Friday 16 April 2010

The Description of the Barrier Between Two Seas

— Unknown @ 15:04

The Description of the Barrier Between Two Seas

Oceanographers, in the wake of the scientific progress in this age, have discovered the barrier between two seas. They have found that a barrier separates two neighboring seas. The barrier moves between them, and it is called by scientists “a front” compared to the front between two armies. By virtue of this barrier each sea retains its own characteristics which Allah (SWT) has assigned to it and which are suitable for the organisms living in that environment.

Because of this barrier, the two neighboring seas mingle so slowly that the amount of water that passes from one sea to the other acquires the characteristics of the other sea while crossing the barrier which overturns the waters crossing from one sea to the other, keeping each sea with its own characteristics.

The gradual progress of human knowledge about the fact of the differences between seawater masses and the existence of barriers between them :

Oceanographers discovered that there were certain differences between water samples taken from various seas in 1284 AH/1873 AD, by the British Marine Scientific Expedition of the Challenger Voyage. It was discovered that masses of sea water vary in their composition, in respect of salinity, water temperature, density and types of marine organisms. The data were obtained from 362 oceanographic stations. The report of the expedition filled 29,500 pages in 50 volumes and took 23 years to complete. One of the great achievements of scientific exploration, the expedition also showed how little man knew about the sea.

After 1933 AD another American expedition set out in the Mexican Gulf and installed hundreds of sea stations to study the characteristics of seas. It found out that a large number of stations in a certain area gave similar information about the characteristics of the water in that area, whether in respect of salinity, density, temperature, marine organisms or solubility of oxygen in water, while another group of stations in another area gave a different set of data about that area. So, oceanographers concluded that there were two distinctive seas with different characteristics, and not just limited samples as the Expedition of Challenger showed.

Man installed hundreds of marine stations to study the characteristics of various seas. Scientists have found out that the differences in these characteristics distinguished one sea from another. But why do these seas not mix and become homogeneous in spite of the effect of tide and ebb that moves sea water twice a day, and causes seas to move forward and backward turbulently, besides other factors that cause sea water to be in continuous movement and turbulence, such as surface and internal waves and sea currents?

The answer appeared for the first time in scientific books in 1361 AH/1942 AD. Extensive studies of marine characteristics revealed that there are water barriers separating neighboring seas and maintaining the distinctive properties of each sea with respect to density, salinity, marine life, temperature and solubility of oxygen in water.

There are large waves, strong currents, and tides in the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. Mediterranean Sea water enters the Atlantic by Gibraltar. But their temperature, salinity, and densities do not change, because of the barrier that separates them.

After 1962 AD there was known the role of sea barriers in modifying the properties of the water masses that pass from one sea to another, to prevent one sea from overwhelming the other. So salty seas retain their own properties and boundaries by virtue of these barriers.

A field study comparing the waters of Oman Gulf and those of the Arabian Gulf has shown the difference between them regarding their chemical properties, the prevalent vegetation and the barrier separating them.

About a hundred years of research and study has been required to discover the fact of the existence of barriers between sea water masses and their role in making each sea retain its own properties. Hundred of researchers took part and numerous precise scientific instruments and equipment were used to achieve that.

Fourteen centuries ago the Holy Qur’an revealed this fact.

Allah (SWT) says: (He has let free (MARAJA) the two sees meeting together. Between them is a barrier that they do not transgress. Then which of the Blessings of your Lord will you both (Jinn and men) deny? Out of them both come out pearls and carol.” (LV: 19-22) Allah (SWT) also says: “And He made a barrier between the two seas.) (XXVII: 61)

Linguistic meanings and the commentators’ sayings:

Maraja (let free):

Ibn Faris said: “’maraja’: The consonants m, r and j form a root indicating a movement of going and coming and turbulence.”

Al-Bahrayn (the two seas):

Al-Asfahani said: “Some say that the word “bahr” (sea) is usually used to mean salt water rather than fresh water.”

Ibn Manzursaid: “’Bahr’ is more frequently used to describe salt water than fresh water.”

