Short answer
Yes. A sound hadith says so, but nobody sees the prostration it describes in the sky. In Sahih al-Bukhari 3199, the Prophet (ﷺ) says the sun goes at sunset until it prostrates beneath God's (﷾) Throne. It asks leave to rise, and leave is given. Sahih Muslim 159 says it stays prostrate until it is told to rise. The same report says that, up to the very end, people notice nothing unusual in the sun's course. The Throne is above all creation, so the sun is beneath it wherever it is. The Qur'an says the sun, the moon and the stars all bow to God (﷾), each in its own way. The one change people will see is still to come: one day the sun will rise in the west. So Islam's answer is that the sun is God's (﷾) servant, and the prostration of worship belongs to God (﷾) alone.
Full explanation
The objection
Sahih al-Bukhari 3199 is a hadith, a report of what the Prophet (ﷺ) said. It tells that at sunset, the Prophet (ﷺ) asked Abu Dharr, one of his Companions, where the sun goes. The Prophet (ﷺ) answered that it goes until it bows down beneath the Throne and asks permission. To bow down here means to prostrate, with the forehead on the ground, as in prayer. One day, he said, permission will be refused, and the sun will rise from where it sets. Sahih Muslim 159a adds that it falls down in prostration and stays so until it is told to rise. Critics say this pictures the sun leaving the sky each night and stopping beneath the Throne. They add that the sun never leaves the sky, because at every moment it is shining on some part of the earth.
Abu Dharr reports that at sunset the Prophet (ﷺ) asked him whether he knew where the sun goes, and he answered that Allah and His Messenger know best. He said: it goes until it prostrates beneath the Throne and asks permission, and permission is given. A time is coming when its prostration will not be accepted and permission will not be given. It will be told to go back the way it came, and it will rise from the place where it sets. He said this is the meaning of Qur'an 36:38.
Abu Dharr reports that one day the Prophet (ﷺ) asked his Companions whether they knew where the sun goes. They said that Allah and His Messenger know best. He said: it runs until it reaches its resting place beneath the Throne and falls down prostrate, and it stays so until it is told to rise and go back to where it came from. It goes back and comes up in the morning from its rising place, and the same happens again. Then it runs, and people see nothing unusual in it, until it reaches that resting place beneath the Throne. It is told to rise and come up from the place where it sets, and it will rise from its place of setting. He then asked whether they knew when that will be. It is, he said, when faith will not benefit a soul that did not believe before, or earn good through its faith: the words of Qur'an 6:158.
What the same report says people see
Sahih Muslim 159a is the fullest version of the report. It describes the sun's visible course as ordinary, right up to the end. After the prostration and the return, it says, the sun runs its course and people notice nothing unusual in it (la yastankiru al-nasu minha shay'an). This is said of the last ordinary day, which follows a night of prostration like every night before it. Whatever the prostration and the staying are, the report places them beneath the Throne. It never says that anyone sees the sun halt or leave the sky. The one change people will see is still to come: the sun will rise in the west. The Prophet (ﷺ) calls that the time when faith no longer benefits a soul that did not believe before, in the words of Qur'an 6:158. Bukhari's version ends instead with 36:38, the verse the hadith explains.
Abu Dharr reports that one day the Prophet (ﷺ) asked his Companions whether they knew where the sun goes. They said that Allah and His Messenger know best. He said: it runs until it reaches its resting place beneath the Throne and falls down prostrate, and it stays so until it is told to rise and go back to where it came from. It goes back and comes up in the morning from its rising place, and the same happens again. Then it runs, and people see nothing unusual in it, until it reaches that resting place beneath the Throne. It is told to rise and come up from the place where it sets, and it will rise from its place of setting. He then asked whether they knew when that will be. It is, he said, when faith will not benefit a soul that did not believe before, or earn good through its faith: the words of Qur'an 6:158.
