Where are the two Easts and two Wests?

Question: What does the following verse denote?

He is the Lord of two Easts and two Wests. What is the meaning of this? [Surah Rahman 55:17]

Answer: In the Holy Quran the mention of East and West is done in the form of dual also. (i.e. two easts and two wests) and in the plural form of also e.g.

“But nay! I swear by the Lord of the Easts and the Wests that We are certainly able.” [Surah Maarij 70:40]

At one more place it is stated:

“We gave the earth under the control of those people (i.e. organization (group) of Israelites), who had become weak and feeble. [Surah Aaraf 7:13]

On this basis the words of East and West are used in the plural form also, which points out at numerous tenets. And in the dual form also which indicate towards two tenets.

The Commentators have given two meanings of those verses.

First is that two Easts and two Wests are two hemispheres (i.e. southern and northern or eastern and western). Some have considered this verse to be an indication to existence of one hemisphere (i.e. the great American continent) before it was discovered, which is beyond the subject under discussion. In the same way by Easts and Wests is meant different points of the earth, in which every point with reference to one point is East, whereas the same point with reference to another point is West.

In other words, out of the peculiarities of the sphere, one is that its every point with reference to that point which is situated on its West side is counted as East and with reference to the point in front it is West. Therefore some people think that such verses are indication that the earth is round. The other meaning is that Easts and Wests are many, that means the sun has so many points of its sunrise and sunset, because sun never rises and sets at the same point on any two days. And because of the sun’s inclination towards north and south (which is the result of the inclination of surface in relation to the moving earth’s around its axis and around the sun). Sun rises everyday from one point and sets on the other. Therefore when we keep in mind the sum total of those Easts and Wests, then we should interpret them as the plural of easts and west. And when we keep in mind only the big northern inclination of sun to its last point (beginning of summer) and the big southern inclination’s last point (beginning of winter), then we should interpret them as dual form of East and West. This is the miracle of the Holy Quran that in a very short passage it draws the attention of people towards the astonishing mystery of creation. Because we know that alterations in sunrise and sunset affect the nourishment and sustenance of foliage, flowers and fruits and generally on the common conditions of all living things and it has a deep effect on the decoration of the created world.

The Earth being spherical and the Holy Quran

Question: Is there evidence in the Holy Quran and traditions regarding the Earth being spherical?

Answer: Of the indications present in Quran regarding these mysteries is that the Earth is spherical. And this can be surmised from the following verses:

(1) And We made the people who were deemed weak to inherit the eastern lands and the western ones which We had blessed; and the good word of your Lord was fulfilled in the children of Israel because they bore up (sufferings) patiently… [Surah Aaraf 7:137]

(2) The Lord of the heavens and the earth and what is between them, and Lord of the easts. [Surah Saffaat 37:7]

(3) But nay! I swear by the Lord of the Easts and the Wests that We are certainly able to bring instead (others) better than them, and We shall not be overcome. [Surah Maarij 70:40-41]

Its explanation is this that, as indicated in the last discussion, this verse argues about Easts and Wests, and number of points of rising and setting of the sun, for which the earth should necessarily be spherical, because it is a universally admitted fact that if the earth had been flat there would have been only one East and one West. And only because the earth is round and inclined that every point of the earth can have a particular East and a separate West.

And the sun rising on a certain point from different points of the earth, just as sometimes it is necessary that it set on other part of the earth; therefore the Easts and Wests being many is clear proof of the earth being spherical.

Traditions regarding the earth being spherical
From the traditions that have come to us through the sinless Imams (a.s.) we can understand that the earth is spherical. One of such tradition from Imam Sadiq (a.s.) is given below:

Imam Sadiq (a.s.) said:

In a journey, a man became a fellow traveler. He was habituated that he should pray the Evening Prayer in the darkness of the night, and pray the Morning Prayer in the complete darkness of the night (end of night). But I was opposite to him. I used to pray the Evening Prayer when the sun set and perform the Morning Prayer at dawn break. He requested me to also pray in his manner and explained his act in this way: The sun before rising on our land rises on other places. And when it disappears from our land then too it shines on other places.

I told him: It is our practice that when the sun disappears from our horizon, the Evening Prayer is prayed, and it is not necessary that we should wait for it to set in other places. And when the dawn breaks, we should pray the Morning Prayer, though the Sun may not have come out in other places. Because it is incumbent upon the people of all the places that they should offer their Prayers according to dawn and sunset of their horizons.[1]

The Imam (a.s.) has described this fact in one more tradition:

It is upon you that you should have the foundation of your deeds on your logical East and West.

And all this is said on the basis of the earth being spherical.

Footnotes:

[1] Wasailush Shia, Vol. I, p. 237