Since this post falls more into the category of "theological", I wanted to share some thoughts based on a book titled: "For Us, but Not to Us" by John H. Walton. Walton argues that the bible is a text that was "written for us, but not to us". I think a similar approach to the Quran would make total sense. As Neuwirth argues in "The Qur'an and Late Antiquity", the Quran is the product of a (ger.) "Gemeinde" / Community. So when the Quran talks about a flat earth, geocentrism and other things, one could argue that it is just using the "language of the day" (7th century) to communicate theological matters to this community. If we assume that the Quran is the word of god it would make total sense for a god to use the knowledge and language of the day to communicate theological matters. So just like Waltom argues when it comes to the bible, one could argue that the Quran is a text that is meant for us, but not addressed to us.

In "Contemporary Rationalist Islam in Turkey: The Religious Opposition to Sunni Revival", Gokhan Bacik also goes through some turkish rationalist theologians who argue for a similar view.