Friday Sermon: Wonders of Allah’s Creativity 1

By Babatunde Jose

“I know we have not unraveled any fraction of the world around us and these perfect systems are not happenstance or evolution. It’s a design by the Grand Architect who has meaning and reason for all His creations.” –Abimbola Kuru

There are very clear facts to suggest that we know very little about the art of creation. Most of what has been revealed to us is only the tip of the proverbial ‘iceberg’. We often indulge in scientific conjectures that are eventually refuted by later discoveries. It is sufficient to say that most of the laws of science only confirm the immutable laws of nature.

If the great scientists did not discover the laws of nature, these events would still hold and would be in due course discovered with the progress of human civilization as revealed by Allah.  Over the centuries, there have been countless scientists and intellectuals whose efforts have kept the wheels of progress turning.

Sir Isaac Newton was an English physicist and mathematician, who is widely recognized as one of the greatest and most influential scientists of all time. He played a key role in the development of calculus, and through his extensive study of light, made the first practical reflecting telescope, a technology which till date is used to study the heavens. But perhaps the most important and famous of his discoveries was that of gravity.

Newton was able to, not only describe why an apple fell towards the Earth rather than fly away from it, but also provide the mathematical basis for this theory, and describe the motion of objects. His discoveries went on to lay the foundation of classical mechanics, and are considered to be some of the most significant contributions to the world of physics.

However, before Newton, our ancestors have always known that whatever goes up must come down. Gravity has always been there. Nobody created gravity; it has been part of natural phenomena that came with the creation of the universe; gravity is an immutable law of nature. The speed of light and sound can never be as fast as the speed of thought. And we shall get to its use one day.

Among the numerous inventions of Thomas Alva Edison, the most prominent one is the electric bulb, which is still used today to light up our nights. But, if Edison had not, the electric bulb would have been invented at another time.

Electricity had always been there from the beginning of time.  A 2200-year-old clay jar found near Baghdad, Iraq, has been described as the oldest known electric battery in existence.

Albert Einstein was a German theoretical physicist, who is widely regarded as one of the greatest minds of modern times. Einstein is best known for his equation E=mc², which gives the relation between energy and mass, and forms the basis of atomic energy generation. But atomic energy has always been there.

The Tunguska event was a large explosion that occurred near the Podkamennaya Tunguska River in Yeniseysk Governorate (now Krasnoyarsk Krai), Russia, on the morning of 30 June 1908 (NS). The explosion over the sparsely populated Eastern Siberian Taiga flattened an estimated 80 million trees over an area of 2,150 km2 (830 sq mi) of forest, and eyewitness reports suggest that at least three people may have died in the event. The explosion would have measured from 3 to 30 megatons of TNT (13–126 petajoules).An explosion of this magnitude would be capable of destroying a large metropolitan area.

There are facts to suggest that the event that obliterated the twin cities of Sodom and Gomorrah was a nuclear explosion.  The Bible mentions the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, destroyed by a divine punishment. On the site of these two cities, the Dead Sea could well reflect radioactive destruction. Effectively, the very high salt content of this fossil sea could be the consequence of a nuclear explosion. Some researchers have come forward suggesting that Sodom and Gomorrah are the Hiroshima and Nagasaki of the distant past, over 4000 years ago.

Here is what the Bible says, see (Genesis 18:20; 19:24-26.28) We know that the Dead Sea’s surface and shores are 429 meters (1,407 ft) below sea level, Earth’s lowest elevation on land. The Dead Sea is 304 m (997 ft) deep, the deepest hyper-saline lake in the world. With 34.2% salinity (in 2011), it is also one of the world’s saltiest bodies of water, including Lake Vanda in Antarctica (35%) and Lake Assal in Djibouti (34.8%).

Jordan and many smaller rivers flow into the Dead Sea. Evaporation under the scorching sun takes place on the surface of the Dead Sea at a speed of more than 230 million cubic feet per day. According to the Arab tradition, there are many poisonous gasses evaporating from the lake that are so hazardous that birds cannot fly over it.

