Earth like a Carpet?

[katieMatt]

Hello guys,
I wanted to ask you about your opinion of this article here:

The Quran 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?

1. Earth made as a carpet

The question refers to a verse from the Qur’an in Surah Nuh:
"And Allah has made the earth for you as a carpet (spread out)." The Holy Qur'an, Chapter 71, Verse 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." The Holy Quran, Chapter 71, Verse 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)...." The Holy Quran, Chapter 20, Verse 53

The surface of the earth i.e. earth’s 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’s crust is a solidified shell on which we can live. The Quran 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 Quran says that the earth is flat. The Quran only compares the earth’s 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’s globe covering it with a carpet.

Carpet is generally put on a surface, which is not very comfortable to walk on. The Quran 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 Quran is thus not only logical, it is mentioning a scientific fact that was discovered by geologists centuries later.

So it seems like the Islamists managed to turn this actual mistake in the Quran into an "miracle". What do you think about that?? This does not prove anything, does it? Is it just rubbish to interprete this verse like that? What else could be meant?

Thanks for your ideas!

Just to prevend misunderstandings: I am NOT a Muslim nor do I have any attention to prove anything or to make people converte! I just found this article on the Internet and wanted to hear some serious opinions about that, because I sincerely hope, that Islam is NOT true!

[Minimalist]

What do you think about that??

About the same as I think of all religious bullshit. Nothing.

They also claim that the moon was split in two. It wasn't.

[Dee Dee Ramone]

Allah's ways are completely ridiculous.

[Faith No More]

That is called shoehorning bullshit to fit modern knowledge.

[katieMatt]

I also think that the part with "You can spread out a carpet on a spherical object as well" is total rubbish.
But what does the verse "so that you may go about therein in spacious routes" mean? This sounds a bit strange to me... Besides, did Mohammed forget the mountains?

But thanks for your responses.

[Confused Ape]

I think that the article writer is taking a metaphor literally. Here are two examples of grass being a carpet.

http://www.a2pwebdesign.com/poetrywits/p.../k-2_1.htm

Grass
a carpet
brushing the soles of your feet.

http://www.growingwithgrammar.com/files/...sfinal.pdf

One of the exercises includes

The grass is a green carpet for the golfers.

So this is what I think has happened where the article is concerned. The Quran just used a metaphor and the article writer is correct in saying that it shouldn't be interpreted to mean the Earth is flat. He/she then tried to prove that the metaphor referred to modern science when it doesn't.

[Minimalist]

Here are two examples of grass being a carpet.

Not a lot of grass in the desert, though.

[Confused Ape]

Not a lot of grass in the desert, though.

Those are examples of metaphors. Everyone knows that grass isn't a carpet but, in the West where we have grass, a patch of grass can be likened to a carpet. It's why this metaphor is part of the English language.

The Quran saying that the Earth is like a carpet shows that Arabs living in the 7th Century also used metaphors.

[katieMatt]

Here are two examples of grass being a carpet.

Not a lot of grass in the desert, though.

Point.

So I am right thinking that you all find this ridiculous as a "miracle" of foreseeing science?

[Confused Ape]

So I am right thinking that you all find this ridiculous as a "miracle" of foreseeing science?

It's like Nostradamus's prophecies. People always say this or that quatrain turned out to be true after some event.