“Who has made the earth a resting place for you??

“Who
has made the earth a resting place for you, and the sky as a canopy,
and sent down water (rain) from the sky and brought forth therewith
fruits as a provision for you. Then do not set up rivals unto Allah (in
worship) while you know (that He Alone has the right to be worshipped)”

(Surat Al-Baqarah (The Cow): 22)

By: Dr. / Zaghloul El-Naggar

This ayah appears towards the beginning of Surat
Al-Baqarah (The Cow) which was revealed to Prophet Muhammad (Peace be
upon him) in Madinah. With 286 ayahs, this is the longest Surah in the
Qur’an. Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) praised this Surah saying, “Shaytan runs away from the house in which Surat Al-Baqarah is recited.” (Sahih Muslim).

Surat
Al-Baqarah deals with a number of Islamic laws, issues related to
worship, behavioral and moral principles and pillars of faith such as:

1. Belief
in the Oneness of Allah (to whom no partner, equal or rival may be
ascribed) and belief in His angels, apostles, Books and the Day of
Judgment.

2. Belief
in the unity of the human race regardless of race, ethnicity or any
other distinction; all human beings are descendants of Adam and Eve.

3. Adhering
to the pillars of Islam: the shahadah (testimony of faith), offering
the five compulsory prayers, zakat, fasting in Ramadan and performing
hajj (pilgrimage), for those who are able to.

4. There
is no distinction between any of His Messengers; belief in the Prophet
Muhammad (PBUH) as being the “seal” of the Prophethood and that his
message was the last divine message to be revealed and is preserved in
the Qur’an.

Signs of creation in Surat Al-Baqara:

1. There is no doubt about any word, letter or sign in the Qur’an as scientific research showed later on (Ayah 2).

2. Reference
to mental disorders, such as anxiety, obsessive compulsive disorder,
and paranoia, which were unheard of 1400 years ago (Ayah 10).

3. The difference between light, fire and sunshine in contradiction to darkness, which was only recently discovered by scientists (Ayah 17).

4. Storms
that normally occur at night and are accompanied by thunder, lightning
and violent winds, bringing together different meteorological phenomena:
a fact that has only been understood recently (Ayah 19).

5. Loss of sight by staring at lightning. Light travels faster than sound. (Ayah 20).

6. Acknowledgement of Allah as the Creator of everything (Ayah 21).

7. Reference
to how the Earth is spread out, how the sky is held up and the
celestial bodies that orbit therein, rain falling from clouds causing
different kinds of fruits to grow and the prohibition of shirk
(ascribing partners to Allah) (Ayah 22).

8. The example of the gnat and other insects distinguished by their sophisticated bodies (Ayah 26).

9. Death
precedes life and then follows it; Allah created everything on earth,
then He rose to the heaven and made it into seven heavens and He is the
All-Knower of everything (Ayah29).

10. Mention
of the historical fact that Allah split the sea into two for the
Prophet Musa in order to save him and his followers and drowned Pharaoh
and his soldiers (Ayah 50).

11. Allah
caused twelve springs to gush forth with a strike of Prophet Musa’s
staff on the eastern bank of the Gulf of Suez in an area known today as
Uyun Musa (the Springs of Moses) (Ayah 60).

12. Using the east and west to denote the whole of the universe (Ayahs 124, 115).

13. Taking the Ka’ba as the kiblah (direction in which Muslims pray), confirming that Makkah is the center of the world (Ayahs 144, 149, 150).

14. Reference
to the creation of the heavens and the earth, the alternation of day
and night, ships sailing through the sea in the service of mankind, rain
falling from the sky reviving the earth after its death, living
creatures scattered throughout the earth, the change in the direction of
the wind and the clouds held between the earth and the sky are indeed
proofs for men of understanding (Ayah 164).

15. Assertion of the fact that the lunar cycles are signs to establish the months for people and pilgrimage (Ayah 189).

16. The harm that results from drinking alcohol and gambling is far more serious than any benefits they may have (Ayah 219).

