Quennel Gale at queball20@yahoo.com
Quennel Gale
This begins part one of a response to answering-Christianity on the issues of science in the Quran. In response to Surah 79:30, Osama Abdallah alleged that the Quran mentions about the earth being created in stages to help him overcome the scientific difficulties presented. Since his paper covers a variety of topics we will break each topic into a particular article, meaning that all of Osama's paper isn't responded to in this article. The purpose for this is because we want our readers to have a general reference to come to instead of reading through long articles searching for this information.
Recently we sent an article to Osama Abdallah, web administrator of www.answering-christianity.com about the flat earth taught by the Quran. We have been dealing with Osama's material for over 3 years and there are many articles on our site that exposes his misinformation about Christianity as well as Islam. Many Muslims have come to debate boards posting Osama's material believing that it would help them expose Christianity. However when we show a response to his material, his followers fail to provide a counter response since their master doesn't know how to answer our material legitimately. Here he begins by saying:
Allah Almighty said that the earth is "egg-shaped": The sections of this article are: 1- Allah Almighty said that the earth is "egg-shaped". 2- The earth had undergone different stages and shapes since it was first created. 3- The roundness of the earth in the Noble Quran. - The Arabic word "dahaha". 4- The proof that "dahaha" means "egg-shaped". My detailed rebuttal to the Christian "Answering Islam" article. Allah Almighty in the Noble Quran talked in good details about the earth's past, present and future. He explained how it was created, the stages it went through, and what will happen to it when the Day of Judgement comes.
Immediately we see the fallacy of Osama's argument:
1. First he assumes that the description "egg-shape" in reference to the geometrical shape of the earth is correct.
2. He assumes that the earth is talked about in stages.
As we analyze these arguments closely we will expose him once again for reading things back into the Quranic text as truth.
The earth had undergone different stages and shapes since it was first created: It is important to know that Allah Almighty in the Noble Quran claimed that the earth had gone through different stages and shapes: 1- The earth was originally water, and life was originated from water: "He it is Who created the heavens and the earth in six Days - and His Throne was over the waters - that He might try you, which of you is best in conduct. But if thou wert to say to them, "Ye shall indeed be raised up after death", the Unbelievers would be sure to say, "This is nothing but obvious sorcery!" (The Noble Quran, 11:7)"
According to Osama's verse, he believes that the Quran says that the earth was originally water, this is nothing new since Genesis 1:2 already mentions this fact thousands of years before the Quran was ever revealed.
Therefore this shows that God had nothing in revealing this verse since it was already known generations before Muhammad. However this verse mentions nothing about the earth being created as water. It says:
2. and His Throne was over the waters - that He might try you, which of you is best in conduct.
Immediately we see the gross scientific errors in this verse which Osama uses for his argument. The verse clearly finishes by saying that the earth was created in 6 days and then it proceeds to claim that Allah's throne was over the waters so that he may test people!!
Conclusion: 1. This means that when the earth was created and was all water, Allah was testing people living only on water!!
2. So I guess the little mermaid isn't a myth!!
The verse speaks for itself, people were being tested when the earth was nothing but water. We must ask how did they live? Did they build water houses? I hope they knew how to swim because if they didn't then they would be in trouble. I guess Allah's test was teaching people how to swim. How did these people sleep? We will use Osama's Quran for more proof showing that people existed before or during the creation of earth:
"Do not the Unbelievers see that the heavens and the earth were joined together (as one unit of creation), before we clove them asunder? We made from water every living thing. Will they not then believe? (The Noble Quran, 21:30)"
According to this scientific Quranic verse 1. Unbelievers saw when the earth and the universe were join together!1 Conclusion: This means that human's existed before the creation of the entire universe!!! I wonder what Science would think of this!! Other places on Osama's site he claims that the Quran promotes the Big Bang theory, but according to the Big Bang theory human beings couldn't have existed before the universe. This is a major Scientific blunder by the Quran. This also presents us with a contradiction:
Contradicts:
"Do not the Unbelievers see that the heavens and the earth were joined together (as one unit of creation), before we clove them asunder? We made from water every living thing. Will they not then believe? (The Noble Quran, 21:30)"
If the Earth was originally water and every living thing came from water, how in the world can the unbelievers see the universe created before they were created? Where the unbelievers originally not created from water and then recreated from water?
