Qur'an 71:19
والله جعل لكم الارض بساطا
WaAllahu jaAAala lakumu al-ardabisatan
And Allah has made the earth for you as a carpet (spread out),
Qur'an 71:19
بِسَاطًا = bisaatan = drugget , carpet , rug from the verb بسط = outspread , flatten , flat , even , ram , grade , level off , outstretch , pave , level , smoothen , roll , cement
Source: http://wikiislam.net/wiki/Flat_Earth_and_the_Qur%27an
You know it doesn't really matter actually if Quran thinks the earth was flat or not, because it was well known at the time that the earth was indeed anything but flat. It is said that the first person was Pythagoras mainly because in his theories he held that all celestial bodies are spherical. But the first who provided observational evidence for the spherical Earth was Aristotle. He wrote that travelers going south see southern constellations rise higher above the horizon. This is only possible if their horizon is at an angle to northerners' horizon. Thus Earth's surface cannot be flat. The Earth's circumference was measured around 240 BC by Eratosthenes the most important Greek astronomer.
@Gearbrake hmm... that's an interesting point, but is there any way you can look at a Basket ball from any perspective & tell that its flat?
@Praetorian "Earth sitting on the horn of a cow" is a very idiotic claim and Muslim's will reject that as its not from a source they trust, I think it was from Tabari (Muhammad ibn Jarir Al-Tabari) and his books / commentary are considered weak because it contradicts with most of the others & the Quran itself. Was he saying the truth or not, I guess we can never find that out.
والله جعل لكم الارض بساطا
WaAllahu jaAAala lakumu al-ardabisatan
And Allah has made the earth for you as a carpet (spread out),
Qur'an 71:19
بِسَاطًا = bisaatan = drugget , carpet , rug from the verb بسط = outspread , flatten , flat , even , ram , grade , level off , outstretch , pave , level , smoothen , roll , cement
Source: http://wikiislam.net/wiki/Flat_Earth_and_the_Qur%27an
You know it doesn't really matter actually if Quran thinks the earth was flat or not, because it was well known at the time that the earth was indeed anything but flat. It is said that the first person was Pythagoras mainly because in his theories he held that all celestial bodies are spherical. But the first who provided observational evidence for the spherical Earth was Aristotle. He wrote that travelers going south see southern constellations rise higher above the horizon. This is only possible if their horizon is at an angle to northerners' horizon. Thus Earth's surface cannot be flat. The Earth's circumference was measured around 240 BC by Eratosthenes the most important Greek astronomer.
@Gearbrake hmm... that's an interesting point, but is there any way you can look at a Basket ball from any perspective & tell that its flat?
@Praetorian "Earth sitting on the horn of a cow" is a very idiotic claim and Muslim's will reject that as its not from a source they trust, I think it was from Tabari (Muhammad ibn Jarir Al-Tabari) and his books / commentary are considered weak because it contradicts with most of the others & the Quran itself. Was he saying the truth or not, I guess we can never find that out.
