The Geocentric Universe

The first and the second of the cultivated zones have less civilization than the other zones.

The latter:

• is interspersed with empty waste areas and sandy deserts
• has the Indian Ocean to the east.

Zones 1 and 2 have few nations and populations.

Zones 3, 4, and subsequent are just the opposite.

• Waste areas and sandy deserts there are few
• The nations and populations are tremendous.
• Cities and towns are exceedingly numerous.

Civilization has its seat between Zones 3 and 6. The south is all emptiness.

Many philosophers said that this is because of the excessive heat of the sun’s deviation from the zenith in the south.

When the south and north poles of heaven are on the horizon, they make a large circle, called the equinoctial line, that divides the firmament into 2 parts.

• It is the largest circle in it and runs from west to east.

Astronomy explains that the highest sphere moves from east to west in a daily motion.

• This also forces the spheres enclosed by it to move.
• This motion is perceptible to the senses.

The stars in their spheres have a motion that is contrary to this motion and is, therefore, a motion from west to east.

• The periods of this movement differ according to the different speeds of the motions of the stars.

Parallel to the courses of all these stars in their spheres, there runs a large circle which belongs to the highest sphere and divides it into two halves. This is the ecliptic zodiac. It is divided into twelve “signs.”

The equinoctial line intersects the ecliptic at two opposite points:

• at the beginning of Aries
• at the beginning of Libra

The equinoctial line divides the zodiac into 2 halves.

• One of them extends northward from the equinoctial line.
  • It includes the signs from the beginning of Aries to the end of Virgo.
• The other half extends southward from it
  • It includes the signs from the beginning of Libra to the end of Pisces.

The 2 poles fall on the horizon in one particular region among all the regions of the earth.

The equator is a line is formed on the earth that faces the equinoctial line and runs from west to east.

This line is believed to coincide with the beginning of the first of the seven zones. All civilization is to the north of it.

The north pole gradually ascends on the horizon of the cultivated area of the earth until its elevation reaches 64 degrees.

Here, all civilization ends. This is the end of Zone 7.

When its elevation reaches 90 degrees on the horizon - that is the distance between the pole and the equinoctial line-then it is at its zenith, and the equinoctial line is on the horizon.

Six of the signs of the zodiac, the northern ones, remain above the horizon, and six, the southern ones, are below it.

Civilization is impossible in the area between 64-90 degrees, for no admixture of heat and cold occurs there because of the great time interval between them.

Generation (of anything), therefore, does not take place.

The sun is at its zenith on the equator at the beginning of Aries and Libra. It then declines from its zenith down to the beginning of Cancer and Capricorn. Its greatest declination from the equinoctial line is 24 degrees.

When the north pole ascends on the horizon, the equinoctial line declines from the zenith in proportion to the elevation of the north pole, and the south pole descends correspondingly, as regards the three (distances constituting geographical latitude). 39

Scholars who calculate the prayer times call this the latitude of a place.

When the equinoctial line declines from the zenith, the northern signs of the zodiac gradually rise above it, proportionately to its rise, until the beginning of Cancer is reached.

Meanwhile, the southern signs of the zodiac correspondingly descend below the horizon until the beginning of Capricorn is reached, because of the inclination of the (two halves of the zodiac) upwards or downwards from the horizon of the equator, as we have stated.

The northern horizon continues to rise, until its northern limit, which is the beginning of Cancer, is in the zenith.

• This is where the latitude is 24 degrees in the Hijaz and the territory adjacent.
• This is the declination from the equinoctial at the horizon of the equator at the beginning of Cancer.

With the elevation of the north pole (Cancer) rises, until it attains the zenith.

• When the pole rises more than 24 degrees, the sun descends from the zenith and continues to do so until the elevation of the pole is 64 degrees, and the sun’s descent from the zenith, as well as the depression of the south pole under the horizon, is the same distance.

Then, generation of anything stops because of the excessive cold and frost and the long time without any heat.

At and nearing its zenith, the sun sends its rays down on the earth at right angles.

In other positions, it sends them down at obtuse or acute angles. When the rays form right angles, the light is strong and spreads out over a wide area, in contrast to what happens in the case of obtuse and acute angles.

Therefore, at and nearing its zenith, the heat is greater than in other positions, because the light (of the sun) is the reason for heat and calefaction.

The sun reaches its zenith at the equator twice a year in two points of Aries and Libra.

No declination (of the sun) goes very far. The heat hardly begins to become more temperate, when the sun has reached the limit of its declination at the beginning of Cancer or Capricorn and begins to rise again toward the zenith.

The perpendicular rays then fall heavily upon the horizon there (in these regions) and hold steady for a long time, if not permanently.

The air gets burning hot, even excessively so. The same is true whenever the sun reaches the zenith in the area between the equator and latitude 24 degrees, as it does twice a year.

The rays exercise almost as much force upon the horizon there (at this latitude) as they do at the equator. The excessive heat causes a parching dryness in the air that prevents (any) generation.

As the heat becomes more excessive, water and all kinds of moisture dry up, and (the power of) generation is destroyed in minerals, plants, and animals, because (all) generation depends on moisture.

When the beginning of Cancer declines from the zenith at the latitude of 25 degrees and beyond, the sun also declines from its zenith. The heat becomes temperate, or deviates only slightly from (being temperate). Then, generation can take place. This goes on until the cold becomes excessive, due to the lack of light and the obtuse angles of the rays of the sun.

Then, (the power of) generation again decreases and is destroyed. However, the destruction caused by great heat is greater than that caused by great cold, because heat brings about desiccation faster than cold brings about freezing.

Therefore:

• there is little civilization in Zones 1 and 2
• there is a medium degree of civilization in Zones 3, 4, and 5 because the heat there is temperate owing to the decreased amount of light.
• there is a lot of civilization in Zones 6 and 7 because of the decreased amount of heat there.

At first, cold does not have the same destructive effect on the power of generation as heat. It causes desiccation only when it becomes excessive and thus has dryness added. This is the case beyond Zone 7.

All this is why civilization is stronger and more abundant in the northern quarter.

The philosophers concluded from these facts that the region at the equator and beyond it to the south was empty. On the strength of observation and continuous tradition, it was argued against them that (to the contrary) it was cultivated.

How would it be possible to prove this?

The philosophers did not mean to entirely deny the existence of civilization there. Instead. they mean that the power of generation must, to a large degree, be destroyed there because of the excessive heat.

Consequently, civilization there would be either impossible, or only minimally possible. This is so.

The region at the equator and beyond it (to the south), even if it has civilization as has been reported, has only a very little of it.

Averroes assumed that:

• the equator is in a symmetrical position
• what is beyond the equator to the south corresponds to what is beyond it to the north.

Consequently, as much of the south would be cultivated as of the north. His assumption is not impossible, so far as the argument of the destruction of the power of generation is concerned.

However, it is made impossible by the fact that water covers the earth in the south.

Averroes assumed the symmetrical position of the equator because of the greater amount of water in the south. This position is impossible.

Everything else follows, since civilization progresses gradually and begins its gradual progress where it can exist, not where it cannot exist.

The assumption that civilization cannot exist at the equator is contradicted by continuous tradition.