Were the recent earthquakes caused by a disturbance in the earth’s rotation and is the direction of rotation about to be reversed?

Praise be to Allah.

What is attributed in this message to Dr Zaghlool al-Najjaar is not correct. The Doctor himself had denied it when he was asked about it on the Minbar al-Jazeerah show discussing Arab preparations to face disasters, on the al-Jazeerah satellite channel. 

He replied: “By Allah, my dear brother, this idea is completely and utterly baseless. It seems that there are devils among mankind who want to spread some of these myths through me, because they know how much the people love me by the grace of Allah, so they will believe these words. 

Firstly: I repeat all the time that the Hereafter has laws which are completely different to the laws of this world. 

Secondly: The Hereafter, as the Qur’aan says, will come suddenly, as Allah describes it (interpretation of the meaning): 

“Heavy is its burden through the heavens and the earth. It shall not come upon you except all of a sudden” [al-A’raaf 7:187]

Thirdly: The mass of the earth is approximately six thousand billion million million tons. Although they are powerful, these earthquakes cannot change the speed of the earth’s rotation or slow it down.  

Some people say – and this can be found on the internet and it is correct – that if the explosion is in the opposite direction to the earth’s rotation, it can slow it down, and if it is in the same direction, it can speed up the earth’s rotation around its axis. But in either case the difference is no more than a millionth of a second. So how can it be said that this is one of the major signs of the Hour? The major signs have been defined by our Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) in precise detail, and there is no room for ijtihaad when the ahaadeeth of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) are so clear.” End quote. 

The Doctor has also explained in other discussions the cause of these earthquakes from a scientific point of view, as well as stating that they are a punishment for sin. 

Allah says (interpretation of the meaning): 

“And whatever of misfortune befalls you, it is because of what your hands have earned. And He pardons much” [al-Shoora 42:30]

“Evil (sins and disobedience to Allah) has appeared on land and sea because of what the hands of men have earned (by oppression and evil deeds), that He (Allah) may make them taste a part of that which they have done, in order that they may return (by repenting to Allah, and begging His Pardon)” [al-Room 30:41]

And Allah knows best.