Sunday, May 13, 2012

Does Al-Qur'an say that Earth is Flat ?

"The earth is flat", that was assumed by most of people in the past, including in the Arabian peninsula at the time of the Prophet Muhammad SAW. Even though the idea  of "the earth is a round" has been pioneered by Phytaghoras (6th century BC) and Aristotle (384-322 BC) and began to be spead out in a few parts of the earth, most of people of that time believed that "the earth is flat". This belief of the shape of the earth itself, whether the earth was flat or round, were still based on sensory observation and logical arguments, without any scientific evidence, so its belief of "th earth is round" was less popular than what have been trusted by most of people since ancient time. Some take the arguments about the form of the earth in based on revelation, especially the early Christian churches and the Jewish people at the time of the Prophet Muhammad SAW. In other words, although the concept of "the earth is round" had already existed at the time, but most people still believe that "the earth is flat".

The Qur'an was revealed at a time when almost the majority of the population of the Arabian peninsula assumed that "the earth is flat", and probably thought that "the earth is round" at the time was something that was not acceptable, especially the science of astronomy was not popular among the Arabs. At the present time, therefore, that "the earth is round" is almost indisputable. Real modern-scientific evidence, either through observation of the earth even through direct observations in space have been presented to us, so the belief that "the earth is flat" is difficult to maintain. But keep in mind that the Qur'an is not revealed at present time, but at the time when people still believed that "the earth is flat". In some places in the Qur'an, were said that the earth was spread out or was wide expanse (in Arabic it is said to "faraash", "wasia", "mahd", "basaat", "suttihat", "tahaaha","dahaaha ")

[51:48] And the earth We have spread out, and excellent is the preparer.
[15:19] And the earth - We have spread it and cast therein firmly set mountains and caused to grow therein [something] of every well-balanced thing.
[50:7] And the earth - We spread it out and cast therein firmly set mountains and made grow therein [something] of every beautiful kind,
[71:19] And Allah has made for you the earth an expanse
[78:6] Have We not made the earth a wide-expanse (for resting place)?
[79:30] And after that He spread the earth.
[88:20] And at the earth - how it is spread out?
[91:6] And [by] the earth and He who spread it
[13:3] And it is He who spread the earth ...
These verses are used as an argument to show that "the earth is flat", according to the Quran. The words spread out and wide-expanse, can be pointed out something flat. So, Allah through the Qur'an states that the Earth is actually flat, as mentioned at the beginning of creation. Or does He?

First of all we should see, the flat, or straight in the Arabic language is the "sawi" or "almustafi". There is no single word in the Qur'an that use those words to describe the earth. Something flat also has corners or edges or side or end, in which these terms are  never used in the Qur'an when describes the earth. So, see that even though the Qur'an were revealed in the time when people believe that "the earth is flat", there is no single word or verse that explicitly said that the earth is flat.

Now We see in surah Ar-Rahman verse 33 that says:
[55:33] O company of jinn and mankind, if you are able to pass beyond the regions (aqthar) of the heavens and the earth, then pass. You will not pass except by authority [from Allah].
Note: the word "bi sulthaan" at the end of this verse is often translated as "authority". The meaning of "sulthaan" itself is authority, expertise, or strength.

See that the Qur'an uses the word "aqthar" which translates as region. The word "aqthar" itself implies as diameters, which is presented in the plural. Singular form of "aqthar" is "quthr" and its dual form is "qutharin".

A three-dimensional form which has a lot of diameters are ellipsoid or something close to resemble that. Ellipsoid is a form that resembles a round ball which is a litlle bit flattened like an egg.

So, 1400 years ago, the Qur'an has stated that the universe (in this case the heaven) and earth shaped were ellipsoid, flattened ball, while most of the world population at the time thought that "the earth is flat", and the heaven/sky was what visible from earth with the naked eye.

The meaning "aqthar" as the "diameters" on that time when Qur'an revelaed is not recognized. So the people at that time usually understand that "aqthar" with a word closest to it, aqtashara which means directions or regions. But there are many words in the Qur'an that are unusual or unknown (strange) in the day when it revealed, so at that time people take the nearest or more common understanding for those words.  Especially at that time, the statement "the earth is round" is an unacceptable idea. As words of Allah, the Qur'an states that the earth is ellipsoid implicitly, which will be proved centuries later, along with the progress of human's science and technology.