If the word “bahr” is used without qualification it means salt water; otherwise, it means the thing qualified.” The Holy Qur’an uses “nahr” (river) to indicate abundant running fresh water, while it uses “bahr” (sea) to indicate salt water. Allah (SWT) says: (And He has made the ships to be of service to you that they may sail through the sea by His Command; and He has made rivers (also) to be of service to you.)(XIV: 32)

In the hadith, “bahr” (sea) is also used to mean salt water. Allah’s Messenger (Peace be upon him) was asked by a man who said: “O Allah’s Messenger! We travel by sea and carry with us a little fresh water. If we should use it for wudu (ablution) we would get thirsty. May we use seawater for wudu? Allah’ Messenger (Peace be upon him) said: “Its water is pure and its dead (animals) are lawful (to eat).”

Al-Barzakh: It is the barrier. Most commentatorssuggest that it is invisible.

Al-baghi: Ibn Manzur said: “’Al-Baghi’ means transgression, exceeding the limits.”

Al-Jawhari and Al-Asfahani said the same.

Al-Marjan: Ibn Al-Jawzi said: “Al-Qadi Abu Ya’li says that Al-Marjan is a kind of bar-like pearls. Al-Zajjajsaid: “Al-Marjan is white, very white.” Ibn Mas’ud said: “Al-Marjan is red beads.” Abu Hayyan said that to some people Al-Marjan is red stone. Al-Qurtubi said: “It is said that Al-Marjan is the big pearls. The same is also said by ‘Ali and Ibn ‘Abbas (May Allah bestow His Mercy on them both). The small pieces of Marjan are the small pearls. It is also reported on their authority the opposite: the big pieces are called pearls and the smaller are called Marjan. Al-Dahhak and Qatadah said the same.”

Al-Alusi said: “If we take into consideration the connotation of brilliance and glitter which the Arabic word “pearls” carries, and the connotation of movement and mixing that the word “Marjan” carries, we can say that “pearls” is used for big pieces and “Marjan” for small ones.”

Anyhow, Marjan is a kind of ornament that is found in various colors: white and red. It may be in big or small pieces. It is bar-like stone. In the Verse it is something other than pearls, for the conjunction “and” implies talking bout two different things. Marjan (carol), however, is found in salt seas only.

The Verse shows us the minute secrets which oceanography has revealed only recently. They describe the meeting between salt seas. Following is the evidence to that:

First: The Verse uses the word “bahrayn” (two seas) without any qualification. This means that salt seas are intended here.

Second: The Verses in Surat Al-Rahman show that the two seas yield pearls and “Marjan”(carol). It has become evident that Marjan is found in salt seas only. This indicates that the Verse is referring to two salt seas. Allah (SWT) says: “Out of them both come out pearls and carol,” i.e. out of each of them.

Who knew in the past that salt seas differ in many respects in spite of their apparent similarity to the observer? (They all taste salt, look blue, have waves, contain fish, etc.) How can they differ although they meet each other? We know that when two amounts of water are mixed in a container they get homogenous. How can seas remain differentiated even in the presence of the factors of mixing, such as the ebb and flow of the sea, currents and storms?

The Verse mentions the meeting of two salt seas that differ from one another. If the two seas were similar to one another, they would be one sea. However, differentiating between them in the Qur’anic utterance implies the difference between them although they are both salt.

(He has let free (Maraja) the two seas meeting together) means that the two seas are mixed; they are in the state of backward and forward movements, of mixing and turbulence at the site of the meeting, as is understood from the literal meaning of “Maraja”. This is the fact that science has discovered, that is to say, the barrier is described as being zigzag or wavy and shifting in position during the various seasons because of the tide and winds.

This Verse by itself implies the presence of so much mixing and merging between these seas as would deprive them of their distinctive properties. But Allah (SWT), the All-Knower, shows in the following Verse that “between them is a barrier which they do not transgress”, i.e. In spite of this state of merging and turbulence that characterizes the seas there is a barrier between them preventing them from transgressing or exceeding their limits.

This is what man has discovered as a result of the advances achieved in his sciences and instruments. It has been found that a third water mass separates the two seas and it has such properties as are different from those of each of the two seas separated by it.

