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Islamic Views on the Shape of the Earth: Difference between revisions
Islamic Views on the Shape of the Earth (view source)
Revision as of 21:04, 13 December 2020
, 13 December 2020→Daha as derived from duhiya and related to madaahi
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'''QXP:''' And after that He made the earth shoot out from the Cosmic Nebula and made it spread out egg-shaped. ('Dahaha' entails all the meanings rendered (21:30), (41:11)).}} | '''QXP:''' And after that He made the earth shoot out from the Cosmic Nebula and made it spread out egg-shaped. ('Dahaha' entails all the meanings rendered (21:30), (41:11)).}} | ||
====''Daha'' as derived from ''duhiya'' and related to ''madaahi''==== | ====''Daha'' as derived from ''duhiya'' and related to ''madaahi''==== | ||
Another common argument advanced today is that that word ''daha'' may derive from the word ''duhiya'', which is said to mean "ostrich egg".<ref>[http://www.quranicteachings.co.uk/earth-shape.htm QuranTeachings.co.uk - 79:30]</ref> The idea here is that, if these words derive from the same root, they both carry the same "signification" of | Another common argument advanced today is that that word ''daha'' may derive from the word ''duhiya'', which is said to mean "ostrich egg".<ref>[http://www.quranicteachings.co.uk/earth-shape.htm QuranTeachings.co.uk - 79:30]</ref> The idea here is that, if these words derive from the same root, they both carry the same "signification" of oval-shaped roundness, and, since the Earth is not perfectly spherical but rather slightly oval, this common "signification" serves as evidence that Qur'anic cosmology is essentially modern. Further buttressing this claim, it is argued, are: another sense of the word ''daha'' (which means "he threw" or "he cast", referring particularly to the casting of a ''madaahi'' into its ''udhiyah'')<ref>{{Citation|title=Lane's Lexicon|chapter=دحا|page=863}} | ||
See the entry on the same page for مدحاة for the specific connotation and usage of the word in this sense</ref>, the word ''madaahi'' (which refers to a small stone or similar object in the shape of a "small round cake of bread")<ref name=":0">The word مداحي is listed under the entry for مدحاة | See the entry on the same page for مدحاة for the specific connotation and usage of the word in this sense</ref>, the word ''madaahi'' (which refers to a small stone or similar object in the shape of a "small round cake of bread")<ref name=":0">The word مداحي is listed under the entry for مدحاة | ||
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{{Citation|title=Lane's Lexicon|chapter=مدحاة|page=863}}</ref>, and ''udhiyah'' (which refers to a small hole, roughly the size of the ''madaahi'', into which the ''madaahi'' is to be cast as part of a game)<ref name=":0" />. All these terms carrying a similar "signification" of roundness, it is thus concluded, make it so that the creation of the Earth described in 79:30 implies roundness. | {{Citation|title=Lane's Lexicon|chapter=مدحاة|page=863}}</ref>, and ''udhiyah'' (which refers to a small hole, roughly the size of the ''madaahi'', into which the ''madaahi'' is to be cast as part of a game)<ref name=":0" />. All these terms carrying a similar "signification" of roundness, it is thus concluded, make it so that the creation of the Earth described in 79:30 implies roundness. | ||
While persons are entitled to their own religious interpretations of scripture, such a reading is bereft of any linguistic basis or traditional and scriptural precedent. | While persons are entitled to their own religious interpretations of scripture, such a reading is bereft of any linguistic basis or traditional and scriptural precedent. | ||
====Oblate and prolate spheroids==== | ====Oblate and prolate spheroids==== | ||
[[File:oblate-prolate-ostrich.jpg|An oblate spheroid (top left), a prolate spheroid (bottom left), and an ostrich egg, which is a prolate spheroid | [[File:oblate-prolate-ostrich.jpg|An oblate spheroid (top left), a prolate spheroid (bottom left), and an ostrich egg, which is a prolate spheroid, no matter its orientation|alt=|thumb]]There are two problems with the egg-shaped Earth claim. One is that their statements about the words daha and duhiya are false, as proven further below. But even if they were right about that, it would prove the Qur'an to be incorrect because while the Earth and an ostrich egg are both [[w:spheroid|spheroids]], they are of fundamentally different types of spheroid. | ||
The Earth is very nearly, but not absolutely a perfect sphere. It is in fact an oblate spheroid, which means that the radius from its centre to either of its two poles is shorter than the radius to the equator. In other words, there is a [[w:equatorial bulge|very slight bulge]] around the equator. The radius from the centre of the Earth to the north or south poles is 6,357km, and the radius from the centre to the equator is 6,378km, a difference of less than 1 percent. This is caused by the rotation of the Earth around its polar axis, which produces a centripetal force that is greatest at the equator. | The Earth is very nearly, but not absolutely a perfect sphere. It is in fact an oblate spheroid, which means that the radius from its centre to either of its two poles is shorter than the radius to the equator. In other words, there is a [[w:equatorial bulge|very slight bulge]] around the equator. The radius from the centre of the Earth to the north or south poles is 6,357km, and the radius from the centre to the equator is 6,378km, a difference of less than 1 percent. This is caused by the rotation of the Earth around its polar axis, which produces a centripetal force that is greatest at the equator. | ||