17. The dangers associated with having sex during menstruation (Ayah 221).

18. Heavy
rain does not cause damage to a garden or orchard situated on a height
because the water subsides once the land takes what it needs. It may
even double its harvest yield. If it does not receive heavy rain, light
rain suffices to water the plants and to nourish the fruits. This means
that the garden will flourish, whether it receives heavy or light rain.
This similitude, comparing pious people who spend their wealth seeking
Allah’s pleasure to a garden which flourishes no matter how heavy or
light the rain it receives, is based on an established scientific fact. (Ayah 265)

As each of these issues need to be dealt with separately, I will limit my discussion to ayah 22 of Surat Al-Baqara, which deals with the following issues:

1. Acknowledgement of Allah as the Creator of everything.

2. The spreading out of the earth.

3. The sky as a canopy governed by its own rules and the orbit of the celestial bodies in it.

4. Rain falling from the sky.

5. The production of fruit using rainwater.

Finally, we will conclude with a discussion on shirk (polytheism). Allah forbids us and warns us against shirk. But, let us first review some of the interpretations for these two ayahs.

Interpretation of these ayahs by some scholars:

“O
mankind! Worship your Lord (Allah), Who created you and those who were
before you so that you may become Al-Muttaqun (the pious), Who
has made the earth a resting place for you, and the sky as a canopy,
and sent down water (rain) from the sky and brought forth therewith
fruits as a provision for you. Then do not set up rivals unto Allah (in worship) while you know (that He Alone has the right to be worshipped.)”

(Surat Al-Baqarah (The Cow): 22).

Concerning the interpretation of these ayahs, Fi Zilal Al-Qur’an
states, “…it is a call for mankind as a whole to worship their Lord Who
created them and those before them. It is He who owns all of creation,
thus He must be the only One worthy of worship. Worship has a goal that
worshippers wish to achieve; namely, to become devout and righteous
people who fear Allah and abstain from all kinds of sins and evil deeds
He has forbidden. They hope to become excellent models for mankind. *“Who has made the earth a resting place for you”* is
a phrase which refers to the comfortable life of man on earth which was
made to be a pleasant dwelling and an adequate retreat for him, like a
bed. People forget the allegory of the bed that was made comfortable for
them by Allah as they take it for granted.

Scientific implications in these ayahs:

1. “Who has made the earth a resting place for you”

The
surface area of the earth is estimated to be about 510 million km2; 29%
(149 million km2) is land (lithosphere) and 71% (361 million km2) is
water (hydrosphere). About half of the surface (173 million km2) is made
up of epi-continental shelves submerged underwater. These vast
dimensions make the earth (land surface) seem to be flat to man.

The
land surface and the marine (sea and ocean) subsurface are not entirely
flat but rise and fall in areas. Mount Everest, the highest peak on
earth, is 8,848m, whereas the lowest one (400 below sea level) lies at
the Dead Sea Basin. However, the Dead Sea
which in part reaches to 800 m below sea level is considered to be a
point on land as it is a landlocked sea. The level of the deepest region
in the oceans is the Mariana Trench, which lies in the Pacific Ocean
near the Philippines;
it is 11,033km deep. The difference between the highest and the lowest
point on earth is less than twenty kilometers (19,881 km). Comparing the
radius of the earth (which is estimated to be about 6371 km on
average), it seems that the difference between the highest and the
lowest point on earth is no more than 0.3 % of the earth’s radius.

The
difference between the average height of land (estimated to be about
840m above sea level) and the average depth of seas and oceans (which is
estimated to be 3729m) comes to about 4500m. If you compare this to the
radius of the earth, the resulting ratio would be about 0.007 %. This
averaging technique helps us to understand how Allah leveled and spread
out the surface of the earth. Initially, the Earth’s surface was formed
from hardly high relief lands from mountains and plateaus. By the will
of Allah, through various factors of erosion (weathering, friction,
transportation and sedimentation), these mountains have been weathered
to form smooth moderate to low height relieves from hills and plains.
Moreover, the transportation factors as waters flow through rivers to
transport the weathered detrital sediments from high lands to basins,
oceans and seas forming great deltas. Once the high relief surface of
the earth becomes level with the sea bottom taking the shape of a flat
plain, the erosion affecting it ceases.

