Nociceptors (also called as Pain Receptors) were discovered by Charles Scott Sherrington in 1906. But do you know that the pain receptors present in the skin, discovered recently, were indicated in the Quran 1500 years ago? The Holy Quran says:
“Surely those who reject Our signs, We will cast them into the Fire. Whenever their skin is burnt completely, We will replace it so they will ˹constantly˺ taste the punishment. Indeed, Allah is Almighty, All-Wise.”
– Chapter 4 (Surah An-Nisa) verse 56
Let’s decipher this verse of the Holy Quran.
Pain Receptors
We now know that pain receptors exist in our skins thanks to recent scientific discoveries. That is why Allah states that when their skins will be burned, He will replace them with new skins so that they can perceive the pain.
Pain is a very important defense mechanism. It warns the body about the potential injuries or diseases, so that protective actions can be taken. Basically, noxious signals send impulses to the spinal cord, which release the information to the brain. The brain interprets the information as pain, localizes it and send back instructions for the body to react. Pains receptors, also called as nociceptors, are present in the skin, superficial tissues and virtually all organs except for the brain. Pain receptors can be myelinated, A type, or non-myelinated, C type. Myelinated A fibers conduct at fast speeds (12-30 m/s) and are responsible for the initial sharp pain perceived at the time of injury. Non-myelinated fibers conduct at slower speed and are responsible for a long- lasting, dull, diffused pain.
Prof. Tagatat Tejasen accepted Islam
Prof. Tagatat Tejasen – Chairman of the Department of Anatomy at Chiang Mai University in Thailand, has spent a great amount of time on research of pain receptors. Initially he could not believe that the Quran mentioned this scientific fact 1,400 years ago.
Fig no.2 Prof. Tagatat Tejasen accepted Islam just because of one verse of the Holy Quran
He at the 8th Saudi Medical Conference held in Riyadh on the Scientific Signs of Quran and Sunnah he proclaimed in public:
“During the last three years, I became interested in the Quran … From my study and what I have learned from this conference, I believe that everything that has been recorded in the Quran fourteen hundred years ago must be the truth, that can be proved by the scientific means. Since the Prophet Muhammad could neither read nor write, Muhammad must be a messenger who relayed this truth, which was revealed to him as an enlightenment by the one who is eligible [as the creator. This creator must be God. Therefore, I think this is the time to say there is no god to worship except Allah (God), Muhammad is Messenger (Prophet) of Allah (God). Lastly, I must congratulate for the excellent and highly successful arrangement for this conference… I have gained not only from the scientific point of view and religious point of view but also the great chance of meeting many well-known scientists and making many new friends among the participants. The most precious thing of all that I have gained by coming to this place is La ilaha illa Allah, Muhammadur rasoolu Allah, and to have become a Muslim.”
So, isn’t the Holy Quran the word of God?
My final words
The glorious Quran says:
“We will show them Our signs in the universe and within themselves until it becomes clear to them that this ˹Quran˺ is the
truth. Is it not enough that your Lord is a Witness over all things?”
– Chapter 41 (Surah Fussilat ) verse 53
Some people require only one sign, while others require numerous signs to embrace the truth. On the other side, there are others who, even after receiving thousands of indications, refuse to embrace the reality. The Quran describes these persons as:
“They are ˹wilfully˺ deaf, dumb, and blind, so they will never return ˹to the Right Path˺.” – Chapter 2 (Surah Al-Baqarah) verse 18
The Bible says the same thing:
“Though seeing, they do not see; though hearing, they do not hear or understand.” – Gospel of Matthew verse 13 of chapter 13
Hopefully, that was helpful to you and will assist you in strengthening your belief. You can also visit my other blogs:
It is worth noting that Prophet Muhammad never limbed into a boat. Biographies, both old and new, suggest that he never spent time at the ocean. His journeys to Syria took him into remote hinterland areas. Quite clearly, the following comment does not sound like it could come from a man who has never seen seawater in his life.
“And He is the One Who merges the two bodies of water: one fresh and palatable and the other salty and bitter, placing between them a barrier they cannot cross.”
Chapter 25 (Surah Al-Furqan) verse 53
Did the people of the Prophet’s time could have realized what was meant. After all, there were no seas near Makkah or Madinah. So, let’s decipher this verse of the Holy Quran.
