In the light of Qur’an, Hadith, Geography and Geology
By: Moulana Aneesur Rahman Nadvi
In ancient times, man was unfamiliar and ignorant of the true concept of continents as he conceives it today. The concept of continents that exists today is the result of thousands of years of research, exploration and discoveries. The continents of planet Earth continued to be discovered up to the eighteenth century AD. But there exist statements in the Qur’an and Hadith about the geography of our land, especially the continents and oceans, which seem to be in complete harmony with modern geographical concepts and are of significant scientific importance. In this article, we will try to study and understand these statements of the Qur’an and Hadith in the light of modern science and geographical discoveries, which will give an idea of their scientific value. But before we proceed to analyze these statements of the Qur’an and Hadith, it is necessary to take a look at the geographical concepts prevalent in the ancient times and especially in the prophetic era.
Ancient geographical views
Human views and conceptions of the planet and its geography are as old as the human existence on the planet. Even the oldest human communities and tribes have tried to form ideas according to their own understanding of our planet. The geographical concepts of the ancient nations that have come down to us in this regard are of Egyptians, Babylonians, Greeks, Hindus, Chinese and Roman etc.
The Ancient Egyptians saw the Nile as the center, and the world as based upon “the” river. The oasis to the east and west of this river was considered the place of various deities and gods.(1) While on the world map of the Babylonians, the Euphrates River and the city of Babylon occupied the central position. Both the Egyptians and Babylonians were familiar with the places of their vicinity only. So the Egyptians were unfamiliar with Europe, while the northern boundaries of the Babylonian map were limited to eastern Anatolia.(2)
Unlike the ancient Egyptians and Babylonians, Greek thinkers and geographers seem to hold different ideas and views about the earth. It seems that the ancient Greek philosophers did not have a single solid theory about the Earth’s geography. On the contrary, their views in this regard seem to grow with the growing number of philosophers. According to the ancient Greek philosopher Homer (8th century BC), the world was circular, ringed by a single massive ocean.(3) Another Greek philosopher Thales (7th century BC) believed that the world is based on water, and that everything in our world grew out of it. The geographical information of Hecataeus of Miletus, a Greek geographer of the 8th century BC, included Egypt, Persia, Asia Minor, parts of North Africa, and India. Pythagoras (7th century BC) is said to have proposed the theory of the spherical shape of the world, which was later adopted by Plato (5th century BC) and Aristotle (4th century BC).
The ancient Greeks divided the world into three parts (Europe, Asia and Libya i.e., Africa). Their known world included parts of North Africa, southern Europe, and the Middle East and the adjoining areas in Asia. According to them, these three continents were not divided by oceans instead were located on a single large piece of land, and they divided this one massive piece of land into three continents by drawing hypothetical boundaries. This shows that the Greeks’ concept of the continent was different from the modern technical concept of the continent. According to the Greeks, this one massive piece of the land was circled by a giant ocean.
On the contrary, the world map of the famous Egyptian astronomer and geographer Ptolemy (100-170 AD) shows one large ocean and one large continent. The only difference between Ptolemy’s map of the world and the earlier Greek maps is that in Ptolemy’s map, the sea was at the center and the continental area was surrounded it from all sides (see Fig. 2), whereas in earlier Greek maps the continental part was in the middle ringed by the massive ocean (see Fig. 1).
The views of the Greek philosophers about our planet show that their knowledge of the geography of the planet was not based on research and exploration rather it was mere imagination and speculation. None of them had claimed to have discovered the true nature of the planet neither in its entirety nor on a large scale at least. That is why there exist great differences in their geographical ideas and views.
The concept of inhabited quarter and the seven climes
For almost seven hundred years after Ptolemy, no progress was made in the field of geography. During the Abbasid period in the eighth century AD, Muslims made significant advances in geography. This is not the time to go into its details. A thorough study on the subject will be made in a separate article. But here it is important to keep in mind that Muslim geographers not only established that the earth is spherical but also started globular projection of terrestrial maps for the first time. The observations of Muslim geographers in this regard show that until the 12th century AD, humans were aware of only one quarter of the globe, which was termed as inhabited or populated quarter (one half of the northern hemisphere) of the planet earth. The ancient geographer used to divide this inhibited quarter into seven equal regions from the equator to the North Pole and east to west, terming them seven climatic regions which they called them as seven climes.(4) This inhabited quarter of the earth can be understood clearly from the map of the famous geographer Al-Idrisi (d. 1165 AD) of 12th century in which he depicted the then known world from Western Europe to Japan and from Siberia to the northern parts of Africa and projected it on the globe.(5)
Mention of seven continents in the hadiths
This was an overview of the geographical ideas and conceptions of the various ancient nations of the world, which shows that man was aware of only a limited part of our planet at the time of the Prophet Mohammed PBUH (seventh century AD). Not until the prophetic age, but even as 12th century AD, man was aware of merely one quarter of the planet earth, which included parts of continents of Europe, Asia and Africa. The continents of North America, South America, Australia, Antarctica and Greenland were discovered later, which will be discussed in this article later in detail.
