User:Lehrasap/Sandbox 3
Modern Islamic Scholars claim that modern science has proved that roots of mountains go inside the earth like pegs, therefore it is a miracle of Quran to tell it correctly 1400 years ago.
While the critics not only deny it to be a miracle of Quran, but also claim that Quran made two scientific mistakes about mountains.
Muslim claim: Quran rightly told 1400 years ago that mountains works as pegs/anchors in order to stabilize the otherwise shaking earth
They quote the following verses as a proof.
And We made on the Earth stabilisers (i.e. Mountains), so that it would not tumble with you.
Please also see the verses 15:19, 16:15, and 31:10
But contrary to the Muslims claim, Quran is telling here wrong scientific facts about mountains. And this wrong view also existed among Arabs in time prior to Muhammad.
The idea of Mountains being Pegs had already existed among the Arabs before Muhammad
The idea of mountains being pegs even existed among the Arabs before Muhammad. For example, Ka’ab was one of the ancestor of Muhammad. This Ka’ab also declared mountains to be pegs long before Muhammad.
Ka'ab Bin Lowy was a man of great honour among his ancestors and progeny. He was the first person who gave the name of Friday to the day of Friday. Arabs used to call him 'Aroba. He gathered them and advised them to hear, learn and understand, and to know that night is deserted and silent, while day is full of sunlight, and earth is a cradle while sky is a support, and mountains are pegs, and stars are signs, ...
The critics point out that the writer of Qur'an only recorded this old concept in Quran.
Similarly, other civilizations also had the concept of mountains having roots. For example, we find this concept in bible too.
Critics claim: There are 2 Scientific mistakes in Quran regarding the creation of mountains
According to the critics, the writer of Quran made two scientific mistakes regarding the creation of mountains.
First Mistake: Allah 'placed جعل' the Mountains 'from above من فوقها' into the earth according to the Quran
According to the modern science, mountains are formed when two plates techtonic collide with each other. But critics claim that verse 41:10 claimed that Allah 'placed' the mountains 'from above' into the earth.
وَجَعَلَ فِيهَا رَوَٰسِىَ مِن فَوْقِهَا
And He placed (Arabic: جعل) in it stabilisers (i.e. mountains) from above (Arabic: من فوقها).(Quran Word by Word Translation by Quran Corpus)
And He placed therein firmly-set mountains from above it. (Word for Word Dr. Shehnaz Shaikh)
And He made in it mountains above its surface. (Shakir)
And He made on it firm mountains from above it. (Dr. Laleh Bakhtiar)
He has placed in it (the earth) firm mountains from above it. (Abdul Hye)
And He placed therein firm mountains from above it. (Dr. Kamal Omar)
And He made therein anchorages (i.e., mountains) from above it. (Muhammad Mahmoud Ghali):
And He placed on the earth firmly set mountains over its surface. (Sahih International)
And He placed in it stabilizers from above it. (The Monotheist Group)
And He made/put in it anchors/fixtures/mountains from above it. (Muhammad Ahmed - Samira)
And in it He placed mountains as anchors from above it. (Faridul Haque)
He placed therein (i.e. the earth) firm mountains from above it. (Mohsin Khan & Muhammad al-Hilali)
Similarly, verse 16:15 is also claims that Allah CASTE the mountains into the earth.
(Sahih International) And He has cast into the earth firmly set mountains, lest it shift with you,
The word 'he has cast' is alqa (lam-qaf-ya), which in this form (Arabic verb form IV) is frequently used elsewhere in the Quran to mean throw or cast. It is the same word as is used in Quran 3:44 when lots are cast using pens (it would be easy to imagine that mountains were similarly scattered), and Quran 12:10 when the prophet Yusuf is cast down into the well, and in Quran 20:20 when Moses casts down his staff, which becomes a snake.
According to the modern science, mountains are not 'placed'/'cast' over earth's surface, but they are formed when two plates tectonics collide with each other (i.e. when earthquake takes place), then crust of one plate goes upwards and forms a mountain, while the crust of other plate goes downwards.
And then this process of colliding of plates tectonics (i.e. earthquakes) continues for millions of years, and with each collision mountains keep on rising high little by little. And when the plates tectonics start to move away from each other, then these high mountains start to erode and after millions of years, they completely disappear.
For example, there existed no Mount Everest 250 million years ago. But then two plates tectonics collided with each other, and a small Mount Everest came into being due to that. Then it kept on gaining height with each collision of the plates tectonics. Today it is the highest mountain. It will keep on gaining even more height, but then a time will come, when it will start eroding and will disappear completely.
Second Mistake: Allah had already made the mountains on the day of Sunday at time of the creation of the universe
Quran claims that Allah had already created the mountains on the 2nd day of creation.
And Hadith made it more clear that 2nd day of creation was Sunday, when the mountains were created by Allah.
But according to the modern science[1][2]
- Mountains had not already been created on the 2nd day of creation of the heavens (universe) and the earth.
- But earth came into being 9 billion years after the heavens (universe).
- And the earth initially consisted of gases and molten surface only. It took billions of more years to come into solid form.
- And even after earth had already come into solid state, still it took billions of years more in the formation of plates tectonics and then mountains.
- And older mountains erode and disappear with time, and new mountains start forming.