New discoveries in the universe reveal that
Qur’an is from God
Dr Magd Abdel Wahab
In the name of Allah, the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful.
‘Allâh! Lâ ilâha illa Huwa (none has the right to be worshipped but He), the Ever Living, the One Who sustains and protects all that exists. Neither slumber, nor sleep overtake Him. To Him belongs whatever is in the heavens and whatever is on earth. Who is he that can intercede with Him except with His Permission? He knows what happens to them (His creatures) in this world, and what will happen to them in the Hereafter And they will never compass anything of His Knowledge except that which He wills. His Kursî[] extends over the heavens and the earth, and He feels no fatigue in guarding and preserving them. And He is the Most High, the Most Great.’ 2 Al-Baqarah 255
This book should not be considered as Tafseer (explanation of the holly Qur’an). It is only intended to show how great are the creations of Allah SWT and proves that Qur’an is the truth from the great creator of the universe. May Allah SWT forgive me for any mistake and reward me only for my intention.
Preface
In the name of Allah, the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful.
This book is intended for non-Muslims who are looking for the truth. It is also intended for Muslims who want to increase their faith. The book provides evidences that Qur’an verses are the words of God, Allah Almighty, by refereeing to the new discoveries in our extremely huge universe. It also shows that the greatness of the creations of the Earth and heavens is an indication for the greatness of the creator, Allah Almighty.
The use of new technology in astronomy, in the 20th century, has enabled us to explorer the universe. Scientists are now able to identify the origin of the universe and its current situation, and to predict its end. These topics are explained, in this book, from scientific point of view and compared with what stated in the holy Qur’an that have been sent down by Allah Almighty to the prophet Mohamed peace upon him, 1400 years ago. And indeed as Allah Almighty said:
The creation of the heavens and the earth is indeed greater than
the creation of mankind, yet most of mankind know not.
40
Ghâfir 57
Other Astronomical phenomena, such as the life and death of stars, are explained in the remaining chapters. In addition, a view on the possibility of life on other Earth-like planets is given from a scientific and Qur’anic point of view.
Content
Preface ………………………………………………………………………………………………………2
Content ………………………………………………………………………………………………………3
1- The creation of the universe ………………………………………………………………………………4
2- Expansion of the universe …………………………………………………………………………………8
3- The end of the universe ……………………………………………………………………………………9
4- The Distance of the Stars …………………………………………………………………………………….12
5- The Slowing of the Earth’s Rotation …………………………………………………………………………………14
6- The Reversal of the Earth’s Rotation ……………………………………………………………………….16
7- The death of the Sun ………………………………………………………………………………….…..18
8- The Death of the Stars …………………………………………………………………………………………20
9- The Joining of the Sun and Moon …………………………………………………………………………24
10- The Asteroid Belt ………………………………………………………………………………..26
11-The Shrinking of the Earth ………………………………………………………………………………….28
12- The Voice of stars ……………………………………………………………………………………………30
13- The Darkness of Space ……………………………………………………………………………..32
14- The Lack of Air in Space ………………………………………………………………………………..34
15- The Primal Nebula ………………………………………………………………………………...35
16- The Galaxial Orbit of the Sun …………………………………………………………………………………………...37
17- The Float of Earth, Sun and Moon …………………………………………………………………………...38
18- The Appointment of Night and Day ………………………………………………………………………………..41
19- The Continental Drift ……………………………………………………………………………………...44
20. Meteor Showers ……………………………………………………………………………..47
21. The Creation of Time ……………………………………………………………………………………..50
22. Life on other Earth-like planets ………………………………………………………………………….53
Bibliography …………………………………………………………………………………………………62
1- The creation of the universe
Allah Almighty said:
Have not those who disbelieve known that the heavens and the Earth were joined together as one united piece, then We parted them? And We have made from water every living thing. Will they not then believe?
21 Al-Anbiyâ’ 30
The advanced technology in astronomy during the last century
had enabled us to explore the universe and identify its origin. Our universe consists
of billions of galaxies that are disks of stars in the celestial sphere. Each
galaxy contains billions of stars. The celestial sphere was defined by early
astronomers as a complete imaginary sphere encircling the Earth as shown in
Figure 1. Its poles are aligned with the poles of the
Earth. The north celestial pole and the
south celestial pole are the north and south poles extended into
space. The celestial equator
lies in the same plane as the Earth's equator, but at a much greater
radius. The horizon lies in a horizontal plane and changes according to the
position on the Earth.
Our Sun belongs to the Milky Way galaxy that was
observed by Galileo in 1609 using his well know telescope. The Milky Way galaxy
is an enormous spiral disk and contains about 200 billion stars, as shown in
Figure 2. It takes light 100 000 years to traverse the Milky Way Galaxy. In
1924, Edwin Hubble had explored other galaxies in the universe. He found that a
sphere of a radius 1.2 billion light years contained 24 million galaxies. A
light year is a unit of distance and is equivalent to 5.86 million million
miles (5.86
1012 miles).
It is calculated as the distance that light travels in one year. As the
speed of light is 186 000 miles per second, thus the light-year is 186 000
miles/sec 
60 sec/min 
60 min/hr 
24 hr/day 
365 days/yr. It is a
convenient distance unit, used by astronomers, to describe the huge distances
between stars and galaxies. Hubble estimated the average diameter of a galaxy
as 30 000 light years (i.e. 30 000
5.86
1012 miles= 175.8
1015 miles) and the distance between galaxies as
10 million light years (i.e. 10 000 000 
5.86H1012 miles= 5.86
1019 miles).
In 1929, Edwin Hubble found that all galaxies are
moving away from us with a speed directly proportional to their distance. His
well known equation is simply written as: V=K
R, where V is the galaxy speed in miles per second, R is the
distance between us and the galaxy in million light years and K is a constant that
was determined as 20 miles/sec per million light years. The highest speed of stars in a galaxy
moving away from us was found as 100 000 miles per second (a distance of 5
billion light years away from us). Although Hubble equation assumes that the
expansion is at a constant rate, this assumption is not perfectly true as the
expansion is decelerating due to the presence of matter in the universe.
However, this deceleration is assumed to be small and is ignored.
Figure
1: The celestial sphere
Figure 2: Our Milky Way galaxy is a spiral galaxy
Hubble ‘s observation was based on the Doppler shift
in the light spectrum of a galaxy. The Doppler shift was originally defined by
Christian Doppler in 1842 as the change in light wavelength due to a moving
light source. Doppler used the similarity in wavelength between a moving source
of sound (train for instance) and a moving source of light to calculate the
change in wavelength as 
, where 
is the light wave
length, V is the velocity of the light source and C is the speed
of light. Using Newton’s observation for light, the wavelength 
can be
detremined, then the velocity V can be calculated from Dopppler’s
equation. It has been demonstrated by Newton in 1666 that when the white Sun
light shine on a glass prism (Figure 3a), the light is spread into a rainbow
light with the red color bent the least and the violet color bent the
most. The complete light spectrum is
shown in Figure 3b. Newton proved through analysing the wave length of the colors
that the light coming from the Sun for instance (white light) is a mix of all
colors. The red color has the longest wavelength while the blue one the
shortest. Doppler used Newton’s observation to show that if the source of light
is moving away from us the rainbow is shifted towards the red end of the
spectrum, while if it is moving tomwards us the rainbow is shifted towards the
blue end. Thus, the change in Doppler shift can tell us not only the speed of a
star relative to the Earth but also whether this start is moving towards or
away from us.
