ʿShaykh Abdul ʿAziz bin Bāz (‎رحمه الله) said: “As for the motion of the earth and its rotation, indeed I reject it, and I have clarified the proofs regarding its futility, but I do not declare one who speaks with it to be an unbeliever. However, I do declare one to be an unbeliever who says: ‘The sun is fixed without motion because that goes against what is clear in the Noble Qur’ān and the authentic pure Sunnah.’” [Majmū Fatāwā Ibn Bāz 9/228]

Abu Dharr said: I asked the Prophet (ﷺ) regarding the verse, “And the sun runs on its course to its settling place.” (Quran 36:38) He said, “Its settling place is underneath Allah’s Throne.” [Bukhari 7433]

We know that every morning the Sun rises in the east, then it travels in the sky until it reaches its highest point at midday, then comes the time of Dhuhr, then the Sun continues until the shadows become longer and longer until it the shadow of an object is equal to its height which occurs at the time of ʿAsr. Then the shadows become longer until the Sun sets―this is when it prostrates under the Throne of Allah. Then it seeks permission to continue and then it rises again in the east in the morning. But a day will come when the Sun sets and its prostration will not be accepted, and it will not be permitted to go on its course.

The Messenger (ﷺ) said: “The Sun proceeds until it prostrates itself under the Throne and seeks permission to rise again, and it is permitted. Then a time will come when it will be about to prostrate itself but its prostration will not be accepted, and it will ask permission to go on its course but it will not be permitted, but it will be ordered to return from where it has come and so it will rise in the West.” [Bukhari 3199]

In a narration, the Messenger (ﷺ) said: “The Prophet Yoosha’ (Joshua) carried out a military expedition and when he reached the town at the time or nearly at the time of the ‘Asr prayer, he said to the Sun, “O Sun! You are under Allah’s command and I am under Allah’s command. O Allah stop it from setting on us.” It was stopped until Allah made him victorious.” [Bukhari 3124]

Note that it was not the earth that stopped, rather it was the Sun.

From this narration, we note that the object that was prevented from moving was the Sun. Allah did not stop the Earth from rotating. If it was the case that it was the Earth that rotated causing day and night to appear, then the Hadeeth would have mentioned the Earth, however, Allah (the Most High) stopped the Sun from moving.

From Abu Hurairah, the Prophet (ﷺ) said: “The Sun was not held back for any human being except Joshua (Yooshaʿ) as he was marching to Jerusalem.” [Ahmad in Al-Musnad 2/325, Al-Hākim 2/130 – the narration is authentic to the conditions of Bukhari]

Ibn Taymiyyah (‎رحمه الله) stated: “Joshua was in need of that (i.e. the Sun being held back) because fighting was forbidden after sunset due to the prohibition of Allah upon them from engaging in work on the night before Saturday. So that is what Joshua feared.” [Minhāj as-Sunnah 1/187]

So again we see that the object being stopped is the Sun, for the purpose of lengthening the day, so that they could become victorious over their enemies and march into Jerusalem.

Taken from Shaykh Abu Khadeejah lesson — Part 7: There is no Place for Analogy (Qiyās) and Reasoning in the ʿAqeedah — Transcribed by Umm Maryam