Early Islamic Cosmology

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, apologists will sometimes claim that everyone knew that the Earth was round by the time of Muhammad. This article will dispel this assertion, and as such is complementary to discussions about Islamic cosmography.

False claims of a consensus that the Earth was round

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 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 the 20th century Saudi Sheikh ibn Baz (who famously, at one time pronounced that the Earth is flat). He in turn quotes ibn Taymiyah (d. 728 AH/1328 CE), who in turn cites Abu’l-Husayn Ahmad ibn Ja‘far (d. 428 AH / 1037 CE) as saying that the scholars from the second level of the companions of Imam Ahmad (d. 241 AH / 855 CE) 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, so of course the more recent scholars had this view.

They then quote Sheikh ibn Baz again, 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), who he says provided narrations from the companions and second generation that the heavens are round. Notice that he says the heavens, not the Earth. A common conception in those days was of a flat Earth in a celestial sphere or hemisphere. So again, this evidence is worthless.

The website then quotes one of the three that he 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). 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 Qur'anic 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.