ISLAM

LOCATION : Mecca

HISTORY : 615

NAME : Quran, Surah Yasin, verse 80

NEWS : He it is Who has made for you a fire from a green tree, and from it you burn.

SCIENCE

LOCATION : England

DATE : 1774

NAME : Joseph Priestley

NEWS : The discovery of oxygen

Oxygen is a gas element necessary for the continuity of living life. It has a vital importance for respiration and gas, coal, wood, etc. It has the feature of being a combustor for the combustion of substances such as burning. It is consumed by burning for the purpose of respiration of living things and ignition of substances. The adventure of the oxygen we take into our lungs begins with its continuous transport to all cells of the body through red blood cells. It also burns food to provide the heat necessary for the functioning of the human body. For this reason, no living thing can exist without oxygen. It combines with the carbon in the food and forms carbon dioxide by being thrown out through respiration.

In 1774, Joseph Priestley scientifically found oxygen, and in 1781, Antoine-Laurent de Lavoisier[210], a French chemist, found that oxygen is a substance that has a direct effect on combustion, and the importance of this gas gained a different dimension. Any substance, even if it is flammable, will not burn if there is no oxygen in that environment.

Therefore, if you cover a burning substance with something airtight, you will witness that the fire inside goes out after a certain period of time. When the oxygen inside burns out, the fire will also come to an end and go out. The Holy Qur’an informs us of this information 1159 years ago with the verse, “He it is who has made for you a fire from a green tree, and you burn from it.” It informs us about oxygen with the formation of fire from a green tree, and about photosynthesis with the fact that the source of the oxygen formed is from a green tree. Because oxygen takes its source from the process of photosynthesis and photosynthesis takes its source from plants, the majority of which are trees. Plants produce their nutrients in the presence of sunlight through chlorophyll in their leaves. The collected sunlight is converted into chemical energy, stored and used as fuel for the growth and development of the plant. With this light energy from the sun, the plant utilises carbon dioxide and water to obtain glucose[211], a rich nutrient. This whole chemical process of obtaining nutrients is called photosynthesis. The most productive time for plants to utilise the light of the Sun is the first light of the morning. The verse that draws attention to the existence of photosynthesis is as follows.

Allah (swt) says:

“And in the morning when it begins to breathe.”[212]

[210] (b. 1743 – d. 1794)

[211] Sugar

[212] Surat al-Takvir, 18th verse