Fossilization and Iron Content
"They say, 'What! When we are bones and crumbled dust, will we then be raised up as a new Creation!' Say: 'It would not matter if you were rock or iron or indeed any created thing that you think is harder still!' They will say, 'Who will bring us back again?' Say: 'He Who brought you into being in the first place'..." (Surat al-Isra', 49-51)
These verses refer to the petrification of dead bodies and how these corpses, over time, turned into iron. Living tissue is not preserved over millions of years – which is why it is only possible to clearly see creatures of the past today once they have been fossilized. After they die, living things can be preserved for millennia by the fossilization process, by their bodies literally turning into stone under the ground. The word "fossil" refers to "the preservation of a living thing by petrification," by its turning into stone.
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| A petrified fossil sea shell dating back millions of years with iron remains that have formed over it |
Iron is preserved undamaged in the body as the body becomes fossilized. Human beings need to consume an average of 10-15 milligrams of iron a day in order to be healthy. Any excess iron consumed is stored in the liver. In addition, the protein transferred in blood plasma also carries a certain amount of iron.1 The reference in the verse to the presence of iron in the remains of the human body is exceedingly wise from that point of view.
Research has also shown the presence of "pyrite," (FeS2) a compound of iron and sulfur, in fossils.2 The iron sulfide forms very easily during the degradation of organic substances. It is therefore generally found in fossil shells and is capable of damaging the fossils since it can react with oxygen and water. The words "crumbled dust" in the verse may be a reference to "pyrite degradation," which leads to the fragmentation and collapse of a fossil as pyrite reacts with water and oxygen.3
Another fact confirmed by recent findings is that matter constantly seeks the most stable state.
This is the very nature of matter. Therefore, given sufficient time, all matter will eventually turn into iron. Iron is the most stable state of nuclear matter. In fact, cosmologists predict a stage in which everything we know will turn into iron as a result of nuclear fusion and nuclear fission reactions.4 In his bookIn Search of Schrödinger's Cat: Quantum Physics And Reality, the astrophysicist John Gribbon describes how iron is the most desirable state of matter and how all matter in the universe wants to turn into iron.5
The revelation in the Qur’an about human remains petrifying and fossilizing leading to an iron-dominant state, is a fact that has now been scientifically confirmed. In the same way that no archaeological, paleontological, geological or astronomical research was possible at the time the Qur'an was revealed, neither was it possible to identify the elements using an electron microscope. Thus, the facts revealed in the verse in Surat al-Isra’ once more confirm that the Qur'an is a divine text.
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| A 125-million-year-old fossil tortoise (left) is identical to the present-day turtle (right). | |
