CREATION OF THE UNIVERSE: ‘THE BIG BANG’
The creation of the universe is explained by astrophysicists in a widely
accepted phenomenon, popularly known as the ‘Big Bang’. It is supported
by observational and experimental data gathered by astronomers and
astrophysicists for decades. According to the ‘Big Bang’, the whole
universe was initially one big mass (Primary Nebula). Then there was a
‘Big Bang’ (Secondary Separation) which resulted in the formation of
Galaxies. These then divided to form stars, planets, the sun, the moon,
etc. The origin of the universe was unique and the probability of it
occurring by ‘chance’ is zero.
The Qur’an contains the following verse, regarding the origin of the
universe:
“Do not the Unbelievers see that the heavens and the earth were joined
together (as one Unit of Creation), before We clove them asunder?”
[Al-Qur’an 21:30]
The striking congruence between the Qur’anic verse and the ‘Big Bang’ is
inescapable! How could a book, which first appeared in the deserts of
Arabia 1400 years ago, contain this profound scientific truth?
THERE WAS AN INITIAL GASEOUS MASS BEFORE THE
CREATION OF GALAXIES
Scientists say that before the galaxies in the universe were formed,
celestial matter was initially in the form of gaseous matter. In short,
huge gaseous matter or clouds were present before the formation of the
galaxies. To describe initial celestial matter, the word ‘smoke’ is more
appropriate than gas. The following Qur’anic verse refers to this state
of the universe by the word dhukhan which means smoke.
“Moreover, He Comprehended In His design the sky, And it had been (as)
smoke: He said to it And to the earth: ‘Come ye together, Willingly or
unwillingly.’ They said: ‘We do come (Together), in willing obedience.’”
[Al-Qur’an 41:11]
Again, this fact is a corollary to the ‘Big Bang’ and was not known to
the Arabs during the time of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh). What then, could
have been the source of this knowledge?
THE SPHERICAL SHAPE OF THE EARTH
In early times, people believed that the earth is flat. For centuries,
men were afraid to venture out too far, lest they should fall off the
edge. Sir Francis Drake was the first person who proved that the earth
is spherical when he sailed around it in 1597. Consider the following
Qur’anic verse regarding the alternation of day and night:
“Seest thou not that Allah merges Night into Day And He merges Day into
Night?”
[Al-Qur’an 31:29]
Merging here means that the night slowly and gradually changes to day
and vice versa. This phenomenon can only take place if the earth is
spherical. If the earth was flat, there would have been a sudden change
from night into day and from day into night.
The following verse also alludes to the spherical shape of the earth:
“He created the heavens And the earth In true (proportions): He makes
the Night Overlap the Day, and the Day Overlap the Night.”
[Al-Qur’an 39:5]
The Arabic word used here is Kawwara meaning ‘to overlap’ or ‘to
coil’– the way a turban is wound around the head. The overlapping or
coiling of the day and night can only take place if the earth is
spherical. The earth is not exactly round like a ball, but geo-spherical
i.e. it is flattened at the poles. The following verse contains a
description of the earth’s shape:
“And the earth, moreover, Hath
He made egg shaped.”
2 [Al-Qur’an 79:30]
The Arabic word for egg here is dahaha, which means an
ostrich-egg. The shape of an ostrich-egg resembles the geo-spherical
shape of the earth. Thus the Qur’an correctly describes the shape of the
earth, though the prevalent notion when the Qur’an was revealed was that
the earth is flat.
THE LIGHT OF THE MOON IS REFLECTED LIGHT
It was believed by earlier civilizations that the moon emanates its own
light.
Science now tells us that the light of the moon is reflected light.
However this fact was mentioned in the Qur’an 1,400 years ago in the
following verse:
“Blessed is He Who made Constellations in the skies, And placed therein
a Lamp And a Moon giving light.”
[Al-Qur’an 25:61]
The Arabic word for the sun in the Qur’an, is shams. It is
referred to as siraaj, which means a ‘torch’ or as wahhaaj
which means ‘a blazing lamp’ or as diya which means ‘shining
glory’. All three descriptions are appropriate to the sun, since it
generates intense heat and light by its internal combustion.
The Arabic word for the moon is qamar and it is described in the
Qur’an as muneer, which is a body that gives nur i.e.
light. Again, the Qur’anic description matches perfectly with the true
nature of the moon, which does not give off light itself and is an inert
body that reflects the light of the sun.
Not once in the Qur’an, is the moon mentioned as siraaj, wahhaaj
or diya or the sun as nur or muneer. This implies
that the Qur’an recognizes the difference between the nature of sunlight
and moonlight.
The Arabic word dahaha has been translated by A. Yusuf Ali as
“vast expanse”, which also is correct. The word dahaha also means
an ostrich-egg.
Consider the following verses related to the nature of light from the
sun and the moon:
“It is He who made the sun To
be a shining glory And the moon to be a light (Of beauty).”
[Al-Qur’an 10:5]
“See ye not How Allah has created The seven heavens One above another,
“And made the moon A light in their midst, and made the sun As a
(Glorious) Lamp?”
[Al-Qur’an 71:15-16]
THE SUN ROTATES
For a long time European philosophers and scientists believed that the
earth stood still in the centre of the universe and every other body
including the sun moved around it. In the West, this geocentric concept
of the universe was prevalent right from the time of Ptolemy in the
second century B.C. In 1512, Nicholas Copernicus put forward his
Heliocentric Theory of Planetary Motion, which asserted that the sun is
motionless at the centre of the solar system with the planets revolving
around it.
