11ثُمَّ استَوىٰ إِلَى السَّماءِ وَهِيَ دُخانٌ فَقالَ لَها وَلِلأَرضِ ائتِيا طَوعًا أَو كَرهًا قالَتا أَتَينا طائِعينَAli UnalAnd He directed (His Knowledge, Will, Power, and Favor) to the heaven when it was as a cloud (of gases), and ordered it and the earth, “Come both of you, willingly or unwillingly!” They said: “We have come in willing obedience.”1Some modern researchers (i.e., Nurbaki, 13–24) understand from this verse the following: The Qur’ān indicates that there is some difficulty in the co-operation between the earth and sky. As is known, the molecules and atoms in the atmosphere try to escape into space while the earth tries to attract and hold them. For the formation of an atmosphere, the motions that lead to the force of escaping molecules have to be counterbalanced by the gravitational attraction of the earth. This is an almost impossibly difficult condition to fulfill. From the standpoint of geophysics, these extremely difficult conditions require the preservation of three important types of balance: (i) atmospheric temperature, (ii) proportionate gravitational attraction on the part of the earth, and (iii) the non-violation of this balance by various radiant energies arriving from space. The Qur’ān expresses all these facts by the phrases, Come both of you, willingly or unwillingly! That the almost impossible conditions have been fulfilled only by God’s Power is indicated by the phrase, They said: “We have come in willing obedience.”