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Our deep fascination with the universe we live in has existed for millennia, dating back to ancient Babylonia. However, it was only in the last century that we developed such intricate and profound knowledge that completely transformed our view of the universe and any previous theories about our cosmos – the most fundamental of them being the actual creation of the universe itself. Until the early 20th century, many scientists believed that the universe was completely static and had always existed without any change in its size.
But Einstein’s Theory of General Relatively in 1915, which suggested that the universe was continuously expanding, led to a drastic shift from the traditional view of the universe. Using this as a basic model, Georges Lemaitre, who is said to have pioneered the modern-day theory of the Big Bang, proposed that if the entire universe was in constant expansion, then it must have had a single point of beginning, and by going back in time it would ultimately lead back to a ‘single primordial atom’; in other words, a highly compact dense point containing all the matter of the universe which powerfully exploded forming our universe as we see today. Whilst many scientists were initially hesitant to accept such a notion of the creation of the universe, empirical data was only evidencing this as a matter of fact. In the 1920s, using a powerful telescope, Edwin Hubble observed that not only were there billions of galaxies, but in fact, they were constantly moving away from each other, reinforcing Lemaitre’s initial theory. However, the most conclusive discovery towards the Big Bang theory was the cosmic background radiation by Arno Penzias and Robert Wilson in 1964. They detected that the entirety of space was filled with long-wavelength microwave radiation, which is essentially the leftover heat radiation from the Big Bang, also known as the ‘afterglow’.
Yet 1400 years ago, at a time when human knowledge of the cosmos was very rudimentary to say the least, and even contradictory to modern-day knowledge, the Holy Qur’an described the universe to be in continuous expansion:
‘And We have built the heaven with Our own hands, and verily We go on expanding it.’ (51:48)
The Holy Qur’an does not only speak of the continuous expansion of the universe but also perfectly describes the phenomenon of the actual creation of the universe itself:
أَوَلَمۡ يَرَ ٱلَّذِينَ كَفَرُوٓاْ أَنَّ ٱلسَّمَٰوَٰتِ وَٱلۡأَرۡضَ كَانَتَا رَتۡقٗا فَفَتَقۡنَٰهُمَا ۖ وَجَعَلۡنَا مِنَ ٱلۡمَآءِ كُلَّ شَيۡءٍ حَيٍّ ۚ أَفَلَا يُؤۡمِنُونَ
‘Do not the disbelievers see that the heavens and the earth were a closed-up mass, then We opened them out? And We made from water every living thing. Will they not then believe?’ (21:31)
According to the Arabic lexicon, the Arabic word ratqan means the ‘coming together of something and the consequent infusion into a single entity.’ Another meaning is also ‘total darkness’. Referring to the heavens and the earth as a dark, closed-up mass which was opened out and then for it to be in constant expansion is a perfect description of the creation of the universe revealed over 1400 years ago.
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