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Reply to pride_honour@hotmail.com

Does the Qur’an assume a Flat Earth?

This is my response to comments made by the member “pride_honour@hotmail.com”
regarding one of my other documents that has been uploaded on to this site.
He appears to be using a popular Muslim argument for the Scientific accuracy of the
Qur’an from Dr Zakir Naik, the well known Islamic Fundamentalist who has written
many (not very good) books and articles on Islam and Modern Science and how
they are supposed to be compatible.
In this and other articles, I have argued that the Qur’an assumes that the Earth is
flat.Since Islamic Fundamentalists believe that the Qur’an is the literal word of Allah
or God, they cannot accept this. God (if he exists) knows perfectly well that the
Earth is a sphere and he would never assume that it is flat.
On the other hand, if the Qur’an does assume a Flat Earth, then this proves that it is a
fallible human work and that Islam is a false Religion.Either way, the Qur’an and
Islam stand or fall on the Cosmology of the Qur’an.
Here are the comments made by the above author. They refer to a rhetorical question
asked to Dr Zakr Naik by one of his followers that was probably asked in order to
give Dr Naik the chance to trot off his prepared answer.

Left: Dr Zakir Naik, the controversial

Islamic Fundamentalist who claims that
the Qur’an teaches that the Earth is a
Sphere.
This information in a 1400-year-old book
he claims is a Scientific Miracle and
evidence of the Divine authorship of the
Koran and therefore the truth of Islam.

Here is the question that was asked of Dr Naik.

Question:

The Qur’an says that Allah has made the Earth for you as a carpet. This gives
an indication that the Earth is flat. Does this not contradict established
Modern Science?
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Here is Dr Naiks answer in his own words in four parts.

1) Earth made as a carpet (Dr Naik)

The question refers to a verse from the Qur’an in Surah Nuh:

"And Allah has made the Earth for you as a carpet (spread out)."
<Al-Qur’an 71:19>

But the sentence in the above verse is not complete. It continues in the next verse,
explaining the previous verse. It says:

"That ye may go about therein, in spacious roads."

<Al-Qur’an 71:20>

A similar message is repeated in Surah TaHa:

"He Who has made for you the Earth like a carpet spread out; has enabled you to
go about therein by roads (and channels)...."
<Al-Qur’an 20:53>

The surface of the Earth i.e. Earth’s crust is less than 30 miles in thickness and is
very thin as compared to the radius of the Earth which is about 3750 miles. The
deeper layers of the Earth are very hot, fluid and hostile to any form of life. The
Earth’s crust is a solidified shell on which we can live. The Qur’an rightly refers to it
like a carpet spread out, so that we can travel along its roads and paths
My comment
I normally prefer to use the British spelling of “Koran” rather than the American spelling
“Qur’an” but on this occasion I will use the same spelling as Dr Naik for
consistancy.
Dr Naik is altering the words of the Qur’an here. Notice how the Qur’an says that the
Earth is like a carpet, but Dr Naik is saying that the Earths Crust is like a carpet.
The Quran makes no mention of the Earths Crust or how thin it is compared with
the radius of the Earth.
Dr Naik is adding information to the Qur’an that is not there. He is assuming that the
Qur’an must be true and using this assumption to justify looking for a hidden
meaning in verses relating to the Earth being spread out. Then he uses his
interpretation to justify the original assumption of the Koran being of Divine origin.
This is illogical Circular reasoning.
This alteration of the words of the Qur’an is just a rhetorical device in order to alter the
actual wording of the Qur’an.
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Left: The Earth and

its Crust are not the
same thing The
Qur’an has no
concept of the Earth’s
Crust.

2) A carpet can also be spread on other than an absolute flat surface. (Dr Naik)

Not a single verse of the Qur’an says that the Earth is flat. The Qur’an only
compares the Earth’s crust with a carpet. Some people seem to think that carpet
can only be put on an absolute flat surface. It is possible to spread a carpet on a
large sphere such as the Earth. It can easily be demonstrated by taking a huge
model of the Earth’s globe covering it with a carpet.

