II.1.2. The Heavenly Bodies And Cosmic Phenomena:
In the Days of Ignorance-before Islam- the Arabs were worshipping the heavenly bodies as if they were gods. Besides, people used to know the number and count the years, or guide themselves in their journeys by means of the stars, the moon and the sun without being chary of the function and nature of these celestial bodies. But after the coming of Islam, the Qur’an stated that among the signs of God {are the Night and the Day, and the Sun and the Moon} [XLI: 37], and that people must adore neither the sun nor the moon, “but adore God Who created them” (Ibid.) .The Qur’an gave a new and sound dimension to these astronomical phenomena, and invited people to observe what is in the universe.
{Say: Behold all that is in the heavens and on earth.}
[X: 101]
{Seest thou not that God merges Night into Day and He merges Day into Night; that He subjected the sun and the moon (to His Law), each running its course for a term appointed.}
[XXXI: 29]
What is noteworthy is that the Qur’an came with precise astronomical data that were unknown to people at that time; that is to say, time when the Qur’an was being revealed to the Prophet (p.b.u.h.). Many are the verses, which talk about the sequence of day and night, or about the moon, the sun and their orbits. But I will just examine some of them in the light of modern scientific data.
{He merges Night into Day, and He merges Day into Night, and He has subjected the sun and the moon (to His Law): Each one runs its course for a Term appointed. Such is God your Lord. To Him belongs all Dominion.}
[XXXV: 13]
In the past, as Dr Bucaille (1985, p.169) explains, “It was held that the Earth was the centre of the world and that the Sun moved in relation to it”, and also that Earth is flat. But the Qur’an, in the course of these falsities, stated, more than fourteen centuries ago, that the Earth is round, or more precisely oval, because of the succession of day and night.
{Nor can the Night outstrip the Day.}
[XXXVI: 40]
This means that the night and the day follow each other in an uninterrupted round movement.
{He makes the Night overlap the Day and the Day overlap the Night: He has subjected the sun and the moon (to His Law) each follows a course for a time appointed.}
[XXXIX: 5]
Dr Bucaille (1985, p.170) notices that the verses [XXXIX: 5] and [XXXI: 29] mainly “provide interesting material on the process of interpenetration and especially of winding the night upon the day and the day upon the night.”
So to have a clear idea about the sequence of day and night and what causes these astronomical phenomena, Dr Bucaille gives us the following explanation:
“American astronauts…saw how the Sun permanently lights up… the half of the Earth’s surface that is facing it, while the other half of the globe is in darkness. The Earth turns on its own axis and the lighting remains the same, so that an area in the form of a half- sphere makes one revolution around the Earth in twenty-four hours while the other half-sphere, which remained in darkness, makes the same revolution in the same time. This perpetual rotation of night and day is quite clearly described in the Qur’an…. This process of perpetual coiling, including the interpenetration of one sector by another, is expressed in the Qur’an just as if the concept of the Earth’s roundness had already been conceived at the time –which was…not the case.” (1985, pp.170-71)
Almighty God says:
{And a Sign for them is the Night: We withdraw the Night therefrom the Day, and behold they are plunged in darkness; and the Sun runs his course for a period determined for him: that is the decree of (Him), the Exalted in Might, the All-Knowing. And the Moon, We have measured for her mansions (to traverse) till she returns like the old (and withered) lower part of a date-stalk. It is not permitted to the Sun to catch up the Moon, nor can the Night outstrip the Day: each (just) swims along in (its own) orbit (according to Law).}
[XXXVI: 37-40]
Besides the topic of the sequence of day and night I have already discussed in the previous paragraphs, the verses above propound an interesting scientific point; that of the “existence of the Moon’s and the Sun’s orbits” (Bucaille: 1985, p.166). But “older translators of the Qur’an…were unable to imagine the circular course of the Moon and the Sun” (Ibid.). This prevented them from giving the fortieth verse of sura [XXXVI] its real scientific meaning. What really calls forth our esteem is that when these commentators failed to understand something, they kept silent.
“Tabari [said]…‘It is our duty to keep silent when we do not know’…. This shows just how incapable men were of understanding this concept of the Sun’s and the Moon’s orbits…. If the word had expressed an astronomical concept common in Muhammad’s day, it would have been so difficult to interpret these verses. There…existed in the Qur’an a new concept that was not to be explained until centuries later.”(Ibid.)
