Surah al-Kahf, 90
The Ozone Layer at the Poles as The Sun Rises
The Arabic word "sitran" in this verse means "cover, protection, veil" while "lam naj’aal lahum min dooniha sitran"describes an environment devoid of any shelter or protection against the Sun.
حَتَّىٰٓ إِذَا بَلَغَ مَطْلِعَ ٱلشَّمْسِ وَجَدَهَا تَطْلُعُ عَلَىٰ قَوْمٍۢ لَّمْ نَجْعَل لَّهُم مِّن دُونِهَا سِتْرًۭا ٩٠
Until he reached the rising of the Sun and found it rising on a people to whom We had not given any shelter from it.
The Arabic word "sitran" in this verse means "cover, protection, veil" while "lam naj’aal lahum min dooniha sitran"describes an environment devoid of any shelter or protection against the Sun. In the light of present-day knowledge, this is suggestive of the ozone layer that protects living things against harmful solar rays.
The area where the ozone layer offers the least protection against solar radiation is at the poles of our planet—North and South.1 Scientific research has established a severe thinning of the ozone layer at the North Pole at the moment the Sun rises2 and this scientific discovery has been described as Sunrise Ozone Destruction (SOD).3
During their research, American scientists determined a rapid decrease in ozone concentration at the moment of sunrise–when there was no sign of any before.4 This phenomenon is particularly encountered in the North Pole (Arctic) region. Here, there is a massive loss of ozone for a few hours immediately after sunrise.5
The Arabic word "matli’a" in this verse, meaning the "place of birth, time of birth" of the Sun, may well be a reference to this scientific discovery about the ozone layer. (Allah knows the truth.) The fact that this information, obtained with the 20th century high technology, also appears in such a compatible form in the Qur'an, is yet more proof that the Qur'an is the revelation of our Lord, the One and Only Lord of science and technology.
It is He Who splits the sky at dawn, and appoints the night as a time of stillness and the sun and moon as a means of reckoning. That is what the Almighty, the All-Knowing has ordained. (Surat al-An'am: 96)
Footnotes
- Jagir S. Randhawa, "A Balloon Measurement of Ozone Near Sunrise"; http://www.stormingmedia.us/31/3147/0314707.html ↩
- I. Nagao, K. Matsumoto, H. Tanaka "Sunrise Ozone Destruction Found in the Sub-Tropical Marine Boundary Layer", Geophysical Research Letters, 1999, cilt 26, no. 22, ss. 3377–3380; http://www.agu.org/pubs/crossref/1999/1999GL010836.shtml ↩
- http://www.star.le.ac.uk/astrosoc/whatsup/stars.html (Leicester edu dept of Physics & astronomy); http://www.site.uottawa.ca:4321/astronomy/index.html#Sirius (University of Ottowa); http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/~hrs/ay45/Fall2002/ChapterIVPa… (Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics) ↩
- Dr. Mazhar, U. Kazi, 130 Evident Miracles in the Qur’an, Crescent Publishing House, New York, 1997, ss. 110-111; http://www.wamy.co.uk/announcements3.html; from Prof. Zighloul Raghib El-Naggar’s speech. ↩
- Malcolm T. Sanford, APIS /Apicultural Information and ISsues from IFAS/University of Florida, cilt 14, no. 4, Nisan 1996; http://apis.ifas.ufl.edu/apis96/apapr96.htm ↩
