Natural Formations. Because they saw objects in nature as symbols of God's mercy and majesty, Muslims examined soil, rocks, and minerals as one way of seeking an understanding of the relation between the earthly world of humans and the divine world of the angels and God. Muslims studied rock formations to unlock the mysteries of geological changes that had taken place on the surface of the earth: changes of landmasses into seas and seas into landmasses, or massive disruptions such as erupting volcanoes or earthquakes. The writings of the Ikhwan al-Safa (Brethren of Purity), a tenth-century brotherhood of mystical Muslim scholars, described fossils as petrified sea creatures in deserts that had once been covered by seas. (In western geological histories the mystery of the origin of fossils was not solved with confidence until the 1700s.) Muslim scientists also wrote about the...