The
struggle between the orogenic movements and the erosion is ongoing; the
destructive processes try to make the high relieves of the land surface
at the same height of the sea level through successive cycles known as
‘the Earth’s varied landscapes or the Earth’s erosional system. These
cycles have been active from about least 4.6 billion years ago, to make
the land surface flat and spread in order to make it suitable for man
and other creatures. Mountain passes were formed; rivers, lakes, and
plains were made. These types of interactions between land and water
(continents and oceans), highlands and lowlands, rock cycles and all
other processes of earthly equilibrium were created by Allah to give the
earth a life-friendly environment and shall continue until the Day of
Judgment. Thanks to these reciprocal cycles of construction and
deconstruction, fertile plains, flourishing soil, various kinds from ore
deposits and country rocks which had been accumulated through millions
of years. Generally, the rate of sedimentation needs from 100 to 200
years to form one centimeter from sediments, in other hand erosion of
one centimeter from rocks ranges from 3 to 300 years. Therefore,
mankind would never have been able to undertake the task of flattening
the land surface which is a time and energy consuming activity; Allah
the Almighty has done this for us already when He says, *“Who has made the earth a resting place for you”*; these words are proof of His divinity, Oneness and the fact that He is the Creator.

2. “...and the sky as a canopy”

Allah
has favored us with the sophisticated construction of the sky in its
immense dimensions, with the countless celestial bodies, and the
different types of matter and energy found there. Allah has given each
and every molecule in the heavens a number of forces, such as:

1) Strong
nuclear force: The force which holds the basic components of matter
inside the nucleus. Without this nuclear force, atomic nuclei would
never be formed and the universe would be filled worthless primary
components of matter.

2) Weak
nuclear force: The force which holds the basic components inside the
atoms, without atoms of matter would not exist and the universe would be
filled only with the nuclei of atoms.

3) Electromagnetic
force: The force which holds atoms of matter together inside every
molecule or compound. This force leads to electromagnetic radiation in
the shape of photons. Without this kind of force, the universe would be
filled with atoms of loose compounds and light and heat molecules would
not exist and life would be impossible.

4) Gravitational
force: The force that holds together all the regions of the sky, the
stars and heavenly objects. Without this connecting bond that Allah has
given every object in the universe, the earth and the sky would be
unheard of. Once this bond vanishes, the universe and all its components
would scatter. That is why we owe so much to Allah for His grace of
making the sky like a canopy.

1. “...and sent down water (rain) from the sky”

Allah
sends down water from the clouds where the rain is the source of all
pure water on the earth’s surface. Initially, water comes from inside
the earth in the form of vapor which travels upwards with volcanic
eruptions and is condensed in the earth’s atmosphere which is cooler at
higher altitudes. The earth then receives this water in the form of rain
which follows in the ground surface to form seas and oceans. The water
cycle thus starts in the earth. The amount of water that goes from the
earth to the atmosphere is estimated to be about 380,000 km3, most of
which is evaporated from sea and ocean surfaces (320,000 km3). The
remainder is evaporated from land, around 60,000 km3. By Allah’s will,
every drop of water which has evaporated from the earth comes back onto
the land (96,000 km3) and into the seas and oceans (284,000 km3).

Thanks
to this miraculous water cycle, water vapor travels into the earth’s
atmosphere purifying itself of all salts and contaminants in order to
come back to earth in a pure form. This cycle takes place between one
kilometer below sea level and 15 km above sea level. It helps to clean
water, moderates the weather and provides different levels of humidity,
satisfies the thirst of man and animals, waters plants, fills rivers and
springs and nourishes the soil and underground aquifers. Continuously,
all of these are renewed, increased and refreshed by water cycle. It
also helps to substitute the amounts of water it usually pumps out onto
the land surface. Moreover, the water grinds up the rocks through
weathering processes to form new soil, sedimentary rocks ore deposits
and economic metals.

Though
rainwater holds much good and mercy, Allah the Almighty can also use it
as a punishment, as is the case with torrents and flash floods which
can result in massive destruction, such as mudslides and overflowing
rivers which damage property and cultivated land as well as killing
people.

Thanks
to the water cycle, the sedimentary cover, whose volume is estimated to
be more than 360,000 km3, was formed. It contains salt evaporates which
weigh millions of tons. These salts, which were originally leached by
rain from the rocks, deposited through evaporation processes for sea
water in lagoons and enclosed lakes. Afterwards, they were carried
through the water cycle to seas and oceans so that they returned to
earth through the reciprocal cycles between the oceans and continents
when they are transformed from one into the other.

