First Matter

 

 

It is known and admitted by fair minds that the verifying Muslim scholars explicitly or implicitly agree that the earth is spherical. If you still have doubts, you can consult Sharhu’l-Maqasid and Sharhu’l-Mawaqif, books in which the great Muslim theologians of the Middle Ages, Sa‘d al-Din alTaftazani24 and Sayyid Sharif al-Jurjani,25 hold the earth in their hands like a ball and make observations about it.

If you are searching for yet another source, you can examine the voluminous commentary on the Qur’an by Imam Fakhr al-Din al-Razi,26 Mafatih al-Ghayb, and pay heed to what that illustrious Imam tells you.

If you are still not content with his explanations and cannot fit the earth into its spherical shape, then apply to Ibrahim Haqqi of Erzurum.27

You can also visit Imam al-Ghazali and ask him if there is any disagreement among the Muslim scholars about the spherical shape of the earth. He will certainly say to you, “If you do not accept its spherical shape, it is wrong and reprehensible.” For he has sent this judgment to us from his time: “Whoever denies the undeniable fact that the earth is spherical on the pretext of preserving the Religion commits a horrible crime against the Religion. For this is not faithfulness, it is betrayal.”28

If you do not know how to read or write and therefore you cannot read them, give ear to Husayn al-Jisri,29 a contemporary scholar. He threatens with a loud voice those who deny the spherical shape of the earth, and declares with the power of truth, “Whoever denies that the earth is spherical with the excuse of preserving the Religion and claims that his denial is based on the Religion, they are a foolish friend, and do more harm to the Religion than a great enemy.”30

If the truth, which has long slept, does not awaken within you with this loud voice, and your heart does not open, take scholars such as Ibn Humam31 and Fakhr al-Islam32 by the hand, and go to Imam al-Shafi‘i.33

Ask him: “The Shari‘a orders the Prayer at five fixed times. But in the world there are people in whose country there is sometimes no time for the Late Evening or Night Prayer. There are people in other countries where the sun does not rise for many consecutive days, or does not set during other consecutive days. How do they fast?” Ask him again, “Turning towards the Ka‘ba is compulsory during the Prayer. But we can turn toward it only while standing or sitting. How can we turn toward the Ka‘ba in other acts of the Prayer such as during bowing and prostration?”

Be sure that Imam al-Shafi‘i will explain the first and second matters with the spherical shapes of the latitudes and the elliptical shapes of the longitudes.34 He will speak in such a convincing manner, demonstrating the rational proofs that are in his hands. He will say, concerning the matter of turning toward the Ka‘ba during all the acts of the Prayer, “The direction which we take during the Prayer is a perpendicular line of light that ties the heavens to the Supreme Divine Throne and penetrates through the strata of the earth down to its center.”35 If the veil over your eyes is removed, the rays of your sight will bring together all the acts of the Prayer in the direction we turn to during Prayer.

O brothers and sisters! I see that you are not sure of your claims against the Religion; you cannot convince your conscience, and your whims can only find room for themselves in your imagination. So abandon your prejudices, and if the earth cannot find room in your hearts, which are closed to the truth but open to whims and illusions, widen your view. Ask the inhabitants of this house, the earth, for they know their own house. They will tell you, “The earth, which is our cradle and mount in this vast space, is not mad, moving in a disorderly way; it is bound by the same laws of God as the other celestial bodies, it cannot infringe them by acting on its own. (They are spherical, as are all other planetary bodies.)” They will also spread out maps as another proof of the earth’s spherical shape.36

 

AN INDICATION

The Divine laws of the creation and operation of the universe have stipulated that this guesthouse—the earth, which revolves in ecstasy like a Mevlevi dervish—stand in the line of the planets and obeys the sun. For together with its friend—the heavens—they have told God, “We have come in willing obedience” (41: 11).37 Obedience and worship are better when done in congregation. In short, the Creator of the universe has created the earth in the way that He has willed. He has not created it according to the wishes of anybody, nor has He allowed the reason of any one person to be the engineer for it.

 

A REMINDER

One of the attitudes that indicate a weakness of belief and a tendency to sophism is the foolish saying, “This is opposed to the Religion, even though it is an established fact.” Anyone who deems it probable that something which has been uncontrovertibly established can be opposed to the Religion, which is itself an embodiment of pure truth and accommodates every truth, has either sophistry in their minds or cherishes doubts which give rise to rebellion in their hearts, or is a new adherent to the Religion and desires to be free to criticize it according to their own misguided views.

