Early Islamic Cosmology: Difference between revisions

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[https://islamqa.info/en/118698 One Islamic fatwah website] (copied by others) quotes from scholars who lived hundreds of years after Muhammad in a failed attempt to show that there was always a Muslim scholarly consensus that the Earth is round. They are implying that the Qur'an does not reflect a very human lack of knowledge about the shape of the Earth.
[https://islamqa.info/en/118698 One Islamic fatwah website] (copied by others) quotes from scholars who lived hundreds of years after Muhammad in a failed attempt to show that there was always a Muslim scholarly consensus that the Earth is round. They are implying that the Qur'an does not reflect a very human lack of knowledge about the shape of the Earth.


To do so, they first quote from a book by ibn Taymiyyah (d. 728 AH/1328 CE), who in turn cites Abu’l-Husayn Ahmad ibn Ja‘far ibn al Munadi as saying that the scholars from the second level of the companions of Imam Ahmad (d. 241 AH / 855 CE) – i.e. the early Hanbalis - are agreed that the sky and Earth is a ball. This evidence is worthless, because from the 8th century CE the Muslims had access to Greek and Indian knowledge (see below), so of course the more recent scholars had this view.
To do so, they first quote from a book by ibn Taymiyyah (d. 728 AH/1328 CE), who in turn cites Abu’l-Husayn Ahmad ibn Ja‘far ibn al Munadi as saying that the scholars from the second level of the companions of Imam Ahmad (d. 241 AH / 855 CE) – i.e. the early Hanbalis - are agreed that both the sky and Earth are balls, the latter based on astronomical reasoning. This evidence is worthless, because from the 8th century CE the Muslims had access to Greek and Indian knowledge (see below), so of course the more recent scholars had this view. As we read on, it is apparent that there was no such consensus earlier about the shape of the Earth.


They then quote ibn Taymiyyah again, who is this time citing Abu’l-Husayn Ahmad ibn Ja‘far (again), Abu’l-Faraj ibn al-Jawzi (d. 597 AH / 1201 CE), and ibn Hazm (d. 456 AH / 1064 CE) saying that there is a consensus that the heavens are round. Notice that he says the heavens, but nothing about the Earth. He says they provided evidence from the Qur'an, sunnah, and narrations from the companions (sahabah) and second generation.
They then quote ibn Taymiyyah again, who is this time citing Abu’l-Husayn Ahmad ibn Ja‘far ibn al Munadi(again), Abu’l-Faraj ibn al-Jawzi (d. 597 AH / 1201 CE), and ibn Hazm (d. 456 AH / 1064 CE) saying that there is a consensus that the heavens are round. Notice that he says the heavens, but nothing about the Earth. He says they provided evidence from the Qur'an, sunnah, and narrations from the companions (sahabah) and second generation.


Ibn Taymiyyah continues the passage<ref>For the full chapter in Arabic see [https://ar.wikisource.org/wiki/مجموع_الفتاوى/المجلد_السادس/سئل_عن_رجلين_تنازعا_في_كيفية_السماء_والأرض Wikisource.org wikisource.org], and for someone's English translation for most of the relevant parts  see [http://www.salafitalk.net/st/viewmessages.cfm?Forum=6&Topic=1859 Salafitalk forum]</ref> giving the supposed evidence for round heavens in the Qur'an, sunnah, and narrations from the early Muslims (not included by the Islamic fatwah website). In between, he argues that a round heavens and Earth is supported by what specialists on tafsir and language have said about certain words in the Qur'an.
Ibn Taymiyyah continues the passage<ref>For the full chapter in Arabic see [https://ar.wikisource.org/wiki/مجموع_الفتاوى/المجلد_السادس/سئل_عن_رجلين_تنازعا_في_كيفية_السماء_والأرض Wikisource.org wikisource.org], and for someone's English translation for most of the relevant parts  see [http://www.salafitalk.net/st/viewmessages.cfm?Forum=6&Topic=1859 Salafitalk forum]</ref> giving the supposed evidence for round heavens in the Qur'an, sunnah, and narrations from the early Muslims (not included by the Islamic fatwah website). In between, he argues that a round heavens and Earth is supported by what specialists on tafsir and language have said about certain words in the Qur'an.
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'''Narrations of the companions'''
'''Narrations of the companions'''


Ibn Taymiyyah's evidence from the companions about the heavens is that ibn 'Abbas and others said regarding the falak (rounded course) which is mentioned in {{Quran|36|40}}, "in a whirl (whorl), like the whirl of a spindle" (فِي فَلْكَة كَفَلْكَةِ الْمِغْزَل fee falka, ka-falkati almighzal - al-Tabari and ibn Kathir tafsirs on 36:40). See the comments and notes about falak in the article [http://wikiislam.net/wiki/Geocentrism_and_the_Quran Geocentrism and the Quran]. So not exactly much to go on there regarding the shape of the heavens, and nothing about the Earth.
Ibn Taymiyyah's evidence from the companions about the heavens is that ibn 'Abbas and others said regarding the falak (rounded course) which is mentioned in {{Quran|36|40}}, "in a whirl (whorl), like the whirl of a spindle" (فِي فَلْكَة كَفَلْكَةِ الْمِغْزَل fee falka, ka-falkati almighzal - al-Tabari and ibn Kathir tafsirs on 36:40). See the comments and footnotes about falak in the article [http://wikiislam.net/wiki/Geocentrism_and_the_Quran Geocentrism and the Quran]. So not exactly much to go on there regarding the shape of the heavens, and nothing about the Earth.


'''Hadiths'''
'''Hadiths'''
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Ibn Taymiyyah then says that a middle only exists in a round thing. How any of this helps demonstrate that the heavens are spherical is a mystery.
Ibn Taymiyyah then says that a middle only exists in a round thing. How any of this helps demonstrate that the heavens are spherical is a mystery.


The Islamic fatwah website then quotes one of the three that ibn Taymiyyah cited, ibn Hazm, who claimed that none of the leading scolars denied that the Earth is round. Thus the website provides no evidence that any of them actually said the Earth is round (at most, the absence of a denial that it is).  
The Islamic fatwah website then quotes one of the three that ibn Taymiyyah cited, ibn Hazm, who said that there is sound evidence that the Earth is round, but the common people thought otherwise, though none of the leading Muslim scholars denied that the Earth is round. Thus he provides no evidence that any of them actually said the Earth is round (at best, the absence of a denial from just the leading scholars).


