In a postmodern world where the Sun of Christianity is found to be setting in murky waters,

one finds the Sun of Islam rising on a people for whom no protection has been provided
against the bright sunshine of Islamic Enlightenment. Hence, Islamophobia runs amok. They
say that people who live in glass houses should not throw stones at others, but it seems like
the Christian missionaries are hell-bent on proving that Prophet Muhammad, upon whom
be infinite blessings and peace, was laboring under the illusion that the Earth is flat and the
Sun rotates around a stationary earth. I believe that a hundred lies cannot equal a single
truth, yet this is precisely what the missionary agenda is. Here we will inshaAllahoffer a
refutation of the accusations leveled against the Quran and Sunnah.
The Story of Dhul-Qarnayn:
The Holy Quran says:
And they ask you about Dhul-Qarnayn. Say: "I shall recite to you something of his story."
Verily, We established him in the earth, and We gave him the means of everything. So he
followed a way.Until, when he reached the setting place of the Sun, he found it
setting in a spring of black muddy [or hot] water. And he found near it a people. We
[God] said [by inspiration]: "O Dhul-Qarnayn! Either you punish them, or treat them with
kindness." He said: "As for him who does wrong, we shall punish him; and then he will be
brought back unto his Lord; Who will punish him with a terrible torment [Hell]. But as for
him who believes and works righteousness, he shall have the best reward, [Paradise], and
we [Dhul-Qarnayn] shall speak unto him mild words [as instructions]." Then he followed
another way, Until, when he came to the rising place of the Sun, he found it rising
on a people for whom We [God] had provided no shelter against the Sun. So [it
was]! And We knew all about him [Dhul-Qarnayn].(Al-Quran, 18:83-91)
The accusation is that Dhul-Qarnayn (and by extrapolation, Prophet Muhammad, peace be
upon them) thought that the Earth was flat and he had reached the literal ends of the Earth
where he observed the Sun entering inside a spring of murky water at the Western end (!)
and the Sun rising so close to the Earth at the Eastern end that there was no protection for
the people who lived there. An accusation couldnt get more ludicrous. In this connection,
the Wikipedia articles on Sunrise and Sunset are most enlightening. The Sunrise article
notes:
The apparent westward revolution of Sun around the Earth after rising out of the horizon is
due to the Earth's eastward rotation. This illusion is so convincing that most cultures had
mythologies and religions built around the geocentric model.
While the Sunset article notes in the last sentence of its third paragraph:
On a west-facing coastline, sunset occurs over water while sunrise occurs over land.
If a modern writer who believes that sunset and sunrise are illusions, can say a statement
like sunset occurs over water or sunrise occurs over land, then why cant the Author of
the Quran say so?
It may be noted that we popularly call Japan as the Land of the Rising Sun even though we
know that the Earth is spherical and rotates around the Sun. Indeed, the Japanese call their
countryNippon, a word that means origin of the Sun.
Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles, California (in the United States) is probably the most

famous street in the World. The western part of this street - its most famous part - is duly
named Sunset Strip. It runs near Los Angeles western coastline adjoining the Pacific Ocean.
The Quranic reference to "the setting place of the Sun"is indeed such a place in DhulQarnayns kingdom. The spring of murky water may or may not have been an ocean, but
it certainly was large enough to extend all the way to the horizon.
Flattened Earth vs Flat Earth:
The Quran says:
And
And
And
And
And
And
And
And

it is He who spread out the Earth (13:3)

the Earth, We spread out (15:19)
the Earth, We have spread it out (50:7)
We have spread out the Earth, how Excellent Spreader [thereof] are We! (51:48)
God has made for you the Earth, wide spread [an expanse](71:19)
after that, He spread the Earth (79:30)
at the Earth, how it is spread out (88:20)
by the Earth and Him Who spread it (91:6)

None of the verses quoted above preclude the Earth from being a big sphere. A surface
that has been spread out could very well be a big spherical surface. Moreover, the
spreading out could also mean the flattening (i.e. leveling) of the Earth after it was
bombarded by flying fragments during the Late Heavy Bombardment. This bombardment
probably created 22,000 or more craters with impact diameters greater than 20 km, about
40 impact basins with diameters about 1,000 km, and several impact basins with diameter
about 5,000 km.
The Earth as a Bed:
The Qur'an says:
Who has made the Earth for you like a bed [or carpet] (20:53)
Who has made for you the Earth like a bed [or carpet] (43:10)
Have We not made the Earth as a bed [or carpet] (78:6)
The accusation is that since beds are flat and not spherical, the Author of the Qur'an
"thinks" that the Earth is flat, as opposed to spherical. However, geologists, who sleep in flat
beds and believe in a spherical Earth, also believe that sedimentary rock, which covers 75%
of the Earths surface and most of the continental land mass, has been laid down in layers
called beds (1,2) through a process called bedding. More detailed reading of the verses in
question will reveal that the the Quran has always referred to the Earth as a bed in a
geologic (and not astronomic) context only:
Who has made the Earth for you like a bed [spread out]; and has opened roads [ways and
paths, etc] for you therein; and has sent down water [rain] from the sky. And We have
brought forth with it various kinds of vegetation (20:53)