The barrier
It is true to the amazement of those who would have traveled by ships across seas. There are several locations, such as at Cape Peninsula (South Africa) where the Atlantic Ocean meets the Indian Ocean, or where the North Sea waters join with the waters of the Baltic Sea, or the Raritan Bay water joins with the New York Harbor waters, or the Blue Nile waters joining with the White Nile waters, or the two seas at Bab at-Mundeb, etc.
Oceanographers and the Sea Barrier
It was in the 19h century that oceanographers first discovered that ocean waters were not the same all over the globe. Samples taken from a number of locations were different from each other in respect of salinity, temperature, density, types of marine organisms, etc. The study’s findings were confirmed when the Americans undertook the study in 1933. why did the seas not mix and become homogeneous in spite of the effect of tide and other factors such as surface and internal waves, sea currents? Further studies revealed that there happen to be ‘barriers’ laid between the seas which helps waters on each side of them to maintain their distinctive properties.
It has been observed that the barrier seems to exist even to the depths of up to 1,400 meters and even at long distances both bodies of water maintain their individual temperatures, salinity and other properties.
The zone of separation to which the Quran refers as a “barrier” has different salinity from the waters on the two sides and there is no strangeness involved in the phenomenon, except that mankind has learnt of it only since about a century or less. The waters of the Earth’s oceans and seas DO MIX, but only on a restricted scale, and it will most likely take millennia to finish globally.
The difference in densities
The difference in density between the two waters can lead to slow mixing. For instance, the difference of density of the order 0.1kg/m3 can cause several days for mixing to occur. In case of fresh water joining sea water, the mixing would take yet longer because density difference between fresh river water and salty sea water is high, and so, is calm. The boundary is also visible clearly.
Experiment at home
Simple experiments can be conducted at home to watch the phenomenon of two waters not mixing with each other. E.g. if blue food color is added to a well-mixed sugary water, and then a red-colored water is gently poured over it, the color of the new mixture remains blue at bottom, red on top, and minimal purple in the middle. The result persists, perhaps for days.
The Quran does not discuss technical details. Its objective is to make a man think about the text, and ask himself: could this be a human production?
What prevents the water from mixing?
The zone separating the upper mixed layer from the deeper ocean is usually characterized by substantial Vertical gradients in water characteristics. To maintain stability in the water column, lighter (less dense) water must be placed above heavier (denser) water…
During summer at mid-latitudes, surface heating from the sun can cause a shallow seasonal thermocline (pycnocline) that connects the top mixed layer to the deeper, more permanent thermocline, or main pycnocline.’
Similarly, in subpolar locations, seasonal summer imports of fresh water near the surface from rainfall, rivers, or ice melt can create a seasonal halocline (pycnocline) that separates the fresh surface from the deeper saltier waters. The vertical density gradient in the primary pycnocline is very severe, and the turbulence inside the top mixed layer cannot penetrate deeper into the ocean due to the high stability of the main pycnocline. The primary pycnocline’s stability acts as a barrier against turbulent mixing processes, and water beneath this depth has not come into contact with the top in a long time.
Vertical gradients in water can refer to differences in water temperature, density, or hydraulic head, and they can indicate a number of things, including:
Blue Energy
Several decades of studies of chemical reactions at where the sea and river waters meet has led to the discovery that the chemical processes taking place at the barrier could lead to a new method of energy extraction in massive quantities. This new energy is dubbed blue energy because it creates no pollution but could in addition prove to solve the pollution problem created by the burning of fossil fuels.
According to one estimate, this “blue energy” is so plentiful that it could meet all our needs – if we can find an effective way to tap it.
This developing technology of extracting energy, which is also referred to as the “osmotic power,” (because it relies on osmosis with ion specific membranes) depends on energy extraction from the difference in the salt concentration between seawater and river water. To explain in simplest possible terms, two solutions of waters of different densities are separated by a thin membrane that lets water through but not salt ions. This causes less dense water to pass through to the other side. The pressure that builds up can be used to drive turbines which produce energy.
Plants have been set up in many parts of the world, such as Australia, Holland, Norway, UK, to name a few, to produce electricity through this process. At present the yield is low when measured against the costs, but improvements are expected.