Yet, in spite of the presence of the barrier, the waters of the two adjacent seas mix very slowly without one sea encroaching upon the other through carrying over its own properties to it, for the barrier zone is a region for changing the water crossing from one sea to the other so that it gradually acquires the properties of the sea that is going to enter and loses the properties of the sea it has come form. Thus neither of the two seas transgresses by carrying its own properties to the other, although they mix during the process of meeting. How truthful is Allah’s Saying: (He has let free (maraja) the two seas meeting together. Between them is a barrier which they do not transgress.)

Most commentators suggest that the barrier that separates the two seas referred to here is an invisible barrier created by Allah. Some commentators find it difficult to reconcile the idea of the seas being merging and the presence of a barrier at the same time, for the presence of a barrier entails the prevention of merging. So the mention of merging (maraja) entails the absence of a barrier. This apparent contradiction has been resolved by discovering the secrets of the seas.

The Miraculous Aspects of the Previous Verses:

We can conclude the following from the discussion above:

The Holy Qur’an, which was revealed more than 14 centuries ago, includes very precise pieces of information and knowledge about marine phenomena that have been discovered only recently by means of very sophisticated equipment. An instance in this respect is the existence of water barriers between seas. Allah (SWT) says: (He has let free (maraja) the two seas meeting together. Between them is a barrier which they do not transgress.)

The historical development of Oceanography shows that no precise information had been available on seas before Challenger Expedition (in 1873 AD), let alone at the time when the Holy Qur’an was being revealed 14 centuries ago to an illiterate Prophet that lived in a desert environment and never traveled by sea.

Oceanography has witnessed no advances except in the last two centuries, particularly in the latter half of the twentieth century. Prior to that a sea was considered as something fearful and mysterious. Myths and superstitions were fabricated about it. Sea voyagers were only interested in their own safety and how to find the correct routes during their long journeys. Man discovered that salt seas are different only in the thirties of the twentieth century, after thousands of marine stations had been established by researchers to analyze samples of sea water to measure the differences between the degrees of temperature, salinity, density and oxygen dissolubility in the sea water recorded at all those stations, and then realize that salt seas are different.

Man did not know anything about the barrier that separates between salt seas till the establishment of the aforesaid stations, and after spending a long time tracing these wavy moving barriers that change their geographical locations with the change of seasons.

Man did not know that the water masses of the two seas are separated by a water barrier and are mixed at the same time till he started studying with his ships and equipment the water movement in the meeting region of the seas and analyzing the water masses in those regions.

Man did not apply this rule to all seas that meet together except after vast scientific surveying, investigation and verification of this phenomenon, which occurs between each pair of adjacent seas in the world.

Now then, did Allah’s Messenger (Peace be upon him) own stations and equipment for analyzing water and the ability to trace the movement of various water masses? Did he carry out a comprehensive surveying process, although he never sailed the sea and lived at a time when superstitions were prevalent, particularly in the field of seas? Were, at the time of Allah’s Messenger (Peace be upon him) such researches, instruments and studies as are available for the oceanographers of today who have discovered all these secrets by means of research and study?

This knowledge, which the Qur’an came with, included a precise description of the subtlest secrets at a time when humanity could never have known them, which indicates that its source is Divine, as Allah (SWT) says: (Say: “the (Qur’an) was sent down by Him Who knows the secret (that is) in the heavens and the earth: Verily He is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful.) (XXV: 6)

It also indicates that the one to whom the Book was sent down was a Messenger inspired. Allah (SWT) but says the Truth in the Verse: (Soon will We show Our Signs in the Universe and in their own selves, until it becomes manifest to them that this the Truth. Is it not sufficient that your Lord does witness all things?)

The Description of the Barrier Between Two Seas

— Unknown @ 15:04

The Description of the Barrier Between Two Seas

Oceanographers, in the wake of the scientific progress in this age, have discovered the barrier between two seas. They have found that a barrier separates two neighboring seas. The barrier moves between them, and it is called by scientists “a front” compared to the front between two armies. By virtue of this barrier each sea retains its own characteristics which Allah (SWT) has assigned to it and which are suitable for the organisms living in that environment.