“Are they waiting to see if the angels come to them, or thy Lord (Himself), or certain of the signs of thy Lord! the day that certain of the signs of thy Lord do come, no good will it do to a soul to believe in them then if it believed not before nor earned righteousness through its faith. Say: "Wait ye: we too are waiting."”
Abu Dharr reports that at sunset the Prophet (ﷺ) asked him whether he knew where the sun goes, and he answered that Allah and His Messenger know best. He said: it goes until it prostrates beneath the Throne and asks permission, and permission is given. A time is coming when its prostration will not be accepted and permission will not be given. It will be told to go back the way it came, and it will rise from the place where it sets. He said this is the meaning of Qur'an 36:38.
“And the sun runs his course for a period determined for him: that is the decree of (Him), the Exalted in Might, the All-Knowing.”
Beneath the Throne, wherever it is
Asked about 36:38, the Prophet (ﷺ) said the sun's resting place is beneath the Throne. The verse's Arabic, li-mustaqarrin laha, can mean a resting place or a set time. Yusuf Ali's translation follows the second meaning, and the hadith gives the first. The Qur'an calls God Lord of the seven heavens and Lord of the Throne Supreme. A sound hadith places the Throne above al-Firdaws, the highest level of Paradise. Ibn Kathir, a fourteenth-century scholar who explained the Qur'an, says: wherever the sun is, it is beneath the Throne, it and all creatures, because the Throne is their roof. Critics reply that in Sahih Muslim 159a the sun runs until it reaches its resting place, so that place must be beyond the sky. But a sun that is always beneath the Throne can reach its resting place there without leaving the sky. Even Ibn Kathir, who read the report in its plain sense, put that place on the sun's own path, at the point opposite noon.
Abu Dharr reports that he asked the Prophet (ﷺ) about the words of Qur'an 36:38, that the sun runs to a resting place (mustaqarr) for it. He answered: its resting place is beneath the Throne.
Abu Dharr reports that he was with the Prophet (ﷺ) in the mosque at sunset, when he asked Abu Dharr whether he knew where the sun sets. Abu Dharr answered that Allah and His Messenger know best. He said: it goes until it prostrates beneath the Throne, and that is the meaning of Qur'an 36:38.
“And the sun runs his course for a period determined for him: that is the decree of (Him), the Exalted in Might, the All-Knowing.”
“Say: "Who is the Lord of the seven heavens, and the Lord of the Throne (of Glory) Supreme?"”
Abu Hurayra reports that the Prophet (ﷺ) said that Allah has taken it on Himself to admit to Paradise whoever believes in Allah and His Messenger, prays and fasts Ramadan. This holds whether he emigrated in Allah's cause or stayed in the land where he was born. Asked whether they should tell people this, he said that Paradise has a hundred levels, which Allah has prepared for those who strive in His cause. Between each two levels is as between heaven and earth. When you ask Allah, ask Him for al-Firdaws, the middle and highest part of Paradise. Above it is the Throne of the Most Merciful, and from it the rivers of Paradise burst forth.
Gives two views of "a resting place for it". The first is a place: beneath the Throne, on the side facing the earth. Wherever the sun is, it is beneath the Throne, it and all creatures, because the Throne is their roof. The Throne, he adds, is not a sphere, as many astronomers claim, but a dome with legs, carried by the angels, above the world over the heads of people. The sun, turning in its fourth sphere, is nearest the Throne at noon and farthest from it at midnight; then it prostrates and asks permission to rise, as the hadiths say. The second view is a time: the end of its course on the Day of Resurrection, when its movement stops and this world ends.
Abu Dharr reports that one day the Prophet (ﷺ) asked his Companions whether they knew where the sun goes. They said that Allah and His Messenger know best. He said: it runs until it reaches its resting place beneath the Throne and falls down prostrate, and it stays so until it is told to rise and go back to where it came from. It goes back and comes up in the morning from its rising place, and the same happens again. Then it runs, and people see nothing unusual in it, until it reaches that resting place beneath the Throne. It is told to rise and come up from the place where it sets, and it will rise from its place of setting. He then asked whether they knew when that will be. It is, he said, when faith will not benefit a soul that did not believe before, or earn good through its faith: the words of Qur'an 6:158.
