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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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Allathee jaAAala lakumu alarda firashan | Allathee jaAAala lakumu alarda firashan | ||
'''[He] who made for you the earth a bed [spread out] | '''[He] who made for you the earth a bed [spread out] and the sky a ceiling''' and sent down from the sky, rain and brought forth thereby fruits as provision for you. So do not attribute to Allah equals while you know [that there is nothing similar to Him].}} | ||
فِرَٰشًا = firashan = a thing that is spread upon the ground, a thing that is spread for one to sit or lie upon.<ref>فِرَٰشًا firashan - [http://www.studyquran.org/LaneLexicon/Volume6/00000155.pdf Lane's Lexicon] page 2371</ref> | فِرَٰشًا = firashan = a thing that is spread upon the ground, a thing that is spread for one to sit or lie upon.<ref>فِرَٰشًا firashan - [http://www.studyquran.org/LaneLexicon/Volume6/00000155.pdf Lane's Lexicon] page 2371</ref> | ||
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The verb used to say the earth and mountains "are lifted" is ḥumilati حُمِلَتِ which is used in the sense of taking up or carrying a load.<ref>hamala حمل - [http://www.studyquran.org/LaneLexicon/Volume2/00000282.pdf Lane's Lexicon] page 646</ref> | The verb used to say the earth and mountains "are lifted" is ḥumilati حُمِلَتِ which is used in the sense of taking up or carrying a load.<ref>hamala حمل - [http://www.studyquran.org/LaneLexicon/Volume2/00000282.pdf Lane's Lexicon] page 646</ref> | ||
The word translated levelled (dakkatan, meaning pounded down to ground level<ref> دك dal-kaf-kaf - [http://www.studyquran.org/LaneLexicon/Volume3/00000064.pdf Lane's Lexicon] page 898</ref>) in the above verse occurs three times in various forms in another verse about the earth: | |||
{{Quote|{{Quran|89|21}}|No! When the earth has been leveled - pounded and crushed -}} | |||
===Qur'an 17:37 - you will not tear / pierce the earth=== | ===Qur'an 17:37 - you will not tear / pierce the earth=== | ||
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The verb translated "tear" is kharaqa, which meant to make a hole in, perforate, pierce, or bore through something or to tear or rent such as a cloth, and appears also in {{Quran|18|71}} when Allah's servant makes a hole in a ship.<ref>kharaqa خرق [http://www.studyquran.org/LaneLexicon/Volume2/00000363.pdf Lane's Lexicon] page 737</ref> The verse seems to imply that the earth has the kind of predominantly two dimensional shape to which this verb is often applicable, even if humans lack the power to do so. | The verb translated "tear" is kharaqa, which meant to make a hole in, perforate, pierce, or bore through something or to tear or rent such as a cloth, and appears also in {{Quran|18|71}} when Allah's servant makes a hole in a ship.<ref>kharaqa خرق [http://www.studyquran.org/LaneLexicon/Volume2/00000363.pdf Lane's Lexicon] page 737</ref> The verse seems to imply that the earth has the kind of predominantly two dimensional shape to which this verb is often applicable, even if humans lack the power to do so. | ||
===Qur'an 55:17 - the two easts and two wests=== | ===Qur'an 55:17 - Lord of the two easts and two wests=== | ||
{{Quote|{{Quran|55|17}}|رَبُّ ٱلْمَشْرِقَيْنِ وَرَبُّ ٱلْمَغْرِبَيْنِ | {{Quote|{{Quran|55|17}}|رَبُّ ٱلْمَشْرِقَيْنِ وَرَبُّ ٱلْمَغْرِبَيْنِ | ||
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(He is) Lord of the two Easts and Lord of the two Wests}} | (He is) Lord of the two Easts and Lord of the two Wests}} | ||
Classical tafsirs unanimously<ref>[https://tafsir.app/55/17 Tafsirs 55:17]</ref> understand this verse to | Classical tafsirs unanimously<ref>[https://tafsir.app/55/17 Tafsirs 55:17]</ref> understand this verse as a reference to the two easts, or rising places (almashriqayni), and the two wests, or setting places (almaghribayni) of the sun on the summer and winter solstices. This accords with the literal meanings of mashriq<ref>مَشْرِقُ mashriq - [http://www.studyquran.org/LaneLexicon/Volume4/00000265.pdf Lane's Lexicon] page 1541</ref> and maghrib<ref>مَغْرِبُ maghrib - [http://www.studyquran.org/LaneLexicon/Volume6/00000025.pdf Lane's Lexicon] page 2241</ref>. Similarly, verse 70:40 ({{Quran|70|40}}) was classically understood to refer to all the different places where the sun rises and sets between these ranges (almashariqi waalmagharibi).<ref>[https://tafsir.app/70/40 Tafsirs 70:40]</ref> Taken literally, these descriptions can only concord with a flat Earth, as on a spherical Earth, the "two Easts" and "two Wests" are only relative and everchanging positions lacking any definite, physical nature - that is, there is no place on Earth that could be definitely and universally described as "one of the two Easts", for instance such that Allah could be "Lord of it". | ||
===Qur'an 57:21 - a garden, its width like the width of the heaven(s) and the earth=== | ===Qur'an 57:21 - a garden, its width like the width of the heaven(s) and the earth=== | ||