 

Said Nursi

24 Sharh al-Maqasid, ‘Alam al-Kutub, Beirut, 1998, 3:177–189. Sa‘d al-Din al-Taftazani (d.,1390): A famous scholar of logic, rhetoric, grammar, theology, and jurisprudence of Samarqand during the rule of Timur. His Sharh al-‘Aqaid al-Nasafiyya (“An Exposition of the Book of Creed by al-Nasafī”) is among the basic works of the Muslim theology. (Trans.)

25 Sharh al-Mawaqif, Dar al-Kutub al-‘Ilmiyya, Beirut, 7:145–147. Sayyid Sharif al-Jurjani (d.,1413): One of the leading theologians of the fifteenth century. He visited Istanbul in 1374, and upon his return, in 1377, he was given a teaching appointment in Shiraz. Sharh al-Mawaqif is his most famous work. (Trans.)

26 Mafatih al-Ghayb, Dar al-Kutub al-‘Ilmiyya, Beirut, 2003, 31:48. Muhammad ibn ‘Umar Fakhr al-Dīn al-Razi, (d., 1210): One of the most famous commentators of the Qur’an and the most outstanding scholars of his time who was well versed in both religious and rational sciences. Mafatih al-Ghayb is the name of his monumental commentary on the Qur’an. (Trans.)

27 Ibrahim Haqqi of Erzurum (17031780) was one of the most outstanding figures in the Ottoman Turkey of the eighteenth century. He lived in Erzurum and Siirt in Eastern Turkey. He was a prolific, encyclopedic Sufi guide and writer, who wrote on many subjects such as theology, morality, mathematics, astronomy, and medicine. His Ma‘rifatname (“Book of Knowledge”) is very famous and still being widely read. In the third volume of this book, Ibrahim Haqqi of Erzurum discusses the spherical shape of the earth and celestial bodies at length. (Trans.)

28 Tahafut al-Falasifa, (“The Incoherence of the Philosophers”), Dar al-Ma‘arif, Cairo 1972, p.80.

29 Husayn al-Jisri (1845–1909) was born and mainly lived in Lebanon. He was well versed in Islamic sciences, and had an interest in natural sciences. He founded a madrasa where both kinds of sciences were taught. His thoughts greatly resembled those of Said Nursi about both religious and contemporary issues. (Trans.)

30 Risale-i Hamidiya (Turkish trans.,) Bahar Yayınları, Istanbul, 1980, 365–367.

31 Kamal al-Din Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahid ibn Humam al-Sivasi al-Iskandari (1388–1457) was one of the leading Muslim scholars. He belonged to a family which emigrated from Sivas in Turkey to Iskandariya (Alexandria) in Egypt. He was famous both as a jurist (faqih) and traditionist (muhaddith). Among his works is Fath al-Qadir, in which he expands on al-Hidaya, one of the most famous works on Hanafi fiqh by Imam Burhan al-Din Abu al-Hasan al-Marginani (1117–1196), with long explanatory notes. (Trans.)

32 Fakhr al-Islam Abu’l-Hasan ‘Ali ibn Muhammad al-Pazdawi (1009–1089) was one of the most prominent legal theorists or methodologists (usuliyyun) in the Hanafi School of Fiqh. He lived in Transoxania. Usul al-Din (“The Fundamentals of the Religion”) is his most famous work. (Trans.)

33 Imam al-Shafi‘i, Muhammad ibn Idris (d. 820): Founded the Shafi‘i School of Law. He was well versed in Islamic jurisprudence, Hadith language, and poetry. He wrote Al-Umm (“The Foundation”), al-Risalah (“A Book of Methodology”), and Ahkam al-Qur’an (“Judgments of the Qur’an”). (Trans.)

34 That is, the earth is egg-shaped, spherical from east to west and elliptical from north to south. In the polar or similar regions, where days and nights are much longer than our normal days and nights or the time of a Prayer does not occur, signs of morning and evening do appear with unfailing regularity and the people know them. People living there can also make an estimate of time considering the times of the Prayers in other regions where every day is twenty-four hours, and fast or perform the Prayers. (Trans.)

35 That is, he refers to the spherical shape of the earth and circular appearance of the heavens, which seem to be joining the earth on the horizons. (Trans.)

36 Even on maps of the earth, which are two-dimensional, the parts of the earth do not appear to be of size proportionate to their actual size. The parts from which makers of maps see the earth in drawing them appear to be larger, while the other parts, smaller. If we see the earth from the Equator in drawing a map, the central parts will appear to be considerably larger proportionate to their actual size, while the parts lying towards the north and south will appear to be smaller and smaller towards the poles. (Trans.)

37 The Qur’an says, And He directed (His Knowledge, Will, Power, and Favor) to the heaven when it was as a cloud (of gases) and ordered it and the earth, “Come both of you, willingly or unwillingly!” They said: “We have come in willing obedience.” (41:11) (Trans.)