Koranic Science Debunked: From Big Bang to the Big Crunch

[Kai Hagbard]

My intention with this thread is to present a series of posts looking at the development of the cosmological entity, the universe as it is revealed in the Koran.

Basically I will attempt to look at the Koranic view of the Origin of the universe and initially end up with the Koranic view of the end of the Universe.

As to my current view and conclusion, having assessed a range of material, such as the Koran, the Hadiths, and pre-Islamic scientific postulates and religions, I intend to prove that Koranic science fails to present anything that is anywhere near to the miraculous, which is what Islamic missionaries want us to believe.

I intend to prove that:

1. Koranic science is inconsistent due to internal contradictions

2. Koranic science does not consist with the conclusions of modern science

3. Koranic science relates to and plagiarises sources and ideas which were common before and within Muhammad’s era


Anyone should feel free to comment, add, suggest, debate or criticise

Be blessed Kai

[Kai Hagbard]

Before we start off, lets just get a good glimpse of the things we will be looking into; which is this development of the universe, as proposed by the Koran.

We will be looking at the first passages on the Big Bang pre-suppostion from the different translators.

Note however, that these passages provide the ground on the topic of this thread as they describe the beginning and development of the universe (according to the Koran):

Sura 021.030

YUSUFALI: Do not the Unbelievers see that the heavens and the earth were joined together (as one unit of creation), before we clove them asunder? We made from water every living thing. Will they not then believe?
PICKTHAL: Have not those who disbelieve known that the heavens and the earth were of one piece, then We parted them, and we made every living thing of water? Will they not then believe?
SHAKIR: Do not those who disbelieve see that the heavens and the earth were closed up, but We have opened them; and We have made of water everything living, will they not then believe?

Sura 021.031

YUSUFALI: And We have set on the earth mountains standing firm, lest it should shake with them, and We have made therein broad highways (between mountains) for them to pass through: that they may receive Guidance.
PICKTHAL: And We have placed in the earth firm hills lest it quake with them, and We have placed therein ravines as roads that haply they may find their way.
SHAKIR: And We have made great mountains in the earth lest it might be convulsed with them, and We have made in it wide ways that they may follow a right direction.

Sura 021.032

YUSUFALI: And We have made the heavens as a canopy well guarded: yet do they turn away from the Signs which these things (point to)!
PICKTHAL: And we have made the sky a roof withheld (from them). Yet they turn away from its portents.
SHAKIR: And We have made the heaven a guarded canopy and (yet) they turn aside from its signs.

Sura 021.033

YUSUFALI: It is He Who created the Night and the Day, and the sun and the moon: all (the celestial bodies) swim along, each in its rounded course.
PICKTHAL: And He it is Who created the night and the day, and the sun and the moon. They float, each in an orbit.
SHAKIR: And He it is Who created the night and the day and the sun and the moon; all (orbs) travel along swiftly in their celestial spheres.

To summarize these passages:

the Koran presents a cosmological development, that contains a range of stages:

1) the heavens and earth are joined together into one piece (nothing is mentioned of the creation of this particular piece of matter)

2) Allah splits or parts this clump of material into the earth and the pre-material of the heavens

3) Every living thing is created out of water

4) the earth is formed

5) Allah creates the heaven, which is desribe as the canopy or the roof of
the universe

6) Then Allah creates the day and the night based upon the sun’s and moon’s orbit around the earth.

The next passage, which helps us grasping the full context:

041.009

YUSUFALI: Say: Is it that ye deny Him Who created the earth in two Days? And do ye join equals with Him? He is the Lord of (all) the Worlds.
PICKTHAL: Say (O Muhammad, unto the idolaters): Disbelieve ye verily in Him Who created the earth in two Days, and ascribe ye unto Him rivals? He (and none else) is the Lord of the Worlds.
SHAKIR: Say: What! do you indeed disbelieve in Him Who created the earth in two periods, and do you set up equals with Him? That is the Lord of the Worlds.

041.010

YUSUFALI: He set on the (earth), mountains standing firm, high above it, and bestowed blessings on the earth, and measure therein all things to give them nourishment in due proportion, in four Days, in accordance with (the needs of) those who seek (Sustenance).
PICKTHAL: He placed therein firm hills rising above it, and blessed it and measured therein its sustenance in four Days, alike for (all) who ask;
SHAKIR: And He made in it mountains above its surface, and He blessed therein and made therein its foods, in four periods: alike for the seekers.