Because of this barrier, the two neighboring seas mingle so slowly that the amount of water that passes from one sea to the other acquires the characteristics of the other sea while crossing the barrier which overturns the waters crossing from one sea to the other, keeping each sea with its own characteristics.

The gradual progress of human knowledge about the fact of the differences between seawater masses and the existence of barriers between them :

Oceanographers discovered that there were certain differences between water samples taken from various seas in 1284 AH/1873 AD, by the British Marine Scientific Expedition of the Challenger Voyage. It was discovered that masses of sea water vary in their composition, in respect of salinity, water temperature, density and types of marine organisms. The data were obtained from 362 oceanographic stations. The report of the expedition filled 29,500 pages in 50 volumes and took 23 years to complete. One of the great achievements of scientific exploration, the expedition also showed how little man knew about the sea.

After 1933 AD another American expedition set out in the Mexican Gulf and installed hundreds of sea stations to study the characteristics of seas. It found out that a large number of stations in a certain area gave similar information about the characteristics of the water in that area, whether in respect of salinity, density, temperature, marine organisms or solubility of oxygen in water, while another group of stations in another area gave a different set of data about that area. So, oceanographers concluded that there were two distinctive seas with different characteristics, and not just limited samples as the Expedition of Challenger showed.

Man installed hundreds of marine stations to study the characteristics of various seas. Scientists have found out that the differences in these characteristics distinguished one sea from another. But why do these seas not mix and become homogeneous in spite of the effect of tide and ebb that moves sea water twice a day, and causes seas to move forward and backward turbulently, besides other factors that cause sea water to be in continuous movement and turbulence, such as surface and internal waves and sea currents?

The answer appeared for the first time in scientific books in 1361 AH/1942 AD. Extensive studies of marine characteristics revealed that there are water barriers separating neighboring seas and maintaining the distinctive properties of each sea with respect to density, salinity, marine life, temperature and solubility of oxygen in water.

There are large waves, strong currents, and tides in the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. Mediterranean Sea water enters the Atlantic by Gibraltar. But their temperature, salinity, and densities do not change, because of the barrier that separates them.

After 1962 AD there was known the role of sea barriers in modifying the properties of the water masses that pass from one sea to another, to prevent one sea from overwhelming the other. So salty seas retain their own properties and boundaries by virtue of these barriers.

A field study comparing the waters of Oman Gulf and those of the Arabian Gulf has shown the difference between them regarding their chemical properties, the prevalent vegetation and the barrier separating them.

About a hundred years of research and study has been required to discover the fact of the existence of barriers between sea water masses and their role in making each sea retain its own properties. Hundred of researchers took part and numerous precise scientific instruments and equipment were used to achieve that.

Fourteen centuries ago the Holy Qur’an revealed this fact.

Allah (SWT) says: (He has let free (MARAJA) the two sees meeting together. Between them is a barrier that they do not transgress. Then which of the Blessings of your Lord will you both (Jinn and men) deny? Out of them both come out pearls and carol.” (LV: 19-22) Allah (SWT) also says: “And He made a barrier between the two seas.) (XXVII: 61)

Linguistic meanings and the commentators’ sayings:

Maraja (let free):

Ibn Faris said: “’maraja’: The consonants m, r and j form a root indicating a movement of going and coming and turbulence.”

Al-Bahrayn (the two seas):

Al-Asfahani said: “Some say that the word “bahr” (sea) is usually used to mean salt water rather than fresh water.”

Ibn Manzursaid: “’Bahr’ is more frequently used to describe salt water than fresh water.”

If the word “bahr” is used without qualification it means salt water; otherwise, it means the thing qualified.” The Holy Qur’an uses “nahr” (river) to indicate abundant running fresh water, while it uses “bahr” (sea) to indicate salt water. Allah (SWT) says: (And He has made the ships to be of service to you that they may sail through the sea by His Command; and He has made rivers (also) to be of service to you.)(XIV: 32)

In the hadith, “bahr” (sea) is also used to mean salt water. Allah’s Messenger (Peace be upon him) was asked by a man who said: “O Allah’s Messenger! We travel by sea and carry with us a little fresh water. If we should use it for wudu (ablution) we would get thirsty. May we use seawater for wudu? Allah’ Messenger (Peace be upon him) said: “Its water is pure and its dead (animals) are lawful (to eat).”

