By: Zia Mahmood Minhas
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-The Creation |
| universe |
The Creation
There are lot of references in the Qur’an on the creation of universe, galaxies, stars, sun, earth and moon. There are over one thousand verses regarding the universe. These, unlike, old and New Testament are scattered all over the Qur’an. The creation of universe has been referred in the following verses.
(ثُمَّ اسْتَوَىٰ إِلَى السَّمَاءِ وَهِيَ دُخَانٌ فَقَالَ لَهَا وَلِلْأَرْضِ ائْتِيَا طَوْعًا أَوْ كَرْهًا قَالَتَا أَتَيْنَا طَائِعِينَ ﴿١١
Then He ascended to heaven, while yet smoke and said to it and to the earth, come forth, willing or unwilling. And both responded. We come willingly.
(Soorah Fussilat 41:11)
(هُوَ الَّذِي خَلَقَ لَكُم مَّا فِي الْأَرْضِ جَمِيعًا ثُمَّ اسْتَوَىٰ إِلَى السَّمَاءِ فَسَوَّاهُنَّ سَبْعَ سَمَاوَاتٍ ۚ وَهُوَ بِكُلِّ شَيْءٍ عَلِيمٌ ﴿٢٩
It is He who created for you all that is on earth. Then He ascended and arrayed them in seven heavens. All knowing is He.
(Soorah Al-Baqrah 2:29 )
اللَّـهُ الَّذِي خَلَقَ سَبْعَ سَمَاوَاتٍ وَمِنَ الْأَرْضِ مِثْلَهُنَّ يَتَنَزَّلُ الْأَمْرُ بَيْنَهُنَّ لِتَعْلَمُوا
(أَنَّ اللَّـهَ عَلَىٰ كُلِّ شَيْءٍ قَدِيرٌ وَأَنَّ اللَّـهَ قَدْ أَحَاطَ بِكُلِّ شَيْءٍ عِلْمًا ﴿١٢
Allah, it is who created seven heavens and their like on earth. Between them the Command descends, that you may know that Allah holds Power over all things, that Allah encompasses all things in His knowledge.
(Soorah At- Talaq 65: 12)
The Big Bang Theory
-The scientific version of creation of universal now acceptable is termed as “BIG BANG THEORY”. Edwin Hubble in 1929 published his famous rule. “Galaxies are moving away from us at speeds directly relative to their distance from us”. It later became clear that galaxies are not only moving away from us, they are also getting farther from each other. This means universe is continuously and constantly expanding in confirmation of Allah’s words.
-Since the universe is constantly expanding, it must have a starting point, where universe was centered at a point known to scientists as Primordial Atom, Primordial Broth or Singularity with size zero, but its mass infinite. This mass had unimaginably high temperature over 3 trillion degree .This is another way of saying that universe originated from nothing as this is the meaning of its size being equal to zero.
There are further references to the creation of universe in The Qur’an some of which are being quoted below:
(وَالسَّمَاءَ بَنَيْنَاهَا بِأَيْدٍ وَإِنَّا لَمُوسِعُونَ ﴿٤٧
With power did we construct the heavens verily, we are able t o extend the vastness of space thereof.
(Soorah Adh-Dhariyat 51:47)
أَوَلَمْ يَرَ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا أَنَّ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضَ كَانَتَا رَتْقًا فَفَتَقْنَاهُمَا ۖ وَجَعَلْنَا
(مِنَ الْمَاءِ كُلَّ شَيْءٍ حَيٍّ ۖ أَفَلَا يُؤْمِنُونَ ﴿٣٠
Do the unbelievers not realize that the heaven and earth were sewn together, but we ripped them apart?
(Soorah Al-Anbyia 21:30)
(قُلْ أَعُوذُ بِرَبِّ الْفَلَقِ ﴿١﴾مِن شَرِّ مَا خَلَقَ ﴿٢
Say I take refuge with the Lord of ‘Falaq’. From the evil of all He created.
(Soorah Al-Falaq 113:1-2)
One is baffled what sort of power is capable of hurling a hundred billion galaxies with such extreme speed locating them at great distances thereby building such expansive universe the size of which is beyond human imagination.
-The reference to “BIG BANG” is given by Allah in Soorah 21:30-31.With BIG-BANG explosion the temperature rose to several trillions of degrees and parts of Atoms (neutrons, protons and electrons) were formed. These formed atoms the basic unit for creation of matter. Atoms were constituents of the cosmic dust which formed Galaxies.