Carpet is generally put on a surface, which is not very comfortable to walk on. The
Qur’an describes the Earth crust as a carpet, without which human beings would
not be able to survive because of the hot, fluid and hostile environment beneath it.
The Qur’an is thus not only logical, it is mentioning a scientific fact that was
discovered by geologists centuries later.
My comment
The Qur’an does not explicitly state “The Earth is flat” since the uneducated Arabs of
Mohammed’s time all “knew” that the Earth was flat. Modern religious books do not
need to tell people that the Earth is a sphere. They assume that the audience
knows this. Likewise the Qur’an assumes that the Earth is flat and does not bother
stating what its author took for granted as being obvious.
Has anyone ever seen a spherical Carpet? Dr Naik is clearly distorting the the natural
meaning of the word “Carpet.” If you went into a Bazaar in th Middle East, would
you see carpets that were any shape other than flat. If the Author of the Qur’an had
wanted to convey an inmage of spherocity, why not compare the Earth to a
spherical object such as a ball or an orange?
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There are dozens of verses in the Quran that assume a Flat Earth. I have discussed
some of them in one of my other artices on ths Website.
http://www.scribd.com/doc/13152686/Flat-Earth-Koran-02-of-13-The-Flat-Earth

3) Earth has been spread out (Dr Naik)

Similarly, the Qur’an says in several verses that the Earth has been spread out.

"And We have spread out the (spacious) Earth: how excellently We do spread out!"
<Al-Qur’an 51:48>

Similarly the Qur’an also mentions in several other verses that the Earth is an
expanse:

"Have We not made the Earth as a wide expanse"

"And the mountains as pegs?"
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<Al-Qur’an 78:6-7>

None of these verses of the Qur’an contain even the slightest implication that the
Earth is flat. It only indicates that the Earth is spacious and the reason for this
spaciousness of the Earth is mentioned. The Glorious Qur’an says:

"O My servants who believe! truly. spacious is My Earth: therefore serve ye Me –

(And Me alone)!"
<Al-Qur’an 29:56>

Therefore none can give the excuse, that he could not do good and was forced to
do evil because of the surroundings and circumstances
My comment

Describing the Earth as “wide” or “spread out” hardly convy an image of spherocity.
Instead they create an image like a baker spreading out dough into a flat shape.

Left: The Qur’an refers to mountains acting as

stabilisers for the Earth. This conjures up an
image of paperweights or anchors holding a
raft steady.
In reality, the Earth’s surface moves as it
rotates and the Earth as a whole moves as it
orbits the Sun. Also in the long tern, continents
move due to Plate Tectonics. The Qur’an has
nothing to say about any of this though.
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4) Earth is geospherical in shape (Dr Naik)

The Qur’an mentions the actual shape of the Earth in the following verse:

"And we have made the Earth egg shaped".

<Al-Qur’an 79:30>

The Arabic word Dahaha means egg shaped. It also means an expanse. Dahaha is
derived from Duhiya which specifically refers to the egg of an ostrich which is
geospherical in shape, exactly like the shape of the Earth.
Thus the Qur’an and modern established science are in perfect harmony.
My comment
This is complete nonsense because Dr Naik is using an innaccurate translation of the
Quran by Rasheed Khalifa.
Firstly, look at the following twelve translations of Surah 79:30.
Pickthall “And after that He spread the Earth.”
Yusuf Ali “And the Earth, moreover, hath He extended. (to a wide expanse)”
Hilali-Khan “And after that He spread the Earth.”
Shakir “And the Earth, He expanded it after that.”
Sher Ali “And the Earth, along with it, He has spread forth.”
Khalifa “He made the Earth egg-shaped.”
Arberry “And the Earth-after that He spread it out.”
Palmer “And the Earth after that He did stretch out.”
Rodwell “And afterwards stretched forth the Earth.”
Sale After his he stretched out the Earth.”
Irving “And the Earth has He spread out besides.”
Dawood ”After that he spread the Earth.”

Notice how Dr Naik has picked out one translation out of many to suit his argument.
Apart from Khalifa, none of the other translations, including those by Muslims refer
to the Earth being egg shaped.
Secondly, the Earth is not egg shaped and an ostrich egg is not spherical.
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Whatever way you want to interpret Surah 79:30, the Qur’an is wrong.

Spherical Earth known in the time of Mohammed.

Islamic Fundamentalists go to great lenths in order to try and prove that the author of
the Qur’an knew that the Earth was a sphere 1400 years ago.
However, the fact that the Earth was a sphere was common knowledge 1400 years ago
among educated people in the Middle East and Europe.
The Ancient Greeks proposed that the Earth was a sphere 2500 years ago, 1100 years
before Mohammed. Therefore knowing that the Earth was a sphere 140 years ago
was not remarkable

Conclusion
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Despite this, the author of the Qur’an thought that the Earth was flat 1400 years
ago.This suggests that the Qur’an was written by an uneducated Arab such as
Mohammed or some of his followers after the Prophets death.
This means that the Qur’an is not of Divine origin and that. Islam is a false
Religion.