A team of physicists has claimed that our view of the early Universe may contain the signature of a time before the Big Bang. The discovery comes from studying the cosmic microwave background (CMB), light emitted when the Universe was just 400,000 years old. Their model may help explain why we experience time moving in a straight line from yesterday into tomorrow.
Details of the work have been submitted to the journal Physical Review Letters. The CMB is relic radiation that fills the entire Universe and is regarded as the most conclusive evidence for the Big Bang. Although this microwave background is mostly smooth, the Cobe satellite in 1992 discovered small fluctuations that were believed to be the seeds from which the galaxy clusters we see in today's Universe grew.
Dr Adrienne Erickcek, and colleagues from the California Institute for Technology (Caltech), now believes these fluctuations contain hints that our Universe "bubbled off" from a previous one. Their data comes from Nasa's Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP), which has been studying the CMB since its launch in 2001. Their model suggests that new universes could be created spontaneously from apparently empty space. From inside the parent universe, the event would be surprisingly unspectacular.
Arrow of time
Describing the team's work at a meeting of the American Astronomical Society (AAS) in St Louis, Missouri, co-author Professor Sean Carroll explained that "a universe could form inside this room and we’d never know". The inspiration for their theory isn't just an explanation for the Big Bang our Universe experienced 13.7 billion years ago, but lies in an attempt to explain one of the largest mysteries in physics - why time seems to move in one direction. The laws that govern physics on a microscopic scale are completely reversible, and yet, as Professor Carroll commented, "no one gets confused about which is yesterday and which is tomorrow". Physicists have long blamed this one-way movement, known as the "arrow of time" on a physical rule known as the second law of thermodynamics, which insists that systems move over time from order to disorder.
This rule is so fundamental to physics that pioneering astronomer Arthur Eddington insisted that "if your theory is found to be against the second law of thermodynamics I can give you no hope; there is nothing for it but to collapse in deepest humiliation". The second law cannot be escaped, but Professor Carroll pointed out that it depends on a major assumption - that the Universe began its life in an ordered state. This makes understanding the roots of this most fundamental of laws a job for cosmologists. "Every time you break an egg or spill a glass of water you're learning about the Big Bang," Professor Carroll explained.
Before the bang
In his presentation, the Caltech astronomer explained that by creating a Big Bang from the cold space of a previous universe, the new universe begins its life in just such an ordered state. The apparent direction of time - and the fact that it's hard to put a broken egg back together - is the consequence. Much work remains to be done on the theory: the researchers' first priority will be to calculate the odds of a new universe appearing from a previous one.
In the meantime, the team have turned to the results from WMAP.
Detailed measurements made by the satellite have shown that the fluctuations in the microwave background are about 10% stronger on one side of the sky than those on the other. Sean Carroll conceded that this might just be a coincidence, but pointed out that a natural explanation for this discrepancy would be if it represented a structure inherited from our universe's parent.
Meanwhile, Professor Carroll urged cosmologists to broaden their horizons: "We're trained to say there was no time before the Big Bang, when we should say that we don't know whether there was anything - or if there was, what it was." If the Caltech team's work is correct, we may already have the first information about what came before our own Universe.
Indeed.. Time is an attribute of God.. Time before the big bang makes perfect sense!
Thanks for the article.. I enjoyed it.. it affirms my beliefs!
cheers
Kitaab At-Tawheed, Chapter: 43
Whoever Curses Time Wrongs Allah
Allah (swt ), says:
" And they say: "There is nothing but our life in this world: We die and we live and nothing destroys us except time." And they have no knowledge of it, they only conjecture" (Qur'an 45:24)
Allah (swt ), Most Glorified, Most High, informs us in this verse about the disbelieving dahris1 from among the Arabs and others, who do not believe in any life, save the life of this world, nor in the Rabb and Creator, Allah (swt ), Most High. They believe that nothing causes death except the passage of time. Then Allah (swt ), Most Glorified, Most High, refutes their claims, saying that they have absolutely no evidence for what they claim, but instead, depend upon surmise and their own vain opinions.
Benefits Derived From This Verse
1. That attributing good or evil to the passage of time is a sign of atheism.
2. Confirmation of a life after death for mankind.
3. That ad-dahr (time) is not one of Allah's Names.
Relevance of This Verse to the Subject of the Chapter
That the verse rejects those who attribute events to time, for they commit a great wrong against Allah (swt ).
Relevance of This Verse to the Subject of Tawheed
That it rejects those who attribute events to time, because in so doing, they are ascribing a partner to Allah (swt ), for it is He, Alone Who decrees what will be and what will not be.
..ooOOoo..
It is authentically reported on the authority of Abu Hurairah (ra ) that the Prophet (saas ) said: "Allah (swt ), Most Blessed, Most High, says: "The son of Adam wrongs Me: He curses time, though I am time: In My Hands are all things and I cause the night to follow the day." 2 In another narration, He (saas ) says: "Do not curse time, for verily, time is Allah (swt )."