Anyone who browses the Quran would feel curious that almost always – some 22 times – it refers to the mountains as pegs. For, peg is something that goes into the ground. A ten’s pegs are more inside the ground than outside.
Refering to the massive rocks proudly standing on the surface of the earth as pegs does not seem to be appropriate; and the curiousness remained right until the modern times when the geologists, armed with advanced technology, and equipped with modern research tools discovered in the 1960s that to refer to the mountains as pegs is scientifically a perfect way of reference. No other term can be used so accurately. To pick up one instance, the Quan said:
Taking the shape of an inverted pyramid below the surface of the earth, mountains are more inside the earth than outside, the inner penetration being – peg-like – almost two-thirds of the outer elevation.
Not only the description of mountains as pegs is noticeable in the Qur’an, but also the fact that they have always been referred to in the plural. Never did the Qur’an, in its several citations, use the word in singular in this context. It always used the word in plural: mountains.
This is another accuracy that we notice in the Qur’an as we know that to ordinary observation mountains do not occur singly. They seem to occur as a series of mountains, or as groups where a tall one is hemmed by smaller ones around it, even if some may protrude by a few meters only.
Another point of note, as mentioned in passing earlier, is that although the curiosity remains until this day, the Qur’an – as in the above quote – speaks of the mountains as having been driven in from above. Says another verse:
Modern understanding is that the earth has several layers starting from its surface to its core. The surface layer, some 100 km thick, is referred to as the upper crust (or, roughly, lithosphere). This crust consists of some 40 pieces of broken plates. They are called tectonic plates which are composed of both oceanic as well as continental crust. Of these plates, seven are major ones on which the main continents rest.
It is suggested that the mountains appear as the result of shifts of the plates which when they plunge into each other, cause earthquakes and blow out lava that form the mountains; or just cause a protrusion that, with erosion over millions of years acquire the pyramidal shape.
At all events, the Qur’an maintains that the mountains were placed/pitched from the top. And the idea does not sound outlandish to science. After all, if iron could come from space, and in such huge quantities, then, why not rocks of great dimensions? This is something for science to investigate. The Qur’an cannot be wrong. Another verse of the Quran is specific about the mountains being brought from above:
an early commentator of the Quian, Zamakhshari of the 12h century, expressed the idea that the mountains could have roots. He wrote,
Ifyou asked, What’s the point in saying “from above”, instead of the simple, “He placed therein mountains,
” as He said elsewhere
in the Qur’an, “And We placed therein tall pegs,” (T7: 27) or,
“We placed in the earth mountains,” (21: 31) or, “We placed for it pegs,” (27: 61), I would say, perhaps there are pillars below for the (the mountains) to rest on, or they have been fixed therein like nails.’
Thus, alhough the idea of mountains having roots has a scientific history of around half a century, Muslim scholars played with the idea 800 years earlier. How could they have thought on such lines and express such an outlandish idea at all? It was because they knew, not by faith and dogma, but by experimentations and experiences, that the Quan is a Word from God, uncorrupted and incorruptible.
The Quan has something else to say about the mountains, which is more amazing for the fact that science found it out in as late as 1960s.
It said,
In Kathir, a Qur’anic commentator who appeared seven hundred years ago, wrote,
“That is, He pegged the earth with mountains so that it may not tremble and quiver.”
Today’s science explains that although the upper crust movement has been a constant feature of the earth, it was more rapid in the past. At present it is stabilized at 3-6 cm per year. Life wouldn’t have been comfortable if the plates had been moving at faster speed as in the past: buildings would have been collapsing at quite good pace. And the major cause of this reduction in movements of the plates is the mountains.
Anas, (a Companion of the Prophet), reported that the Messenger of Allah said, “When Allah created the earth, it began to quiver; it calmed down.”
so He created the mountains and placed them upon it, as a result
As for modern theories that clash with the Qur anic statements, we need 10 wait for further rescarch. It would be naive to believe that science has
Twice the Quran mentions the earth as a resting place. Despite all the movements that the earth is under, it does not swing from side to side or shiver from time to time. The Quran says beautifully:
Or ˹ask them,˺ “Who made the earth a resting place, caused rivers to flow through it, placed firm mountains upon it, and set a barrier between ˹fresh and salt˺ bodies of water? Was it another god besides Allah?” Absolutely not! But most of them do not know.”
