All the evidence
available today suggests an explosive origin to the universe that
brought both space, time and matter into existence. This is what is
referred to as the Big Bang. The theory of the Big Bang which has
successfully replaced the "Steady state" theory was worked out in the
1920"s by two scientists quite independently of each other, the Russian
meteorologist Alexksandr Friedmann and the Belgian mathematician Georges
Lemaitre. ( Deep Space, Colin A. Ronan, p. 156)
The Big Bang itself
resulted from an extremely dense singularity. The creation of the
universe is one of matter, space and time that are intimately linked
together. Matter and space were joined as one and then were separated in
the explosion. This is very accurately described in the Quran:
"Do
not the unbelievers see that the skies (space) and the earth (matter)
were joined together (as one unit of creation) and we ripped them
apart?" 21:30
The subsequent history
of the Big Bang saw the Americans George Gamow, Ralph Alpher and Robert
Horman indicate that the whole event took place at a very high
temperature; it was a hot Big Bang. This view has been confirmed by the
later discovery of the background microwave radiation. The eventual
formation of galaxies resulted as a condensation, under gravitational
pull, of hot gases which were mainly Hydrogen, but may also have
contained Helium and a few other light elements as well. With the
passing of time, and with the formation of galaxies, the gas has
gradually condensed into individual stars. The universe in its very
early stages was, thus, still in the form of hot gases. This is
confirmed in the Quran in the following verse:
"Then He took hold of the sky when it was smoke." 41:11
Note that the verse
did not say clouds or gas, but smoke, which is a very accurate
description as smoke is hot gas, whilst clouds and gas could be hot or
cold.
Once these stars were
formed a system had to be devised to govern their motion. The kinetic
energy stored in the foreword movement of these bodies could not be
relied upon on its own, otherwise stars and also planets would have shot
off in straight lines dispersing into space. No planet would ever
revolve around its mother star, which also applies to earth and, thus,
life would not have evolved on earth, because the whole of life on earth
is so dependent on the sun.
Gravity was the
brilliant divine invention, working as an equating factor to the
centrifugal force to induce precise orbits for all heavenly bodies. The
speed, mass and distance of two bodies have to be worked out very
precisely to induce an orbit.
If you were to throw a
tennis ball upwards towards the sky, it would travel upwards as a
result of the kinetic energy stored in the throw but, eventually, the
gravity of the earth will take over and the ball will fall back to the
ground. But, if you were to throw the ball at a very high speed (say
10km per second) it would escape the gravity of the earth and leave the
earth altogether. This is what is known as the escape velocity. It is
the speed required for a moving body to enable it to escape the gravity
of a planet or star.
When an artificial
satellite is placed in orbit around the earth, what happens is that at a
required distance, while the satellite is shooting out of the earth's
gravitational field, its speed is reduced which reduces its kinetic
energy and with some directional adjustments its kinetic energy can be
equated with the earth's gravity. All these adjustments must be very
precisely executed at a precise distance and speed otherwise a correct
orbit cannot be obtained.
When one looks at the
endless intricate orbits and mathematical precision in the universe one
can only gasp in awe. All the planets that circulate around stars, which
in turn revolve round the centre of gravity of their own galaxies.
These very accurate balances are mentioned in the following verses:
"The sun and the moon follow courses precisely computed" 55:5
(the previous
paragraph explains how very precise adjustments have to be affected in
order to obtain an orbit of an orbiting satellite).
"And the sky He raised and set the balance" 55:7
(balance between what? once again refer to previous paragraph).
The orbits of the heavenly bodies are mentioned in the verse:
"and the sun and the moon, all travelling in orbits." 21:33
Note that the last
verse said "all" and not "both" which indicates that the reference to
the sun and the moon is symbolic, that is, of all other heavenly bodies
that obey the same rules.
The next stage sees
these massive newly formed stars start to shrink under their own
gravitational pull. As a result, their central regions become denser
and, thus, hot. When the material in the centre of the star has heated
up sufficiently, to be exact, at least seven million degrees K., nuclear
reactions begin. These reactions, which are similar to those which take
place in a hydrogen bomb, continue throughout the life of the star.
These reactions are distinctly different from ordinary combustion (as in
burning wood). What actually takes place inside a star is that hydrogen
is converted to helium with the emission of huge energy.
This is precisely what the Quran speaks of with the words:
"…as if it were a brilliant star……..whose oil (fuel) is well lit, even no fire touches it." 24:35
The verse mentions a
star, it's fuel, and a reaction which is not combustion (fire). Short of
saying "nuclear reactions" the verse is a very accurate description of
what goes on inside a star.
These nuclear
reactions cause the stars to radiate all types of radiation into space,
from x-rays and gamma rays in the short waves all the way to the longer
radio waves. The visible section of those waves which are found between
the ultra-violet and the infra-red is what we call sunlight.
On the other hand, the
planets do not emit any light of their own, but only reflect light.
