Earth’s Seven Layers

Author: Abdul Daem Al-Kaheel

Translation: Nassim JamalEddin Dhaher

When scientists started to probe the valleys of Earth and in order to know its structure and constituents, they found that tales and myths that dominated in the earlier centuries have no scientific basis. After scientists discovered that the earth is egg-shaped , they suggested that the core of this ball has a nucleus, and its shell is a very thin crust when compared to the Earth’s size, and between these two layers, there is a third, known as the mantle . this was the knowledge of the early scientists.

Development of Scientific Facts

The Three Layer -Theory did not last for so long due to recent discoveries in Geology. Recent measurements and experiments showed that the material comprising the nucleus of the Earth is under very high pressure, three million times more than that on the surface of the Earth.

Under such pressure, matter transforms into solid state, this in turn makes Earth’s core very solid,This core is surrounded by a liquid layer of very high temperature. This means that there are two layers in Earth’s core and not one.Two layers; one solid in the center surrounded by another liquid layer.

Thereafter measuring devices advanced and presented to scientists a clear distinction among Earth’s inner layers. If we were to descend under the earth’s crust we would find another layer of very hot stones , which is the stone cover or wrap. After that come three other distinct layers of varying density, pressure and temperature.

Therefore scientists found themselves classifying the layers of Earth into seven layers, not more. The figure shows these layers with their dimensions (some are out of scale) according to what scientists have recently found using methods like earthquake measuring devices and the study of Earth’s magnetic field, among other techniques. These studies and discoveries are being taught to these scientists’ students in universities.

Figure showing Earth’s seven layers, notice that the crust is very thin followed by mantle of varying thickness, then came the core comprised of a liquid and finally a seventh solid nucleus.

Scientists have found that the atom is also comprised of seven layers or levels, and this proves the uniformity of creation, where Earth has seven layers and atoms have seven layers as well. This creation therefore is ruled by only one creator.

Earth’s seven layers vary greatly in structure, density, temperature and material. Therefore one cannot consider that Earth has only one layer as people anciently thought. Here we find that the idea of the Earth having layers is fairly recent and wasn’t presented or brought forward at the time when the Quran was being revealed. Those discoveries are what the Twenty First century -scientists tell us, What then does the book of Allah tell us?

In the Company of the Noble Quran

The Holy Quran, God's word , talks to us about the seven Heavens and also seven layers of Earth in the Quranic verses:

God says in the Holy Quran in this regard what means “Who has created the seven heavens one above another…” [Al-Mulk 3]

God says in the Holy Quran in this regard what means “It is Allah Who has created seven heavens and of the earth the like thereof (i.e. seven).” [Attalaq 12

The first verse has specified two traits for the heavens which are: their number which is seven, their organization, which is into layers , one on the of top of the other and this is according to the Quranic interpretation books and Arabic language dictionaries. As for the second verse, it confirms that Earth is similar to the Heavens from the part of the verse that says “…and of the earth the like thereof”, where since the Heavens are layers, then Earth is comprised of layers as well, and since the Heavens are seven, therefore Earth’s layers are seven as well.

Here we need to pause and elaborate on Allah’s choice of words in the word: “Tibaqa” – which means layers one on top of another, and this is what scientists have recently discovered that Earth is comprised of layers, this in turn leads us to conclude that Al-Qur`an defined Earth’s shape, of layers, and it (Al-Quran) has also specified the number of these layers, seven. Henceforth Al-Qur`an chose a very specific word to describe Earth’s composition, so Al-Qur`an preceded the Twenty First Century scientists in mentioning Earths facts fourteen centuries ago. Isn’t this an overwhelming Quranic miracle?

If we contemplate 0n the Noble Prophet’s (peace and blessings be upon him) Hadeeth (sayings), we find one Hadeeth that confirms this fact of Earth’s seven overlapping layers. Prophet Mohammad (peace and blessings be upon him) says: “whomever oppressed someone a hand span’s distance from the Earth, gets surrounded by seven overlapping layers”[Bukhari 2321], the Hadeeth is telling us that Allah will punish those who oppress in Earth by being encircled and surrounded by seven Earthly layers. This definition for the word “Tawaqa” that was used in the Hadeeth is as found in Arabic Language Dictionaries.

The question here is: Isn’t this a great prophetic miracle? doesn’t this Hadeeth specify the number of Earth’s layers which are seven, and also mentions their nature of being overlapped or surrounding each other?From the word encircled used in the Hadeeth, we can deduce circular shapes and in three dimensions we can deduce spherical shapes.

Henceforth The Noble Qur’an and Prophetic Sunnah (traditions of the Prophet) preceded modern science to this scientific fact. In addition Al-Qur’an gave us the precise naming for the structure of Earth using the word “Tibaqa” or layers, and it has given us the accurate number for these layers which is seven, while scientists spent long years and changed their theories several times to come up with scientific theories previously mentioned in The Quran and Sunnah. Glory be to Allah the Greatest who said in his exalted book: “And on the earth are signs for those who have Faith with certainty, And also in your ownselves. Will you not then see?” [Athariyat, 20,21]

Sources:

An article titled “Inside the Earth” at :

http://pubs.usgs.gov/publications/text/inside.html

An educational titled “Earth’s layers” at:

http://volcano.und.nodak.edu/vwdocs/vwlessons/lessons/Earths_layers/Earths_layers1.html