1. If the Unbelievers saw the universe created, then they aren't from water.
2. If they didn't see the universe created then the Quran is wrong.
Osama has just given us more reasons to laugh at his attempts to verify his scientific inaccurate book. He continues by saying:
"It is He Who has created man from water: then has He established relationships of lineage and marriage: for thy Lord has power (over all things). (The Noble Quran, 25:54)" "And God has created every animal from water: of them there are some that creep on their bellies; some that walk on two legs; and some that walk on four. God creates what He wills for verily God has power over all things. (The Noble Quran, 24:45)" For more details and scientific quotes that prove the Noble Quran's Truthfulness, please visit Life originated from water.
What Muslims fail to show also is that the Quran gives various details as to how man was created. We present a list of the creation verses dealing with man:
The Quran gives conflicting accounts on how man was created:
From the earth
Out of dry clay (Arabic Salsaal)
17:61 ... Thou didst create from clay
32:7 He began the creation of man from clay
From nothing
From mud
23:12 Man We did create from a quintessence (of clay)
38:71 I am about to create a mortal out of mire
From water
Out of dust
30:20 He created you from dust
35:11 Allah did create you from dust...
Out of dead persons
39:6 He created you from a single Person (see also 4:1)
In his article, Dr. Lactantius makes the following observation:
So is man created from:
1. Nothing?
2. Water?
3. dust?
4. dead people?
5. earth?
6. Dry clay?
What is water? It is defined as:
Is "Nothing" a liquid? No. Is Dust a liquid? No. Is Dead people liquid? No, they are composed of water but they aren't water. Is earth a liquid? No. Is dry clay a liquid? No it wouldn't be dry clay would it?
Now if Osama wants to try to put it together as being complementary of one account, which is a polemic tactic of many Muslim apologists then:
1. Earth would contradict "nothing". If God made the earth out of nothing then the earth is something, not nothing. So if the earth is in existence and man comes from the earth then man can't come from nothing.
2. Dust would contradict dry clay. Dust is:
While Earth is:
Hence dust is the particles of matter OR particles of something that disintegrates. Water is a constituent of living matter while dust can be any matter, excluding living matter, while earth is the land that includes anything from dust to clay. Hence they can't be the same since all land isn't dust and all dust isn't clay and all land isn't clay. Also water isn't land either since land is distinguished from sea and air, which presents another contradiction.
Osama also shows that his Quran is unscientific and wrong describing the earth as being "water" anyway since earth refers to the land on the water originally. Earth can only be given this name after land appears and not before it would be incorrect scientifically. The Quran doesn't describe the earth like Genesis by saying that it was formless and void, meaning that it was using this term in a technical term. The Quran just says that Allah created the earth and that it was water. Water has a form and it isn't void, hence Allah has given a wrong description of earth.
2- Allah Almighty separated earth from the universe: "Do not the Unbelievers see that the heavens and the earth were joined together (as one unit of creation), before we clove them asunder? We made from water every living thing. Will they not then believe? (The Noble Quran, 21:30)" This separation caused for the earth to totally change. Allah Almighty was preparing earth to become livable. All of its original characteristics had been changed.
