Big Bang Theory in the Holy Qur'an

By: Mahdi La'li
Tehran, Iran
The world we live in is a marvelous collection of wonders, which amazes any enlightened beholder. It makes him admire its majesty by its dazzling greatness and precise reckoning.
How did this wonderful universe with such great dimensions come to be in the existence? When did it happen? Is it going to die one day? Currently, the Big Bang model of the origin of the universe is the cosmological paradigm most widely accepted by astronomers. This theory contends that about 15 billion years ago the universe began with the explosive expansion of a single, extremely dense matter, the primordial mass. Astronomers arrived at this conclusion only after the development of radio telescopes in 1937 and the necessary observational precision was achieved.
The Holy Quran was written over 14 centuries ago, as it was revealed to the Prophet of Islam, Muhammed (PBUH). One of the glorious mysteries of the Quran is that it explains many of the mysteries of our universe, long before modern scientists could reveal these same secrets. What does Quran say about the origin of our universe? Wonderfully enough, the following verse indicates that the universe was first a unit piece then the heavens and the earth originated from it:
-Have not those who disbelieve known that the heavens and the earth were of one piece, then We parted them... will they not then believe? 1 Chapter21: verse30
In the following passage, we will offer you the Quranic overview regarding the origin of the universe, which is quite basically in accordance with the new scientific discoveries. To achieve a better contemplation of the corresponding Quranic viewpoint, we should first glance over the pertinent scientific theories.

Scientific Viewpoint
How do modern scientists explain the formation of the universe? Dr. Maurice Bucaille explains it in his book 'The Bible, the Quran and Science':
"The basic process in the formation of the universe … Lay in the condensing of material in the primary nebula followed by its division into fragments that originally constituted galactic masses. The latter in their turn split up into stars that provided the sub-product of the process, i.e. the planets".
Astronomers postulate that about 15000 million years ago, all the material in the universe was sent flying outwards in all directions. They can not explain how or why this happened, but they compare it with a massive explosion and have labeled this ‘The Big Bang Theory’2. The big bang model is currently, the only widely accepted explanation for the origin of the universe.
The best evidence for the Big Bang Theory is the existence of cosmic microwave background radiation. This is very faint microwave radiation, which has a long wavelength and which fits with the earlier discovery by American astronomer Edwin Hubble (1889-1953) that the universe is expanding.
This cosmic microwave radiation also confirms the prediction by Ukraine-born American physicist George Gamov (1904-1968) who proposed the theory that if there was a beginning of the universe, then the radiation now reaching us from it, would be coming from the furthest parts of the universe, which have been rushing away from us at great speed. His theory suggested that such radiation would have been subjected to the most extreme red shift. He defined a red shift as a measure of the degree to which light from a receding object moves toward the red end of the electromagnetic spectrum and would therefore be expected to contain only long wavelengths.

Distant Galaxies
Further evidence for the Big Bang Theory is provided by the study of distant galaxies. Some of these galaxies are 13 billion light years away, which means that the light we see from them will have taken 13 billion years to reach us. These Galaxies appear to us, as they would have appeared around two billion years after the Big Bang. The fact that they seem more tightly packed than closer galaxies would indicate that the universe is increasing in volume as it gets older and was once much smaller and denser. In other words, if the light from more proximate galaxies reaches us at a faster rate, and they appear to be less condensed, therefore, the “older picture” of distant galaxies gives us the picture of how things were. Comparing the nature of the distant galaxies to those who we are seeing in the present time we can see the galaxies are expanding from their original formation.

Particle Accelerators and Detectors
Scientists attempt to re-create the conditions that existed immediately after the Big Bang in the hope of uncovering the origins of the universe. They do this by sending two beams of subatomic particles in opposite directions around an instrument called a particle accelerator (a device used for detecting subatomic particles), causing the beams to collide as they approach the speed of light.
The energy of the collision creates new particles. These particles leave trails in a bubble chamber (a device where subatomic particles travel through liquid hydrogen, causing it to boil and leave trails of bubbles) enabling scientists to identify them. The results of these experiments reveal much about the early universe, because the energy of the colliding particles is similar to the energy of particles in the first moments after the Big Bang.
At the Conseil European pour la Recherché Nucleaire (CERN) near Geneva in Switzerland, there is a cyclotron (a circular particle accelerator) in a huge underground tunnel. The circumference of the outer edge of the tunnel measures about 27 km (17 miles) 3. It is here that further investigations are revealing new facts regarding the creation of the universe.
Whatever happened in the initial moment of the Big Bang remains a mystery, but it is likely after a tiny interval, the universe was still smaller than the nucleus of an atom, called the primeval atom4. Almost immediately, the strong nuclear force and the electromagnetic force separated, providing the energy needed for the universe to start inflating. The Big Bang itself was extremely hot and energetic and in the first few seconds after the explosion, all that existed in the universe was radiation and various subatomic particles. Before even a millisecond had past, the universe had grown to about 3 times the size of the sun. Continued inflation caused the universe to double in size every fraction of a second.
The radiation left over after this vast explosion is still detectable from earth as faint microwaves emanating from all directions of the sky. This is the cosmic microwave background radiation first reveled by Hubble and Gamov discussed earlier.

