Geology

MOUNTAINS ARE LIKE PEGS (STAKES)

In Geology, the phenomenon of 'folding' is a recently discovered fact. Folding is responsible for the formation of mountain ranges. The earth's crust, on which we live, is like a solid shell, while the deeper layers are hot and fluid, and thus inhospitable to any form of life. It is also known that the stability of the mountains is linked to the phenomenon of folding, for it was the folds that were to provide foundations for the reliefs that constitute the mountains. Geologists tell us that the radius of the Earth is about 3,750 miles and the crust on which we live is very thin, ranging between 1 to 30 miles. Since the crust is thin, it has a high possibility of shaking. Mountains act like stakes or tent pegs that hold the earth's crust and give it stability. The Qur'an contains exactly such a description in the following ayath: "Have We not made the earth as a wide expanse, and the mountains as pegs?" [Qur’an.Surah78:6-7]
The word awtad means stakes or pegs (like those used to anchor a tent); they are the deep foundations of geological folds. A book named 'Earth' is considered as a basic reference textbook on geology in many universities around the world. One of the authors of this book is Frank Press, who was the President of the Academy of Sciences in the USA for 12 years and was the Science Advisor to former US President Jimmy Carter. In this book he illustrates the mountain in a wedge-shape and the mountain itself as a small part of the whole, whose root is deeply entrenched in the ground. [Earth, Press and Siever, p. 435. Also see Earth Science, Tarbuck and Lutgens, p. 157] According to Dr. Press, the mountains play an important role in stabilizing the crust of the earth.
The Qur'an clearly mentions the function of the mountains in preventing the earth from shaking: "And We have set on the earth mountains standing firm, lest it should shake with them." [Qur’an.Surah21:31] The Qur'anic descriptions are in perfect agreement with modern geological data.

MOUNTAINS FIRMLY FIXED

The surface of the earth is broken into many rigid plates that are about 100km in thickness. These plates float on a partially molten region called aesthenosphere. Mountain formations occur at the boundary of the plates. The earth's crust is 5km thick below oceans, about 35km thick below flat continental surfaces and almost 80km thick below great mountain ranges. These are the strong foundations on which mountains stand. The Qur'an also speaks about the strong mountain foundations in the following ayath: "And the mountains Hath He firmly fixed." [Qur’an.Surah79:32] [A similar message is contained in the Qur'an in 88:19, 31:10 and 16:15] Link

The function of mountains

Mountains

The Qur'an draws attention to a very important geological function of mountains:

We placed firmly embedded mountains on the earth, so it would not move under them… (Qur'an, 21:31)
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.24.

Mountains have roots deep under the surface of the ground.(Press and Siever, Earth, 413.)

Schematic section. Mountains, like pegs, have deep roots embedded in the ground. (Andre Cailleux and J. Moody Stuart, Anatomy of the Earth (McGraw-Hill Companies: 1968), 220.)

Another illustration shows how mountains are peg-like in shape, due to their deep roots. (Edward J. Tarbuck and Frederick K. Lutgens, Earth Science (USA: Macmillan USA: 1993), 158.)

