THE FUNCTION OF MOUNTAINS

THE FUNCTION OF MOUNTAINS

With extensions that mountains extend out towards under the ground as well as over the ground, they clench different plates of the earth together like a peg. The Earth's crust consists of plates that are in constant motion. This clenching property of mountains prevents shocks to a great extent, by fixing the earth's crust, which has a very movable structure. The Qur'an draws attention to a very important geological function of mountains. "We placed firmly embedded mountains on the earth, so it would not move under them…" (The Qur'an, 21:31) As we have noticed, it is stated in the verse that mountains have the function of preventing shocks in the Earth. This fact was not known by anyone at the time the Qur'an was revealed. It was in fact brought to light only recently as a result of the findings of modern geology. According to these findings, mountains emerge as a result of the movements and collisions of massive plates forming the Earth's crust. When two plates collide, the stronger one slides under the other, the one on the top bends and forms heights and mountains. The layer beneath proceeds under the ground and makes a deep extension downward. That means that mountains have a portion stretching downwards, as large as their visible parts on the Earth. In a scientific text, the structure of mountains is described as follows: Where continents are thicker, as in mountain ranges, the crust sinks deeper into the mantle. (General Science, Carolyn Sheets, Robert Gardner, Samuel F. Howe; Allyn and Bacon Inc. Newton, Massachusetts, 1985, s. 305) In a verse, this role of the mountains is pointed out by a comparison with "pegs": "Have We not made the earth as a bed and the mountains its pegs?" (The Qur'an, 78:6-7) Mountains, in other words, clench the plates in the Earth's crust together by extending above and beneath the Earth's surface at the conjunction points of these plates. In this way, they fix the Earth's crust, and prevent it from drifting over the magma stratum or among its plates. Briefly, we may liken mountains to nails that keep pieces of wood together. This fixing function of the mountains is described in scientific literature by the term "isostasy". Isostasy means the following: Isostasy: general equilibrium in the Earth's crust maintained by a yielding flow of rock material beneath the surface under gravitational stress. (Webster's New Twentieth Century Dictionary, 2. edition "Isostasy", New York, s. 975) This vital role of mountains, that was discovered by modern geology and seismic research, was revealed in the Qur'an centuries ago as an example of the supreme wisdom in God's creation. "We placed firmly embedded mountains on the earth, so it would not move under them..." (The Qur'an, 21:31)

shape of earth & an Ostrich egg!

shape of earth

Zakir Naik says:

THE SPHERICAL SHAPE OF THE EARTH

In early times, people believed that the earth is flat. For centuries, men were afraid to venture out too far, lest they should fall off the edge. Sir Francis Drake was the first person who proved that the earth is spherical when he sailed around it in 1597. Consider the following Qur’aanic verse regarding the alternation of day and night: “Seest thou not that Allah merges Night into Day And He merges Day into Night?” [Al-Qur'aan 31:29]. Merging here means that the night slowly and gradually changes to day and vice versa. This phenomenon can only take place if the earth is spherical. If the earth was flat, there would have been a sudden change from night to day and from day to night.

The following verse also alludes to the spherical shape of the earth: “He created the heavens And the earth In true (proportions): He makes the Night Overlap the Day, and the Day Overlap the Night.” [Al-Qur'aan 39:5] The Arabic word used here is Kawwara meaning ‘to overlap’ or ‘to coil’- the way a turban is wound around the head. The overlapping or coiling of the day and night can only take place if the earth is spherical.

Agniveer

1.     verse (31:29) “Seest thou not that Allah merges Night into Day and he merges Day into Night; that He has subjected the sun, and the moon (to his Law), each running its course for a term appointed .The underlined claim is false. A flat-disc earth with sun moving in a canopy above it will also result in gradual change of night and day. Thus, using this as an argument in support of a spherical earth is void.

MUSLIMS

Readers please look at the scientific knowledge of Agniveer. .

