The Causes of Earthquakes: A Conflict Between Hadith and the View of the Philosophers

Question

What are the causes and factors of an earthquake from the Shari‘a point of view? If the multiplication of sins is taken as its cause, has any sound hadith of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ been transmitted about this or not? If so, please write it with a reference. Then, against the hadith, what is the answer to the theory of the philosophers and scientists, who claim that air enters the cavities of the earth and, seeking to escape all at once, cannot get out, and that this swiftness produces the earthquake in the earth?

Answer

(1) It is established from the hadiths that as the Hour draws near, earthquakes will become frequent. The earthquake of the Hour is mentioned in the Holy Qur’an as well: [ar]إِذَا زُلْزِلَتِ ٱلْأَرْضُ زِلْزَالَهَا إِنَّ زَلْزَلَةَ ٱلسَّاعَةِ شَىْءٌ عَظِيمٌ[/ar] “When the earth is shaken with its earthquake…

Source: Fatawa Mahmudiyya

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