Science and Quran on the permanent darkness of the Universe
By Magdy Abd Al-Shafy
Since man landed on the moon, studies and observation aided with successive travels into space have resulted in many amazing scientific facts. These facts support the scientific statements in the Holy Quran that deal with the same issues. We find it interesting to set a comparison between astrophysics findings and what the Holy Quran says about these facts are:
(1) The universe is building
(2)The motion in the universe is always in curve way
(3)The universe is immersed in darkness
(4) It is the day layer that manifests the sun light.
we choose these scientific statements simply because they are related to one another, also in the holy Quran they are related to one another, they all are mentioned in one verse though they are referred to in other verses.
let's read this amazing Holy verse from the Holy Quran and bear it in mind while reading the article. God says in the Holy Quran what means:
Even if We opened out to them a gate from heaven, and they were to continue (all day) ascending (in curve way)therein, (14) They would only say: "Our eyes have been covered: Nay, we have been bewitched by sorcery." (15:14-15)
Scientific commentary on the verse
(1)The above mentioned verse predicts that man will travel into space, this actually happened when the first man landed on the moon in 1969. Is that possible for any one to imagine that man would someday land on the moon at the time of the prophet. This is evident that these words are God's words that were revealed to the prophet.
(2)The universe is a huge building
Only recently man has discovered that universe is filled with matter, all form of matters and energy fill the universe leaving no place. Galaxies, as scientists say, are the blocks of the huge structure of the universe. Galaxies are arranged that gives amazing structure.
Does the Holy Quran say that the universe is a huge building?
In fact the verse above state this amazing fact; opening gates can't be anywhere but in a building. The fact that the universe is a huge building is stressed in many other verses in the Holy Quran.
(3)Motion in the universe
The verse says "…and they were to continue (all day) ascending(in curve way)therein.."
Owing to dark matter and gravity between the celestial bodies, motion in the universe can't be in straight line, nothing can travel in straight line in the universe. Also, launching the space ship is always calculated to move in a meandering way.The Holy Quran mention this scientific statement in its verses. The English translation of the Quranic word" Ya'rogoun" is not correct, the Arabic word "ya'rogoun" is used when you want to describe the motion of the lame person in Arabic, it is known that a lame person can't walk in a straight line.
so science says that motion in the universe can't be in straight line, even the theory of relativity predicts that light can't move in straight line, so does the Holy Quran.
(4)The universe is completely immersed in darkness
The above-mentioned verse goes on to say" They would only say: "Our eyes have been covered: Nay, we have been bewitched by sorcery."
Only after the first space ship had lamded on the moon that man began to realize that the whole universe is completely immersed in darkness, the pictures taken from the moon for the earth show it hanging in darkness, just a thin layer around the earth is alight. The sun ,too, along with all the stars, looks like dark blue dots in the heaven, studies proved that the center of the sun, though its temperature is over twenty million, is also dark. The fact that the universe is immersed in darknes is clearly implied in this Quranic words" They would only say: "Our eyes have been covered: Nay, we have been bewitched by sorcery." to exoerience the darkness of the universe, just cover your eyes with your hands...what will you see? you will see darkness...please do it.
Note that the Quranic words"... they would say' our eyes are covered" is a strong reference to the darkness of the universe, the Holy Quran uses this way of expressing the scientific facts as mercy to the human mind at the time when the Holy Quran was revealed. It is interesting that the first astronaut travlled into space used the same words that the Holy Quran uses when expressing the darkness of the universe, Armstrong, the first astronaut, said "Only after going beyond the first 200 km, I could not see; my eyes were as if they had been covered or I was under magic spell.
(5)The thin layer of day light (atmosphere) is resposible for manifesting the day light.
light travelling from the center of the sun is invisible, it becomes a little visible in the outerlayer of the sun then these rays travels to the earth invisible, it only becomes visible when it penetrates the atmosphere, the closer you move towards the earth, the denser is the atmosphere, so when light reaches the 200 Km of the atmosphere close to the earth, it become visible.
The earth is engulfed with darkness, just a thin layer is a light, the earth atmosphere is responsible for making the sun's light visible
It is scientifically established that it is not the sun that illuminates the earth…yes it is not the sun… it is the first 200 km atmosphere(close to the earth) that turn the invisible rays into light. When light reaches the earth's atmosphere, it begins to be fractioned and reflected on the water vapour and the solid particles hanging in the atmosphere.
To this amazing fact the Holy Quran refers denying that it is not the sun that makes the light but rather the atmosphere, scientifically known as the day layer.
God says in the Holy Quran what means "By the Moon as she follows him;(2)By the Day as it shows up (the Sun's) glory;(3)By the Night as it conceals it;(4)By the Firmament and its (wonderful) structure;(5)By the Earth and its (wide) expanse.
Explaining the verse:
God swears by the sun in this verse though He doesn't need to swear but when God swears, He just attracts our attention to something great unknown to us. Verse number three" ...the Day as it shows up (the Sun's) glory" shows that it is the day that shows up the sun..exactly as science says. It should be noted that the whole of universe is immersed in darkness, the night or the darkness engulfs the earth, it is only the day layer or the atmosphere that breaks the night or the darkness, so when the earth rotates facing the sun, only the part facing the sun become alight while darkness began to reach that part which is not facing the sun.
(6)The size of the thin layer to the size of universe
According to the astrophysics, the day layer is (200Km) and the radius of the visible universe is 20 Billion light year. So according to this measures, the day layer is so thin. The Holy Quran also supports this fact, to reflect the thinness of the day layer, when compared to the entire universe, the Holy Quran likens the day layer to the skin of a slaughtered animal and the size of the universe to the body of the slaughtered animal.
God says in the Holy Quran what means "And a Sign for them is the Night: We skin there from the Day, and behold they are plunged in darkness." (37)