Our Answer
The flat disc will not show the same effect, When a disc is made to rotate about an axis, At a point, when the plane of the disc is perpendicular to that of the light source, both sides of the disc, are not exposed to light. And at another instance, when the plane of the disc is exactly parallel to the Source of the light, exactly one side of the disc receives the full light. A slight change in this position due to rotation would bring about a bigger change . (i.e no merging effect)
When the same experiment is performed with a spherical ball, the above mentioned effect doesn’t take place. Instead each part of the end of the spherical substance merges into the next part without any appreciable change (immediate change)

Click here to see the demonstration

Agniveer

2.     By the way , Let’s look at the complete verse (31:29) “Seest thou not that Allah merges Night into Day and he merges Day into Night; that He has subjected the sun, and the moon (to his Law), each running its course for a term appointed; and that Allah is well-acquainted with all that ye do?” [verse 39:5 repeats the same claim]This verse when looked at in its entirety exposes the naïve understanding of the author of the Quran. The author believes that night merges into day and day merges into night because sun and moon follow their courses around the earth at appointed intervals. It’s a scientific blunder that assumes a geocentric world (as the Greeks used to believe)

Muslims

Another Absurd Observation from Agniveer
The verse refers to the movement of the Sun and the Moon “for a course appointed” 

This effect is another Scientific fact

“Seest thou not that Allah merges Night into Day and he merges Day into Night; that He has subjected the sun, and the moon (to his Law), each running its course for a term appointed”(Quran 31:29)

‘It is not permitted for the Sun to catch up with the Moon, nor the night to outstrip the day. each one travelling in an orbit with its own motion’. (Quran 36:40)

Previously people thought that the orbit of the Sun and the Moon was same.
But Qur’an gives the indication – ‘No! the orbit of the Sun and the Moon, is different’. The question of catching up does not arise and each of them, the Sun and the Moon, they rotate as well as revolve.

‘That the Sun is running its course to a place determined, for a period determined’.(Quran 36:38)

The Arabic word, ‘Mustakar’, means to a place determined, for a period determined. Today science has come to know that the Sun, along with the Solar system is going towards a point in the Universe which the scientists call as the ‘Solar Apex’. It is moving at a speed of 12 miles per second, and it is going to a point  which they call as ‘a point in the constellation of Hercules’.

(Similar message is repeated in Quran 13:2, 35:13, 39:5)

‘The Sun and the Moon runs its course for a period determined’.

(Agniveer)

3.     Also, the verse in its entirety is talking about how Allah makes night and day using sun and moon. It nowhere talks about the shape of the earth…or for that matter it does not talk about the earth at all! It talks about the courses of the sun and moon (not of earth).



Muslims

Have these guys ever attended a Science Class?
“Allah makes night and the day using sun and the moon”,….
“courses of the sun and the moon and not the earth”
Read the first part of the verse, merging is a slow process and only occurs if the earth is Spherical. Both of them have been answered 





(Agniveer) 

4.     Gradual change of day into night and vice versa is a PLAIN OBSERVATION for anybody. It does not require any rocket science to be appreciated. Coupling this observation with the fact that Quran talks of spherical earth is as foolish as claiming that Quran talks about nuclear fusion because it mentions somewhere that the sun shines! Rather than fulfilling his promise of an objective analysis, we find that Dr. Naik has surrendered to his wild imagination to hunt for science in the Quran.

Muslims

It is a plain OBSERVATION that the writer doesn’t have any Scientific Knowledge

Agniveer

Dear reader, we know that you would have called the bluff of Dr. Naik by now. But let’s bear with a few more ‘evidences’ of Dr. Naik. Let this be dealt with once and for all.

Zakir Naik says:

The earth is not exactly round like a ball, but geo-spherical i.e. it is flattened at the poles. The following verse contains a description of the earth’s shape “And the earth, moreover, Hath He made egg shaped.”  [Al-Qur'aan 79:30]

The Arabic word for egg here is dahaha, which means an ostrich-egg. The shape of an ostrich-egg resembles the geo-spherical shape of the earth. Thus the Qur’aan correctly describes the shape of the earth,though the prevalent notion when the Qur’aan was revealed was that the earth is flat

(Agniveer)

As expected, the translation of the above verse is NOT from YUSUF ALI, it’s a later day addition by apologists like Dr. Naik. Here are the three reputed translations:

YUSUFALI: And the earth, moreover, hath He extended (to a wide expanse);
PICKTHAL: And after that He spread the earth,
SHAKIR: And the earth, He expanded it after that.