2. “And brought forth therewith fruits as a provision for you”

In
this ayah, fruit production is the fourth of the mentioned blessings
that Allah Has bestowed on His servants. The life of men, animals and
plants depend on this blessing and everything produced from them is
linked to life, especially fruits of higher plant orders. Thus, we can
clearly see Allah’s wisdom as He created plants before He created
animals; after all, creation was made perfectly and the Earth was
prepared to receive man. Allah created man and made him the most favored
of all creatures.

The
production of fruit is mentioned in a nice logical sequence; first the
ayah refers to the formation of the earth through various processes of
erosion (such as weathering, friction, removal and sedimentation)
causing rocks to crumble and flat plains and rich soil necessary for
cultivation to be formed making the earth a comfortable environment for
human, animal and plant life. Secondly, it refers to the construction of
the sky, starting with the atmosphere surrounding the earth and the
clouds which act only within the rules determined by Allah the Almighty,
i.e. the clouds are cooled at the highest altitudes till they carry all
the condensed vapor that originates from earth and, with Allah’s will,
fall back to earth in the form of rain. This is the reason the ayah
refers to rain falling from the sky for Allah to bring forth different
types of fruits from the earth as a provision for His servants. This but
a drop in an ocean of countless blessings Allah has bestowed upon man
and all creatures.

The
name “fruit” is often applied loosely to all edible plant products--be
it roots, stems leaves or flowers. Fruits fall into two types; real and
accessory fruits. “Real fruits” include all kinds of plants whose fruits
develop from the ovaries after they are fully fertilized by pollen. The
embryo of the plant, which lies inside the seed, is covered with a
number of sheaths which serve to protect and nourish the embryo
throughout the germination period. Whereas, in some other examples, the
fruit could be the seeds themselves as is the case with legumes and
grains. The basic function of fruits is to preserve the embryos inside
the seeds, nourish them throughout the germination period and to help
propagate the plant species. Without these functions, higher plants
would become extinct. As for the other functions of fruits, they serve
as food for humans and animals.

Real
fruits fall into three types: they are either simple (like apples),
aggregate (like strawberries) or multiple (like berries). Accessory
fruits are those which are formed by parts other than the ovary, such as
figs or the fleshy cones of juniper trees. Some fruits are considered
to be a basic food for man, some are used by different kinds of animals,
and many of them are used to produce oil, spices, and colorings which
man uses for cooking. They have various other purposes, like medicinal
use, which both man and animals need to cure their illnesses and ease
their pain. This is why fruit production is a great blessing from Allah
acting as a witness to Allah’s divine omnipotence, which manifests
itself in the variety and complexity of His creation.

3. “Then do not set up rivals unto Allah (in worship) while you know (that He Alone has the right to be worshipped)”

After
examining an aspect of Allah’s blessings upon His servants, there is a
divine order making shirk as haram (unlawful), forbidding mankind to set
up partners to His divinity, partners who can neither harm nor benefit
anyone and who have no power over anything. Every rational person
realizes that Allah alone is the Creator, the Sustainer with great might
and that all of creation is His servants. The Prophet Muhammad (PBUH)
was asked, “What sin does Allah consider to be the greatest?” He
replied, “Making partners with Allah when He created you”. He said to
Mu’adh Ibn Jabal, “do you know what Allah’s right is on His servant?
That he worships Him and does not make partners with Him”.

These
scientific facts were unknown to man until the nineteenth and twentieth
centuries. That they were present in Allah’s divine scripture 1400
years ago proves that it is the word of Allah, the Creator, and confirms
the Prophethood and message of Muhammad (PBUH), to whom these words
were revealed. It is also a proof of tawhid (Islamic monotheism) which
calls for worshipping the One God who has neither a rival nor opponent.

I
bear witness that there is no God other than Allah and that Muhammad is
His Messenger and servant (May Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him,
his family, Companions and all those who have followed his guidance and
footsteps until the Day of Resurrection) and praise be to Allah, the
Lord of the worlds.

الموضوع الأصلي : “Who has made the earth a resting place for you??

المصدر : ملتقى الجزائريين والعرب