041.011

YUSUFALI: Moreover He comprehended in His design the sky, and it had been (as) smoke: He said to it and to the earth: "Come ye together, willingly or unwillingly." They said: "We do come (together), in willing obedience."
PICKTHAL: Then turned He to the heaven when it was smoke, and said unto it and unto the earth: Come both of you, willingly or loth. They said: We come, obedient.
SHAKIR: Then He directed Himself to the heaven and it is a vapor, so He said to it and to the earth: Come both, willingly or unwillingly. They both said: We come willingly.

041.012

YUSUFALI: So He completed them as seven firmaments in two Days, and He assigned to each heaven its duty and command. And We adorned the lower heaven with lights, and (provided it) with guard. Such is the Decree of (Him) the Exalted in Might, Full of Knowledge.
PICKTHAL: Then He ordained them seven heavens in two Days and inspired in each heaven its mandate; and We decked the nether heaven with lamps, and rendered it inviolable. That is the measuring of the Mighty, the Knower.
SHAKIR: So He ordained them seven heavens in two periods, and revealed in every heaven its affair; and We adorned the lower heaven with brilliant stars and (made it) to guard; that is the decree of the Mighty, the Knowing.

here:

1) The earth is created in two days

2) the earth is formed and made to sustain its living beings (this takes 4 days)

3) the heavens are still smoke at this time (Yusuf Ali adds ‘as’ which is not found in the Arabic); Allah calls the smoke and the earth to come together

4) then Allah makes the smoke into seven heavens, and reveals in each of them its affair

5) the lowest is adorned with stars to guard it (this took 2 days); in all 8 days!

To summarize them in comparison:

1. Sura 21 includes the origins of the heavenly material, the clump of material, which contains the earth and the edges or the seven heavens; then Allah splits it.

2. Both Sura 21 and Sura 41 state that the earth was created at this stage and even formed and made to sustain its living being.

3. Sura 41 then describes how Allah commands the earth and the smoke to come together and both Suras then state that Allah used the smoke to create the stratums of the heaven (according to Sura 21) or (or) and the seven heavens according to Sura 41.

4. The the stars are created according to Sura 41 and the sun and the moon orbit the earth according to Sura 21.

Here is the full picture:

1. Heavens and earth are united into one clump
2. The clump is separated
3. The earth is there and the rest of the clump is smoke
4. The earth is formed and blessed with all necessities for living creatures to live, and living things
are made from water
5. The earth and the smoke is called together
6. The smoke is made into the seven heavenly stratums
7. The sun, moon and the stars are created and their orbit starts
8. The heavens and the earth are brought back together again

Notes and problems on Koranic description:

1. The Koran at this point does not refer to space itself, but only the creation of matter.

2. Is it logical to assume that the earth existed in its full form prior to the sun, moon and stars and even prior to the creation of the heavenly roof and stratums?

3. How could the necessities for life on earth and the earth’s formation exist before the structure of the universe?

4. Is it logically correct to assume that earth functioned in its perfection prior to the orbit of the sun and the moon?

In this thread I will look at the Koran from three angles:

Does it consist in itself?
Is it truly consistent with modern science?
Does the Koranic description reveal new ideas proposed by Allah, Muhammad or a contemporary author, or does it plagiarise scientific ideas which were common knowledge prior to the religion of Islam?

[Kai Hagbard]

THE KORAN AND THE BIG BANG THEORY


The text usually referred to by Muslims to prove the miraculous prediction in the Koran about the Big Bang is Sura 21: 30, and I will refer to three translations:

021.030

YUSUFALI: Do not the Unbelievers see that the heavens and the earth were joined together (as one unit of creation), before we clove them asunder? We made from water every living thing. Will they not then believe?
PICKTHAL: Have not those who disbelieve known that the heavens and the earth were of one piece, then We parted them, and we made every living thing of water? Will they not then believe?
SHAKIR: Do not those who disbelieve see that the heavens and the earth were closed up, but We have opened them; and We have made of water everything living, will they not then believe?

Basically, the Koran points out that the heavens and the earth were joined together, being one part or one unit; then Allah separates them.

