Dead Sea, Earth’s Lowest Point and Quranic Miracle

Sodom and Gomorrah are two ancient cities located on the shores of the Dead Sea ,between Israel and Jordan. Lut (a.s.) was a prophet sent by God to the people of Sodom and Gomorrah . His community was accustomed to homosexual behavior. Homosexuality first appeared among them in the world. In the eyes of Islam, they took pleasure in doing this heinous crime in public.

According to the Torah, the five cities of Sodom and Gomorrah Adamah, Zeboim and Zorah are known as the “cities of the plain”, located in the Jordan River plain in the southern part of the land of Canaan. The land north of the present-day Dead Sea is the plain that lies next to the State of Israel.

 

             Photo: Dead Sea

According to the description of the Holy Quran – a strong earthquake completely overturned the entire city. Their houses fell on sleeping people. Besides, pebbles started falling from the sky like rain. No one was spared from that great deluge.

The community of Lut (as) is discussed in Surah Al Hijr.  

Verse 74 of Surah al-Hijr says – (74) –  “And We made the highest part [of the city] its lowest and rained upon them stones of hard clay. “

And We made the highest part [of the city] its lowest and rained upon them stones of hard clay.

According to the Arabic dictionary, the word عَالِیَهَا mentioned in the verse means high and   the word سَافِلَهَا means ‘Its lowest’.

Meaning of the word سَافِلَهَا given on www.almaany.com site

That is, God, the Exalted, changed the city of residence of Prophet Lut’s community from the highest place to the lowest place, which is said in the Qur’an. Interestingly, the Dead Sea is the lowest land based area on Earth. The surface and shores of the Dead Sea are about 427 meters below sea level, which is the lowest land-based elevation on Earth.

This has been proved in several geological surveys-

According to Wikipedia – As of 2019, the lake’s surface is 430.5 meters (1,412 ft) below sea level, making its shores the lowest land-based elevation on Earth.

According to the Earth Watching website –  The Dead Sea, also called the Salt Sea, is a Salt Lake bordering Jordan to the east, and Israel to the west. Its surface and shores are 427 meters below sea level, Earth’s lowest elevation on land. 

 

 

That is, we can see that the Holy Qur’an clearly mentions the fact that Allah (God) made the Dead Sea region the lowest place on Earth. According to various geological surveys, the Dead Sea is indeed the lowest place on Earth, a fact that has only been known recently through geological studies. However, this fact was revealed in the Qur’an 1400 years ago, which is a miracle like the many other miracles of the Holy Qur’an.

Links- 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dead_Sea

https://earth.esa.int/web/earth-watching/image-of-the-week/content/-/article/the-dead-sea/

https://www.almaany.com/en/dict/ar-en/%D8%B3%D8%A7%D9%81%D9%84%D8%A9/