– Chapter 27 ( Surah An-Naml), verse 61
So, What does Quran says about the dynamic motion of the Earth? Surah An-Naml and modern science
The Quran mentions the earth as a resting place
From The inimitable and physical sciences by Syed Iqbal Zaheer
Some Movements of the Earth
First movement
The earth is spinning around its own axis at the speed of 1000 km per hour. That’s so fast, but we merely feel it.
7b Second movement
coming soon
7c Third movement
coming soon
Forth movement
There is another movement on the earth. At an incredible speed of 100,000 km/h (30 km/s), it is orbiting the sun. The rockets reach a speed of 25,000 km/h, which is one-fourth of the earth’s orbit around the sun. At such incredible speed, stability is difficult to maintain. Humans, however, feel as though they are motionless on the planet. This starts to clarify why the stability of the earth was mentioned in the Quran as a blessing to humanity. Jacques Laskar’s research in 1989 demonstrated that the Earth’s orbit is chaotic and that it would be impossible to forecast where the Earth will be in its orbit in a little more than 100 million years if the beginning location of the Earth today were to be measured with an inaccuracy of only 15 meters.
Earth’s Rotation And Revolution https://byjus.com/physics/rotation-and-revolution/
Fifth movement
The earth goes around the sun not at a fixed speed. It moves in an elliptical pattern, slowing slower as it approaches the aphelion and increasing as it gets closer to the sun. However, we rarely notice the speed variations. Around 105,000 km/hr is the speed at aphelion, when the earth is farthest from the sun. However, it begins to accelerate as it revolves, increasing by 3500 km/h when it reaches a point known as perihelion. We rarely feel it, even though it occurs four times a year.
Earth slows down both at Perihelion and Aphelion https://www.timeanddate.com/astronomy/perihelion-aphelion-solstice.html
Sixth movement
The story of celestial movement has been given an incredible twist by cosmologists: the earth’s orbit around the sun is not straight. It’s spiral. The moon is to blame for this. As it orbits the earth, the moon essentially draws the entire planet to itself. This causes the ground to move in a spiral pattern, but the people who live there are unaffected by these repeated motions.
The spiral/ zigzag motion of the Earth https://www.saleh-theory.com/article/a-new-explanation-for-the-repeating-nested-helical-path-of-motion-from-the-smallest-particles-of-existence-photons-to-moons-planets-stars-galaxies-etc
Seventh movement
At 729,000 km/h, our solar system is swimming around the galaxy at a neck-breaking speed. The earth’s travel about the galaxy’s center is 200 km/h if its rotational speed is 30 km/s over that region. However, according to this incredible mathematical formula, the entire solar system ought to separate from the galaxy and take off into empty space. This is true for all galaxies.
Astrophysicists have been baffled by this question for decades. It was discovered that there must be some substance preventing the stars from separating from the galaxy. “Dark Matter” is the moniker given to it. When it comes to the Sun’s motion, science has shown that the Quran is correct. Click Here.
The Earth moves around the center of the galaxy along with sun and all other planets completing a round in 2.5 million years. https://archive.thedailystar.net/newDesign/print_news.php?nid=226944
Eight movement
There is another movement of the earth that is even more fascinating. There are around 200 billion galaxies in the known universe. The nearest neighboring spiral galaxy next to our galaxy, the Milky Way, is called the Andromeda Galaxy. It has one trillion stars in comparison to ours, which has about 200 billion stars. It is more massive and larger than our galaxy, about 220,000 light-years across (light-years is the distance the light travels in one year with a speed of 3*108 m/s). The Muslim astronomer Al-Sufi first sighted this galaxy in the year 905 C.E.
Al-Sufi – first scientist to see Andromeda Galaxy https://www.bulbapp.com/u/abd-al-rahman-al-sufi
What is the Closest Galaxy to the Milky Way? Andromeda Galaxy https://www.universetoday.com/21914/the-closest-galaxy-to-the-milky-way/
The Andromeda galaxy is at a distance of about 2 million light years from our galaxy and it is traveling at the speed of 300,000 km a second, reaches us in 2 million years. Our galaxy is moving towards the Andromeda galaxy. They are getting closer to each other and are expected to collide, one hitting the belly of another, in about 4 billion years.