They go on to quote from a 20th century book of fatwas, which claims that the Earth is egg shaped and also uses verse 39:5, both of which arguments are debunked in the article [https://wikiislam.net/wiki/Flat_Earth_and_the_Quran Flat Earth and the Quran]. So to summarise, there seems to be no evidence available to suggest that the earliest Muslims believed the Earth was round.
They go on to quote from a 20th century book of fatwas, which claims that the Earth is egg shaped and also uses verse 39:5, both of which arguments are debunked in the article [https://wikiislam.net/wiki/Flat_Earth_and_the_Quran Flat Earth and the Quran]. So to summarise, there seems to be no evidence available to suggest that the earliest Muslims believed the Earth was round.
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{{Quote||When the worldview of educated Muslims after the establishment of the Arab Empire came to incorporate principles of astrology including the geocentric, spherical, Aristotelian-Ptolemaic world picture – particularly after the advent of the ‘Abbāsid dynasty in 750 – the meaning of these passages came to be interpreted in later Islamic tradition not according to the biblical-quranic cosmology, which became obsolete, but according to the Ptolemaic model, according to which the Quran itself came to be interpreted.<ref>Van Bladel, Kevin, “Heavenly cords and prophetic authority in the Qur’an and its Late Antique context”, Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, 70:223-246, p.241, Cambridge University Press, 2007</ref>}}
{{Quote||When the worldview of educated Muslims after the establishment of the Arab Empire came to incorporate principles of astrology including the geocentric, spherical, Aristotelian-Ptolemaic world picture – particularly after the advent of the ‘Abbāsid dynasty in 750 – the meaning of these passages came to be interpreted in later Islamic tradition not according to the biblical-quranic cosmology, which became obsolete, but according to the Ptolemaic model, according to which the Quran itself came to be interpreted.<ref>Van Bladel, Kevin, “Heavenly cords and prophetic authority in the Qur’an and its Late Antique context”, Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, 70:223-246, p.241, Cambridge University Press, 2007</ref>}}


Earlier in the same paper, Van Bladel describes how Christian theologians in the region of Syria in the sixth century CE shared the view that the Earth was flat and the sky or heaven was like a tent above the Earth, based on their reading of the Hebrew scriptures. This was a rival view to that of the churchmen of Alexandria who supported the Ptolemaic view of a spherical Earth surrounded by celestial spheres. See the footnote below<ref name="KVB">ibid. pp.224-226. The full section reads:
Earlier in the same paper, Van Bladel describes how Christian theologians in the region of Syria in the sixth century CE shared the view that the Earth was flat and the heaven, or series of heavens was like a dome or tent above the Earth, based on their reading of the Hebrew and New Testament scriptures. This was a rival view to that of the churchmen of Alexandria who supported the Aristotelian-Ptolemaic view of a spherical Earth surrounded by spinning celestial spheres. See the footnote below<ref name="KVB">ibid. pp.224-226. Here are some more excerpts:
<BR>
<BR>
{{Quote||'''Cosmology from scripture in the sixth century CE'''
{{Quote||Entering into the debate was John Philoponus, a Christian philosopher of sixth-century Alexandria, who wrote his commentary on Genesis to prove, against earlier, Antiochene, theologians like Theodore of Mopsuestia, that the scriptural account of creation described a spherical geocentric world in accord with the Ptolemaic cosmology. [...]


One major difference between the various traditions on human ascent to heaven is found in the shape that the heavens and the earth are imagined to have – that is, in the cosmologies – and also in the imagined manner of ascent. According to a very old view, described explicitly or, sometimes implied, in various books of the Hebrew Bible and in the New Testament, heaven (or a series of heavens) lies above the mostly flat earth like the dome of a building or tent, forming the upper boundary of the physical world. In contrast to this, the Aristotelian picture of the world has the earth rather at the centre of the universe with the heavens as spheres of great but finite diameter spinning around it. This Aristotelian model eventually became part of the basic theoretical framework for the practice of astrology almost everywhere it was pursued, thanks to the influence of the works of Ptolemy (2nd century CE), who accepted that model.
On the other hand, Cosmas Indicopleustes wrote his contentious ''Christian Topography'' in the 540s and 550s to prove that the spherical, geocentric world-picture of the erroneous, pagan Hellenes contradicted that of the Hebrew prophets. Cosmas was an Alexandrian with sympathies towards the Church of the East, who had travelled through the Red Sea to east Africa, Iran, and India, and who received instruction from the East Syrian churchman Mār Abā on the latter's visit to Egypt. His ''Christian topography'' has been shown to be aimed directly at John Philoponus and the Hellenic, sperical world-model he supported. [...] However, it is clear that Cosmas was going against the opinions of his educated though, as he saw it, misguided contemporaries in Alexandria.


In the sixth century, and during Muhammad's lifetime, Christians of different schools of thought in the eastern Mediterranean region were arguing, at times heatedly, over which of these two cosmic pictures was the true one: the Hebrew or the Hellenic? The debate involved a vexed question with a long and pre-Christian pedigree: to what extent scripture was to be interpreted allegorically. This was a part of a debate taking place among the leaders of Byzantine socienty: the 540s and 550s witnessed both Byzantine imperial edicts against Origenism, and what were seen as its allegorical excesses, and also a repudation of the Antiochene school of exegesis, adhered to by many important members of the Church of the East outside the Roman Empire, which held to a cosmology adhering more closely to the literal interpretation of scripture.
A  number  of  Syrian  churchmen, notably but not only the Easterners working in the tradition of Theodore of Mopsuestia, took the view of the sky as an edifice for granted. Narsai d. ''c''. 503), the first head of the school of Nisibis, in his homilies on creation, described God's fashioning of the firmament of heaven in these terms: "Like a roof upon the top of the house he stretched out the firmament / that the house below, the domain of earth, might be complete". ''ayk taṭlîlâ l-baytâ da-l-tḥēt mtaḥ la-rqî῾â I d-nehwê mamlâ dûkkat ar῾â l-baytâ da-l῾el''. Also "He finished building the heaven and earth as a spacious house" ''šaklel wa-bnâ šmayyâ w-ar῾â baytâ rwîḥâ''. Jacob of Serugh (d. 521) wrote similarly on the shape of the world in his Hexaemeron homilies. A further witness to the discussion is a Syriac hymn, composed ''c.'' 543-554, describing a domed church in Edessa as a microcosm of the world, its dome being the counterpart of the sky. This is the earliest known text to make a church edifice to be a microcosm, and it shows  that  the debates over cosmology were meaningful to more than a small number of theologians.}}
 