As mentioned earlier Hubble found that allmost all galaxies were moving away from the Earth. However it is understood that the speed of a galaxy is measured relative to our Milk Way galaxy and not an absolute speed. Thus, it is not necessary that our galaxy is at the center of the universe because an observer in another galaxy would see our Milky Way galaxy moving away from him. According to Hubble law (velocity is directely propotional to distance as shown in Figure 4), if the motion of all glaxaxies are traced back in time, it can be shown that they were together 10 billion years ago. It follows that 10 billion years ago the universe was one piece and then separated by explosion. This is the Big-Bang theory that scientists discovered in the 20th century. And it is exactly what Allah Almighty described more than 1400 years ago: ‘the heavens and the Earth were joined together as one united piece, then We parted them?’
(a)
(b)
Figure 3: (a) Sun light passes through a prism, (b) Light spectrum
Figure 4: Demonstration of Hubble ‘s law and the Big-Bang theory
2- The Expansion of the Universe
Allah Almighty said:
With power did We construct the heaven. Verily, We are Able to extend the vastness of space thereof.
51
Az-Zâriyât 47
From the
evidence provided by Hubble as discussed in the previous section, it is clear
that the universe is expanding and is continuing to expand. Scientists had
described this expansion as similar to blowing a balloon as shown in Figure 5.
Galaxies are moving away from each other’s with tremendous speed approaching
sometimes the speed of light. Some scientists believe that they might be moving
with a speed higher than the speed of light.
As far as we know in our world, according to Einstein ‘s theory of
relativity, human being cannot exceed the speed of light; otherwise he will
burn and be transformed to energy (Energy=m 
C2, where m is the mass
and C is the speed of light). Only angels and devils can travel with a speed
larger than the speed of light. It is believed then that we will never be able
to reach the edge of the universe as it is not possible to have a spacecraft
with a speed higher then the most far away galaxy. Also from the fact that the
universe is expanding, it follows that the universe does not have a border that
we can reach. From the moment of the creation of the universe, 10 billion years
ago, until now the universe is expanding. The expansion of the universe have
been just discovered recently, in the 20th century after the work of
Newton, Doppler and Hubble, however Allah Almighty told us this fact some 1400
years ago. The verse above ‘With power did We construct
the heaven. Verily, We are Able to extend the vastness of space thereof.’ can
only be told by the creator of the universe. Who else can know this fact at
that time?
Figure 5: Expansion of the universe is like blowing a balloon
3- The End of the Universe
Allah Almighty said:
And (remember) the Day when We shall roll up the heavens like a scroll rolled up for books, as We began the first creation, We shall repeat it, (it is) a promise binding upon Us. Truly, We shall do it.
21 Al-Anbiyâ’ 104
The expansion of the universe is a result of the initial explosion explained by the interpretation of the Big Bang theory. Most of the astronomers believe that the expansion rate is decelerating (closed universe), i.e. the speed of galaxies is much less now than when the universe is created 10 billion years ago. Other astronomers believe that the expansion rate is accelerating and does not contain enough mass and gravity to slow the expansion (open universe). Figure 6 shows a comparison between an open and a closed universe. A third group of astronomers believe that the universe has a critical density and is balanced between the ‘open’ and the ‘closed’ universe. However, it is easy to understand that if the universe is acceleration, this acceleration cannot go on to infinity.
The only forces acting on an object in the universe (a star or a
galaxy) are the explosion force (Fex) acting outwards and the
gravity force (Fg) acting inwards. The explosion force is a function
of time (measured from the moment of the explosion) and can be due to the
initial explosion of the universe and might also be due to others on going
explosions that take place in the creation of new stars, e.g. explosion of
supernova, while the gravity force is a function of distance between two stars
or galaxies. Newton’s second law tells us that the sum of the forces is equal
to the mass, m, times the acceleration, a, (thus Fex
–Fg=m
a). If the explosion force is larger than the gravity
force, the universe is accelerating (a is positive), while if the
gravity force is larger than the explosion force the universe is decelerating (a
is negative). However, if the universe is accelerating at the moment, it can
decelerate in future as the explosion force is diminishing with time. Now, what
will be the consequence of a decelerating universe, as the majority of
astronomers believe? After a certain
time, the outwards force due to the explosion will be equivalent to the inwards
force due to gravity and the universe will stop expanding. Then, as the explosion
force becomes weaker, the gravity force will dominate and the galaxies and
stars start to attract each other, changing direction from outwards to inwards
as shown in Figure 6b (close universe), until the whole universe becomes one
unit similar to that at the beginning of the creation. This theory is called
the Big Crunch theory that have been realised very recently and approved by
most scientists. Whether the universe
is now accelerating or decelerating, there is no doubt that the explosion force
is decreasing until the resultant force changes its direction and becomes
inwards and thus the Big Crunch theory will be a straight forwards result.
Figure 6: Open universe and closed universe
The Big Crunch theory, which have just been discovered by scientist in the 20th century, agrees very well with the Qur’an in describing the end of the universe, ‘And (remember) the Day when We shall roll up the heavens like a scroll rolled up for books, as We began the first creation, We shall repeat it’. In this verse, there is a strong indication to the relationship between the beginning of the creation and its end. This relationship can also be understood from the consistency between the Big Bang theory and the Big Crunch theory (expansion in the Big Bang theory and shrinkage in the Big Crunch theory). The verse also indicates that by the willing of Allah Almighty, after gathering the universe in one unit, the creation will be repeated again, new explosion, new Earth and new heavens. This agrees with the imagination of the scientists in the 20th century.
Another verse that describes the end of the universe, is given below in which Allah Almighty indicates that on the day of rising the Earth will be grasped by his hand and the heavens will be rolled up in his right hand. Of coarse the expression of ‘right hand’ is figurative as the figure of Allah Almighty is beyond our imagination.
Allah Almighty said:
They made not a just estimate of Allah such as is due to Him. And
on the Day of Resurrection the whole of the Earth will be grasped by His Hand
and the heavens will be rolled up in His Right Hand. Glorified is He, and High
is He above all that they associate as partners with Him!
39 Az-Zumar 67
So if you would like to know how great is Allah Almighty, the great creator, just imagine these billions of galaxies and billions of stars that are away from each other by millions of light years (millions millions of miles), all of these will roll up and will be in the right hand of Allah Almighty on the day of resurrection.
4- The Distance of the Stars
Allah Almighty said:
So I swear by Mawâqi (setting or the mansions, etc.) of the stars (they traverse).
And verily, that is indeed a great oath, if you but know.
56
Al-Wâqi’ah 75-76
As
astronomers are able now to measure the distances between us and stars using
the Doppler shift, they concluded that we don’t actually see the stars, but we
rather see the places of the stars. The
Sun that is the nearest star to us is a distance of about 93.2 million miles
from the Earth. When the light is travelling at its speed, 186 000 miles/sec, it reaches us after 8.3 minutes. The
second nearest star to us, after the Sun, is called Alpha Centauri (Figure 7),
is at a distance of 25.97 million million miles (4.4 light years). The light
that reaches us now from Alpha Centauri left the star 4.4 years ago. So, we
don’t actually see the star as it is today but as it was 4.4 years ago. During
that period the star has moved (expanded) away from us by a large distance.
Thus, what we now see is not Alpha Centauri but the place of Alpha Centauri 4.4
years ago.
For a star
in a galaxy far from us by 5000 million light years, the light coming to us
from this star takes 5000 million years to reach us. During this period, the
star has travelled a huge distance estimated by about 650 million million
miles. It might even die and no more exist. Thus, we actually see the light of
a place of the star that has been there long time ago. In the verse above,
Allah Almighty swear by the places of the stars and not the stars themselves,
as it is indeed a great oath, if we know.
It is just in the 20th century that we learned about the
places of the stars, but it the Qur’an told us about it more than 1400 years
ago.
