The Quran and Mountains: Difference between revisions

While it is common today to interpret the above verses as a reference to earthquakes, it is far more likely that they refer to the earth as a whole. Since the author of these verses would have known that earthquakes do in fact occur, including in Arabia itself, it is unlikely that he would have described mountains as being created lest people suffer earthquakes. The most natural reading is that "the earth" (al-ard) in these verses refer to the entire Earth, which fits with the verse discussed above in which mountains are described as pegs or stakes. The poem quoted above attributed to the pre-Islamic poet al-Muhalhil links the mountains (rawāsiya, like in these verses of the Quran) to the shifting/convulsing (with the same verb as these verses) of the entire earth. Similarly, the myth of [[The Islamic Whale]] on which the Earth rests according to some hadiths was narrated in terms of mountains holding down the earth to stop it moving on the back of the whale.

The Prophet said: “When Allah created the earth, it started shaking [tamīdu]. So He created the mountains, and said to them: ‘Upon it’ so it began to settle. [...]}}