"When you look at the mountains, you think that they are standing still. But they are moving, like the clouds. Such is the manufacture of God, Who perfected everything. He is fully cognizant of everything you do. [Quran 27:88]
Did they know that the earth was a moving planet at the time of the Prophet (sws)?
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NOPES
hmmm maybe.lajawwab kahan ho?
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lajawwab kahan ho?
he doesnt have a jawwab.
To be on the safe side i would say: MAJORITY (99.9%) of the people did not know.
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i think the verse is not a general case but only talks of mountains on the day of judgement....
the verse before this clearly says its talking about qiyamah when it starts with "the day on which the soor shall be blown......."
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Did they know that the earth was a moving planet at the time of the Prophet (sws)?
I dont know the Arab mind, specially from 7th century, so I dont know what they meant back then BUT why do you have to interpret it in the way you just did in the first place?
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Many mountains do move, or rather creep along. Considering many mountains are formed due to techtonic plates smashing together, they keep moving and increasing in height continously. For example mount everest gains a few cm (not sure of the exact ammount) in height each year.
That could be one way of interpreting it. Other ways include considering that earth is continously moving / rotating in space, and the third way would be to consider what armughal said. It is best to look in context.
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The 7th century Arab mind did not produce the Quran 
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First of all, that was not an "interpretation", it was a translation. Secondly, it is not MY words. I got it from a website I was on last night...islamicity.com. I'll find you the exact link to the page on which I got this from. (a bit busy at the moment)
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and u will not see that context of the verse that the movement of the mountains is mentioned only on the day of judgement????
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Did they know that the earth was a moving planet at the time of the Prophet (sws)?
I don't think it has to do with the fact that the earth is moving (everything will in an orbit ie the whole planet) but I believe it could definitely refer to the tactonic plate shifts that happen like the indian subcontinent moving a couple of centimeters each year into china and hence the height of mountains going up.
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^ So you are think enough to now deny tectonic plate shifts and hence earthquakes? 
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Your translation seems dodgy, phatti. 2 our of 3 Neglish translations prefer to use the future tense rather than presence tense for the movement of mountains. That, and the fact the verse is part of a section talking about the day of judgement suggests that it IS about the Day.
http://www.usc.edu/dept/MSA/quran/027.qmt.html
YUSUFALI: Thou seest the mountains and thinkest them firmly fixed: but they shall pass away as the clouds pass away: (such is) the artistry of Allah, who disposes of all things in perfect order: for he is well acquainted with all that ye do.
PICKTHAL: And thou seest the hills thou deemest solid flying with the flight of clouds: the doing of Allah Who perfecteth all things. Lo! He is Informed of what ye do.
SHAKIR: And you see the mountains, you think them to be solid, and they shall pass away as the passing away of the cloud-- the handiwork of Allah Who has made every thing thoroughly; surely He is Aware of what you do.
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oh so its about the day of judgement and not tectonic plate shifts right?
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Ah, well my bad. I didn’t get a chance to look up the surrounding context…was just innocently browsing through a site, you know. 
http://www.islamicity.com/Science/iqs/sld011.htm
That’s the site. So it’s not the shifting of the tectonic plates either, yea? It is referring to what will happen on the Day of Judgement.
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Check this out…
**21:33
It is He Who created the Night and the Day, and the sun and the moon: all (the celestial bodies) swim along, each in its rounded course.
And He it is Who created the night and the day and the sun and the moon; all (orbs) travel along swiftly in their celestial spheres.
And He it is Who created the night and the day, and the sun and the moon. They float, each in an orbit.**
**36:40
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).
Neither is it allowable to the sun that it should overtake the moon, nor can the night outstrip the day; and all float on in a sphere.
It is not for the sun to overtake the moon, nor doth the night outstrip the day. They float each in an orbit.**
Did they have any way of knowing back then that planets and the sun and the moon have an orbit in which they travel? Or that they float in a sphere? Or a circular course?
I even opened a thread about this verse looong time back…
Good, huh?
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=)
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I agree with your intrpretation, mountains do pass away, we think of them as constant. The Penines in the UK were veritable Himamlayas at one time and now just hills and in time to come will be pretty much flat. I suppose to Allah mian, a few millions years are like a few seconds spent for us watching clouds drift.
No just plate tectonics but also erosion/weathering etc.
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You guyssss! It's not my interpretation. I read it from a site, and thought it was interesting. Now that I've read the surrounding verses, I realize it is not what that site made it appear to be...
Lajawab - That's pretty cool. I was also wondering how the Prophet (sws) reported in a hadith that there will be 73 sects of Islam. How did he know the exact number?
How long after the Prophet's (sws) time did all 73 sects form? (That's not a rhetorical question..I'm asking you lol.)
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Well I agree with the sites interpretation then, it's geologically correct at least.
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Given how to this day new sects are forming (such as the submitters), I always thought that the 73 is the total by the Day of Judgement.
People in the past have tried to classify the beliefs of their era into 73 sects, but many of those classifications no longer exist and many new sects have sprung up since then. Perhaps what an individual in the past considered as 3 distinct sects were in fact a single one, etc etc etc.