</ref> for excerpts of that chapter, which he summarises by saying:
Entering into the debate was John Philoponus, a Christian philosopher of sixth-century Alexandria, who wrote his commentary on Genesis to prove, against earlier, Antiochene, theologians like Theodore of Mopsuestia, that the scriptural account of creation described a spherical geocentric world in accord wih the Ptolemaic cosmology. Although Philoponus is today best known for his arguments against important aspects of Aristotelian physics and cosmology, here he can be seen to argue against those who wish to take the Bible's cosmology literally. He makes the case that Ptolemy's model of a spherical cosmos in fact follows the intended and true meaning of Moses' book of Genesis.
 
On the other hand, Cosmas Indicopleustes wrote his contentious ''Christian Topography'' in the 540s and 550s to prove that the spherical, geocentric world-picture of the erroneous, pagan Hellenes contadicted that of the Hebrew prophets. Cosmas was an Alexandrian with sympathies towards the Church of the East, who had travelled through the Red Sea to east Africa, Iran, and India, and who received instruction from the East Syrian churchman Mār Abā on the latter's visit to Egypt. His ''Christian topograhy'' has been shown to be aimed directly at John Philoponus and the Hellenic, sperical world-model he supported. It was enough for Cosmas to cite the scriptures, interpreted quite literally, to arrive at the truth. One of his favourite verses for this argument was Isaiah 40:22, "It is he (God) who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers; who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, and spreads them like a tent (''ōhel'', Greek LXX ''skēnē'') to live in". He also used Psalm 104:2 several times: "You stretch out the heavens like a tent-screen (''yerî῾â'', LXX ''dérris'')". Both of these Cosmas took as literal descriptions of the heavens, and since they came from prophets, their word was as good as the words of God. However, it is clear that Cosmas was going against the opinions of his educated though, as he saw it, misguided contemporaries in Alexandria.
 
A  number  of  Syrian  churchmen, notably but not only the Easterners working in the tradition of Theodore of Mopsuestia, took the view of the sky as an edifice for granted. Narsai d. ''c''. 503), the first head of the school of Nisibis, in his homilies on creation, described God's fashioning of the firmament of heaven in these terms: "Like a roof upon the top of the house he stretched out the firmament / that the house below, the domain of earth, might be complete". ''ayk taṭlîlâ l-baytâ da-l-tḥēt mtaḥ la-rqî῾â I d-nehwê mamlâ dûkkat ar῾â l-baytâ da-l῾el''. Also "He finished building the heaven and earth as a spacious house" ''šaklel wa-bnâ šmayyâ w-ar῾â baytâ rwîḥâ''. Jacob of Serugh (d. 521) wrote similarly on the shape of the world in his Hexaemeron homilies. A further witness to the discussion is a Syriac hymn, composed ''c.'' 543-554, describing a domed church in Edessa as a microcosm of the world, its dome being the counterpart of the sky. This is the earliest known text to make a church edifice to be a microcosm, and it shows  that  the debates over cosmology were meaningful to more than a small number of theologians. Clearly the Ptolemaic cosmology was not taken for granted in the Aramaean part of Asia in the sixth century. It was, rather, controversial.
 
The  Quran, uttered to Western Arabians only decades after these authors were writing, exhibits no signs of a cosmological controversy but implicitly presents a similar picture of the cosmos as an edifice, though certainly not identical in all details with Cosmas' model. The similarity is no doubt due to the Quran's taking part in the ancient tradition of biblical texts which Cosmas, his teacher Mār Abā, and their authorities from the Antiochene school of exegesis were also using.}}
</ref> for an extensive quote of the full passage, which he summarises by saying:


{{Quote||Clearly the Ptolemaic cosmology was not taken for granted in the Aramaean part of Asia in the sixth century. It was, rather, controversial.<ref name="KVB"></ref>}}
{{Quote||Clearly the Ptolemaic cosmology was not taken for granted in the Aramaean part of Asia in the sixth century. It was, rather, controversial.<ref name="KVB"></ref>}}
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<ref>Hoskin, Michael and Gingerich, Owen, “Islamic Astronomy” in The Cambridge Concise History of Astronomy, Ed. M. Hoskin, p.50-52, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999</ref>}}
<ref>Hoskin, Michael and Gingerich, Owen, “Islamic Astronomy” in The Cambridge Concise History of Astronomy, Ed. M. Hoskin, p.50-52, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999</ref>}}


==Evidence of flat Earth beliefs among the earliest Muslims==
==Flat Earth(s) in hadith collections==


This section is about evidence of a commonplace flat Earth belief among the earliest Muslims (it omits evidence from the Qur'an itself, as per the purpose of this article stated in the introduction).
The next few sections are about evidence of a commonplace flat Earth belief among the earliest Muslims (it omits evidence from the Qur'an itself, as per the purpose of this article stated in the introduction).


Two easy ways to demonstrate that at least a large number of the earliest Muslims imagined the Earth to be flat are to look at hadiths and tafsirs. For the purposes of this article, it matters little whether the hadiths are authentic or not; either way they demonstrate beliefs of early Muslims.
Two easy ways to demonstrate that at least a large number of the earliest Muslims imagined the Earth to be flat are to look at hadiths and tafsirs. For the purposes of this article, it matters little whether the hadiths are authentic or not; either way they demonstrate beliefs of early Muslims.