All things bow to God (﷾), each in its own way
The Qur'an speaks of prostration for the whole of creation. It names the sun, the moon and the stars together with the hills, the trees and the animals. It says that shadows bow morning and evening, and that all in the heavens and on earth bow. It says herbs and trees prostrate in adoration. Each creature, it says, knows its own way of prayer and praise. No one sees a tree bend to the ground, yet the Qur'an says it bows. Prostration here is a creature's submission to its Maker, in the way proper to it.
“Seest thou not that to Allah bow down in worship all things that are in the heavens and on earth,- the sun, the moon, the stars; the hills, the trees, the animals; and a great number among mankind? But a great number are (also) such as are fit for Punishment: and such as Allah shall disgrace,- None can raise to honour: for Allah carries out all that He wills.”
“Whatever beings there are in the heavens and the earth do prostrate themselves to Allah (Acknowledging subjection),- with good-will or in spite of themselves: so do their shadows in the morning and evenings.”
“And to Allah doth obeisance all that is in the heavens and on earth, whether moving (living) creatures or the angels: for none are arrogant (before their Lord).”
“And the herbs and the trees - both (alike) prostrate in adoration.”
“Seest thou not that it is Allah Whose praises all beings in the heavens and on earth do celebrate, and the birds (of the air) with wings outspread? Each one knows its own (mode of) prayer and praise. And Allah knows well all that they do.”
Why the sun is named
Ibn Kathir, on 22:18, says the prostration of each thing is of the kind proper to it. Mountains and trees, he says, prostrate by the turning of their shadows to the right and the left. He explains why the verse names the sun, the moon and the stars: they had been worshipped besides God (﷾). So the verse shows that they bow to their Creator and are subject to Him. He then quotes the hadith of the sun's prostration beneath the Throne. The Qur'an turns the same teaching into a command in 41:37. Prostration belongs to the Creator of the sun and the moon, not to them. The sun that people have worshipped is itself a worshipper.
Explains that God alone deserves worship, since everything prostrates to His greatness, willingly or unwillingly, and the prostration of each thing is of the kind proper to it. The sun, the moon and the stars are named because they were worshipped besides God. So the verse shows that they prostrate to their Creator and are ruled by Him and made subservient, as 41:37 forbids prostrating to the sun and the moon. He then quotes the hadith of Abu Dharr on the sun prostrating beneath the Throne. The prostration of mountains and trees, he says, is the turning of their shadows to the right and the left.
“Among His Signs are the Night and the Day, and the Sun and the Moon. Do not prostrate to the sun and the moon, but prostrate to Allah, Who created them, if it is Him ye wish to serve.”
What the scholars said
Several scholars explained the report. Al-Khattabi (d. 998), as Ibn Hajar quotes him, said the sun's settling beneath the Throne may be a settling that we do not comprehend. He added that its prostrating every night does not hinder its revolving in its course. Al-Nawawi (d. 1277) records that the scholars differed over its "resting place". Some read a settling beneath the Throne each day. Some read a set term at the end of the world. Others read the last point of its course through its stations. He adds that the sun prostrates with a discernment and perception that God (﷾) creates in it. Ibn Hajar (d. 1449) wrote the best-known commentary on Bukhari, called Fath al-Bari. He took the plain sense to be a settling every day and night, at its prostration. On Bukhari 3199 he quotes Ibn al-Arabi: nothing prevents the sun from leaving its course to prostrate, then returning. Ibn Hajar replies that if leaving means stopping, that is clear. But there is no evidence that it leaves its course. So he accepted that the sun may halt to prostrate. He also allowed that the prostration may be that of the angel in charge of the sun. Or it may be the sun's own "by the form of its state", meaning greater submission. The Qur'an itself says that people do not understand how all things glorify God (﷾).
