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THE
WORLD OF EARTHQUAKES - THE ISLAMIC
PERSPECTIVE
On 26th December 2003, an earthquake
measuring 6.6 on the Richter scale occurred in
north-western Iran, with more than 30,000 deaths
resulting from this terrible tragedy. This earthquake
raised the question in the mind of a number of Muslims to
the significance and meaning of earthquakes in Islam, and
to the cause of these devastations and deaths of large
numbers of people. Surely there must be some explanation
for such calamities. Islam being a complete and perfect
Religion must have an answer, which would also be
relevant to our age and society.
I was approached by several people just
after the tragedy to speak on earthquakes and their
meaning, and I take the opportunity to present to you
“THE ISLAMIC PERSPECTIVE” on this subject. We need,
however, to examine closely, what earthquakes are, and
where they most frequently occur in the world, then look
at what the non-Muslim experts have to say on
earthquakes, before we study the “ISLAMIC
PERSPECTIVE.”
Description and Definition: Earthquake is a
heaving of the ground; a quaking, trembling or shaking of
the earth. Earthquakes can strike at any location at any
time. They are not confined to a specific location or
time, but they generally occur in three large zones of
the earth. The greatest earthquake belt is the
circum-Pacific seismic belt found along the rim of the
Pacific Ocean, where about 80% of the world's largest
earthquakes occur. The belt extends from Chile northwards
towards Central America, Mexico, the West Coast of the
U.S. , South Alaska through the Aleutian Islands to
Japan, the Philippines, New Guinea, the island groups of
south-west Pacific to New Zealand.
A question may arise here as to why so many
major earthquakes occur in the particular zone? The
answer given by geologists is that this is a region of
young growing mountains and deep ocean trenches which
parallel mountain chains. Earthquakes accompany elevation
changes in mountains in the higher parts of the earth's
crust and changes in the ocean trenches. Therefore, most
earthquakes occur in these regions, and this has been the
case throughout the known and dated history of our
world.
The second largest earthquake belt is the
ALPIDE, and it extends from Java to Sumatra through the
Himalayas , the Mediterranean and out into the Atlantic .
This belt accounts for about 15% of the world's
earthquakes, including some of the most destructive, such
as in Iran in 1968 and in Turkey in 1970 and 1971 where
many lives were lost.
The third belt is the mid-Atlantic
Ridge. However, though these three earthquake belts are
clearly defined, earthquakes can occur outside these
belts also. No reasonable explanation for these phenomena
has been given by the experts, for they simply don't
know.
How is the Earth Formed: About five billion
years ago the earth was formed by a massive
conglomeration of space materials? The heat energy
released by this event melted the entire planet and is
still cooling off today. The earth is divided into four
main layers, the inner core, its outer core, the mantle,
and then the crust of the earth. The inner core is under
such extreme pressure that it remains solid. Most of the
earth's mass is in the mantle, which is composed of iron,
magnesium, aluminium, silicon and oxygen compounds. At
over 1000 degrees Celsius, the mantle of the earth is
solid, but it can deform slowly like plastic folding up.
The crust is much thinner and is composed of least dense
calcium and sodium aluminium and silicate minerals. Being
relatively cold, the crust is rocky and brittle, thus it
can fracture in an earthquake. Earthquakes occur in the
crust or upper mantle, which ranges from the earth's
surface to about 800 kilometres deep. (500 miles)
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