Al-Taqiyya is at play and Dr. Naik deviates from his assurance that he would quote from Yusuf Ali. He created his own translation!!! Not a single scholar worth his salt translated dahaha as egg-shaped. 

Muslims

Not a Single Schollar?

Look at these translations

Surah Naziat 79:30: Ali Unal :
"And after that He has spread out the earth in the egg-shape (for habitability)."

Surah Naziat 79:30: Rashad Khalifah:
"He (Allah) made the earth egg-shaped."

Surah Naziat 79:30: Syed Vickar Ahamed
"And more, He has extended the earth (far and wide also in the shape of an egg)."

Surah Naziat 79:30: QXP - Shabbir Ahmed:
"And after that He made the earth shoot out from the Cosmic Nebula and made it spread out egg-shaped. ('Dahaha' entails all the meanings rendered (21:30), (41:11))."

Please check the links  if you are not Satisfied.

Agniveer

Well, that’s enough to refute this concoction But let’s refute it thoroughly:

1. The word ‘dahaha’ DOES NOT mean Ostrich-egg…it means to flatten, roll out, spread etc as per the most trusted Arabic dictionaries. No Arabic dictionary of repute can make such a phenomenal blunder, but Dr. Naik is unfazed nonetheless, he is happy with his innovation. He must be reminded that Innovation is a GREAT SIN in Islam

Muslims

What do you mean by most trusted dictionaries?
Oxford Arabic to English Dictionary has translated it

Goodwards has translated and many other dictionaries too

Look at this screenshot of Wikitionary





Check this link for the meaning of dahaha

Agniveer

1. 2. Again, even if hypothetically dahaha meant egg shaped, then again, scientifically speaking, the earth is an oblate spheroid and not an ovoid like the ostrich egg

Muslims

"The shape of the Earth is very close to that of an oblate spheroid, a sphere squished along the orientation from pole to pole such that there is a bulge around the equator."

Source: Earth - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

"The true shape of the Earth called an Oblate Spheroid. The term "Oblate" refers to it's slightly oblong appearance. The term "Spheroid" means that it is almost a sphere, but not quite."

As I said above, "Dahaha," also comes from the root "Dhuya," which means "egg shaped," and refers to the shape of an Ostrich egg. (* *). An ostrich egg-shape is very similar to the same the shape "Oblate Spheroid."





[gallery]





ABOVE: The shape of an ostrich egg, in comparison to the shape of the Earth.



Above: Image Of Earth Above: Oblate Spheroid shape

Today, scientific facts proves to us that the Earth is the shape of an egg and today + the shape of the Earth is very similar to the shape of on Ostrich.








ABOVE: The shape of an ostrich egg, in comparison to the oblate spheroid shape.

Agniveer

3.     Now let’s look at other places where the Quran talks about the shape of the earth

§  Quran 50:7 “And the earth have We spread out, and have flung firm hills therein, and have caused of every lovely kind to grow thereon”. [Waal-ardamadadnahawaalqaynafeeharawasiyawaanbatnafeeha min kullizawjinbaheejin]
The word used here is madadnaha – which means spread out, make plain, flatten – nothing spherical about it. [Quran 50:7]

§  Quran 91:6 “And the earth and Him Who spread it [Waal-ardiwamatahaha]

§  Quran 71:19 “‘And Allah has made the earth for you as a carpet (spread out), [ WaAllahujaAAalalakumu al-ardabisatan ]

From the evidence above, we can safely ask Dr. Zakir Naik to take his ostrich egg back to his ostrich farm and not confuse Muslims as well as non-Muslims on the straight forward translations of the Quranic words/verses by the most reputed scholars of Quran.

And if there is still residual doubt in your minds, let’s read this verse of the author of Quran 79:19 “‘And Allah has made the earth for you as a carpet (spread out),”
[Have you seen a spherical carpet?  ]

MuslimsSpherical carpet?.....was that supposed to be a joke.