This differentiation between natural light and reflected light is
pointed out with the words:
"Blessed is He who made constellations in the sky and placed there in a lamp, and a moon giving light." 25:61
And also:
"It is He who made the sun to light up (the sky) and the moon that is lit." 10:5
In 1965, a very
important discovery was made, and that was the background radiation
which confirmed the Big Bang theory. But, the Big Bang theory, together
with the detection of the red shift in the spectrum of far away
galaxies, gave birth to yet a new concept which stated that the universe
is expanding.
Further confirmation
of the theory of the expanding universe was obtained from the spectrum
analysis of far away galaxies. When you hear a police car or ambulance
approaching you and then moving away, you will notice a change in sound
of its siren. As the vehicle approaches, the siren wails at a higher
pitch than when it moves away. Yet, in reality the siren is wailing at
the same pitch all the time. To the driver of the vehicle the sound of
the siren never changes. Why does this happen? The reason is that the
waves of sound emitted by the siren change in frequency, which causes a
change in pitch. This principle, which is called the Doppler effect
after its discoverer, applies to any waves and not only that of sound.
When applied to light waves it was found that if the source of light is
approaching its light would be shifted towards the blue end of the
spectrum, while as light from a receding source would be shifted towards
the red end of the spectrum. When analysing the light we receive from
distant galaxies it was found that they all had a red shift meaning that
they were flying away from us. This contribution of the red shift
analysis meant that the universe is indeed expanding.
This conclusion is literally mentioned in the Quran:
"and the heavens we created with might (power) and we are expanding it." 51:47
Note that the word
"expanding" is used in the present tense and not in the past which again
is in agreement with the fact that the expansion of the universe is a
continuous process.
At the time of the
Quran (7th century), it was still believed that all the stars in the
sky, including our sun, were eternal and are made of a material that
never fades or decays. No one was really aware of the nature of the
reactions that took place inside stars for that was to be 20th century
atomic theory territory but that (as mentioned before) was mentioned in
the Quran. These atomic reactions would take place inside a star for a
finite time and then the star would eventually run out of energy when it
has used up all its resources. When that stage is reached, a star like
our sun will undergo a series of drastic changes. First, it will expand
to become a red giant. The nearest planet, Mercury, would be swallowed
up and the intense heat given off by the sun in this red giant stage
would cause all the seas and oceans on earth to boil over and evaporate,
signalling the end of life on earth. Eventually, the star would start
to collapse and lose its lustre and end up as a white dwarf. Here, the
Quran uses the very accurate scientific words:
"when stars lose their lustre" 77:8
The finite life of stars is also referred to:
"He has ordained the sun and the moon, each one runs (it's course) for an appointed time." 13:2
Sura, 81 in its opening verses, describes the end of time as follows:
"When the sun is rounded (swelling like a ball), when the stars have collapsed" 81:1-2
"When the oceans boil over in a swell" 81:6
It is very significant how the verse said "when the stars have collapsed"
and not "when the sun has collapsed", because the boiling of the oceans
will be a result of the expansion of the sun (red giant stage) and not
it's collapse, that is, the ocean will boil over long before the sun
starts to collapse. Also, the term "collapse", as used in the Quran, is the precise term used by today's astronomers to describe that stage of a star's life.
Whilst the Big Bang provided an explanation as to the origin of the universe, it still remained necessary to calculate its age.
To do so, astronomers
once again rely on red shift to calculate the speeds and distance of the
furthest galaxies and quasars. These distances give us indications to
the age of the universe. The most distant quasars, which have velocities
of some 240,000 km/sec. (80% the speed of light), are at distances of
up to 14 billion light years (a light year being the distance travelled
by light in one year). When we look into depth of space, we are actually
looking back far into the past. When we look at that distant quasar, we
are not seeing it as it is now, but as it was 14 billion years ago.
The modern accepted figure for the age of the universe is a little bit more than 18 billion (thousand million) years.
Could it be possible that the age of the universe is also found in the Quran?
Well, let"s take a look at two verses:
1) "the angels and the spirit ascend unto Him in a day, the measure of which was fifty thousand years." 70:4
This verse refers to
the ascent of angels and the spirit (meant to be Gabriel) back to heaven
after settling all matters of life in the universe.
The verse clearly said a day that "was" and not a day that "is", which clearly indicates that that day was in the past (50,000 years ago).
2) "…a day relative to your God is equivalent to a thousand years of your count." 22:47
With a few simple equations:
If 1 day (for God) = 1000 years (for man)
1 year (for God) = 1000 x 365 (for man)
= 365,000 years
50,000 years (for God) = 365,000 x 50,000 (for man)
= 18.25 billion!
The 50,000 years
mentioned in verse 1 are meant to be of God's years and not of man. This
is because man was not mentioned at all in that verse, and more
importantly because the subject of the verse (creation of the universe)
is obviously a matter executed by God and not by man and, so, its
description must also be as related to God and not to man.
This becomes evident
when we compare this verse to other verses that clearly speak of years
as related to man's count, like the verse:
"…on a day, the measure of which was a thousand years of your count." 32:5
There are Two videos which can help you more understand about how the universe created from Islam perspective
0 comments:
Post a Comment