Earth is Round

Society Religion & Philosophy
1

Did Prophet or his campanions know that earth was round?
Hadees like “sun rises between the horns of the devil” seems to say otherwise.

Was it an important information for them?
Was it worth telling others expilicitly?

I once read a Jumma lecture by Ali where he mentions something in these lines “You cannot escape it (xyz) even if you enter from one side of the earth and come out from the other”

I don’t remember the context, but does this line mean he knew that the earth was round?

Quran says “earth was laid out (much like a carpet) and mountains were installed (nailed on it) to prevent it from moving (or shaking)”.
This certainly does not portray a round earth, or does it?

2

Re: Earth is Round

Quran, Hadees focused on guiding the people of that time. Once you begin something on right foot, rest of the journey is easy.

Hence it must be necessary to talk to people of that time, using a language, which was understandable to them. Quran is not a scienctific book. It was revealed to guide humanity, not to help them do PHD in astronomy

I always have a problem with people who try to quote quranic verses and twist it or forced a meaning out that proves a scientific theory. Cant we follow Quran without making it a book of science

Did Prophet knew that earth was round. The answer is, prophet knew everything which Allah (SWT) revealed to him and nothing more. Forget about the earth being round, he was unaware of the fact that their is a puppy under his bed till Jibraeel came and told him about that

3

Re: Earth is Round

I agree with you, but it has been a practise in Christanity and Islam, to use scientific findings in order to prove that their religion is truely the word of God. Matches are highly publisized and mismatches are ignored. I am sure many folks on this forum think that way.

4

Re: Earth is Round

You are right. Wrong practice, I must say.

And what did it give us? How many people convert to Islam or Christianity because Quran or Bible proved a scientific theory (there might be some examples, but very handful).

More importantly how many people would leave Islam or Christianity because their respective books could not prove, let us say, the existence of black hole or the roundness of earth. None, I think

I think that at subconcious level, we all think that religion is not a logical concept. The only way to make it logical, somehow, is to prove that it talks about Science and math (i.e the logical stuff).

My point is this that yes, it may not be logical. But logic is nothing more than what our mind can prove to itself by observation, experiment or theory. In short, religion cannot be proved by our mind because God/Allah's mind works at an unreachable level from our mind so why to try

5

Re: Earth is Round

The Koran says the earth is round, ostrich-egg shaped to be precise, and an ostrich egg is geo-spherical in shape, exactly like the shape of the earth.

*“And We have made the earth *Dahaaha (ostrich-egg-shaped)”. [The Holy Koran 79:30] **

6

Re: Earth is Round

DOES THE QUR’AN SAY THAT THE EARTH IS FLAT?

Question

Qur’an says that Allah has made the earth for you as a carpet. This gives an indication that the earth is flat. Does this not contradict established modern science?

Answer

1. Earth made as a carpet

The question refers to a verse from the Qur’an in Surah Nuh:

“And Allah has made the earth for you as a carpet (spread out).”
[Al-Qur’an 71:19]

But the sentence in the above verse is not complete. It continues in the next verse, explaining the previous verse. It says:

“That ye may go about therein, in spacious roads.”
[Al-Qur’an 71:20]

A similar message is repeated in Surah TaHa:

“He Who has made for you the earth like a carpet spread out; has enabled you to go about therein by roads (and channels)…”
[Al-Qur’an 20:53]

The surface of the earth i.e. earth’s crust is less than 30 miles in thickness and is very thin as compared to the radius of the earth which is about 3750 miles. The deeper layers of the earth are very hot, fluid and hostile to any form of life. The earth’s crust is a solidified shell on which we can live. The Qur’an rightly refers to it like a carpet spread out, so that we can travel along its roads and paths.

2. Carpet can also be spread on other than an absolute flat surface

Not a single verse of the Qur’an says that the earth is flat. The Qur’an only compares the earth’s crust with a carpet. Some people seem to think that carpet can only be put on an absolute flat surface. It is possible to spread a carpet on a large sphere such as the earth. It can easily be demonstrated by taking a huge model of the earth’s globe covering it with a carpet.

