Science in the Glorious Quran: The Returning Sky

“وَالسَّمَاءِ ذَاتِ الرَّجْعِ” (الطارق: 11).

“And I swear by the Heaven which returns” (Qur’an, 86: 11).

Literally, the Arabic word raj`e in the verse means to return. In the past, some scholars metaphorically limited this word to rains because evaporated water vapors return back and falls as rains. However, the word raj’e (return) in the verse does not necessarily specify rains or water vapors. It is rather a general term and therefore, contemporary scholars have extended the meaning of “return” to other phenomena of returning materials or rays back to the space or back down to the Earth. Please explore other possible examples of “the Heaven which return” in the legends of the figures below.

The molten core of the Earth generates a magnet which results in magnetosphere layers around the Earth. These magnetosphere layers, act as a sealing which protect and keep away the devastating solar winds from entering our atmosphere.

The ionosphere reflects radio broadcast waves from the Earth back down to different parts of the world, and thus, makes wireless communication possible over long distances. The troposphere enables water vapor rising from the surface of the Earth to be condensed and return back as rain

The layers of the atmosphere reflect harmful radiations like the ultraviolet light and X-rays coming from space