Figure 7: Alpha Centauri, the closest star system to the Earth - light takes 4.4 years to reach us
5- The Slowing of the Earth’s Rotation
Allah Almighty said:
Indeed your Lord is Allah, Who created the heavens and the Earth in Six Days, and then He Istawâ (rose over) the Throne (really in a manner that suits His Majesty). He brings the night as a cover over the day, seeking it rapidly, and (He created) the Sun, the Moon, the stars subjected to His Command. Surely, His is the Creation and Commandment. Blessed be Allah, the Lord of the ‘Alamîn (mankind, jinns and all that exists)!
7
Al-A’râf 54
The
succession of the night and the day is due to the rotation of the Earth about its
axis as shown in Figure 8. The fist experiment to prove that the Earth is
rotating was done by Jean Foucault, in 1851, who used a long pendulum, a long
cord suspended from the dome of a building and have a metal ball at the other
end. He showed that the swing direction of the pendulum had gradually changed
due to the Earth rotation. Nowadays, man has seen how Earth rotates through the
photographs taken by spacecrafts and satellites. The half of the Earth exposed
to the Sun is in daytime while the other half is night as shown Figure 9.
Immediately after the creation of the Earth, 4.6 billion years ago, the
succession of the night and the day was very fast as said by Allah Almighty in
the above verse. It follows that the rotation of the Earth about its axis at
that time was much faster than now as can be understood from the expression ‘seeking it rapidly’. Recently, scientists discovered that our Earth
is decelerating by an average of 0.002 sec every 100 years, i.e. the length of
the day increases. There are many reasons for this deceleration, such as
friction of the tides on the ocean bottom, transportation of matters in rivers,
wind in the opposite direction of the Earth rotation and elevation and
subsidence of the ocean bottom. The change in the Earth rotational velocity was
first detected by comparing the time where eclipses or occultation’s occur with
the theoretical time and the motions of the Moon and planets with their
theoretical motions. Although this deceleration is very tiny, it does affect
the length of the day. If we trace this deceleration back in time to when the
Earth is created, we can easily show that the day was only 4 hours, 3.6 billion
years ago. The rotation of the Earth started to decelerate gradually until the
length of the day became 22 hours after 3.24 billion years. Now, as we all
know, it is about 24 hours. It is worth mentioning that this is the only place
in the Qur’an where the word ‘rapidly’ is mentioned after ‘the night as a cover over the day’, which comes
immediately after the description of Allah Almighty of the creation of the
heavens and the Earth.
Figure 8: The succession of the night and the day is due to the Earth rotation about its axis
Figure 9: Day and night on Earth
6- The Reversal of the Earth’s Rotation
Allah Almighty said:
Have you not looked at him who disputed with Ibrâhim (Abraham) about his Lord (Allah), because Allah had given him the kingdom? When Ibrâhim (Abraham) said (to him): “My Lord (Allah) is He Who gives life and causes death.” He said, “I give life and cause death.” Ibrâhim (Abraham) said, “Verily! Allah causes the Sun to rise from the east; then cause it you to rise from the west.” So the disbeliever was utterly defeated. And Allah guides not the people, who are Zâlimûn (wrong-doers, etc.).
2 Al-Baqarah 258
Also, the prophet,
Mohamed, peace upon him said: ‘By the day of rising, the Sun will rise from the
west’.
The Earth is rotating
now about its axis from west to east so that the Sun appears rising from the
east and setting from the west. In addition to the regular deceleration
mentioned in the previous section, observations during the last few centuries
indicated that there are some irregular changes that can occur from time to
time. In the period from 1785 to 1899, an increase of 1 minute in the day
length was observed. Although these irregular changes can be increase or
decrease in day length, it does give an indication of the possibility of the
Earth to slow down faster than it would be expected. Due to the regular deceleration
of the Earth rotation, scientists are predicting that the length of the day
will be longer in future and will become 43 hours after 5 billion years. At a
certain moment the Earth will stop rotating and then will start to rotate in
the opposite direction, i.e. from east to west so that the Sun will rise from
the west and will set from the east.
Thus, the new science in the 20th century is prediction what
the prophet, Mohamed, peace upon him said 1400 years ago. And Indeed as Allah
Almighty said:
Nor does he (Mohamed peace upon him) speak of (his own) desire.
It is only an Inspiration that is inspired.
53 An-Najm 3-4
An example from our
solar system that shows the possibility of a Sun rise from west is Venus, which
is called the Earth’s twin sister due to the similarity in size, weight and
cloudy weather. Venus, shown in Figure 10, is rotating clockwise (from east to
west) so that Sun rises from west and sets from east. Another example is their
youngest brother, Pluto (Figure 11), which shows behaviour similar to
Venus. So Sun rising from west is a
fact for some planets in our solar system and will take place for Earth in
future, if Allah will, as told by the prophet peace upon him and also predicted
by science in the 20th century.
Figure 10: Venus, Earth’ sister,
rotates clockwise so that Sun rises from west and sets from east
Figure 11: Pluto,
Earth’s youngest brother, rotates clockwise so that Sun rises from west and
sets from east
7- The death of the Sun
Allah Almighty said:
When the Sun Kuwwirat (wound round and lost its light and is overthrown).
81 At-Takwîr 1
The Sun is, like
other stars, a sphere of gas held together by gravity. In the central core of
the sun, hydrogen is converted to helium through nuclear reactions and thus
producing energy. The energy reaches the photosphere (sphere of light) at the
sun surface. This stage is called the
main sequence stage of a star, shown in Figure 12. Astronomers estimated the
period of the main sequence star for the sun as about 15 billion years. From Earth’s
oldest rocks they found that the Sun was shining with the same luminosity 4
billion years ago. In the main sequence stage, the temperature of the sun
surface is about 6000
and the luminosity is represented by 1 sun (luminosity 1
refers to the current Sun luminosity) and its colour is yellow. When the
hydrogen is all converted to helium, the nuclear reaction will stop and no more
energy will be produced. The Sun is no more in the main sequence stage.
By the end of the main
sequence stage, energy is generated by a different process. The helium core
shrinks and release energy by contraction. The core becomes much hotter and
produces larger amounts of energy that flow outward. The outer layer is then
expanded and the star becomes much larger. Thus, the surface temperature
decreases to 3000
(energy flows over a lager surface) and the star changes its
colour to red. The luminosity becomes too high up to 1000 sun. At this stage,
the star is called Red Giant as shown in Figure 13. Although at the Red Giant
stage the Sun would not yet completely die, scientists predicted that life on
earth would gone and the whole solar system would collapse. The photosphere of
the Red Giant will have a huge diameter and will definitely reach Mercury and
Venus and probably the Earth. The temperature of the earth will be too high so
that the oceans will boil away.
The contraction of
the Sun in the Red Giant Stage is very precisely described in the above verse,
‘When the Sun is overthrown’. How can Mohamed peace upon him
knew 14 centuries ago that the Sun will be overthrown, unless he has been told
by the creator, Allah Almighty, who knew every thing about his creations.
Moreover, there are other events in the Sun Red Giant stage, which have been
mentioned in other versus in the Qur’an in describing the day of rising. For
example, the luminosity of the Red Giant (1000 sun) will be very high so that
the sight will be dazed and brightened as mentioned by Allah Almighty:
So, when the sight shall be dazed,
75 Al-Qiyâmah 7-9
The boiling of seas
and oceans, when the Red Giant photosphere get closer to the Earth, is another
sign of the day of rising as Allah Almighty said:
And when the seas shall become as blazing Fire or shall overflow;
81 At-Takwîr 6
In another verse, Allah Almighty said:
And when the seas are burst forth (got dried up);
82 Al-Infitâr 3
Figure 12: The Sun –
Main sequence stage Figure
13: Red Giant
8- The Death of the Stars
Allah Almighty said:
Then when the stars lose their lights.
