335. The earth is spherical in shape.
Verses 37:5, 70:40, of the Quran say, He is the Lord of many directions of sunrise.
Verse 55:17 of the Quran says He is the Lord of two easts and two wests.
We witness sunrise everyday from a single direction and not from alternate sides. Then how does the Quran talk of different directions of sunrise? Verse 55:17 of the Quran talks of two directions of sunrise and two directions of sunset.
At a time when people believed the earth was flat, there could not be any discussion about many easts and wests.
But now we come to know several directions of sunrise and sunset.
The sun rises and sunset does not happen in a matter of seconds, it continues to take place every second, rising and setting at different places of the earth, with several sunrises and sunsets.
Had the earth been flat, the sunrise would start in a particular direction and disappear in the other. Because the earth being spherical in shape, every point has a direction of sunrise and a direction of sunset.
The Quran by disclosing the existence of several sunrises and sunsets, talks of the shape of the earth like a scientist does. This is yet another proof of the Quran being the word of God.
When the shape of the earth happens to be spherical, there will definitely be two easts and two wests.
We from Chennai witness sunrise to our east, and people on the other side right opposite will see it disappear to their west, what we call our east.
Witnessed by people living in every point of the earth the sun rises, the Quran mentions as several directions, and in the sight of a single man from a particular point when he sees a sunrise and sunset it calls a two directions.
The Quran talks about several sunrises and sunsets, and about two sunrises to prove the earth is spherical thereby establishing the fact Quran to be the word of God.
Please refer to explanation point 274 for more details.