“Is there a massive hidden land in the hadith?”

An academic-scholarly critique and evidence-based refutation
By Dr. Maxwell Shimba — Shimba Theological Institute

Abstract (short).
A claim circulates online and in some popular discussions that a sahīh hadith teaches that there is a vast landmass currently hidden from humankind (a lost continent, hidden island or entire world). This paper examines the primary texts invoked, surveys classical and contemporary tafsīr/hadīth commentary, and compares those claims to modern empirical evidence from satellite and mapping systems. The conclusion: the specific sahīh hadiths commonly cited do not describe — nor provide evidence for — a presently hidden, massive terrestrial continent that human technology (satellite imagery, mapping) should already have discovered. The claim is therefore a piece of misinformation when presented as a literal, modern-empirical fact.

1. The claim and the primary texts people cite

The claim usually takes two shapes in popular circulation:

There is a sahīh hadith that says there are whole lands hidden (now unknown) to mankind.
Therefore, modern maps (Google Maps, satellites) are incomplete; a vast continent/land is currently hidden from us.

What do the canonical hadith collections actually contain? One frequently cited text is the hadith about someone “usurping a span of land” and being “encircled down the seven earths” — reported in Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī and Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim. These narrations are authentic, but their wording and context do not say “a hidden modern continent exists and is currently unknown to people.” (Sunnah)

(Other narrations that speakers sometimes conflate — e.g., reports about Gog and Magog (Yaʾjūj wa-Maʾjūj) being behind a barrier, or reports about an island where the Dajjāl is held — are also circulated; these are of mixed chains and require careful study and distinct treatment.) (Ghayb)

2. How classical and contemporary scholars read these texts

Scholars have offered several interpretive approaches to formulations such as “seven earths” or references to other lands:

Literal-multilayer / multiple-worlds reading. Some classical mufassirūn and ḥadīth commentators accept that “seven earths” could mean distinct realms/lands created by God (analogous to seven heavens), whose exact nature is part of the unseen (ghayb). (SeekersGuidance)
Metaphorical / moral reading. Other scholars stress the moral, juridical or eschatological point of the narration (e.g., the severity of usurping land) rather than a geographical claim about an unknown continent; thus the language may be symbolic or concerned with ultimate punishment rather than with cartography. (SeekersGuidance)
Caution about over-literalization. Contemporary scholars frequently caution Muslims not to force ahādīth about the unseen into modern scientific categories; where the texts speak of the unseen, classical scholars often say: believe what is reported and do not insist on empirical analogues beyond what the text permits. (Islam-QA)

Bottom line from the fiqh/tafsīr/hadīth side: the canonical narrations cited by claimants do not straightforwardly assert the existence of a presently hidden, cartographically-large landmass on Earth that human observation should already have detected. Rather, they belong to cosmological or eschatological discourse and admit multiple legitimate interpretive options. (SeekersGuidance)

3. Empirical test: what would a massive hidden land mean for satellite and mapping evidence?

If there were a large landmass on Earth (on the order of a continent or large island) that humans had not observed or mapped:

It would block or alter satellite optical imagery (visible bands) and radar returns at many wavelengths, and it would appear in multiple independent datasets collected by different agencies and commercial providers.
Modern Earth-observation systems provide near-global coverage at multiple resolutions and wavelengths (NASA’s MODIS, Landsat series, ESA Sentinel, plus commercial high-resolution providers). Google Earth/Google Maps aggregate imagery from many such sources and also incorporate aerial, street-level, and photogrammetric data. These datasets overlap and are independently collected. (Worldview)
Google itself reports very high coverage of habitable areas (Google Earth/Maps cover the vast majority of inhabited places and high-resolution datasets span almost the entire land surface available for imaging). Independent scientific programs (Landsat, Sentinel, MODIS) provide continuous global monitoring. The practical implication: a continent-scale feature cannot remain unseen across these independent systems for long. (Google)

Therefore: from an empirical/remote-sensing perspective, the notion of a modern massive landmass currently hidden from humanity is extremely implausible.

