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The Quran has a particular conception of the nature of mountains, their formation, and the geological role they play. In recent times, many Islamic scholars have argued that this conception is both scientifically sound and an instance of miraculous scientific foreknowledge on the part of the Quran.

Critics argue that these verses contain multiple mistakes from a scientific viewpoint. They describe the creation of mountains as one stage in the creation of the Earth. One verse describes mountains as pegs, while other verses state that they were cast into the Earth in some sense to stabilise it. This is commonly interpreted today as a reference to earthquakes, though multiple lines of evidence including hadith and pre-Islamic poetry indicate rather that the Quran here means that mountains prevent the Earth as a whole from shifting. (read more)