The legend of Mount Qaf (قاف) From the sources:
Abu Salih narrated from Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with them. And Ikrimah also narrated from Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with them, saying God created a mountain called Qaf that surrounds the lower world, and its roots are connected to the rock on which the earth stands, and it is the rock mentioned by Luqman, peace be upon him, when he said: "O my son, if it is the weight of a mustard seed and it is in a rock or in the heavens or in the earth" [the verse]. So when God Almighty wants to shake a village on earth, He orders that mountain to move the root that is next to that village, and it shakes at that moment. Mujahid said: It is a mountain that surrounds the earth and the seas. It is narrated from Al-Dahhak that it is an emerald that is green.
(From the works of Ibn Abi Hatim, Imam Ismael, Ibn Kathir tafsir, Ibn Hajar Al Haythami' fatwas 248 and the famous Ibn Abi Ad Dunya narrated it aswell in kitab Al qubat pg, 32).
And a group of scholars believe that the word Qaf in Surah Qaf means this mountain
And Ibn Kathir said:
"A group of the Salaf used to say that it is about a mountain called Qaf that surrounds the seven earths. (And Ibn Abbas (RA) belongs to this group)".
He added further:
"It is narrated by many, but this is a story about which God knows best, because we cannot reject it either".
And the famous story of Dhul Qurnain visiting this mountain (Jabl Qaf) is authentic and it has been narrated with many isnads and there is reality in this story as there is also a saying of Ibn Abbas (RA) where he said that Dhul Qurnain made Alexandria out of white marble that is why they used to wear black there and later the monks there also wore black as it was started by Dhul Qurnain.
And one thing that they say is that Dhul Qurnain came to this mountain to find the water of everlasting life, but this is not true because this is not proved, we are allowed to narrate from the People of the Book as God has allowed us in the Glorious Quran so that we can narrate from them, but one thing is that there are things in them that sound different or strange to our stories, then we reject them and otherwise we accept them blindly, and the story of St George (Jerjis) is also accepted by Muslims as Muslims. Otherwise we don't reject them or accept them blindly, we remain neutral towards them and the story of St. George (Jerjis) is also accepted by the Muslims because the Muslims narrated it more than the Christians and gave more details about this story which even the Christians did not have.
And there is another story it is very long also used by Ibn Abi Hatim and Ibn Abi Al Dunya let me tell you guys that one in short:
"Jibrael landed on Mount Qaf, and he saw rivers of different colours, blue, green, etc., and he saw creatures that were different, and he had never seen anything like this before, and he said: O my Lord, what is all this? I thought that I was the most special creature that You had created.
And Allah (SWT) said to him, "O Jibreel! you thought that you were the only good creation of your Lord, and this is nothing, and you have not yet seen the true power of your Lord, for this is only a small glimpse of His power and His glory.
And the Jibreel prostrated himself and said, "O my Lord, glory be to thee, there is none like thee, and thy power is above all."
And in another narration it is mentioned that the creatures who are in Mount Qaf do not know who is Adam and who is Shaitan and what is evil, and they are away from these things without any knowledge.
And even some scholars say that when the Day of Judgment comes, this earth will be finished, and some believe that the creatures that are on that mountain, the scholars say that it may be replaced with it after the Day of Judgment, And only Allah knows better.
Ibn Hajar al Haythami (rh) said:
"The philosophers have made the belief and rejected the text in which its clearly mentioned that how earth quakes are caused by the angel who moves the vein of Mount Qaf and it causes an earthquake and the philosophers say that it is only because the inside of the ground gets hot so its caused but its against the text".
(Fatwas of Ibn Hajar pg, 248)
And the traditional scholars were of the opinion that the existence of Mount Qaf cannot be denied and the narration of Ibn Abbas is not only from one book it has been narrated with different chains and even Ikrimah (RA) narrated what Ibn Abbas (RA) said in one narration and the great Ibn Abi Hatim and Ibn Al Dunya and many other scholars also narrated this narration. And in the journal of the University of Medina they also wrote that they accept the narration of Ibn Abbas (RA) as authentic because a chain is very good.
And they said that the earthquake is only caused by the heating of the inside of the earth and this is the only reason and all the scholars of the university agree on this but this is what the philosophers said as Ibn Hajar wrote in his fatwa and they reject the text even when it is not contradicted by the strong text so we have to accept it instead of rejecting it.
And One thing which was also in the journal of the Uni of Medina the writer of the Journal wrote:
"That the narration of Ibn Abbas with the Isnad of Ibn Abi Hatim is good but Ibn Abbas (RA) must have taken it from the Israelies and from the jews as this is not Islamic and he took it from them for sure."
I think it's fair to say that's a pretty far-fetched claim. It's also quite vague. This accusation that the Companion of the Prophet (S) is accused of taking stories from the Jews is quite far-fetched. And the scholar who wrote this about him should fear Allah (SWT).
And there is a narration which is often mentioned in many tafsirs that a Companion asked the Prophet (S) about this mount so he replied:
"He informed him that it is Mount "Qaf," and that its height is a journey of five hundred years, and its length is a journey of two thousand years, and that it is made of green emerald."
And the word "tohu" which is in the herbew if we arabize that word then it turns into "Qaf" so this word after getting arabized becomes Qaf.
And even in the Jewish Scripture this is mentioned with the word Tohu in the herbew language.
(i took the herbew words from this book on judaism called 'Hachikah')
And this mountain is also quite famous in arab culture as you can read so many story books and they have made stories about this mountain and in the one thousand one nights or the arabian nights in that you can find stories about these mountains which are that some jinn kidnap some princess (ngl those stories made us imagine the jinn like some desperate creatures and horny but its not like that and those stories are fake aswell)
And What i have mentioned in this essay is from what the Scholars have said regarding this and what has been the belief of the Scholars of the Ahlus Sunnah regarding this Mountain (قاف).
And now to prove the earthquake narration being real is also proved from science:
Dr. David Rothery, a volcanologist at The Open University, "The movement of tectonic plates is the fundamental driver of both earthquakes and volcanic activity. Where tectonic plates meet, stress builds up and is released through earthquakes, while the same processes can lead to the formation and eruption of volcanoes. And the Movement inside the Ground causes earth to shake resulting in what you call an Earth-Quake".
So it is also proved from the Quote of this Professor that something shakes inside the Ground and because of that other plates also shake and the Eath moves.
But the question now is, who makes the earth move?
As it was mentioned in the narrations above that Allah (SWT) orders His angel to shake the vein from Mount Qaf, and we can believe this because science also confirms that something moves it, and we all know that there is something that does everything, the One who made the Big Bang possible, the One who keeps the sky from falling.
And we know that it is Allah (SWT), so from the above narrations it is proven that Allah orders His angel to shake the vein that comes from Mount Qaf, and then the shaking that occurs makes a certain place shake because it results in an earthquake.
Thus Those narrations are proved from Science aswell.
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