Re: The Miracles Of The Qur'an : THE ROUNDNESS OF THE EARTH

Muddy pond? LOL!!! That's a good one! Those muzzies are fuqwits! And
mo-ham-mad (he who is mad about ham) was a complete idiot!

But you are right, it was the Greeks who first discovered the
circumference of the Earth to a few hundred kilometers. I can't recall
his name now but he was a Greek mathematician and he did it in Egypt by
observing the shadow the Sun cast at noon on the same day in two wells
- a few hundred kilometers apart.

At the time they didn't know about gravity and that the Earth was an
oblate spheroid so they took it to be a perfect sphere - hence the fact
that their circumference was a little out (less than 1%). And this was
done some time around BC/AD - that is, 2,000 years ago!

q_q_anonymous@xxxxxxxxxxx wrote:
Buddy III wrote:
<snip>
By the 9th century, many Muslim scholars took it for granted that the
Earth was a sphere. The proof, said astronomer Ibn Hazm, "is that the
Sun is always vertical to a particular spot on Earth". It was 500
years before that realisation dawned on Galileo. The calculations of
Muslim astronomers were so accurate that in the 9th century they
reckoned the Earth's circumference to be 40,253.4km - less than 200km
out. The scholar al-Idrisi took a globe depicting the world to the
court of King Roger of Sicily in 1139.

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/science_technology/article350594.ece

I suggest you read the entire article.

so now you've switched again.




You were saying the quran was a miracle because of alleged scientific
verses, then you argument changed to how God must exist because - who
else put all this there to sustain us.

After you got past that,

You were meant to show that the concensus of islammic scholars believed
that the earth was a sphere.

Now you are arguing that there was once *1* great muslim ATRONOMER!. It
doesn't say whether he was a scholar or not, but even if he was, he was
an astronomer. Not a scholar getting proof from the quran. Ibn Hazm,
according to that little paragraph, was an astronomer, his "proof" that
the earth was round, was not from the Quran, but from his observation,
that the "Sun is always vertical to a particular spot on earth".

Many greeks thought the earth was round, no doubt with similar or
Better "Proofs".

I'm sure that the ancient astronomers that believed the earth was flat,
had their own explaantion for why the sun is "always verical to a
particular spot on earth" . Of course, it's only "always verttical"
during the day. As long as the sun doesn't drop onto earth, it will
always be above it - vertical. According to that article, which is not
proper science - it's pseudo-science an excuse for science, this
astronomer believed that the proof the earth was round was that the sun
was always above it. Nobody claimed anything else!!
oh wait. 1 guy claimed something else
Mohammed in a Sahih(reliable/sound) hadith said that the sun sets in a
muddy pond.
I guess that astronomer didn't believe that or didn't take that
literally.

Your source was an article in the independent - a british newspaper
well kownn for hugging muslims and finding reasons to love muslims
given these times where it's so easy for people to hate them.

What a joke, that the thing that you chose, was actually a theory from
the greeks.
ibn hazm probably read that so-called explanation in a greek book. The
greeks already looked long and hard for explanations for the sun's
apparent movement relative to earth. And explanations as to the shape
of the earth. I'm both sides had their "proofs" (simply becuase the
other side couldn't counter them for lack of knowledge).


You end with a muslim that foudn the exact distance around the earth.
How? Did he walk it? Did he find it in the quran? What ingenius
thinking led him to figure it out? It sounds to me like he diligently
measured it! Respect to him for taking that on, but it's not a sign of
genius. Infact, in those days, science was largely plain philosophy.
It's nice to know that islam didn't stop him from fulfuilling his
quest.


Actually, the little snippet gets funnier, read it carefully

"The calculations of
Muslim astronomers were so accurate that in the 9th century they
reckoned the Earth's circumference to be 40,253.4km - less than 200km
out. The scholar al-Idrisi took a globe depicting the world to the
court of King Roger of Sicily in 1139."

So the astronomers figured out the earth's circumference. And who takes
credit? who represents them? The SCHOLAR !!

So it appears that islammic scholars have all the knowledge regarding
all subjects. Maybe King Roger would wonder what his (christian
bishops?) were missing!
So, the whole thing was a failure, because King Roger Of Italy didn't
convert to islam?
Imagine Rome converting to islam, what a muslim dream!
Now they just give up and try to assassinate the pope!

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