NASA’s Hubble Shows Milky Way is Destined for Head-On Collision https://science.nasa.gov/missions/hubble/nasas-hubble-shows-milky-way-is-destined-for-head-on-collision/
When the two collide, not that all of their respective stars are expected to collide, stars have a great distance between them. The chances of one hitting the other have not got a huge chance, but it cannot be ruled out. Anyways, our main focus is that the earth is suffering another motion; it is driving into the Andromeda galaxy, but again it stays stable.
Ninth movement
Galaxies occur in families or groups. The family to which our galaxy belongs is called the Local Group; it has 40-50 other small or big galaxies. The local groups belong to a larger group called a cluster. The cluster to which our local group belongs is called Virgo; it consists of 2000 galaxies spread over 15 million light years. Now, our entire Local Group is hurtling towards the center of the Virgo Cluster at one million miles per hour. 2-3 clusters combine to form a supercluster. The Virgo cluster belongs to a supercluster called Laniakea, which consists of 100,000 galaxies spread over 500 million light years.
A vast amount of space, which includes the Milky Way and superclusters of galaxies, is rushing in the direction of an enigmatic, enormous, invisible mass known as the “Great Attractor.”. It lies 250 million light-years away from our own galaxy.
Image of Great Attractor pulling clusters of galaxies https://www.reddit.com/r/interestingasfuck/comments/mctyje/the_milky_way_and_neighbouring_galaxies_are_being/?rdt=4818
The Great Attractor is moving towards something larger known as the Shapley Supercluster, and it has a mass of more than ten million billion suns (one billion light-years across). It is the most massive cluster of galaxies, and we and every galaxy in our corner of the universe are moving towards it.
Twelfth movement
The superclusters are flying out, as the scientists say, at the mind-blowing rate of approximately 67.4 kilometers per second per megaparsec. This rate is known as the Hubble constant.. As we know, accelerating movement is easily recognizable, especially when the speed is almost that of light. But, once again, we on earth feel none of the movements sketched out above.
The Expansion of the Universe https://scitechdaily.com/measuring-the-expansion-of-the-universe-surprising-discrepancies-hint-at-inconsistency-in-the-composition-of-the-universe/
The Holy Quran talks about this expansion in the following words:
“We built the universe with ˹great˺ might, and We are certainly expanding ˹it˺.”
We might compare the effects of multiple movements with movements created by humans, such as of an aircraft. When it takes off, we feel as if we are leaving something of us behind us. When it climbs to higher altitudes, we feel the upward movement. As it takes a turn, we can feel our weights shifting from side to side. Then, if for weather reasons the aircraft loses altitude and dips down, we can feel the effect on us. The sign saying “keep your seat belt fastened” waits for the aircraft to stabilize its speed. Until then, water will spill from a glass on the table. Once the craft begins to fly in a straight line, at constant speed, water in the glass becomes still, until there is another movement, sideways or up and down, or the speed is changed through acceleration or deceleration. That is the time the pilot asks us to fasten seat belts.
Now, the earth rotates around its own axis and revolves around the sun, but not smoothly at one speed, but rather accelerates twice in its helical round and decelerates twice. But that’s not all. It also runs in a zigzag fashion with the moon while it is making its rounds around the sun. If you add another movement, the picture becomes a little difficult for the human mind to imagine. The point of discussion is, despite so many movements, we do not feel any disturbance. A glass filled to its brim will not spill on your table. And we are yet to speak of other, dizzying movements of the earth. It is after accounting for these movements that we realize the true meaning of the Quranic statement:
“We will show them Our signs in the universe and within themselves until it becomes clear to them that this ˹Quran˺ is the truth. Is it not enough that your Lord is a Witness over all things?”
– Chapter 41 (Surah Fussilat ), verse 53
Some people require only one sign, while others require numerous signs to embrace the truth. On the other side, there are others who, even after receiving thousands of indications, refuse to embrace the reality. The Quran describes these persons as:
“They are ˹wilfully˺ deaf, dumb, and blind, so they will never return ˹to the Right Path˺.”