The claim of the earth being a carpet can also be explained by modern Science

THE EARTH  SPREAD OUT

In Quran 20:53, 79:19, 91:6, 50:7, the Arabic word used there for earth is "arda" (*) which comes from the root word "ard," which has the following meanings:

1. Land

Source: (*)

v. earth
n. amphitheatre, earth, underworld, land, ground, grounds, soil, topsoil, terrain, territory, floor, site

Source: (*)

1. land
2. earth
3. country
4. ground

Source: (*)
The accurate translation is "land, ground." The same Arabic word is used in: Surah Zukhruf 43:10 (*), Surah Naba 78:6 (*) and Surah Naziat 79:30 (*).

Scientifically, this refers to the outer crust of the Earth. Quran describes the land/ground of the Earth as a bed. This does not mean literally that the land is a bed, this clearly describes the function of the bed. A bed is used, to be comfortable to stay on. Similarly, the land of the Earth is like the function of a bed, in the sense that the land of the Earth has been made comfortable to stay on. Scientifically, the outer crust of the Earth DOES allow us to be comfortable.

The deeper roots on the earth are hot and fluid, and if the outer crust of the earth was not present, life would not exist on the earth. The Earth's mantle, temperatures range between 500C to 900C, as we read now:
"In the mantle, temperatures range between 500 to 900 C (932 to 1,652 �F) at the upper boundary with the crust to over 4,000 C (7,230 F) at the boundary with the core."

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mantle_(geology)#Temperature

IF the outer crust WAS NOT laid out, do you think we would be able to walk on the earth's mantle? Is the earth's mantle a comfortable place to walk on? No. The Earth's crust/land was made like a bed, for us to stay on and for us to be comfortable.

The land refers to what we now know today as the outer crust. This is a Quranic miracle, not an error.

Sine Yousuf Alis Translation of  71:30 is related to “Wide Expanse” , We will throw light on this subject too

2.THE EARTH – A WIDE EXPANSE

Qur’an says in Surah Nabah Ch. 78, Verse No. 6,

‘We have made the Earth as an expanse’. It is referring that… ‘The earth, We have made as wide’-

BUT WHY? ANSWER IS GIVEN

in Surah Ankabut, Ch. 29, Verse, 56 which says…

‘ We have made the Earth as a wide expanse for you so that you will worship Me and Me alone’.

So tomorrow you cannot say that, the situation where I lived in and due to the circumstances, that I could not do good deeds., Allah says

‘The earth is a wide expanse for you – it is spacious’.

You cannot give the excuse for doing evil deeds because of your circumstances. Therefore worship Allah and Allah alone. There is no place in the Holy Qur’an which says…‘The world is flat’.

In fact THE Qur’an says in Surah Luqman, Ch. 31, Verse 29, and Surah Al-Zumoor, Ch. 39, Verse No. 5, that…

‘The world is spherical’

and specifically in Surah Naziyath, Ch. 79, Verse No. 30

‘We have made the Earth thereafter Egg shaped’

…like an Ostrich Egg, which is exactly Geo spherical.

So we can interpret dahaha in two ways

The 1st way to interpret this verse is to translate "arda" as "land/ground," and "dahaha" as "stretch/expanse." This would mean the verse is saying the land has been stretched out/spread out, which is scientifically true.

The 2nd way to interpret this verse is to translate "arda" as "globe/earth," and "dahaha" as "egg-shaped." This would mean the verse is saying the globe has been made egg-shaped which is scientifically true. Since Quran is meant for all times as I have shown from the verses above

the 2nd way to interpret/translate the verse would be the most accurate way.

So then, the question arises :  "why can't you choose the wrong meaning?"

A word may have 10's of meanings. 2 maybe correct, 3 maybe correct. Not all meanings of a word will be correct in every sentence, and this is common in every language. For example: supposed someone tells me: "I have a pig as a pet." If you go to Dictionary.com and Oxford Dictionary, one of the meanings of "pig" is "police officer". So, if I chose the wrong meaning to the word "pig," it would read: "I have a police officer as a pet." When the person says: "I have a pig as a pet," it does NOT mean "I have a police officer as a pet." So, this was just an example showing you that you have to choose the correct meaning.