Is the earth spherical or what?

The questioner : The question you are asking about is the descent of Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He) in the last third of the night. They say that the night in Jordan differs from the night in America, and the night in America, you know, involves the alternation of night and day. So how do you reconcile this matter so that they know at what time Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He) descends specifically, so that they can make supplication and take advantage of this opportunity? And they also ask about the earth: is the earth spherical or what? May Allah reward you. This is a sufficient question, if Allah wills.

The Shaykh : I say: Indeed, praise is to Allah; we praise Him, seek His help, and seek His forgiveness. We seek refuge in Allah from the evil of our own selves and from the evil of our deeds. Whomsoever Allah guides, there is no one who can misguide him, and whomsoever He misguides, there is no one who can guide him. And I bear witness that there is no deity except Allah, alone, with no partner, and I bear witness that Muhammad is His slave and His Messenger. As for what concerns the earth, its sphericity, and its flatness, there is no doubt that the correct view is that the earth is spherical, both by religious law and by science. From the perspective of religious law, our Lord (Mighty and Majestic) mentioned some verses in which He alluded to the sphericity of the earth, where He said: Then He mentioned the sun and the moon, and He concluded all of this (Blessed and Exalted is He) with His saying: , every one of the earth, the sun, and the moon is in an orbit, worshipping. Similarly, in the other verse: , He wraps the night over the day; "yukawwir" comes from "kurrat" (sphere). This is from the perspective of religious law. There is nothing in the religious law, contrary to what some people think, that indicates the earth is flat and not spherical, such as, for example: , or . Such texts do not negate the sphericity established in the preceding verses. All that is the case, as some scholars say, is that if this spherical earth did not have these firmly planted mountains, it would be rotating in space with very, very much turbulence. So He planted them and secured them so that it would not be turbulent in its rotation. Because Allah's (Mighty and Majestic) description of the mountains in relation to the earth is that they are like anchors in relation to a ship. That does not negate the movement of the earth, because when a ship is anchored, it does not mean that it becomes a piece of the earth that does not move. No, it moves, but within a limited scope. Similarly, the other verse points to this meaning: . He also likened the mountains to stakes that are fixed in the ground, for example, for horses that graze in a specific place. These stakes, in relation to these animals, do not prevent their movement, but rather they regulate their movement and define the circle of their movement. Similarly, these other verses do not negate the movement of the earth at all, but rather they establish for it an organized movement without turbulence.