The rising of the Sun from the West (Part 2) – The Science

…Theoretically speaking, having the Sun to rise from the West is pretty easy… Just have the earth spin on its axis backward and sure enough the Sun will rise from the West.

This is the continuation from the previous post – The Rising of the Sun from the West (Part 1) – The Sign, which looks into the event from the Islamic texts. This part will focus on the event from the modern science.

Islam does not contradict confirmed “science” because science and its laws of governance is created, fixed and set by Allah Himself. Scientists merely attempts to discover bits and pieces of these laws. The problem is, we often do not consider the difference between hard-fact science and scientific theories. Not everything that is under the umbrella of “science” are based on hard facts. Rather many of them are just theories, especially in the field of cosmology. This is not to undermine the current advancement and knowledge of the universe, but just to keep things in prospective since this discussion will mostly revolve around the cosmos.

The Science

We know that at the of End Time, the Sun will rise from the West. Although this fact is a very common knowledge for the Muslims, for the cosmologist this is practically unthinkable. However they have considered the scenario for hypothetical analysis and ran through various simulations. Some of these ideas are discussed here.

Earth needs to spin backward

Theoretically speaking, having the Sun to rise from the West is pretty easy. We know earth is rotating on its axis that causes night and day. We just need to have the earth spin backward on its axis and sure enough that will cause the Sun to rise from the West.

Well, it turns out that having the Earth reverse its rotation is realistically very far fetch. Nevertheless, In theory it can be achieved in two ways, while both of them would be very devastating: 1) Earth slows down then rotate its course, or 2) a large space object hits the earth causing it to stop and spin the other way.

Earth is slowing down

Scientists do say that Earth is slowing down. In the beginning of creation it used to take 4 hours for earth to complete a full rotation, now it takes 24 hours. However, at the current rate it would take millions of years for the Earth to come to a stop, and eventually reverse its course. I wouldn’t count on millions of years for the Judgement Day to start.

An impact hits earth

Another way the Earth can start to spin the other way if an outer object hits its edge in the opposite direction. This would make the Earth stop spinning quickly and reverse its rotation. But it too has reality problems. The object hitting the Earth has to be extremely large and carrying a massive mass while traveling at very high velocity in the opposite direction.

When this kind of impact hits the earth, it would be catastrophic to say the least. Scientists have written about various devastating effects of such scenario, such as – anything that is not fixed with the ground would be flying in the air, while anything that is fixed would be crumbled. Some suggest that earth may even crack and break apart.

However, this option makes little bit more sense for few reasons. First of all, from the Islamic text we already know the event would be toward every end of the time, and that would be the beginning of the destruction of the Earth. Secondly, We also know that there will be three (3) great earth shakes/earthquakes taking place around the time of Sun rising from the West [Bukhari, Muslim]. These earthquakes can be understood as three different objects hitting the earth. Therefore, we may not need one big hit, but three separate asteroids in the East, West and in Arab peninsula as stated in the Hadith.

This option is also favored by Badiuzzaman, a popular theologian, in his book Risale-i Nur. Although he didn’t link the three earthquake with the comets, but he did mention heavenly bodies would be colliding with each other and eventually hitting the earth. That would cause the Earth to spin backward, hence the Sun rising from the West.

Comets are in the Earth’s DNA

There are several hard evidences that indicate the earth had multiple devastating comets/asteroids hit in the past. We have impact craters of those hits in many different places of the Earth. Scientists suggest that the reason our earth is little bit tilted, or the fact we have Irons in our planet, and the extinctions of dinosaurs, all because of a such events. More recently, multiple studies confirm that 12,000 years ago large asteroids hit the earth that caused Younger Dryers, resulting in end of the Ice age as well as a major flood – perhaps the flood of the Nuh (PBUH).

If you follow NASA space news, you will know that there are many asteroids pass by our planet regularly. In the recent times we have been getting asteroids that are larger, as well as closer. There is an asteroid predicted to pass by in 2029 as close as 32,000 km from Earth. It may seem a big number, but relatively speaking it is very close. If fact NASA claims that we will be able to see it in our naked eyes and therefore provided a “view guide” for us!

Moreover, due to recent activities, NASA introduced a plan to detect and destroy asteroid before they hit the Earth. Because a slightest miscalculation would have us unprepared for impacts. Unfortunately some scientist suggest it would be virtually impossible to prevent asteroids hitting the earth.

Polar shift

this magnatic shift also means your campass will point to the opposite direction! That means, if you have a compass that points East, after the shift, same direction will point to West.

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Earth is currently going through it’s magnetic field shift. The magnetic north pole has been moving at a faster rate since 19th century. In fact it is going so fast that it made scientists to scratch their heads and re-calibrate the previously predicted model. The scientists aren’t sure why it is accelerating faster. But one thing for certain, soon the earth’s magnetic pole will be reversed. It is already moving away from Canada to Siberia. This isn’t the first time, as researchers suggest that the Earth had its magnetic pole shifted in the past. Although most study says it may take thousand years, a recent study suggests that it might happen within one hundred (100) years!

Implications of this change isn’t fully known to the scientists. However few consequences are clear – most of our power grids and communication will stop working, earth’s magnetic field will also be very weak, making the earth vulnerable to solar activities such as solar rays and flares.

In addition, this magnetic shift also makes your compass point to the opposite direction! In another word, if you have a compass that points east, after the shift, the same direction will point to West, which means the Sun, according to the compass, would be rising from the West.

In my humble opinion this doesn’t seem to be the great event that Qur’an and Hadiths are referring to. A mere compass direction isn’t a great sign that fits the descriptions.

The Sign and the Science

The concept of the Sun rising from the West seems to share one common conclusion in both the religion and the science – The event would be very significant and cataclysmic for the mankind. Therefore one can conclude that the event will occur toward very end of the time, as the destruction would begin up in the space, eventually large object(s) hitting our planet and causing the earth to rotate opposite direction. Whoever remains at that devastating state of the planet would be terrified and witness the Earth stopping its rotation for a period of time and then start rotating in the opposite direction. Everyone will know that the doomsday is near. This is the position of many of contemporary Islamic scholars regarding the event.

As with every major sign of the Day of Judgment, the actual knowledge of how and when is only known to Allah. But we should not be among those who rejects discussions and researches on these topics from the scientific lenses. Allah Himself directs our attention to the sky and commends us to reflect how he made everything in perfect order, orbiting according to the laws set for them.

إِنَّ فِي خَلْقِ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ وَاخْتِلَافِ اللَّيْلِ وَالنَّهَارِ لَآيَاتٍ لِأُولِي الْأَلْبَابِ
Indeed, in the creation of the heavens and the earth and the alternation of the night and the day are signs for those of understanding.
Qur’an 3:190

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