Author: Mufti Noor Mohammad Mohibi
The Quran: A Miracle Beyond Time- A Study of Its Miraculous Nature (part 71)
The Amazing System of Ocean Currents
If a person looks into the depths of the seas, he realizes that the waters of the world are in constant motion. Every drop of seawater may undertake a journey lasting several years along long routes; from the equator to the North Pole and then back again to the equator. Some of these routes exceed “fifteen thousand kilometers” in length.
The main factor behind this immense movement is the “difference in temperature and density [1] of water.” In equatorial regions, water becomes warm, expands, and its surface rises by about “twenty centimeters.” This rise in level causes currents to flow from the equator toward the north and south. In polar regions, the water becomes cold and heavy, sinks downward, and generates deep currents that move toward the equator.
In this way, an astonishing system of “surface and deep currents” is formed throughout the oceans; a system whose precision is a manifestation of divine wisdom.
The Miracle of the Gulf Stream
Among the great signs of the power of Allah is the “Gulf Stream,” a massive current of warm water that begins in the Gulf of Mexico and extends to the coasts of Europe.
The speed of this current is about “eight kilometers per hour,” such that if a ship enters its path and turns off its engines, it will still continue moving at this same speed.
The width of this current exceeds “eighty kilometers,” and its depth is about “four hundred and fifty meters.” Every minute, more than “four million tons of water” are set in motion within it.
This immense current melts about “130 thousand tons of polar ice every ten days” and plays a major role in “moderating the climate of Europe,” such that if this current were to stop, large parts of Europe would turn into cold, frozen lands.
Cold Currents along the Coasts of South America
In contrast to this warm current, in the Southern Hemisphere a “cold current” moves from the Southern Ocean toward the coasts of “Peru” and “Chile.”
This cold current carries with it a vast quantity of “marine plants and algae” (phytoplankton). These plants grow near the surface of the water and attract millions of tons of “sardine fish.”
These fish become food for millions of “seabirds,” such as the “cormorant.” The number of these birds sometimes reaches “fifty million.” Their droppings, rich in organic and mineral substances, are collected as the “best type of natural fertilizer” (Guano) and exported to various countries.
Remarkably, a large part of the economy of the people of Peru and Chile is based on this very natural fertilizer a product that emerges from a precise and wise chain of creation.
But when Allah the Exalted wills, and the path of this current changes even slightly, marine plants decrease, fish disappear, birds remain hungry, and people fall into shortage and famine. This is a clear reality that “provision and blessing are in the hand of Allah, the Provider, the Firm”: «إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ هُوَ ٱلرَّزَّاقُ ذُو ٱلقُوَّةِ ٱلمَتِینُ.» [2] Translation: “Indeed, Allah is the Provider, the Possessor of strength, the Firm.
Reflection on the Signs of Divine Power
Every particle in this world from the movement of the oceans to the life of a small bird bears witness to the oneness and governance of Allah.
فوا عجباً كیف یعصى الإلهُ أو كیف یجحدهُ الجاحدُ
وفی كلّ شیءٍ له آیةٌ تدلّ على أنّه واحدُ
Translation: How astonishing it is that Allah is disobeyed… and how the denier denies Him! And in everything there is a sign of Him that points to the fact that He is One.
Who created this strange system? Who arranged the paths of waters, currents, plants, and birds in such a way that each part becomes the provision of another part? Other than Allah, the All-Knowing, the All-Wise, no power is capable of such order.
The Noble Qur’an invites us to reflect upon these very signs: «سَنُرِیهِم ءَایٰتِنَا فِی ٱلأٓفَاقِ وَفِیٓ أَنفُسِهِم حَتَّىٰ یتَبَینَ لَهُم أَنَّهُ ٱلحَقُّ [3]. » Translation: “We shall show them Our signs in the horizons and within themselves until it becomes clear to them that Islam and Quran are the truth.”
In conclusion, it must be said that from the precise numerical order in the words of the Noble Qur’an to the thermal and biological systems in the seas, all of it bears witness to one single truth:
The Noble Qur’an is the speech of Allah, and the world of creation is the manifestation of that very speech.
The more science advances, the more secrets of the miracle of the Noble Qur’an are revealed; and whenever a person opens the eye of the heart, he finds in every wave of the sea and in every grain of dust a sign of the Exalted Lord—
The God who is: «لا إلهَ إلّا هو، الرزّاق ذو القوّة المتین» “There is no deity except Him; the Provider, the Possessor of strength, the Firm. [4]
To be continued…
References:
- Dense means: a small volume, but with very great mass or energy.
- Adh-Dhariyat: 58.
- Fussilat: 53.
- Condensed from: Encyclopedia of Scientific Miracles in the Qur’an and the Sunnah, Vol. 2, pp. 102–107.