As we discussed above, saying that the unbelievers saw the heavens and earth being joined together is a total contradiction of Science and the Big Bang Theory, which Muslims claim is present in the text of the Quran. Moreover, Big Bang in Physics refers to the explosion of SPACE-TIME SINGULARITY (not matter). In the Big Bang, Matter was not even created when it occurred:
And,
The Big Bang Theory
Let us examine the most successful theory of the birth and evolution of the universe: the Big Bang Theory. We know now that matter is highly structured. Bodies are made of molecules, molecules of atoms, atoms of nucleons and electrons, nucleons of protons and neutrons, protons and neutron of quarks. At the beginning of the universe (according to the Big Bang Theory and supported by physical theories of elementary particles), matter was an undifferentiated soup of quarks. There was only one type of force (or interaction) among these particles. As the universe expanded, it cooled and different forces and particles emerged. As an amorphous body of gas (water vapor) cools and becomes more structured forming first a liquid (water) and then a solid (ice), so as the universe cooled, the unified force froze first into two components (gravity and the strong-electroweak force); Then the strong-electroweak force split into strong force and electroweak force (both forces regulate processes occuring in the nucleus of an atom), and finally the electroweak split into electromagnetic force and weak force. This happened in the first billionth of a second. As the temperature of the universe expanded, the temperature of the universe became low enough so nuclei first (after the first three minutes), and then atoms and molecules formed (after a few hundred thousand years). The first stars were formed when giant gas clouds of hydrogen atoms (millions of light years across) collapsed under gravity to densities high enough to initiate thermonuclear reactions. (The Big Bang ; from Syracuse University Department of Physics)
In the Surah of 21:30, it clearly mentions that:
This didn't happen according to Science because matter didn't exist when the universe was created but came after. This means that the Quran is totally wrong for assuming that earth, which is composed of matter, existed at the beginning of the universe when no matter existed!!! To believe that God inspired such gross scientific folly is absolutely incredulous to say the least. Muslims who claim that science verifies their Quran not only ignore what science says but they also expose their intense ignorance of their Quranic text. Osama is no different from many other propagandists out there in the Muslim populace. Matter came after the universe was created not during. I'm sure Science would get a kick out of learning that the earth existed at the creation of the universe and according to the Quran, was split with the rest of the entire universe!!!
Science has never held to the idea that the earth formed along with the universe at the same time. The above verse clearly refers to earth and sky being "joined", there is no way around it. This idea lacks any type of scientific evidence and it is ridiculous beyond belief. We can also forget about comparing it to Big Bang:
Muslims have used this verse to claim that the Big bang occurred, however what is the word for "big bang" or explosion? It isn't the word "fataqnaha" is it? No. Explosion is - infijar, tafjeer which is not even used in the verse at all!! Since Osama believes that the Quran is so scientific we must ask him and other Muslim misinformationists "Where is the explosion in this verse?" If the Quran really talked about the Big Bang then this verse would be rendered in this "we exploded them asunder". No where in this verse do we find "exploded" in Arabic but simply "split" or "separated" because the word "fataqnaha" simply means "split". This clearly means that the earth and the entire universe were in existence together as ONE thing before being split. Earth was formed billions of years after the Big Bang.
A scientifically and common sensually meaningless statement like - "sky and earth being joined and subsequently separated" cannot be suggested as hinting to the scientific facts of Big Bang! From Science, the Big Bang along with Quantum theory we know that:
1. The Universe exploded
2. Moments after this explosion 4 forces of nature, strong, nuclear, weak nuclear, electromagnetic and gravity combined into a "super force" (Wald).
3. After the Universe cooled it formed into matter, which resulted in the planets
4. As an amorphous body of gas (water vapor) cools and becomes more structured forming first a liquid (water)
These extreme scientific errors found in the Quran can't be ignored and aren't verified by any credible scientific theory anywhere. Only some Muslim fanatics are so naive until they would believe such unscientific information as S. 21:30. Here we will present a simple listing of the origin of the universe, until the formation of life on earth:
For many scientists, this period is 'speculative': there are no observations to confirm or disprove the theories.
