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

Islamic [[scriptures]] imply, adhere to, and describe a flat-Earth cosmography ([[Geocentrism and the Quran|arranged in a geocentric system]]) which conceives of the earth as existing in the form of a large plane or disk. While knowledge of the spherical shape of the Earth has existed to a greater or lesser degree since at least the classical Greeks (4th Century BCE), such knowledge prominently entered the Islamic milieu in the 9th century CE when many Greek texts were translated into Arabic for the first time under the sponsorship of the Abbasid [[Khilafah (Caliphate)|caliphate]].

Damien Janos in another paper on Qur'anic cosmography has similarly noted that while the exact shape of its boundaries are not described, "what is clear is that the Qurʾān and the early Muslim tradition do not uphold the conception of a spherical earth and a spherical universe. This was a view that later prevailed in the learned circles of Muslim society as a result of the infiltration of Ptolemaic astronomy".<ref>{{citation |last1=Janos |first1=Damien |date=2012 |title=Qurʾānic cosmography in its historical perspective: some notes on the formation of a religious wordview |journal=Religion |volume=42 |issue=2 |pages=215-231}} See pp. 217-218</ref>

The Qur'an frequently describes, in explicit terms, the creation of "al-ard", which can be translated as either "Earth" or "land", as a flat structure. The use of metaphors and words intimately associated with flat objects (such as beds and carpets) is especially common in cases where the context of the verse makes it clear that the word "al-ard" is being used to describe the creation of the Earth at the beginning of time alongside the creation of the "heavens" (rather than in the more limited sense of a certain portion of "land"). The best example of this is perhaps [[Islamic Views on the Shape of the Earth#Qur.27an_88:20_-_sutihat_.28.22spread_out_flat.22.29|verse 88:20]].   

The same term 'al-ard' is even used to describe the creation of the next Earth after judgement day,<ref>E.g. {{Quran|14|48}}</ref> and is commonly used alongside 'the heavens' (i.e. the heavens and the Earth) as a reference to the whole Islamic conception of the universe - it's meaning of the whole Earth can be seen in further verses where it is used on [https://corpus.quran.com/search.jsp?t=3&q=the%20earth QuranCorpus].   

Sinai 2023 notes that also in {{Quran|13|18}}, hell that is called a mihād, a “resting-place spread out.”<ref>Footnote 47 (p. 40): S''inai, Nicolai. Key Terms of the Qur'an: A Critical Dictionary'' (p. 128). Princeton University Press.</ref> This may give further weight to the seven earths found in {{Quran|65|12}} being flat discs one above the other as discussed in the hadith section below, with the lowest being hell as was believed by a number of early and medieval Muslims as this IslamQA post shows.<ref>[https://islamqa.info/en/answers/215011/where-are-paradise-and-hell Where Are Paradise and Hell?] IslamQA. 2015. </ref>

A flat conception of the Earth is the only sort that permits the setting and rising places of the sun to be visited. Contemporary 7th-century Arabic and Syriac poems telling the same legend suggest that early Muslims understood the story literally, as do early tafsirs and narrations therein (see main article).

Even below the Artic Circle, for instance in Aberdeen, Scotland, the time between the night prayer (Isha) and the dawn prayer (Fajr) is around 4 and a half hours in June, such that a practicing Muslim would be required to regularly awaken around 3:20am for prayer. These matters are further complicated by the increasingly relevant and real cases of space travel, and even simply travel through the air aboard a plane, as it is not entirely clear whether someone flying in or opposite the direction of the sun would be required to repeat or skip certain prayers due to the rapidly changing time of day. By these appearances, the rituals and instructions set out in the Qur'an were intended for the more limited audience and understanding of a 7th-century desert city.

Al-Tabari (d. 923) in his ''History of the Prophets and Kings'' and al-Baydawi (d. 1286) in his tafsir mention the opinion that the sun has 360 springs into which it can set. A similar idea is found in the so-called pre-Islamic "Jahili" Arab poems.

 

As historian of science James Hamman notes, ''when the translation movement began in the late eighth century, the study of the Koran was already a mature discipline. And since the Koran was the product of a very different environment from multicultural Baghdad, its world picture didn’t cohere with the cosmology transmitted by the foreign sciences of Indian and Greek astronomy''.<ref>Hannam, James. ''The Globe: How the Earth Became Round'' (pp. 194-195). REAKTION BOOKS. 2023.</ref>

The Qur'an verses cited by Ibn Taymiyyah in support of the round shape of the heavens are {{Quran|21|33}}, {{Quran|36|40}}, {{Quran|39|5}}, and {{Quran|67|5}}). These evidences are, however, indirect, and rely on what Ibn Taymiyyah and those he references argue is implied by their extrapolations on the linguistic nuances of the verses discussed. The solitary piece of direct evidence that Ibn Taymiyyah brings from the companions about the round shape of the heavens is a narration where Ibn 'Abbas and others comment on {{Quran|36|40}}, which describes the heavenly bodies [[Geocentrism and the Quran|swimming in a falak]] (rounded course):  

These interpretations contrast with claims of an Islamic scholarly consensus for a round earth. As Dr Omar Anchassi says '<nowiki/>''It is clear that the Aristotelian-Ptolemaic vision of the cosmos remained contested by theologians of all stripes to the end of the fifth/eleventh century''<nowiki/>'<ref>''[https://www.academia.edu/93485940/Against_Ptolemy_Cosmography_in_Early_Kal%C4%81m_2022_ Against Ptolemy? Cosmography in Early Kalām (2022).]'' Omar Anchassi. ''Journal of the American Oriental Society'', ''142''(4), 851–881. <nowiki>https://doi.org/10.7817/jaos.142.4.2022.ar033</nowiki></ref> in his article '''[https://doi.org/10.7817/jaos.142.4.2022.ar033 Against Ptolemy? Cosmography in Early Kalām]''<nowiki/>' (2022).