Gives two possible readings of the sun's settling beneath the Throne. It may settle beneath it in a way that we do not comprehend. Or the knowledge of its resting place may be in the Book in which the beginning and the end of the world's affairs are written. Then the sun's revolving will be cut off, it will come to rest and its work will end. He adds that nothing in its prostrating every night beneath the Throne hinders its revolving in its course.
Says the commentators differed over the words "its resting place is beneath the Throne, and it falls prostrate". Some took the hadith at its plain sense. On this view, as al-Wahidi puts it, the sun settles beneath the Throne each day when it sets, until the day it rises from where it sets. Qatada and Muqatil read it as a time and a term the sun does not pass, so that its resting place is the end of its course when the world ends; al-Zajjaj chose this. Al-Kalbi said it travels through its stations to the last point, which it does not pass, and then returns to the first; Ibn Qutayba chose this. He adds that the sun's prostration is with a discernment and perception that Allah creates in it.
Says the sun's prostration beneath the Throne does not conflict with 18:86, where Dhul-Qarnayn found the sun setting in a spring of murky water. The spring is the furthest point that sight reaches at sunset, and the prostration beneath the Throne comes after the setting. He quotes al-Khattabi's two readings of the settling beneath the Throne, then gives his own. The plain sense of the hadith, he says, is that the settling happens every day and night, at its prostration. Its opposite is the constant travel that the verse calls running.
Says al-Bukhari placed the hadith of Abu Dharr in this chapter to show the sun's course in every day and night. Its plain sense, he says, is that the sun itself runs, as the verse "each swims in an orbit" says. That differs from the astronomers' view that the sun is set fast in a turning sphere. He quotes Ibn al-Arabi: some denied the prostration, though it is sound and possible, and others read it as the sun's constant subjection. Nothing, Ibn al-Arabi adds, prevents the sun from leaving its course to prostrate and then returning. Ibn Hajar replies that if leaving means stopping, that is clear, but there is no evidence that it leaves its course. He adds that the prostration may be that of the angel in charge of the sun. Or the sun may prostrate "by the form of its state", which would mean greater submission and humility at that time.
“The seven heavens and the earth, and all beings therein, declare His glory: there is not a thing but celebrates His praise; And yet ye understand not how they declare His glory! Verily He is Oft-Forbear, Most Forgiving!”
A sun that never rests
Ibn Kathir read the report plainly. He placed the prostration at midnight, when, he says, the sun is farthest from the Throne. Yet on 14:33 he explains the words "diligently pursuing their courses". The sun and the moon, he says, travel without resting, by night or by day. On 18:86 he says the sun never leaves the course in which it is fixed. So the scholar who placed the prostration at midnight also held that the sun travels without resting and never leaves its course.
Explains "both diligently pursuing their courses" (da'ibayn): the sun and the moon travel on without resting, by night or by day. He sets beside it 36:40, that each swims along in its orbit, and other verses on the sun and moon running their courses under God's command.
“And He hath made subject to you the sun and the moon, both diligently pursuing their courses; and the night and the day hath he (also) made subject to you.”
Gives two views of "a resting place for it". The first is a place: beneath the Throne, on the side facing the earth. Wherever the sun is, it is beneath the Throne, it and all creatures, because the Throne is their roof. The Throne, he adds, is not a sphere, as many astronomers claim, but a dome with legs, carried by the angels, above the world over the heads of people. The sun, turning in its fourth sphere, is nearest the Throne at noon and farthest from it at midnight; then it prostrates and asks permission to rise, as the hadiths say. The second view is a time: the end of its course on the Day of Resurrection, when its movement stops and this world ends.
Explains that Dhul-Qarnayn saw the sun as if it were setting into the ocean, as anyone who goes to the shore sees it, while the sun itself never leaves the course in which it is fixed.