The most accepted theory says that during this epoch a very quick 'inflation' process took place, and in an infinitesimal fraction of a second the cosmos became extremely large. All the matter and energy, concentrated in a region smaller than a dime, began to expand at a very rapid rate. Once inflation was over, the universe continued the expansion at a much slower pace. As it expanded it also cooled. When it was at a temperature of 1000 GeV (about 10 thousand billion degrees: a 1 followed by 16 zeros), the forces of nature assumed their present properties and the 'quarks', the elementary particles that are the building blocks of matter, wandered freely.
The size of the Universe would have been roughly that of our Solar System today, and the temperature had dropped to 1 GeV (10 billion degrees, a 1 followed by 13 zeros). It was 'cold' enough for quarks to combine and make the particles in the atomic nucleus, protons and neutrons. These particles are called hadrons, so this period is often called the 'quark-hadron transition'.
1 second after the Big Bang the Universe has grown to a size about a thousand times that of our Solar System today and the temperature has dropped to 1 MeV, equivalent to 10 000 million degrees (a 1 followed by 10 zeros). Neutrons and protons combine to form the first nuclei: first of deuterium, then of helium and other elements. This is the process called 'primordial nucleosynthesis' and it lasts several minutes. 3 minutes after the Big Bang the temperature was a thousand million degrees (109). It was still too hot, however, for the atomic nuclei to capture electrons and form real elements.
During all this time the Universe keeps expanding. It's too hot yet for electrons to be captured by the atomic nuclei. Electrons --negatively charged particles-- wander freely and are therefore able to interact with the photons --the light particles: as a result, light is 'trapped' and cannot propagate more than a very short distance before encountering an electron. Therefore the Universe was 'opaque' during this period. But about 300 000 years after the Big Bang the Universe had cooled enough (to some 3000 degrees) to allow protons to capture electrons, and form neutral atoms --hydrogen atoms, to be precise (in a phenomenon called "recombination", or sometimes "decoupling"). The Universe was then about 1 000 smaller than its present size. Light was 'freed' to propagate without hindrance: the Universe had suddenly become transparent. The Cosmic Microwave Background radiation that we detect today is precisely that 'first light'
After recombination the matter is cool and now luminous, so that this is a truly dark age.
The initial 'clots' of matter start to grow by gravitational attraction. The precise details of this process still elude us, but they involve both the matter that we can see ('baryons') and the so-called Dark Matter. The first stars probably formed when the lumps of matter grew to be about 10 million times heavier than our Sun. This may have happened when the Universe was about one thirtieth of its current size. The lumps of matter (containing stars) must then have coalesced to form galaxies and clusters of galaxies. The first stars produced copious amounts of ultraviolet radiation which diffused out and ionised most of the neutral hydrogen (i.e. liberating again the electrons from the protons), thus ending the so-called "dark age" of the Universe.
Observations indicate that at that time, when the Universe was maybe a fifth its present size, there were already fully formed galaxies. Therefore galaxy formation must have started much earlier. And when the Universe had grown until half its present size stars, the nuclear reactions inside the stars' nucleus had produced already most of the chemical elements that are needed to make Earth-like planets.
About 10 000 million years AFTER THE BIG BANG OUR SUN, a very average looking star, WAS FORMED from the collapse of a cloud of dust and gas on itself.
The remnants from the formation of the Sun, swirling in a disk around our infant Sun, gradually coalesce into the planets THAT FORM PART OF OUR SOLAR SYSTEM. The Earth becomes a rocky planet due to its proximity to the Sun, while more distant planets become gaseous giants.
That's the age of the oldest fossil --of living organisms, bacteria-- found on Earth. (So, how did everything happen? A 'calendar' of the Universe ; from European Space Agency)
Now if the Quran says that the earth and the sky was split apart from each other, how come Science shows that the Earth didn't exist until 4.5 billion years ago? If the earth didn't exist at the time of the universe beginning then the earth couldn't be split asunder. If the earth existed at the beginning of the universe then this would mean that the earth is older than our solar system and the our sun as well as the Milky Way galaxy, according to the Quran!!!
