Mountains in Quran
The Rainbow Mountains, located in China’s Zhangye Danxia Landform Geological Park
Normally, no one would think of any mountains to take such amazing colors but the Quran mentions the existence of colorful mountains as one of Allah’s creations. Here is the verse of the Quran.
( Have you not seen that Allah sends down water from the sky? With it We produce fruits of various colors. And in the mountains are streaks of white and red — varying in their hue — and pitch-black. Likewise, human beings, animals, and livestock come in various colors. From among His servants, the learned fear Allah. Allah is Almighty, Oft-Forgiving )
The Quran 35:27–28
Mountains
In geology, modern science has recently discovered the phenomenon of folding which formed the mountain ranges. The earth’s crust is like a solid shell, while the deeper layers are hot and fluid, and thus inhospitable to any form of life. It has also been discovered that the stability of mountains is linked to the phenomenon of folding. The process of mountain formation by folding drove the earth’s crust down into the lower layers and provided foundations for the mountains.
Let us now compare modern ideas with one verse among many in the Qur’an that deals with this subject. It is taken from chapter an-Naba’:
“Have We not made the earth an expanse and the mountains stakes?”
Qur’an, 78:6–7
Stakes ( awtaad ), which are driven into the ground like those used to anchor a tent, are the deep foundations of geological folds.
Here, as in the case of all the other topics presented, the objective observer cannot fail to notice the absence of any contradiction to modern knowledge.
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.
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.
Mountains also play an important role in stabilizing the crust of the earth.
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.
Could anyone during the time of the Prophet Muhammad
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.
In the Quran, Allah invites men of understanding/knowledge/intelligence to think about the issues which other people overlook, or just dismiss using such barren terms as “evolution”, “coincidence”, or “a miracle of nature”.
( Surely in the creation of the heavens and the earth, and in the alternation of night and day, there are signs for men of understanding. those who remember Allah while standing, sitting or (reclining) on their backs, and reflect in the creation of the heavens and the earth, (saying): ‘Our Lord! You have not created this in vain. Glory to You! Save us, then, from the chastisement of the Fire )
Quran 3:190–191
As we see in these verses, people of understanding see the signs of Allah and try to comprehend His eternal knowledge, power and art by remembering and reflecting on them, for Allah’s knowledge is limitless, and His creation flawless.
For men of understanding, everything around them is a sign of this creation.
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