In Surah An-Naziat (79:30), the Quran declares: "And after that He spread the earth." (وَالْأَرْضَ بَعْدَ ذَٰلِكَ دَحَاهَا).
"وَالْأَرْضَ بَعْدَ ذَٰلِكَ دَحَاهَا" — "And after that He spread the earth." (79:30)
The Arabic verb "dahaha" (دَحَاهَا) is rich in meaning. Arab linguists explain that it means "to spread," "to level," and "to make habitable." Some etymologists note that the root "dahy" (دحي) is also related to the ostrich egg (udhiya), which the ostrich spreads and incubates by rolling it.
This etymology is remarkable: the shape of the Earth is not a perfect sphere but an oblate spheroid, slightly flattened at the poles and bulging at the equator — a shape that evokes that of an egg.
Modern geodesy has established that the Earth is an ellipsoid of revolution: its equatorial radius is about 6378 km, while its polar radius is about 6357 km. The difference of about 21 km is due to the centrifugal force generated by the Earth's rotation.
This knowledge of the exact shape of the Earth was only established in the 17th century with the work of Isaac Newton (1687) and confirmed by the geodetic expeditions of Maupertuis in Lapland (1736) and La Condamine in Ecuador (1735-1743).
The term "dahaha," which combines the idea of extension and ovoid shape, describes the actual shape of the Earth as established by modern geodesy. For the believer, science here does no more than confirm the word of Allah, and it cannot be otherwise: the One who created the Earth is the One who described its shape.
Detractors' arguments
This convergence, often cited, calls for several reservations that should be known in order to anticipate criticism:
- The primary meaning is not ovoid: the verb "dahaha" first means "to spread," "to level," and "to make habitable." Most classical Arab linguists see in it no reference to a spherical or ovoid shape.
- The etymology is late: the link with the ostrich egg (udhiya) is debated; it is not established as the primary meaning of the term and may be a later reconstruction.
- Retrospective reading: the idea that the verse describes polar flattening only appeared after Newton's discovery (1687), which exposes the article to the charge of retrospective reading (eisegesis).
- A note for the believer: these reservations do not weaken the text; they remind us that science is a means of deepening our understanding of the verse, not a measure of its truth.