Science in the Glorious Quran: Motion of the Mountains with the Earth

“وَتَرَى الْجِبَالَ تَحْسَبُهَا جَامِدَةً وَهِيَ تَمُرُّ مَرَّ السَّحَابِ” (النمل: 88).

“And you see the mountains, and imagine them fixed, yet they pass, as the passing of the clouds” (Qur’an, 27:88).

The Earth spins on its axis once every 24-hour day. Its speed at the equator is about 1,600 Km/h. In spite of this high speed, we don’t feel the motion of the Earth. Why not? Because everything on Earth, including oceans, mountains and the atmosphere, are moving along with the Earth.

In the above verse, the Qur’an draws our attention to the motion of mountains, which we do not notice or feel because it happens along with the motion of the Earth. The illiterate Arabs who lived at the time of the revelation of the Glorious Qur’an would have never imagined this fact.

God choose the motion of the clouds as a parable for mountains because, in addition to their own noticeable movements, they also move along with the Earth, like everything on the Earth.

Mountains have deep roots like pegs which are several times their elevation above the surface of the ground.

The Himalayan mountains as seen from space move along with the Earth