23. THE CONSTRICTED BREAST

If we ponder the Qur’ānic verses and study them carefully we shall find them enchanting to our mind. Allah urges us to study the Qur’ān carefully, and said:
أَفَلَا يَتَدَبَّرُونَ الْقُرْآَنَ أَمْ عَلَى قُلُوبٍ أَقْفَالُهَا (محمد: ۲٤)
“Do they not then earnestly seek to understand the Qur’ān,
or is that there are locks upon their hearts?” 104
Again He said:
كِتَابٌ أَنْزَلْنَاهُ إِلَيْكَ مُبَارَكٌ لِيَدَّبَّرُوا آَيَاتِهِ وَلِيَتَذَكَّرَ أُولُو الْأَلْبَابِ (ص: ۲٩)
“(Here is) Book which We have sent down unto thee,
full of blessings, that they may meditate on its
signs, and that men of understanding
may receive admonition.” 105
Now let us ponder the following verse:
فَمَنْ يُرِدِ اللَّهُ أَنْ يَهدِيَهُ يَشْرَحْ صَدْرَهُ لِلْإِسْلَامِ
وَمَنْ يُرِدْ أَنْ يُضِلَّهُ يَجْعَلْ صَدْرَهُ ضَيِّقًا
حَرَجًا كَأَنَّمَا يَصَّعَّدُ فِي السَّمَاءِ
(الأنعام: ۱۲٥)
"Those whom Allah willeth to guide,--He openeth
Their breast to Islam; those whom He willeth
to leave straying,--He maketh their breast
close and constricted, as they had
to climb up to the skies…" 106
Earlier commentators said that the meaning of the above verse is that the hearts of those whom Allah leaves straying will be so narrow that iman (faith) will not enter into it, like the impossibility of ascending to the sky. But in fact, this verse has a deeper and scientific meaning.
People in ancient time believed that the outer space had an atmosphere like the earth. It was said that the Greek emperor Alexander the Great wished to ascend to the sky in a carriage flown by birds.
The air consists of 20 % oxygen that is very important for our lives. Without oxygen men, animals and plants cannot survive. When people invented the balloon, they ascended to the sky until they reached a height of 30 km; when they used rockets and planes so that they reached higher altitude, they found out that even a single foot raised in the sky caused the decrease of air pressure and oxygen. It is known that after the altitude of 10 km suffocation occurs because of lack of oxygen.

Footnotes:
104. Qur’ān, Muhammad [47]:24
105. Qur’ān, S.ād [38]:29
106. Qur’ān, al-An‘ām [6]:125