77 Al-Mursalât 8
A star would behave
slightly different depending on its mass. For a Sun-like star, up to 1.5 times
Sun mass (2
1030 kg), the next stage
after the main sequence stage will be the Red Giant stage as described in the
previous section. However, if the star has a mass larger than 1.5 times Sun
mass, its next stage is called the Red Supergiant. The large stars are
classified into Huge stars, between 1.5 and 3 times Sun mass, and Giant stars,
more than 3 times Sun mass. Both star types will be in the Red Supergiant stage
after contraction of the star core. The contraction of the core continues until
the helium starts to change by nuclear reactions into heavy materials. The
photosphere of the Red Giant shrinks into its original size but the star
luminosity is not changed because of the energy produced by helium nuclear
reactions. The surface temperature is higher as the photosphere becomes
smaller. Thus, due to the nuclear reaction, the star becomes smaller and
denser. The star at this stage is called Nova if it was a Sun-like star or
Supernova if it was a Huge or Giant star (a very massive star). A Nova and a
Supernova are shown in Figures 14 and 15, respectively.
For Sun-like stars, the
Nova star explodes and blows off its outer layer leaving only its dense core.
It becomes very dense, up to 140 000 the density of water, and it is called at
this stage White Dwarf (Figure 16). White dwarfs have very high surface
temperature, about 25 000 
(about 4 times our
Sun temperature) and low luminosity, 0.01 sun. The core of a White Dwarf is
very small as there are no more hydrogen or helium to produce energy by nuclear
reaction. It starts to cool off slowly and thus the luminosity decreases. At a
certain stage, the White Dwarf will not shine anymore and becomes a black
dwarf. Life cycle for a Sun-like star, as recently discovered by astronomers
using new technologies such as telescope, satellites, space craft and so on, is
shown in Figure 17.
The expression given in the verse, ‘Then when the stars lose their lights’, is a very precise description to what will happen to the star when it becomes a black dwarf (effaced and not seen). Who would know this fact 1400 years ago except the great creator, Allah Almighty?
Figure 14: Nova
Figure
15: Supernova
Figure
16: White dwarf
Figure
17: Life cycle for Sun-like stars
The life cycle of a Huge
or Giant star after the Red Giant stage is quite similar to that of the
Sun-like star. However, the core of a
Supernova collapses by a massive short-lived explosion blowing away the star’s
outer layers. Then, it contracts tremendously and becomes a so-called black
hole (Figure 18) for a Giant star and Neutron star for a Huge star. Figure 19
shows the cycle life of a Huge or Giant star. In a black hole, the material is
incredibly dense, no known material is that dense. At this stage, the star will
have a very high gravity (infinite) so that it becomes the centre of a galaxy
around which other stars and planets revolve. The escape velocity in a black
hole is equivalent to the speed of light so that the light cannot escape. The
black hole is another proof for the truth of Allah Almighty words ‘Then when the stars lose their lights’.
Figure 18: A black
hole candidate
Figure 19: Life
cycle for Huge and Giant stars
There are many other
verses in the Qur’an that describes the different stages of star life. The
collapse of a star, as shown earlier from a Nova to White Dwarf or from a
Supernova to Black hole, is mentioned by Allah Almighty:
And when the stars shall fall;
81 At-Takwîr 2
When a Nova or
Supernova blows off its outer layers, the explosion looks like a red painted
rose. Figure 20 shows an explosion of a star taken by the Hubble telescope,
which is known as the Cat’s Eye Nebula. This is also described in the Qur’an by
Allah Almighty:
Then when the heaven is rent asun der, and it becomes rosy or red
like red-oil, or red hide.
55
Ar-Rahmân 37
Figure
20: Cat’s Eye Nebula – The explosion of the star makes the heaven rosy
9- The Joining of the Sun and Moon
Allah Almighty said:
So, when the sight shall be dazed,
And the Moon will be eclipsed,
And the Sun and Moon will be joined together.
75 Al-Qiyâmah 7-9
At the beginning of
the creation, the Earth and Moon were in close contact and rapid rotation.
According to Darwin, they were one body and then separated. He proposed that
this separation took place at the part of the Earth covered now by the Pacific
Ocean. The separation increased until the two bodies reached their present
position. The Earth and Moon system is shown in Figure 21. The average distance
between the Earth and Moon at the moment is about 248 600 miles. Recent
measurements showed that the separation process is still going on and the Moon
is moving away from the Earth by 3 cm every year. Astronomers are expecting
that this process will continue until the Moon at some stage will be in the
high gravitational field of the Sun. Thus the attraction force will be too high
so that the Sun and Moon (Figure 22) will be joined together and become one
unit. This can also be explained through Newton’s law, i.e. the attraction
force (F) is proportional to the inverse of the square of the distance between
the two bodies ®, i.e. F 
1/R2. As
the distance between the Sun and the Moon decreases, the attraction force will
increase with a much higher amount. Thus, gathering the Sun and Moon is now a
scientific fact, but has been mentioned by Allah Almighty in the holly Qur’an
more than 1400 years ago.
The expression ‘And the Moon will be eclipsed’ that comes before ‘And the Sun and
Moon will be joined together’ is an indication to that prior to joining the Sun
and Moon, the Moon will be eclipsed (dimmed). This can be understood from the
fact that the distance between the Earth and Moon increases so that the light
reflected from the Moon becomes gradually weaker until it will be dimed.
Figure
21: The Earth and Moon – Moon is moving away by 3 cm every year
Figure 22: Moon and Sun during a total
phase solar eclipse
10- The Asteroid Belt
Allah Almighty said:
And when the planets have fallen and scattered.
82 Al-Infitâr 2
Johann Titius in 1766 found a relationship between the distances of the six planets, known at that time, and the Sun. He took the numbers 0, 3, 6, 12, 24, 48 and 96, added 4 to each and divided by 10. The distances of the planets calculated using Titius’ progression are compared to the actual distances (relative to the Earth/Sun distance, i.e. 93.2 millions miles) as shown in table 1. The blank planet at 2.8 has attracted astronomers, especially Johann Bode, director of the Berlin observatory, in 1772. He appointed a group of 24 astronomers to look for the missing planet between Mars and Jupiter. Not until 1801, a very small planet was found at 2.8. By 1807, two more minor planets were found. Now, they are estimated as 40 000 minor planets revolving around the Sun in different periods varied between 2 to 12 years. It is known as the asteroid belt. Examples of asteroid planets are shown in Figure 23. Some of these minor planets escape from its orbit and collided with the Earth at some stage. We see them as shooting stars or meteor across the sky. The majority of the minor planets have a diameter of about a mile. Few have a diameter of 100 miles or more and a few hundred have a diameter between 25 and 100 miles. It is believed that asteroid belt formed from the break up of one planet. The light variations measured for many of the minor planets indicates their irregular shapes. This suggests that they are explosion fragments and they have been nicked by collisions. The asteroid belt is an example of dispersion of planets. It also demonstrates that difference between stars, which can be effaced, and planets, which can be dispersed. This is a fact that was discovered in the 20th century, while it was mentioned by Allah Almighty 14 centuries ago.
Table 1: Titius’s progression
|
Planet |
Titus’
progression |
Actual
distance |
|
Mercury |
0.4 |
0.387 |
|
Venus |
0.7 |
0.723 |
|
Earth |
1.0 |
1.0 |
|
Mars |
1.6 |
1.524 |
|
? |
2.8 |
? |
|
Jupiter |
5.2 |
5.203 |
|
Saturn |
10 |
9.539 |
Figure 23: Asteroid planets
11-The Shrinking of the Earth
Allah Almighty said:
See they not that We gradually reduce the land from its outlying
borders. And Allah judges, there is none to put back His Judgement and He is
Swift at reckoning.
13 Ar-Ra’d 41
The Earth is
approximately spherical in shape. This was understood from the appearance of
ships coming in from sea, the masts and sails are seen first before the hull.
Nowadays, after the advances in the space technology, pictures of the Earth
taken by spacecrafts make no doubt about the Earth shape as shown in Figure 24.
