Amal Al-Sibai

Saudi Gazette

 

A true follower of any religion should use all faculties that he/she possesses to find the truth of our existence, of the universe, of our ultimate destination, and of the Supreme God. All aspects of what makes us human should be utilized and one part should not outweigh the other: mind, intellect, reason, intuition, the heart, feelings, faith, and soul-searching all come into play to shape the belief of a Muslim.



Faith in the unseen is essential, but that is not enough. The teachings of Islam encourage people to think and reflect.



When we turn to science, we are re-discovering many scientific truths that were uncovered in the Holy Book, the Qur’an; marvels of the universe that could only have been known by the One who created the universe, by God.



The Big Bang theory was not formulated by scientists until around the year 1927, yet it was mentioned in the Holy Qur’an and told by Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) at a time when it would have been impossible for him to know, unless it was truly revealed to him by God.



The key idea behind the Big Bang theory is that the universe began as a single point, a dense, small, high-pressure, and extremely hot mass. Then, in a single, violent explosion, known as the Big Bang, the universe was born.



Skeptics may be surprised that the Big Bang theory was actually mentioned in the Holy Qur’an, but it was; in the following verse; {Have not those who disbelieve known that the heavens and the earth were joined together as one united piece, then We parted them?} (Chapter 21, verse 30)



An equally astounding marvel about our universe that was told in the Holy Qur’an centuries ago but only discovered by Edwin Hubble in 1929 is that the universe is still expanding, at enormous speed. Hubble noted that the galaxies outside our Milky Way galaxy were all moving away from us, each at a speed proportional to its distance from us. As the universe expanded, it got cooler.



God revealed in the Holy Qur’an, {And the heaven We constructed with strength, and indeed, We are [its] expander.} (Chapter 51, verse 47).

The notion that the edges of the universe have expanded after the initial Big Bang and continue to expand was revolutionary. This amazing phenomenon proven by scientists in the late 1920s had already been known to Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) through the Noble Qur’an, centuries before any sort of telescope was invented.



Without advancement in science, technology, and telescopes, and by looking with the naked eye from the deserts of Arabia so many years ago, at the bright stars, the sun, and other heavenly bodies, no man or woman could have guessed that the sun, stars, and planets were formed from gases and dust. However, this amazing fact is also stated in the Holy Qur’an.



In Chapter 41, verse 11, God tells mankind that from a cloud of smoke which is gas, the heavenly bodies came into formation, {Then He istawa (rose over) towards the heaven when it was smoke, and said to it and to the Earth, ‘Come both you willingly or unwillingly,’ they both said, ‘We come willingly.’}



Astronomer James Webb explains, “Although stars have been the main topic of astronomy for thousands of years, we have begun to understand them in detail only in recent times through the advent of powerful telescopes and computers. A hundred years ago, scientists did not know that stars are powered by nuclear fusion, and 50 years ago they did not know that stars are continually forming in the universe.



Researchers still do not know the details of how clouds of gas and dust collapse to form stars, or why most stars form in groups, or exactly how planetary systems form.



A miracle that was referred to in the Holy Qur’an was confirmed by modern satellite imagery, which shows a fissure or schism in the moon.



When disbelievers challenged Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) and asked him for an extraordinary sign from God so that they could believe in him and follow him, the moon split in front of their eyes and fused back together.



Muslims believe in this miracle because they were informed about it in the Qur’an: {The Hour drew near and the moon was split.} (Chapter 54, verse 1)

 

The split in the moon has been coined a linear rille, which was photographed by the Apollo 10 crew in 1969 during their historic approach to about 14 kilometers above the surface of the moon. Two months later, Apollo 11 landed on the moon and they gained much more knowledge, and their investigations revealed that this rille or split was deep down in the inner parts of the moon, and not just on the surface.



What caused such a deep rille in the moon? Scientists are still uncertain but Muslims believe that it is evidence that the moon was indeed split during the Prophet’s time. Regardless of the cause of the lunar rille, it is still a scientific marvel referred to in the Holy Qur’an, and hundreds of years later, satellites showed that such lunar rilles do exist.



The seemingly never ending vastness of the universe and everything that is floating in it never ceases to amaze scientists, astronomers, and the lay person, no matter what their religious background is.



Some scientific facts about our beautiful universe are absolutely mind-boggling. The universe could not have been formed without a Supreme, All-Knowing, All-Powerful Creator.



The speed of light is the fastest speed on Earth; light is so fast that it travels around the Earth 14 times per second.



Keep the speed of light in mind, and now think about the vastness of the universe. It would take light 13.8 billion years to travel from one end of the universe to the other, from its beginning to end; that is only one example of the Greatness of God.