3- The earth had undergone several shapings and formations to become livable: The earth was split in fragments, stretched and flattened to become livable. After land was created from water on earth, Allah Almighty further spread out the earth and created mountains, roads, rivers, vegetations and animals: "And We split the earth in fragments, (The Noble Quran, 80:26)" "And when the earth is flattened out, (The Noble Quran, 84:3)" "And the earth We have spread out (like a carpet); set thereon mountains firm and immovable; and produced therein all kinds of things in due balance. (The Noble Quran, 15:19)" "By the Earth and its (wide) expanse: (The Noble Quran, 91:6)" "And it is He who spread out the earth, and set thereon mountains standing firm and (flowing) rivers: and fruit of every kind He made in pairs, two and two: He draweth the night as a veil o'er the Day. Behold, verily in these things there are signs for those who consider! (The Noble Quran, 13:3)"
Here Osama Abdallah has taken all of the verses that proves that the Quran promotes a flat earth and claims that his god flattened it out to make it livable. The embarrasing thing for Osama is the fact that his twisted intepretations of the Quran isn't held by Muslim or secular scholars. Al-Jalalan, one of Islam's premiere commentators, in his Tafsir, p. 509, states:
"In his phrase, `how it is spread', he denotes that the earth is flat. All the scholars of Islamic law agree upon this. It is not round as physicists claim." (Cited in Behind the Veil, p. 175)
Al-Tabari cites the following tradition on the authority of Wahb:
According to Muhammad b. Sahl b. 'Askar-Isma'il b. 'Abd al-Karim-Wahb, mentioning some of his majesty (as being described as follows): The heavens and the earth and the oceans are in the haykal, and the haykal I sin the Footstool. God's feet are upon the Footstool. He carries the Footstool. It became like a sandal on His feet. When Wahb was asked: What is the haykal? He replied: Something on the heavens' extremities that surrounds the earth and the oceans like ropes that are used to fasten a tent. And when Wahb was asked how earths are (constituted), he replied: They are seven earths that are FLAT and islands. Between each two earths, there is an ocean. All that is surrounded by the (surrounding) ocean, and the haykal is behind the ocean. (History of Al-Tabari-General Introduction and From the Creation to the Flood, Vol. 1, pp. 207-208)
Wahb's claim that there are seven earths completely agrees with both the statement from al-Kisa'i, Tales of the Prophets-Qisas al-anbiya found above as well as with the following Quranic verse:
"It is God who created seven heavens, and of earth their like." S. 65:12
Al Baidawi comments:
"'Stretched out the earth' means it was flattened in width and length so that feet may be steady on it and animals may roll on it." (`Abdallah `Abd al-Fadi, Is the Quran Infallible?[Light of Life PO Box 13, A-9503 Villach Austria], p.19)
In the book, Behind The Veil: Unmasking Islam, we are told:
"These are the comments of the ancient Muslim scholars (i.e., Baidawi, Zamakhshari, Jalalan etc.) word for word. Even some Saudi scholars wrote a book a few years ago to disprove the spherical aspect of the earth and they claimed that it was a myth, agreeing with the above mentioned scholars, and said we must believe the Quran and reject the spherical aspect of the earth." (Ibid., p. 176)
As the preceding citation stated, there have been several modern Saudian Muslim authorities frankly admitting that the Quran does indeed teach a flat earth. The following article is taken from Athar Shiraz Siddiqui's article The Earth According to Quran:
The Earth According to Quran
Islam and Science: Religious Orthodoxy and the Battle for Rationality by Parvez Hoodbhoy: **** (Page 49)
"…The Sheikh (Abdul Aziz Ibn Baz) authored ... a book in Arabic entitled Jiryan Al-Shams Wa Al-Qammar Wa-Sukoon Al-Arz. This translates into Motion of the Sun and Moon, and Stationarity of the Earth... In an earlier book, he had threatened dissenters with the dire fatwa or takfir (disbelief), but did not repeat the threat in the newer version."
