[Quranic Reflection]: The universe is expanding

[Apistos]

No, it doesn't mean "rich and capable". The word literally mean "expander" or also "widener".

Actually it does, and it is the understanding that suits the context the most because power is mentioned.
Its mentioned in more than one commentery :

Tafseer Al-Qurtubi :
الجوهري : وأوسع الرجل أي صار ذا سعة وغنى ، ومنه قوله تعالى : والسماء بنيناها بأيد وإنا لموسعون أي أغنياء قادرون . .
https://islamweb.net/ar/library/index.ph...=2770#docu

The 2 red-colored words are :
أغنياء = Richs
قادرون = Capables
Any body could check them in a dictionary and see for themselves.


Tafseer Al-Tabari:
وقوله ( وَإِنَّا لَمُوسِعُونَ ) يقول: لذو سعة بخلقها وخلق ما شئنا أن نخلقه وقدرة عليه.
Translation : by saying we are expanders, he (god) is saying that he has the capability سعة of creating them (the heavens) and creating whatever we (god) wish to creat, and hase the ability.
https://quran.ksu.edu.sa/tafseer/tabary/...tml#tabary

If you want to go even further I can bring u quotes from major Arabic-Arabic dictionaries that says the same.

So as u can see, the whole trick is about the word si3a سعة in arabic, as it could mean either "broadness" or "capability"


However, you're missing the more important point here : even if it was actually about the sky being expanded/broadened, its still has nothing to do with the univers being expanded. Sky =/= universe, its an old text talking about what every single human being ever knew : that the sky we see upon us is breod, nothing more nothing less. But you guys are just exploiting the fact that its present participle that was used there which indicates no specefic tense, so instead of interepreting the word "expanders" as "having exapanded (the sky)" you biasedly choose to interprete it as "are expanding (the universe)". but the verse only mentioned sky, so trying to get the universe involved here is just you guy's way of seeing only what u want to see. No offence, but it's not convincing unless you're biased.

And hey, this interpretation about sky being broad is also mentioned in commentires, such as ibn katheer :
وإنا لموسعون ) ، أي : قد وسعنا أرجاءها
https://quran.ksu.edu.sa/tafseer/katheer...ml#katheer

Also, ماهدون doesn't mean -even closely- that the earth is flattened; it means -literally- that the earth was made suitable for roads to exist.

Not in this context. Again, I am depending on traditional Islamic commentry here, not my personal interpretation :

All Qurtubi :
والأرض فرشناها أي بسطناها كالفراش على وجه الماء ومددناها .
فنعم الماهدون أي فنعم الماهدون نحن لهم . والمعنى في الجمع التعظيم ; مهدت الفراش مهدا بسطته ووطأته ، وتمهيد الأمور تسويتها وإصلاحها .
https://quran.ksu.edu.sa/tafseer/tabary/...tml#tabary

It is basically talking about Earth being spread out on water like a bed is spread out, this is clearley about a flat earth!

And thats not everything, the verse was even used, in other context, by Islamic scholars to prove that the earth is flat :

Al-Qurtubi : (al-hijr - 19)
قال ابن عباس : بسطناها على وجه الماء ; كما قال : والأرض بعد ذلك دحاها أي بسطها . وقال : والأرض فرشناها فنعم الماهدون . وهو يرد على من زعم أنها كالكرة
https://quran.ksu.edu.sa/tafseer/qortobi...ml#qortobi

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I'm very skeptical of this interpretation. What source(s) are you getting this from? As someone who is fluent in Arabic, this is the first I hear of "wase3" and its derivatives having to do with richness and capability.

It is not so rare for Arabic words to a meaning that is not obviousely related to the morphological fundimental. For example : The word Jarrah جرة = jar, derives from the fundimental J-R-R just like the verb Jarra جر = To drag (past tence). Dragging has nothing to do with jars, yet they share the same fundemental in Arabic.

Now, this is a very obviouse example from Quran itself of the usage of موسعون As "rich and capable" : 
وعلى الموسع قدره و على المقتر قدره - البقرة 236