Excuse me for repeating what may have been mentioned before in this topic but as far as I know some of the Greek philosophers arrived at a conclusion that the Earth was spherical well before the times of Christ. I don't remember who exactly introduced the idea but it was based roughly on the following reasoning: a drop of water tends to assume spheroidal figure when relatively isolated (falling down or resting on an even surface). Thus the drop's figure in the void woud've been perfectly spherical. Then this idea was extended to all the matter that formed the Earth. Also it was concluded that there were a central force that held everything in place on the Earth's surface. There also were other hypotheses introduced by the Greeks.

Also the Earth's radius had been measured by Eratosthenes well B. C. And by the the first century the roundness of the Earth was a relatively known fact in the civilized world (of that times). Well before the appearance of Islam. No wonder that Arabs may have known this fact since they paid much attention towards astronomy and philosophy in those times.

JuliaL, I'm not ignoring your comment, but before writing I need to think, and yet I can't afford -mentally- to reply to everyone at the same time, I must check sources first, and do other things too !
I never ignore people who post back to me -even if it was hostile comment-.

Please, you and any member on AF, don't feel offended if I cut my reply in the middle. I will come back later to complete it : )

(March 14, 2015 at 9:30 am)AtlasS2 Wrote: JuliaL, I'm not ignoring your comment, but before writing I need to think, and yet I can't afford -mentally- to reply to everyone at the same time, I must check sources first, and do other things too !
I never ignore people who post back to me -even if it was hostile comment-.

Please, you and any member on AF, don't feel offended if I cut my reply in the middle. I will come back later to complete it : )

Thank you, I await your response with bated breath.

Aristotle and Eratosthenes are not the same guy ...

Eratosthenes had to assume the Earth was spherical. Otherwise, his calculations would've been different.

I'm not going to bother addressing all the points you made in your response as I feel like I'd just be wasting time and energy trying to convince someone who isn't interested in the truth.

Quote:Aristotle and Eratosthenes are not the same guy ...

Are you addressing me? If so, I have never assumed that they were the same peson.

(March 14, 2015 at 9:50 am)Smaug Wrote:

Quote:Aristotle and Eratosthenes are not the same guy ...

Are you addressing me? If so, I have never assumed that they were the same peson.

Why would I be saying this to you?

I thought it was clear I was talking to the OP.

I was responding to this point he made in the previous page:

Quote:But google says :

Quote:The Greek philosopher Aristotle (384-322 BC) argued in his writings that the Earth was spherical, because of the circular shadow it cast on the Moon, during a lunar eclipse. Another reason was that some stars visible from Egypt are not seen further north The full quotation can be found here.Mar 31, 2014


If that not a reference to the same guy, then whom should I believe ? you ? or google ?

This makes me wonder, though. If he agrees that some ancient Greeks saw the Earth as spherical, then what's his point again?

Irrational ok. I didn't pay attention at first and thought that I've made some factual mistakes in my own post.

Quote:They even believed in gravity, check it out. The Quran also mentions gravity in other verses.

I wonder if the concept of Gravitation is even slightly mentioned in Quaran or Bible, let alon analyzed in any way. It seems like a really irrelevant topic for said scruptures.

(March 14, 2015 at 10:48 am)Smaug Wrote: Irrational ok. I didn't pay attention at first and thought that I've made some factual mistakes in my own post.

Quote:They even believed in gravity, check it out. The Quran also mentions gravity in other verses.

I wonder if the concept of Gravitation is even slightly mentioned in Quaran or Bible, let alon analyzed in any way. It seems like a really irrelevant topic for said scruptures.

I'd like to see what suras get pulled out of AtlasS2's butt to prove gravitation in the Quran.
My further reading on early astronomers on the Indian subcontinent (predating Mohammed and the Quran) shows that they not only were aware that the earth was a sphere (sanskrit 'bhUgola') but they were doing spherical geometry based on this fact to map the stars and locate places on earth.
Realizing that the earth was spherical, they made comments regarding gravity being a pull towards earth's center. "Varahamihira(6th Century AD) had said "It is an experience of everyone that on any part of the earth, that the flames of the fire go up and the objects that were thrown up fall down." Varahamihira published when Mo the Hammed was 5. It looks to me that the Arabs stole more directly from India as much or more than they stole from the Greeks. This makes sense as it was ~800 years after Eratosthenes. If you are going to steal from some culture and call it your own, might as well steal from the most recent you have available.

If the Quran is meant to be written by god, then it should really have a lot more insight than this.

(March 14, 2015 at 8:25 am)AtlasS2 Wrote: jesus_wept

If you think that the Wahabi school represents Islam, then you live on the moon.
This Wahabbi is not the first, he has ancestors and teachers who produced fatwas to kill "Mickey Mouse before

If you think this rebukes what I wrote then I'm happy to let everyone read your adhoms and no true Scotsmen fallacy and make up their own mind on the subject.