SHAPE OF THE EARTH IS SPHERICAL

SHAPE OF THE EARTH IS SPHERICAL

In early times, people believed that the earth was

flat. For centuries, men were afraid to venture out

too far, for fear of falling off the edge! Sir Francis

Drake was the first person who proved that the

earth is spherical when he sailed around it in 1597.

Consider the following Qur’anic verse regarding the

alternation of day and night:

“Seest thou not that Allah

merges Night into Day

and He merges Day into Night?”

[Al-Qur’an 31:29]

Merging here means that the night slowly and

gradually changes to day and vice versa. This

phenomenon can only take place if the earth is

spherical. If the earth was flat, there would have

been a sudden change from night to day and from

day to night.

The following verse also alludes to the spherical

shape of the earth:

“He created the heavens and

the earth in true (proportions):

He makes the Night

overlap the Day,and the Day

overlap the Night.”

[Al-Qur’an 39:5]

The Arabic word used here is Kawwara meaning

‘to overlap’ or ‘to coil’– the way a turban is wound

around the head. The overlapping or coiling of the

day and night can only take place if the earth is

spherical.

The earth is not exactly round like a ball, but

geo-spherical, i.e. it is flattened at the poles. The

following verse contains a description of the earth’s

shape:

“And the earth, moreover,

hath He made egg shaped.”

[Al-Qur’an 79:30]

The Arabic word for egg here is dahaahaa1 which

means an ostrich-egg. The shape of an ostrich-egg

resembles the geo-spherical shape of the earth.

Thus the Qur’an correctly describes the shape of the

earth, though the prevalent notion when the Qur’an

was revealed was that the earth was flat.