B -
THE SEA SET ON FIRE:
The Glorious Qur’an states:
(And by the sea that is set on fire)* (LII:6)
This Qur’ anic verse also comes in the context of an oath to
emphasize the special significance of the subject matter by
which the oath is given, as Allah (all glory be to Him) is
definitely above the need to give such an oath.
Now, what is the special significance of the sea that is set
on fire?
Both water and fire are incompatible, as water quenches
fire, and fire sets water to boiling and evaporation. How
then can an ocean full of water be set on fire? Such
incompatibility has driven early commentators on the Holy
Qur’ an to suggest that this could only happen on the Last
Day, referring to another Qur’ anic verse where such event
is explicitly described (LXXXI: 6). Nevertheless, the
context in which the oath “by the sea set on fire” and 5
preceding verses describe realities that are all currently
existing in our present day world, hence another linguistic
meaning for the adjective “al-masjour” other than “set on
fire” was earnestly searched for. Of the linguistic meanings
derived from such an
adjective is “full of water and restrained from further
encroachment over the nearby continental masses”. This is
correct, because the largest quantity of fresh water today
(77% of all water on land) is entrapped in the form of very
thick ice sheets on the two polar regions as well as in the
form of ice caps to highly elevated mountains. For such a
great mass of ice to melt an increase of only 40 5° C in the
temperature of the lower atmosphere above the average summer
temperatures is needed. In such a case, this melting can
raise the water level in present day seas and oceans by more
than 100 m, which is enough to drown most of the present day
plains where the majority of human settlements exists.
Nevertheless, Earth scientists have recently discovered that
all of the present day oceans and some seas (such as the Red
Sea and the Arabian Sea) are physically set on fire, while
others (such as the Mediterranean, the Black and the Caspian
Seas) are not.
As mentioned above, more than 64,000 km of mid-ocean ridges
have - so far - been mapped around mid-ocean rift valleys.
These oceanic ridges are basically composed of volcanic
basaltic rocks that have been pouring out from the oceanic
rift zones (at temperatures of about 1000°C or even more).
Such intensive oceanic volcanicity builds up the mid-oceanic
ridges and spreads them out laterally, by the phenomenon
known as sea-floor spreading. As they are constantly fed by
fresh basaltic flows, new slabs of the oceanic crust are
built on both sides of the rift zones. Mid-oceanic volcanism
evolves from fissure volcanism that emanates from the
mid-oceanic rift systems where the oceanic crust is rifted
and the opposite sides of the rift zone are pushed aside by
the emanating magma. Basaltic flows and eruptions, fed from
elongated secondary magma chambers below the
centre of the mid-oceanic ridge, pour out along the ridge
axis. Sea-floor basalts from the surface of the oceanic
crust, (which is about 7km thick on the average) normaliy
consists of:
0-1 km of sediments (top)
1 km of pillow lava basalts
5 km of gabbro sills fed by dikes (bottom).
Post-eruptive phenomena that can result from interaction of
phreatic waters with buried hot rocks include the following
(cf. Emiliani, C., 1992, p 203):
1- Hot springs, which are formed when phreatic water is
heated and mineralised in contact with hot rocks.
2- Geysers, which are periodic eruptions of boiling hot
water (200°C or even more) due to circulation with
superheated waters at depth which are in direct or indirect
contact with hot rocks (1000°C or even more).
3- Fumaroles, which are gaseous exhalations of water vapour
enriched with SO H HC1, and HF (in order of abundance).
4- Solfataras, which are fumaroles rich in sulfur compounds.
Most of the current volcanic activity at the bottoms of seas
and oceans has been going on for the past 20-30 million
years, although some have persisted in their activity for
100 million years or even more (e.g. the Canary Islands).
During such long periods of activity, the formed volcanic
cones were gradually carried away for several hundred
kilometres from the constantly renewed plate edge.
Consequently, such drifting volcanic cones became out of
reach of the magma body that used to feed them, hence, these
faded out and died. The current floor of the Pacific Ocean
contains a great number of submerged, subdued volcanic
craters (guyots), besides a large number of violently active
volcanoes (e.g. the Ring of Fire).
From the above mentioned discussion it emerges that all seas
and oceans that are currently experiencing sea-floor
spreading are physically set on fire, while closing seas are
not. Such fire on the sea bed is in the form of very hot
basaltic flows and other magmatic extrusions pouring out
from the rift valley systems that rupture the Earth’s
lithosphere. Such rifts run for tens of thousands of
kilometres across the globe, in all directions, to a depth
of 65-150 km where it connects the sea bed with the
extremely hot plastic, semi- molten (asthenosphere) hence
cause such seas to be physically set on fire.
This most striking fact of our planet was not known until
the very late sixties and early seventies of the twentieth
century. The explicit Qur’ anic mention with such a very
striking, but deeply hidden fact of our seas and oceans is a
clear testimony that this Glorious Book is the word of The
Creator, in its Divine Purity.
by Dr. Z.R.M. EL-NAGGAR.
The Seventh International Conference on Scientific Signs in
Quran & Sunnah
* In each
of these paired numbers, the first (or the Roman Number)
indicates the number of the Qur’anic chapter (or Surah),
while the second (or the Arabic Number) indicates the number
of the Qur’anic verse or verses (Ayah or Ayat) in the Surah
(chapter).
* MYBP = Million Years Before Present |
