SOIL THAT VIBRATES AND SWELLS AS IT COMES TO LIFE

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SOIL THAT VIBRATES AND SWELLS AS IT COMES TO LIFE

5- ...You see the earth barren and lifeless, but when We pour down water on it, 
it vibrates, it swells and puts forth every kind of beautiful growth in pairs. 
22-The Pilgrimage, 5 

It is general knowledge that there is no life without air and water. Does it 
ever occur to anyone that soil also is a prerequisite to life? The soil is in 
continuous development. Throughout thousands of years, especially by the effect 
of water, it has undergone transformation by erosion of the Lithosphere. As the 
rate of this erosion is 0.01 mm per year in hard rocks, this transformation is 
imperceptible (This rate rises up to 20 mm in warmer regions). In this 
transition process, the earth rises from the inorganic world of minerals to an 
organic sphere. In a fertile section of earth 1 m3 there are some 30 million 
bacteria. 

The above verse refers to reactions that occur in series after rainfall. The 
vibrating and swelling of soil were at first believed to be literary expressions. 
But Robert Brown?s discovery of the earth?s shaking referred to as ?Brownian 
movement? was another proof of the Quran?s miraculous insight. Three stages are 
mentioned in the Quran, namely: 

1) Earth?s vibrating 
2) Earth?s swelling and 
3) Earth?s products in pairs. 

1) In the first stage, particles in the soil begin moving upon the fall of 
rainwater. Raindrops falling on the earth at random move in every direction. The 
particles are ionized. They are positively ionized as there is a fall in the 
electrical charge and negatively ionized as there is a rise in the electrical 
charge. With the arrival of water the ionized molecules begin vibrating. Robert 
Brown, who discovered this phenomenon in 1828, called this movement: ?Brownian 
movement.? 

2) The second point refers to the growth in size of the earth?s particles as 
they absorb water. Soil particles are composed of joint layers. Between any two 
layers, there are spaces that allow water particles and dissolved ions to enter. 
When water and the nourishing elements dissolve in it, they diffuse between 
layers, resulting in the swelling of the size of the soil particles. The soil?s 
property of holding water prevents its penetration any deeper, and thus provides 
for organisms and plants to live. 

3) The third stage refers to the germination of seeds. As the verse points out, 
the fertilization process has started. The soil that seemed dead comes to life 
with water, giving in turn life to vegetation that begins to sprout. 

There are many references to the creation of plants. Parallels are drawn between 
the creation and restoration to life of plants and the resurrection raising from 
the dead. The period when a plant begins to sprout is likened to youth, and the 
period when the plant ripens to adolescence, and then to maturity. Just like a 
man gets weaker and frailer as he grows older and wrinkles appear on his skin, 
so do plants dry and lose their luster. When they die, they mix with the soil, 
just like the corpse of a man. As plants grow again, so will man rise from the 
dead. God, who causes plants to die every year and regenerates them, so will He 
raise men from the dead. 

33- One sign for them is the dead land. We revive it and produce from it grains 
which they eat. 
36-Ya-Seen, 33 

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