Question
Reference number: 656490 | Qur’an and Interpretation | May 10, 2022
Does the verse “The one Who has made the Earth a resting place for you,” Al-Baqarah: 22 tell that the earth is flat and not spherical?
Answer
Praise Be to Allah and Peace Be Upon His Messenger.
The above-mentioned verse is not considered an evidence on the flatness of the Earth. The interpretation of this verse as mentioned in Abu Zahra’s Zahart Al-Tafasir is that Allah had flattened the Earth for you, so it became like a rest place on which humans can settle; and the mountains were created to stabilize the Earth. Allah says: “Have We not made the earth as a bed * And the mountains as pegs?” An-Naba’: 6-7.
The Earth has been described as flattened as a bed or rug so as to facilitate living on it; this is out of Allah’s Generosity and Mercy. However, having the Earth in this shape does not cancel the truth that it orbits around the sun. as it is huge, humans do not feel this rotation. Only those specialists in astrology can feel the differences as they track days and nights, and the sun’s and the moon’s movements.