“By the sky which returns.” (Quran 86:11)
“[He] who made for you the
earth a bed [spread out] and the sky a ceiling…” (Quran 2:22)
In the first verse God
swears by the sky [1] and its function of ‘returning’
without specifying what it ‘returns.’ In Islamic doctrine, a divine oath
signifies the magnitude of importance of a special relation to the Creator, and
manifests His majesty and the supreme Truth in a special way.
The second verse describes
the Divine Act that made the sky a ‘ceiling’ for the dwellers of earth.
Let us see what modern
atmospheric science has to say about the role and function of the sky.
The atmosphere is a word
which denotes all the air surrounding the earth, from the ground all the way up
to the edge from which space starts. The atmosphere is composed of
several layers, each defined because of the various phenomena which occur
within the layer.
This image shows the average
temperature profile through the Earth’s atmosphere. Temperatures in the
thermosphere are very sensitive to solar activity and can vary from 500°C to
1500°C. Source: Windows to the Universe, (http://www.windows.ucar.edu),
the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR). ©1995-1999,
2000 The Regents of the University
of Michigan
Rain, for one, is ‘returned’
to Earth by the clouds in the atmosphere. Explaining the hydrologic
cycle, Encyclopedia Britannica writes:
“Water evaporates from both
the aquatic and terrestrial environments as it is heated by the Sun’s
energy. The rates of evaporation and precipitation depend on solar
energy, as do the patterns of circulation of moisture in the air and currents
in the ocean. Evaporation exceeds precipitation over the oceans, and this
water vapor is transported by the wind over land, where it returns to the land
through precipitation.”[2]
Not only does the atmosphere
return what was on the surface back to the surface, but it reflects back into
space that which might damage the flora and fauna the earth sustains, such as
excessive radiant heat. In the 1990’s, collaborations between NASA, the European
Space Agency (ESA), and the Institute of Space and Astronautically Science
(ISAS) of Japan resulted in the International Solar-Terrestrial Physics (ISTP)
Science Initiative. Polar, Wind and Geo tail are a part of this
initiative, combining resources and scientific communities to obtain
coordinated, simultaneous investigations of the Sun-Earth space environment
over an extended period of time. They have an excellent explanation of
how the atmosphere returns solar heat to space.[3]
Besides ‘returning’ rain,
heat and radio waves, the atmosphere protects us like a ceiling above our heads
by filtering out deadly cosmic rays, powerful ultraviolet (UV) radiation from
the Sun, and even meteorites on collision course with Earth.[4]
Pennsylvania State Public
Broadcasting tells us:
“The sunlight that we can
see represents one group of wavelengths, visible light. Other wavelengths
emitted by the sun include x-rays and ultraviolet radiation. X-rays and
some ultraviolet light waves are absorbed high in Earth’s atmosphere.
They heat the thin layer of gas there to very high temperatures.
Ultraviolet light waves are the rays that can cause sunburn. Most
ultraviolet light waves are absorbed by a thicker layer of gas closer to Earth
called the ozone layer. By soaking up the deadly ultraviolet and x-rays,
the atmosphere acts as a protective shield around the planet. Like a
giant thermal blanket, the atmosphere also keeps temperatures from getting too
hot or too cold. In addition, the atmosphere also protects us from
constant bombardment by meteoroids, bits of rock and dust that travel at high
speeds throughout the solar system. The falling stars we see at night are
not stars at all; they are actually meteoroids burning up in our atmosphere due
to the extreme heating they undergo.”[5]
This is an image of Earth’s
polar stratospheric clouds. These clouds are involved in the creation of
Earth’s ozone hole. Source: Windows to the Universe,
(http://www.windows.ucar.edu/) at the University Corporation for Atmospheric
Research (UCAR). ©1995-1999, 2000 The Regents of the University of Michigan
Encyclopedia Britannica,
describing the role of Stratosphere, tells us about its protective role in
absorbing dangerous ultraviolet radiation:
“In the upper stratospheric
regions, absorption of ultraviolet light from the Sun breaks down oxygen
molecules; recombination of oxygen atoms with O2 molecules into ozone (O3)
creates the ozone layer, which shields the lower ecosphere from harmful
short-wavelength radiation…More disturbing, however, is the discovery of a
growing depletion of ozone over temperate latitudes, where a large percentage
of the world’s population resides, since the ozone layer serves as a shield against
ultraviolet radiation, which has been found to cause skin cancer.”[6]
The mesosphere is the layer
in which many meteors burn up while entering the Earth’s atmosphere.
Imagine a baseball zipping along at 30,000 miles per hour. That’s how big
and fast many meteors are. When they plow through the atmosphere, meteors
are heated to more than 3000 degrees Fahrenheit, and they glow. A meteor
compresses air in front of it. The air heats up, in turn heating the
meteor.[7]
This is an image which shows
the Earth and its atmosphere. The mesosphere would be the dark blue edge
located on the far top of the image underneath the back.
(Image courtesy of NASA)
(Image courtesy of NASA)
Earth is surrounded by a
magnetic force field - a bubble in space called “the magnetosphere” tens of
thousands of miles wide. The magnetosphere acts as a shield that protects
us from solar storms. However, according to new observations from NASA’s
IMAGE spacecraft and the joint NASA/European Space Agency Cluster satellites,
immense cracks sometimes develop in Earth’s magnetosphere and remain open for
hours. This allows the solar wind to gush through and power stormy space
weather. Fortunately, these cracks do not expose Earth’s surface to the
solar wind. Our atmosphere protects us, even when our magnetic field does
not.[8]
An artist’s rendition of
NASA’s IMAGE satellite flying through a ‘crack’ in Earth’s magnetic field.
How would it be possible for
a fourteenth century desert dweller to describe the sky in a manner so precise
that only recent scientific discoveries have confirmed it? The only way
is if he received revelation from the Creator of the sky.
Footnotes:
[1] Al-Samaa’,
the Arabic word translated here as ‘sky’ includes earth’s atmosphere as
indicated by the verse 2:164.
[2] ”Biosphere.”
Encyclopedia Britannica from Encyclopedia Britannica Premium Service.
(http://www.britannica.com/eb/article?tocId=70872)
(http://www.britannica.com/eb/article?tocId=70872)
[4] Atmospheric,
Climate & Environment Information Programme of the Manchester Metropolitan
University
[6] “Earth.”
Encyclopedia Britannica from Encyclopedia Britannica Premium Service.
(http://www.britannica.com/eb/article?tocId=54196)
(http://www.britannica.com/eb/article?tocId=54196)
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