Very recently, scientists discovered that our Earth is shrinking continuously.
This is due to volcano’s that exit a huge amount of gas, liquid and solid
matters, estimated by millions of tones every year. In the beginning of the
creation of Earth, 4.6 billion years ago, the
volume of the Earth was 200 times its present volume and volcano’s were very
active. Since that time, the Earth has been shrinked and its size has been
reduced until it reached its present size. Thus, the outer layer of the Earth
has been reduced and will continue being reduced as long as volcanos are active
(Figure 25). This fact was told by Allah Almighty 1400 years ago, ‘We gradually reduce the land from its outlying borders’.
Figure 24: Earth is spherical in shape
Figure 25: Volcano’s lead to reducing the Earth size
12- The Voice of Stars
Allah Almighty said:
By the heaven, and At-Târiq (the night-comer, i.e. the bright star);
And what will make you to know what At-Târiq (night-comer) is?
(It is) the star of piercing brightness;
86 At-Târiq 1-3
Stars, as mentioned earlier, pass through several stages during their lives. In a stage between the white dwarf and black hole, scientists found that a star can be in a neutron stage. In a neutron star, most of the matter is in the form of neutrons. These neutrons give high (loud) pulses that can be heard using a radio telescope (Figure 26). A neutron star that is called Vela pulsar is shown in Figure 27. The low pulses sound like pulse heart and the louder pulses sound exactly like some one knock at a door (night comer). Knocking at a door is the exact translation of the Arabic word mentioned in the verse ‘At-Târiq’. The pulses of neutron stars have been recorded on CD’s in NASA. And indeed as Allah Almighty said:
We will show them Our Signs in the universe, and in their own selves, until it becomes manifest to them that this (the Qur'ân) is the truth. Is it not sufficient in regard to your Lord that He is a Witness over all things?
41 Fussilat 53
Figure 26: Jodrell Bank Radio Telescope
Figure 27: Neutron star- Vela pulsar
13- The Darkness of Space
Allah Almighty said:
And even if We opened to them a gate from the heaven and they were to continue ascending thereto,
They would surely say: “Our eyes have been (as if) dazzled. Nay, we are a people bewitched.”
15 Al-Hijr 14-15
If you look at the
heaven in a sunny day, you will see it blue but in fact it isn’t. When
astronauts started to mount the space, they discovered that the light layer
surrounding the Earth was only 124 miles thick. At an altitude above 124 miles,
the heaven is completely dark. The lower thin atmospheric layer, which contains
the oxygen and protects us from the killing ultraviolet and other Sun light
waves, is about 18.6 miles. The colour of light through the thick layer (124
miles) changes gradually starting from Earth side, until it becomes completely
dark at the end of the layer as shown in Figure 28. In 1961, the first mankind in space, Yuri
Gagarin,
saw the universe from outside the atmospheric layer. When he saw the darkness
in the heaven, he said ‘ I can’t believe it, the Sun is shining but the heaven
is so black, it is abnormal, our Earth is floating in a dark heaven. The heaven is black but we see it blue
because of the atmospheric layer.
One of the American astronauts, when he saw the darkness of the universe, said: ‘I have almost lost my eye sight, or some thing magic has come over me’. Although, he was not a Muslim and he had never read the Qur’an, he was saying the exact meaning of the verse above:’ Our eyes have been (as if) dazzled. Nay, we are a people bewitched’. In the first part of the verse, there is an indication for ascending to the heaven in a zigzag line (the Arabic meaning of yarogun). Nowadays, in the 20th century, it is a well know fact that any body of energy, including spacecrafts, cannot ascent to the heaven in a straight line but they have to mount in a zigzag shape line because of the gravity forces.
Figure 28:
Atmospheric layer without which we would live in a complete darkness
The possibility for mankind to ascent to the heaven was mentioned in
another verse by Allah Almighty:
O assembly of jinns and men! If you have power to pass beyond the zones of the heavens and the Earth, then pass (them)! But you will never be able to pass them, except with authority (from Allah)!
55 Ar-Rahmân 33
14- The Lack of Air in Space
Allah Almighty said:
And whomsoever Allah wills to guide, He opens his breast to Islâm, and whomsoever He wills to send astray, He makes his breast closed and constricted, as if he is climbing up to the sky. Thus Allah puts the wrath on those who believe not.
6 Al-An’âm 125
Before 200 years ago,
people thought that the Earth atmosphere is infinite in the space. Just in
1804, when the first flight balloon ascended to the heaven, man discovered that
the atmospheric pressure reduced to half at 3.1 miles, to ¼ at 6.2 miles and
about 1% at 18.6 miles. Recently, scientists showed that a human being without
a space suit at a height of 4.6 miles would die immediately due to the lack of
oxygen and the high reduction in atmospheric pressure. Therefore, astronauts
put on a space suit (Figure 29), which has adjustable atmospheric pressure and
carry an oxygen cylinder on their back in order to survive in space. The words
‘his breast closed and constricted’ describe exactly
what would happen to a mankind without oxygen. The verse describes this fact
clearly. How can the prophet Mohamed peace upon him know that 1400 years ago?
And why should he go through it at that time? He should be told by the great
creator, who knows, that man would discover this fact at some stage. It is
intended to be the big sign for us to believe that Qur’an is the word of Allah
Almighty.
Figure
29: A space suit without which man can have a constricted breast
15- The Primal Nebula
Allah Almighty said:
Then He Istawâ (rose over) towards the heaven when it was smoke, and said to it and to the Earth: “Come both of you willingly or unwillingly.” They both said: “We come, willingly.”
41 Fussilat 11
Stars do not begin their lives in the main sequence stage having nuclear reaction in their cores. Astronomers believe that a birth process would take place, in which gaseous materials get together in individual spheres with high temperature and pressure in the star core. This stage is called Nebula, which is a thinner cloud of gas. An example of a nebula is shown in Figure 30, N44C emission Nebula, which belongs to the Large Megellanic Cloud galaxy (a neighbouring galaxy to our Milky Way galaxy). The picture was taking by Hubble Telescope shown in Figure 31. A stage just before stars starting to form, large Nebula’s, having large clouds of gas, absorb and reemit the light of the nearby stars. They have dark edges and irregular dark patches. They are clouds of dust like particles and look like clouds of smoke. Astronomers believed that the explosion at the beginning of the universe, the Big Bang theory, was accompanied with a cloud of smoke, from which galaxies, stars and solar systems formed. This primary Nebula is believed to be the origin of the universe. It is a strong proof of the words of Allah Almighty as can be seen from the above verse ‘the heaven when it was smoke’.
Figure 30: N44C Nebula
Figure 31: Hubble space telescope
16- The Galaxial Orbit of the Sun
Allah Almighty said:
And the Sun runs on its fixed course for a term (appointed). That is the Decree of the All-Mighty, the All-Knowing.
36 YâSîn 38
In the beginning of the
20th century, astronomers have studied the radial velocity of stars
in our Milky Way galaxy that contains 200 billions stars banded together
through gravity in an enormous spiral disk. They discovered that our solar
system is not at the centre of the galaxy. They also found that all stars are
revolving around the centre of the galaxy somewhere away from us. They observed
stars away from us moving radial with large velocity in one direction and with
lower velocity in the opposite direction. At a certain distance from us, the
velocity of a star will be approach zero; this is where the centre of our
galaxy is. Our position in the galaxy
was estimated as three-fifths of the way from the centre as indicated by the
arrow in Figure 32. Consequently the radial speed of the Sun was found to be
200 miles per second. We don’t feel this huge speed on Earth because we are
running, together with the whole solar system, with the Sun with the same
speed. The Sun is also expanding, away from the origin of the universe, like
other stars. The word ‘runs’ in the above verse is a precise description of
both motion of the Sun, radial and expansion. It has been used by Allah
Almighty more the 1400 years ago to describe the motion of the Sun. Who else
than the great creator, can know that fact at that time?
