What does it mean that the earth was made a "mihād" (resting place)?

Answer

Verse 78:6 asks, "Have We not made the earth a resting place (mihād)?" The word mihād means a cradle, bed, or smoothed-out, settled place — al-Ṭabarī compares it to a bed spread out for people, and al-Qurṭubī likens it to a child's cradle, prepared and subdued for comfort. Al-Saʿdī explains that the earth was spread so that people could settle on it, walk, farm, build, and rest. The point is not that the earth is geometrically flat — many classical scholars affirmed arguments for its sphericity — but that its surface is made habitable and stable for human life, like a well-prepared resting place. The verse expresses gratitude-evoking design: the ground beneath us is firm, livable, and provisioned. In context, this is one of several signs (mountains, pairs, sleep, night, day) listed to demonstrate God's power and wisdom, building toward the surah's argument that the Creator who arranged the earth so carefully is fully able to resurrect humanity for judgment. The emphasis throughout is functional benefit and divine care, not cosmological geometry.