8. DOES THE QUR%u2019AN SAY THAT THE EARTH IS FLAT?
Question
Qur%u2019an 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?
Answer
1. Earth made as a carpet
The question refers to a verse from the Qur%u2019an in Surah Nuh:
"And Allah has made the earth for you as a carpet (spread out)."
[Al-Qur%u2019an 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%u2019an 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%u2019an 20:53]
The surface of the earth i.e. earth%u2019s 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%u2019s crust is a solidified shell on which we can live. The Qur%u2019an rightly refers to it like a carpet spread out, so that we can travel along its roads and paths.
2. Carpet can also be spread on other than an absolute flat surface
Not a single verse of the Qur%u2019an says that the earth is flat. The Qur%u2019an only compares the earth%u2019s 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%u2019s globe covering it with a carpet.
Carpet is generally put on a surface, which is not very comfortable to walk on. The Qur%u2019an 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%u2019an is thus not only logical, it is mentioning a scientific fact that was discovered by geologists centuries later.
3. Earth has been spread out
Similarly, the Qur%u2019an 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%u2019an 51:48]
Similarly the Qur%u2019an 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?"
[Al-Qur%u2019an 78:6-7]
None of these verses of the Qur%u2019an contain even the slightest implica