-Soorah Al-Falak also points to The Big Bang Theory. It reveals the universe was created with a big explosion since the word ‘Falak’ has the following meanings:
- Sudden explosion/burst open
- Extra ordinary speed
- Burst opening of seed for germination
- Emergence of light from darkness i.e. dawn
If we closely observe the context of these verses it relates to Creation. The basic meaning of ‘Falak’ is explosion. The earlier interpreters of this Soorah understood the traditional meaning of the word i.e Dawn which bursts from darkness. Ibne Sina interpreted the ‘Falak’ as the delivery of a sibling from mother’s womb. These interpretations were the outcome of lack of knowledge of Astrophysics at that time.
Time Frame of creation of Universe
Scientists believe that after Big Bang it took billions of years the universe to come to the prevailing state. In Qur’an several verses refer to the process:
إِنَّ رَبَّكُمُ اللَّـهُ الَّذِي خَلَقَ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضَ فِي سِتَّةِ أَيَّامٍ
Your Lord is God who created the Heavens and Earth in six days.
(Soorah Al-A’raf 7:54)
اللَّـهُ الَّذِي خَلَقَ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضَ وَمَا بَيْنَهُمَا فِي سِتَّةِ أَيَّامٍ ثُمَّ اسْتَوَىٰ عَلَى
(الْعَرْشِ ۖ مَا لَكُم مِّن دُونِهِ مِن وَلِيٍّ وَلَا شَفِيعٍ ۚ أَفَلَا تَتَذَكَّرُونَ ﴿٤
The one Who created the heavens, the earth and what is between them in six periods then sat firmly on the throne. Apart from Him, you have no patron and no intercessor. Will you not reflect?
(Soorah As-Sajda 32:4)
(وَلَقَدْ خَلَقْنَا السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضَ وَمَا بَيْنَهُمَا فِي سِتَّةِ أَيَّامٍ وَمَا مَسَّنَا مِن لُّغُوبٍ ﴿٣٨
We created the heavens, the earth and what is between them in six periods and no weariness touched us
(Soorah Qaf 50:38)
The word ‘yaum’ in Arabic is not the day which extends from dawn to dawn or sunset to sunset. Both ‘yaum’ and ‘ayyam’ (plural) mean long length of time or indefinite periods. This has further been elaborated in the Qur’an in following verses:
(يُدَبِّرُ الْأَمْرَ مِنَ السَّمَاءِ إِلَى الْأَرْضِ ثُمَّ يَعْرُجُ إِلَيْهِ فِي يَوْمٍ كَانَ مِقْدَارُهُ أَلْفَ سَنَةٍ مِّمَّا تَعُدُّونَ ﴿٥
He governs creation from the heavens to earth, and it ascends back to Him In a day, the length of which is a thousand years by your reckoning.
(Soorah As-Sajda 32:5)
(تَعْرُجُ الْمَلَائِكَةُ وَالرُّوحُ إِلَيْهِ فِي يَوْمٍ كَانَ مِقْدَارُهُ خَمْسِينَ أَلْفَ سَنَةٍ ﴿٤
Angles and The Spirit ascend to Him In a day that spans 50,000 years.
(Soorah Al –Ma’arij 70:4)
Modern interpreters like Mohammad Yousaf (1934) while dealing with creation of universe has taken the word for very long periods, ages or aeons.
Contrary to Bible Allah says that the creation did not lead to weariness after creation of the Universe in six days. While as given in the Bible God rested on the seventh day which is rationale for the Jews for observation of ‘Sabbath’ on Saturday. In Hebrew ‘Sabbath’ means rest.
Prof .Paul Davies has stated that the creation of Universe with complete harmony of celestial bodies is out of God’s edict. The universe, the span of which is beyond human imagination was created by Allah’s decree within split second which is ‘Kun Fayakun’. Allah says in the Qur’an
(بَدِيعُ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ ۖ وَإِذَا قَضَىٰ أَمْرًا فَإِنَّمَا يَقُولُ لَهُ كُن فَيَكُونُ ﴿١١٧
Marvelous Creator of the heavens and the earth! When He decrees a matter, He merely says to it ‘Be’ and it is.
(Soorah Al- Baqrah 2:117)