Nevertheless, the hadiths contain clear statements about the seven continents and the seven oceans, as well as a number of other important geographical and geological features of planet earth, which are found to be in complete conformity with modern geographical explorations and discoveries which goes on to prove the scientific marvels of the Qur’an and the hadiths in this regard. Here our purpose is to present a scholarly study of various hadiths related to the seven continents and the seven oceans. A detailed study of all these hadiths narrated in this regard will be presented here.
One of the hadiths related to the seven continents and the seven oceans has been narrated by Abu Shaikh ibn Hayyan from Wahab ibn Manbah is as follows:
أخرج ابو الشيخ عن وهب قال إنها سبعة أبحر وسبع أرضين والأرض على ظهر الحوت واسم الحوت بهموت۔
“Abu al-Sheikh narrated from Wahab ibn Manbah that he said: Indeed there are seven oceans and seven lands and the earth is on the back of a fish and the name of this fish is Bahmut.” (6)
This hadith explanis some of the most important facts and theories of both geography and geology. Some of them are mentioned explicitly while some are alluded to. Therefore, in this hadith, two facts of geography and an important theory of geology have been stated which are as follow.
1- There are seven oceans on earth.
2- Similarly, there are seven lands (continents) on it.
3- Our land is based on the back of a fish.
The first and third of these three points will be discussed later in this article. The second point will be discussed first.
Lexical study of the word ‘arz’
In the above hadith, the word ‘arz’ is used in two forms. One is plural “seven lands” (sab’u arzeen) and the other is the singular “land” (arz). It is denoting different meanings in both places. The seven lands refer to the seven continents, while the singular form “earth” refers to the upper layer of our planet i.e., the lithosphere whose details will be discussed later. In order to understand this semantic difference of the word ‘arz’, it is necessary to understand the literal meanings of the word ‘arz’ first.
In fact, in Arabic the word ‘arz’ is a broad and eloquent word, similar to the word ‘samaa’, which has a variety of meanings. Therefore, its scope of connotation covers everything that is lower to the man. In almost all major classical Arabic dictionaries, the word ‘arz’ is defined as follows:
کل ما سفُل فهو أرض۔
“Everything that is below is called the earth.”(7)
أرض يعبر بها عن أسفل الشئ کما يعبر بالسماء عن أعلاہ.
“Arz: It refers to the lower object, just as the upper object is meant from the word sama (sky).”(8)
From the above lexical definitions of the word ‘arz’, it is clear that just as the word ‘sama’ i.e., ‘sky’ is an all-encompassing word in Arabic used to denote everything that is above (clouds, atmosphere, sky, celestial object, stars, planets, universe etc.), similarly, the word ‘earth’ is an all-encompassing word used to denote everything that is below. Therefore, according to this lexical definition of the word ‘arz’, its meaning can be applied to planet earth, continent, crust, lithosphere, the country, the soil, an island or a piece of land, etc., as all these things lie lower to the man. Similarly, in Arabic, the word ‘arz’ is used in another meaning, i.e., to denote a place full of greenery and vegetation.
أرض، يأرض، أرضا (المکان) کثر عشبه وازدھى وحسن فى العين۔
“The place which is abundant in herbage, prosperous, and looks good in the eye.”(9)
أرِض، يأرَض، أرضا كثُر نبتها وحسن مرآها۔
“A land with abundant vegetation and good visibility.”(10)
أرضٌ ريضة أي حسنة النبت وتأرض النبت تمکن على وجه الأرض فکثُر.
“Arz ariza” means the place which is good in plants, and “ta’arza al-nabat” means the presence and abundance of plants on the earth.”(11)
Therefore, literally, the word ‘arz’ can be applied to a place full of greenery and vegetation. The planet earth is also called ‘arz’ because it is able to grow vegetation. From this point of view, the word ‘arz’ connotes a variety of things: a piece of land, a continent and planets (planets where there is a possibility of greenery and vegetation due to the existence of water). Hence, the meaning of ‘arz’ will be applied depending on its context. In the above hadith, the word ‘arz’ has been used in both the meanings of a ‘continent’ and earth’s lithosphere.