– Chapter 2 (Surah Al-Baqarah), verse 18
The Bible says the same thing:
“Though seeing, they do not see; though hearing, they do not hear or understand.”
– Gospel of Matthew, verse 13 of chapter 13
Hopefully, that was helpful to you and will assist you in strengthening your belief. You can also visit my other blogs:
Today we are going to decipher the Holy Quran and see how Allah has explained the moon.
The Moon
The Holy Quran emphasizes that the moon is not a dying star, dimmer star or of the star family. It says:
“placing the moon within them as a ˹reflected˺ light, and the sun as a ˹radiant˺ lamp?”
– Chapter 71 (Nuh), vers 16
The Quran has used the word “nur” and hinted at the fact that the moon is not radiating its own light.
Fig 6.1: These patches on the moon are known as Maria – a Latin word meaning ‘seas’.
Ancient mythologies about moon
Moon has been a goddess of the Romans (Luna1) and Greeks (Selene2). According to a Hindu mythology, the moon is a storehouse of the elixir called soma, which gods drink. The marks on the moon are explained in various ways. Like The Eskimos say that these marks the ashes which were smudged by her sister, the Sun. Whereas the mantra believed that the dark spots were a tree. In Sanskrit it is said that a hare was taken up to the moon for protection, and the god smote the moon in the face with a hare.
What does the Quran say about the moon?
The Holy Quran says, in chapter number 17 verse 12:
“We made the day and night as two signs. So We made the sign of the night devoid of light, and We made the sign of the day ˹perfectly˺ bright, so that you may seek the bounty of your Lord and know the number of years and calculation ˹of time˺. And We have explained everything in detail.”
– Chapter 17(Al- Isra), verse 12
We must first familiarize ourselves on the most recent scientific findings. The moon’s origin is mysterious. It is one of the enigmatic occurrences about which we humans know nothing. The moon is thought to be 4.5 billion years old, which is the same age as the earth. According to the most widely accepted view, numerous other planetary bodies were present when the Earth formed, about 4.5 billion years ago. One of the rocks crashed at an angle into the earth. This huge impact blew out one huge chunk of the earth in space along with some other small rocks. That huge chunk of rock, along with smaller rocks and dust, went into orbit around the sun, and slowly the small pieces coalesced into what we call today the moon. To elaborate: Allah took away moon’s light and kept the sign of the day- the sun. In another verse, it is said:
“They ask you ˹O Prophet˺ about the phases of the moon. Say, “They are a means for people to determine time and pilgrimage.”
– Chapter 2 (Al-Baqarah), verse 189
Fig 6.2: It is the early phase of formation, the moon had a molten surface. https://geologyscience.com/geology/formation-of-the-moon
What does Quran says about the splitting of the moon?
Perpetual nights on the earth
Ask ˹them, O Prophet˺, “Imagine if Allah were to make the night perpetual for you until the Day of Judgment, which god other than Allah could bring you sunlight? Will you not then listen?”
Allah has the power to remove the sun, leaving the earth in a state of darkness. Life on Earth cannot exist if the sun disappears. So the Quran might have simply stated that Allah has the authority to wipe out all life, nevertheless, if that was its intended meaning. But the interesting thing is that the phrase “if Allah were to make the night perpetual for you” is used here. We now know that it is not essential to take away the sun to create darkness upon mankind with the condition that life survives. For example, the moon period of rotation matches with the speed of its revolution around the earth; so that, it moves in its round by an amount that keeps its one face perpetually towards the earth. The other side that the humans never see is called as the Dark Side.
Fig 6.3: The Moon only shows its one face. https://www.pbs.org/newshour/science/never-see-far-side-moon
Now in this verse, Allah says that He could make the arrangement between the earth and the sun in its circles, allowing the earth to turn as much on its axis to expose only half of the earth to the sun.
![Surat Fussilat [41:53] - The Noble Qur'an - القرآن الكريم](https://legacy.quran.com/images/ayat_retina/41_53.png)
![Surat An-Naml [27:61] - The Noble Qur'an - القرآن الكريم](https://legacy.quran.com/images/ayat_retina/27_61.png)
