Science and Signs in the Qur’an
“And We made the sky a protected ceiling.” Qur’an 21:32
Cosmology and Space: The Radiant Wonders of Al-Qur’an
By A.S.M Razan
Cosmological and space research may seem to be among the most recent discoveries of the modern scientific world. However, in the desert environment of the seventh century, a time when human civilization and science had not fully evolved, and when neither telescopes nor space technologies existed, the Holy Quran revealed facts regarding the structure of the universe and astrophysics that continue to amaze the scientific world. At a time when humanity was deeply mired in the geocentric theory and the belief that the cosmos was static, the Quran offered a precise perspective on the universe’s origin, development, and mechanics.
Modern astrophysics explains through the Big Bang theory that the universe was originally a single dense point that split apart and expanded. Addressing this origin point of the cosmos, the Quran questions in verse 21:30: “Have those who disbelieved not considered that the heavens and the earth were a joined entity, and We separated them?”
Furthermore, verse 41 :1 1 describes with great precision that before the universe was formed, it existed as a cloud of smoke composed of gas and dust: “Then He directed Himself to the heaven while it was smoke.”
Fourteen hundred years before Edwin Hubble discovered that the universe is continuously expanding, the Quran declared cosmic expansion in verse 51:47: “And the heaven We constructed with strength, and indeed, We are [its] expander.”
Similarly, the Quran describes how the sun and the moon move unobstructed in their respective orbits in verse 21 :33: “And it is He who created the night and the day and the sun and the moon; all [heavenly bodies] in an orbit are swimming.” Here, the Arabic word ‘Yasbahun’ aptly captures celestial bodies floating along gravitational pathways in the vacuum of space.
Moreover, it points out that the sun possesses its own light while the moon reflects light, and verse 21:32 refers to the atmosphere protecting the Earth: “And We made the sky a protected ceiling.”
Regarding ‘black holes’ which contract and collapse under gravity to the point where not even light can escape, God highlights verse 81 :1 5-1 6: “So I swear by the retreating stars, those that run [their courses] and disappear.” Such scientific truths are by no means coincidental; these cosmic wonders conclusively demonstrate that the Creator Himself provided these secrets of creation which lie far beyond the limits of human knowledge, as clear proof for humanity.
References:
Hubble, E. (1 929). A relation between distance and radial velocity among extra-galactic nebulae.
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 1 5(3), 1 68–1 73. https://doi.org/1 0.1 073/pnas.1 5.3.1 68 Lemaître, G. (1927). Un univers homogène de masse constante et de rayon croissant, rendant compte de la vitesse radiale des nébuleuses extra-galactiques. Annales de la Société Scientifique de Bruxelles, 47, 49–59.
Penzias, A. A., & Wilson, R. W. (1 965). A measurement of excess antenna temperature at 4080 Mc/s. The Astrophysical Journal, 1 42, 41 9–421. https://doi.org/1 0.1 086/1 48307
About the Author:
A.S.M. Razan (Abdul Salam Mohamed Razan) writes on Islam and science, with particular interest in the relationship between Qur’anic revelation and discoveries in biology, astronomy and cosmology. He is a physiotherapy student at the Faculty of Medicine, University of Colombo, Sri Lanka, and has a background in Biological Sciences. He is a guest writer for PEACE Magazine.
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