The test for claims about the sky
One test serves every scripture. Some claims are about what can be seen and measured. Examples are a distance from the earth, the order of the planets, or inhabited lands with their kings. These can be checked. Claims about unseen purposes cannot be checked by looking, either way. The Vishnu Purana is a Hindu scripture of the smriti layer (the remembered tradition, ranked below the Veda). It makes claims of the first kind. It gives the sun's distance from the earth in leagues, and sets the moon as far again beyond the sun. Figures like these can be checked against the sky. Some Hindu teachers read these chapters as symbolic. But the text counts its leagues from the earth, and a distance from the earth can be measured. This report makes no claim of that kind. It gives no distance and no measure. Of the sun's visible course it says only what everyone sees. It sets, it rises in the morning, and people notice nothing unusual in it. What it adds is unseen: that the sun bows to its Maker and runs by His leave. The one change it says people will see is the sun rising in the west. That is foretold as a sign of the Last Day. The Qur'an speaks of the sun in the same way: it runs its course, and each body swims along in its own orbit.
Abu Dharr reports that one day the Prophet (ﷺ) asked his Companions whether they knew where the sun goes. They said that Allah and His Messenger know best. He said: it runs until it reaches its resting place beneath the Throne and falls down prostrate, and it stays so until it is told to rise and go back to where it came from. It goes back and comes up in the morning from its rising place, and the same happens again. Then it runs, and people see nothing unusual in it, until it reaches that resting place beneath the Throne. It is told to rise and come up from the place where it sets, and it will rise from its place of setting. He then asked whether they knew when that will be. It is, he said, when faith will not benefit a soul that did not believe before, or earn good through its faith: the words of Qur'an 6:158.
Abu Dharr reports that at sunset the Prophet (ﷺ) asked him whether he knew where the sun goes, and he answered that Allah and His Messenger know best. He said: it goes until it prostrates beneath the Throne and asks permission, and permission is given. A time is coming when its prostration will not be accepted and permission will not be given. It will be told to go back the way it came, and it will rise from the place where it sets. He said this is the meaning of Qur'an 36:38.
“The solar orb is situated a hundred thousand leagues from the earth; and that of the moon an equal distance from the sun. At the same interval above the moon occurs the orbit of all the lunar constellations. The planet Budha (Mercury) is two hundred thousand leagues above the lunar mansions.”
“And the sun runs his course for a period determined for him: that is the decree of (Him), the Exalted in Might, the All-Knowing.”
“It is not permitted to the Sun to catch up the Moon, nor can the Night outstrip the Day: Each (just) swims along in (its own) orbit (according to Law).”
The objections answered
Sahih al-Bukhari 3199 — Kitab Bad' al-Khalq (The Beginning of Creation), hadith 3199
Abu Dharr reports that at sunset the Prophet (ﷺ) asked him whether he knew where the sun goes, and he answered that Allah and His Messenger know best. He said: it goes until it prostrates beneath the Throne and asks permission, and permission is given. A time is coming when its prostration will not be accepted and permission will not be given. It will be told to go back the way it came, and it will rise from the place where it sets. He said this is the meaning of Qur'an 36:38.
Cited for
The Prophet (ﷺ) said at sunset that the sun "goes" until it prostrates beneath the Throne, and "asks permission" to rise. So he pictured it leaving the sky each night. But the sun is always shining on some part of the earth, and it is always setting somewhere. When, then, does it prostrate?
The response
The hadith explains Qur'an 36:38, "the sun runs his course". Its going is the running of its course, and its asking permission shows that it runs only by God's (﷾) leave. The Prophet (ﷺ) put the question to Abu Dharr at sunset. He told him what no one can see: where the sun goes, and that it prostrates beneath the Throne. Sunset comes to every land in turn. The report never says that the sun leaves its course, or that anyone anywhere sees it stop. Al-Khattabi said its prostrating every night does not hinder its revolving in its course. If the prostration does not stop the sun, as al-Khattabi says, it does not have to happen at one moment for the whole earth. And the Throne is above all creation. As Ibn Kathir says, the sun is beneath it wherever it is.
Where it lands — The report speaks of the sun's obedience as it runs its course, not of a trip out of the sky.
