It is declared in several hadîth-i sherîfs: “Allâhu ta’âlâ and angels and all creatures pray for him who teaches people what is good.” “On the Day of Judgement, first prophets, then scholars and then martyrs will intercede.” “O People! Know that knowledge can be acquired by listening to the scholar.” “Learn knowledge! Learning knowledge is an ’ibâda [worship]. The teacher and the learner of the knowledge will be given the rewards of jihâd.” “Teaching knowledge is like giving alms. Learning knowledge from a scholar is like performing midnight namâz.” “Learning knowledge is more thawâb [reward giving] than all supererogatory ’ibâdât [worships], for it is useful for both oneself and for those whom one will teach.” “Anyone who learns ’ilm [knowledge] to teach others is given the rewards of Siddîqs.” “Knowledge is a treasure. Its key is to ask and learn.” “Learn and teach knowledge.” “Everything has a source. The source of taqwâ [to abstain from harâms, that is prohibitions, by fearing Allahu ta’âlâ] is the hearts of ’ârifs [great scholars who comprehended through his heart the knowledge about Allahu ta’âlâ and His Attributes].” “Teaching knowledge is atonement for sins.”

The Earth rotates about its axis from west to east. In other words, an overhead view of it, like that of a globe placed on a table (with the North Pole pointing upwards), would reveal that it rotated in a counterclockwise direction. This is called the true (direct, prograde) motion. The Sun and the fixed stars appear to make a revolution per day from east to west. This is called the retrograde motion. The time between two successive meridianal transits of a star at a certain location is defined as one sidereal day. One-twenty-fourth of this period is one sidereal hour. The time interval between two successive transits of the centre of the Sun across the meridian, that is, the time between successive instants of true zawâl is called one true solar day. Meanwhile, the Earth moves from west to east along the ecliptic and completes one revolution per year around the Sun. Due to this motion of the Earth, the Sun appears to move from west to east on the ecliptic plane, rotating about the ecliptical axis through the Earth’s centre perpendicular to the ecliptic plane. The average speed of this translational movement is about 30 kilometres per second, though it is not constant. Since the orbit of the Earth on the ecliptic plane is not circular but elliptical, the angles subtended by the arcs travelled in equal intervals are not equal. The smaller its distance to the Sun, the higher its speed.