In modern times, we have had cause to marvel at the wonders of Allah, especially with respect to the Icelandic volcanic eruptions of Eyjafjallajökull, 14 April 2010. A plume of volcanic ash was at times ejected several kilometers into the atmosphere by this eruption, potentially causing a hazard for airplanes. UK airspace was closed from 15–20 April, causing significant disruption. Occasional disruption continued when increased explosive activity at the volcano coincided with northerly to north-westerly winds that brought the ash towards Europe, causing untold flight disruptions and incalculable financial loss to airlines and tourist industry.

Deep in the mountainous jungles of Sumatra in Indonesia sits the picturesque Lake Toba. It’s a place thriving with natural beauty, what a difference a few tens of thousands of years can make. The lake was formed about 70,000 years ago when a massive VEI 8 supervolcano exploded; it was the deadliest volcano in human history. The event plunged the entire earth into a 6–10-year volcanic winter, decreasing global temperatures by up to 27 °F.

The event was estimated to have killed a significant percentage of the human population at the time, drastically altering the genetic makeup of the entire human race.

The Minoans were the most vibrant civilization of the Bronze-Age in the Mediterranean. They inhabited the islands of modern-day Greece for over 500 years. But their very existence was put into jeopardy when the volcanic island of Thera exploded.

The massive eruption is now estimated to be the second most powerful in modern history. The blast completely destroyed the Minoan settlement of Akrotiri, and many nearby islands were permanently affected. Chinese records indicate the blast may have caused a decade-long volcanic winter. The Minoan culture eventually crumbled and the entire course of history in the Mediterranean was turned on its head.

Two words: Destroyed Pangaea. This volcano created entire continents. It is assumed to be the primary catalyst for the Triassic-Jurassic extinction event. The magma flow was estimated at up to 3 million cubic miles, that’s enough magma to fill 75% of the Mediterranean Sea. Continuous eruptions from this event persisted for over 600,000 years! It’s hard to even imagine a volcano of this magnitude in modern times, so let’s all cross our fingers that we never witness it for ourselves.

1816 was known as the “Year Without a Summer”; the Mount Tambora eruption of 1815 can be credited for originating the name. This massive stratovolcano caused crop failures and livestock deaths throughout the Northern Hemisphere, eventually leading to the worst famine of the 19th century. The swift, explosive eruption produced 4 times as much energy as Krakatoa, instantly razing the entire island of Sumbawa. The eruption was the largest in recorded history, it was heard 1,600 miles away, and ash fell at least 800 miles away.

When God created the Earth, He “saw all that He had made, and it was very good” (Gen 1: 31, NIV).

“He created the heavens and the earth in true (proportions): He made the Night overlap the Day, and the Day overlap the Night: He has subjected the sun and the moon (to His Law): Each one follows a course for a time appointed. Is not He the Exalted in Power–he Who forgives again and again? He created you (all) from a single Person: Then created, of like nature, his mate; and He sent down for you eight heads of cattle in pairs: He makes you, in the wombs of your mothers, in stages, one after another, in three veils of darkness. Such is Allah, your Lord and Cherisher: To Him belongs (all) dominion. There is No god but He: Then how are ye turned away (from your true Center)? Quran 39:5-6

The Earth is an organism that reflects the creative power of God. It burns energy, regulates temperature, renews its skin, and undergoes age-related changes to its surface over time.

The world’s largest tropical rainforest is the biodiverse Amazon rainforest, home to one-third of Earth’s land species and one in ten known species on the planet.

There are about 3 trillion trees on Earth, or 422 trees per person.

Earth’s core holds enough gold to cover the entire surface of the planet in 1.5 feet of the shimmering mineral.

Over 68 percent of Earth’s freshwater is frozen in permanent ice such as glaciers and ice caps. Scientists estimate that if all the ice in Antarctica were to melt, sea levels would rise about 200 feet.

Only .0003 percent of the Earth’s water is fit for human use, and 20 percent of the planet’s unfrozen freshwater is found in Russia’s Lake Baikal, the deepest and oldest lake in the world.

Not only is Earth the densest planet in the Solar System, but it’s also the only planet not named after a Greek or Roman god. The name “Earth” comes from the Old English word eorthe for “ground” and the Old High Germanic word erda, which means “soil.”

The Earth travels through space at 67,000 mph. This means that you’re 67,000 miles farther away than you were an hour ago. Think of that the next time you feel like there’s nothing happening in your life!

Let us praise God for His infinite creativity!

Barka Juma’at and a happy weekend

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