Sahih Muslim 159a — Kitab al-Iman (The Book of Faith), hadith 159a
Abu Dharr reports that one day the Prophet (ﷺ) asked his Companions whether they knew where the sun goes. They said that Allah and His Messenger know best. He said: it runs until it reaches its resting place beneath the Throne and falls down prostrate, and it stays so until it is told to rise and go back to where it came from. It goes back and comes up in the morning from its rising place, and the same happens again. Then it runs, and people see nothing unusual in it, until it reaches that resting place beneath the Throne. It is told to rise and come up from the place where it sets, and it will rise from its place of setting. He then asked whether they knew when that will be. It is, he said, when faith will not benefit a soul that did not believe before, or earn good through its faith: the words of Qur'an 6:158.
Cited for
Sahih Muslim says the sun falls prostrate and stays so until it is told to rise. A sun that stays has stopped, and even Ibn Hajar accepted that it may halt to prostrate. Yet the sun never stops.
The response
The report does say that it stays prostrate until it is told to rise. Ibn Hajar accepted that the sun may halt to prostrate. But that is his explanation, not the hadith's words, like Ibn Kathir's midnight hour. In the same passage he offered other readings: the prostration of the angel in charge of the sun, or a greater submission. The report places the staying beneath the Throne and names no point in our sky. It also says that on the last ordinary day, after a night like every other, people notice nothing unusual in the sun. When it is night in Medina, it is day in other lands, and no one there sees the sun stand still. Al-Khattabi said the settling may be one we do not comprehend. He said its prostrating every night does not hinder its revolving in its course. What passes beneath the Throne belongs to the unseen. Looking at the sky can neither prove nor disprove it.
Where it lands — The report says the sun stays prostrate beneath the Throne. It never says that anyone sees the sun halt, and it says people notice nothing unusual in its course.
Tafsir Ibn Kathir, on 36:38
Gives two views of "a resting place for it". The first is a place: beneath the Throne, on the side facing the earth. Wherever the sun is, it is beneath the Throne, it and all creatures, because the Throne is their roof. The Throne, he adds, is not a sphere, as many astronomers claim, but a dome with legs, carried by the angels, above the world over the heads of people. The sun, turning in its fourth sphere, is nearest the Throne at noon and farthest from it at midnight; then it prostrates and asks permission to rise, as the hadiths say. The second view is a time: the end of its course on the Day of Resurrection, when its movement stops and this world ends.
Cited for
Ibn Kathir puts the prostration at midnight, when the sun is farthest from the Throne. He also says the Throne is not a sphere but a dome with legs over the world. That is a flat earth under a dome.
The response
The hadith says nothing of midnight and gives the Throne no shape. The midnight timing is Ibn Kathir's own explanation, in the astronomy of his day, which set the sun in its fourth sphere. The Throne's legs are in an authentic hadith, Sahih al-Bukhari 2412, and the Qur'an speaks of angels bearing the Throne. Muslims accept both. A report in Sunan Abi Dawud (4726) likens the Throne over the heavens to a dome. Al-Albani graded it weak, as sunnah.com shows, and nothing here rests on it. "Not a sphere" is said of the Throne, not of the earth. And Ibn Kathir's own words answer the critic. Wherever the sun is, he says, it is beneath the Throne, with all creatures. And on 14:33 he says it travels without resting, by night or by day.
Where it lands — Ibn Kathir's plain reading still puts the sun beneath the Throne wherever it is, travelling without resting, by night or by day.
Abdullah ibn Amr, reported in Tafsir Ibn Kathir on 36:38
Abdullah ibn Amr said of 36:38 that when the sun sets it greets, prostrates and asks permission, and permission is given. Then a day comes when it sets, greets, prostrates and asks permission, and is refused. It says the journey is long and that without permission it will not arrive, and it is held back as long as Allah wills; then it is told to rise from where it set. From that day until the Day of Resurrection, faith will not benefit a soul that did not believe before. These are his own words, not a saying of the Prophet (ﷺ).
