Page 217 - For Men of Understanding

"yukawwir." In English, it means "to make one thing lap over another, folded up
as a garment that is laid away." For instance, in Arabic dictionaries this word is
used for the action of wrapping one thing around another, in the way that a tur-
ban is put on. The information given in the verse about the day and the night
wrapping each other up includes accurate information about the shape of the
world. This can be true only if the Earth is round. This means that in the Qur'an,
th
which was revealed in the 7 century, the roundness of the world was hinted at.
However, it should be remembered that the understanding of astronomy of
the time perceived the world differently. It was then thought that the world was
a flat plane and all scientific calculations and explanations were based on this
belief. However, the glorious Qur'an has employed the most definitive words
when it came to describing the universe. These facts, which we could only cor-
rectly fathom in our century, have been in the Qur'an for a vast length of time.

MOUNTAINS' ROLE

The Qur'an draws attention to a very important geological function of moun-
tains:
We placed firmly embedded mountains on the Earth, so it would not
move under them... (Surat al-Anbiya': 31)
The verse states that mountains perform the function of preventing shocks in
the Earth. This fact was not known by anyone at the time the Qur'an was
revealed. It was, in fact, brought to light only recently, as a result of the findings
of modern geological research.
Formerly, it was thought that mountains were merely protrusions rising above
the surface of the Earth. However, scientists realised that this was not actually the
case, and that those parts known as the mountain root extended down as far as
10-15 times their own height. With these features, mountains play a similar role
to a nail or peg firmly holding down a tent. For example, Mount Everest, the
summit of which stands approximately 9 km above the surface of the Earth, has
a root deeper than 125 km (77.7 miles). (Prof. Zighloul Raghib El-Naggar, "The
Miraculous Qur'an;" www.wamy.co.uk/announcements3.html)
Mountains emerge as a result of the movements and collisions of massive
plates forming the Earth's crust. When two plates collide, the stronger one slides
under the other, the one on the top bends and forms heights and mountains. The
layer beneath proceeds under the ground and makes a deep extension down-
ward. Consequently, as stated earlier, mountains have a portion stretching down-
wards, as large as their visible parts on the Earth.
In a scientific text, the structure of mountains is described as follows:
Where continents are thicker, as in mountain ranges, the crust sinks deeper

Recent Scientific Findings and the Qur'an 215