Allah (swt ), Most Glorified, Most High informs us in this Hadith Qudsi, that man commits a great wrong against Allah (swt ) when he curses time and attributes the occurrence of events to it, for Allah (swt ) is the Rabb of time and the Disposer of affairs and it is by His Qadr that events take place. Therefore to curse time is to curse the Owner of time.
In the second narration, the Prophet (saas ) forbids us from cursing time, saying that Allah (swt ) is the Owner of time and the Disposer of it and all events and affairs, and this is confirmation of what was reported in the preceding Hadith Qudsi.
Benefits Derived From This Hadith
1. The forbiddance of cursing time.
2. That no actions may be attributed to time.
Relevance of This Hadith to the Subject of the Chapter
That it proves that to curse time is to commit a great wrong against Allah (swt ).
Relevance of This Hadith to the Subject of Tawheed
That the Hadith proves that cursing time is a great wrong against Allah (swt ), because those who do so believe that it is time which causes events to take place and this is shirk in Tawheed Ar-Ruboobiyyah, for it is Allah (swt ), Alone Who determines events.
Footnotes
1. Dahris: An atheistic sect among the Arabs, their views are widely held in the West today: There is no God, no Resurrection, no punishment, no reward etc., etc.
2. Narrated by Bukhari.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by PurestAmbrosia
indeed.. that is why in Islam we are forbidden from cursing time, (La tasbbo azaman)
" And they say: "There is nothing but our life in this world: We die and we live and nothing destroys us except time." And they have no knowledge of it, they only conjecture" (Qur'an 45:24)
It is authentically reported on the authority of Abu Hurairah (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Prophet (peace be upon him) said: "Allah, Most Blessed, Most High, says: "The son of Adam wrongs Me: He curses time, though I am time: In My Hands are all things and I cause the night to follow the day." 2 In another narration, He (peace be upon him) says: "Do not curse time, for verily, time is Allah Most Blessed, Most High."
[Sahih Al Bukhari]
Kitaab Al Tawhid
Text without context is pretext If your opponent is of choleric temperament, seek to irritate him
It's an interesting article since "Time" can be removed from the bing bang theory altogether, which places "time" as a physical law onto very dodgy ground.
Same too for the big bang theory which has big problems at the moment.
The horrors of theories gone awry.. Good thing Islam is infrangible in its convictions...
whether theories have difficulties that need to be resolved or not.. Islam will stand the test of 'Time'
Last edited by جوري; 06-09-2008 at 09:56 PM.
Text without context is pretext If your opponent is of choleric temperament, seek to irritate him
This reminds me of 7 universes mentioned in Quran one inside the other successively.
It is not Al-Birr (piety, righteousness, and obedience to Allâh, etc.) that you turn your faces towards east and (or) west (in prayers); but Al-Birr is (the quality of) the one who believes in Allâh, the Last Day, the Angels, the Book, the Prophets and gives his wealth, in spite of love for it, to the kinsfolk, to the orphans, and to Al-Masâkîn (the poor), and to the wayfarer, and to those who ask, and to set slaves free, performs As-Salât, and gives the Zakât, and keep their word whenever they make a promise, and who are patient in extreme poverty and ailment (disease) and at the time of persecution, hardship, and war. Such are the people of the truth and they are Al-Muttaqûn (the pious).
Wait, I'm confused, which things in the Quran does this confirm?
it is a Hadith as well as a verse as you can see referenced above, Time being an attribute of Allah SWT.. which scientists are hypothesizing was there before the 'big bang'!
Text without context is pretext If your opponent is of choleric temperament, seek to irritate him
it is a Hadith as well as a verse as you can see referenced above, Time being an attribute of Allah SWT.. which scientists are hypothesizing was there before the 'big bang'!
But Allah is free of time, you mean time is a creation of Allah?
It is authentically reported on the authority of Abu Hurairah (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Prophet (peace be upon him) said: "Allah, Most Blessed, Most High, says: "The son of Adam wrongs Me: He curses time, though I am time: In My Hands are all things and I cause the night to follow the day." 2 In another narration, He (peace be upon him) says: "Do not curse time, for verily, time is Allah Most Blessed, Most High."
but isn't one of his names, as I had mentioned earlier.. I apologize that was an error on my part ..
Allah knows best...
Text without context is pretext If your opponent is of choleric temperament, seek to irritate him
Putting books to practice is how we become lawyers, physicians, engineers, pharmacists, historians, computers programmers and even idealogues.. it is how we grow into city states, countries, civilized societies and communities.. It is also how we preserve knowledge and secure the past and future aren't lost, that learning, reasoning as well as all facets of our known universe persist to all future generations, it is how we truly evolve as a specie.....
When we cease to consider books that have stood the test of time for what they are and truly worth.. we are left powerless and ignorant, mouthing off some mindless drivel of our own caprice and really no different than animals...
Text without context is pretext If your opponent is of choleric temperament, seek to irritate him
When we cease to consider books that have stood the test of time for what they are and truly worth.. we are left powerless and ignorant, mouthing off some mindless drivel of our own caprice and really no different than animals...
We are no different from animals apart from rather more impressive cognitive powers and a never-ending impulse to destroy whatever we come into contact with in the vain hope of making ourselves happier, be it ourselves, other species, or whatever.
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