Figure
32: The Milky Way galaxy - the arrow indicates the position of our Sun
17- Float of Earth, Sun and Moon
Allah Almighty said:
And He it is Who has created the night and the day, and the Sun and the Moon, each in an orbit floating
21 Al-Anbiyâ’ 33
In addition to the motions described in the previous section, i.e. revolving around the centre of the galaxy and expanding away from the centre of the universe, the Sun is rotating about its own axis. The early observation of Galileo in 1610 showed that the Sun has sunspots, as shown in Figure 33, that appear as dark points in the bright Sun surface. Galileo observed the Sunspots for several months and saw that they moved in a regular way and disappeared. This indicated that the Sun must have been rotating about its own axis.
Figure 33: Sunspots
The Earth is in a several motion as well, expanding and moving with the Sun, revolving about the Sun and rotating about its axis as mentioned earlier. The first experiment to proof that the Earth is rotating was due to the French physicist, Jean Foucault in 1851, who use s long pendulum (70m) suspended in the dome of a building. He found the pendulum changed its direction of swing and concluded that the Earth must be rotating. Nowadays, with the advance in the space technology, there is no doubt about the Earth motions. People have seen by their eyes how the Sun lights half of the Earth while the opposite half is in complete darkness (Figure 9, section 5). They have also seen that the Earth is rotating, while the source of light, the Sun, is fixed (relative to the Earth), thus day and night are interchanged in the different locations on Earth. In the above verse, the creation of the night and the day refers to the creation of the Earth and its rotation, as they are mentioned together with the Sun and the Moon and described as floating in an orbit. The Earth is also revolving around the Sun causing the change in the seasons in a year. The position of the Earth relative to Sun is different in summer that in winter as observed by astronomers.
Turning to the Moon, the Earth’ son, and the Sun’s grand son, is revolving with the Earth around the Sun, with the Sun around the centre of the Milky Way galaxy and expanding with the galaxy. The Moon completes a circle around the Earth in 29.53 days and rotates around its axis in about the same period. These incredible precise designed motions of Sun, Earth and Moon (Figure 34) could not be designed without a great creator. Indeed they float each in an orbit as said by Allah Almighty in the above verse. The word ‘float’ is the best to describe all these motions of the Sun, Earth and Moon. When, the prophet, peace upon him, said this 1400 years ago, he wasn’t saying his own words but the words of the great creator, Allah Almighty. And indeed as Allah Almighty said:
Nor does he speak of (his own) desire.
It is only an Inspiration that is inspired.
53 An-Najm 3-4
Other verses that describe the floating of Sun, Earth and Moon are:
It is not for the sun to overtake the moon, nor does the night
outstrip the day. They all float, each in an orbit.
36 YâSîn 40
Figure 34: The
mother, Sun, the daughter, Earth and the Grand son, Moon float each in its
orbit - ‘So blessed be Allah, the Best of
creators’ 23 Al-Mu’minûn 14
18- The Appointment of Night and Day
Allah Almighty said:
Say (O Mohamed SAW): “Tell me! If Allah made night continuous for you till the Day of Resurrection, who is an ilâh (a god) besides Allah who could bring you light? Will you not then hear?”
Say (O Mohamed peace upon him): “Tell me! If Allah made day continuous for you till the Day of Resurrection, who is an ilâh (a god) besides Allah who could bring you night wherein you rest? Will you not then see?”
It is out of His Mercy that He has put for you night and day, that you may rest therein (i.e. during the night) and that you may seek of His Bounty (i.e. during the day), and in order that you may be grateful.
28 Al-Qasas 71-73
Is it possible to
have a night that ever lasts or a day that ever lasts? How can this happen? We
know that day and night are a result from the rotation of the Earth around its
axis. The Earth axis is almost perpendicular to the orbital plane as shown in
Figure 35a. If this axis were in the same plane as the orbital plane (Figure
35b), what would happen? Uranus provides an answer to this question and a real
example for such a situation. In 1781, Wilhelm Herschel discovered Uranus. Only
recently, in the 20th century, new pictures and information for
Uranus were made available through the spacecraft Voyager 2 in 1986. The axis
of rotation of Uranus is not like other planet, perpendicular to the orbital
plane, but rather parallel to it as shown in Figure 35b. This results in that
Uranus South pole side is always night while Uranus North pole side is always
day (sunny) as shown in Figure 36. Life in such a situation would be impossible
not only because a part of the planet would be much hotter that the opposite
part but also because human being could not survive in all day or all night
life. We need to sleep at night and we need to go to work in the morning. Now,
we can understand that it is a grace of Allah Almighty to appoint for us night
and day, shouldn’t we be thankful?
(a)
(b)
Figure 35: (a) Sun
and Earth, axis of rotation is almost perpendicular to orbital plane, (b) Sun and
Uranus, axis of rotation is in the same plane as the orbital plane.
Figure
36: Uranus is an example of having a day that ever lasts, left picture, and
having a night that ever lasts, right picture.
Indeed the alteration of night and day is a sign for us to know that there is a creator, as mentioned by Allah Almighty:
Verily! In the creation of the heavens and the earth, and in the alternation of night and day, there are indeed signs for men of understanding.
3 Âl-'Imrân 190
19- The Continental Drift
Allah Almighty said:
And after that He spread the Earth;
And brought forth therefrom its water and its pasture;
79 An-Nazi’ât 30-31
Many million years
ago, our six continents were joined together in a large continent, which had
broken up into and separated. This is what the modern theory of Drifting Continents
tells us. This theory was first proposed by Alfred Wegener in 1912 and is
illustrated in Figure 37. According to the Drifting theory, 200 million years
ago, all continents were in the form of a super continent. Then they started to
separate until they reached the current stage shown in Figure 38. If you look
carefully at the Earth map (Figure 38), you will find that the eastern part of
South America and the western part of Africa can fit together like in jigsaw
puzzle. Same observation can be made to the eastern part of North America and
the western part of Europe. Moreover, a lot of similarities between flora and
mountains in both sides of the ocean were found. Nowadays, this theory is
considered as a fact. There are evidences that the oceanic crust could move and
continents could float. Modern theory on continental plates, known as plate
tectonics, indicates that the separation is still going on by a few centimetres
a year. The expression ‘He spread the Earth’ in the
above verse coincides precisely with the theory of Drifting Continents. This
fact could be only told, 1400 years ago, by some one who knows the past and the
present of the earth, thus no one else but the great creator Allah Almighty.
Modern sciences have
proven that water and gas came out the volcanoes and still coming out until
now. Although this process is still acting until now, volcanoes were very
active in the beginning of the creation so that the complete water layer, gas
and atmospheric layer came out. This is how seas, oceans and rivers have been
formed. This fact was also told by Allah Almighty in the second verse above ‘And brought forth therefrom its water and its pasture’.
(a)
(b)
(c)
Figure 37: Drifting
Continents theory (a) Earth 220 million years ago, (b) Earth 100 million years
ago and (c) Earth 50 million years ago
Figure
38: Earth map
20. Meteor Showers
Allah Almighty said:
And we have sought to reach the heaven; but found it filled with
stern guards and flaming fires.
72
Al-Jinn 8
Meteors or shooting stars, as mentioned before, can be seen across the sky when minor planets collide with the Earth. They can also be produced through comets, which are enormous snowballs of frozen gases with little solid materials. Several thousands of shooting stars can be seen each night, most of them are small and burn up completely in the atmosphere. On some dates each year, when a comet comes close to the Sun, a huge number of meteors, which are called meteor showers (Figure 39), are seen in the sky. About 25 meteors hit the Earth each year making sometimes a large crater as shown in Figure 40. Every meteor shower orbit is identical to an identified comet orbit. The most famous comet is Halley’s comet shown in Figure 41, which passes near the Earth twice a year and provides the so-called May and October showers. When it is close to the Sun, a comet tail start (Figure 42) to develop due to the glowing gazes and snow evaporates leaving solid materials such as gravel and sand forming meteors. Fortunately, it does not stay long close to the Sun but has to move away in its orbit. It comes back after few years or may be after hundreds or thousands years, depending on its period.