"The earth is flat. Whoever claims it is round is an atheist deserving of punishment." Yousef M. Ibrahim, "Muslim Edicts take on New Force", The New York Times, February 12, 1995, p. A-14.
That is a well-known religious edict, or fatwa, issued two years ago by Sheik Abdel-Aziz ibn Baaz, the supreme religious authority of Saudi Arabia. The blind theologian's status gives his fatwas great weight, though his opinions have often raised eyebrows or embarrassed worldly Saudis…
Also cited by Sagan "The Demon-haunted World", Carl Sagan, Ballantine, ISBN 0-345-40946-9, p. 325. I quote (as fair use):
"In 1993, the supreme religious authority of Saudi Arabia, Sheik Abdel-Aziz ibn Baaz, issued a edict, or fatwah, declaring that the world is flat. Anyone of the round persuasion does not believe in God and should be punished."
Hence, we see that Muslims both of the past and present affirm that the Quran clearly teaches that the earth is flat. Osama also exposes his Quran further, since according one of the same passages he used, man was already living before the earth was flattened out:
Not only do we see another contradiction about man being created from sperm, now instead of water but we also notice that man was already rejecting Allah before the Earth was in fragments. Man even died and was raised again before the Earth was split into fragments. The Quran also shows that man had food and water in abudance before the split of the earth into fragments. Clearly this idea of the earth being broken down into fragements for the benefit of man is something Osama conjured up since he saw answering-islam destroying the Quran about it "promoting a flat earth". Passage 84 doesn't refer to the creation of the earth nor the changing of his topography for the benefit of man either:
This passage refers to the end of the earth and not the beginning, notice how verse 4 says that the earth cast forth all that's in it to become empty. Now one must wonder, how in the world, no pun intended, can the earth become empty if there originally was no one living in it anyway? Since we've shown above that man existed before the earth and the universe in the Quran, we don't find it strange that Allah talks this way about the earth emptying itself. Verse 6 verifies that man was on earth before it was flattened for him to live in while verse 8 mentions that Man would give an account for what he did against God.
1. If the earth was flattened for man to live, who is it emptying itself of?
2. If no man existed why is Allah saying that man give an account for what he did on an empty earth?
3. If the Earth wasn't livable and didn't have any living creatures why the need to empty itself?
If Osama believes that this passage refers to the beginning of the earth or one of its different stages he introduces more inconsistencies and absurdities for his Quran. Osama continues:
"He created the heavens without any pillars that ye can see; He set on the earth mountains standing firm, lest it should shake with you; and He scattered through it beasts of all kinds. We send down rain from the sky, and produce on the earth every kind of noble creature, in pairs. (The Noble Quran, 31:10)"
Osama presents us with another verse exposing his Quran as being unscientific but first lets look at the different ways the Quran is translated concerning Surah 31:10 and 13:2:
Surah 13:2
Allah it is Who raised up the heavens without VISIBLE SUPPORTS... Pickthall
Allah is He Who raised the heavens without any pillars that YE CAN SEE... Y. Ali
Allah is He Who raised the heavens without any pillars THAT YOU CAN SEE... Shakir
Allâh is He Who raised the heavens without any pillars THAT YOU CAN SEE... Al-Hilali & Khan
God is the One Who raised the heavens without a pillar AS YOU CAN SEE... Sarwar
It was God who raised the heavens WITHOUT VISIBLE PILLARS... N.J. Dawood
It is God who hath reared the Heavens without pillars THOU CANST BEHOLD... J.M Rodwell
God is the One Who has raised up the Heavens without any support YOU CAN SEE... T.B. Irving