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While the words used in 39:5 and 21:33 do not violate a spherical model of the Earth, they are also equally comfortable with a flat model of the Earth. Since all positive evidence in the Islamic scriptures demonstrates that the earliest Muslims though the Earth to be flat, and since these two verses do not contradict that worldview, the simplest explanation of these verses is to relate them to {{Quran|21|33}} and {{Quran|36|40}} which describe the motions of the night, day, sun and moon in a "falak", now popularly translated as "orbit", but meaning a circuitous path, celestial sphere or, more likely, a hemisphere (see [[Geocentrism and the Quran]]). Also relevant are {{Quran|7|54}} where Allah "covers" the night with the day (or possibly vice versa) and {{Quran|36|37}} where Allah strips the day from the night. | While the words used in 39:5 and 21:33 do not violate a spherical model of the Earth, they are also equally comfortable with a flat model of the Earth. Since all positive evidence in the Islamic scriptures demonstrates that the earliest Muslims though the Earth to be flat, and since these two verses do not contradict that worldview, the simplest explanation of these verses is to relate them to {{Quran|21|33}} and {{Quran|36|40}} which describe the motions of the night, day, sun and moon in a "falak", now popularly translated as "orbit", but meaning a circuitous path, celestial sphere or, more likely, a hemisphere (see [[Geocentrism and the Quran]]). Also relevant are {{Quran|7|54}} where Allah "covers" the night with the day (or possibly vice versa) and {{Quran|36|37}} where Allah strips the day from the night. | ||
Verse 39:5 specifically describes Allah overlapping (or wrapping) the night and the day over each other, with no mention of the Earth, its shape or its rotation. Critics further argue that in any case, these two verses are largely irrelevant to the question of the Earth's shape, as it is possible for one to "wrap around" and "orbit" an object of any shape, whether it be flat or spherical. For further discussion, see [[Geocentrism and the Quran#Quran_39:5|Geocentrism and the Quran]]. | Verse 39:5 specifically describes Allah overlapping (or wrapping) the night and the day over each other, with no mention of the Earth, its shape or its rotation. Critics further argue that in any case, these two verses are largely irrelevant to the question of the Earth's shape, as it is possible for one to "wrap around" and "orbit" an object of any shape, whether it be flat or spherical. | ||
It is further worth noting that contrary to a claim sometimes found on English-language Islamic websites, the verb yukawwiru (يُكوِّر) in this verse (overlap/wind around) is not in any way related to the modern Arabic word for "ball" (كرة).<ref>https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%D9%83%D8%B1%D8%A9</ref> Nor is yakawwiru (from the root kaf-waw-ra ) related to an entirely different root (ك ر ي kaf-ra-ya) from which certain words mean spherical or sphericalness.<ref>ك ر ي kaf-ra-ya - [http://www.studyquran.org/LaneLexicon/Volume8/00000254.pdf Lane's Lexicon] Supplement, page 3000</ref> | |||
For further discussion, see [[Geocentrism and the Quran#Quran_39:5|Geocentrism and the Quran]]. | |||
===Qur'an 79:30 - ''daha'' ("spread out", said to mean "ostrich egg")=== | ===Qur'an 79:30 - ''daha'' ("spread out", said to mean "ostrich egg")=== | ||
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===Plate tectonics=== | ===Plate tectonics=== | ||
One modern Islamic interpretation for verses which mention the spreading of the earth is that Allah is referring to plate tectonics (formerly known as the theory of continental drift). Critics note numerous flaws with this interpretation. | One modern Islamic interpretation for verses which mention the spreading of the earth is that Allah is referring to plate tectonics (formerly known as the theory of continental drift). Critics note numerous flaws with this interpretation. | ||
Tectonic history is largely characterised by a cycle of repeated [[w:Supercontinent cycle|supercontinent]] formation and breakup, and not a one-off "spreading of the earth" event, as it is sometimes misrepresented on Islamic websites. | |||
Descriptions of the earth as a bed (20:53 and the other mahdan verses) or carpet (71:19), or the use of verbs for the spreading of such an item (51:48) or stretching it out (13:3 and other verses which use madad), spreading to make it wide (79:30) and flat (88:20), do not remotely sound anything like the process of plate tectonics. | Descriptions of the earth as a bed (20:53 and the other mahdan verses) or carpet (71:19), or the use of verbs for the spreading of such an item (51:48) or stretching it out (13:3 and other verses which use madad), spreading to make it wide (79:30) and flat (88:20), do not remotely sound anything like the process of plate tectonics. | ||