The Metaphysics of Avian Flight: A Scientific, Philosophical, and Theological Commentary on Quranic Signs and Occasionalist Causality

Presented by Zia H Shah MD

Abstract

This research report provides a comprehensive interdisciplinary analysis of the phenomenon of avian flight as articulated in Quranic verses 16:79 and 67:19. By synthesizing classical Islamic exegesis (tafsir) with modern principles of aerodynamics, fluid dynamics, and evolutionary biology, the study explores how the suspension of “heavier-than-air” bodies in the atmosphere serves as a primary sign of divine agency. A significant portion of the analysis is dedicated to the unique biological and aerodynamic profile of the hummingbird, a New World species whose discovery provides an extraordinary expansion of the Quranic “sign” through its capacity for sustained hovering and extreme metabolic regulation. Centrally, the report argues that a rigorous acceptance of the physical laws of aerodynamics does not displace divine action but rather leads logically to the occasionalist metaphysics of Abu Hamid al-Ghazali. Drawing extensively on the contemporary scholarship of Zia H. Shah MD, the report frames natural laws not as autonomous necessities but as “Divine Habits” (Sunnat Allah), reinterpreting the stability of the physical world through the lenses of quantum indeterminacy and the simulation hypothesis. The study concludes with a thematic epilogue on the “Cosmic Liturgy,” framing the relentless motion of flight as a physical manifestation of perpetual glorification (Tasbih).

I. The Scriptural Foundation: Exegesis of Quran 16:79 and 67:19

The Quranic discourse on the natural world frequently utilizes the observation of birds as a heuristic device to direct the human intellect toward the recognition of a Sustainer. Two primary verses form the cornerstone of this inquiry. Surah An-Nahl (16:79) asks: “Do they not see the birds held in the midst of the sky? None holds them up except Allah. Indeed in that are signs for a people who believe”. This inquiry is preceded by verse 16:78, which describes the transition of the human being from a state of total ignorance at birth to a state of potential knowledge through the divine gifts of hearing, sight, and the heart (intellect). This context suggests that the observation of flight is not merely a passive visual experience but a targeted exercise for the faculty of reflection.   

In Surah Al-Mulk (67:19), the text provides a more descriptive kinematic profile: “Do they not see the birds above them with wings outspread and [sometimes] folded in? None holds them except the Most Merciful. Indeed He is, of all things, Seeing”. The linguistic nuances of these verses are profound. The term musakhkharat in 16:79 denotes being subjected, manipulated, or compelled to follow a specific set of laws. In 67:19, the terms saffat (spreading wings) and yaqbidna (folding them) accurately describe the rhythmic alternation between the power stroke and the recovery stroke essential for avian locomotion.   

Quranic Verse	Key Arabic Terminology	Functional Description	Theological Focus
16:79	Musakhkharat	Subjected/Compelled in the atmosphere (jaww al-sama).	Proof of Divine Power (Qudra) and Design.
67:19	Saffat & Yaqbidna	Outspreading and folding of wings.	Divine Mercy (Rahmah) and constant vigilance.

Classical commentators like Ibn Kathir and Al-Qurtubi emphasize that while the bird is equipped with physical means (wings, feathers, and muscles), the ultimate “holding” is an act of God who subjected the air to support such bodies. The phrase ma yumsikuhunna illa Allah (“none holds them except Allah”) establishes a monotheistic framework for causality, asserting that secondary causes (aerodynamics) are entirely contingent upon the Primary Cause.   

II. The Science of Aerodynamics: The Mechanical “How” of Flight

From a physics perspective, the “holding” of birds in the sky is the result of a delicate dynamic equilibrium between four fundamental forces. Any deviation in the balance of these forces would result in the bird falling, yet the atmosphere is “subjected” (as per 16:79) to allow for their consistent interaction.   

1. The Four Forces of Flight

The forces acting on a bird in flight are weight, lift, thrust, and drag. For a bird to maintain level flight at a constant speed, these forces must be roughly balanced.   

• Weight: The force of gravity acting downward on the bird’s mass. Every flyer must produce an opposing upward force to counteract this.   
• Lift: The upward force generated by the movement of air over the wings. This is primarily governed by the Bernoulli effect, where air travels faster over the curved upper surface of the wing (an aerofoil), creating lower pressure than the air moving beneath it.   
• Thrust: The forward-moving force that opposes drag. In birds, thrust is generated by the powerful flapping of wings, which deflects air downward and backward.   
• Drag: The air resistance or friction that opposes forward motion.   

2. Biological Engineering for Physical Compliance

The “subjected” nature of the bird is further evidenced by its anatomical specialization, which appears meticulously engineered to comply with aerodynamic demands.   