Cited for
The first Muslims read it literally. Abdullah ibn Amr, a companion of the Prophet (ﷺ), said the sun is held back as long as Allah wills. Ikrima, a Successor (one who met the companions), said it enters a prayer-niche beneath the Throne each night. The readings that make it unseen came later.
The response
These are the sayings of a companion and of a Successor, recorded in the commentaries. They are not the Qur'an or the words of the Prophet (ﷺ), on which Muslim belief rests. The scholars quoted on this page are quoted for how they read the report, not as revelation either. Nor did the early commentators agree. Al-Nawawi records that Qatada and Muqatil read the resting place as a set time, the end of the sun's course when the world ends. And in Abdullah ibn Amr's report as Ibn Kathir gives it, the sun is given permission night after night. It is held back only on the last day, when permission is refused and it is told to rise from where it set. That day is the sign that everyone will see.
Where it lands — Neither report is the teaching of the Qur'an or of the Prophet (ﷺ). The early commentators read the resting place in more than one way. In Abdullah ibn Amr's report, the holding back belongs to the last day.
Qur'an 18:86 — Surat al-Kahf (The Cave), verse 86
“Until, when he reached the setting of the sun, he found it set in a spring of murky water: Near it he found a People: We said: "O Zul-qarnain! (thou hast authority,) either to punish them, or to treat them with kindness."”
Cited for
Put the hadith beside 18:86, where the sun sets in a spring of murky water, and you have a flat earth. The sun drops into the west, passes under the ground to the Throne, and comes back in the east. In Sunan Abi Dawud 4002, the Prophet (ﷺ) himself says at sunset that the sun sets in a hot spring.
The response
Verse 18:86 says what Dhul-Qarnayn found: the sun setting as it looked to him at the western water. Ibn Hajar joined the two texts the same way. The spring, he says, is the furthest point that sight reaches at sunset, and the prostration beneath the Throne comes after it. Sunan Abi Dawud 4002 is a report from Abu Dharr. In it the Prophet (ﷺ) says at sunset that the sun sets in a hot spring (hamiya). Al-Albani graded its chain sahih. Abu Dawud placed it in his book on the readings of the Qur'an. Hamiya is one of the two recognised readings of the word in 18:86. So the Prophet (ﷺ) spoke the verse's own words, and Ibn Hajar's reading of those words holds here too. None of these texts says the sun goes under the ground, and none gives the earth a shape. All of them speak of sunset as everyone still does, astronomers included. The Throne is above all creation, not under the earth. And the Qur'an has the sun and the moon each swim along in its own orbit.
Where it lands — None of these texts draws a flat earth; the critic brings that picture to them.
Sahih al-Bukhari 3199 — Kitab Bad' al-Khalq (The Beginning of Creation), hadith 3199
Abu Dharr reports that at sunset the Prophet (ﷺ) asked him whether he knew where the sun goes, and he answered that Allah and His Messenger know best. He said: it goes until it prostrates beneath the Throne and asks permission, and permission is given. A time is coming when its prostration will not be accepted and permission will not be given. It will be told to go back the way it came, and it will rise from the place where it sets. He said this is the meaning of Qur'an 36:38.
Cited for
A sun that prostrates and asks permission would have to be a conscious being. That is myth, not astronomy. And if the sun is a living servant of God, Hindus do nothing wrong in honouring Surya. They honour him as a devata, a conscious power serving the Supreme.
The response
The Qur'an says that everything in the heavens and on earth glorifies God (﷾), though people do not understand how. Each creature, it says, knows its own way of prayer and praise. The scholars differed over how the sun prostrates. Al-Nawawi says it is with a discernment and perception that Allah (﷾) creates in it. Ibn Hajar allowed, among other readings, that it may be the prostration of the angel in charge of the sun. Or it may be the sun's own submission, "by the form of its state". If the prostration is the angel's, the Qur'an says the angels too bow to Allah (﷾). No prophet, it says, would bid people take angels for lords. On every reading, the sun is subject to its Maker and runs by His leave. That is why it must not be worshipped. The Qur'an forbids prostrating to the sun and the moon: prostration belongs to Allah (﷾), Who created them.