Technical definition of continent and hadiths
Before we proceed further, it is important to know the technical definition of continent. Similarly, it would be interesting to know if there are any further explanations about the seven lands in the hadiths so that it could shed more light on the nature and significance of these seven lands, bringing harmony between the geographical continent and the continents mentioned in the hadiths.
In geographical terms, a continent refers to a large and continuous part of the land that is surrounded by oceans.
“A continent is defined as a large continuous area of land.”(13)
“A large landmass that rises above the deep ocean floor.”(14)
“Continent is a part of the earth’s surface that forms one of the great dry-land masses of the world. It usually has extensive plains or plateaus and one or more mountain ranges, and is surrounded or nearly surrounded by water.”(15)
It is clear from these technical definitions of continents that the word continent applies to a large and continuous part of the land that is completely or nearly surrounded by oceans. This definition of continent excludes from its list the innumerable small and large islands on Earth, which number in the tens of thousands if not millions. Most of these islands are part of the continent closest to them and lie on the same tectonic plate on which the respective continents reside.
Interestingly, a number of hadiths have also been narrated with regard to the nature and makeup of the seven lands which corroborates these technical definitions of the continent. A hadith in this regard has been narrated by Abu Al-Sheikh from Wahab ibn Manbah himself. This hadith is as follows:
أخرج أبو الشيخ عن عبد الصمد قال سمعت وهبا رحمه اللہ تعالى سئل عن الأرضين کيف ھى؟ قال سبع أرضين ممھدة جزائر بين کل أرضَين بحر۔۔۔۔ الخ.
“Abu al-Sheikh narrates from Abd al-Samad that he said: I heard from Wahab that he was asked about the lands (continents) what they are like. He said, “Seven lands are spread out in the form of islands. And the oceans stand between each of the two lands.”(16)
عن أبى صالح عن ابن عباس رضى اللہ عنهما: إنها سبع أرضين متفرقة بالبحار وتظل الجميع السماء۔
It is narrated from Abu Salih that Ibn Abbas (RA) said: “There are seven lands which are separated by the oceans, and all of them are shielded by the sky.” (17)
قال وهب بن منبة: على وجه الأرض سبعة أبحر والأرضون سبع۔ بين کل أرضين بحر۔
Wahab bin Manbah says: “There are seven oceans and seven lands on earth. There is an ocean between each of the two lands.”(18)
All the above mentioned hadiths regarding the seven continents are self-explanatory and unequivocal in their meaning. Some very important points are drawn from these hadiths which are as follows:
1- The definition of continents in these hadiths corroborate completely with the geographical and technical definition of continents. These hadiths clearly explain that the seven earths exist on the earth in the form of giant islands, that is, each of them is surrounded by the ocean. From this definition of the continents, innumerable small islands (which are in tens of thousands or even more) have been excluded from its list, because they cannot be applied to the continent, neither geographically nor in terms of hadiths, as described above.
2- The second point is that it negates that these seven lands (continents) are located one below the other, as some people think. On the contrary, it is clear from the narration of Ibn ‘Abbas (RA) that all the seven earths (continents) are spread out under the open sky. Another meaning of the seven lands occurring one below the other have been explained further in the same article later.
3- The above-mentioned hadiths are fine examples of the diversified meaning of the word ‘arz’. In the above hadiths, the same word ‘arz’ has been used for several meanings, i.e., lithosphere, planet earth and the continent.
4- These hadiths also describe the existence of seven continents as well as seven oceans on earth. This topic will be discussed later in this article.
Which are the seven continents?
Geographers agree on the technical definition of continents, but there exist vast disagreement among them as to which land mass should be recognized as continent and which should be considered as island. Therefore, there exist extensive differences and contradictions between them in this regard. For example, in Latin America and some European countries, only six continents are recognized, namely: Asia, America (North and South), Europe, Africa, Australia and Antarctica. That is, they regard North and South America as one continent. In contrast, six continents are also recognized in Eastern Europe, Russia and Japan, but their list of continents is different from the earlier one, which is: Eurasia (Asia and Europe), Africa, North America, South America, Australia and Antarctica. Here Europe is not recognized as a separate continent, but as a part of Asia. This view is technically correct because Europe is not an independent continent. Rather, it is geographically connected to Asia and in fact is a peninsula of Asia. Together they are called Eurasia. In contrast, Western Europe, China and English-speaking countries, including India, recognize seven continents which are as follow: Asia, Europe, Africa, North America, South America, Australia and Antarctica. One of the main reasons for this disagreement over the determination of continents is political and regional interests.
Despite this difference in the recognition of continents from political point of view, a purely geographical and technical analysis will reveals that North and South America are in fact two separate continents. Europe, by contrast, is not a continent, but a peninsula of the Asian continent, just as the Arabian Peninsula is.