Al-Barzakh: It is the barrier. Most commentatorssuggest that it is invisible.

Al-baghi: Ibn Manzur said: “’Al-Baghi’ means transgression, exceeding the limits.”

Al-Jawhari and Al-Asfahani said the same.

Al-Marjan: Ibn Al-Jawzi said: “Al-Qadi Abu Ya’li says that Al-Marjan is a kind of bar-like pearls. Al-Zajjajsaid: “Al-Marjan is white, very white.” Ibn Mas’ud said: “Al-Marjan is red beads.” Abu Hayyan said that to some people Al-Marjan is red stone. Al-Qurtubi said: “It is said that Al-Marjan is the big pearls. The same is also said by ‘Ali and Ibn ‘Abbas (May Allah bestow His Mercy on them both). The small pieces of Marjan are the small pearls. It is also reported on their authority the opposite: the big pieces are called pearls and the smaller are called Marjan. Al-Dahhak and Qatadah said the same.”

Al-Alusi said: “If we take into consideration the connotation of brilliance and glitter which the Arabic word “pearls” carries, and the connotation of movement and mixing that the word “Marjan” carries, we can say that “pearls” is used for big pieces and “Marjan” for small ones.”

Anyhow, Marjan is a kind of ornament that is found in various colors: white and red. It may be in big or small pieces. It is bar-like stone. In the Verse it is something other than pearls, for the conjunction “and” implies talking bout two different things. Marjan (carol), however, is found in salt seas only.

The Verse shows us the minute secrets which oceanography has revealed only recently. They describe the meeting between salt seas. Following is the evidence to that:

First: The Verse uses the word “bahrayn” (two seas) without any qualification. This means that salt seas are intended here.

Second: The Verses in Surat Al-Rahman show that the two seas yield pearls and “Marjan”(carol). It has become evident that Marjan is found in salt seas only. This indicates that the Verse is referring to two salt seas. Allah (SWT) says: “Out of them both come out pearls and carol,” i.e. out of each of them.

Who knew in the past that salt seas differ in many respects in spite of their apparent similarity to the observer? (They all taste salt, look blue, have waves, contain fish, etc.) How can they differ although they meet each other? We know that when two amounts of water are mixed in a container they get homogenous. How can seas remain differentiated even in the presence of the factors of mixing, such as the ebb and flow of the sea, currents and storms?

The Verse mentions the meeting of two salt seas that differ from one another. If the two seas were similar to one another, they would be one sea. However, differentiating between them in the Qur’anic utterance implies the difference between them although they are both salt.

(He has let free (Maraja) the two seas meeting together) means that the two seas are mixed; they are in the state of backward and forward movements, of mixing and turbulence at the site of the meeting, as is understood from the literal meaning of “Maraja”. This is the fact that science has discovered, that is to say, the barrier is described as being zigzag or wavy and shifting in position during the various seasons because of the tide and winds.

This Verse by itself implies the presence of so much mixing and merging between these seas as would deprive them of their distinctive properties. But Allah (SWT), the All-Knower, shows in the following Verse that “between them is a barrier which they do not transgress”, i.e. In spite of this state of merging and turbulence that characterizes the seas there is a barrier between them preventing them from transgressing or exceeding their limits.

This is what man has discovered as a result of the advances achieved in his sciences and instruments. It has been found that a third water mass separates the two seas and it has such properties as are different from those of each of the two seas separated by it.

Yet, in spite of the presence of the barrier, the waters of the two adjacent seas mix very slowly without one sea encroaching upon the other through carrying over its own properties to it, for the barrier zone is a region for changing the water crossing from one sea to the other so that it gradually acquires the properties of the sea that is going to enter and loses the properties of the sea it has come form. Thus neither of the two seas transgresses by carrying its own properties to the other, although they mix during the process of meeting. How truthful is Allah’s Saying: (He has let free (maraja) the two seas meeting together. Between them is a barrier which they do not transgress.)