Carpet is generally put on a surface, which is not very comfortable to walk on. The Qur’an describes the earth crust as a carpet, without which human beings would not be able to survive because of the hot, fluid and hostile environment beneath it. The Qur’an is thus not only logical, it is mentioning a scientific fact that was discovered by geologists centuries later.

3. Earth has been spread out

Similarly, the Qur’an says in several verses that the earth has been spread out.

“And We have spread out the (spacious) earth: how excellently We do spread out!”
[Al-Qur’an 51:48]

Similarly the Qur’an also mentions in several other verses that the earth is an expanse:

“Have We not made the earth as a wide expanse”
“And the mountains as pegs?”
[Al-Qur’an 78:6-7]

None of these verses of the Qur’an contain even the slightest implication that the earth is flat. It only indicates that the earth is spacious and the reason for this spaciousness of the earth is mentioned. The Glorious Qur’an says:

“O My servants who believe! truly. spacious is My Earth: therefore serve ye Me –(And Me alone)!”
[Al-Qur’an 29:56]

Therefore none can give the excuse, that he could not do good and was forced to do evil because of the surroundings and circumstances.

4. Earth is geospherical in shape

The Qur’an mentions the actual shape of the earth in the following verse:

“And we have made the earth egg shaped”.
[Al-Qur’an 79:30]

The Arabic word Dahaha means egg shaped. It also means an expanse. Dahaha is derived from Duhiya which specifically refers to the egg of an ostrich which is geospherical in shape, exactly like the shape of the earth.

Thus the Qur’an and modern established science are in perfect harmony.

http://www.irf.net/irf/faqonislam/index.htm

7

Re: Earth is Round

first of all earth is not round rather oval
and that was predicted by quran 1400 years ago
Surah Naziat, Ch. No. 79, Verse No. 30…. It says. … ‘And thereafter, We have made the earth egg-shaped’. The Arabic word ‘Dahaha’ comes from root word ‘Duhya’, meaning an Egg-shape and it does not refer to any normal Egg. It specifically refers to the Egg of an Ostrich

so i don't agree with you that people of that time don't know because not only Quran says
Aristotle in about 360 BC discussed, knowing that the earth was round, by its shadow on the moon

and second even (for the sake of argument ) if they don't know

To analyse the meaning of a word, we have to see what was the meaning at that time when it was revealed’-At that time when the book was written. And you rightly said that to analyze the meaning, we have to analyze the meaning at the time it was revealed, and to the people whom it was meant for.

As far as this statement is concerned, regarding the Bible, I do agree with it totally - Because the Bible was only meant for the children of Israel, for that time. It is mentioned in the Gospel of Mathew, Ch. No. 10, Verse No. 5 and 6, Jesus Christ peace be upon him tells his disciples… ‘Go ye not in the way of the Gentiles.’ Who are the Gentiles? The Non-Jews, the Hindus, the Muslims ‘But rather go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.’ Jesus Christ peace be upon him said in the Gospel of Mathew, Ch. No. 15, Verse No. 24… ‘I am not sent, but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.’ So Jesus Christ and the Bible, were only meant for the children of Isreal.

Since it was meant for them, to analyze the Bible, you have to use the meaning of the word, which was utilized at that time. But the Qur’an was not meant only for the Arabs of that time - Qur’an is not meant only for the Muslims.

The Qur’an is meant for the whole of humanity, and it is meant to be for eternity. Qur’an says in Surah Ibrahim, Ch. 14, Verse. 52, in Surah Baqarah Ch. No. 2, Verse 185, and Surah Zumar Ch. 39, Verses. 41, that the Qur’an is meant for the whole of human kind. And Prophet Mohammed, may peace be upon him, was not sent only for the Muslims or the Arabs. Allah says in the Qur’an in Surah Ambiya Ch. No. 21, Verse No. 107---That We have send thee as a mercy, as a guidance, to the whole of humankind.’ So as far as the Qur’an is concerned, you cannot limit the meaning only for that time, because it is meant for eternity

(source and for detail see: Quran and bible in the light of science
and Quran and modern science
Dr Zakir Nayak )

Aaj Kiss Baat Par Gussa Aaya ??????
8

Re: Earth is Round

That's about as unscientific as "me seeing the sun set behind the hills at the back of my house".