===Flat Earth(s) in hadith collections===
{{Quote|{{Bukhari|3|43|643}}|Narrated Salim's father (i.e. `Abdullah):
 
The Prophet said, "Whoever takes a piece of the land of others unjustly, he will sink down the seven earths on the Day of Resurrection."}}
 
This next hadith is on the same topic. It is graded daif (weak), but shows what some early Muslims (if not actually Muhammad) thought about the world:
 
{{Quote|{{Al Tirmidhi|5|44|3298}}|...Then he said: ‘Do you know what is under you?’ They said: ‘Allah and His Messenger know better.’ He said: ‘Indeed it is the earth.’ Then he said: ‘Do you know what is under that?’ They said: ‘Allah and His Messenger know better.’ He said: ‘Verily, below it is another earth, between the two of which is a distance of five-hundred years.’ Until he enumerated seven earths: ‘Between every two earths is a distance of five-hundred years.’...}}
 


{{Quote|{{Muslim|41|6904}}|Thauban reported that Allah’s Messenger (may peace be upon him) said: Allah drew the ends of the world near one another for my sake. And I have seen its eastern and western ends….}}
{{Quote|{{Muslim|41|6904}}|Thauban reported that Allah’s Messenger (may peace be upon him) said: Allah drew the ends of the world near one another for my sake. And I have seen its eastern and western ends….}}


{{Quote|{{Ibn Majah|4|25|2921}}|It was narrated from Sahl bin Sa’d As-Sa’idi that the Messenger of Allah said:
{{Quote|{{Ibn Majah|4|25|2921}}|It was narrated from Sahl bin Sa’d As-Sa’idi that the Messenger of Allah said:
“There is no (pilgrim) who recites the Talbiyah but that which is to his right and left also recites it, rocks and trees and hills, to the farthest ends of the earth in each direction, from here and from there.”}}
“There is no (pilgrim) who recites the Talbiyah but that which is to his right and left also recites it, rocks and trees and hills, to the farthest ends of the earth in each direction, from here and from there.”}}


{{Quote|{{Bukhari|3|43|643}}|Narrated Salim's father (i.e. `Abdullah):
{{Quote|{{Muslim|1|297}}|It is narrated on the authority of Abu Dharr that the Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him) one day said:
 
The Prophet said, "Whoever takes a piece of the land of others unjustly, he will sink down the seven earths on the Day of Resurrection."}}


This next hadith is daif (weak), but shows what some early Muslims (if not actually Muhammad) thought about the world:
'''Do you know where the sun goes?''' They replied: Allah and His Apostle know best. He (the Holy Prophet) observed: Verily it (the sun) glides till it reaches its resting place under the Throne. Then it falls prostrate and remains there until it is asked: '''Rise up and go to the place whence you came, and it goes back and continues emerging out from its rising place''' and then glides till it reaches its place of rest under the Throne and falls prostrate and remains in that state until it is asked: Rise up and return to the place whence you came, and it returns and emerges out from it rising place and the it glides (in such a normal way) that the people do not discern anything ( unusual in it) till it reaches its resting place under the Throne. Then it would be said to it: '''Rise up and emerge out from the place of your setting, and it will rise from the place of its setting.''' The Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him) said. Do you know when it would happen? It would happen at the time when faith will not benefit one who has not previously believed or has derived no good from the faith.<ref>For the Arabic, see [http://sunnah.com/muslim/1/306 sunnah.com] or #159: [http://hadith.al-islam.com/Page.aspx?pageid=192&TOCID=81&BookID=25&PID=299 hadith.al-islam.com]</ref>}}


{{Quote|{{Al Tirmidhi|5|44|3298}}|...Then he said: ‘Do you know what is under you?’ They said: ‘Allah and His Messenger know better.’ He said: ‘Indeed it is the earth.’ Then he said: ‘Do you know what is under that?’ They said: ‘Allah and His Messenger know better.’ He said: ‘Verily, below it is another earth, between the two of which is a distance of five-hundred years.’ Until he enumerated seven earths: ‘Between every two earths is a distance of five-hundred years.’...}}
Notice that it says, "from its rising place" (min matli'iha مَطْلِعِهَا ), and "from the place of your setting" (min maghribiki مِنْ مَغْرِبِكِ). The sun is commanded to go somewhere – it cannot be claimed that this is an idiomatic way of commanding the Earth to rotate, nor that the words mean the east and west here (despite mistranslations of similar hadiths), for which the words al mashriq and al maghrib would have been used. The words used in this hadith must refer to the sun’s rising and setting places.


===Flat Earth in Tafsirs===
==Flat Earth in Tafsirs==
====The spring where the sun sets====
===The spring where the sun sets===
In the tafsir of al-Tabari (b. 224 AH / 839 CE)  for {{Quran|18|86}}, we see the following remarks about the nature of the spring into which the sun sets. The similar sounding words hami'ah (muddy) and hamiyah (hot) seem to have become confused at some point:
In the tafsir of al-Tabari (b. 224 AH / 839 CE)  for {{Quran|18|86}}, we see the following remarks about the nature of the spring into which the sun sets. The similar sounding words hami'ah (muddy) and hamiyah (hot) seem to have become confused at some point:


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If the reader wishes to explore this sub-topic further, they can see how al-Tabari in his ''History of the Prophets and Kings'', and al-Baydawi in his tafsir mention the opinion that the sun has 360 springs into which it can set, and the pre-Islamic Arab poems on the same topic in the article [http://wikiislam.net/wiki/Dhul-Qarnayn_and_the_Sun_Setting_in_a_Muddy_Spring_-_Part_One#Compatibility_with_contemporary_beliefs Dhu'l Qarnayn and the Sun Setting in a Muddy Spring].
If the reader wishes to explore this sub-topic further, they can see how al-Tabari in his ''History of the Prophets and Kings'', and al-Baydawi in his tafsir mention the opinion that the sun has 360 springs into which it can set, and the pre-Islamic Arab poems on the same topic in the article [http://wikiislam.net/wiki/Dhul-Qarnayn_and_the_Sun_Setting_in_a_Muddy_Spring_-_Part_One#Compatibility_with_contemporary_beliefs Dhu'l Qarnayn and the Sun Setting in a Muddy Spring].


