Islam and Science [Archive]

FatimaAsSideqah

03-15-2006, 02:36 PM

:sl: Sisters and Brothers

Do the unbelievers not realize that the heavens and the earth used to be one solid mass that we exploded into existence? And from water we made all living things. Would they believe?
The Qur'an 21:30

He created seven universes in layers. You do not see any imperfection in the creation by the Most Gracious. Keep looking; do you see any flaw? Look again and again; your eyes will come back stumped and conquered.
The Qur'an 67:34

God's ultimate power and the atom concept
You do not get into any situation, nor do you recite any Qur'an, nor do you do anything, without us being witnesses thereof as you do it. Not even an atom's weight is out of your Lord's control, be it in the heavens or the earth. Nor is there anything smaller than an atom, or larger, that is not recorded in a profound record.
The Qur'an 10/61

Geological Fact
When you look at the mountains, you think that they are standing still. But they are moving, like the clouds. Such is the manufacture of GOD, Who perfected everything. He is fully Cognizant of everything you do.
The Qur'an 27:88

The creation of human beings
(The first revelation - The Embryo)
Read in the name of your Sustainer, Who has created man out of a germ-cell!Read, for your Sustainer is the most Bountiful One, Who has taught man the use of the pen, taught man what he did not know ! Nay, verily, man becomes grossly overweening whenever he believes himself to be self-sufficient: for, behold, unto your Sustainer all must return.
The Qur'an 96/1-8

Statements referring to human reproduction and development are scattered throughout the Qur'an. It is only recently that the scientific meaning of some of these verses has been appreciated fully. The long delay in interpreting these verses correctly resulted mainly from inaccurate translations and commentaries and from a lack of awareness of scientific knowledge.

Interest in explanations of the verses of the Qur'an is not new. People used to ask the prophet Muhammad all sorts of questions about the meaning of verses referring to human reproduction. The Apostle's answers form the basis of the Hadith literature.

The translations of the verses from the Qur'an which are interpreted in this paper were provided by Sheik Abdul Majid Zendani, a Professor of Islamic Studies in King Abdulaziz University in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

"He makes you in the wombs of your mothers in stages, one after another, in three veils of darkness."

This statement is from Sura 39:6. We do not know when it was realized that human beings underwent development in the uterus (womb), but the first known illustration of a fetus in the uterus was drawn by Leonardo da Vinci in the 15th century. In the 2nd century A.D., Galen described the placenta and fetal membranes in his book "On The Formation of the Foetus." Consequently, doctors in the 7th century A.D. likely knew that the human embryo developed in the uterus. It is unlikely that they knew that it developed in stages, even though Aristotle had described the stages of development of the chick embryo in the 4th century B.C. The realization that the human embryo develops in stages was not discussed and illustrated until the 15th century.

After the microscope was discovered in the 17th century by Leeuwenhoek descriptions were made of the early stages of the chick embryo. The staging of human embryos was not described until the 20th century. Streeter (1941) developed the first system of staging which has now been replaced by a more accurate system proposed by O'Rahilly (1972).

The Future Of The Universe
It is not known if the universe will expand forever, or if one day it will begin to contract. In either case, the future of all the inhabitants of the universe could be rather bleak. If the expansion continues, after billions of years, all the energy of the sun and stars will be exhausted and every living thing will freeze to death. Eventually, only the expanding emptiness will remain. Alternatively if there is enough mass in the universe, gravity will one day stop the expansion and then contraction will begin. A contracting universe would ultimately end in a very hot and compressed state called "The Big Crunch." This would also destroy all life forms, as we know them.

Besides the above two depressing and purposeless scenarios of the future, there is an another possibility. Some physicists feel that time may reverse when the universe begins contracting. This prospect has a striking resemblance to the Quranic description of the Day of Judgment.

The Future Of The Universe As Described In The Qur'an
Now, let us turn our attention to the verses in the Quran that describe the beginning, the expansion and eventually the contraction of the universe. There is marked similarity between the Quranic revelation and recent discoveries in cosmology. The Quranic verses however, go far beyond modern cosmology in describing the future of the universe. The Quran gives us insight into laws of the universe that are yet to be discovered the laws of the contracting universe.