Quranic Viewpoint
Does the Quran say anything about this condensing and separation of the primary material to result in the formation of our universe? Let's have a look. Our creator, Allah, says in his final book:
-Do not the unbelievers see that the heavens and the earth were joined together, then we clove them asunder. Chapter21: verse30
This could also be translated as follows:
-Do not the unbelievers see that the heavens and the earth were fused together, then we separated them …
Dr. Bucaille considers this proof of "the reference to a separation process of a primary single mass whose elements were initially fused together".
Thus, the Quran gives an accurate account of the formation of the universe to call upon humankind to recognize the power of their creator. This raises an interesting question: How could a man living in the seventh century independently create these ideas which could not be confirmed until modern times? And how could he, in so doing, avoid the mythical and fanciful ideas prevalent in human history of the period prior to scientific discovery and investigation into these concepts?
Dr. Bucaille mentions some of these myths for contrast: "When, as in Japan, the image of the egg plus an expression of chaos is attached to the above with the idea of a seed inside an egg (as for all eggs), the imaginative addition makes the concept lose all semblance of seriousness. In other countries, the idea of a plant is associated with it; the plant grows and in so doing, raises up the sky and separates the heavens from the earth. Here again, the imaginative quality of the added detail lends the myth its very distinctive character".
In contrast to those and other similar myths of pre-scientific thought, the Quranic statements are "free from any of the whimsical details accompanying such beliefs; on the contrary, they are distinguished by the sober quality of the words in which they are made, and their agreement with scientific data". (Bucaille, 1987) So what would account for this miraculous attention to true scientific findings before there was evidence and the capacity to even investigate such areas of science? There can be only one rational explanation to any enlightened mind and that is the Quran is unique in that5. It must be that the Quran is not the product of any human or humans, but a revelation from Allah.
The Quran says:
-The revelation of the scripture whereof there is no doubt is from the Lord of the Worlds. Chapter32: verse2
Professor Alfred Kroner is one of the world's most famous geologists. He is a Professor of Geology and the Chairman of the Department of Geology at the Institute of Geosciences, Johannes Gutenburg University in Mainz, Germany. Professor Alfred Kroner states that: “many of the statements made at the time could not be proven, but that modern scientific methods are now in a position to prove what Muhammed said 1400 years ago”.
Sheik Abdul Majid Zendani, a Professor of Islamic Studies in King Abdulaziz University in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia says:
“We met him (Dr. Kroner) and presented several Quranic verses and Ahadeeth (narrations) of the Prophet Muhammed. He studied and commented on them. Then we had a discussion with him”.
Professor Kroner said: Thinking about many of these questions and thinking where Muhammed came from, he was after all a Bedouin (a desert nomad). I think it is almost impossible that he could have known about things like the common origin of the universe, because scientists have only found out within the last few years with very complicated and advanced technological methods that this is the case.
Professor Kroner chose an example from the Quran, which proved to him why the Quran could not have come from Muhammed. The example, which Professor Kroner chose, is a description in the Quran of the fact that this universe had its beginnings in one single entity. Allah, may He be Exalted and Glorified said:
-Do not the unbelievers see that the heavens and the earth were joined together [ratqan], before we clove them asunder?
The meaning of “ratqan” in this verse, as Ibn Abbas, Mujaahid, and others said, is that the heavens and the earth were stuck together or blended together, and that they were later separated from each other. Professor Kroner used this as an example to prove that no human being during the time of Prophet Muhammed could have known this.
Professor Kroner: “Somebody who did not know something about nuclear physics 1400 years ago could not, I think, be in a position to find out from his own mind for instance that the earth and the heavens had the same origin or many others of the questions that we have discussed here”.
Professor Kroner becomes evasive if embarrassed. But whenever he is faced with the truth, he is courageous enough to state his opinion frankly and thus he replied: “This could have been known to him only through revelation from above”. Finally, after our discussions with him, he made the following comments:
“If you combine all these and you combine all those statements that are being made in the Quran in terms that relate to the earth and the formation of the earth and science in general, you can basically say that statements made there in many ways are true. They can now be confirmed by scientific methods, and in a way you can say that the Quran is a simple science text book for the simple man, and that many of the statements made in there at that time could not be proven but that modern scientific methods are now in a position to prove what Muhammed said 1400 years ago” 6
Most assuredly it can be shown that in the time of revelation of this verse, no one was cognizant of the origin of the universe and how it began; but today, it is apprehended that the scientific purport of this verse adapts with all new discoveries and findings about the origin of the universe.
References
1. Holy Quran translated by Marmaduke Pickthall, George Allen and Unwin Ltd., London, Fifth Edition 1969.
2. Eyewitness Encyclopedia of Space and the Universe, by Dorling Kindersley Publishers Limited, London, 1990.
3. ibid.
4. Exploration of the Universe, by George Abell, Hot, Rinehart and Winston Inc., USA, 1969.
5. The Bible, The Quran and Science (Le Bible, le Coran et la Science)," The Holy Scriptures Examined in the Light of Modern Knowledge, by Dr. Maurice Bucaille, French Physician, Seghers, Paris, 1987, English version published by North American Trust Publication, 1978.
6. Holy Quran on the Big Bang Theory, http://www.islam-guide.com/.