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History of the Earth is Repeating Itself
It has been discovered by the study of geological layers of our planet earth that the events of sudden increase in the frequency of earthquakes and volcanoes have occurred in the geologic history of the earth several times. The cause of these events was same as we are witnessing today, i.e., climate change due to the global warming.
The planet earth has witnessed innumerable climate changes in its past at regular intervals and hence the glaciers are used to form at the onset of glacial periods and retreat at the end of interglacial periods. Hence, the retreat of glaciers at the end of each interglacial period causes destructive geologic events such as earthquakes, volcanoes and submarine landslides.1 McGuire says:
“Not only this has happened several times throughout earth’s history, (but) the evidence suggests it is happening again.”
Sinking of Crustal Plates
There is one more phenomenon of disequilibrium of earth’s crust, which has been mentioned in the hadith, and which is also caused due to the retreat of earth’s glaciers. It is the sinking of some of crustal plates. Several hadiths have been narrated in this regard, which state that there will be three major events of sinking of the earth:
“Huzaifa ibn Usaid narrates from Prophet Muhammed (Pbuh) that he said: Doomsday will not come until there appear ten signs: …Sinking of the earth one in the east, one in the west and one in the Arabian peninsula.”
What is the interpretation of ‘earth’s sink’? How will it happen? The current geological studies tend to show that there is a real possibility of sinking of the earth’s crustal plates. And it could happen because of two reasons:
• Sinking due to isostatic disequilibrium of the earth’s crust
• Slumping of continental shelf due to the release of gas hydrates from beneath the oceans
Isostatic Disequilibrium of the Crust
In order to understand the phenomenon of sinking of the crust, it is necessary to understand a geological theory called “isostatic equilibrium of the crust”. According to this theory the earth’s crust, which is divided into several tectonic plates, is lying on a yielding layer beneath it, called “asthenosphere”. It means that the more weight any crustal plate has accumulated on it, the more it is expected to sink in the mantle underneath its weight. For example, according to the isostatic rule the mountains of the earth, which have their roots in the crustal plates, the higher their height above the sea level the deeper their roots will sink into the mantle, due to their excessive weight. Similar logic applies to the glaciers. Due to the existence of huge glaciers the crust beneath it will tend to sink, and when these glaciers start to melt due to the global warming, this part of the crust loses weight and its sunken part starts to re-emerge to new equilibrium positions (See figure 1):
“The formation of ice-sheets can cause the earth’s surface to sink, Conversely, isostatic post-glacial rebound is observed in areas once covered by ice-sheets which have now melted, such as around the Baltic Sea and Hudson Bay. As the ice retreats, the load on the lithosphere and asthenosphere is reduced and they rebound back towards their equilibrium levels. In this way, it is possible to find former sea-cliffs and associated wave-cut platforms hundreds of metres above present-day sea level.”
The earth’s glaciers in their totality resemble massive mountains of ice. They cover about 16,400,000 km2 of earth’s area and their thickness varies between 2 to 4 kilometers and they have a total volume of 10.2 million cubic kilometers. If these glaciers have to be melt, which is possible with an increase of just 3.5 oC in the earth’s annual average temperature (about 0.8 oC increase has already been observed), then this huge weight will shift to the oceanic crust and other areas of the earth’s continents in the form of sea level rise. If this happens, it is estimated that the sea level would rise up to about 70 meters (200 feet) from its current level, submerging nearly all the coastal cities and areas, and about 40 per cent of the present continental area will come under water.2 It will definitely pose severe threats to the present isostatic equilibrium of crustal plates. As the post glacial rebound happens in areas that were covered by ice until now, the new oceanic and continental areas will now come under its immense weight posing the danger of sinking.
“When the glaciers melt, the reliquified water causes sea levels to rise and increases the weight on the ocean floor, which could also have an effect on the grinding tectonic plates deep below the surface.”
As far as the three major events of sinking of crustal plates are concerned, which have been mentioned in the hadith, one must bear in mind that the clear impact of the isostatic disequilibrium of crust is scientifically not well understood yet. Even the reason for increasing seismic activity that they are caused due to retreat of glaciers was understood properly only after they started to happen. Although it is the job of a geologist to trace out the locations of their exact occurrences, nevertheless, if the sinking of crustal plates is seen combined with the boundaries of plate tectonics that this could happen where continental plates meet oceanic plates head on head at the borders of the continents, it could then be said that there are three such major regions on the planet earth (See figure 2):
• In the west: Several plate boundaries have passed through entire western coast of the North and South American continents.
• In the east: Pacific Plate boundary has also passed through the entire eastern coast of Asia.
• Arabian Peninsula: The whole Arabian Peninsula is standing on a single plate. It means it is surrounded by plate boundaries from all sides.
It is also important to note that these coastal regions of continents are called “subduction zones”, that is at these regions the oceanic plates are continuously moving downwards of continental plates and sinking beneath them causing immense geological activity in these regions (See figure 3). Hence, it is possible that the increased pressure of sea level rise may lead to the disequilibrium of crustal plates in these fractured regions leading to further vulnerability and causing these continental parts to sink. The Holy Qur’an too has clearly hinted at the sinking of the earth’s crust at the coastal regions in a threatening manner:
“Do you then feel secure that He will not cause you to sink with the part of coastal land.”
This Qur’anic verse is of immense value from geological point of view, as it is clearly pointing at the present sinking of oceanic crust in this region and hinting out that the same thing could happen to the continental regions in the future. In this way there exists a complete conformity between the triangle of Qur’an, hadith and the modern science.
Veracity of Islamic Philosophy
In a nutshell, the earth’s gigantic white glacial mountains, which are considered to be the omen of peace to the natives of the earth, are fading at an alarming rate due to the ongoing global warming, contributing greatly to the isostatic disequilibrium of the earth, which is going to result in the increased frequency and intensity of devastating earthquakes, volcanoes, tsunamis, submarine landslides, and sinking of earth’s crust as stated clearly 1400 hundred years ago by the Holy Qur’an and hadith. In addition, this conformity between Qur’an, hadith and modern science corroborates a plethora of Islamic beliefs and principles scientifically, among them are:
• Scientific marvel and veracity of both Qur’an and hadith
• Since these predictions belong to the future geological happenings, it confirms the Islamic belief of the existence of An Omniscient, Omnipotent and All-Knowing [“Aleem” & “Khabeer”] God, Who has the knowledge of all past, present and future events of this universe and the hereafter.
• It not only upholds the Islamic belief in the Doomsday, but also clearly indicates that the Doomsday is at hand, as all these geological and climatic events are regarded by Islam as the implementation of the Doomsday itself.
(This article is an extract from the author’s new book “Islamic Concept of Earthquakes: A Comparative Study of Qur’an, Hadith and Modern Geology”)
(The writer can be reached at Furqania Academy Trust, Bangalore. Email: anees_nadvi 2003@yahoo.com)
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