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EARTH

Regarding the shape of the earth, RK: translates an-Nazi`at 79:30 to be "egg-shapped' (dahhyah), while other translators translate it to "spreaded" (P:, SA:, YA:), "extended" (YA:), "expanded" (S:) out Thus, there are some Muslims who claimed that the Qur'an accurately describes the shape of the earth: which implies that one end is rounder while the other end is sharper. This is actually greatly disagreed by many Muslims. Technically also, the earth is not really egg-shaped. It is a sphere that has a little depression at the poles. The earth has an equatorial radius that is slightly larger than the polar radius. On the other hand, the egg has an "equatorial" radius that is significantly smaller than the polar radius. To be technicall correct, the earth is an oblate spheriod, nothing close to being egg-shape. It's shape is closer to a ball (i.e. sphere) than an egg.

Also, others have pointed out that the verses al-Ghashiyah 88:20, an-Nazi`at 79:30, adh-Dhariyat 51:20 and ash-Shams 91:6 seemed to imply that the earth was actually flat and expanding.


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