The Earth

Cont’d from page 3

It’s also a pretty tough design, praise be to God. A dropped tool put the space shuttle Discovery out of commission for days while they checked to see if this small piece of metal damaged a fuel tank. Can you imagine a falling rock or a landslide somewhere knocking the earth out of commission for a few weeks or months? Or one of those many little meteorites floating around?

A study done in 1996 (looking at the number of meteorites found in deserts over time) calculated that for objects in the 10 gram to 1 kilogram size range, 2900-7300 kilograms per year hit Earth. They also estimate between 36 and 166 meteorites larger than 10 grams fall to Earth per million square kilometers per year. Over the whole surface area of Earth, that translates to 18,000 to 84,000 meteorites bigger than 10 grams per year.
Source: Ask an Astronomer at Cornell

And you know what those little flying pebbles do to our car windshields, when traveling relatively slowly compared to the thousands of miles an hour the earth is flying at. God tells us in Quran:

[21:31-3] And we placed on earth stabilizers, lest it tumbles with them, and we placed straight roads therein, that they may be guided.  And we rendered the sky a guarded ceiling. Yet, they are totally oblivious to all the portents therein. And He is the One who created the night and the day, and the sun and the moon; each floating in its own orbit.

Unlike how humans design “protective coverings” (e.g., canopy on an airplane, or shuttle tiles for heat protection), God’s design is highly multi-functional.

The air around us not only protects from meteorites, but also from UV rays and cosmic radiation. The atmosphere also allows us a beautiful view out into space. And allows us and the animals to walk or fly through it, breathe it, get water from clouds floating in it, have radio waves broadcast through it, and innumerable other aspects of perfection.

[55:10-3] He created the earth for all creatures. In it there are fruits, and date palms with their hanging fruit.* Also grains and the spices.  (O humans and jinns,) which of your Lord’s marvels can you deny?
*55:11 Compare the spaceship Earth’s renewable systems and reproducing astronauts, with the most sophisticated spaceships that we launch into space. God be glorified.

[16:79] Do they not see the birds committed to fly in the atmosphere of the sky? None holds them up in the air except GOD. This should be (sufficient) proof for people who believe.

[2:22] The One who made the earth habitable for you, and the sky a structure. He sends down from the sky water, to produce all kinds of fruits for your sustenance. You shall not set up idols to rival GOD, now that you know.

[15:19-21] As for the earth, we constructed it, and placed on it stabilizers (mountains), and we grew on it a perfect balance of everything. We made it habitable for you, and for creatures you do not provide for. There is nothing that we do not own infinite amounts thereof. But we send it down in precise measure.

Faiz

VERSES ON GOD’S WONDROUS SIGNS

THE MOON

[2:189] They ask you about the phases of the moon! Say, “They provide a timing device for the people, and determine the time of Hajj.” It is not righteous to beat around the bush; righteousness is attained by upholding the commandments and by being straightforward. You shall observe GOD, that you may succeed.

[10:5] He is the One who rendered the sun radiant, and the moon a light, and He designed its phases that you may learn to count the years and to calculate. GOD did not create all this, except for a specific purpose. He explains the revelations for people who know.

[36:39-40] The moon we designed to appear in stages, until it becomes like an old curved sheath. The sun is never to catch up with the moon―the night and the day never deviate―each of them is floating in its own orbit.

[54:1] The Hour has come closer, and the moon has split.*
*54:1 This important sign of the approaching end of the world came to pass in 1969 when humans landed on the moon and brought pieces of the moon to earth. At the same time, God’s mathematical Miracle of the Quran was being gradually unveiled. Traditional Muslims opposed it, since it exposed the fallacy of their practices (Appendix 25).

[71:16] He designed the moon therein to be a light, and placed the sun to be a lamp.