Another thing, which draws the attention of those who read the Qur’an, is that when it speaks about the Sun and the Moon, it uses two different epithets to describe them, as Dr Bucaille states:
“Light (nur) for the Moon, torch (siraj) for the Sun. The first is an inert body which reflects light, the second a celestial formation in a state of permanent combustion, and a source of light and heat.” (1989, p.9)
God Almighty says:
{He has subjected the Sun and the Moon (to His Law): each one follow a course for a time appointed.}
[XXXIX: 5]
In this verse, the Holy Qur’an wants to draw our attention-and this is what modern astronomy has proved- to the fact that:
“…In a few billion years, the conditions prevailing in the solar system will not be the same as they are today. Like other stars whose transformations have been recorded until they reached their final stage, it is possible to predict an end to the Sun.” (Bucaille: 1985, p.173)
I shall return to this point concerning the end of the universe at the end of this part.
In addition to what has already been said, the Qur’an touched on two obvious truths. The first one concerns the Earth’s atmosphere and the important function of the celestial sphere. The second concerns the Space conquest.
Most people, in the past, thought that the air in our globe really extends beyond the Earth-to the outer space. Dr Al Fandi (1976, p.422) states that:
“All people, until recently, thought that the Earth’s air expands as far as bottom of Space where are the Moon, Venus, Mars, etc… to the extent that the Greek general, Alexander the Great, thought to call at the Sky inside a carriage carried by eagles.”
Of course, man was not aware of the fact that the more he ascends in the atmosphere, the less oxygen he finds. It is proved that a man can be asphyxiated, as Dr Al Fandi (Ibid. p.423) states, “at the height of ten kilometres above the sea-level.” But after man used balloons at the end of the nineteenth century, and planes and rockets in the twentieth century, he became quite sure of this reality that was stated by the Glorious Qur’an more than fourteenth century ago (Ibid. pp.422-23). This shows how miraculous its verses are.
{Those whom God (in His Plan) willeth to guide, He openeth their breast to Islam; those whom He willeth to leave straying, He maketh their breast close and constricted, as if they had to climb up To the skies: thus doth God (heap) the penalty on those who refuse to Believe.}
[VI: 125]
In what concerns the celestial sphere with its blue colour, people, in the past, thought that this sphere was in the form of a material mass, or a concrete firmament. But in reality it is only a photic phenomenon, which Dr Al Fandi (Ibid. p.244) explains as follows:
“…Blue waves…in the beam of the rays of the sun’s radiation is the most profuse of all energies sent by the sun, in conformity with the nature of its atmosphere, and the temperature of its external surface which reaches more or less 6.000 degrees….So, right after entering the Earth’s atmosphere, these waves of light scatter in all its corners, immerging the atmosphere with opulent quantities of the blue colour, so that it appears like a blue sphere….In reality this sphere has no existence in a form of a material mass, or concrete heavens, as most people thought before.”
Other obvious advantages of the Earth’s atmosphere are stated in the following Holy verse:
{And We have made the heavens as a canopy well guarded: yet do they turn away from the Signs which these things (point to)!}
[XXI: 32]
First, the Earth’s atmosphere, stated in the above verse as the “heavens”, protects us from:
“The gravity and terror of Space, such as the lethal cosmic rays, or the destructive meteors. It also safeguards us from temperatures; which is a characteristic of the cosmic space wherein temperature stretches as far as to270 degrees below the freezing point. Among the most dangerous rays, which the Earth’s canopy shields us from, are the ultraviolet rays…” (Al Fandi: 1976, pp.231-32)
Secondly, the atmosphere contains oxygen-its proportion is 21%- which is a crucial and indispensable element to all living creatures on Earth. Dr Al Fandi explains that among:
“The most important gas which the air is composed of is Nitrogen….Its high proportion which ranges to 78% in the atmosphere has indeed an important function-to make the extinction of fires a feasible matter. If the proportion of the oxygen were, on the contrary, 78% it would be impossible to stifle any fire like the conflagration of forests.” (Ibid. p.226)
That is why we note that the Qur’an states in many occasions that:
{It is He Who created all things, and ordered them in due proportions.}
[XXV: 2]
It means that every thing in this World is created with such a precision and order that it would be silly to think that the cosmos came by chance into existence. To prove that things in this universe could not be different from what they are, otherwise there would be a catastrophe, Dr Morrison gives us the following example:
“If the air were such higher than it is, verily, some of the meteors which burn every day by million outside the atmosphere would heat all the Earth’s parts….If these meteors happened to move slowly as a bullet, they would all bump against the Earth. The result would be indeed terrifying.” (1986, pp.65-6)
Another example is found on page 55 where Morrison states that:
“The Earth rotates around its axis every 24 hours….Now suppose it is rotating at the rate of only one hundred mile per hour, and why not? At that time our day and night will be longer than they are now ten times. In this case, the hot summer’s sun may burn our plants every day; at night any plant on Earth may be frozen.” (Ibid.)
