by Mumin Salih

It is the flat floor of the universe. The Quran views the earth as an equal, but opposite to the sky. Again there are seven similar earths. Some Muslims claim that Allah meant the seven layers of earth, which cannot be true because the Quran says similar earths. The earth’s layers are neither seven in number nor similar in pattern. It took Allah four days (Q.41: 10) to put the right amount of goodness in the earth to make it suitable for our survival. The earth floats on water in a similar way a ship does, which used to cause a dangerous degree of instability.

Why the earth is flat?

The earth is flat because the Quran says so using all the words in the Arabic vocabulary which can possibly mean flat. Let us review the following words used by the Quran to describe the flatness of the earth’s surface:

1. Sutehat: If you want to describe something as flat in Arabic then there is no better way than using this word. Sateh means flat, sutehat means flattened out.

Q. 88:20 Nor even how the earth has been (sutehat) flattened out?

2. Bisata: also means flat. The Arabic word bisata means a flat sheet or a carpet.

Q. 71: 19 And God has laid the earth for you as a (bisata) carpet

3. Madda: means stretched out until the object becomes flat, like what happens when you take a ball of dough and stretch it until it becomes flat.

Q. 13:3 And He it is who hath (Madda) outstretched the earth, and placed on it the firm mountains

Q. 15:19 And the earth have WE (Madadnaha, from madda) spread out

Q. 50:6-7 What, have they not beheld heaven above them, how we have built it, and decked it out fair, and it has no cracks? And the earth -- We (Madadnaha) stretched it forth…

4. Firasha: means a mattress, ‘ as flat as a mattress’.

Q. 2:22 Who made the earth a (Firasha) bed for you, and the heaven a roof

Q. 51:48 And the earth we (Farashnaha, from firasha) have spread out, and how excellently do we spread it out!

5. Mahada: means a bed, which is flat. In Arabic you can describe something flat by comparing it to a bed.

Q. 20:53 .. the One who has laid out the earth as a (Mahdan) carpet for you

Q. 43:10 …has made for you the earth (Mahdan) like a carpet spread out

Q. 78:6 Have We not made the earth as a (Mihada) bed, And the mountains as pegs

6. Tahaha: means flattened.

Q. 91:5-6 By the heaven and that which built it and by the earth and that which (Tahaha) extended it!

7. Dahaha: means flat.

This word currently attracts the interest of the so-called miracle Islamic scientists. All Arabic dictionaries agreed that the word means spread out, flattened or extended. This term is frequently used to refer to the practice of the ostrich in preparing and flattening the ground to lay its eggs. The very desperate so-called miracle Islamic scientists picked this association with eggs and claimed the word could also mean an egg shaped thing! Those miracle scientists rely on the fact that most Arabs are not familiar with this old word and none of them will take the trouble to open a dictionary to find out the actual meaning. These Islamic scientists deliberately take advantage of the confusion of ordinary Arabs between the flattened bed of the bird’s nest and its contents of eggs.

Q. 79:27-30 …and the earth - after that He (Dahaha) spread it out...

After listing all the above words that mean flat, the question which jumps to the mind when debating with Muslims is: let us assume that the earth is really flat, how would the Quran describe it? Are there any other means or more words left in the Arabic vocabulary that have not been used? If Allah wanted to say the earth is a globe, He could have said so, but He didn’t because He didn’t mean it so.

There is evidence in the Quran which suggests the Quranic earth is truely flat. Here Are two verses to prove the flatness of the Quranic earth:

Q.2: 144. … We shall turn you to a Qiblah that shall please you, so turn your face in the direction of Al-Masjid- al-Harâm . And wheresoever you people are, turn your faces (in prayer) in that direction. ….

Q.2:150. And from wheresoever you start forth (for prayers), turn your face in the direction of Al-Masjid-al-Harâm (at Makkah), and wheresoever you are, turn your faces towards it…

In the above verses, Allah orders Muslims to face Mecca during their prayers. Let us take the example of a Muslim praying in an island on the other side of the earth. Keeping in mind the globe shaped earth, then that Muslim can face any direction and still he will be facing Mecca! This is true especially to people in distant areas, they can pray even in opposing directions and still face Mecca. I am afraid the above two verses can only be revealed by a person who does not have a clue about the shape of the earth!

In spite of these overwhelming evidences, Muslims still believe that Allah says in the Quran that the earth is round. Their reason is that the word yukawer( to make a ball) exists in the Quran in the following verse:

Q.39: 5 … He ( Yukawer)makes the night to go in the day and (Yukawer) makes the day to go in the night…

How convincing! The only problem is that the above verse does not at all mention or talk about the earth!