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 downward. Consequently, as stated earlier, mountains have a portion stretching downwards, 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 into the mantle.25
Professor Siaveda, a world-renowned underwater geologist, made the following comment in reference to the way that mountains have root-like stalks attaching them to the surface: The fundamental difference between continental mountains and the oceanic mountains lies in its material... But the common denominator on both mountains are that they have roots to support the mountains. In the case of continental mountains, light-low density material from the mountain is extended down into the earth as a root. In the case of oceanic mountains, there is also light material supporting the mountain as a root... Therefore, the function of the roots are to support the mountains according to the law of Archimedes.26 Furthermore, a book titled Earth, by Dr. Frank Press, former president of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, which is still used as a text book in a great many universities, states that mountains are like stakes, and are buried deep under the surface of the Earth.27
In other verses, this role of the mountains is pointed out by a comparison with "pegs":
Have We not made the earth as a bed and the mountains its pegs? (Qur'an, 78:6-7)
In another verse it is revealed that Allah "made the mountains firm." (Qur'an, 79:32) The word "arsaha" in this verse means "was made rooted, was fixed, was nailed to the earth." Similarly, mountains extend to the surface layer joining lines on and below the surface, and nail these together. By fixing the Earth's crust they prevent any sliding over the magma layer or amongst the layers themselves. In short, mountains can be compared to nails holding strips of wood together. The fixing effect of mountains is known as isostasy in scientific literature. Isostasy is the state of equilibrium between the upward force created by the mantle layer and the downward force created by the Earth's crust. As mountains lose mass due to erosion, soil loss or melting of glaciers, they can gain mass from the formation of glaciers, volcanic explosions or soil formation. Therefore, as mountains grow lighter they are pressed upwards by the raising force implemented by the liquids. Alternatively, as they grow heavier they are pressed into the mantle by the force of gravity. Equilibrium between these two forces is established by isostasy. This balancing property of mountains is described in these terms in a scientific source:
G.B Airy in 1855 suggested that the crust of the earth could be likened to rafts of timber floating on water. Thick pieces of timber float higher above the water surface than thin pieces and similarly thick sections of the earth's crust will float on a liquid or plastic substratum of greater density. Airy was suggesting that mountains have a deep root of lower density rock which the plains lack. Four years after Airy published his work, J.H Pratt offered an alternative hypothesis... By this hypothesis rock columns below mountains must have a lower density, because of their greater length, than shorter rock columns beneath plains. Both Airy and Pratt's hypothesis imply that surface irregularities are balanced by differences in density of rocks below the major features (mountains and plains) of the crust. This state of BALANCE is described as the concept of ISOSTASY.28
Today, we know that the rocky external layer of the Earth's surface is riven by deep faults and split into plates swimming above the molten lava. Since the Earth revolves very quickly around its own axis, were it not for the fixing effect of the mountains, these plaques would shift. In such an event, soil would not collect on the Earth's surface, water would not accumulate in the soil, no plants could grow, and no roads or houses could be built. In short, life on Earth would be impossible. Through the mercy of Allah, however, mountains act like nails, and to a large extent, prevent movement in the Earth's surface.

This vital role of mountains, which has been discovered by modern geological and seismic research, was revealed in the Qur'an centuries ago as an example of the supreme wisdom in Allah's creation.
… [He] cast firmly embedded mountains on the earth so that it would not move under you… (Qur'an, 31:10)
24. www.wamy.co.uk/announcements3.html, from an address by Prof. Zighloul Raghib El-Naggar.
25. Carolyn Sheets, Robert Gardner, and Samuel F. Howe, General Science (Newton, MA: Allyn and Bacon Inc.: 1985), 305.
26. www.beconvinced.com/science/QURANMOUNTAIN.htm.
27. Frank Press, and Raymond Siever, Earth, 3rd ed. (San Francisco: W. H. Freeman & Company: 1982).
28. M. J. Selby, Earth's Changing Surface (Oxford: Clarendon Press: 1985), 32.
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⦁ THE MOUNTAINS CREATED AS PEGS (OR PICKETS)

Have We not made the earth as a bed, And the mountains as pegs?" (Quran 78: 6-7)
Literally, the word “mountain” (Latin Montanus) is described as “a landmass that projects conspicuously above its surroundings and is higher than a hill.”
The Dictionary of Geological Terms defines a mount or a mountain as a high bill (but mount is always used instead of mountain before a proper name). A mountain is also defined as a tract of land considerably elevated above the adjacent country, and is usually found connected in long chains or ranges, but sometimes can be in the form of single, isolated eminences. From the point of view of physical geography, the same dictionary adds that any portion of the Earth’s crust rising considerably above the surrounding surface is described as a mountain. The term is usually applied to heights of more than 610 meters, all beneath that amount being regarded as hills, and when of considerable heights, hillocks. Nevertheless, in the same issue, a hill is defined as “properly restricted to more or less abrupt elevations of less than 305 meters, all altitudes exceeding this being mountains.”