In 1609, the German scientist Yohannus Keppler published the ‘Astronomia
Nova’. In this he concluded that not only do the planets move in
elliptical orbits around the sun, they also rotate upon their axes at
irregular speeds.
With this knowledge it became possible for European scientists to
explain correctly many of the mechanisms of the solar system including
the sequence of night and day.
After these discoveries, it was thought that the Sun was stationary and
did not rotate about its axis like the Earth. I remember having studied
this fallacy from Geography books during my school days. Consider the
following Qur’anic verse:
“It is He Who created The Night and the Day, And the sun and the moon:
All (the celestial bodies) Swim along, each in its Rounded course.”
[Al-Qur’aan 21:33]
The Arabic word used in the above verse is yasbahûn . The word
yasbahûn is derived from the word sabaha. It carries with it
the idea of motion that comes from any moving body. If you use the word
for a man on the ground, it would not mean that he is rolling but would
mean he is walking or running. If you use the word for a man in water it
would not mean that he is floating but would mean that he is swimming.
Similarly, if you use the word yasbah for a celestial body such
as the sun it would not mean that it is only flying through space but
would mean that it is also rotating as it goes through space. Most of
the school textbooks have incorporated the fact that the sun rotates
about its axis. The rotation of the sun about its own axis can be proved
with the help of equipment that projects
the image of the sun on the table top so that one can examine the image
of the sun without being blinded. It is noticed that the sun has spots
which complete a circular motion once every 25 days i.e. the sun takes
approximately 25 days to rotate around its axis.
In fact, the sun travels through space at roughly 150 miles per second,
and takes about 200 million years to complete one revolution around the
center of our Milky Way Galaxy.
“It is not permitted To the Sun to catch up The Moon, nor can The Night
outstrip the Day: Each (just) swims along In (its own) orbit (According
to Law).”
[Al-Qur’aan 36:40]
This verse mentions an essential fact discovered by modern astronomy,
i.e. the existence of the individual orbits of the Sun and the Moon, and
their journey through space with their own motion. The ‘fixed place’
towards, which the sun travels, carrying with it the solar system, has
been located exactly by modern astronomy. It has been given a name, the
Solar Apex. The
solar system is indeed moving in space towards a point situated in the
constellation of Hercules (alpha Layer) whose exact location is firmly
established.
The moon rotates around its axis in the same duration that it takes to
revolve around the earth. It takes approximately 29½ days to complete
one rotation. One cannot help but be amazed at the scientific accuracy
of the Qur’anic verses. Should we not ponder over the question: “What
was the source of knowledge contained in the Qur’an?”
THE SUN WILL EXTINGUISH AFTER A CERTAIN PERIOD
The light of the sun is due to a chemical process on its surface that
has been taking place continuously for the past five billion years. It
will come to an end at some point of time in the future when the sun
will be totally extinguished leading to extinction of all life on earth.
Regarding the impermanence of the sun’s existence the Qur’an says:
“And the Sun Runs its course For a period determined For it; that is The
decree of (Him) The exalted in
Might, The All-Knowing.”
[Al-Qur’an 36:38]
The Arabic word used here is mustaqarr, which means a place or
time that is determined. Thus the Qur’an says that the sun runs towards
a determined place, and will do so only up to a pre-determined period of
time – meaning that it will end or extinguish.
THE PRESENCE OF INTERSTELLAR MATTER
Space outside organized astronomical systems was earlier assumed to be a
vacuum.
Astrophysicists later discovered the presence of bridges of matter in
this interstellar space. These bridges of matter are called plasma, and
consist of completely ionized gas containing equal number of free
electrons and positive ions. Plasma is sometimes called the fourth state
of matter (besides the three known states viz. solid, liquid and gas).
The Qur’an mentions the presence of this interstellar material in the
following verse:
“He Who created the heavens And the earth and all That is between.”
[Al-Qur’an 25:59]
It would be ridiculous, for anybody to even suggest that the presence of
interstellar galactic material was known 1400 years ago.
THE EXPANDING UNIVERSE
In 1925, an American astronomer by the name of Edwin Hubble, provided
observational evidence that all galaxies are receding from one another,
which implies that the universe is expanding. The expansion of the
universe is now an established scientific fact. This is what Al-Qur’an
says regarding the nature of the universe:
“With the power and skill Did We construct The Firmament: For it is We
Who create The vastness of Space.”
[Al-Qur’an 51:47]
The Arabic word mûsi‘ûn is correctly translated as ‘expanding
it’, and it refers to the creation of the expanding vastness of the
universe. Stephen Hawking, in his book, ‘A Brief History of Time’, says,
“The discovery that the universe is expanding was one of the great
intellectual revolutions of the 20th century.”
The Qur’an mentioned the expansion of the universe, before man even
learnt to build a telescope! Some may say that the presence of
astronomical facts in the Qur’an is not surprising since the Arabs were
advanced in the field of astronomy. They are correct in acknowledging
the advancement of the Arabs in the field of astronomy. However they
fail to realize that the Qur’an was revealed centuries before the Arabs
excelled in astronomy. Moreover many of the scientific facts mentioned
above regarding astronomy, such as the origin of the universe with a Big
Bang, were not known to the Arabs even at the peak of their scientific
advancement. The scientific facts mentioned in the Qur’an are therefore
not due to the Arabs’ advancement in astronomy.
Indeed, the reverse is true. The Arabs advanced in astronomy, because
astronomy occupies a place in the Qur’an.