It doesn't mean that I'm implying the sun is literally behind the hills.

9

Re: Earth is Round

Perhaps I did not put the context. This is was in response to a question from a Sahaba. Question was "Where does the sun come from and where does it go in the night?"

Aaj Kiss Baat Par Gussa Aaya ??????
10

Re: Earth is Round

Meherealone, not just Aristotle, even before him some people proved that the earth was not flat. But it was not a common belief still and chruch in particular did not find it amusing. The first person who proved that the earth was round, used deck of the sailing ship as an example. When a ship approaches the shore, its deck is the first thing that becomes visible to the person standing on shore. As long as it is just theory, common people do not believe it. If you remember, Columbus set on the sail to prove that if earth is round, he will be able to reach from the other side. It was year 1492, and people still were not sure, including the British Kingdom.

11

Re: Earth is Round

Post the entire Hadith then, maybe you are mixing two different Ahadith up.

A lot of times the Prophet :saw: explaineed things simply so that his companions who weren’t versed in 20th/21st century science could make sense of what he was saying without him saying something incorrect, I’m thinking a few Ahadeeth on biology here rather than astronomy.

12

Re: Earth is Round

similarly what my believe is ( might be wrong ) that when Quran had predicted that Quran is oval , people of Hazoor PBUH wouldn't have objected as they mostly not do but later after sahaba times people would have changed the meaning as people would have started calling the ayat meaning wrong but as you know science has helped to understand quran very much so we are now able to know that ayat was correct in meaning

13

Re: Earth is Round

isn't it interesting that although we know that sun neither set nor rises but still every day in newspaper we read , sunset at falan falan time and sunrise falan falan time
if it is wrong to use word sunset or sunrise to calculate the time of day then why these newspaper all around the world use these words

Halloween Competition - Voting Closed.
14

Re: Earth is Round

Salam brother Robert,

Interesting line above that even Aristotle mentioned about some factors, I agree with you completely. Let me analyze around 8 points mentioned in the Quran and supposedly most of these theories were propounded much earlier to the revelation of the Quran. Well let me just list this down for your purpose

1) The pillars of Iram (Not to forget the earliers muslim commentators even recently until 1934 translation of Quran by Abdullaah yousuf ali, guessed what was this)
2) The unseen barrier between sweet and salt water (The word is unseen)
3) The working bee is a female bee (not the male accordingly Aristotle guessed it wrong here).
4) The water cycle mentioned in the Quran (in the 7th century i forgot the name one of a non-muslim scholar propounded this theory of water cycle but was absolutely wrong).
5) The different stages of an embryo especially the verse with three dark stages and within those are three sub stages.

Now in all the above 5 points mentioned Mohammed pbuh, his predictions/saying all came right. Why is if we consider the concept of theory of probability when the chances for teh Prophet were so low still clinched 100 percent resulth but unfortunately others failed.

I have only mentioned 5 points above but they are lots more than that, if theory of probability is assumed for each one of them its a herculean task for Prophet to fulfill.

Let me analyse further in the Quran, its mentioned (assuming Prophet had challenged the entire manking and Quran to be words of PRophet just assuming for argument sake) challenge those kuffar out there to prove the Quran wrong, it was an open challenge just imagine i write a thesis sitting in some desert for 40 years and I come out blazing with this new propounded theories (taken into account the various subjects Prophet covered) and put my foot down and challenge the entire mankind to beat my thesis.

Robert, you have done a good job but unfortunately you missed out beofer going to any anti-islamic website please do visit Islamic websites for answers.
I know for sure you are a Muslim, but lets go further now.

Regards,

15

Re: Earth is Round

Saying the eart has been laid out as a carpet doesn't indicate that the entire globe is actually flat.

A carpet is something you walk on. Its just poetry. You can have a carpet lining a round surface or a concave surface if you want.

16

Re: Earth is Round

uh oh! you mean it is not really round?

17

Re: Earth is Round

^
Again, it's not round, it's a geoid...a spheroid if you want to be a bit more geneeric.

If we want to sound all modern-like and uppity over the shape of the earth, please get the shape correct.