What do you say to the claim that mountains do not prevent earthquakes and that the relevant verses contradict science?

- What do you say to those who claim that mountains do not prevent earthquakes, that they only stabilize the earth, and that verses 15 of an-Nahl, 31 of al-Anbiya, and 10 of Luqman contradict science?

Dear Brother / Sister,

The verses in question are as follows:

“And He has set up on the earth mountains standing firm, lest it should shake with you; and rivers and roads; that ye may guide yourselves.” (an-Nahl, 16/15)

“And We have set on the earth mountains standing firm, lest it should shake with them, and We have made therein broad highways (between mountains) for them to pass through...” (al-Anbiya, 21/31)

“He created the heavens without any pillars that ye can see; He set on the earth mountains standing firm, lest it should shake with you; and He scattered through it beasts of all kinds. We send down rain from the sky, and produce on the earth every kind of noble creature, in pairs.” (Luqman, 31/10)

The common theme of those verses -related to our topic- is that “fixed mountains were placed on the earth so that its movement would not shake people.”

In the original Arabic text of these verses, mountains are referred to as “rawasi” -not “jibal”. The word expressing “shaking” is the verb “tamidu” derived from the root “mayd” -Mada- Yamidu- “Tamidu”.

The word rawasi is the plural of “ar-Rasi”, which is derived from the root “raws” or “ruwuss”; it means to be fixed in one place, to be an element of pressure, to settle in a place. It is used for mountains because it is a general characteristic. (Tabari, Razi, Ibn Ashur, the interpretation of verse 15 of an-Nahl)

First, the tremor mentioned in the verse should be understood not as a normal, localized earthquake, but rather as the tremor that occurred on the entire globe during the geological eras when the earth was first created.

As a matter of fact, in some tafsirs, this tremor of the Earth is likened to the shaking experienced by a ship on the sea as it sways from side to side while on the verge of capsizing. (see Razi, the interpretation of the verse in question).

Hamdi Yazır’s explanation below also supports this fact.

“Yet We, who created them, placed heavy pressures on the earth so that it would not shake them. In other words, We created mountains on the earth, firm and stable, so that the earth would not shake and toss people, whom We separated from the sky and gave them life from water, and so that they could find a place of stability. Just consider what great distress it would be if the earth remained in a liquid state and people were tossed about as the earth moved. By creating the mass of earth and establishing mountains like pegs, this distress was averted and the earth was made habitable for human life.” (Interpretation of verse 31 of al-Anbiya).

While interpreting the phrase “and the mountains as pegs” in verse 7 of an-Naba, Badiuzzaman Said Nursi attempts to explain its meaning from a metaphorical perspective and from several angles, which shows that the verse points to different realities:

First: The Earth floats like a submarine in the ocean. To prevent it from losing its course and capsizing in this ocean, mountains were created to serve as the ship’s anchors and masts.

Second: When compressions occur in the belly of the Earth, the Earth breathes through the mountains to prevent it from tipping over its axis. Accordingly, mountains serve as the Earth’s breathing vents.

Third: Humanity is the most important inhabitant of the Earth. The most vital elements in human life are water, soil, and air. Mountains are the guardians of those three elements. Mountains protect the soil from erosion, from invasion by the seas, and the air from pollution, while also storing water efficiently.

Fourth: The way the world appears to be connected to the horizons through its mountains gives the earth the appearance of a tent. In particular, if those who live in tents or who can imagine such a life possess a taste for literary art, they can think of the mountains as poles and pegs of the earth’s tent (see Muhakemat, 73-74; Kur’an İlimleri ve Tefsir Açısından Bediüzzaman’ın Eserleri, pp. 226-227).

According to some experts, what geology says about mountains is in complete alignment with the information given above. According to this information, one of the characteristics of mountains is that they rise at the edges of large tectonic plates on the Earth’s surface and connect those plates to each other. In this respect, mountains are likened to nails that hold planks together. In addition, the pressure that mountains exert on the Earth’s crust prevents the effects of magma movements in the Earth’s core from reaching the surface and fracturing the Earth’s crust.

Furthermore, according to experts, mountains have a close relationship with earthquakes; earthquakes are caused by the release of energy from the fracturing of stressed layers of earth, which is then transmitted through the earth’s crust in the form of seismic waves, like the waves created when the end of a ruler is stretched tightly and then released. This wave motion gradually weakens as the earth’s mass absorbs this energy, and eventually dies out after a certain distance, just like the waves created by a stone thrown into a lake gradually weaken and die out.

It is a well-established principle in science that resistance to linear motion is proportional to mass, while resistance to rotational motion is proportional to mass plus the square of the distance from the mass of the axis of rotation. Therefore, a wave moving in a certain direction with a certain energy under the influence of a certain force weakens and dies out when it encounters a large mass, as its energy is dissipated into that mass.

With their gigantic masses, mountains act as dampers during an earthquake. For example, the wave motion created by moving one end of a long rope back and forth travels along the rope. However, if a weight, such as a lead ball, is attached to a section of the rope, the wave immediately weakens upon reaching that section. In fact, if the weight is very large, the wave dies out there.

During an earthquake, mountains play the role of this lead ball, reducing the intensity of the waves that travel like ropes along the earth’s crust and causing the waves to die out more quickly.

Questions on Islam