Islam and Science

CHAPTER – I

DISCOVERIES IN NATURE & EARTH
(i) Creation of the Universe 



The formation of the universe is described in the Quran in the following verse:

“He is the Originator of the heavens and

the earth.”
(6:101)

The information given in the Quran is in full agreement with the findings of modern science. The conclusion that astrophysics has reached today is that the entire universe was created as a result of great explosion that occurred in no time. This event, known as “The Big Bang” proved that the entire universe was created from nothingness as a result of the explosion of a single point. Modern scientists agree that the Big Bang is the only rational and plausible explanation of the beginning and how the universe came into being. Before the Big Bang, there was no such thing as matter. So, we come to the conclusion that matter, time, and energy were created and didn’t exist since infinite.

“Then turned He to the heaven when it was smoke,
and said unto it and unto the earth: Come both
of you, willingly or not. They said: We come,
obedient.” (The Quran, 41:11)

Didn’t the Quran say that the Heaven was smoke before its creation? Modern science has every reason to maintain that the universe was formed from a gaseous mass principally composed of hydrogen and a certain amount of helium that was slowly rotating. We, therefore, see no contradiction in the Quranic use of the Arabic word “dukhan” (translated smoke) and a modern interpretation of that word as “a gaseous mass with fine particles” when speaking of the formation of the universe.


“Have they not who disbelieve seen that the heavens and earth were joined together (as one piece), then We parted them.” (21:30)

The Quran describes the phenomenon of the creation of the universe by using two specific words:
“rataq” translated as: mixed in each ; blended.

“fataqa” is the verb in Arabic and implies that something comes into being by tearing apart or destroying the structure of “rataq”.

As the earth and the heavens above (the sun, the moon, stars, planets, galaxies, etc.) have been formed from this same ‘smoke’, we conclude that the earth and the heavens were once a connected entity. Then out of this homogenous ‘smoke’, they evolved into different forms and separated from each other.

Hence, the verse reveals that the heavens and earth at the beginning were joined together, and that subsequently they were separated. Recent advance-ments in astronomy especially the Big Bang theory of the creation of the universe corroborate with this statement in the Quran. The Big Bang theory holds that about 20,000,000,000 (twenty billion) years ago the universe began with an explosive expansion of a single extremely condensed state of matter. This is what the Quran states in this verse: “the heavens and earth were joined together”. The Noble prize for Science in 1977 was awarded for this discovery.



These facts, only recently discovered by modern science, were disclosed in the Quran 1,400 years ago.