Page 64 - The Day of Judgment

62 THE DAY OF JUDGMENT

parts of polar glaciers melted, icebergs melted and raised the
oceans' water levels, colder winters than usual, extreme rainfall, and
devastating hurricanes and floods. The hole in the ozone layer
exposed Earth to harmful radiation from space, increased cancer
rates, caused new illnesses to be identified and diagnosed, and
revealed degenerative developments in plant life. American
scientists and Greenpeace activists discovered during their research
in Alaska that the Bering Glacier has shrunk by 12 kms (7.5 miles) in
2
length and 130 m (155 square yards) in size. 10 The ocean's water
temperature increased by 0.8 degrees; corals, which play a vital role
in the ecosystem's balance, began to die; and 80 percent of the
plankton was destroyed. 11
Over the last few centuries, many new probable causes for the
world's end have emerged, and their number continues to increase
every day. Our planet's current situation contains a strong message:

Earth's end is a certainty, and its time is approaching. Physicists, in
particular, frequently express their concerns about this, as follows:
If the universe has a finite stock of order, and is changing irreversibly
towards disorder—ultimately to thermodynamic equilibrium—two
very deep inferences follow immediately. The first is that the universe
will eventually die, wallowing, as it were, in its own entropy. This is
known among physicists as the "heat death" of the universe. The second
is that the universe cannot have existed for ever, otherwise it would
have reached its equilibrium end state an infinite time ago. Conclusion:
the universe did not always exist. 12
It is surprising that so many people continue to live without
considering their own end and being in awe of Allah, and remain
totally absorbed by their worldly lives despite the proximity of