The
Quran on Mountains:
A
book entitled Earth is a basic reference textbook in many universities
around the world. One of its two authors is Professor Emeritus
Frank Press. He was the Science Advisor to former US President
Jimmy Carter, and for 12 years was the President of the National
Academy of Sciences, Washington, DC. His book says that mountains
have underlying roots.(Ref-1)
These roots are deeply embedded in the ground, thus, mountains
have a shape like a peg (see
figures 7, 8, and 9).
Figure
7: Mountains have deep roots under the surface of
the ground. (Earth, Press and Siever, p. 413.)
Figure
8:
Schematic section. The mountains, like pegs, have deep roots embedded
in
the ground. (Anatomy of the Earth, Cailleux, p. 220.)
Figure 9: Another illustration shows how the mountains are peg-like
in shape,
due to their deep roots. (Earth Science, Tarbuck and Lutgens,
p. 158.)
This
is how the Quran has described mountains. God has said in the
Quran:
" Have We not
made the earth as a bed, and the mountains as pegs?"
(Quran, 78:6-7)
Modern
earth sciences have proven that mountains have deep roots under
the surface of the ground (see figure 9) and that these roots
can reach several times their elevations above the surface of
the ground.(see figures 2)
So the most suitable word to describe mountains on the basis of
this information is the word ‘peg,’ since most of
a properly set peg is hidden under the surface of the ground.
The history of science tells us that the theory of mountains having
deep roots was introduced only in the latter half of the nineteenth
century.(see figures 3)
Mountains
also play an important role in stabilizing the crust of the earth.(see
figures 4) They hinder the shaking of the earth. God
has said in the Quran:
"And
He has set firm mountains in the earth so that it would not shake
with you..." (Quran, 16:15)
Likewise,
the modern theory of plate tectonics holds that mountains
work as stabilizers for the earth. This knowledge about
the role of mountains as stabilizers for the earth has just
begun to be understood in the framework of plate tectonics
since the late 1960’s.(see
figures 5)
Could
anyone during the time of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH)
have known of the true shape of mountains? Could anyone
imagine that the solid massive mountain which he sees before
him actually extends deep into the earth and has a root,
as scientists assert? A large number of books of geology,
when discussing mountains, only describe that part which
is above the surface of the earth. This is because these
books were not written by specialists in geology. However,
modern geology has confirmed the truth of the Quranic verses.
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