An-Naml (The Ant)

88. “And you see the mountains and think them firmly fixed but they shall pass away as the passing away of the cloud. It is the work of Allah Who has made everything in perfect order. Verily He is Aware of what you do.”

The Arabic word /sun‘/ is used for a work which is based upon knowledge, accuracy, and skill.

The universe is moving; even the mountains which seem motionless have motion and this motion is the sign of the Wise Power of Allah.

This verse points to another sign of the grandeur of Allah in the expansion of the world of existence.

It says:

“And you see the mountains and think them firmly fixed but they shall pass away as the passing away of the cloud. It is the work of Allah Who has made everything in perfect order…”

The One, in Whose program of creation all these orders and accuracy are found, is certainly aware of the deeds we do.

The verse says:

“…Verily He is Aware of what you do.”

Many commentators believe that the above mentioned holy verse is a hint to the events that will happen at the threshold of Resurrection, for we know that at the end of this mortal world and at the beginning of the next world there will happen some great earthquakes, explosions, and transformations wherein mountains will surely burst asunder.

This meaning is explicitly mentioned in many Suras in the end of the Qur’an.

Of course, this verse being set among the verses of Resurrection is the reason and evidence of this commentary.

But there are several frames of reference in the verse that verify another commentary. For example, the abovementioned verse is of the kind of verses of Unity and the signs of the greatness of Allah in this very world; and it points to the ‘movement of the earth globe’, the movement which is not sensible for us.

Thus, some parts of the verses under discussion are about Unity and some parts are about Resurrection.

The conclusion we can take from this commentary is that these mountains which we consider motionless are moving fast. Certainly, the movement of these mountains, without the movement of the lands they are on them, is meaningless. Thus, the meaning of the verse is that the earth moves fast like the movement of the pieces of the cloud.

According to the calculations of the modern scientists, the movement of the earth around itself is about 30 kilometers a minute, and its rotation around the sun is more than this.

The reason why the Qur’an has put the mountains in the center of discussion here, maybe for that mountains from the point of heaviness, weight and firmness are referred to in parables, and for explaining the Power of Allah, are counted a better example.

When the mountains, with this greatness and heaviness they have, move (accompanied with the earth) by the command of Allah, His Power over everything is proved.

However, the abovementioned verse is one of the scientific miracles of the Qur’an. We know that the first scientists who found out the movement of the sphere of the Earth were Galileh from Italy, and Kepernic from Netherlands.

They introduced this idea to the world in the end of sixteenth century and at the beginning of seventeenth century A.D., although the authorities of the Church violently condemned them.

But the Qur’an many years before them removed the curtain from over this fact, and announced the movement of the earth in the above form as a sign of Unity.

Therefore, informing of the movement of mountains is among the scientific miracles of the Qur’an, and in recognition of Allah everything is fix and perfect in its place, as the Qur’an says about Him:

“Who has made every thing in perfect order.”