By: Moulana Aneesur Rahman Nadvi

In previous pages, we have discussed numerous signs of doomsday. The reader must have perceived that all these signs of doomsday describe a specific and an individual phenomenon of the climate change occurring or predicted to occur on the Planet Earth. In addition to these individual signs, there are some references found in the Qur’an and Hadith which collectively describe an overall situation or depict a complete picture of the Planet Earth near the end times. One of these sings is the “analogy of Planet Earth with the burning home.”

One may ask a question that what shape will the ongoing climate change on Planet Earth may assume. And what will be the overall situation of Planet Earth as a result of all these devastations? Several hadiths have been narrated in this regard which depict the overall situation of Planet Earth in a perfect way. We will discuss here one of these hadiths:

Hazrath Ibn Abbas narrate that Prophet Mohammed PBUH said, “…. [Near the end times] the whole Earth will be like a home in which the fire has been kindled.”1

This phrase of the hadith is, in fact, a part of a lengthy hadith of Ibn Abbas regarding a major sign of doomsday i.e., smoke (dukhan). We will deal with this sign of doomsday under the topic ‘Dukhan and its Devastation’ later in this book. But what is significant about this phrase of the hadith is that it describes the overall condition of Planet Earth near the doomsday. It states that at the time of emergence of dukhan (smoke) the whole of the Planet Earth will be like a house which has been set on fire. Hence, first we will discuss this phrase of hadith and later we will discuss the whole hadith and the phenomenon of ‘Dukhan’.

This phrase of hadith of Ibn Abbas hints at the grave and destructive situation which has been predicted by the scientist to occur on the Planet Earth as a result of intensification of ongoing global warming in the future; when the earth’s forests will burn out rapidly; destruction of Amazon forest will be on its high; when the melt down of permafrost area of Planet Earth will be on rise, and the land beneath it will be spewing the flames of fire; when the desertification of Earth takes its worst form and the deserts of Earth will become a burning hell; And when the oceans of Earth start to boil away and start to converting into an ocean of fire. We have put forward a detailed discussion on these phenomena in previous pages in the light of Quran and Hadith in detail. We will give a brief summary of this discussion which will help in understanding the connotations of the hadith under discussion. This discussion is also important here due to the fact that extreme temperature is a pre-condition for the emergence and release of ‘smoke’ dukhan mentioned in the above hadith.

Forest Fire

One of the major threats facing the Planet Earth is the forest fires. Forests of Planet Earth will be subjected to large scale destruction due to the increase in global warming. According to the experts, the forest fires on earth will trigger the occurrence of other irreversible destructive phenomena as a feedback reaction. For example, the disappearance of forest which absorbs carbon dioxide and releases oxygen into the atmosphere will now lead to deficiency of oxygen and increased concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Similarly, the carbon dioxide emitted by these forest fires itself will cause increase in the concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere, which will lead the temperature to rise further. And this cycle will go on until complete destruction of forests from Planet Earth. Around 31 percent of land area of Earth is covered by forests.

Fire Confined in Permafrost
Geologically, permafrost is a term used to describe a soil at or below freezing point of water 0 °C (32 °F) for two or more years. Permafrost covers 20% of earth’s total dry land. Permafrost contains organic matter beneath it since thousands of years with huge reserves of carbon dioxide and methane rooted underneath it. Due to increased global warming, the danger of melting of permafrost is looming largely, triggering the emission of carbon dioxide and methane trapped in it into the atmosphere in enormous quantities. According to an estimate, permafrost preserves about 1,700 billion tons of carbon reserves which is twice the total amount of carbon present in the atmosphere currently. With the melting of permafrost, the earth will be prone to another kind of severe fire along with the forest fires, and the earth will be poised to entrap in a dangerous cycle of increased global warming.

Threat from Amazon Forest
According to scientists, the Planet Earth is facing an imminent threat from the Amazon forest. Amazon forest is considered a sensitive and vulnerable region of the Planet Earth in the wake of increased global warming. According to the scientists, burning of Amazon rain forest along with the carbon reserves buried in this region is one of the three greatest threats looming on the Planet Earth due to the increased global warming.

The valley of Amazon constitutes densest forest cover of the Planet Earth. It covers an area of about 70 lakh square kilometers (2,700,00 sq. mi.). This area is almost equal to the total area of European continent. According to an estimate, Amazon rainforest account for about 10% of the earth’s total carbon reserves. The burning out and disappearance of the Amazon forest poses one of the dangerous natural hazard and unforeseen events likely to result from the increased global warning. According to experts, if this phenomenon occurs, scientists are unable to predict what form the global warming will take and what will be the scale and extent of Earth’s destruction?

Ocean Fire
In previous pages, we have discussed in detail the mammoth chemical and physical changes that are taking place in our oceans due to the increased global warming which are universal and destructive. The whole Planet Earth will be affected by its destructions. One among the series of these destructive events is the boiling away of the oceans and setting them on fire. We will discuss it here briefly.

Around 71 percent of the surface area of the Earth is covered by oceans and the remaining 29 is considered land area. Although the oceans of Earth are filled with water to the brim, nevertheless the ocean floor is witnessing continuous volcanic activities. These volcanoes get suppressed at sea floor itself due to the enormous weight of water and don’t appear above the sea level. Scientists believe that the earth’s oceans are facing the threat of losing its water due to the increased global warming. According to them, if the Earth’s average temperature exceeds 50°C or 60°C, the water of oceans will start evaporating and will end up losing it permanently by escaping into the outer space. It is evident then that when this situation will arise, the underwater volcanic activities of the oceans will get exposed and the whole ocean will turn into a burning hell.