====The sky is a dome above the Earth====
===The sky is a dome above the Earth===


In his tafsir for {{Quran|2|22}}, al-Tabari includes narrations from some of the early Muslims about the sky being a dome or ceiling over the Earth:
In his tafsir for {{Quran|2|22}}, al-Tabari includes narrations from some of the early Muslims about the sky being a dome or ceiling over the Earth:
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"...and the sky a canopy..." The canopy of the sky over the earth '''is in the form of a dome''', and it is a roof over the earth. And Bishr bin Mu'az narrated and said from Yazid from Sa'id from Qatada in the words of Allah "...and the sky a canopy..." He says he makes the sky your roof.}}
"...and the sky a canopy..." The canopy of the sky over the earth '''is in the form of a dome''', and it is a roof over the earth. And Bishr bin Mu'az narrated and said from Yazid from Sa'id from Qatada in the words of Allah "...and the sky a canopy..." He says he makes the sky your roof.}}


====The Earth on the back of a whale====
===The Earth on the back of a whale===
Al-Tabari's tafsir contains other indications of a common flat Earth belief, or at least uncertainty about the shape of the Earth. For example, regarding {{Quran|68|1}}, which mysteriously starts with the Arabic letter nun, he (and many other tafsirs) records that one of the interpretations among sahaba such as ibn 'Abbas was that it is a whale on whose back the Earth is carried (another interpretation was that it was an inkwell). The evidence is extensively documented on other websites, so the interested reader is refered to them.<ref>https://answeringislamblog.wordpress.com/2016/10/19/muhammads-magical-mountain-one-whale-of-a-tale/</ref><ref>http://www.answering-islam.org/Shamoun/whale_nun.htm</ref>
Al-Tabari's tafsir contains other indications of a common flat Earth belief. For example, regarding {{Quran|68|1}}, which mysteriously starts with the Arabic letter nun, he (and many other tafsirs) records that one of the interpretations among sahaba such as ibn 'Abbas was that the 'nun' is a whale on whose back the Earth is carried (another interpretation was that it was an inkwell). The evidence is extensively documented on other websites, so the interested reader is refered to them.<ref>https://answeringislamblog.wordpress.com/2016/10/19/muhammads-magical-mountain-one-whale-of-a-tale/</ref><ref>http://www.answering-islam.org/Shamoun/whale_nun.htm</ref>


==Conclusion==
==Conclusion==

Revision as of 17:14, 24 October 2016

Introduction

When critics point out that the Qur'anic Earth is flat, or that the author of the Qur'an believed that the sun sets in a muddy spring, and furthermore, that such verses encouraged the early Muslims to maintain false beliefs about the world, sometimes people claim in response that everyone knew that the Earth was round by the time of Muhammad. This article will dispel that assertion, and as such is complementary to discussions about Islamic cosmography.

It seems that despite the best efforts of apologetics websites, there is no known evidence for a round Earth belief among the earliest Muslims, and plenty of evidence for belief in a flat Earth.

False claims that there was always a Muslim consensus for a round Earth

While many people in some regions had known for centuries that the Earth was round and not flat, the question is whether Muhammad and his nearby contemporaries in Arabia had this knowledge.

One Islamic fatwah website (copied by others) quotes from scholars who lived hundreds of years after Muhammad in a failed attempt to show that there was always a Muslim scholarly consensus that the Earth is round. They are implying that the Qur'an does not reflect a very human lack of knowledge about the shape of the Earth.

To do so, they first quote from a book by ibn Taymiyyah (d. 728 AH/1328 CE), who in turn cites Abu’l-Husayn Ahmad ibn Ja‘far ibn al Munadi as saying that the scholars from the second level of the companions of Imam Ahmad (d. 241 AH / 855 CE) – i.e. the early Hanbalis - are agreed that both the sky and Earth are balls, the latter based on astronomical reasoning. This evidence is worthless, because from the 8th century CE the Muslims had access to Greek and Indian knowledge (see below), so of course the more recent scholars had this view. As we read on, it is apparent that there was no such consensus earlier about the shape of the Earth.

They then quote ibn Taymiyyah again, who is this time citing Abu’l-Husayn Ahmad ibn Ja‘far ibn al Munadi(again), Abu’l-Faraj ibn al-Jawzi (d. 597 AH / 1201 CE), and ibn Hazm (d. 456 AH / 1064 CE) saying that there is a consensus that the heavens are round. Notice that he says the heavens, but nothing about the Earth. He says they provided evidence from the Qur'an, sunnah, and narrations from the companions (sahabah) and second generation.

Ibn Taymiyyah continues the passage[1] giving the supposed evidence for round heavens in the Qur'an, sunnah, and narrations from the early Muslims (not included by the Islamic fatwah website). In between, he argues that a round heavens and Earth is supported by what specialists on tafsir and language have said about certain words in the Qur'an.

It is the hadiths and companions that we are interested in for the purposes of this article (the Qur'an verses cited by ibn Taymiyyah are Quran 21:33, Quran 36:40, Quran 39:5, and Quran 67:5).

Narrations of the companions

Ibn Taymiyyah's evidence from the companions about the heavens is that ibn 'Abbas and others said regarding the falak (rounded course) which is mentioned in Quran 36:40, "in a whirl (whorl), like the whirl of a spindle" (فِي فَلْكَة كَفَلْكَةِ الْمِغْزَل fee falka, ka-falkati almighzal - al-Tabari and ibn Kathir tafsirs on 36:40). See the comments and footnotes about falak in the article Geocentrism and the Quran. So not exactly much to go on there regarding the shape of the heavens, and nothing about the Earth.

Hadiths

Ibn Taymiyyah then mentions the hadith in Sunan Abu Dawud (graded weak) (Sunan Abu Dawud 41:4708) in which Muhammad forms a dome with his fingers above his head when saying that Allah's throne is above the heavens. Ibn Taymiyyah's interpretation is that the throne is dome shaped.

The other hadith he mentions is in Sahih Bukhari, which says:

if you ask Allah for anything, ask Him for the Firdaus, for it is the last part of Paradise and the highest part of Paradise, and at its top there is the Throne of Beneficent, and from it gush forth the rivers of Paradise." [the word translated 'last' means middle].
Sahih Bukhari 9:93:519

Ibn Taymiyyah then says that a middle only exists in a round thing. How any of this helps demonstrate that the heavens are spherical is a mystery.

