Islamic Views on the Shape of the Earth: Difference between revisions

An ostrich egg, much like all eggs, can be described as a prolate spheroid. This is because the radius from its centre to either of its two poles is longer than the radius to the equator, as though it were a sphere that had been pulled from two ends. It certainly is not an oblate spheroid. You can see in the image an oblate spheroid (top left), and a prolate spheroid (bottom left). Even holding an egg on its side (top), you cannot make it look like an oblate spheroid in 3D. They are fundamentally different shapes. The shape of the ostrich egg is in fact like a prolate spheroid (bottom). No matter how you hold the egg, it is a prolate spheroid and not an oblate spheroid.

 

Oblate and prolate spheroids are fundamentally different shapes. In a flat 2d image without texture or shading they might look the same, but in three dimensions you cannot make one look like the other no matter how you turn it.

Translation: Al-udhy, Al-idhy, Al-udhiyya, Al-idhiyya, Al-udhuwwa:The place in sand where an ostrich lays its egg. That's because the ostrich spreads out the earth with its feet then lays its eggs there, an ostrich doesn't have a nest.

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1. Daha (., MM_b;,, 1,) first pers. Dahouth aor, yad'hoo inf. N. dahoo He spread; spread out, or forth; expanded; or extended; (S, Msb, K; ) a thing; (K; ) and, when said of God, the earth; (Fr, S, Mb, 1V; ) As also daha first pers. dahaithu (K in art. daha) aor. yaad’heae inf. n. dahae: (Msb, and K in art. dahae : ) or He (God) made the earth wide, or ample; as explained by an Arab woman of the desert to Sh: (TA : ) also, said of an ostrich, (S, TA,) he expanded, and made wide, (TA,) with his foot, or leg, the place where he was about to deposit his eggs: (S, TA : ) and, said of a man, he spread, &c., and made plain, even, or smooth. (TA in art. dhaha ) - Also, said of a man, (K,,) aor. yad’hoo, inf. n. dahwu(TA,) i.q. Jamie as also daja; on the authority of 1Abr. (TA.) (You say, dhahaha He compressed her; like as you say, dhajaha.) _ Also He threw, or cast, and impelled, propelled, oi removed from its place, a stone, with his hand (TA.) One says also, to him who is playing with walnuts, abidil maddha va adhhuhu, meaning (Make thou the distance far, and) throw it. (S,TA.: See also midh’hath, in two places. And of a torrent one says, dhaha bilbat’hai It cast along (the soft earth and pebbles in its course; or drove then along). (TA.) And of rain, one says, dhaha Al hissa an waj’hil Ardhi (S,Msb) It drove the pebbles from the surface of the earth; (Msb; ) or removed them. (TA.) (See also dhaha, in the next art.) And aldhahwu bilhijarathi also signifies The vying, one with another, in throwing stones, and striving to surpass (in doing so); as also al Midahath (inf. n- of dahee). (TA marra yad’hoo inf.n. dahow said of a horse, He went along throwing out his fore legs without raising his hoofs much from the ground. (S,TA.) = dhahal bathan The belly was, or became, large, and hanging down; (Kr, K; ) and Indhahee (the belly) was, or became, wide, or distended: (MF : ) or both signify it (the belly) became swollen, or inflated, or big,. and hung down, by reason of fatness or disease; as also Dhau and Indah (TA in art dooh.)

Note above that Lane also translates duhiyya to mean the place in the sand where the ostrich lays its eggs, and not the eggs themselves.

Contrary to apologetic claims, there is no hadith saying that the Earth is shaped like an ostrich egg. But "ostrich egg" is mentioned in one hadith so we can check whether the word دَحَىٰهَآ (''dahaha'') is used in the original Arabic.

Words from the same root mean the flat top surface or roof of a house or chamber, a flat plane in geometry, a level place upon which dates can be spread, a rolling pin (which expands the dough), plane or flat.<ref>سطَح shataha - [http://www.studyquran.org/LaneLexicon/Volume4/00000081.pdf Lanes Lexicon] page 1357</ref>

So, for example, Muslims in the Solomon Islands in fact blaspheme against Allah, because they defecate toward the direction of the Ka'aba when they answer the call of nature.

Even if we were to use the traditional Muslim method of determining qiblah (i.e. a [[W:Great circle|great circle]]) this would still be blasphemous because you would be simultaneously praying with your face and backside aimed towards the Ka'aba.

 

There is also one point on the opposite 'side' of the earth where any direction for all 360 degrees would be facing 'towards' Mecca and consequently, there would be no one direction that would be the correct one.

 

In addition to all of the direct evidence we have provided, this is just one of the problems which indirectly indicate that the narrator/writer of the Qur'an believed in a flat earth model.

Some Islamic websites attribute the above quote to Sheikh Ibn Bâz, the Grand Mufti of Saudi Arabia who believed in a flat earth. They are ignoring that fact that "flat" and "round" have fundamentally different meanings in geometry. Any object, no matter how big or small it is, cannot be round and flat at the same time. To stress further on the apologist's words "its surface has been made flat for us", neither is the surface flat<ref>Humans are unable to see the curvature of the earth from ground level.</ref> nor is it made for us.

Allah is not really talking about the (flat) appearance of the earth to us in these verses. Even if he did so, it would be a statement unrelated to science and slightly inaccurate too. The round shape of the earth has been known since pre-Islamic times. Any person who gets this knowledge can easily imagine the roundness of the earth in their mind; it won't continue to appear flat for them anymore.