Among
the the universal facts and scientific discoveries that the Holy Quran clearly
mentioned was the expansion of the universe. And its instability since its
existence. The Holy Quran say in the chapter Athaariaat :”
“AND
IT IS We who have built the universe with [Our creative] power; and, verily, it
is We who are steadily expanding it.” Translation Muhammed Assad
“ With
power and skill did We construct the Firmament: for it is We Who create the
vastness of space”
Yusuf
Ali
What
does this Aya verbaly means in Arabic language? and how should it be
translated, I say this because I see Lack of preciseness in
some translations, the original Arabic text speaks clearly about the following
unavoidable facts,1 the sky or space 2 constructing or building up 3 power
involved in such “operation”4 thecontinuous expansion. Nobody who has any
knowledge of Arabic language would miss these basic words in this Aya. Now do
all the Quran translations reflect these basic information in this Aya the
answer is no! because of the fact that many of the Holy Quran translators
translate the meaning that they understand from the text, hence when they are
confronted with certain Ayats that speak about facts that they never heard of,
or they are beyond their concept and imagination, they will try to find a
logical explanation. In other words, If the translator of the Holy Quran has no
idea about the discovery of the expansion of the universe, he or she wouldn’t
see it in the tex, even if it was crystal clear! Simply, because their
mind is completely occupied with other totally different concept. or
imagination. This attitude even happens to our more stern and keen means
of observation such as our senses . When one’s mind is totally preoccupied
with certain things, his eyes may fail to see clear objects or persons. same
thing could be said about many Ayats of the Quran. That is why it is very
important to reflect the verbal meanings of the actual words and verbs in the
Holy Quran. And for those who are expecting from the Quran to mention the
latest discoveries in clear and unshakable meanings I say such thing is
contrary to the nature of things and also to the message of the Quran, because
the Holy Quran is not a science text book, it is rather a guidance for the
people of the world, and those scientific indications are but signs in the way
nothing more. Because those same discoveries had them been explain in details
by the time of the revelation they would had been the mean obstacles in the way
of people to believe. For example who would believe in the time of the
revelation that we don’t actually see stars but only their light! And we
only see their places that they were in some time ago! it could be a thousand
years ago! If billions of people even today had no idea of this thing how would
anybody believe in such discovery 1400 years ago?! That could have been a
deadly overdose for those people, the science accumulation is built up step by
step, and it grows with the add-delete system. So, we should not blame the Holy
text of the Quran for the limited understanding of the translators of certain
scientific phenomenon. Or even the Arab and Muslim commentators, for the Quran
translations and comments reflect very often the limited knowledge of
these explanations more certainly than reflecting the vastness of
the Holy Quranic horizons . However , many of the Quranic scientific
insinuations and hints are so clear that place the contemplator of its original
text on the cliff of a premature discoveries. Such lucidity and clarity in
Quranic text show the explanation of old commentators as if they were aware of
the recent discoveries of the modern times! Here is an example from a
prominent 13th century commentator named Ibnu Kather on his
commenting on the following Aya: “
. وَالسَّمَاء
بَنَيْنَاهَا بِأَيْدٍ وَإِنَّا لَمُوسِعُونَ
With
the power and skill did We construct the Firmament: for it is We Who
create the vastness of Space.
Allah
most Exalted , drawing attention to his creation to the above and below worlds,
says that He built the sky by making it a protected firmament with absolute
power, and We are expanding it : means: We expanded its sides and horizons and
we exalted it without pillars till it became like you see it.”
Although
this comments of his does not seem to contradict the present scientific
perspective of the universe as we describe it today, but we can clearly notice
that he couldn’t escape from his personal concept of the universe of the
time, such deficient concept resorted him to jump over a very important
fact in the text. Which is the unusual shifting from the past tense course to
the present continuous course: expanding, broadening, widening! In the same
unremitting context?