These are briefly some of the important functions of the Earth’s atmosphere. Now we shall see the second point, which concerns the conquest of Space that was a preposterous dream in the past. But the Qur’an, contrary to what people thought, stated that man would certainly conquest the Space one day.
{O ye assembly of Jinn and men! If it be ye can pass the Zones of the heavens and the earth! Not without authority shall ye be able to pass! Then which of the favours of your Lord will ye deny?}
[LV: 33-34]
Dr Ben Yusuf (1986, p.19) states that the “authority” mentioned in the above verse is the authority of science, without which man could ever have conquered Space. Dr Bucaille (1985, p.175) explains that:
“There can be no doubt that this verse indicates the possibility men will one day have to achieve what we today call…‘the conquest of space’…”
The following verses highlight this truth:
{So I do call to witness the ruddy glow of Sunset; the Night and its Homing; and the Moon in her fullness: ye shall surely travel from stage to stage.}
[LXXXIV: 16-19]
Dr Ben Yusuf (1986, p.20) gives us a convincing interpretation of the previous verses [LXXXIV: 16-19]:
“Travelling ‘from stage to stage’…is an obvious hint to the vessels dispatched to Space….What really bolsters up this conception is the use of ‘the Moon, the Night and the Sunset’- the components of Space- in the oath taken by God, that man would travel ‘from stage to stage’ to penetrate the regions of the heavens. Some commentators said that ‘from stage to stage’ means the heavens one above another….This meaning does not disagree with the first one, taking into consideration the fact that it is impossible to travel into the heavens except by means of air-conditioned spacecraft…without which man’s breast becomes close while climbing up to the skies, because of the shortage of oxygen.”
Eventually, we shall see how modern scientific data agree with the statements of the Glorious Qur’an in what concerns the end of the universe. We have already seen that this world is not based on disorder. Every celestial body moves in its own established orbit.
{We created not the heavens and the earth and all between them but for just ends, and for a term appointed.}
[XLVI: 3]
This verse states that the whole universe, well-protected against disorder and defects, will come to an end one day, “when nature’s processes as we know them will cease to function…[And], the physical forces, as defined in Newton’s laws on Matter and Attraction, will also break up with the break-up of the sun” (Ali: 1938, fns 5969 &5970, p.1693). The stars themselves will lose their lustre as a result of the sun’s break-up.
{When the sun (with its spacious light) is folded up; when the stars fall losing their lustre.}
[LXXXI: 1-2]
The same thing will happen to the moon that will cease to shine.
{And the moon is buried in darkness. And the sun and the moon joined together.}
[LXXV: 8-9]
Besides, when the forces of the gravitation of the heavenly bodies are neutralized, every thing will bathe in disarray.
{One Day the earth and the mountains will be in violent commotion. And the mountains will be as a heap of sand poured out and flowing down.}
[LXXIII: 14]
{And the heavens shall be opened as if there were doors, and the mountains shall vanish, as if they were a mirage.}
[LXXVIII: 19-20]
{When the sky is cleft asunder, when the stars are scattered; when the oceans are suffered to burst forth.}
[LXXXII: 1-3]
{When the oceans boil over with a smell.}
[LXXXI: 6]
The last verse states that at the end of the world, the oceans will be burned up. This Qur’anic statement agrees with modern scientific data. Dr Khidr (1983, pp.377-8) explains this phenomenon:
“Recently, ‘Yuri’ has discovered what he has called heavy water…. He found that the nature of the atoms of hydrogen differs. There are light atoms… that combine with oxygen to form drinkable water…. But when the heavy atoms unite with oxygen, they will produce a kind of water which is different from ordinary water, and which has poisonous influence on living creatures…. This water is known as the heavy water with which is found hydrogen -which is an inflammable gas- and other things of unstable elements inside the oceans…. If an atom happens to break up under a thermal, electric or a radiant pressure -like a tremendous thunderbolt-, verily, this will result not only in the fission of water atoms, but also in the release of hydrogen, and the ignition of all the world’s oceans…”
One of the phenomena that will characterize the end of the world is the cleavage of the moon.
{The Hour (of Judgement) is nigh, and the moon is cleft asunder. But if they see a Sign, they turn away and say: ‘This is (but) transient magic’.}
[LIV: 1-2]
The Indian Muslim thinker, Khan (1981, p.146), states that:
“Through their research scientists came to the fact that in the impending future-according to the law of the rotation of celestial bodies- the moon and the earth will surely get close to each other to the extent that the former will be cleft asunder, and its parts will be dispersed in Space…”
Finally, I will join Mr Tabbarah (1988, pp.459-60) and say:
“No matter what, one still wonders whether an illiterate person like Muhammad, fourteen centuries ago, could possibly conceive all this [the scientific facts of the universe] at a time nobody knew anything about universe or its secrets!”