Does the Quran say that the earth is flat??

Hey guys. Just doing a bit of research on beliefs and I can't find anything in the Quran which states the earth as being a sphere, or a ball.

I got this from the islamqa info site.......

Quran 71:19 And Allah has made the earth for you as a carpet (spread out).

Quran 78:6 Have We not made the earth as a wide expanse ?

Quran 15:19 And the earth We have spread out (like a carpet); set thereon mountains firm and immovable; and produced therein all kinds of things in due balance.

Does it mean that Earth is flat? Tafsir Jalalayn says that EARTH is flat. But it is against Established Science.

A carpet doesn't sound like a ball so why believe it's a ball?

-If the Quran states that the earth is not a sphere then why believe that it is?
-Is not a big bang, like evolution the belief of an athiest?
-So why share atheistic beliefs with atheists?
-Surely if we understand evolution is a hoax then why not the big bang also?
-Do they not fall together?
-And why believe in science or in man over God?

What do you think guys? Is believing we live on a spinning ball not going against the Quran?

Scroll to see replies

Reply 1

04MR17

Volunteer Section Leader

If it doesn't say one way or another then believing either way doesn't go against the religion surely.

Reply 2

username3832246

it could just mean theres a large surface

Reply 3

username2334187

I think it means that although the Earth is round, it will seem flat from our perspective, wherever we are on the Earth. E.g, down south (say in Antarctica) we won't feel like we're upside down than if we were up North, both will feel the same.

(edited 6 years ago)

Reply 4

SaDe7

not necessarily. the quran is not always literal and has some parts open to interpretation

Reply 5

JMR2021_

Debate & Current Affairs Helper

'Wide expanse' doesn't mean flat haha. Just means large surface area, someone has already said.

Reply 6

username3872450

In literal sense, the earth is round and it’s not going against the Quran if you agree that it’s round.

The Quran verses suggest that the Earth is ‘Flat’ in the sense that’s how human’s see the earth, flat. We can’t see the curving or roundness of the earth.

Examples of the Earth being round directly from the Quran may be;

Allah, may He be exalted, says (interpretation of the meaning): “He created the heavens and earth for a true purpose; He wraps the night around the day and the day around the night”

In order to wrap something around something, it must be round - get it? Night and day are wrapped around the earth as they trail behind one another.

Some scholars of Islam may argue that the world isn’t fully round, but almost as an egg shape as it comes down at the north/South Pole. Egg shaped - round shaped; nearly the same?

Reply 7

SvenjaFisher

I mean no disrespect to your beliefs, but this thread made me laugh since I cannot fathom how anyone thinks like this.

(In particular I mean „why would you believe in science over god“).

(edited 6 years ago)

Reply 8

Drummond

Original post by 04MR17

If it doesn't say one way or another then believing either way doesn't go against the religion surely.

Well what's more important to a Muslim? The word of the Quran or religion?

Reply 9

Drummond

Original post by johnny.snow

it could just mean theres a large surface

I don't know if it does mate, it definitely says a carpet, twice even. A carpet is nothing like a ball, you can have a carpet in a roll but certainly not in a ball.

Reply 10

Drummond

Original post by RobbieRotten0105

I don't think many muslims look at the earths perspective from Antarctica do they mate?

Reply 11

Drummond

Original post by x.tk98.x

Wraps the day around night and night around the day it says.

Not wraps the day around the earth and the night around the earth.

It definitely says it's like a carpet, carpets aren't spheres are they?

Reply 12

04MR17

Volunteer Section Leader

Original post by Drummond

Well what's more important to a Muslim? The word of the Quran or religion?

They are intersecting.

Reply 13

username612415

Original post by Drummond

-Is not a big bang, like evolution the belief of an athiest?
-So why share atheistic beliefs with atheists?

Evolution and BBT are not atheistic "beliefs", they're simply scientific facts that the majority of people worldwide accept to be accurate whether they're religious or not. Just because an atheist believes in something doesn't mean a Muslim cannot also believe in them, I assume we both share the same "beliefs" when it comes to our knowledge of anatomy or chemistry for example.

-Surely if we understand evolution is a hoax then why not the big bang also?
-Do they not fall together?

Nope, they're entirely independent fields of study, one concerning biology and biochemistry and one being a field of physics. Evolution could be true without the big bang having occured, and vice versa. It just so happens both are correct and usually lumped together because they are both concerned with the long term change or development of something, an idea that concerns worldviews that measure the universe's age on a scale of thousands of years rather than billions.

Reply 14

S-man10

There was a an excellent thread on this from way back but I can't seem to find it.

But do a search, plenty of topics on this.

Reply 15

Drummond

So what does an athiest believe in? Not what they don't believe in, but what they do believe in, because I thought they believed in big bang and evolution.

Reply 16

username612415

Original post by Drummond

So what does an athiest believe in? Not what they don't believe in, but what they do believe in, because I thought they believed in big bang and evolution.

There are no prescribed beliefs for atheism, a lack of a belief in gods is the sole defining factor. You can have atheists that reject evolution, the big bang, or any other area of established science.

Reply 17

Doones

Original post by Drummond

So what does an athiest believe in? Not what they don't believe in, but what they do believe in, because I thought they believed in big bang and evolution.

Atheists, by definition, simply don't believe in god(s). That doesn't mean they "believe" in BBT and/or evolution. There were atheists before Darwin was around you know...