The Islamic fatwah website then quotes one of the three that ibn Taymiyyah cited, ibn Hazm, who said that there is sound evidence that the Earth is round, but the common people thought otherwise, though none of the leading Muslim scholars denied that the Earth is round. Thus he provides no evidence that any of them actually said the Earth is round (at best, the absence of a denial from just the leading scholars).

They go on to quote from a 20th century book of fatwas, which claims that the Earth is egg shaped and also uses verse 39:5, both of which arguments are debunked in the article Flat Earth and the Quran. So to summarise, there seems to be no evidence available to suggest that the earliest Muslims believed the Earth was round.

Instead, there is plenty of evidence that they thought the Earth to be flat, as explained below.

Acquisition of Greek and Indian astronomical knowledge

Ptolemy’s Almagest was translated into Arabic in the 8th century CE after the Qur’an was completed. Ptolemy recorded in book five of his AlMagest in the mid-2nd century CE the discovery of Hipparchus, and of Aristarchus before him, that the sun is much larger than the earth and much more distant than the moon, and the Aristotelian view that Earth was spherical and the heavens were celestial spheres.[2]

Professor Kevin Van Bladel says:

When the worldview of educated Muslims after the establishment of the Arab Empire came to incorporate principles of astrology including the geocentric, spherical, Aristotelian-Ptolemaic world picture – particularly after the advent of the ‘Abbāsid dynasty in 750 – the meaning of these passages came to be interpreted in later Islamic tradition not according to the biblical-quranic cosmology, which became obsolete, but according to the Ptolemaic model, according to which the Quran itself came to be interpreted.[3]

Earlier in the same paper, Van Bladel describes how Christian theologians in the region of Syria in the sixth century CE shared the view that the Earth was flat and the heaven, or series of heavens was like a dome or tent above the Earth, based on their reading of the Hebrew and New Testament scriptures. This was a rival view to that of the churchmen of Alexandria who supported the Aristotelian-Ptolemaic view of a spherical Earth surrounded by spinning celestial spheres. See the footnote below[4] for excerpts of that chapter, which he summarises by saying:

Clearly the Ptolemaic cosmology was not taken for granted in the Aramaean part of Asia in the sixth century. It was, rather, controversial.[4]

David A. King writes:

The Arabs of the Arabian peninsula before Islam possessed a simple yet developed astronomical folklore of a practical nature. This involved a knowledge of the risings and settings of stars, associated in particular with the cosmical setting of groups of stars and simultaneous heliacal risings of others, which marked the beginning of periods called naw’, plural anwā’. […] Ptolemy’s Almagest was translated at least five times in the late eighth and ninth centuries. The first was a translation into Syriac and the others into Arabic, the first two under Caliph al-Ma’mūn in the middle of the first half of the ninth century, and the other two (the second an improvement of the first) towards the end of that century […] In this way Greek planetary models, uranometry and mathematical methods came to the attention of the Muslims.[5]

Hoskin and Gingerich say:

In 762 [Muhammad’s] successors in the Middle East founded a new capital, Baghdad, by the river Tigris at the point of nearest approach of the Euphrates, and within reach of the Christian physicians of Jundishapur. Members of the Baghdad court called on them for advice, and these encounters opened the eyes of prominent Muslims to the existence of a legacy of intellectual treasures from Antiquity - most of which were preserved in manuscripts lying in distant libraries and written in a foreign tongue. Harun al-Rashid (caliph from 786) and his successors sent agents to the Byzantine empire to buy Greek manuscripts, and early in the ninth century a translation centre, the House of Wisdom, was established in Baghdad by the Caliph al-Ma’mun. […] Long before translations began, a rich tradition of folk astronomy already existed in the Arabian peninsula. This merged with the view of the heavens in Islamic commentaries and treatises, to create a simple cosmology based on the actual appearances of the sky and unsupported by any underlying theory." [6]

Flat Earth(s) in hadith collections

The next few sections are about evidence of a commonplace flat Earth belief among the earliest Muslims (it omits evidence from the Qur'an itself, as per the purpose of this article stated in the introduction).

Two easy ways to demonstrate that at least a large number of the earliest Muslims imagined the Earth to be flat are to look at hadiths and tafsirs. For the purposes of this article, it matters little whether the hadiths are authentic or not; either way they demonstrate beliefs of early Muslims.

Narrated Salim's father (i.e. `Abdullah): The Prophet said, "Whoever takes a piece of the land of others unjustly, he will sink down the seven earths on the Day of Resurrection."
Sahih Bukhari 3:43:643

This next hadith is on the same topic. It is graded daif (weak), but shows what some early Muslims (if not actually Muhammad) thought about the world:

...Then he said: ‘Do you know what is under you?’ They said: ‘Allah and His Messenger know better.’ He said: ‘Indeed it is the earth.’ Then he said: ‘Do you know what is under that?’ They said: ‘Allah and His Messenger know better.’ He said: ‘Verily, below it is another earth, between the two of which is a distance of five-hundred years.’ Until he enumerated seven earths: ‘Between every two earths is a distance of five-hundred years.’...
Jami` at-Tirmidhi 44:3298:1


Thauban reported that Allah’s Messenger (may peace be upon him) said: Allah drew the ends of the world near one another for my sake. And I have seen its eastern and western ends….
Sahih Muslim 41:6904
It was narrated from Sahl bin Sa’d As-Sa’idi that the Messenger of Allah said: “There is no (pilgrim) who recites the Talbiyah but that which is to his right and left also recites it, rocks and trees and hills, to the farthest ends of the earth in each direction, from here and from there.”
Sunan Ibn Majah 25:2921:1
It is narrated on the authority of Abu Dharr that the Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him) one day said: Do you know where the sun goes? They replied: Allah and His Apostle know best. He (the Holy Prophet) observed: Verily it (the sun) glides till it reaches its resting place under the Throne. Then it falls prostrate and remains there until it is asked: Rise up and go to the place whence you came, and it goes back and continues emerging out from its rising place and then glides till it reaches its place of rest under the Throne and falls prostrate and remains in that state until it is asked: Rise up and return to the place whence you came, and it returns and emerges out from it rising place and the it glides (in such a normal way) that the people do not discern anything ( unusual in it) till it reaches its resting place under the Throne. Then it would be said to it: Rise up and emerge out from the place of your setting, and it will rise from the place of its setting. The Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him) said. Do you know when it would happen? It would happen at the time when faith will not benefit one who has not previously believed or has derived no good from the faith.[7]
Sahih Muslim 1:297