Where it lands — The sun bows to God (﷾), and the Qur'an gives the prostration of worship to God (﷾) alone, not to the sun that bows to Him.
Perspectives
The critics' reading
The hadith pictures the sun leaving the sky each night, stopping beneath the Throne and asking permission to come back. Critics say this cannot be true of a sun that is always shining on some part of the earth.
Sahih al-Bukhari 3199 says the sun goes at sunset until it prostrates beneath the Throne and asks permission.
Rebuttal
Islam accepts this sound hadith, which the Prophet (ﷺ) gave as the meaning of 36:38, "the sun runs his course". Its going is its running by God's (﷾) permission. And the report never says it leaves the sky. Sunset comes to every land in turn. Al-Khattabi said its nightly prostration does not stop it running its course.
Sahih Muslim 159a says the sun stays bowed down until it is told to rise. Critics read this as the sun stopping.
Rebuttal
The report does say the sun stays prostrate until told to rise. But it places this beneath the Throne, not at a point in our sky. The same report says people notice nothing unusual in the sun's course; what passes beneath the Throne is unseen.
Some classical scholars read it as the sun really coming to rest each night. And Ibn Hajar accepted that the sun might stop on its path for its prostration.
Rebuttal
These are the scholars' explanations, not the Prophet's (ﷺ) words. Al-Nawawi records other readings, such as a set term at the end of the world. Ibn Hajar allowed that it may halt, but only as one reading: he also offered the angel's prostration or a greater submission.
Ibn Kathir placed the prostration at midnight, and called the Throne a dome with legs. Critics read this as a picture of a flat earth.
Rebuttal
The hadith gives no midnight hour and no shape for the Throne. Those are Ibn Kathir's own explanation. The Throne's bearers and legs are in the Qur'an and an authentic hadith. And "not a sphere" is said of the Throne, not of the earth. Ibn Kathir himself says the sun is beneath the Throne wherever it is, and travels without rest (14:33).
The Islamic perspective
The report describes the sun's submission to God (﷾) beneath the Throne, which is over all creation. It describes no prostration that anyone sees. In Sahih Muslim 159a, the sun then runs its course and people notice nothing unusual in it. The one change it says people will see, the sun rising in the west, is still to come. The Qur'an says all things bow to God (﷾), each in its own way.
Sahih Muslim 159a says that after its prostration, the sun runs its course, and people see nothing unusual in it.
The Prophet (ﷺ) explained Qur'an 36:38 by saying that the sun's resting place is beneath the Throne.
A sound hadith places the Throne above the highest level of Paradise. And Ibn Kathir says the sun is beneath the Throne wherever it is.
The Qur'an says the sun, the moon, the stars, the hills, the trees and the animals bow to God (﷾). Each knows its own way of prayer.
Ibn Kathir says each thing bows down to God (﷾) in its own way. The sun, the moon and the stars are named, he says, because people worshipped them.
Al-Khattabi said the sun's settling beneath the Throne may be one we do not comprehend. He said its prostrating every night does not hinder its course.
Al-Nawawi records three readings of the sun's resting place. He says it bows down with an awareness that Allah (﷾) creates in it.
Ibn Hajar allows that the sun may stop to bow down, though he finds no evidence that it leaves its path. He also allows that the prostration may be the angel's. Or it may be the sun's own, shown by its condition rather than in words.
Ibn Kathir read the report in its plain sense. He explains 14:33 as the sun and the moon travelling without rest, by night or by day.
The report gives no distance or size for the sun. The Vishnu Purana, by contrast, gives the sun's distance from the earth in leagues.
The sun is a creature that obeys God (﷾) and runs by His permission. The prostration of worship belongs to its Creator alone.