You do not "spread" the earth even if it were flat.

Submitted by Prashant (United States), Apr 15, 2021 at 16:46

Dear Dr Pipes, I have not investigated Arabic words and grammar with as much attention as DNM but, I still think that no one should "spread" the earth as they would spread a bed-sheet even if the earth were completely flat. Earth is not a carpet or bed-sheet afterall and spreading it makes no sense.

I think I know what Muhammad meant here. To him --specially with the flat sand-covered terrain of his locale-- the earth would have looked a very flat thing. All Muhammad (or Allah) meant here is that the land over there was pretty flat. A few verses after 79-30, Muhammad (or Allah) also talks about mountains that were created on the the flat earth.

I think the problem is not in how the original authors of Quran described the scene. The problem is in the attitude of the translators of Quran in the modern times and their obsession with not interpreting the quran. They will not say, "God created the earth and its mountains in all their glory". They will insist on saying that "Allah, spread the earth" and they will not worry that such bizarre translations make the translated text even more ambigous than the original Arabic text. What a disaster as DNM would say!

I have no desire to split the Quranic hair with subtle differences in meanings but my advice to Muslims will be to appreciate the intended meaning of the Quranic text and not obsess with not translating it at all or translating it as closely to the original text as possible. Even Allah cares for intentions as Muslims famously say. So we should also focus on Allah's intended meanings and not fuss about each word. It is as simple as that.

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