Desertification of Planet Earth
Around 33% of the land area of the Earth is covered with deserts. The temperature of the desert area always soars, but due to the global warming the situation is predicted to worsen further. As it has been explained earlier, our Planet is facing the threat of desertification due to the ongoing global warming. Desertification is the process of fertile and green land turning into barren and arid land and then the arid land turning into deserts. Hence, there are two types of risks involved in desertification: first is becoming the land uncultivable and barren and the second is the conversion of greenery into burning deserts.

Analogy of Earth with a Burning Home
It is evident from the above discussion that the manifestation of fire is not specific to any part of the planet, rather it will take the entire Planet Earth into its grip, and each and every part of the Earth will be burnt up. Whether it is the oceanic part (71%) of the Planet Earth or the continental one (29 percent), and in continental area, whether it is the permafrost region (20 percent) or the desert area (33%) or the area covered by forests (31 Percentage), all these regions of planet earth will be spewing fire and the whole of Planet Earth will turn into a burning hell. This is the terrible and horrific state of affairs of our Planet which has been perfectly depicted as a burning house in the hadith. “ …. The whole Earth will be like a house in which the fire has been kindled.

The above hadith of Ibn Abbas hints at a number of other universal realities in addition to the Earth’s fire. We will discuss them here briefly. The most important of them is that our Planet Earth has been compared with a house which is a very eloquent metaphor which corroborate completely with the modern scientific researches. As described above, the Planet Earth is a gigantic and beautiful home full of needs, requirements and luxuries for human and other forms of life to survive. The Ozone layer and the other upper layers of the Earth’s atmosphere play the role of roof of our Planet and protect the humans and other forms of life from ultraviolet radiation, meteors, and other heavenly bodies.

In comparing the earth with a house, also lies an eloquent gesture at the earth being a greenhouse and its greenhouse effect. In modern scientific terminology, earth is also called as a greenhouse. According to this notion, greenhouse gasses (water vapour, CO2, Nitrous Oxide, Methane, etc.) present in the atmosphere trap the heat of the sun from escaping again into the space. These gases warm the surface of the Earth to the extent necessary for the survival of life on earth. Without greenhouse gases, the average temperature of Earth’s surface would be -18°C rather than present average of 15°C. Hence, global warming will accelerate with each and every increase in the ratio of these gases in the atmosphere, and the excessive accumulation of these greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere will lead to the dangerous global catastrophes. Hence the analogy of the Planet Earth in this hadith with a home in fact is a beautiful depiction of this characteristic and phenomenon of the Planet Earth.

Another key point in comparing the Planet Earth with a home is that this analogy clearly indicates that the effects of global warming and climate change taking place on earth will be limited to the Planet Earth alone. It wouldn’t exert even its minimal effect on celestial objects or planets of our solar system. Even in the case of occurrence of very severe type of global warming and climate change on Planet Earth and the resultant catastrophic natural disasters which have been discussed in length in previous pages, it won’t have even its minute effects on its nearest celestial object i.e., our moon. Hence, in order to illustrate this limitation of the climate change of Earth, our planet has been likened with a home.

Dreadful Fate of Venus
In order to understand this analogy of Planet Earth with a burning home, Almighty Allah has provided us one fine example of dreadful and horrible fate of a planet in our solar system. Venus which is our nearest neighbor in our solar system is a perfect example of climate change and it’s after effects which is sweltering in the fire today. According to scientists, once Venus too was thriving from flora and fauna and was considered habitable and its climate supported life. But due to the occurrence of runaway greenhouse effect and climate change on its soil, Venus has turned into a literal hell from a living paradise. Today its surface temperature has reached 460°C; its forest have vanished; its continental area has been converted into deserts; its oceans which were occupying about 80% surface area have vaporized and dried up; and now the volcanic activity on the ocean floor of Venus is visible everywhere. The temperature on Venus is so hot that it can melt the iron within few minutes. The most important thing in this regard is that scientists say that if the global warming and climate change on Planet Earth turned into runaway climate change as that of Venus, then the Earth too will face the fate of Venus. Hence the hadith of Ibn Abbas exactly depicts this situation in a clear and decisive manner.

Scientific Marvel of hadith
The above discussion has proved the Meaningfulness and comprehensiveness of the words of Qur’an and hadith; and it is immensely interesting that how these plain words explain the multifaceted and complicated natural phenomena in so simple yet eloquent style. In fact, the words and phrases of Quran and hadith are locked doors of knowledge and learning, only upon unlocking them with the key of modern science, one can assess their true worth and value. (to be cont.)

Footnotes:
1- Sharh Masnad Abi Hanifa, Mulla Ali Qari, P. 426, Darul Kutub Al Ilmiyah, Beirut; Tafseer Sa’labi, Tafseer Baghwi, Tafseer Nasafi, Tafseer Khazan etc.
2 – We have discussed the emergence of this phenomenon in the light of hadith in previous pages.
3 – For details on this topic one can refer the discussion under the topic “Fire Confined in Barhoot Valley” in the in previous pages.
4 – For details, refer the discussion under the topic “Setting the Oceans on Fire” in previous pages.
5 – A detailed discussion on the subject is made later in this book under the topic “Blowing the Trumpet”.
6 – For a detailed discussion on the ‘causes of climate change on Venus’, please see the third volume of this book.