Most commentators suggest that the barrier that separates the two seas referred to here is an invisible barrier created by Allah. Some commentators find it difficult to reconcile the idea of the seas being merging and the presence of a barrier at the same time, for the presence of a barrier entails the prevention of merging. So the mention of merging (maraja) entails the absence of a barrier. This apparent contradiction has been resolved by discovering the secrets of the seas.

The Miraculous Aspects of the Previous Verses:

We can conclude the following from the discussion above:

The Holy Qur’an, which was revealed more than 14 centuries ago, includes very precise pieces of information and knowledge about marine phenomena that have been discovered only recently by means of very sophisticated equipment. An instance in this respect is the existence of water barriers between seas. Allah (SWT) says: (He has let free (maraja) the two seas meeting together. Between them is a barrier which they do not transgress.)

The historical development of Oceanography shows that no precise information had been available on seas before Challenger Expedition (in 1873 AD), let alone at the time when the Holy Qur’an was being revealed 14 centuries ago to an illiterate Prophet that lived in a desert environment and never traveled by sea.

Oceanography has witnessed no advances except in the last two centuries, particularly in the latter half of the twentieth century. Prior to that a sea was considered as something fearful and mysterious. Myths and superstitions were fabricated about it. Sea voyagers were only interested in their own safety and how to find the correct routes during their long journeys. Man discovered that salt seas are different only in the thirties of the twentieth century, after thousands of marine stations had been established by researchers to analyze samples of sea water to measure the differences between the degrees of temperature, salinity, density and oxygen dissolubility in the sea water recorded at all those stations, and then realize that salt seas are different.

Man did not know anything about the barrier that separates between salt seas till the establishment of the aforesaid stations, and after spending a long time tracing these wavy moving barriers that change their geographical locations with the change of seasons.

Man did not know that the water masses of the two seas are separated by a water barrier and are mixed at the same time till he started studying with his ships and equipment the water movement in the meeting region of the seas and analyzing the water masses in those regions.

Man did not apply this rule to all seas that meet together except after vast scientific surveying, investigation and verification of this phenomenon, which occurs between each pair of adjacent seas in the world.

Now then, did Allah’s Messenger (Peace be upon him) own stations and equipment for analyzing water and the ability to trace the movement of various water masses? Did he carry out a comprehensive surveying process, although he never sailed the sea and lived at a time when superstitions were prevalent, particularly in the field of seas? Were, at the time of Allah’s Messenger (Peace be upon him) such researches, instruments and studies as are available for the oceanographers of today who have discovered all these secrets by means of research and study?

This knowledge, which the Qur’an came with, included a precise description of the subtlest secrets at a time when humanity could never have known them, which indicates that its source is Divine, as Allah (SWT) says: (Say: “the (Qur’an) was sent down by Him Who knows the secret (that is) in the heavens and the earth: Verily He is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful.) (XXV: 6)

It also indicates that the one to whom the Book was sent down was a Messenger inspired. Allah (SWT) but says the Truth in the Verse: (Soon will We show Our Signs in the Universe and in their own selves, until it becomes manifest to them that this the Truth. Is it not sufficient that your Lord does witness all things?)

Inimitable Notions of The Glorious Qur'an to The Creation of The Universe 1) Beginning and Stages

— Unknown @ 15:00

Inimitable Notions of The Glorious Qur'an to The Creation of The Universe 1) Beginning and Stages

· The Universe is created, not eternal:

Astronomical surveys show that the universe contains spots of extreme density and temperature as the star's core, and others of low density and temperature as the interstellar matter. This diversity is an evidence that the universe is not eternal but created. Had it been eternal it would have been equal all over in terms of density and temperature due to thermal and pressure equilibrium.

Another proof is the existence of radioactive materials such as radium and uranium, in spite of their limited half-life time. Also, the recession of galaxies which was discovered only in the first half of the twentieth century is another proof. This latter evidence also underlines the existence of a beginning of the universal expansion. Scientists maintain that the universe emerged after a "big bang' , a formidable explosion- a hypothesis supported by the discoveries during the 1960s of the cosmic background radiation, the temperature of which amounts to 3 kelvin degrees only.