His
motive is justifiable, for the scientific discoveries of the time wasn’t going
along with the Holly Quran prophesies and facts. And it was almost impossible
for anyone to exceed his time and declare the discovery of the expansion of the
universe.
Such
Quranic fact remained concealed for centuries till the modern scientific
discoveries unveiled it.
How
did the story of expansion of the universe started?
The
first sign and indication of this discovery belongs to the Austrian
scientist Doppler who noticed that sounds seeme to be of higher pitch when
the listener and the source of the sound were approaching and coming close to
each other, and of lower pitch when they are moving away from one other. In
other words, he observed that the sound vibrations and waves emitted from a
fast train, reach the listener -in a static position- in a accumulative
sequence shape , it increases till it reaches its pick at the equivalent
site with the observer. As soon as the train starts to leave this particular
position, those same sound vibrations altered from strength to weakness.
Eventually, he noticed in his later researches that the light waves
surprisingly act in similar manner. When light waves are zooming
toward you, their light waves squeezed together. You see these light
waves as having a higher frequency than normal. And you see them blue. Since
blue is at the high-frequency end of the visible spectrum,
Contrary
to this phenomenon is when light is zooming away from the observer, you see
these waves as having a lower frequency, and you see them red , in other
words, the more squeezed light waves are, the more they look blue, and the more
stretched they are, the more they look red .
In
this way, a new mechanism to measure the remote distances in the universe
emerged. And Doppler was able to conclude that most of galaxies are
moving away from us.
Later
on Slipher came to reassure the same outcome, and by 1925 he could observe 40
galaxies zooming away from each other. Then were followed by the prominent
American physician Edwin Hubble1929 who confirmed that the velocity
of galaxies away from each other and from our galaxy ( the milky way) is
equivalent to their distances from us. In other words, the more distanced the
galaxies are away from us , the faster they are moving away. In 1934, and
together with his colleague Milton Hummason in Wilson mountain
telescope in California, they published their discovery. Hubble was the
first to discover that the expansion of the universe is accelerating. i.e. Its
velocity is not in steady pace but alters in accordance with time and place.
Hence, it is one of the greatest manifestations of Quranic miracles is to find
clear indication of such discovery in the Holly Quran. In fact, one is
astonished as he put some Ayats that describe the time of the creation of the
universe and its following stages together. and then compare them to the
scientific achievement in this regard to find out a total match and perfection,
despite the fact that the way this universe came to being from nonentity
remains folded in the prescience, no man can imagine its reality. However, he
can conclude it because there is simply no other possibility.
9 تعليق على “The Quranic miracles /Ahmed Rouas” من مدونتي السابقة
أكتوبر 19th, 2010 at 3:07 ص
أكتوبر 28th, 2010 at 5:39 م
أكتوبر 28th, 2010 at 9:22 م
نوفمبر 2nd, 2010 at 2:30 ص
أخي احمد الرواس ..
قرأت لك في السياسه
وراق لي ما كتبته في “الأدب” ..
ما جديدك في الإعجاز العلمي بالعربية والإنجليزيه ؟
دمت بخير ودام عطاؤك ~~
نوفمبر 2nd, 2010 at 7:34 ص
أشتغل حاليا على موضوع أحسبه جد مهم يتعلق برد بعض الشبهات التي يلصقها بعض الكتاب الغربيين بالإسلام، بعده هناك سلسلة من المواضيع حول الإعجازالعلمي بالعربيةو الإنجليزية فترقبيها قريبا.
بارك الله في وقتك
نوفمبر 5th, 2010 at 4:02 ص
- Mark
نوفمبر 5th, 2010 at 9:36 م
I am honoured by your thoughtfulness. Human ideas remain dead until they are brought to life by those who read them and discuss them, or in the best case , benefit from them. Go ahead, Knowledge is the best what you can get in this life after the ultimate truth of the right faith.
نوفمبر 12th, 2010 at 4:05 ص
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نوفمبر 14th, 2010 at 9:55 م
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