The Humbling and Fear of Mountains

The Quran is so glorious and its effect is so powerful that, were it to descend upon any mountain, and were that mountain to be given a mind and a soul, it, despite being hard and firm, would have humbled itself and rendered itself asunder because of its fear of Allah.

Allah said:

“Had We sent down this Quran on a mountain, you would surely have seen it humbling itself and rendering asunder by the fear of Allah.” (Quran 59:21)

When one gives a physical display of humbling oneself, one lowers one’s head and bows down; meaning of a mountain humbling itself in the above mentioned Verse is that its higher parts would fall down to the ground. And “rendering asunder” means to split apart; in the above mentioned Verse, it means that the mountain would shake and split apart as a result of its Fear of Allah.

The moral of the above mentioned Verse is this: If a mountain were to understand the Quran as you do, O people of the world, it would have, in spite of its hardness and firmness, humbled itself and rendered itself asunder as a result of its fear of Allah. So is it not befitting for you, O people of this world, to humble yourself and to make your hearts soft as a result of your fear of Allah, especially considering the fact that you have been blessed with the abilities of understanding Allah’s commands and of contemplating the meanings of His Book?

In short, the above mentioned Verse emphasizes and draws attention to the greatness and magnificence of the Quran; it furthermore encourages us to honor the Quran and contemplate its profound meanings, all the while implying a stern warning for those who neither honor the Quran nor Implement its teachings.