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Islamic Views on the Shape of the Earth: Difference between revisions
→Mount Qaf: Added another verse that taken literally implies a flat earth, with some exegete examples given who have followed this logic.
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Lightyears (talk | contribs) (Linked Alexander Romance page and removed out of place quote covering points already made elsewhere.) |
(→Mount Qaf: Added another verse that taken literally implies a flat earth, with some exegete examples given who have followed this logic.) |
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''The Arab geographer Yaqut describes Qaf as a mountain that encompasses and encloses the earth. It is made out of blue or green crystal, and all mountains in the world are tributaries of Qaf. Mt. Qaf is associated with the city of “Jabalq,” which can be read also as “Mt. Qaf” [Ar. Jabal-Qaf] in Arabic. This city is supposed to be located in the extreme east or west, at the edges of the earth. Qaf is also linked to the mountain on which Adam was supposed to have stood and peered into heaven after his expulsion from the Garden of Eden.''</ref> | ''The Arab geographer Yaqut describes Qaf as a mountain that encompasses and encloses the earth. It is made out of blue or green crystal, and all mountains in the world are tributaries of Qaf. Mt. Qaf is associated with the city of “Jabalq,” which can be read also as “Mt. Qaf” [Ar. Jabal-Qaf] in Arabic. This city is supposed to be located in the extreme east or west, at the edges of the earth. Qaf is also linked to the mountain on which Adam was supposed to have stood and peered into heaven after his expulsion from the Garden of Eden.''</ref> | ||
{{Quote|{{Quran|50|1}}|Qaf. By the Glorious Qur'an,}} | {{Quote|{{Quran|50|1}}|Qaf. By the Glorious Qur'an,}} | ||
===The Highest Horizon=== | |||
The Qu'ran says Muhammad was in the highest horizon ''bil-ufuqi<ref>افق - [https://lexicon.quranic-research.net/data/01_A/103_Afq.html Lane's lexicon Classical Arabic Dictionary root: hamza fā qāf (أ ف ق)] Horizon ''ufuq'' (أُفُق) [https://lexicon.quranic-research.net/pdf/Page_0068.pdf Lane's Lexicon p.68] Horizon ''ufuq'' (أُفُق) [https://lexicon.quranic-research.net/pdf/Page_0069.pdf Lane's Lexicon p.69]</ref>l-aʿlā''<ref>Lanes Lexicon Classical Arabic Dictionary Root: [https://lexicon.quranic-research.net/data/18_E/190_Elw.html ʿayn lām wāw (ع ل و)] (l-a)ʿlā [https://lexicon.quranic-research.net/pdf/Page_2142.pdf Lanes Lexicon p.2142], [https://lexicon.quranic-research.net/pdf/Page_2143.pdf Lanes Lexicon p.2143]</ref>. Typically taken as referring to him receiving knowledge there as part of his [[Buraq#The Night Journey (al-Isra wal-Mi'raj)|night journey]].{{Quote|{{Quran|53|7}}|possessed of sound judgement. He settled, while he (was) in the horizon - the highest.}}See also: {{Quran|81|23}} | |||
On a round Earth, there is no such place as an objective highest horizon, as once you move towards the it (i.e. the furthest place you can see where the land and sky appear to meet in the distance),<ref>[https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/horizon Horizon Definition] Cambridge Dictionary</ref> the view (i.e. the horizon) simply moves further back as you circle around the Earth, never actually being reached. So some classical Islamic exegetes have taken this highest horizon to be the place where the sun rises from, in the seventh heaven, or where it reaches the Earth,<ref>E.g. [https://quranx.com/Tafsir/Jalal/53.7 Tafsir al-Jalalayn on verse Q53:7] by Al-Mahalli (d. 1459 CE) and Al-Suyuti (d. 1505 CE) and the famous pseudepigrapha [https://quranx.com/Tafsir/Abbas/53.7 Tanwîr al-Miqbâs min Tafsîr Ibn ‘Abbâs on verse Q53:7]</ref> which is only possible on a flat Earth. | |||
==Classical perspectives== | ==Classical perspectives== | ||
Knowledge of the spherical nature of the Earth existed, at the very least, for nearly a millennium prior to the emergence of [[Islam]] in the 7th century. However, due to the non-uniform distribution of knowledge across the world and the pervasive assumption of a flat-Earth in Islamic scriptures, it is widely held that Muhammad and his [[companions]] were almost certainly ignorant of the matter. In the absence of explicit and authentic formulations from [[Muhammad]] and his companions on the topic, however, full confidence is impossible and modern inquirers are left to infer the cosmology of the earliest Muslims on the basis of indirect scriptural allusions. Such allusions are plenty and uniformly point to the assumption of a flat-Earth. | Knowledge of the spherical nature of the Earth existed, at the very least, for nearly a millennium prior to the emergence of [[Islam]] in the 7th century. However, due to the non-uniform distribution of knowledge across the world and the pervasive assumption of a flat-Earth in Islamic scriptures, it is widely held that Muhammad and his [[companions]] were almost certainly ignorant of the matter. In the absence of explicit and authentic formulations from [[Muhammad]] and his companions on the topic, however, full confidence is impossible and modern inquirers are left to infer the cosmology of the earliest Muslims on the basis of indirect scriptural allusions. Such allusions are plenty and uniformly point to the assumption of a flat-Earth. | ||