Indeed, in many of the American references, elevations above 300 meters are considered mountains. A mountain range is defined as a single, large mass consisting of a succession of mountains or narrowly spaced mountain ridges, with or without peaks, closely related in position, direction, formation and age. A mountain range is a component part of a mountain system or a mountain chain. The former is defined as “several more or less parallel ranges grouped together," while the latter is described as “a complex, connected series of several, more or less parallel mountain ranges and mountain systems grouped together without regard to similarity of form, structure or origin, but having “a general longitudinal arrangement or well-defined trend . .
” In other words, a mountain range is a series of more or less parallel ridges, all formed from rocks deposited in a single sedimentation basin, while a mountain system is composed of a number of parallel or consecutive ranges, formed from the sediments of different basins, but of approximately the same age of folding.
A mountain chain consists of two or more mountain systems of the same general trend and elevation, while a cordillera is formed of several chains in the same part of a continent. In “A Dictionary of the Natural Environment," Monkhouse & Small (1978) define the term “mountain” as follows: “A markedly elevated landform, bounded by steep slopes and rising to prominent ridges or individual summit-peaks. There is no specific altitude, but usually taken to be over 600 meters (2000 ft.) in Britain, except where eminences rise abruptly from surrounding lowlands, e.g. Conway M. In such a case, the term Mount is sometimes used . . .
The New Encyclopedia Britannica defines a mountain "as an area of land that is relatively much higher than the land surrounding it” and adds “thus, the so-called hills associated with great ranges such as the Himalayas would be mountains in a less formidable setting."
Similarly, the Encyclopedia Americana defines a mountain as “a portion of the Earth’s surface that rises above the surrounding region” and adds that “Generally, a mountain range decreases in height in stages, with a transition through hills to lower regions called plains. However, in some cases the transition is extremely rapid. Mountains occur worldwide, in both continental and oceanic regions.”
From the above survey, it becomes obvious that all current definitions of mountains, both literal and scientific, restrict themselves to the conspicuous protrusion of such landforms above their surroundings, their high peaks and steep sides, as well as to their presence in either complex ranges, systems, chains, and cordilleras that run more or less parallel to each other or in single prominences. In other words, all current definitions of mountains are only confined to the outer morphology of such landforms, without the slightest notion to their subsurface extensions which have been lately proved to be several times their outward heights.

Mountains in Quran

However, the Qur’an consistently describes mountains as stabilizers for the Earth’s surface which hold it firmly lest it should shake with us, and as pickets (or pegs) for the Earth that hold its surface (i.e. the Earth’s lithosphere) down as a means of fixation. So, the Qur’an—in very simple words—described the outward protrusion of mountains on the Earth’s surface, emphasized their great downward extensions within the Earth’s crust, and defined their exact role as pickets and means of fixation for that crust. Such knowledge was revealed more than 12 centuries before man started to wonder whether or not mountains could have roots below its outcropping parts, and before he could realize any value for the existence of mountains on the surface of our globe, a value that is only being currently conceived by a very limited number of specialists in the field of Earth Sciences.

"Have We not made the earth as a bed, And the mountains as pegs?"(Surat An-Naba' (The Great News): 6-7) Here, I shall comment only on "And the mountains as pegs?" (Surat An-Naba' (The Great News): 7), despite the fact that the preceding one "Have We not made the earth as a bed, (Surat An-Naba' (The Great News): 6), is of great geologic interest, but should be treated in another context...
The description of mountains as pegs (or pickets) clearly implies that such striking geomorphologic features are not just the lofty elevations that are seen on the surface of the Earth (as most current glossaries and encyclopedias define them), but their downward extensions in the Earth’s lithosphere is highly emphasized. In as much as most of the picket (or peg) is hidden. in either soil or rock, and its function is to hold one end of the tent to the ground surface, modern Earth Sciences have just proved that mountains possess very deep roots that stabilize lithospheric plates.

What we see of mountains above the ground surface is nothing but the tops of great masses of rocks that penetrate the lithosphere and float in a more dense substratum (the asthenosphere) as icebergs float in water, with downward extensions below the ground surface that are 10 to 15 times their outward elevations (depending on the average density of the rocks of which the mountain is formed and that of the material in which its root is immersed). A mountain mass with an average specific gravity of 2.7 (that of granite) can sink into a layer of plastic simatic rock (with an average specific gravity of 3.0) until the range is floating with a submerged part (or root) of about nine-tenths, and a protrusion of one tenth its total length. Thus, we can see that by one word (awtad = pegs or pickets) the Glorious Qur’an describes both the outward lofty elevations of mountains, their very deep, downward extensions (to much greater depths than their elevations) and their function as a means of fixation for the whole planet as well as for its continental plates. The term “picket” or “peg” which is used by the Glorious Qur’an to describe mountains, is both literally and scientifically more precise than the term “root” which is currently used to describe the hidden, downward extension of mountains.

The fact that mountains have deep, downward extensions below the ground surface and that their main role is to stabilize the Earth as a planet, and its outer rocky layer (particularly that constitutes continental plates) have only been discerned by the specialists very recently, although scientists have pondered about the possibility of mountains having roots as early as the second half of the nineteenth century. However, the process of formation of such downward extensions as well as their role in halting the sudden, jerky movements of the planet and of its lithospheric plates have only begun to be understood in the framework of modern astronomy and of the very recent concept of plate tectonics (late 1960s and early 1970s). The precedence of the Glorious Qur’an with more than 14 centuries in describing mountains as pegs (or pickets) and in defining their main role as stabilizers for the Earth, lest it should shake with us is a clear testimony that the Qur’an is the work of the Creator, and that Muhammad (PBUH) is His final Messenger.

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