The Big Bang
The universe came into existence billions of years ago with a tremendous explosion called "The big bang." This is clearly mentioned in the Quran in the following verses:
Chapter: 21, Verse: 30

Have not "those who disbelieve" known heavens and earth were of one piece,
We parted them and, We made every living thing of water
Will they not then believe?

The discovery of "The Big Bang" and that of "The aquatic origin of life" was made by the non-Muslims, ("those who disbelieve"). When the universe began all matter and space (heavens) was at one point
(one piece). Then everything was separated in what the physicists describe as "The big bang." The evidence that the universe began in the "The big bang" is so overwhelming that it is now considered a fact and not just a theory.

The Expansion Of The Universe
The Universe has been expanding since its creation. Hubbell, an astronomer made this great discovery,
in the early part of this century. It was also predicted by Einstein's theory of "General Relativity."
The expansion of the universe is clearly mentioned in the following Quranic verses:
Chapter: 51, Verse: 47

The heavens, We have built with power and, We are expanding it.

The Expansion Of The Universe
AND THE REVERSAL OF TIME
Time is one of the most elusive mysteries of the universe. No one knows what time really is. Albert Einstein explained time by saying that time is something that we measure with the clock. Time passes slowly within objects moving at speeds close to that of light and stops altogether at the speed of light. Time also slows near massive objects like earth, sun, very dense stars called the neutron stars, and almost stops inside the super massive stars "the black holes." Time has a direction, it always moves towards the future. We see rain falling from the sky, objects breaking up, people getting older, and people dying. We do not see a glass becoming "unbroken" or anyone returning from the dead. That could happen only if time ran backwards. Some physicists like Michael Berry, Thomas Gold, and Steven Hawking have proposed that time may reverse when the universe begins to contract. Verses in the Quran suggest that one day the universe will start contracting and this will coincide with beginning of the Day of Judgment and reversal of time.

WILL WE NOT REGRESS TO NOTHINGNESS WITH THE REVERSAL OF TIME?
To an inquiring mind, it may occur that the time reversal may raise us from the graves. What will happen then? Will we continue to grow younger, pass through our childhood and regress into nothingness in our mother’s wombs? This is also what time reversal theories say, again a purposeless exercise. Well not quite so! The thought of the great and final earthquake may instill fear into our hearts, but the real purpose is to make the higher dimensions accessible for escape from the collapsing universe. Allah has designed the universe with great precision. After the resurrection, arrangements have been made, to escape the unrelenting effect of time reversal, to beyond this universe. To understand how that will happen we need to grasp the concept of higher dimensions and black holes in space.

WHEN WILL THE DAY OF JUDGMENT ARRIVE?
Chapter: 33, Verse: 63

Men ask you of the Hour. Say the knowledge of it is with Allah only.
What can convey to you that may be the Hour is near. Chapter: 29, Verse: 53

They bid you to hasten on the doom.
And if a term had not been appointed,
The doom would have definitely come on them.
And it will come upon them suddenly
When they perceive not.

It seems that if we knew the rate at which the expansion of the universe is slowing, then we should be able to predict when the Day of Judgment will begin. If time is related to the expansion of space, we cannot observe the slowing of the expansion. As an example, consider a car with its clock connected to its wheels in a way that the speed of time would depend on the speed of the car. If the car slowed-down the clock will also run slowly and speed of the car if calculated, using the slowed clock would always appear the same. Similarly as the expansion of the universe slows, our time and our motion also slows, therefore the rate of expansion will appear the same. Paradoxically the expansion in the far-reaches of the universe which depends on the increase of total intervening space may even seem to be faster when measurements are made with our slower time.
Chapter: 53, Verses: 57, 58, 59

The threatened hour is near.None beside Allah can disclose it
Are you surprised then at this statement?
Even the most advanced civilization in the universe would always observe that the universe is expanding at the same steady rate or even faster then with what it started. This means, that the beginning of the Day of Judgment cannot be predicted. Only Allah, who is independent of time, knows of the real timing of the Day of Judgment.

:w: :sister:

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