The usage and selection of the word itself is one of the miracle of the Qur'an. "Aqthar" as the diameter is probably not known in past day, but Allah the All-Knowing knows that many centuries later, the word "aqthar" will be used as a "diameter", long before people realize that the Qur'an mentions it, which proved its compliance with science. Similarly, the word "kawkaban" in use in several other verses in the Qur'an, which at the time of the revelation of the Qur'an is only known as the "star", the latter after the enactment of the term planet, then "kawkaban" has the meaning as "planet".

In other surah, Az-Zumar verse 5, Allah says:
[39:5] He created the heavens and earth in truth. He wraps the night over (wraps / yukawwiru ) the day and wraps the day over the night ...

"Wrap" or "overlap" (yukawwiru) in the above verse means contains definition of "coat something to a round object', usually used in the term" to wrap a turban on a man's head ". So once again implicitly God wants to tell people that the earth was not flat as most of people of that time assumed.
Another question arises: why Allah did not directly state that the earth is round? Why He has to tell about it implicitly? While many other verses tell that the earth was spread out, wide expanse?

As explained above, the Qur'an was revealed on the days where most people thought that "the earth is flat". To state that "the earth is round" explicitly would make Islam was not be accepted at that time, many people would accuse the prophet was a mad-person. Furthermore, the statement "whether earth or universe is flat or a sphere/ellipsoid" was not a problem associated with aqidah/monotheism, akhlaq/moral improvement which were the primary mission of Islam in those days, therefore the verses that declare earth is round is revealed by Allah implicitly, because as "the last testament", the Qur'an should be in line with the signs of Allah all over the place in the universe. the truth will be proved by science and technology, for people who eager to think, wallahu a'lam. On the other hand, there is no single verse in the Quran explicitly states that the earth is flat or still.

Another question to arise, what is the meaning when the Qur'an states that the earth is spread out or stretched out or wide expanse? Does it also means that the Qur'an says that the earth is flat implicitly?

The statement "the earth is spread out / stretched out / wide expanse" and "the earth is flat" are two different things. Now let's go take look at history, for hundreds and even thousands of years humans believed that the earth was flat. Why? The answer: because the earth has been flatten by Allah so that every of His creatures that can live on earth. Because at that time, no man even feel that the earth is round. Not even cross in mind of that time human that a creature can leave in a spherical body without be slipped out. Allah has given the earth a suitable gravity to support living creatures in it, in where every creature on the earth is not going to feel the earth is round or spherical and be slipped out. Yes, using  gravity , Allah has flatten ​​the spherical earth.
[79:27] Are you a more difficult creation or is the heaven? Allah constructed it.
[79:28] He raised its ceiling and proportioned it.
[79:30] And after that He spread the earth.
[79:31] He extracted from it its water and its pasture,
[79:32] And the mountains He set firmly
[79:33] As provision for you and your grazing livestock.
In the surah An-Naazi'aat above, "the spreading of the earth" was happened after Allah made night and day on earth. Means before "the spreading", the earth had already been exist, but the earth is still round without any gravity, thus still can not be inhabited by living creatures. Only after the earth "spread out" by Allah, so that water, sea, plants began to appear on the earth, and so are humans. We all feel that the earth is "flat" despite the fact that the earth is round.

According to contemporary Egyptian scientist, Zaghlul an-Najjar, stated that at the beginning of the creation of heaven and earth, the earth rotated on its axis with very high rotation speed so that a year had more that 2200 day in length and only less than 4 hours on a night. At that time, the earth had not been "spread out". Living beings can not live on the surface. After that, Allah began the process of "spread out" the earth.

