In the light of hadith and geomorphology
What is the proportion of land and oceans on the planet earth? There exist no proper perception to this concept in the pre-Islamic geographical literature. The Greek had the view that the earth is flat and not spherical. Hence, this theory was dominated in Europe until the end of the fifteenth century. The fifth century Indian astronomer Aryabhatta is said to be one among those who propounded the theory that the earth is spherical in shape. He also made suggestions that the proportion of land and the water on the earth is about half each (i.e. 50:50)1 . Nevertheless, one must bear in mind here that the whole planet earth was not completely explored until that time, and hence all statements in this regard must be held as mere speculations.
Statements of the hadith
Several hadiths have also been narrated in this regard, which deal with the planet earth and its geography in detail. Though the outward meaning of these hadiths look as if it disagree with the modern geographical findings, but with an in-depth study of geography and its allied sciences, a complete conformity do appear between them. In addition, they go on to reveal several aspects of the geological history of the planet earth too. One of these hadiths is narrated by Abu al-Sheikh (d. 369), which runs as follows:
Abu al-Sheikh narrated from Hassan ibn Atiya, he said: It has come to my knowledge that the distance of the earth is five hundred years. Its oceans are three hundred years in distance, its destructed (barren) area is one hundred years in distance and its inhabited area is one hundred years in distance.2
Another hadith in this regard is narrated by Ibn abi Hatim, which runs as follows:
Ibn abi Hatim narrated from Abdullah ibn Amr, he says: the distance of the earth is five hundred years. Four hundred years are destructed and one hundred years are inhabited.3
It is evident from these hadiths that the word ‘distance’, Arabic ‘masafah’, is used here to denote the proportion. Thus, according to the first hadith, the proportion of oceanic area is 3/5 of the total area of the planet earth. The remaining 2/5 constitute land, in which 1/5 is destructed or barren, and the other 1/5 is inhabited. According to the second hadith the barren part of the planet earth constitute 4/5 of the total area of the earth and the remaining 1/5 is inhabited.
Let us now try to understand the significance of these statements in the light of modern geography. According to the current geographical findings, the oceans occupy about 70.8% of the total area of the planet earth, while the land occupy about 29.2% of its area. It means the proportion of oceans and land stands at 7:3. The ratio of ocean and land mentioned in the hadith (3:2) outwardly contradicts with these findings. However, the truth is that both of them are true. The geographical findi-ngs reflect the proportion of oceans and land according to the present sea level, while the statement of the hadith point out the real boundaries of land and the oceans. In order to understand this equation, an overview of the oceanographic concepts is inevitable.
Continental Margins:
According to the modern oceano-graphic findings, the present boundaries of land and oceans don’t reflect their actual borders. This is because a major part of the land has submerged into the oceans due to several reasons (refer later parts of this article). The submerged portion of land in the oceans is called continental margins. Scientists divide the continental margins in three parts:
1. Continental shelf
2. Continental slope
3. Continental rise
Continental Shelf: It represents the actual boundaries of the continental floor, which have submerged in oceans due to sea level rise. Their average width is between 50 to 100 km (30 and 60 mi) and its widest part is 1,500 km. The outer edge of the continental shelf, often called the shelf break, is typically about 130 m (425 ft) deep. The continental shelves form 7.5% of the total area of the seafloor.4 (See. Figure 1 & 2)
Continental Slope: From the shelf break onwards, the steepness of the seafloor increases sharply. Its average steepness here is ten times higher per meter than the steepness in the continental shelf area. This part of continental margin is called continental slope. The continental slope resembles a wall in its shape, which upholds the continental shelf. Continental slopes make up about 8.5% of the total area of the ocean floor.5 (See Figure 1)
Continental Rise: It is the final transition zone between continents and the ocean basin. It occupies about 3% of the total area of the sea floor. But it differs with continental shelf and the slope in the sense that both the shelf and slope are considered part of continents because they lie on continental crest while the major part of continental rise lies on oceanic crest, since it is in the form of sediments which have eroded from continents. Hence it is largely considered as part of the ocean basin. (See Figure 1)
Since only contine-ntal shelf and slope are considered parts of continents and not the continental rise, their combined area would be 16% [7.5 + 8.5 = 16] of the total area of the sea floor and 11.3% [(70.8 x 16) / 100 = 11.3] of the total area of the planet earth.
If we include this submerged portion of the earth into its present area of the land, the sum of the total land area would be: 40.5% [29.20 + 11.32 = 40.52]
It means that the total area of the land on the earth is about 40.50% in which about 29.2% is above the sea level and another about 11.30% is submerged in the oceans. Similarly, if we exclude this submerged portion of continents from the area of oceans (since it is included in the present area of oceans) the sum would be:
70.8 – 11.3 = 59.5
Thus, the actual area of oceans is about 59.5% of the total area of the earth and that of land is about 40.5%. Hence, the proportion of oceans and land on the earth stands at 3:2, which is in complete conformity with the statements of the hadith. This topic will be dealt in further detail later in this article.
(Aneesur Rahman Nadvi
Fellow, Furqania Academy Trust, Bangalore
anees_nadvi2003@yahoo.com)
will be continued in the next issue
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June 2007 |
