the time of ignorance. They replied that people would say a great person had been born or had died. The Prophet (PBUH) said:
It is not thrown for the death of anyone nor for his life.
Sahih Muslim
He then explained that when Allah decrees a matter, the angels convey it, and devils try to steal a hearing. They are pelted, though one may pass on a stolen word to a soothsayer, who then mixes it with lies. This hadith shows two things at once: the matter is not mere poetic symbolism, and it is not astrology or superstition. The Prophet (PBUH) was refuting pagan myths, not teaching them.
Does Astronomy Disprove This?
No. Astronomy describes the physical side of the visible phenomenon people call a meteor or shooting star: a small body enters the atmosphere, heats up, and appears as a bright streak. Revelation tells us of an additional unseen purpose connected to the shihab: devils are repelled from stealing heavenly information.
These are not contradictory claims. A single event can have a physical cause and an unseen purpose. Rain has meteorological causes, yet the Quran also describes it as provision and mercy from Allah. Likewise, a burning streak can have a material explanation while Allah uses it for a purpose in the unseen realm.
The Objection Fails
The claim that the Quran teaches "giant stars are thrown at devils" fails for several reasons:
- It reads a modern technical meaning of "star" back into broad Quranic language about heavenly lights.
- It ignores that the Quran identifies the pursuing object as a shihab, a burning shooting flame.
- It treats the phrase "made them missiles" as if it must mean the fixed lights themselves are removed, even though classical tafsir allowed the meaning "their flames/projectiles."
- It assumes that a physical explanation of meteors excludes an unseen purpose, which is a philosophical assumption, not a scientific discovery.
The Quran's teaching is coherent: the nearest heaven is adorned with luminous bodies, and Allah uses blazing projectiles to repel devils from the unseen realm. Nothing in this requires the caricature imagined by the objection.