Twenty-Second Window
Have We not made the earth a cradle, * And the mountains as pegs, * And created you as pairs?1 * So behold the signs of God’s Mercy, how He raises to life the earth after its death.2
The globe of the earth is a head with a hundred thousand mouths. In each mouth are a hundred thousand tongues. On each tongue are a hundred thousand proofs, each one of which testifies in numerous ways to the necessary existence, unity, sacred attributes, and Most Beautiful Names of an All-Glorious One.
Yes, we consider the first creation of the earth and we see that rock was created from matter in a fluid state, and that soil was created from rock. If that substance had remained fluid, it would not have been habitable, and if after becoming rock, the fluid had become hard as iron, it would not have suitable for use. So what gave it its state was surely the wisdom of an All-Wise Maker Who saw the needs of the earth’s inhabitants. Then the layer of soil was thrown over the pegs of mountains so that the earthquakes arising from internal upheavals could breathe through the mountains and they would not cause the earth to be shaken out of its motion and duties, and so that the mountains would preserve the earth from the encroachment of the sea, and all would be storehouses for the vital necessities of living beings, and would purify the air from noxious gases so allowing living beings to breathe, and so that they would accumulate and hold water reserves, and would be a source and mine for the minerals necessary for living creatures.
Thus, this situation testifies most clearly and powerfully to the necessary existence and unity of a Possessor of Absolute Power, an All-Wise and Compassionate One.
O geographers! With what can you explain this? What chance could make this dominical ship full of these wonderful creatures into an exhibition of marvels, and spin it at a speed whereby it covers a distance of twenty-four thousand years a year while not allowing a single of the objects arranged on its face to fall off?
Consider also the strange arts on the face of the earth. How wisely the elements are employed in their functions! How well they attend to the guests of the Most Merciful One on the earth through the command of that All-Wise and Powerful One, and hasten to serve them!
Qur’an, 78:6-8.
Qur’an, 30:50.