Federal Territory Mufti Datuk Seri Zulkifli Mohamad al-Bakri provided a lengthy list of Islamic scholars’ interpretation of why the Earth is spherical, despite several Quranic verses that can be understood as saying the Earth is flat in nature. ― Picture by Miera Zulyana

KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 18 — Federal Territories Mufti Datuk Zulkifli Mohamad al-Bakri has chided flat Earth conspiracy theorists, saying there is incontrovertible consensus by Islamic scholars and astronomers that our home planet is spherical.

His office said it was inundated with queries about the issue, calling the false belief that the Earth is flat as a “cancer” among the society.

“We stress here that the nature of Earth is round,” Zulkifli said in a statement published on his website.

“We state that the denial of Earth’s round nature is a misguided opinion, what more it is against indisputable ijma’,” he added, using the Arabic term that roughly means “consensus”.

The mufti provided verse 39:5 of the Quran to back his argument, which said: “He created the heavens and earth in truth. He wraps the night over the day and wraps the day over the night and has subjected the sun and the moon, each running [its course] for a specified term.”

He also provided a lengthy list of Islamic scholars’ interpretation of why the Earth is spherical, despite several Quranic verses that can be understood as saying the Earth is flat in nature.

In addition, the mufti also quoted Malaysia’s first astronaut or Angkasawan, Datuk Dr Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor Sheikh Mustapha, who recently said that the Earth in indeed spherical, although shaped more like an egg.

As with the astronaut’s explanation, a sphere is the simplest model of the Earth’s shape. The planet is not a perfect sphere with the radius varying between 6,353km and 6,384km. No perfect sphere can be found in nature.

Nasyid singer Suhaimi Saad, known for conspiracy theories and getting into fiery online debates, had recently demanded Dr Sheikh Muszaphar to swear an oath that the Earth is not flat.

In 2016, Suhaimi had also proudly aligned himself with the anti-vaccination movement and said that none of his four children had been immunised against deadly diseases nor did they take clinical medicine.

Criticising those who buy into flat Earth conspiracy theory, the mufti’s office said human’s understandings of nature are different, since humans are limited to their own five senses.

“However, advancement and evolution of scientific knowledge and technology has helped humans in giving comprehensive explanation of human life,” it said.