Is the world round? What is the true shape of the earth? Why is the earth around?
Mankind had been discussing whether the world was round or flat until the 15th – 16th centuries. However, the Qur’an pointed out that the Earth was rounded up in many of its verses:
“…He makes the Night overlap the Day, and the Day overlap the Night…” (al-Zumar, 39: 5)
The word “takwir“ this verse means to wrap a sphere object in its around such as wrapping a turban around the head.
The following verse in Chapter al-Nâzi’ât (79:30)
وَالْأَرْضَ بَعْدَ ذَٰلِكَ دَحَاهَا
is interpreted as “And the earth, moreover, hath He extended (to a wide expanse).” On the other hand, the word “daha” mentioned in the verse is also interpreted as “He shaped it as an ostrich egg”. Therefore, the Qur’an informs us that the world was formed in ellipsoid (an ellipse around either axis).
Let us just imagine if there were not any trees, how arid, barren and uneasy place this world would be! Are we able to give proper thanks to Allah for that?
When expressing how long Ashâb al-Kahf slept in the cave, the Holy Qur’an reads,
“So they stayed in their Cave three hundred years, and (some) add nine (more)” (Al-Kahf, 18: 25). While a solar year is equal to 365 days and 6 hours, the lunar year is equal to 355 days. Because the difference equals to approximately 10-11 days, 33 solar years are equal to 34 lunar years. This requires to add 9 more years to 300 years. There was no solar calendar in the early days of Islam and people did not know about it. The Qur’anic way of expression this fact is another miracle of it.
Source: The Universe, The Qur’an And The Human, Osman Nuri Topbaş, Erkam Publications