Al Naḥl

وَأَلْقي فِي الاَرْضِ رَوَاسِيَ أَن تَمِيدَ بِكُمْ وَأَنْهَاراً وَسُبُلاً لَعَلَّكُمْ تَهْتَدُونَ

15. “And He has cast firm mountains in the earth that it does not quake with you, and streams and roads that you may be guided aright,”

Mountains provide sources of equilibrium and comfort for man. The Arabic term /mayd/ means ‘movement towards the right and left directions, as well as tension’. The Qur’anic sentence /’an tamida bikum/ (that it does not quake with you) signifies that mountains are the cause of one’s peace of mind as well as preventing of earth quakes. Hadrat Ali (as), with regard to mountains, says:

“Allah rendered the earth in a sustaining form by fixing in it gigantic stones and firm mountains.” ²

The foundations of the mountains have penetrated in all of the ups and downs of the earth and are geared into its holes. The verse says:

“And He has cast firm mountains in the earth that it does not quake with you, and streams and roads that you may be guided aright,”

As the tension of the earth requires gigantic mountains to keep it sustaining, the tension found among the inhabitants of the earth also requires up-straight and Godly figures so that they can serve as causes of peace of mind in the people of the society. Some Islamic quotations indicate that Allah (s.w.t.) made the Ahl-ul-Bayt of the Prophet of Islam (as) as the pillars of the earth so as to rescue the inhabitants of the earth from anxiety and tension.³

In the meantime, mountains play an important role in man’s life. They store the winter snow amidst their outskirts which serve as the sources of streams and canals in springtime and with their variety of shapes they can serve as the road signs for guiding the travelers. We can grasp this meaning once we suppose that the entire earth were flat and soft.

Footnotes

1. 2. Nahjul-Bal aqah, Sermon 91
2. 3. Nūr-uth-Thaqalayn, vol. 3, p. 44