The Lie That Ibn Abbas Said About the Earth That God Spread It Out Over the Surface of the Water
The lie that Ibn Abbas said about the earth that God spread it out over the surface of the water | Al-Qurtubi’s interpretation - Al-Razi’s interpretation
Content of the doubt:
The enemies of Islam claim that Ibn Abbas said the following about the Earth:
God Almighty said: “And the earth We have spread out.” Ibn Abbas interpreted this verse as follows: “We spread out the earth on the surface of the water.”
I respond to this ridiculous suspicion and say:
There is no valid evidence that Ibn Abbas interpreted the verse in this way. Rather, this statement is widespread in some books of interpretation without any evidence or support.
The first person to attribute this statement to Ibn Abbas was Al-Wahidi in (Al-Tafsir Al-Basit) , but Al-Wahidi lived in the fifth century AH while Ibn Abbas lived in the first century AH; that is, there were hundreds of years between them. So how did Al-Wahidi know that Ibn Abbas said this interpretative statement?!
So, this saying attributed to Ibn Abbas has no evidence. Rather, Al-Wahidi transmitted it from false rumors of his time and did not mention any chain of transmission for it.
Then came Al-Fakhr Al-Razi and transmitted the same rumor falsely attributed to Ibn Abbas .
Knowing that Al-Fakhr Al-Razi lived in the sixth century AH.
Then came Al-Qurtubi, who lived in the seventh century AH, and transmitted the same false information without verifying its authenticity!
Therefore, you will find that al-Wahidi , al-Razi, and al-Qurtubi attributed this statement to Ibn Abbas without any evidence or chain of transmission. This is sufficient to invalidate this narration and prove its weakness and lack of authority.
It should be noted that no one has issued a fatwa confirming the validity of everything found in books of interpretation. Rather, there is correct and incorrect information. A Muslim must verify the accuracy of an interpretation before transmitting it, as mistakes can occur, and no one is infallible.
As for the word (we extended it) , extension can also happen to a spherical shape, for example:
If you have a balloon and you blow into it, it will take a spherical shape, and if you blow into it more and more, it will expand.
The spherical shape may also be stretched.