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

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The later idea that Islamic scriptures themselves indicated a spherical Earth was a creative act of reinterpretation. Similarly, attempts to explain Quranic verses about the earth only in terms of local flatness at a human level are often challenged by critics using contextual arguments.
The later idea that Islamic scriptures themselves indicated a spherical Earth was a creative act of reinterpretation. Similarly, attempts to explain Quranic verses about the earth only in terms of local flatness at a human level are often challenged by critics using contextual arguments.


==Greek and Indian astronomical knowledge==
==Greek astronomical knowledge==
Ptolemy’s ''Almagest'', written in the mid 2nd century CE, was translated into Arabic in the 9<sup>th</sup> century CE after the Qur’an had been completed and [[Textual History of the Qur'an|standardized]]. Ptolemy recorded in book five of the ''Almagest'' 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, as well as the Aristotelian view which maintains that the Earth is spherical and that the heavens are celestial spheres.<ref>{{citation| chapter=Ptolemy and his Greek predecessors| title=Astronomy before the Telescope| first=G. J.| last=Toomer| location=New York| publisher=St. Martin's Press| year=1996| url=https://www.worldcat.org/title/astronomy-before-the-telescope/oclc/36922915| archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20171215163704/https://www.worldcat.org/title/astronomy-before-the-telescope/oclc/36922915| editor-last=Walker| editor-first=Christopher| ISBN=9780312154073|page=86}}</ref>
Ptolemy’s ''Almagest'', written in the mid 2nd century CE, was translated into Arabic in the 9<sup>th</sup> century CE after the Qur’an had been completed and [[Textual History of the Qur'an|standardized]]. Ptolemy recorded in book five of the ''Almagest'' 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, as well as the Aristotelian view which maintains that the Earth is spherical and that the heavens are celestial spheres.<ref>{{citation| chapter=Ptolemy and his Greek predecessors| title=Astronomy before the Telescope| first=G. J.| last=Toomer| location=New York| publisher=St. Martin's Press| year=1996| url=https://www.worldcat.org/title/astronomy-before-the-telescope/oclc/36922915| archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20171215163704/https://www.worldcat.org/title/astronomy-before-the-telescope/oclc/36922915| editor-last=Walker| editor-first=Christopher| ISBN=9780312154073|page=86}}</ref> Indian and Sasanian mathematical astronomy works for calculating the apparent movements of the sun, stars and planets were translated into Arabic from the 8th century CE.<ref>[https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/astr/hd_astr.htm Astronomy and Astrology in the Medieval Islamic World] - Marika Sardar, Metropolitan Museum of Art website, 2011</ref>


Kevin Van Bladel, Professor of Near Eastern Languages & Civilizations at Yale University<ref>{{cite web| url=https://nelc.yale.edu/people/kevin-van-bladel| title=Kevin van Bladel| author=| publisher=Yale University| date=| archiveurl=http://www.webcitation.org/query?url=http://articles.latimes.com/2008/jun/29/world/fg-abortion29&date=2011-09-17 | deadurl=no| accessdate=December 11, 2020| quote=Kevin T. van Bladel is a philologist and historian studying texts and societies of the Near East of the period 200-1200 with special attention to the history of scholarship, the transition from Persian to Arab rule, and historical sociolinguistics. His research focuses on the interaction of different language communities and the translation of learned traditions between Arabic, Iranian languages, Aramaic, Greek, and Sanskrit.}}</ref>, writes:
Kevin Van Bladel, Professor of Near Eastern Languages & Civilizations at Yale University<ref>{{cite web| url=https://nelc.yale.edu/people/kevin-van-bladel| title=Kevin van Bladel| author=| publisher=Yale University| date=| archiveurl=http://www.webcitation.org/query?url=http://articles.latimes.com/2008/jun/29/world/fg-abortion29&date=2011-09-17 | deadurl=no| accessdate=December 11, 2020| quote=Kevin T. van Bladel is a philologist and historian studying texts and societies of the Near East of the period 200-1200 with special attention to the history of scholarship, the transition from Persian to Arab rule, and historical sociolinguistics. His research focuses on the interaction of different language communities and the translation of learned traditions between Arabic, Iranian languages, Aramaic, Greek, and Sanskrit.}}</ref>, writes:
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