Is
the Earth round or flat?
Question: The following letter reached the program
(broadcast program) from Kenya, sent by our brother, the
student, Ibraheem Muhammad Al-Awwal. The brother says, "I
heard the program Nurun 'alad-Darb (A Light upon the Path)
and I benefited greatly from it. Therefore, I wanted to
send these questions to you all because their topics are
very
perplexing to me. The first is: Is the earth round or flat?"
Response:
According to the people knowledge (scholars of Islaam)
the earth is round, for indeed Ibn Hazm and a group of
other scholars mentioned that there is a consensus (unanimous
agreement, Ijmaa') among the people of knowledge that it
is round. This means that all of it is connected together
thus making the form of the entire planet like a ball.
However, Allaah has spread out surface for us and He has
placed firm mountains upon it and placed the animals and
the seas upon it as a mercy for us. For this reason, Allaah
said:
{And
(do they not look) at the Earth, how it was made FLAT (Sutihat)},
[Soorah al-Ghaashiyyah, Aayah 20] Therefore,
it (the Earth) has been made flat for us in regards to
its
surface, so that people can live on it and so that
people can be comfortable upon it. The fact that it is round
does not prevent that its surface has been made flat. This
is because something that is round and very large, if it
is made flat (its surface), then its surface will become
very vast or broad (i.e. having a flat appearance). Yes."
Shaykh
Ibn Baaz
..........
Translated by: Abu Sumayyah Aqeel Walker
Actual recording of the Shaykh's statement
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