The benefits of the saying of Allah the Exalted: “And He placed therein (the earth) mountains above it, and blessed it, and determined therein its sustenance in four days, equal for the seekers.”

Among the benefits of this noble verse is the favor of Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He) upon His servants, in that He placed in the earth mountains, meaning fixed points. What is the wisdom? Allah mentioned the wisdom in His saying: Were it not for these mountains, the earth would have swayed with us.
Among the benefits of this noble verse is that the earth rotates, based on His saying: This is evidence that Allah is seen, but not perceived, for if He were not seen, it would have been necessary to say: “Sight does not perceive Him.” So when the specific is negated, it becomes evidence of the existence of the general. Now, some have established this and said: In the verse is evidence that the earth rotates, because Allah cast these mountains so that its rotation would be balanced and not become unstable, causing disturbance to people. However, while this is strong from the perspective of reasoning, it is not definitive, for it is possible that the meaning is that it sways with you, causing disturbance, even if it were stationary. For example, a ship on water sways even if it is stationary. So the meaning would be: that it sways with you, meaning that it disturbs you, whether it rotates or not. Therefore, there is no definitive indication in the verse that the earth rotates. If someone were to say: If you say that it is possible that it indicates the earth rotates, what is your answer to many verses that indicate that the sun moves, rises, sets, approaches, disappears, and departs? All these actions are attributed to the sun, and the principle is that when an action is attributed to something, it is performed by it. So the apparent meaning of the Qur'an is that the sun is the one that rotates around the earth. So its meaning is that it was hidden, then it rose to us. And those who say that the earth rotates, the meaning would be: when it rose, meaning when we rose to it, for we are the ones who come to it, while it is fixed and stationary, I mean the sun. We said: It is possible that the earth rotates and the sun also rotates, that is permissible. And if the rotation is in opposite directions, it is apparent that night and day would alternate. For example, if the earth rotates toward the east and the sun rotates toward the west, this is possible with great ease. If they both rotate in the same direction, then if one is faster than the other, the alternation of night and day is realized. And whoever says: It is not possible for us to say that the sun moves unless we say that the earth is stationary and does not rotate, but establishing the rotation of the earth along with the rotation of the sun is not possible. Then his saying is not correct; the possibility is possible even if we say that both rotate. But what we believe now is that night and day occur by the alternation of the sun over the earth, not by the alternation of the earth over the sun. This is what we believe until now, because this is the apparent meaning of the Qur'an, and the Qur'an came from the Creator (Mighty and Majestic), and He is more knowledgeable about what He created. And it is not possible for us to deviate from this by a hair's breadth as long as no sensory matter has appeared to us that cannot be denied. And some of them—meaning some of those who say the earth rotates—say: We have a definitive matter by the evidence of intercontinental missiles, which are calculated with a specific calculation that aligns with the rotation of the earth, so they hit the target, otherwise it would not be possible. In any case, I wanted to speak about this somewhat, because on one day it was a subject of debate among people, among students of knowledge, among the general public, and among those who were not well-established in knowledge. So we say: First, deep research in this and debate in this is a matter that should not be done and has no benefit. Second, when we want to verify the matter with a theoretical scientific verification, we look at the verses. If the apparent meaning of the saying of Allah the Exalted: requires that it rotates, we say so, and there is no harm and no obstacle in saying: It rotates. And likewise the sun, there is no obstacle. So we would have taken the apparent meaning of the Qur'an regarding the sun and the apparent meaning of regarding the earth. And if His saying: Yes.