Verses of Quran about Spherical Shape of Earth

TEHRAN (IQNA) – For centuries, scientists considered the earth to be flat and the idea of the earth being spherical has been raised only in recent centuries. But this has been pointed out in the Holy Quran 14 centuries ago.  

Al Jazeera recently published an article about the Quran’s miracle of pointing to the fact that the earth is round and rotates around its axis. Following is excerpts from the article:

It took astronomers many years to realize that the earth is spherical. But the Quran point to this fact 1,400 years ago. That, despite what people thought, the earth is not flat has been mentioned in various verses of the Quran.

For example, God says in Verse 20 of Surah Ghashiyah: “… and how the earth is spread out?”

It points to the fact that wherever on earth people go, they find the earth outstretched, which is only possible if the earth is a sphere.

Also, God said in Verse 40 of Surah Yasin: “The sun shall not outstrip the moon, nor shall the night outstrip the day. Each is floating in an orbit.” This was in response to those who said the day begins with the light of the sun and after the light is gone, the night comes. The Quran says the day and the night exist simultaneously as the earth is round and when it is night in part of the earth, it is day in another.

Verse 5 of Surah Az-Zumar, is another verse that points to the earth’s spherical shape:

“He created the heavens and the earth in truth, wrapping the night about the day and wrapping the day about the night, He has subjected the sun and the moon each to run for a stated term. Is He not the Almighty, the Forgiving?”

The word Takwir in this verse means wrapping something and making it round.

Inb Jarir Tabari writes about this verse in his Quran exegesis that the Quran covers the day with the night and the night with the day, so the day and the night come in a rotational form, one after another.