• Structural Optimization: Birds possess hollow (pneumatized) bones with internal struts, a rigid skeleton for muscle attachment, and a lack of heavy teeth/jaws (replaced by a lightweight beak) to minimize weight.   
• Propulsion Systems: The sternum (breastbone) is enlarged into a keel to provide a massive anchor for flight muscles, which can account for a significant percentage of total body mass.   
• Aerofoil Integration: Feathers provide a streamlined, flexible surface that can change shape instantaneously, allowing the bird to adjust its lift coefficient and angle of attack with a precision that modern drones are only beginning to replicate.   

The mathematical relationship of lift can be expressed as:

L=21​ρv2SCL​

Where ρ is the density of air, v is the velocity of the bird, S is the surface area of the wings, and CL​ is the lift coefficient. The Quranic mention of wings “spreading and folding” refers directly to the manipulation of S and CL​ to maintain equilibrium.   

III. The Hummingbird: A New Dimension of the Quranic Sign

While the seventh-century audience observed the flight of hawks and pigeons, the later discovery of hummingbirds in the Americas introduced a species that pushes the limits of avian physics. The hummingbird (family Trochilidae) is often described as the “pinnacle of God’s pinnacle of animal design,” exhibiting flight behaviors previously thought impossible for birds.   

1. Hovering and Kinematic Uniqueness

Unlike most birds that generate lift primarily during the downstroke, hummingbirds are the only birds capable of true sustained hovering. This is achieved through an “insect-like” wing motion where the wings move in a horizontal figure-eight pattern.   

Feature	Standard Avian Flight	Hummingbird Flight
Lift Distribution	~100% on downstroke.	~75% downstroke / ~25% upstroke.
Wing Rotation	Limited rotation at shoulder.	Rapid inversion (180°) at shoulder joint.
Hovering Capacity	Transient/Impossible for most.	Sustained; includes backward/sideways flight.
Muscle Efficiency	Pectoralis-dominant.	1:2 ratio of upstroke to downstroke muscles.

This capacity to generate lift during the upstroke—by inverting the wing—represents a radical specialization. The hummingbird operates at a Reynolds number of 5,000 to 30,000, a range where airflow is highly complex and turbulent. The discovery of the “leading-edge vortex” (LEV) on hummingbird wings shows that they utilize unsteady aerodynamic mechanisms to stay aloft, adding a layer of scientific depth to the claim that “none holds them except the Most Merciful”.   

2. Metabolic Demands and “Rububiyyah” (Sustenance)

The hummingbird’s flight is so energetically expensive that it exists on the brink of starvation. Its metabolic rate is among the highest in the animal kingdom, requiring the consumption of nectar equivalent to its body weight daily. To survive the night, hummingbirds enter “torpor,” a state of suspended animation where their body temperature drops from 104°F to near-ambient levels and their heart rate slows from 1,200 to 50 beats per minute.   

This constant, precarious balance between life and death highlights the concept of Rububiyyah—God’s ongoing oversight and sustaining power. The fact that these tiny “aerial dynamos” can migrate 500 miles across the Gulf of Mexico non-stop is a testament to a level of “compulsion” (musakhkharat) and “holding” that transcends simple muscle power.   

IV. The Philosophical Nexus: Aerodynamics and Al-Ghazali’s Occasionalism

A major challenge in modern theology is the “Problem of Secondary Causes.” If science can explain flight through air pressure and wing shape, why attribute it to God? The Islamic response, championed by Al-Ghazali (1058–1111 CE), is Occasionalism.   

1. The Denial of Inherent Causal Power

In his landmark work Tahafut al-Falāsifa (The Incoherence of the Philosophers), Al-Ghazali argued that the connection between what we perceive as a cause (e.g., air pressure) and an effect (e.g., lift) is not logically necessary. He famously used the example of fire and cotton: fire does not burn cotton by its own power; rather, God creates the burning at the “occasion” of the fire touching the cotton.   

Applying this to Quran 16:79 and 67:19:

• Aerodynamic laws are not autonomous, necessitating powers.
• The air does not have an “inherent” ability to support weight.
• Instead, God creates the lift and the suspension of the bird at every moment.   

This perspective suggests that the universe is not a “wound-up clock” left to run on its own but is being continuously re-created by the Divine Will. The “holding” of the bird in the sky is thus a direct, moment-to-moment act of God.   

2. “Sunnat Allah” as Scientific Regularity

If God is the direct cause of all events, why does the world appear orderly? Why does Bernoulli’s principle never fail? Al-Ghazali introduced the concept of Sunnat Allah—the “Habit” or “Custom” of God. God chooses to act with consistency so that humans can acquire knowledge and navigate the world. Scientific laws are not ontological necessities but are descriptions of these Divine Habits.   

Causality Model	Role of Natural Laws	Locus of Agency
Materialist	Autonomous, necessary, and self-derived.	Inherent in matter/forces.
Deist	Set by God at the beginning; run independently.	Remote/Initial.
Ghazalian Occasionalist	Habits of God (Sunnat Allah); contingent.	Immediate and continuous with God.

