The Qur’an An Abiding Wonder
The Qur’an: The Book of God
~ 54 ~
advantages. If this distance were reduced, for
example, to only fifty thousand miles, the seas
would be so stormy that a major part of the earth
would be submerged in them and, moreover, the
continual impact of the stormy waves would cut the
mountains into pieces and the earth’s surface, more
fully exposed to the moon’s gravitation, would start
to crack open.
Astronomers estimate that at the time the earth
came into existence, the moon was close to it and
the surface of the earth had, therefore, been exposed
to all kinds of upheavals. In the course of time, the
earth and the moon drew apart, to their present
distance from one another, according to
astronomical laws. Astronomers hold that this
distance will be maintained for a billion years, then
the same astronomical laws will bring the moon
back closer to the earth. As a result of conflicting
forces of attraction, the moon will ‘burst when close
enough and glorify our dead world with rings like
those of Saturn.’
This concept bears out the Qur’an’s prediction to a
remarkable degree. The following lines, in addition