· Theories of the origin and evolution of the universe:

Modern books on cosmology abound with ideas, theories, proposals and researches related to the efforts made to develop a theory explaining the origin and the evolution of the great universe. The most important of these can be summed up in the following points:

1) Two thousand years ago, Aristotle (384-322 B.C.) held that the earth was a fixed center of the universe round which the moon, the sun, planets, and stars revolve in circular orbits.

2) In the second century A.D., Ptolemy- who lived in Egypt- introduced minor amendments to Aristotle's model but still upheld the earth-centered view of the universe.

3) This belief prevailed in the world until the emergence of Islam. A few years after the foundations of the Islam State were firmly established, the Muslims began to study several branches of knowledge and founded a great civilization world-wide. They readjusted the Ptolemic model and introduced a new model in which planets revolve round the sun. This model was borrowed by the Polish scientist Copernicus when he moved to Italy (between 1496 and 1503 A.D.) where he studied Islamic astronomy.

4) In the first half of the twentieth century, Alexander Friedmann applied the general theory of relativity to the universe and created models and solutions that all agree on the point that the cosmos is expanding at present.

5) Hubble could support Friedmann's conclusions by his (Hubble's) scientific discoveries. His measurements proved that distance between galaxies are increasing steadily at velocities that are directly proportional to distance.

6) Friedmann's models entail three possible kinds or forms of the universe:

a) The "Closed Universe" model: the potential energy is more than kinetic energy, which leads to the suspension of the present expansion of the universe, and afterwards to its contraction.

b) The "Open Universe" model: the kinetic energy is more than the potential energy and the universe continues to expand.

c) The "Steady-State Universe" model: the potential and kinetic energies are equal. Therefore, expansion of the universe decreases gradually, but never reaches a zero point in infinity.

7) The American physicist George Gamow (1868-1904), who comes from a Russian origin, suggested that there was a beginning of the universe between 10 and 20 billion years ago in the form of a 'Big Bang' in the 1960s, the radiation or the glow of the cosmos' beginning was discovered, as Gamow had predicted in the form of microwaves.

8) In 1970s, Hawking and Penrose proved that the universe must, per necessity, have a beginning, known in mathematics as the point of singularity, where density takes the value of infinity . Nevertheless, science has not been able to reveal what the first moment of the life of the universe was like. The popular model now assumes that immediately after the emergence of the universe, it was a fireball of an extreme density and temperature. Then the fireball began to expand, while its temperature dropped rapidly forming what is known as "radiation soup".

9) About 100,000 years after the emergence of the universe, matter was separated from radiation. For the first time the universe appeared transparent. When the age of the universe reached about 300,000 years, the hydrogen and helium atoms started to be formed.

10) After about 500 million years, galaxies and their systems were formed in a way that has not be scientifically explained so far, in spite of the variety of the proposed models.

· The popular model: an overview:

In the beginning - about 10-20 billion years ago – the universe was a handful of high-density hot photons congested in a very small space. Then the handful burst forth and began to expand. Therefore, its density and temperature began to decrease.

In the early fractions of the first moment, the universe was so hot that the temperature reached millions of billions of degrees. It consisted of a mixture of matter and radiation where photons collided, forming elementary particles such as protons and neutrons. These particles neutralized each other, transforming into energy in about 3 minutes and 46 seconds the temperature dropped to about 900 million degrees. So, protons and neutrons began to intermingle forming simple stable atoms (such as heavy hydrogen). In the following hundreds of thousands of years, the matter of the universe became hot and opaque like the star core. After 700,000 years the temperature dropped to 3000 degrees and electrons and protons were fused, forming stable helium atoms. There were no longer electrons where photons diffused. The universe became permeable to photons. Matter and energy were no longer interfused. Rather, they developed independent of one another.

About one billion years after the 'Big Bang', stars and galaxies began to be formed. Matter inside stars grew again and started to radiate due to the occurrence of nuclear reactions which formed the heavier elements. These, in turn, were the source which developed later into the heavenly bodies we are now able to see and observe.

