Diameters of Earth

"Company of jinn and men, if you are able to pierce through the confines of the heavens and earth, pierce through them. You will not pierce through except with a clear authority."

[Al Qur'an 55:33]

The Arabic word translated as "confines" in the above verse is 'aqtar'. This is the plural form of the word 'qutr', meaning diameter and refers to the skies and the Earth having many diameters. A three-dimensional body can only be said to have a single diameter if it is perfectly spherical. The term "diameters" can only refer to an irregular but basically spherical shape. This word chosen in the Qur'an (diameters) is important from the point of view of indicating the geoid shape of the Earth. The second noteworthy subject in the verse is that the Earth and the heavens are mentioned separately in reference to diameters. The diameters of space will be different from different points in space, so the diameters of a constantly expanding space will also display differences.

Thus does The Holy Qur'an remains consistent with its description of the shape of the earth.