By accepting the physics of flight within the framework of these Quranic verses, the believer recognizes that “Nature” is a theater of Divine Will, where every aerodynamic link is forged anew by God’s command.   

V. Modern Occasionalism: The Scholarship of Zia H. Shah MD

The work of Zia H. Shah MD at TheQuran.love provides a modern scientific vocabulary for Al-Ghazali’s metaphysics, integrating quantum physics, consciousness studies, and information theory into a unified theological vision.   

1. Quantum Indeterminacy as the Divine Interface

At the macroscopic level, the flight of a bird appears deterministic. However, at the subatomic level, nature is probabilistic. Shah proposes that the “looseness at the joints” found in quantum indeterminacy provides the mechanism through which divine agency operates. While statistical laws remain consistent (God’s “habit”), God determines the outcome of every specific quantum event—the “collapse of the wave function”—allowing Him to guide reality without violating observable macroscopic physics.   

2. The Simulation Hypothesis and “Frame-by-Frame” Reality

Shah utilizes the metaphor of a computer simulation to explain the Quranic concept of Al-Qayyum (The Sustainer). In a simulation, an object (like a bird in flight) does not possess inherent power to move. Instead, its position and state are “rendered” by a processor at every refresh cycle. For the occasionalist, the universe is “re-rendered” by God at every instant (the doctrine of Tajdid al-khalq).   

• Continuous Creation: The bird is not “gliding” through its own momentum; it is being created slightly further along its path in every successive “frame” of reality.   
• Abolition of Autonomy: Just as a pixel cannot exist without the power from the CPU, the bird cannot remain in the sky for a nanosecond without the active “holding” of God.   

This perspective aligns with Quran 35:41: “Indeed, God holds the heavens and the earth, lest they cease. And if they should vanish, no one could hold them back after Him”.   

VI. Information Theory and the Preservation of Being

Zia H. Shah further connects occasionalism to modern information theory, suggesting that the universe is essentially a flow of information authored by the Divine Mind. In this framework, the “laws” of aerodynamics are the “code” of the universe, and the flight of the bird is the “output” of that code.   

1. The Witness of Consciousness

Shah argues that the failure of physicalism to explain consciousness suggests an external source of agency. The “life force” and “consciousness” of the bird, which allow it to maneuver through turbulent air, are seen as manifestations of a higher agency. While an airplane requires an engine and a pilot, the bird possesses an integrated biological agency that mirrors the Divine Name Al-Hayy (The Living).   

2. Prophetic Dreams and Authorship

Extending the occasionalist logic, Shah demonstrates in his writings on Surah Yusuf that God does not merely foresee the future but “authors every instant of it”. If God is the immediate cause of the wind that holds the bird, He is also the author of the thoughts and dreams in the human mind. This total sovereignty ensures that every event—from the migration of a hummingbird to the fulfillment of a prophecy—is part of a singular, divine script.   

VII. Thematic Epilogue: The Cosmic Liturgy

The hummingbird’s life is one of relentless motion. Its wings, blurring in a figure-eight pattern, produce a characteristic hum that scientists have analyzed using “acoustic nearfield holography”. To the believer, this hum is not merely a byproduct of oscillating aerodynamic forces; it is a physical manifestation of Tasbih (glorification).   

1. Perpetual Glorification (Tasbih)

Quran 24:41 affirms that every part of creation is inherently tied to its Source: “Each one knows its prayer and its glorification”. The hummingbird, with its high-speed heart, specialized mitochondria, and perpetual struggle against gravity, represents the “Timelessness of Tasbih”. Its existence is a fixed principle of praise, yet every movement is a renewed act of worship.   

2. The Unity of the Two Books

The study of flight bridges the gap between the “Word of God” (the Quran) and the “Work of God” (Nature). Science discovers how the bird is held aloft (the mechanisms of lift and the LEV), while the Quran explains Who is holding it and why. The hummingbird, as a vibrant member of the “universal congregation,” performs its perfect form of prayer simply by existing within the parameters set by the Creator.   

In conclusion, the Quranic signs in verses 16:79 and 67:19 are not invitations to ignore physics but to see through physics. The more we understand the complexity of the hummingbird’s flight—its metabolic torpor, its visual “pattern velocity” navigation, and its figure-eight kinematics—the more profound the statement “None holds them except the Most Merciful” becomes. Accepting the full reality of aerodynamics leads not to a godless mechanics, but to the awe-inspiring occasionalism of Al-Ghazali and Zia H. Shah MD, where every wingbeat is a fresh stroke of the Divine Pen on the canvas of reality. The bird in the sky is thus a sign of a universe that is not self-sustaining, but one that is “held” moment-by-moment in the embrace of an Infinite Mercy.