God is He who raised up the heavens without pillars YOU CAN SEE... A.J. Arberry
Surah 31:10
He has created the heavens without supports THAT YOU CAN... Pickthall
He created the heavens without any pillars THAT YE CAN SEE... A. Y. Ali
He created the heavens without pillars AS YOU SEE THEM... Shakir
He has created the heavens without any pillars, THAT YOU... Al-Hilali & Khan
He created the heavens without pillars THAT YOU CAN SEE... Rashad Khalifah
He created the heavens without pillars THAT YOU SEE... Muhammad Ali
He created the heavens without pillars THAT YE CAN SEE... E.H. Palmer
He raised the heavens WITHOUT VISIBLE PILLARS... N.J. Dawood
He has created the heavens WITHOUT ANY VISIBLE SUPPORT... T.B. Irving
He created the heavens without pillars YOU CAN SEE... A.J. Arberry
In light of the preceding translations, we are left with the conclusion that the heavens do in fact have pillars but that these supports are invisible. The Quran denies that the heavens have ANY VISIBLE PILLARS, clearly indicating that the pillars of heaven are invisible to the human eye. Interestingly, Ibn Kathir's commentary on Surah 13:2 highlights the point that some Muslims interpreted 13:2 as implying that the heavens do have pillars. Yet, these pillars are not visible:
meaning, 'there are pillars, but you cannot see them,' according to Ibn 'Abbas, Mujahid, Al-Hassan, Qatadah, and several other scholars. Iyas bin Mua'wiyah said, "The heaven is like a dome over the earth," meaning without pillars. Similar was reported from Qatadah, and this meaning is better for this part of the Ayah, especially since Allah said in another Ayah,
Therefore, Allah's statement,
<..that you can see>, affirms that there are no pillars. Rather, the heaven is elevated (above the earth) without pillars, as you see. This meaning best affirms Allah's ability and power. (Tafsir Ibn Kathir-Abridged Volume 5 Surah Hud to Surat Al-Isra', Verse 38, Abridged by a group of scholars under the supervision of Shaykh Safiur Rahman Al-Mubarakpuri [Darussalam Publishers & Distributors, Riyadh, Houston, New York, Lahore July 2000], pp. 232-233)
Seeing that the early Muslims were in dispute over the exact meaning of Surah 13:2, and seeing that Ibn Abbas believed that this passage did refer to invisible pillars, Osama's scientfic compatibility is totally destroyed in trying to prove that the Quran is divine. Furthermore, Ibn Kathir likens the heavens to a dome surface above the earth. Commenting on S. 21:32, Kathir states:
means, covering the earth like a dome above it. This is like the Ayah,
The building and making described here refers to the raising of the dome, as when the Messenger of Allah said,
i.e., five pillars, which can only refer to a tent as familiar among Arabs. (Tafsir Ibn Kathir, Volume 6, p. 443; bold emphasis ours)
The following Quranic verse also points to the sky as an actual physical dome covering the earth:
Ibn Kathir comments:
If He willed, He could give the sky permission to fall on the earth, and whoever is in it would killed, but by His kindness, mercy, power, He withholds the heaven from falling on earth, except by His leave..." (Ibid., p. 611; bold emphasis ours)
Therefore, we discover that the claim that the Holy Bible teaches that the earth is a flat surface with the skies serving as an overturned bowl surrounded by columns is actually the Quranic view of cosmology!
Two conclusions can be drawn from these statements. First, the sky must be a solid surface, otherwise it couldn't kill anyone when falling down nor would it be able to fall at all. Furthermore, the only way for the heavens to cover the earth like a dome and for Allah to prevent them from crashing upon the earth is if in fact the earth is flat! By trying to provide us with unsound information about the earth being created in stages, Osama Abdallah, webadministrator of answering-christianity has exposed the Quran for being a book of countless myths and scientific heresies. This concludes part 1. Part 2 to follow Shortly.
Quennel Gale at queball20@yahoo.com