The theory of the evolving universe which conceives of the existence of a 'Big Bang' rests on the observation of galactic recession and the background radiation. By measuring the velocity of external galaxies it was found out that the recession velocity increases with longer distances. So, if speeds were measured backwards, i.e. in the reversed direction, galaxies should be heading to converge in 10-20 billion, which is the approximate age of the universe.

The background radiation is the photons that existed in the universe when its temperature was about 3,000 degrees, i.e. it was radiated by a body whose heat was 3,000 degrees. Since then, the universe has been receding, with the result that rays are shifted in the direction of the longer wave-lengths. Now waves are in the radio area. The peak of radiation was shifted suggesting that it came from a body measuring 3 degrees in temperature, rather than earlier measures (the radioactivity came from a body of 3000 degrees before the end of interfusion of matter and these photons 700 thousand years after the 'Big Bang').

· The Creation of The Universe in The Qur'an:

With this scientific review of the theories and models of the universe's origin, and evolution, let us take a look at one of the ayat (verses) of the Glorious Qur'an (as meaningfully translated):

" Do not the disbelievers see that the heaven and the earth were joined together , before We clove them asunder? (30)" {Surah Al-Anbiya (The Prophets) XXI}.

The ayah (verse) refutes the arguments of the disbelievers who search for theories and creeds to replace the notion of believing in one Omnipotent God (Allah) Who created everything and the universe itself.

On the other hand, the Qur'anic ayah states that the heavens and earth were joined together (the Qur'anic term is "Ratq", in the sense of union). Taking into account the evolution of the universe since its birth, we will find the first event was the separation of matter and radiation when the universe was about 100 thousand years old. At that time, matter was formed of nuclei of hydrogen, helium, and some other elements as well as cluster floating in the 'radiation soup'. In this form of matter during the universe's infancy was the origin of all kinds of materials that exist now in the universe whether on earth, or overhead in the sky.

Radiation, or photons, began to lose temperature gradually as the universe continues to expand. The decline of the temperature reached a point when radiation filled all the universe. Thus the implication of heavens and earth being in union is that matter and radiation were merged together ("Ratq" in Arabic), as the origin of everything in heavens and earth. The "Fatq" (as mentioned in the Arabic text of the Qur'an) cleavage, it is their separation which came later, matter becoming the earth, the planets, the stars, the galaxies and other astronomical material, and radiation becoming the regions of the sky and the horizon of the whole universe, just as modern science informs us.

This is one interpretation of the Glorious ayah. But there can be another. The universe has undergone other formidable and immense upheavals over its long lifetime. One of the astronomical enigmas is the disparity of the age of the universe according to the Hubble law and measurements on the one hand, and that age calculated according to the constituents of the universe – galactical and stellar systems and other materials. According to Hubble's law and measurements, the age of the open universe is about 11 billion years. But the age of the closed universe is estimated at about 7.4 billion years, whereas its systems are estimated to be 12-18 billion years old. One way to solve this riddle is the hypothesis that the universe was about to collapse around 8-10 billion years ago, but then was re-opened (re-expand). According to Hubble, the age of the universe is estimated since it was re-opened onwards, the time preceding the re-opening being excluded. This explains the discrepancy between this age and the age of the constituents or matter of the universe.

If it really happened that the position energy or the gravity of the universe's matter surpassed the kinetic energy, the universe ought to have contracted and collapsed a long time age, unless the Creator willed it otherwise and stopped the collapse, affecting a new expansion. Only He who has started creation can re-create it at His will if it hovers on collapse, death or closure (contraction) under its own gravity. If the universe- with its heavens, earth, stars, and galaxies – had neared collapse or closure, who else other than Allah the Omnipotent Creator could have replaced ("Ratq", union; with "Fatq", cleavage, in the Qur'anic terminology), so that heavens, earth and the whole universe would be re-opened (re-expand) again?

This is a testimony that this discourse (The Qur'an) was revealed by Allah to his messenger Muhammad Ben Abdullah (peace be upon him be upon him). It could not have been contrived by a human being more than fourteen centuries ago or even now…!

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