The earth’s gravitational force

Did we not make the earth a receptacle? (Surat al-Mursalat, 25)

The Arabic word “kifatan,” translated as “receptacle” in the above verse, means “living things being gathered together and protected in their dwellings, places where living or inanimate things are gathered together; on which things are piled; place where things are collected.” “Kifatan” comes from root word “kafata,” which means “to collect, gather toward one, close embrace.”

With its gravitational force, the earth pulls the human beings and everything else on it, living or inanimate, toward its center. It is very likely that the use of a verb meaning “to pull toward one” refers to this force of gravity. (Allah knows the truth.)

It is thanks to the force of gravity that pulls the animals, plants, human beings and everything else on earth toward itself, that people are able to walk on the ground, stay where they are without flying off into the air, and orbit the earth without flying off into space, and that the rain is able to fall.

Sir Isaac Newton, regarded as one of the greatest scientists ever, investigated this feature of the earth and and made one of the greatest scientific discoveries of all time by speaking of gravity in his book Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica(The Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy), first published in 1687. The Latin word "attraere" Newton used in discussing gravity also means “to attract, bring together.” The reference in the Qur’an to one of the earth’s four great forces, only described in the 17th century, is just one of the proofs that the Qur’an was sent down from the presence of Allah.