They Called It a Star. The Quran Called It a Planet.
Ancient Babylon, ~1800 BCE. The goddess Ishtar was associated with the brightest object in the night sky after the Moon. They called it the "Star of Ishtar." Archaeologists confirm that Abraham's people the Sumerians worshipped this "Star of Venus." The Bible confirms it. They all called it a star.
Here is what makes this extraordinary: The Sumerian civilisation that worshipped the Star of Ishtar left records written in the Sumerian language. That language became completely dead forgotten by all of humanity around the year 0 CE. The evidence of their star-worship was buried under desert sand at the Ziggurat of Ur. Nobody on Earth knew any of this when the Quran was revealed in 610 CE. The Ziggurat of Ur was only excavated in 1922 CE by archaeologist Sir Leonard Woolley. The Sumerian language was only deciphered in the 1850s CE. The Quran described Abraham's people worshipping celestial objects knowledge that was completely inaccessible for over 1,200 years.
When the Quran describes Abraham in 6:76, he sees a bright object in the night sky. The word the Quran uses for that object is كَوْكَبًا (kawkaban). This is not the Arabic word for star. It is the Arabic word for planet.
"When the night fell over him, he saw a planet. He said: This is my Lord. But when it set, he said: I do not love those that set."
Exercise 1 of 3 · The Words
Arabic Has Two Separate Words
Arabic is precise. There is a separate word for star and a separate word for planet and they are completely different. The Quran never confuses them.
نَجْم
Star
najm a burning ball of gas emitting light
✗ not used in 6:76
vs
كَوْكَب
Planet
kawkab a body orbiting a star, reflects light
✓ used in 6:76
The word كَوْكَبًا (kawkaban) used in Quran 6:76 means:
A
Star
The Arabic word for star is نَجْم (najm) a different word entirely
B
Planet
كَوْكَب is the precise Arabic term for a planet used in modern Arabic astronomy today
C
Comet
Exercise 2 of 3 · The Mistake
Everyone Else Called It a Star
The Star of Ishtar the 8-pointed star symbol represented Venus in ancient Mesopotamian culture. It was one of the most widely worshipped objects in the ancient world. Abraham's Sumerian contemporaries worshipped it as a star. But this fact was buried literally.
The buried evidence: The Ziggurat of Ur the great temple of Abraham's city was buried under desert sand for over 2,000 years. Archaeologist Sir Leonard Woolley excavated it between 1922 and 1934. The Sumerian language in which these religious records were written had been a dead language since approximately 0 CE forgotten for 600 years before the Quran was even revealed. It was only deciphered by European scholars in the 1850s. Nobody in 7th-century Arabia could have accessed this information.
Wikipedia, Star of Ishtar (2021): "Because Ishtar was associated with the planet Venus, the star is also known as the Star of Venus." The ancient world called it a star. The evidence confirming this was underground, in a dead language, for over a millennium when the Quran was written.
What did Abraham's Sumerian contemporaries believe Venus was?
A
A planet, same as today
B
A star the "Star of Ishtar"
They worshipped it as the divine star of the goddess Ishtar/Inanna
C
A moon orbiting Earth
Exercise 3 of 3 · The Proof
Abraham Sees Three Objects. Notice the Words.
In 6:74–79, Abraham sees three sky objects in sequence. The Quran uses a precise Arabic word for each. Watch carefully:
🪐
رَأَىٰ كَوْكَبًا
"He saw a kawkaban (planet)" rises, then sets
كَوْكَب = PLANET · Quran 6:76
6:76
🌙
رَأَى الْقَمَرَ
"He saw the qamar (moon)" rises, then sets
الْقَمَر = MOON · Quran 6:77
6:77
☀️
رَأَى الشَّمْسَ
"He saw the shams (sun)" rises, then sets
الشَّمْس = SUN · Quran 6:78
6:78
The Quran distinguishes precisely: Sun (شَمْس), Moon (قَمَر), and for the bright night object not نَجْم (star) but كَوْكَب (planet). All of Abraham's contemporaries called Venus a star. The Quran alone used the correct astronomical category.
Why is the Quran's word كَوْكَبًا (planet) in 6:76 scientifically significant?
A
Because Venus is the brightest object in the night sky
B
Because Abraham was the first to discover Venus
C
Because everyone at the time called Venus a star the Quran alone used the correct word: planet
All ancient civilisations including Abraham's Sumerians labelled Venus a star. Modern astronomy confirms it is a planet. The Quran had the right word 1,400 years before this was known.
Lesson complete · +30 XP
The One Correct Word
كَوْكَبًا Planet. Not Star.
0
Years Sumerian was a dead language when Quran was revealed
0
CE Ziggurat of Ur excavated by Sir Leonard Woolley
The evidence was buried. The language was dead. The site was under sand. And yet the Quran correctly described what Abraham's people worshipped and used the right word for it.
The double impossibility:
1. The correct astronomical term. Every civilisation Sumerian, Babylonian, Greek, Roman called Venus a star. The Quran alone used the word for planet (كَوْكَب). This was not confirmed as correct until Galileo's telescope in 1610 CE.
2. The inaccessible historical knowledge. The Quran accurately described that Abraham's people worshipped celestial objects. But the evidence for this was buried under desert sand at the Ziggurat of Ur. The Sumerian language in which these records were written died around 0 CE 600 years before the Quran. It was not deciphered until the 1850s. Sir Leonard Woolley did not excavate the site until 1922. No person in 7th-century Arabia could have known any of this from any available source.
The only explanation that holds: The author of the Quran knew that Abraham's people were Sumerians who worshipped Venus as a star. The author also knew Venus was a planet, not a star. Both facts were impossible for any human to know in 610 CE. Both were verified by modern science and archaeology one in the 1610s, one in the 1920s. As the Quran itself states: "Indeed, He is the Knower of the unseen and the witnessed." (6:73)