Surah Al An’aam (6:125) – High Altitude Pressure & Stress, a result of not following religion

 

 

فَمَن يُرِدِ اللّهُ أَن يَهْدِيَهُ يَشْرَحْ صَدْرَهُ لِلإِسْلاَمِ وَمَن يُرِدْ أَن يُضِلَّهُ يَجْعَلْ صَدْرَهُ ضَيِّقًا حَرَجًا كَأَنَّمَا يَصَّعَّدُ فِي السَّمَاء كَذَلِكَ يَجْعَلُ اللّهُ الرِّجْسَ عَلَى الَّذِينَ لاَ يُؤْمِنُونَ

Those whom Allah (in His plan) willeth to guide,- He openeth their breast to Islam; those whom He willeth to leave straying,- He maketh their breast close and constricted, as if they had to climb up to the skies: thus doth Allah (heap) the penalty on those who refuse to believe.

Yusuf Ali's Quran Translation

Therefore (for) whomsoever Allah intends that He would guide him aright, He expands his breast for Islam, and (for) whomsoever He intends that He should cause him to err, He makes his breast strait and narrow as though he were ascending upwards; thus does Allah lay uncleanness on those who do not believe.

M Shakir's Quran Translation[6-125]

High Altitude Pressure

Allah says that whoever he guides he expands his breast. This is a term used in Arabic for various meanings. In a nut shell a person whose breast has been expanded by Allah becomes open minded to accept the truth. On the contrary he who seeks the path of ignorance Allah makes his breast narrow as if he were ascending upwards.

Quran has bluntly mentioned the fact that a person experiences difficulty in breathing at heights. At the same time Quran is also telling us that more the height increases more difficulty is experienced by the person. These are facts that are known to every person nowadays after the advent of modern science but Quran mentions these facts miraculously many centuries before those were known to the man.

Human beings need oxygen and air pressure in order to live. Breathing is made possible by the oxygen in the atmosphere reaching the air sacs in our lungs. As elevation rises, however, atmospheric pressure goes down as the atmosphere becomes thinner. Therefore, the amount of oxygen entering the blood stream declines and it becomes harder to breathe. As the air sacs grow narrow and contract, we feel as if we cannot breathe.

If the amount of oxygen in the blood is less than the body needs, several symptoms emerge: extreme fatigue, headaches, dizziness, nausea, and loss of judgment. When a certain height is reached, it finally becomes impossible for a human being to breathe at all. This is why we need oxygen bottles and special clothing in order to survive at such elevations also we have oxygen equipment in airplanes.

Stress, a result of not following religion

Second important thing mentioned in the Ayat is that a person who follows the wrong path remains tensed. Numerous psychological researches have proved those people who do not believe in any God are more likely to fall ill. There are many psychological and medical surveys that have been carried out in the past years that potray this fact. Modern medicine is now tending towards the realization of this truth. Without going into the details of the subject I would like to summarize it as Patrick Glynn put it: "Scientific research in psychology over the past twenty-five years has demonstrated that religious belief is one of the most consistent correlates of overall mental health and happiness." (Glynn, God: The Evidence, The Reconciliation of Faith and Reason in a Postsecular World, 60-61)

 

For more on the subject Surah Raad 13:28 and Surah Tawbah 9:118

 

 

See the complete list of Scientific Miracles in Surah Al An'aam here

 

Comments, Queries and Suggestion at

Muhammad.Awais.Tahir@gmail.com

Surah Al An’aam (6:1) – Electromagnetic Spectrum and the ratio of visible light and darkness

 

 

الْحَمْدُ لِلّهِ الَّذِي خَلَقَ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالأَرْضَ وَجَعَلَ الظُّلُمَاتِ وَالنُّورَ ثُمَّ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُواْ بِرَبِّهِم يَعْدِلُونَ

All praise is due to Allah, Who created the heavens and the earth and made the darkness and the light; yet those who disbelieve set up equals with their Lord. [6-1]

M Shakir's Quran Translation

Electromagnetic Spectrum and Visible Light

Light is a basic requirement of life. Without light one cannot see his surroundings. The waves that accompany light are made up of oscillating, or vibrating, electric and magnetic fields, which are force fields that surround charged particles and influence other charged particles in their vicinity. These waves are known as electromagnetic waves. The electromagnetic spectrum refers to the entire range of frequencies or wavelengths of electromagnetic waves.
Light is traditionally referred to the range of frequencies of the electromagnetic spectrum that is visible to humans.