Notice that it says, "from its rising place" (min matli'iha مَطْلِعِهَا ), and "from the place of your setting" (min maghribiki مِنْ مَغْرِبِكِ). The sun is commanded to go somewhere – it cannot be claimed that this is an idiomatic way of commanding the Earth to rotate, nor that the words mean the east and west here (despite mistranslations of similar hadiths), for which the words al mashriq and al maghrib would have been used. The words used in this hadith must refer to the sun’s rising and setting places.

Flat Earth in Tafsirs

The spring where the sun sets

In the tafsir of al-Tabari (b. 224 AH / 839 CE) for Quran 18:86, we see the following remarks about the nature of the spring into which the sun sets. The similar sounding words hami'ah (muddy) and hamiyah (hot) seem to have become confused at some point:

الْقَوْل فِي تَأْوِيل قَوْله تَعَالَى : { حَتَّى إِذَا بَلَغَ مَغْرِب الشَّمْس وَجَدَهَا تَغْرُب فِي عَيْن حَمِئَة }

يَقُول تَعَالَى ذِكْره : { حَتَّى إِذَا بَلَغَ } ذُو الْقَرْنَيْنِ { مَغْرِب الشَّمْس وَجَدَهَا تَغْرُب فِي عَيْن حَمِئَة } , فَاخْتَلَفَتْ الْقُرَّاء فِي قِرَاءَة ذَلِكَ , فَقَرَأَهُ بَعْض قُرَّاء الْمَدِينَة وَالْبَصْرَة : { فِي عَيْن حَمِئَة } بِمَعْنَى : أَنَّهَا تَغْرُب فِي عَيْن مَاء ذَات حَمْأَة , وَقَرَأَتْهُ جَمَاعَة مِنْ قُرَّاء الْمَدِينَة , وَعَامَّة قُرَّاء الْكُوفَة : " فِي عَيْن حَامِيَة " يَعْنِي أَنَّهَا تَغْرُب فِي عَيْن مَاء حَارَّة . وَاخْتَلَفَ أَهْل التَّأْوِيل فِي تَأْوِيلهمْ ذَلِكَ عَلَى نَحْو اِخْتِلَاف الْقُرَّاء فِي قِرَاءَته

The meaning of the Almighty’s saying, ‘Until he reached the place of the setting of the sun he found it set in a spring of murky water,’ is as follows:

When the Almighty says, ‘Until he reached,’ He is addressing Zul-Qarnain. Concerning the verse, ‘the place of the setting of the sun he found it set in a spring of murky water,’ the people differed on how to pronounce that verse. Some of the people of Madina and Basra read it as ‘Hami’a spring,’ meaning that the sun sets in a spring that contains mud. While a group of the people of Medina and the majority of the people of Kufa read it as, ‘Hamiya spring’ meaning that the sun sets in a spring of warm water. The people of commentary have differed on the meaning of this depending on the way they read the verse.
Tafsir al-Tabari for verse 18:86

So he says of the Basra version:

"بـمعنى: أنها تغرب فـي عين ماء ذات حمأة"

"Meaning: that it sets in a spring of muddy water."

And of the people of Kufa reading hot spring:

"يعنـي أنها تغرب فـي عين ماء حارّة"

"It means that it sets in a spring of hot water"

He goes on to quote various opinions such as Ibn 'Abbas, that the sun sets in black mud:

حَدَّثَنَا مُحَمَّد بْن عَبْد الْأَعْلَى , قَالَ : ثنا مَرْوَان بْن مُعَاوِيَة , عَنْ وَرْقَاء , قَالَ : سَمِعْت سَعِيد بْن جُبَيْر ,

قَالَ : كَانَ اِبْن عَبَّاس يَقْرَأ هَذَا الْحَرْف { فِي عَيْن حَمِئَة }

Muhammad bin 'Abd al-A'laa narrated and said: Marwan bin Mu'awiya narrated from Warqa, he said: I heard Sa'id ibn Jubayr say: ibn 'Abbas read this letter "in a muddy spring"

وَيَقُول : حَمْأَة سَوْدَاء تَغْرُب فِيهَا الشَّمْس

and he said: the sun sets in black mud.

وَقَالَ آخَرُونَ : بَلْ هِيَ تَغِيب فِي عَيْن حَارَّة

Others said: it disappears (تَغِيب) in a hot spring.
Tafsir al-Tabari for verse 18:86

From these comments and narrations in al-Tabari's tafsir, we can reasonably conclude that many, and perhaps all, of the earliest Muslims took verse 18:86 to mean that the sun actually sets in a spring and thus that the Earth is flat.

If the reader wishes to explore this sub-topic further, they can see how al-Tabari in his History of the Prophets and Kings, and al-Baydawi in his tafsir mention the opinion that the sun has 360 springs into which it can set, and the pre-Islamic Arab poems on the same topic in the article Dhu'l Qarnayn and the Sun Setting in a Muddy Spring.

The sky is a dome above the Earth

In his tafsir for Quran 2:22, al-Tabari includes narrations from some of the early Muslims about the sky being a dome or ceiling over the Earth:

حَدَّثَنِي مُوسَى بْن هَارُونَ , قَالَ : حَدَّثَنَا عَمْرو بْن حَمَّاد , قَالَ : حَدَّثَنَا أَسْبَاط , عَنْ السُّدِّيّ فِي خَبَر ذَكَرَهُ , عَنْ أَبِي مَالِك , وَعَنْ أَبِي صَالِح , عَنْ ابْن عَبَّاس , وَعَنْ مُرَّة , عَنْ ابْن مَسْعُود وَعَنْ نَاس مِنْ أَصْحَاب النَّبِيّ صَلَّى اللَّه عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ : { وَالسَّمَاء بِنَاء } , فَبِنَاء السَّمَاء عَلَى الْأَرْض كَهَيْئَةِ الْقُبَّة , وَهِيَ سَقْف عَلَى الْأَرْض .وَحَدَّثَنَا بِشْر بْن مُعَاذ , قَالَ : حَدَّثَنَا يَزِيد , عَنْ سَعِيد , عَنْ قَتَادَةَ فِي قَوْل اللَّه { وَالسَّمَاء بِنَاء } قَالَ : جَعَلَ السَّمَاء سَقْفًا لَك .

