Qur'an Describes Altitude Sickness

[ibrahimqais90]

Alsalam aleikum...and hello everyone..
I'm honored to participate in such respectful forum..


The Quran which was revealed fourteen centuries ago to Prophet Mohammed (PBUH) states: “Whomsoever Allah desires to guide, He expands his chest to Islam; whomsoever He desires to lead astray, He makes his chest narrow, tight, as if he were climbing up to the sky.” (6:125) Thus, this verse displays a miraculous similitude when presenting a scientific fact in a very eloquent and accurate style. Points of the miracles of this verse are:

1- When people first heard of the verse of man’s climbing to sky (space) , they considered it as a sort of imagination, and that Quran regards the ascension to space in a metaphorical manner. Actually the verse is a prophecy that came true centuries after it was first revealed.
2- The similitude is very accurate, as climbing to high distances in the air causes chest tightness and the feeling of suffocation. The more the ascension increases, the more tightness reaches so critical and difficult stage that respiration is not possible any more. That’s why oxygen cylinders are taken when ascending up the sky, as in space ships !

Source

Qais Ibrahim from Baghdad...

 

[England my lionheart]

Waleikum-salam,welcome to the RF,in the context of the surah is it likely to refer to anything scientific?

 

[ibrahimqais90]

the quran usually uses examples to simplify the the idea and make it more clear to us...
and i think its abviously scientific if you read the post carefuly

 

[Shuddhasattva]

Perhaps exposure to other books is in order - then we may not be so easily impressed by vagaries promoted as scientific (riding science's coattails for credibility?) by Islamic education.

 

[England my lionheart]

the quran usually uses examples to simplify the the idea and make it more clear to us...
and i think its abviously scientific if you read the post carefuly

There are a few things to consider IMO,why would a God of infinite wisdom throw in a scientific titbit about altitude sickness and at the end of the verse state : Thus does Allah place defilement upon those who do not believe.

 

[FearGod]

There are a few things to consider IMO,why would a God of infinite wisdom throw in a scientific titbit about altitude sickness and at the end of the verse state : Thus does Allah place defilement upon those who do not believe.

Whomsoever God desires to guide, He expands his breast to Islam; whomsoever He desires to lead astray, He makes his breast narrow, tight, as if he were climbing to heaven. So God lays abomination upon those who believe not. (6:125)

i do respect your opinion but i think the verse is very clear which describe the disbeliever as not able to accept to live the Islam way by his heart otherwise he will feel his breast narrow,tight as if climbing to heaven and thus the way he lives which described as abomination is what he prefer and feel comfortable on such way of living whereas if he'll think about islam then he'll feel his chest is tighten.

Maybe that is similar to what i hear from many whom saying i don't want religion to control my own life,i want to live the way i like and so god give them a hand by making their way looks wonderful and islam as narrowing,tightening their chests.

 

[9-10ths_Penguin]

the quran usually uses examples to simplify the the idea and make it more clear to us...
and i think its abviously scientific if you read the post carefuly

So... you're claiming that God used an analogy that wouldn't be understood for more than a thousand years in order to make things "more clear cut" for us? That makes no sense.

And what makes you think that oxygen deprivation would make someone's chest "tight" or "narrow"? That's not what happens - a person is just as free to breathe, it's just that their breaths don't contain enough oxygen.

 

[England my lionheart]

Whomsoever God desires to guide, He expands his breast to Islam; whomsoever He desires to lead astray, He makes his breast narrow, tight, as if he were climbing to heaven. So God lays abomination upon those who believe not. (6:125)

i do respect your opinion but i think the verse is very clear which describe the disbeliever as not able to accept to live the Islam way by his heart otherwise he will feel his breast narrow,tight as if climbing to heaven and thus the way he lives which described as abomination is what he prefer and feel comfortable on such way of living whereas if he'll think about islam then he'll feel his chest is tighten.

Maybe that is similar to what i hear from many whom saying i don't want religion to control my own life,i want to live the way i like and so god give them a hand by making their way looks wonderful and islam as narrowing,tightening their chests.

I wouldn't argue that,i am questioning the claim that it describes altitude sickness.

 

[Storm]

People had trouble breathing in high altitudes long before airplanes, much less space shuttles. Most people can't make it up Everest without an oxygen tank or 10. I see nothing miraculous about the Qur'an mentioning it.

 

[FearGod]

So... you're claiming that God used an analogy that wouldn't be understood for more than a thousand years in order to make things "more clear cut" for us? That makes no sense.

And what makes you think that oxygen deprivation would make someone's chest "tight" or "narrow"? That's not what happens - a person is just as free to breathe, it's just that their breaths don't contain enough oxygen.