A spectacular meteor shower took place in November 1833, where about 200 000 shooting stars have been seen in the sky. People thought at that time that it was the end of the world. Recently, astronomers started to gather information about the speed and the orbit of meteors before they hit the Earth. In normal days, where no comet is close to the Sun, they observed thousands of meteors each night over the whole Earth. And indeed the heaven is filled with flaming fires. In another verse, Allah Almighty mentioned the possibility of sending meteors against the disbelievers:
There will be sent against you both, smokeless flames of fire and (molten) brass, and you will not be able to defend yourselves.
55 Ar-Rahmân 35
The most meteors burned up in the atmospheric layer that protects us from serious collisions. For example, the Moon has a much thinner atmospheric layer than the earth and therefore meteors hit it more. The surface of the Moon showed a large number of craters as shown in Figure 43. Thus, the atmospheric layer is like a roof that protect us from the heaven fires or as Allah Almighty said:
And We have made the heaven a roof, safe and well guarded. Yet
they turn away from its signs (i.e. sun, moon, winds, clouds, etc.).
21
Al-Anbiyâ' 32
Figure 39: Meteor shower
Figure 40: Meteor Crater in Arizona
Figure 41: Halley’s comet
Figure 42: Comet tail
Figure 43: Moon craters - The thin atmospheric layer of the Moon doesn’t protect it from meteors
21. The creation of time
Allah Almighty said:
And they ask you to hasten on the torment! And Allah fails not His
Promise. And verily, a day with your Lord is as a thousand years of what you
reckon.
22 Al-Hajj 47
The place and the time are related to one another. The 24 hours that we count during a day represents the period of rotation of the Earth around its axis. The year of 365 days is one revolution of the Earth around the Sun. other planets in our solar system (Figure 44) has different period of rotation (day) and period of revolution around the Sun (year). Table 2 summarises these data for the different planets. In general, the closer the planet to the Sun, the longer its day and the shorter its year. However, there are some exceptional cases like the period of rotation of Venus for instance.
Table 2: Day and year in other planets in out solar system
|
Planet |
Mean Distance |
Diameter |
Period To |
Rotational |
|
Mercury |
0.387 |
0.38 |
88.0 days |
58.65 days |
|
Venus |
0.723 |
0.95 |
224.7 days |
-243 days |
|
Earth |
1.0 |
1.0 |
365.25 days |
23 hrs 56
mins |
|
Mars |
1.524 |
0.53 |
687.0 days |
24 hrs 37
mins |
|
Jupiter |
5.204 |
10.97 |
11.75 years |
9 hrs 55 mins |
|
Saturn |
9.582 |
9.14 |
29.5 years |
10 hrs 40
mins |
|
Uranus |
19.201 |
3.98 |
84 years |
-17.24 hours |
|
Neptune |
30.047 |
3.87 |
165 years |
16.11 hours |
|
Pluto |
39.236 |
0.19 |
248 years |
-6.38 days |
Thus, if there is no place, there will be no time. The creation of place and time is therefore very related. Once the Earth would go, when the Sun would die and the solar system would collapse as expected by scientists and as explained earlier in section 7, there would be no time. This may help us to understand the endless life after death as promised by Allah Almighty:
'Adn (Edn) Paradise (everlasting Gardens), under which rivers
flow, wherein they will abide forever: such is the reward of those who purify
themselves [(by abstaining from all kinds of sins and evil deeds) which Allah
has forbidden and by doing all that which Allah has ordained)].
20 TâHâ 76
The relativity of our time to that after death has been described in
different verses in the Qur’an. Allah Almighty said about the day of rising:
The Day they see it, (it will be) as if they had not tarried (in this world) except an afternoon or a morning.
79 An-Nazi'ât 46
And also, Allah Almighty said:
And on the Day that the Hour will be established, the Mujrimûn (criminals,
disbelievers, polytheists, sinners, etc.) will swear that they stayed not but
an hour, thus were they ever deluded [away from the truth (i.e. they used to
tell lies and take false oaths, and turn away from the truth) in this life of
the world)].
30 ArRûm 55
Figure 44: The solar system family – Earth, her sisters and brothers
22. Life on other Earth-like planets
Allah Almighty said:
It is Allah Who has created seven heavens and of the Earth the like thereof (i.e. seven). His Command descends between them (heavens and Earth), that you may know that Allah has power over all things, and that Allah surrounds (comprehends) all things in (His) Knowledge.
65
At-Talâq 12
And also said:
And to Allah prostrate all that is in the heavens and all that is in the Earth, of the live moving creatures and the angels, and they are not proud [i.e. they worship their Lord (Allah) with humility].
16
An-Nahl 49
The creation of life and death is very similar to the creation of the universe indicating the uniqueness of the creator. A human being is born and goes through different stages in his life, infancy, youth, oldish and finally death. Similarly, a star is born through Nebula and goes through the different stages, as mentioned earlier, main sequence, red giant, supernova, white dwarf and finally death in the form of a black hole. Even the whole universe has its birth, life and death as demonstrated through the Big Bang theory, expansion of the universe and the Big Crunch theory (sections 1 to 3). The universe was born through the initial explosion, goes through the expansion stage, which we live it now, and finally die through gravity and becomes one unit again. It is therefore logic to admit that the creator of all these life/death systems is capable to create life on other planets. Allah Almighty said:
Is not He, Who created the heavens and the earth Able to create
the like of them? Yes, indeed! He is the All-Knowing Supreme Creator.
36 YâSîn 81
The incredible design of the Earth atmospheric layer, size and
motion shows that it is created to suit mankind. The earth was separated from
the Sun 4.6 billion years ago and started to cool down. After one billion
years, the atmospheric layer and the water layer started to come out through
the highly active volcanoes. Water is very essential for life (Figure 45) and
without which there won’t be any creature in Earth. When mankind started to
look for life in other planets in our solar system, the first question was
whether there was water or not. It yes, then life is possible but if no there
is no chance for life to start. And indeed as Allah Almighty said:
Have not those who disbelieve known that the heavens and the earth
were joined together as one united piece, then We parted them? And We have made
from water every living thing. Will they not then believe?
21 Al-Anbiyâ' 30
Figure 45: Water is the secret of life
The possibility of life in other planet in our solar system has been
a question by scientists in the 20th century. Are the conditions for
life available in other planets in our solar system? As discussed above life
needs water, which should be in a temperature between 
and 
, i.e. in its liquid state. The only two planets that might
have a variation of these range of temperatures, are Venus and Mars, shown in
Figure 46. They are the two closest planets to our Earth. Venus is somewhat
similar to the Earth, almost same diameter, 80% of Earth mass, 90% of Earth
density and 67.4 million miles away from the Sun. However, the average surface
temperature of Venus is 
, which is too high for water to stay in its liquid state.
The atmospheric pressure on Venus is 100 times that on Earth, which is dangerous
not only for mankind but also for the spacecrafts landing on its surface.
Therefore life on Venus is almost impossible.
