There are certain knowledge passed to us from antiquity that seems very strange to us in the twenty first century. Often arrogantly we dub them as false and myth. Not necessarily. For example, the effect of planetary movement (like sun and moon) on human (or animal) behavior. Today’s science might not be mature enough to brand this effect of planetary movement on human as myth. The reality, however is that very often the science elders rush to declare such subjects as myth and legends on the basis that there is no evidence that can be proved in our laboratories today. This is akin to a primary math student making fun of a university math professor. This does not mean that all information we get from antiquity are 100% accurate.

Often religious sources -if authentic- are very helpful in validating these claims. If we take the case of the effect of moon on our mood, we can validate the connection through Islamic sources. How?

In Islam there is the concept of Ayyam al-Beedh meaning the days in which the moon is full i.e., nights of 13,14, and 15 of the lunar month. On these three days it is recommended to fast. What is fasting in Islam? It is abstinence from food and sex during the day. This has effect on regulating and controlling behavior, because over consumption of food and sex are the mother of many moral degradations. So, the full moon affects our hormones in pituitary glands (like tidal force on water level) and brings instability in our mood and behavior, and that is why during this time fasting is very helpful to keep us on track and guard us against this instability of hormones.

Through this small case study, I wanted to point out to those who worship modern science, and request them to be more humble and open-minded to research topics similar to one I described here, instead of rushing too arrogantly to reject all knowledges which brought to us by religious and traditional sources. Much energy and resources of the secular scientific communities today are wasted in refuting religious information, which if otherwise, were invested in researching the validity of such topics would have brought about many new discoveries.