What is interesting from the surah An-Naazi'at verse 30 is the word "dahaha" which has brought a lot of debate. "Dahaha" here is translated as "spread out ", which only appears once in this verse, of the many verses in the Qur'an that says "spread / stretched".
[79:30] And after that He spread (dahaha) the earth.
"Dahaha" is one of uncommon word in the Qur'an, comes from the verb "Daha" which is derived from the verb "Dahu" which can mean stretched, push, throw, move. Ibn Barri said "Daha al-ard" means "pushing the earth to move". An-Naazi'at verse 30 here can be interpreted  "And after that Allah move (pushed to turn) the earth until it became flat". "Dahaha" can be from origin word "dahraj" which means moving or rotating roll. Nowadays, the earth movement (rotation and revolution) is known as the cause of gravity and also causes the shape of the earth becomes longer in the equatorial (flat round), something that has been revealed by Allah through Al-Qur'an 15 centuries ago, wallahu a'lam .
[77:25] Have We not made the earth a container
[77:26] Of the living and the dead?
"Kifaatan" in surah Al-Mursaalat verse 25 above is translate as "container" and in other translation translate it as "get together", derived from the word "kafata" which means "to gather into one place". This verse indicates an attractive force on the earth which effects every living or dead thing to re-assemble on earth (read: gravity). Because Allah has made the earth as a "container" or a "gathering place", so that people feel that the earth if flat, when in fact the earth is relatively spherical and Allah spread it out in a way of "Daha" it.
[70:40] So I swear by the Lord of [all] risings ( masyaariq and settings ( maghaaribi ) that indeed We are able
In Arabic, masyaariq literally means rising places or easts and maghaaribi means setting places or wests (that's why Shalat or prayer when sunset time is called shalat magharib or magharib prayer). Al-Ma'aarij (70) paragraph 40 above states explicitly that the earth exists at many easts (masyaariq, plurals) and wests (maghaaribi, plural), something not possible if the earth was flat. Many easts and wests is possible if the earth is round or ellipsoid, so that for every point on earth, has different west and east due to the sun movement (sunrise and sunset) observed by people on earth which as reference of west and east determines is varies when seen in different places if the earth is indeed a spherical, and it has to be observed same if the earth is indeed flat.

One of the used of Masyaariq and Maghaarib in the term of  "sun rising place" and "sun setting place", is in Ar-Rahmaan verse 17 below :
[55:17] [He is] Lord of the two sunrises and Lord of the two sunsets.
Surah Ar-Rahmaan verse 17 above states that Allah made the earth has two place of sunrise (masyariqayn) and two place of sunset (magharibayn). This verse is symbolically explained to us that the earth is not only has round shape, but also rotates. If people in a place observe that the sun has been set, at the some time, people in another place in the opposite of the earth observe that the sun has been risen, therefor based on observation from the earth, there are two place or two point of sun rise, and two place or two point of sun set, which indicate that the earth is round and rotates.


Lowest Place on Earth

This post will be closed by discussing the surah Ar-Rum verse 1-3:
[30:1-3] Alif Lam Meem. The Byzantines (Ruum/Rome) have been defeated. In the nearest (adnal) land. But they, after their defeat, will overcome.
This verse that revealed about the year 620 AD tells about the defeat of the Romans, in this case the Byzantine, against the Persians, with its climax when city of Jerusallem was captured, the true cross was taken from the hands of the Christian people of Jerusallem, and massacre of about 57000-65000 people in Jerusallem 57000-65000 after the Byzantine is defeated by Persian army led Khosrou around the Dead Sea ( Dead Sea basin ), which lies between Palestine and Jordan today.  And the Qur'an revealed that even though Byzantine is defeated at the time, they would rise and win over Persian (which happened years after this verse is revealed).

Note the word "adnal" in the paragraph above is translated as "nearest". The word "adnal" itself means "low", but the phrase "low place/region" at the time when this verse is reveal can not be understood so that most of people at the time interpret it as "nearest".

In fact, the area around the Dead Sea ( Dead Sea basin ), which is also known as sea of salt, is the lowest land on Earth's surface, which is 394 meters (1291 feet) below sea level.

New facts known by man through images taken from satellites has been revealed by Allah to man through His perfect holy book revealed 15 centuries ago.

Wallahu a'lam

Allah the Most Righteous with His words  
(from various sources) 
 

Narrated Abu Huraira:
I heard Allah's Apostle saying, "I have been sent with Jawami al-Kalim (i.e., the shortest expression carrying the widest meanings), and I was made victorious with awe (caste into the hearts of the enemy), and while I was sleeping, the keys of the treasures of the earth were brought to me and were put in my hand." Muhammad said, Jawami'-al-Kalim means that Allah expresses in one or two statements or thereabouts the numerous matters that used to be written in the books revealed before (the coming of) the Prophet .
(Translation of Sahih Bukhari, Volume 9, Book 87, Number 141)

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