Symptoms of altitude sickness


Symptoms of high-altitude pulmonary edema include:

• Chest tightness or fullness
• Extreme fatigue
• Inability to catch your breath, even when resting
• Blue or gray lips and fingernails
• Coughing, which may produce pink frothy fluid
• Fever (temperature is above normal but is less than 101 degrees Fahrenheit)
• Noises when breathing, such as rattling or gurgling sounds

Reference : Altitude sickness - Diseases and Conditions | Aetna InteliHealth

Quran is for all eras and i think such verse is for our recent era,as if it was aimed for people before 1400 years ago,then an easier word should be used such as "feeling choked" instead of "climbing to heaven"

 

[Kerr]

Symptoms of altitude sickness


Symptoms of high-altitude pulmonary edema include:

• Chest tightness or fullness
• Extreme fatigue
• Inability to catch your breath, even when resting
• Blue or gray lips and fingernails
• Coughing, which may produce pink frothy fluid
• Fever (temperature is above normal but is less than 101 degrees Fahrenheit)
• Noises when breathing, such as rattling or gurgling sounds

Reference : Altitude sickness - Diseases and Conditions | Aetna InteliHealth

Quran is for all eras and i think such verse is for our recent era,as if it was aimed for people before 1400 years ago,then an easier word should be used such as "feeling choked" instead of "climbing to heaven"

Yet it might just be mentioning something that was known back then.

 

[Storm]

Yeah, I'm pretty sure they had mountains back then.

 

[FearGod]

People had trouble breathing in high altitudes long before airplanes, much less space shuttles. Most people can't make it up Everest without an oxygen tank or 10. I see nothing miraculous about the Qur'an mentioning it.

So you agree that the verse is correct about altitude sickness,but it isn't miraculous because people long time ago know about the lack of oxygen on high altitudes.

 

[Storm]

So you agree that the verse is correct about altitude sickness,but it isn't miraculous because people long time ago know about the lack of oxygen on high altitudes.

I'll stipulate that it used a known phenomenon as a despcriptor. I don't claim they knew why they had trouble breathing on mountains, but that's not necessary for the verse.

 

[England my lionheart]

Would anyone 1400 years ago think that they would get altitude sickness if they didn't accept Islam after reading the Surat and particular verse in context.

So whoever Allah wants to guide - He expands his breast to [contain] Islam; and whoever He wants to misguide - He makes his breast tight and constricted as though he were climbing into the sky. Thus does Allah place defilement upon those who do not believe.

 

[FearGod]

Yeah, I'm pretty sure they had mountains back then.

No,they don't have mountains that could cause any changes whatsoever.

i have visited mountains,such as baguio mountain in the philippines,but i did feel nothing,but just a wonderful weather which is much colder than Manila which was extremely hot.

So i don't agree that people before that long time will notice such changes by living in mountains.

 

[Storm]

No,they don't have mountains that could cause any changes whatsoever.

i have visited mountains,such as baguio mountain in the philippines,but i did feel nothing,but just a wonderful weather which is much colder than Manila which was extremely hot.

So i don't agree that people before that long time will notice such changes by living in mountains.

I'm sorry, did you seriously just claim that they didn't have mountains when the Qur'an was mentioned? That Everest is less than 1400 years old?

Also, note that I didn't say "living in" mountains, I said climbing them.

 

[FearGod]

I'm sorry, did you seriously just claim that they didn't have mountains when the Qur'an was mentioned? That Everest is less than 1400 years old?

Also, note that I didn't say "living in" mountains, I said climbing them.

Tell me a name for just one adventurer who had tried to climb mountain Everest during history before 1400 years ago,so that he had described what he had felt while climbing up.i think there was none,and if you found one,then please what is your reference.

 

[Kerr]

No,they don't have mountains that could cause any changes whatsoever.

i have visited mountains,such as baguio mountain in the philippines,but i did feel nothing,but just a wonderful weather which is much colder than Manila which was extremely hot.

So i don't agree that people before that long time will notice such changes by living in mountains.

I was once at 4000, or maybe 5000, meters and while I didnt get altitude sickness, I did feel the effects of the height very clearly.

 

[Storm]

Tell me a name for just one adventurer who had tried to climb mountain Everest during history before 1400 years ago,so that he had described what he had felt while climbing up.i think there was none,and if you found one,then please what is your reference.

The fact that I don't know the names of everyone who failed to summit Everest doesn't change the fact that it was there. Also, Everest is not the only mountain in the world high enough to enduce altitude sickness, just the highest.

So, let's get on the same page here: are you claiming that there were no mountains high enough to induce altitude sickness when the Qur'an was written?