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

Ptolemy’s ''Almagest'', written in the mid 2nd century CE, was translated into Arabic in the 9^th 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>