Page 68 - Miracles of The Qur'an Vol. 3

Miracles of the Qur’an

This photograph tak-
en by NASA from
space shows the Gulf
of Aqaba and the
Suez Canal, to the
east of the Sinai
Peninsula. The Sinai
Peninsula, the Dead
Sea and the River
Jordan constitute the
northern part of the
Great Rift Valley.

other. This theory assumed its latest, present-day state with the develop-
ment of the scientific theory known as plate tectonics. Continents do not
move away from one another by sliding over the ocean floor, rather the
ocean floor and the continents drift together over a layer of liquid magma
under great heat and pressure and known as the “astenosphere” or “up-
per crust.” Therefore, both the land continents on earth visible from the
outside and also the crust under the sea are both in motion together. 48
Because the plates that bear the continents move in a manner de-
scribed as contraction and expansion, or stretching, the continents are to-
day moving away from one another at a rate of approximately three cen-
timeters per year. The most evident expansion taking place on the sea
49
bed is that between Arabia and Africa, where the continents are moving

away from one another three or four times faster. When the expansion
takes place on the continent, rather than on the sea bed, the result is con-
stantly widening valleys such as the Great Rift Valley in the East Africa-
Arabia regions.
The Great Rift Valley is a geographical and geological formation

66