Mr. Meherally begins:
True. This is a phenomenon that can be observed. We do not need a "divine revelation" to tell us this!
"Far below the limit of light penetration in the ocean is the abyssal zone, which lies below about 6,560 feet. The major environmental features of such depths are pressures greater than 200 atmospheres, or 2,940 pounds per square inch; temperatures ranging from 30o to 41o F (-1o to 5o C); total darkness; calm, relatively motionless water; and soft sediments on the ocean floor. Green plants cannot grow in the absence of light--that is, below about 1,970 feet (600 meters)--so the primary energy source of deep-sea life is organic matter that falls from waters much closer to the surface. Bioluminescence, or the generation of light by living organisms, is common among deep-sea fishes. Such light is produced by special cells or by bacteria that live within the fish. Some fishes have lights of different colors and on various parts of the body that flash on and off constantly. Although the exact purposes of the light displays are unknown, they presumably function as a form of communication. The mean depth of the oceans is 12,000 feet. The regions in which the bottom lies below 18,000 feet are known as deeps. Off the island of Guam in the western Pacific is the Mariana Trench. Its lowest explored point is the Challenger Deep, almost 6.8 miles (35,800 feet) below the surface of the sea. This is the deepest verified spot in the world. The highest mountain on Earth--Mount Everest (29,028 feet)--could sink into the Challenger Deep, and its peak would lie more than a mile below the surface of the water Modern exploration of the undersea world had its beginnings in June 1943, when Jacques Cousteau and Emile Gagnan invented the first scuba--or self-contained underwater breathing apparatus--diving device, which they called the Aqualung. Scuba gear allows divers to breathe compressed air from tanks carried on their backs."
True. Is this what the Qur'an says?
Comment. Only Allah could have known that there exists a kind of total darkness under the depths of vast deep ocean and such darkness is covered in stages upon stages or it takes place layer by layer.
There are many poetic references to the darkness of the depths of the seas that were written many centuries before Muhammad received this "revelation". For example:
"..when in your ship you have now crossed the stream of Oceanus, where is a level shore and the groves of Persephone...beach your boat there by Ocean's swirling streams and march on into Hades' dark house." [Circe to Odysseus]
"Child, lying in the cradle, make haste and tell me of my cattle, or we two will soon fall out angrily. For I will take and cast you into dusky Tartarus [River] and awful hopeless darkness, and neither your mother nor your father shall free you." [Apollo to Hermes]
So, in this case only Allah, Circe, and Apollo knew about this!
"Or they are as shadows upon a sea obscure covered by a billow above which is a billow above which are clouds, shadows piled one upon another; when he puts forth his hand, well-nigh he cannot see it. And to whomsoever God assigns no light, no light has he."
"Or (the unbeliever's state) is like the depths of darkness in a vast deep ocean, overwhelmed with billow topped by billow, topped by clouds. Depths of darkness, one above another; if a man stretches out his hand, he can hardly see it! For any to whom Allah giveth not light, there is no light!" (Holy Qur'an 24:40)
Comments: The top surface of a deep sea is teeming with all kinds of organic matters, plant life and animal life. This upper surface acts as a shield. It prevents the rays of sun light from entering the ocean water in a manner very similar to the "clouds" in the sky, that shield the sunlight from reaching our earth.
True. However, once again, this is something that can be easily observed. We do not need a "revelation" from the Almighty to know this.
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