4. Why the “hidden land” myth spreads (and how to correct it)

Several dynamics produce and sustain the myth:

Conflation of genres. Eschatological, cosmological, and metaphorical hadith language gets conflated with modern, empirical geography. An image that was theological/eschatological becomes read as a geographic claim. Scholarly nuance is lost in popular transmission. (SeekersGuidance)
Ambiguous expressions (“seven earths”, “barrier”, “hidden island”). Classical Arabic terms (and Qurʾānic metaphors) admit multiple readings; readers who prefer sensational readings select the literal/physical interpretation and ignore alternate readings.
Trust deficit and conspiratorial thinking. In an era of conspiracy narratives, a claim that “authorities are hiding a continent” is emotionally attractive and shares features with other modern conspiracies (secret islands, hidden bases, suppressed maps).

How to correct it (practical steps):

Encourage responsible citation: always publish the exact hadith text, the isnād, and classical explanations when making extraordinary claims. (Sunnah)
Refer readers to authoritative tafsīr and hadith collections (e.g., Tafsīr al-Qurʾān by al-Tabari/Ibn Kathīr where relevant, and standard hadith collections with isnād/grades) and point out diversity of scholarly views. (SeekersGuidance)
For empirical claims invoke open satellite datasets (NASA Earthdata, Landsat, Sentinel) and Google Earth/Maps — these are public, independently collected, and routinely updated; invite claimants to pick coordinates and check multiple imagery sources. (NASA Earthdata)

5. Qualified limits and honest caveats

Underground or ephemeral features. The above does not deny the existence of underground caverns, subterranean structures, or places with sparse satellite coverage in very high resolution (e.g., deep caves, dense canopy) — those are not “massive continents” and would not change the overall global land map.
Areas of restricted imaging. Certain sensitive sites (military bases, some governmental restrictions) may limit public high-resolution imagery in specific locations, but this is not the same as an entire hidden continent. Google and scientific satellites still provide multisource datasets that would reveal large-scale land presence. (Google for Developers)

6. Conclusion

Textually: The sahīh hadiths cited in social media (e.g., the “seven earths” wording) are authentic in wording, but their most reasonable classical readings do not require us to accept a claim that a large terrestrial continent is currently hidden from humanity. They speak in cosmological/eschatological register and admit multiple scholarly interpretations. (Sunnah)
Empirically: Modern satellite imagery and mapping systems (NASA, Landsat, Sentinel, Google Earth/Maps and many commercial providers) produce overlapping, independent, near-global coverage. The persistence of an undiscovered continent is inconsistent with the empirical evidence. (Landsat Science)
Therefore: Presenting a sahīh hadith as proof that there is a currently hidden massive land on Earth is a misreading of the texts combined with a misapplication of modern empirical claims. Such a claim should be treated as misinformation.

Selected resources & further reading

(These are sources to check primary texts, tafsīr, and empirical datasets.)

Primary hadith texts & commentary

Sahih al-Bukhari / Sahih Muslim entries on “one who usurps a span of land … seven earths.” (various online editions and searchable collections). (Sunnah)
SeekersGuidance — short commentary on that hadith’s meaning and moral import. (SeekersGuidance)

Classical/contemporary tafsīr & discussion

Tafsīr entries on Qur’an 65:12 (“seven heavens and of the earth, the like of them”) — survey of Ibn Kathir, al-Suyūṭī, al-ʿAlūsī and others for multiple interpretive options. (SeekersGuidance)

Empirical / mapping datasets

Google Earth / Google Maps (product pages and coverage statements). Useful to check any coordinate visually. (Google)
NASA Earthdata, Worldview and Landsat — continuously updated, global, open satellite imagery and data archives. (Good for independent verification of any geographic claim.) (Worldview)

Short suggested public-facing statement you can re-use

“Certain hadith use cosmological and eschatological language (e.g., ‘seven earths’) that classical scholars have read in different ways. These narrations are not a basis for claiming a presently hidden continent. Independent satellite and mapping datasets (NASA, Landsat, Google Earth etc.) provide near-global coverage; a continent-scale terrestrial landmass invisible to them is empirically implausible. Prudence requires careful textual reading combined with open empirical verification.”

Monday, December 1, 2025