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

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Islamic Views on the Shape of the Earth (view source)

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==Did everyone know that the Earth was round at the time of Muhammad?==
==Did everyone know that the Earth was round at the time of Muhammad?==


[https://islamqa.info/en/118698 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. First they refer to those who lived shortly after Imam Ahmad (d. 241 AH / 855 CE) by which time Muslim scholars had encountered Greek and Indian science and did indeed know that the Earth was round. They then quote others as saying that the heavens were round (but no mention of the Earth - a flat Earth and spherical or hemispherical heaven was a common belief), and another scholar who merely claims the absence of a denial that the Earth is round from the leading scholars. So to summarise, there seems to be no evidence available to suggest that the earliest Muslims believed the Earth was round.
[https://islamqa.info/en/118698 One Islamic website] (copied by others) quotes from a book by ibn Taymiyyah (d. 728 AH/1328 CE) who made a failed attempt to demonstrate a consensus, or even knowledge from the earliest Muslims of a round Earth. In their first quote from ibn Taymiyyah he cites scholars who lived shortly after Imam Ahmad (d. 241 AH / 855 CE) by which time Muslim scholars had encountered Greek and Indian science and did indeed know that the Earth was round. In a second quote, ibn Taymiyyah cites other scholars as saying there is a consensus that the heavens are round (but notice, no mention of the Earth). He says they used arguments from the Qur'an and sunnah, and narrations from the companions and 2nd generation. The evidence used by the scholars that Muhammad and the companions had this view about the shape of the heavens (as further described by ibn Taymiyyah, but not mentioned on the website) is extremely weak even for that. Then another quotation is given from one of the scholars, who merely claims the absence of any denial that the Earth is round from the leading scholars. 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. For details, see for example the quotations from Tabari's tafsir [https://wikiislam.net/wiki/Dhul-Qarnayn_and_the_Sun_Setting_in_a_Muddy_Spring_-_Part_One#Tafsir_.28Commentaries.29 here] (see also the sections before and after it in that article for further evidence), and the comments by historians about Arab knowledge before and after they encountered Greek and Indian science [https://wikiislam.net/wiki/Dhul-Qarnayn_and_the_Sun_Setting_in_a_Muddy_Spring_-_Part_One#Commentators_use_knowledge_unknown_to_7th_century_Arabs here] (including footnotes).
Instead, there is plenty of evidence that they thought the Earth to be flat. For details, see for example the quotations from Tabari's tafsir [https://wikiislam.net/wiki/Dhul-Qarnayn_and_the_Sun_Setting_in_a_Muddy_Spring_-_Part_One#Tafsir_.28Commentaries.29 here] (see also the sections before and after it in that article for further evidence), and the comments by historians about Arab knowledge before and after they encountered Greek and Indian science [https://wikiislam.net/wiki/Dhul-Qarnayn_and_the_Sun_Setting_in_a_Muddy_Spring_-_Part_One#Commentators_use_knowledge_unknown_to_7th_century_Arabs here] (including footnotes).
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