The Quran On The Lack of Oxygen At High Altitudes
When a person ascends into the sky in higher altitudes, he/she would encounter breathing problems due to the lack of oxygen and low air pressure. The Quran gives us a good description of this effect.
‘Those whom Allah in His Plan willeth to guide – He openeth their breast to Islam; those whom He willeth to leave straying – He maketh their breast close and constricted as if they had to climb up to the skies: thus doth Allah heap the penalty on those who refuse to believe.’ Quran: 6:125
As scientifically proven, this is due to the fact that air pressure in the upper parts of our atmosphere is very low, and is close to nil in space, while it is much higher inside our bodies, and also there is no oxygen to breathe in the upper parts of our atmosphere.
Astronauts wear protective suits to help them breath in space
Since the air pressure inside the human body increases to balance out the low air pressure outside the body as it physically ascends in the air, the overwhelming increase of pressure inside the body and lungs would cause:
- An unbearable discomfort and pain.
- The chest wouldn’t be big enough to contain the expanding air pressure and fluids inside the body, and therefore, the chest itself would become ‘close and constricted’ because while the flesh and bones themselves wouldn’t grow/expand in size, but their stretching (to the point of death) would cause the chest to be close and constricted to a point where the person wouldn’t be able to breath.
Also it is important to note that such statement would not have been proven at the time. There is obviously a reason to why the constriction of the chest is mentioned when one goes up to a higher altitude.
If Muhammad (PBUH) were purely the author, then he would not have put this inside the Quran, unless he knew of such a fact. He was guided by something Divine, way beyond our understanding.