“Technically, Europe is not a continent, but a peninsula of Asia. It is part of what may be called the Eurasian continent, which has a total area of about 54 million square kilometers.”(19)
If Europe is excluded technically from being a separate continent and considered part of the Eurasian continent, then there will remain only six continents technically in the list of continents, which are: Eurasia (Asia and Europe), Africa, North America, South America, Australia and Antarctica. So in this case, which will be the seventh continent to be considered seventh earth mentioned in the hadiths?
Irrespective of this political division of continents, if we look at the planet earth, we will see another huge and continuous piece of land on the planet, called Greenland. Greenland is neither a continent nor a separate country under the current political divide, but it is a province of Denmark. However, its area is so vast that experts are unable to understand why it is not included in the list of continents, which is why they consider the current division of continents to be controversial:
“A continent is defined as a large continuous area of land. The vague thing about these definitions is the word large. Why is Australia (about 7.7 million sq. km or 3 million sq. mi) regarded as a continent and Greenland (about 2 million sq. km, or 0.8 million sq. mi) as an island? ….. Names, it seems, are sometimes arbitrary. Yet, through common usage over the centuries, names become fixed in the language.”(20)
The above discussion about the continents makes it ample clear that the current division of continents is controversial and politically motivated instead of being technical one. Though the seven continents mentioned in the hadith could be applied to the present seven continents, nevertheless, from a purely technical point of view, the existence of seven continents on earth may be proved unequivocally , which are as follow: Eurasia (Asia and Europe), Africa, North America, South America, Australia, Antarctica and Greenland. The details of these seven continents along with controversial continents can be seen in the table below:
As the above table shows, there is considerable variation in the size of the continents of planet Earth. Asia, for example, is five times larger in size than Australia. Greenland, which is considered to be the largest island of the world, is only four times smaller than the Australian continent. The differences that exist in various countries regarding the recognition of these land masses as continents are shown in the table below:
In short, irrespective of the current division of the continents, their definition in the hadiths is purely technical one from a geographical point of view. Thus, the seven technical continents are well indicated by the hadiths. Therefore, their definition in the hadiths is scientific and technical one, while the current accepted forms of the continents are political and controversial. Figure 4 displays the shape and location of the seven continents. (to be cont.)
References:
1- Montet, Pierre, 2000, “Eternal Egypt”, Phoenix Press.
2- Lewy H., Lewy J., “The Origin of the Week and the Oldest West Asiatic Calendar”, The Hebrew Union College Annual 17 (1943), 1-146.
3- Strabo, Geography, I, 1.
4- Kashafu Istilahat al-Funun, Muhammad Ali Al-Thanwi, pp. 307; Al Tanbeeh wal-Ishraf, Masoudi, pp. 23-24.
5- Kitabu Nazhat al-Mushtaq Fi Ikhtaraq al-Afaq, Al-Idrisi, Maktab al-Thaqafat al-Diniyat, Port Saeed, Egypt.
6- Al-Hai’ah al-Saniya, Jalal al-Din al-Suyuti, pp. 74.
7- Mojam al-Sihah, Jawhari, pp. 37; Lisan al-Arab, Ibn Manzour, v. 1, pp 87; Taj al-Arous, Zabidi, v. 18, pp. 226.
8- Al-Mufradat Fi Gharib Al-Qur’an, Ragheb Isfahani, pp. 16.
9- Al Munjid.
10- Al Mujam al-Waseet.
11- Al-Mufradat Fi Gharib Al-Qur;an, Ragheb Isfahani.
12- The writer has discussed this topic in detail with examples from Holy Qur’an and Hadith in an article title “The Connotations of words ‘arz’ and ‘sama’ and its scientific marvel”, published in Quarterly Tahqiqat Islami, Oct-Dec 2013, Aligarh; Bi-monthly Tameer-e-Fikr, March-April / May-June 2014, Bangalore.
13- World Book Encyclopaedia, v. 4, pp. 315.
14- Oxford Concise Science Dictionary, pp. 160, OUP, New York, 1991.
15- Oceanography, pp. 53.
16- Al Azma, Abu Al-Sheikh, v. 4, pp. 1399.
17- Tafsir Abu al-Saud, v. 8, pp. 265; Tafsir Haqqi, Ismail Haqqi, v. 15, pp. 405; Tafsir al-Bahr al-Madeed, Ibn Ajibah, v. 6, pp. 353.
18- Tafsir al-Qurtubi, v. 11, pp. 169-170.
19- Oceanography, pp. 53.
20 – Ibid.