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

'''[He] who made for you the earth a bed [spread out]''' and the sky a ceiling and sent down from the sky, rain and brought forth thereby fruits as provision for you. So do not attribute to Allah equals while you know [that there is nothing similar to Him].}}

===Qur'an 55:17 - the two easts and two wests===

Classical tafsirs unanimously<ref>[https://tafsir.app/55/17 Tafsirs 55:17]</ref> understand this verse to refer to the two places where the sun rises on the summer and winter solstices (almashriqayni) and where it sets on those solstice days (almaghribayni), which also fits with the literal meanings of mashriq<ref>مَشْرِقُ mashriq - [http://www.studyquran.org/LaneLexicon/Volume4/00000265.pdf Lane's Lexicon] page 1541</ref> and maghrib<ref>مَغْرِبُ maghrib - [http://www.studyquran.org/LaneLexicon/Volume6/00000025.pdf Lane's Lexicon] page 2241</ref>. Similarly, verse 70:40 ({{Quran|70|40}}) was classically understood to refer to all the different places where the sun rises and sets between these ranges (almashariqi waalmagharibi).<ref>[https://tafsir.app/70/40 Tafsirs 70:40]</ref> Taken literally, these descriptions can only concord with a flat Earth, as on a spherical Earth, the "two Easts" and "two Wests" are only relative and everchanging positions lacking any definite, physical nature - that is, there is no place on Earth that could be definitely and universally described as "one of the two Easts", for instance.  

{{quote |1=[http://m.qtafsir.com/Surah-Al-Baqara/The-Beginning-of-the-Creation Tafsir of Ibn Kathir for 2:29] (See [https://tafsir.app/ibn-katheer/2/29 here] for the Arabic)|2=These Ayat indicate that Allah started creation by creating earth, then He made heaven into seven heavens. This is how building usually starts, with the lower floors first and then the top floors, <ref>[http://tafsir.com/default.asp?sid=2&tid=1494 Tafsir of Ibn Kathir]</ref> }}

Verse 39:5 specifically describes Allah overlapping (or wrapping) the night and the day over each other, with no mention of the Earth, its shape or its rotation. Critics further argue that in any case, these two verses are largely irrelevant to the question of the Earth's shape, as it is possible for one to "wrap around" and "orbit" an object of any shape, whether it be flat or spherical. For further discussion, see [[Geocentrism and the Quran#Quran_39:5|Geocentrism and the Quran]].