Turning to the red planet, Mars, its diameter is 1/7 of Earth
diameter, density 90 % of Earth density, mass 10% of Earth mass and at a
distance of 142 million miles from the Sun. As it is so far from the Sun, Mars
surface temperature is about 
, which is too cold for human being and for water in liquid
state. Recent pictures taken for Mars surface showed that its surface is much
more rough than the surface of the Earth. There is some evidence of water ice
at Mars poles. However, they cannot be in a liquid state as the temperature
varies between 
and 
. Also, Mars atmospheric layer is very thin, which is not
suitable for mankind because it doesn’t protect Mars surface from the dangerous
ultra violet Sun rays as our lovely atmospheric layer does. Thus, there are no
aliens or creatures on Mars. However, at the moment, man is trying to create
life conditions on Mars by melting Mars poles and planting its surface. Whether
we will be successful or not, the main question is, why should we leave our
Earth and go to live in Mars? Do we feel unconformable on Earth? Or do we feel
unsafe? Do we try to escape if a comet would collide with Earth for instance or if
the Sun photosphere would approach us? Can we escape from death? Allah Almighty
said:
On that Day man will say: "Where (is the refuge) to
flee?"
No! There is no refuge!
Unto your Lord (Alone) will be the place of rest that Day.
75 Al-Qiyâmah 10-12
Figure 46: Mars and Venus – no sign for life
Looking at other planets in our solar system, Mercury, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto, the temperature and life conditions are very extremes and are not suitable at all for life. Therefore, scientists are looking for life outside the solar system, i.e. looking for other solar systems in this incredibly huge universe.
Our Milky Way galaxy contains roughly 200 billion stars in the different stages of their life. About 89% of these stars are in the main sequence stage, like our Sun. The universe contains about 50 billion galaxies similar to out galaxy. With a simple calculation, we can easily show that there are about 8900 billion Suns similar to our Sun. If only 1% of these Suns have planets like our solar system, there would be 89 billion solar systems. It would be odd if we were the only creatures in the universe. Planets in other star systems have been seen by astronomers. More than 100 planets have been discovered in orbit around some nearby stars. Recently, it has been found that a bright disk of dust surrounds our solar system, starting beyond Saturn. This will allows scientists to draw up a short list of other star systems with similar disk of dust, that are likely to have planets. Figure 47 shows an Earth-like planet as imagined by astronomers.
Figure 47: Earth-like planet as imagined by astronomers
Can we contact those people who live in other Earth-like planets? Can we visit them? Can they visit us? One way of contacting them is to send messages through the radio telescope and wait for their reply. The message will go with the speed of light 186 000 miles per second to reach the nearest star to us, Alpha Centauri, in 4.4 years. If the message is received by some intelligent mankind, and if they have the technology required to reply and if they don’t ignore us, we will got their response in another 4.4 years. Thus, we will have to wait about 8.8 years to receive an answer to our message. What about stars in other galaxies that are away from us by millions of light years? If we try to communicate with a planet at a distance of 2 million light years for instance, we will receive their reply after 4 million years. So we won’t be here to receive the message. There is no speed higher than the speed of light so we can’t really accelerate this romantic communication that takes several million of years. Thus, it is impossible to prove that we are the only mankinds in this universe. We can’t communicate with the billion of the Sun-like star systems and obviously we can’t wait millions of years for replies. However, it would be much easier to prove that there are other mankind living in other Earth-like planets in a nearby star, simply if they would take the initiative and contact us first.
To answer the second question, can we visit them? Let’s see how fast can we go in space. The maximum speed that a spacecraft can make at present is 27.7 miles/sec (the Galileo spacecraft). This spacecraft can reach the planet in the nearest star, Alpha Centauri, after about 28 873 years. Thus, it is not suitable to take us for a visit to Alpha Centauri. If in future the speed of the spacecraft is increased to half the speed of light, it will be possible to visit the nearest star in about 8.8 years. However, we can’t visit other stars that are far by 200 light years for instance. This is because the journey will take 400 years, two ways ticket, and none of the astronauts will stay alive. The maximum speed in the universe, as mentioned earlier, is the speed of light. However, we can’t travel with the speed of light as we will burn and transformed to energy according to the relativity theory of Einstein. But, we can travel at a speed close to the speed of light. In such a case, we can profit from the phenomena of the expansion of time. The journey that will take in reality 2 million years will be made by the spacecraft with this huge speed in 25 years and astronauts will stay alive. Thus, when the astronauts are back after 4 million years, they won’t find the people they knew, they might not find the Earth at all. Again, it is impossible to prove that there is no life on other Earth-like planets, as we would have to visit billions of stars and live for millions of years.
The third question is; can the aliens visit us? This will depend on
how intelligent they are, and what capabilities have been given to them by
Allah Almighty. There are some evidences of strange events that have been seen
on some places on the Earth. People talked about seeing flying objects, flying
discs for instance, that appeared and disappeared without giving us any chance
to identify them. There were a lot of stories about Unidentified Flying Objects
(UFO) but there is still no real proof that they are from an intelligent life
in the universe. Collections
of pictures that are very known images within the UFO community are shown in
Figures 48-50. Some of the pictures are real and others are fakes. Whether
these images are fakes or not, the question remains unanswered. Are these
objects and creatures from other Earth-like planets?
Our brains tell us that there should be a life in the universe and more importantly Allah Almighty told us that there is. In the first verse, 65 At-Talâq 12, Allah Almighty said that he created seven heavens and seven Earths. At the time of the prophet, Mohamed, peace upon him, 1400 years ago, the Arab used the word ‘seven’ for the meaning of ‘several’ and also for the meaning of number ‘seven’. So there can be six other Earths like ours or several other Earths. The second verse, 16 An-Nahl 49, talks about the live moving creatures in the heavens, which means that there is life somewhere in the heavens. Other verses in the Qur’an that refer to life in the heavens are:
And the Trumpet will be blown, and all who are in the heavens and
all who are on the earth will swoon away, except him whom Allah will. Then it
will blown a second time and behold, they will be standing, looking on
(waiting)[].
39 Az-Zumar 68
To Him belongs whatever is in the heavens and the earth. All are
obedient to Him.
30 ArRûm 26
Whosoever is in the heavens and on earth begs of Him (its needs
from Him). Every day He has a matter to bring forth (such as giving honour to
some, disgrace to some, life to some, death to some, etc.)!
55 Ar-Rahmân 29
See you not that to Allah prostrates whoever is in the heavens and
whoever is on the earth, and the sun, and the moon, and the stars, and the
mountains, and the trees, and Ad-Dawâb (moving living creatures, beasts,
etc.), and many of mankind? But there are many (men) on whom the punishment is
justified. And whomsoever Allah disgraces, none can honour him. Verily! Allah
does what He wills.
22 Al-Hajj 18
And among His Ayât (proofs, evidences, lessons, signs, etc.) is
the creation of the heavens and the earth, and whatever moving (living)
creatures He has dispersed in them both. And He is All-Potent over their
assembling (i.e. resurrecting them on the Day of Resurrection after their
death, and dispersion of their bodies) whenever He will.
42 Ash-Shûra 29
The seven heavens and the earth and all that is therein, glorify
Him and there is not a thing but glorifies His Praise. But you understand not
their glorification. Truly, He is Ever Forbearing, Oft-Forgiving.
17 Al-Isrâ' 44
Figure 48: Alien bodies
Figure 49: A collection of flying disks
Figure 50: Unidentified flying objects
In the closure of the book of Lou Williams page, Astronomy: how man learned about the universe, the author concluded that ‘ the jewels that light the night sky are not ours alone; we very likely share them with another observer on many another planet. These planets had or will have their Ptolemys and Galileos and Newtons, their Herschels and Hubbles.’ It is amazing to know that the prophet Mohamed, peace upon him, 1400 years ago, said, in Ibn Abas Hadith, Allah has created seven heavens and of the Earth the like thereof, in each Earth a prophet like yours, Adam like your Adam, Noh like your Noh, Abraham like your Abraham and Jesus like your Jesus. The similarity between these two conversations indicates that what the prophet peace upon him said is inspired from the great creator who knows about the life in the heavens.
At the end my dear reader, I hope that you can now say that there is no god except Allah and Mohamed is the messenger of Allah.
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