The Quran and Mountains: Difference between revisions

Another way the critics put it is that the phenomenon of isostasy is itself responsible for the stability of the crust - whether or not the crust is host to mountains in any given region. Isostasy stabilizes mountains, even terrain, and even indented regions on the Earth's surface. The Mountains do not cause this isostasy any more than isostasy causes mountains, as isostasy is co-occurrent with any variety of terrain - mountainous or otherwise. The co-occurrent isostasy is, however, responsible for the stability of the mountains as well as the crust, and not the other way around - that is, a region excepted from the norms of isostasy (as many are) will not be as stable, whether this region is mountainous or not. Isostasy is best understood as a phenomenon separate from the mountains altogether, as it is no more bound in the simple fact of its existence to the presence of mountains than it is to region of simple, flat crust (even if the specific form it takes in either of these cases is).

In response to the regular co-occurrence of earthquakes and mountains due to their related presence at tectonic fault-lines, advocates of the miracle sometimes argue that the word (''tameeda'') used in the Quran to describe the phenomenon which mountains, as pegs, prevent describes something altogether different from earthquakes. What this phenomenon is, they suggest, is not known, as it has not been observed, which may be due to the fact that it does not take place on a human timescale but rather, perhaps, a geological timescale (that is, over hundreds of thousands or millions of years). The argument is based upon the alternative meanings that the word ''tameeda'' can have, including 'stagger', 'roll', 'sway', and 'tilt', along with the idea that any geological phenomenon described by these alternative meanings of the word ''tameeda'' would be distinct from the short, sharp shock of an earthquake. This, the advocates hold, is important because the Quran deliberately opts not to use the word ''zalzala'' in these contexts, which is used elsewhere in the Quran to describe earthquakes.  

The phrase ''tameeda bi-'' (from ''mada'', ''yamidu'') is only used in {{Quran|31|10}}, {{Quran|21|31}}, and {{Quran|16|15}}.   

Lane's lexicon defines this usage as 'Lest it (the earth) should be convulsed with you, and go round with you, and move you about violently. (El-Basáïr, TA.)'.<ref>[http://lexicon.quranic-research.net/data/24_m/207_myd.html أَنْ تَمِيدَ بِكُمْ Lane's Lexicon]</ref> The other usages given by Lane which involves the ''bi-'' prefix are for ''mada bihil bahr'' (مَادَ بِهِ البَحْرُ), which means 'The sea affected him with a heaving of the stomach, &c. (L.)' and ''madat bihil ard'' (مَادَتْ بِهِ الأَرْضُ), which means 'The ground went round with him. (A.)'.<ref>[http://lexicon.quranic-research.net/data/24_m/207_myd.html مَادَ بِهِ البَحْرُ & مَادَتْ بِهِ الأَرْضُ Lane's Lexicon]</ref>  

Critics point out that all usages of the word ''tameeda'' that subsequently involve the ''bi-'' prefix (which means 'with') denote an effect upon humans. While other, not-human-related usages of words deriving from the root ''mada'' exist, the word ''tameeda'' followed by the prefix ''bi-'' always involves human beings. This, alongside the fact that two of the three verses using the phrase affix the ''bi-'' prefix with the ''-kum'' pronoun (which means '''you'' all'), makes it clear that whatever the Quran is describing here is somehow immediately relevant to humans and that humans are subject to it. Critics thus conclude that it makes no sense to assume that the Quran is here alluding to some phenomenon unknown to humans, as this interpretation is permitted neither by rational discussion, which requires the possibility of falsification, nor the constraints of the Arabic language. A useful analogy for the comparison between the words ''tameeda'' and ''zalzala'', critics suggest, is the difference between the English phrases 'seismic activity' and 'earth tremors'.  

Some Muslim commentators do not consider tameeda to mean shaking in geological timescale.