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In this Iranian website it is stated that the word کَوکَب means star in the holy Quran:

(فَلَمَّا جَنَّ عَلَیْهِ‌ اللَّیْلُ رَای‌ کَوْکَباً) «چون شب او را فرا گرفت ستاره‌ای دید.» Surat al-An'am, verse 6.

Translation of the Persian translation (pardon me please if a little incorrect): When the night cast on him, he saw a star.

But doesn't star translate to نَجم and اَختَر in Arabic? We have also verses that contain نَجم with the meaning of star:

(وَ النَّجْمِ‌ اِذا هَوی‌) قسم به ستاره آن زمان که فرود می آید (Swear to star, when it comes down) Surat al-Najm, verse 1.

I also searched for مِرّیخ in Arabic Wikipedia:

المِرِّيخ أو الكوكب الأحمر هو الكوكب الرابع من حيث البعد عن الشمس في النظام الشمسي...

Ttanslation: Mars or the red planet is the fourth planet in the aspect of distance from the Sun in the solar system...

کَوکَب clearly means planet here.

I am confused. Does کَوکَب mean star or planet in the holy Quran? Maybe it meant star at the time of Prophet Muhammad (P.B.U.H)?

But there is also a Quran verse (in the surah al-Yusuf) that کَوکَب sounds planet to me in!

اِذ قالَ یوسُفُ لِأبیهِ یا اَبَتی إنّی رَأیتُ اَحَدَ عَشَرَ کَوکَبا وَالشَّمسَ وَالقَمَرَ رَأیتُهُم لی ساجِدین

Translation: When Joseph told his father: "oh father, I saw (in my dream) that eleven planets(?) and the Sun and the Moon were bowing down to me".

I can't think کَوکَب means star here! Because the Sun is a star itself and also, it's always the planets that come after the Sun. The verse also calls the Moon.

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  • Wikipedia is not a reliable source. Indeed Quran considers a distinguish between کوکب and نجم while both being stars. because Quran from Allah who has unlimited knowledge including humans limited science. there are different types of stars. Quran has no conflict with real science. considering science is developing and has errors.
    – Battle of Karbala
    Commented Nov 13 at 10:30
  • @BattleofKarbala What are the differences between نجم and کوکب in Quran? Indeed, Wikipedia isn't a reliable source. But nowadays, every Arabic article has کوکب in the meaning of planet. Also, look at the accepted answer. They said star was the word for both stars and planets in the past. Because in those days the two weren't different from human's point of view. For instance, Venus looked like Sirius in the eye of the viewer. But now the two are different from each other. So two words are needed.
    – Etack Sxchange
    Commented Nov 13 at 13:19

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The Quran does not use scientific terminology. It uses natural Arabic language which common people used at the time of its revelation. In it كوكب and نجم can be considered as synonyms and can refer to any celestial body which looks like a star, be it a star or planet or something else.

It is common even in other languages to use the word star for a planet. For example Venus is called Morning Star.

Ref: Misbaah al-Muneer and Qamoos al-Muheet

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  • That makes sense. Thank you
    – Etack Sxchange
    Commented Nov 7 at 10:43

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