Who has made for you the Earth like a bed, and has made for you roads therein, in order
that you may find your way. And Who sends down water [rain] from the sky in due
measure. Then We revive a dead land therewith, and even so you will be brought forth
[from the dead]. (43:10-11)
Have We not made the Earth as a bed. And the mountains as pegs? (78:6-7)
The only valid inference we can draw is that the Quranic reference to the Earth as a bed is
not only most appropriate, it is also far ahead of its time of revelation.

The Hadith of the Throne:

According to an authentic hadith of Sahih Bukhari:
Narrated Abu Dhar: The Prophet, peace be upon him, asked me at sunset, "Do you know
where the sun goes (at the time of sunset)?" I replied, "Allah and His Apostle know better."
He said, "It goes (i.e. travels) till it prostrates Itself underneath the Throne and takes the
permission to rise again, and it is permitted and then (a time will come when) it will be
about to prostrate itself but its prostration will not be accepted, and it will ask permission to
go on its course but it will not be permitted, but it will be ordered to return whence it has
come and so it will rise in the west. And that is the interpretation of the Statement of Allah:
"And the sun Runs its fixed course For a term (decreed). that is The Decree of (Allah) The
Exalted in Might, The All-Knowing." (36.38)
(Hadith referenced here.)

The significance of Syedna Abu Dhars statement (may God be pleased with him), Allah
and His Apostle know better, should not be underestimated. It does not mean that
Syedna Abu Dhar (may God be pleased with him) or the Arabs of the 7th century had no
idea where the Sun went after setting. Rather, it was routine with the Companions to
answer any question of the Prophet, peace be upon him, with these words even if they knew
the answer, the only exception being when they realized that the Prophet, peace be upon
him, was specifically demanding for an answer. This was because they knew what was
meant by the term adab (i.e. love and reverence) of the Holy Prophet (peace be upon him).
In this context, I am reminded of ShakespearesTaming of the Shrew, a fond memory from
my childhood years, where Petruchio tames his spoiled wife to such an extent that when he
points at the Sun and says that it is the Moon, she agrees with him, and when he says that
it is not the Moon but the Sun indeed, she again agrees with him. I wish we too could learn
such adab.
The phrase, It goes (i.e. travels) cannot be forced to mean that it travels around a
fixed earth. Such an inference can be made if the words had been, It goes on around the
earth. In the hadith, however, the phrase It goes simply means that it goes on in

whatever orbit has been assigned to it.

The Sun prostrates when it reaches the Throne, yet in our scientific observation, the Sun is
never seen to prostrate to any Throne. Instead, it is observed to be orbiting the center of
our galaxy at a speed of about 800,000 kilometers per hour. The reason for our inability to
observe the prostration of the Sun is that the Throne lies in the Unseen (the Gha'ib).
The laws of physics hold true only in the physical universe (the Seen). The laws of the
metaphysical universe (the Unseen) are known only to Almighty God or to whom He gives
special sanction. It is not for us to speculate on the Unseen. Note also the following
Quranic verses:
And to God prostate all things that are in the Heavens and all things that are in the Earth,
of the live moving creatures and the angels, and they are not proud [i.e. they worship their
Lord with humility] (16:49)
See you not that to God prostrates whoever is in the Heavens and whoever is on the Earth,
and the Sun, and the Moon, and the stars, and the mountains, and the trees, and the live
moving creatures, and many of humankind? But there are many [people] on whom the
Punishment is justified. And whomsoever God disgraces, none can honor him. Verily! God
does what He wills.(22:18)
And the herbs [or stars] and the trees both prostrate (55:6)
The manner in which all of the non-human creation prostrate to God is not observable to us
through scientific methods because it is a matter of the Unseen that was shown only to the
Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him. Likewise, the prostration of the Sun is just as
unobservable as the prostration of the trees and mountains.
This hadith is very important in that it underscores the fact that a Muslim is by definition
one who believes in the Unseen:
Those who believe in the Unseen (Quran:2,3)
A Prophet is by definition one who brings news from the Unseen (nabi, the Arabic word for
prophet, means one who brings news); a believer is one who listens to this news and
believes in the truthfulness of the news-bringer, salla Allah o alaihe wa aaalehi wa sallam.