Musa bin Harun narrated and said that Amr bin Hammad narrated and said that Asbath narrated from al-Suddi in the report mentioned, from Abu Malik, and from Abu Salih, from ibn 'Abbas and from Murrah, from ibn Masud and from people of the companions of the prophet (peace and blessings be upon him):

"...and the sky a canopy..." The canopy of the sky over the earth is in the form of a dome, and it is a roof over the earth. And Bishr bin Mu'az narrated and said from Yazid from Sa'id from Qatada in the words of Allah "...and the sky a canopy..." He says he makes the sky your roof.
Tafsir al-Tabari for 2:22
See also the English translation from J. Cooper's abridged translation of Tafsir al-Tabari[8]

The Earth on the back of a whale

Al-Tabari's tafsir contains other indications of a common flat Earth belief. For example, regarding Quran 68:1, which mysteriously starts with the Arabic letter nun, he (and many other tafsirs) records that one of the interpretations among sahaba such as ibn 'Abbas was that the 'nun' is a whale on whose back the Earth is carried (another interpretation was that it was an inkwell). The evidence is extensively documented on other websites, so the interested reader is refered to them.[9][10]

Conclusion

Islamic apologists have failed to provide any evidence that Muhammad or the earliest Muslims knew that the Earth was round. In contrast, there is lots of evidence to show them believing the Earth to be flat.

This evidence can be used as a foundation for other arguments concerning the flat Earth verses in the Qur'an, that they cause a justifiably suspicion that the author of the Qur'an was just as unaware as his nearby contemporaries about the shape of the Earth. It can also be used to make the point that it is another major weakness of the Qur'an to use such language when it will inevitably encourage 7th century Muslims to maintain their false notion that the Earth is flat (and indeed for many centuries later for some Muslims, such as al-Suyuti in his Tafsir al-Jalalyn).

External links

References

  1. ↑ For the full chapter in Arabic see Wikisource.org wikisource.org, and for someone's English translation for most of the relevant parts see Salafitalk forum
  2. ↑ Toomer, G. J., Ptolemy and his Greek predecessors, In Astronomy Before the Telescope, Ed. Christopher Walker, p.86, London: British Museum Press, 1996
  3. ↑ Van Bladel, Kevin, “Heavenly cords and prophetic authority in the Qur’an and its Late Antique context”, Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, 70:223-246, p.241, Cambridge University Press, 2007
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 ibid. pp.224-226. Here are some more excerpts:
    Entering into the debate was John Philoponus, a Christian philosopher of sixth-century Alexandria, who wrote his commentary on Genesis to prove, against earlier, Antiochene, theologians like Theodore of Mopsuestia, that the scriptural account of creation described a spherical geocentric world in accord with the Ptolemaic cosmology. [...]

    On the other hand, Cosmas Indicopleustes wrote his contentious Christian Topography in the 540s and 550s to prove that the spherical, geocentric world-picture of the erroneous, pagan Hellenes contradicted that of the Hebrew prophets. Cosmas was an Alexandrian with sympathies towards the Church of the East, who had travelled through the Red Sea to east Africa, Iran, and India, and who received instruction from the East Syrian churchman Mār Abā on the latter's visit to Egypt. His Christian topography has been shown to be aimed directly at John Philoponus and the Hellenic, sperical world-model he supported. [...] However, it is clear that Cosmas was going against the opinions of his educated though, as he saw it, misguided contemporaries in Alexandria.

    A number of Syrian churchmen, notably but not only the Easterners working in the tradition of Theodore of Mopsuestia, took the view of the sky as an edifice for granted. Narsai d. c. 503), the first head of the school of Nisibis, in his homilies on creation, described God's fashioning of the firmament of heaven in these terms: "Like a roof upon the top of the house he stretched out the firmament / that the house below, the domain of earth, might be complete". ayk taṭlîlâ l-baytâ da-l-tḥēt mtaḥ la-rqî῾â I d-nehwê mamlâ dûkkat ar῾â l-baytâ da-l῾el. Also "He finished building the heaven and earth as a spacious house" šaklel wa-bnâ šmayyâ w-ar῾â baytâ rwîḥâ. Jacob of Serugh (d. 521) wrote similarly on the shape of the world in his Hexaemeron homilies. A further witness to the discussion is a Syriac hymn, composed c. 543-554, describing a domed church in Edessa as a microcosm of the world, its dome being the counterpart of the sky. This is the earliest known text to make a church edifice to be a microcosm, and it shows that the debates over cosmology were meaningful to more than a small number of theologians.
  5. ↑ King, David A., “Islamic Astronomy”, In Astronomy Before the Telescope, Ed. Christopher Walker, p.86, London: British Museum Press, 1996
  6. ↑ Hoskin, Michael and Gingerich, Owen, “Islamic Astronomy” in The Cambridge Concise History of Astronomy, Ed. M. Hoskin, p.50-52, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999
  7. ↑ For the Arabic, see sunnah.com or #159: hadith.al-islam.com
  8. ↑ The commentary on the Qur'an, by Abu Ja'far Muhammad b. Jarir al- Tabari ; being an abridged translation of Jami' al-bayan 'an ta'wil ay al-Qur'an, with an introduction and notes by J. Cooper, general editors, W.F. Madelung, A. Jones. Oxford University Press, 1987. p.164
  9. ↑ https://answeringislamblog.wordpress.com/2016/10/19/muhammads-magical-mountain-one-whale-of-a-tale/
  10. ↑ http://www.answering-islam.org/Shamoun/whale_nun.htm
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