This noble verse perplexed Quranic exegetes for many centuries. They suggested numerous interpretations for it. Some said that the verse refers to the rising and set‌ ting places of the Sun and the Moon. Others ascribed them to the change in the rising and setting angles of the Sun and Moon across the seasons. What should be obvious, however, is that the verse alludes to the existence of another sontinent on the other side of the Earth, where the rising of the Sun corresponds to its setting on our side. This may be construed from the following verse:

Ah, would that between me and you there were the distance of the two easts [i.e., two horizons j-an evil comrade (Q. ٤٣:٤٨).
What is to be understood from this verse is that the span between the two easts is the longest perceptible distance. Accordingly, it is incorrect to understand it as the rising place of the Sun and. the Moon or as the angle of their apparent passage across the seasons, because the distance between those is not the longest perceptible dis‌ tance. Thus, it must refer to the distance between the East and the West. In other words, the setting of the Sun on one part of the globe coincides with its rise over another part. The verse therefore points to the existence of that other part of the globe that was not discovered until several hundred years after the revelation of the Quran.
Accordingly, the verses that mention the East and the West in the singular refer to the direction, as in Gods saying:

To God belong the East and the West, and whithersoever you turn, there is Gods
Countenance (Q. ٢:١١٥);

whereas the verses that use these words in the dual form are intended as an allusion to the existence of a continent on the other side of the Earth. The verses that use the words in the plural form refer to the easts and the wests in accordance with the sur‌ faces of the globe, as shall be explained later.
Another unknown thing to which the Quran alludes is the roundness of the Earth. God says:

And we caused the folk who were despised to inherit the eastern parts of the land and the western parts thereof (Q. ٧:١٣٧). Lord of the heavens and of the Earth and all that is between them, and Lord of the suns risings (Q. ٣٧:٥). But nay! I swear by the Lord of the easts [the rising-places] and the wests [the setting-places] that We are able to substitute a better than they; we shall not be outstripped. (Q. ٧٠:٤٠).
These verses indicate that the Sun rises and sets over the Earth at more than one point, therefore implying that the Earth is round. Accordingly, the rising of the Sun over any part of the globe coincides with its setting over the other. Hence, the exis‌ tence of numerous easts and wests is evident. It is neither an affected expression nor an arbitrary statement. Al-Ququbi and others have attributed the easts and the wests to the changes in the Suns angle to the Earth as it rises and sets on different days of the year. But this is an oversubtle explanation that is not borne out, for the Sun does not have fixed points of rising so that God may swear by them; rather, they vary according to the regions of the Earth. It is therefore imperative that the reference be to the successive risings and settings that result from the spherical shape of the Earth.
The narratives reported from the guided Imams of the Prophets family, as well as their supplications and speeches, contain passages which point to the spherical