 

Electromagnetic Spectrum

The electromagnetic spectrum includes radio waves, microwaves, infrared light, visible light, ultraviolet light, x rays, and gamma rays. Visible light, which makes up only a tiny fraction of the electromagnetic spectrum, is the only electromagnetic radiation that humans can perceive with their eyes.

 

From the above figure it is pretty evident that the visible spectrum is only a small portion of the electromagnetic spectrum. A tiny fraction of frequencies from 1 Hz to 10²⁶ Hz is what the human eye can perceive. Visible light spectrum has very high frequencies i.e. from 5 x 10¹⁴ to 7.5 x 10¹⁴ Hz and their wavelength is from 400 nanometers to 700 nanometers. Each different frequency or wavelength of visible light causes our eye to see a slightly different color. The longest wavelength we can see is deep red at about 700 nm. The shortest wavelength humans can detect is deep blue or violet at about 400 nm.

Creating Darkness

Absence of light is normally termed as darkness but, in the light of the above information, to our naked eye darkness should be termed as the absence of electromagnetic waves in the visible light spectrum. So, when Quran mentions 'making of darkness' it is accurate in the sense that those electromagnetic waves which we cannot see are also 'made' but for us they are a part of 'darkness'. It is a striking fact that such accurate information exists in a 14 centuries old book.

Using the word Darkness in Plural form

Another interesting fact is that in this Ayat and in many other Ayaats Quran uses the word darkness as pluralظلمات and the word lightنور as singular. Quran uses the word ظلمات 23 times i.e. the plural form of darkness and it always uses the word نور i.e. the singular form of light. The singular of ظلمات is ظلمة. Imam Raaghib says that it means the absence of light. Remember Quran also uses the terms darkness and light analogous to guidance and ignorance. Even in those cases Quran uses darkness in plural form and light (guidance) in singular form because there are many paths that are wrong but the real true path is only one which Quran terms as the 'صراط مستقيم'. In this Ayat when Allah mentions the process of creation, He uses plural form for darkness and singular form for light pointing to the striking fact which modern science has only recently discovered.

As described above visible light spectrum is only a portion of the large 'variety' of frequencies ranging from 1 Hz to 10²⁶ Hz. Visible light spectrum has ranges from 5 x 10¹⁴ to 7.5 x 10¹⁴ Hz. Quran is very accurate in using the plural for darkness (frequencies other than the visible spectrum) because they have much greater range of frequencies. Hence, we can safely conclude that in Quranic terms used in this Ayat نور is the 'visible light spectrum' and ظلملت are X-Rays, gamma Rays, Ultraviolet rays etc.

Ayaats in which the Quran uses the word ظلمات

Surah Baqarah 2:17, Surah Baqarah 2:19, Surah Baqarah 2:257, Surah Maida 5:16, Surah Anaam 6:1, Surah Anaam 6:39, Surah Anaam 6:59, Surah Anaam 6:63, Surah Anaam 6:122, Surah Anaam 13:16, Surah Ibrahim 14:1, Surah Ibrahim 14:5, Surah Anbiya 21:87, Surah Noor 24:40, Surah Naml 27:63, Surah Ahzaab 33:43, Surah Faatir 35:20, Surah Zumar 43:6, Surah Hadeed 57:9, Surah Talaq 65:11.

 

 

 

See the complete list of Scientific Miracles in Surah Al An'aam here

 

Comments, Queries and Suggestion at

Muhammad.Awais.Tahir@gmail.com