And do they not see how the mountains have been created – raised out of the earth

[88:19] And (do they not see) how the mountains have been created – raised out of the earth

Sorat Al Ghashiah tell us that at one point in time, the earth had no mountains and that the mountains were raised (nasb in Arabic) in a similar fashion as per the books of tafseer to that of a bidwin (nomad) would raise his tent, so how would a bidwin raise his tent.

The tent cover is placed on the ground and a rope is tied from one side to the cover while the other side is tied to a wedge that is pinned to the ground, a long column is laid parallel to the rope and is fitted where the rope meets the cover, the column is pushed against the rope, which will cause the tent cover to rise up, the rest of the columns are raised in a similar fashion and this how you get a five-star tent.

Everest is the highest mountain peak on earth (above water) and is 8,848 meters  (29,029 ft) above sea level, the amazing feature about the peak is that the rocks at the top are of limestone; a type of rocks that exists at sea beds. The fact that marine limestone exists at the top of Mt. Everest, indicates scientifically that mountains were raised as a result of deformation that caused a considerable vertical movement of the crust. Such vertical movement of the crust is scientifically called uplift. 

In geology, mountains are classified into three types; namely, folded mountains, volcanic mountains and fault-block mountains, however, all types were formed as a result of tectonic plate movements. Because folded mountains constitute the majority on the surface of the earth, we will focus our attention to the way they were formed.

When two continental plates collided as in the case of India and Asia, a fold in the earth crust occurred and land was uplifted creating mountain ranges that we now know as the Himalayas, the fact that marine limestone exists at the top of Mt. Everest simply confirms the scientific theory of uplift. (Nasb نصب in Arabic). If you take a closer look at the world map above, you will notice that most mountain ranges exist on the sides of continents; this is due to old continent collisions that created the folds, while recent collisions such as the Himalayas as it is still in progress.

But what about the Ayah’s (verses) that described the mountains as brads (wedges) and anchors; the almighty described this anchoring effect as critical for life as it was mentioned in several locations in the Quran and that this anchoring effect will stabilize the crust rotation, those Ayah’s tell us that:

1.  The earth’s crust is floating on a liquid layer which in turn resides on a solid core, an unknown scientific fact at the time of the revelation of the Quran
2. The stabilizing effect of the anchors and wedges is critical for habitable earth

By studying the variations in earth’s gravity called anomaly, scientists recently realized that the mountains have a mirror image of their shape rooted in the crust, such crustal roots can reach 70 km in depth while the typical crust depth does not exceed 40 km. The schematic diagram below illustrates this fact established in the Quran.

When a thick continental plate collides with the thinner but more dense oceanic plate, the oceanic plate is subdued under the continental plate as shown below in a phenomenon referred to in the Quran as anchors.

So who taught Mohammad all this?

By: Husein A. Kattab