In his Book, The Bible, the Quran and Science, Maurice Bucaille expounds on this passage:

‘The reference to a separation process (fatq) of a primary single mass whose elements were initially fused together (ratq). It must be noted that in Arabic ‘fatq’ is the action of breaking, diffusing, separating, and that ‘ratq’ is the action of fusing or binding together elements to a make a homogenous whole.’ (Maurice Bucaille, The Quran, the Bible and Science, p.139)

In addition a well renown Muslim spokes-man by the name Harun Yahya, the writer of several published books and booklets which promote Islam writes about the Koran and the Big Bang:

‘The word "ratq" translated as "sewn to" means "mixed in each, blended" in the Arabic vernacular. It is used to refer to two different substances that make up a whole. The phrase "we unstitched" is the verb "fataqa" in Arabic and implies that something comes into being by tearing apart or destroying the structure of things that are sewn to one another. The sprouting of a seed from the soil is one of the actions to which this verb is applied.
Let us take a look at the verse again. In the verse, sky and earth are at first subject to the status of "ratq." They are separated (fataqa) with one coming out of the other. Intriguingly, when we think about the first moments of the Big Bang, we see that the entire matter of the universe collected at one single point. In other words, everything-including "the heavens and earth" which were not created yet-were in an interwoven and inseparable condition. Then, this point exploded violently, causing its matter to disunite’

(Source: Harun Yahya, The Scientific Miracles of the Quran).

Here it must be noted that Muslim missionaries are typically still depending upon Bucaille on this issue; as becomes evident when we read Yahya; others such as Jamal Badawi and Shabir Ally follow in the same led.

This is why the whole movement of Koranic science has been coined Bucaillianism.

All this sounds pretty convincing and Maurice Bucaille even concludes with these words:

‘How could a man living fourteen hundred years ago have made corrections to the existing description to such an extent that he eliminated scientifically inaccurate material and, on his own initiative, made statements that science has been able to verify only in the present day? This hypothesis is completely untenable. The description of the Creation given in the Qur’an is quite different from the one in the Bible’

(Source: Bucaille, 148).

Yet to someone who has grasped science and the history of science, neither Bucaille nor Yahya appear convincing:

Let’s first and quickly assess the argument of terminology.

Both Bucaille and Yahya, seem to attempt adding attracting and convincing elements to create a picture of modern scientific significance.

However, whether we elaborate upon every possibly root-meaning of the words ‘fatq’ or ‘ratq’ and whether we end up with fusion, separation, sewing, etc. The simple text has already revealed it.

The Qur’an basically stated that the heavens and the earth were one piece and Allah separated them.
The interpretation of Arabic words, neither beautify nor dispute the claim.

The real matter of significance, which we need to bring up is whether the Koran within this context brings up any information which miraculously predict modern discovery; in other words are the Koran and the modern science compatible?

The Koran certainly stated that the heavens and the earth were combined, and were separated, but in what sense does this predict the Big Bang? I what sense is this miracolous?

First and most the passage nowhere depicts a Big Bang which included the expansion of realm or space. The Koranic Big Bang reveals only that a piece of material is split apart within a realm of void space.

Yet to grasp this we need to see the full picture, and then we need to consider the full context; moving onward to verse 32 we read:

Sura 021.032

YUSUFALI: And We have made the heavens as a canopy well guarded: yet do they turn away from the Signs which these things (point to)!
PICKTHAL: And we have made the sky a roof withheld (from them). Yet they turn away from its portents.
SHAKIR: And We have made the heaven a guarded canopy and (yet) they turn aside from its signs.

The context reveals, that the earth and the heavens have been separated at this point; whereas Allah now makes the heavens into a canopy or into a roof, in other words an edge or a stratum (I shall return to the stratum is a later post).

Hence the heavens here do not necessarily refer to empty space but an edge, a roof for protection.

Further clarification on this is found in Sura 41: 10-12:

Sura 041.010

YUSUFALI: He set on the (earth), mountains standing firm, high above it, and bestowed blessings on the earth, and measure therein all things to give them nourishment in due proportion, in four Days, in accordance with (the needs of) those who seek (Sustenance).
PICKTHAL: He placed therein firm hills rising above it, and blessed it and measured therein its sustenance in four Days, alike for (all) who ask;
SHAKIR: And He made in it mountains above its surface, and He blessed therein and made therein its foods, in four periods: alike for the seekers.

041.011

YUSUFALI: Moreover He comprehended in His design the sky, and it had been (as) smoke: He said to it and to the earth: "Come ye together, willingly or unwillingly." They said: "We do come (together), in willing obedience."
PICKTHAL: Then turned He to the heaven when it was smoke, and said unto it and unto the earth: Come both of you, willingly or loth. They said: We come, obedient.
SHAKIR: Then He directed Himself to the heaven and it is a vapor, so He said to it and to the earth: Come both, willingly or unwillingly. They both said: We come willingly.

041.012

YUSUFALI: So He completed them as seven firmaments in two Days, and He assigned to each heaven its duty and command. And We adorned the lower heaven with lights, and (provided it) with guard. Such is the Decree of (Him) the Exalted in Might, Full of Knowledge.
PICKTHAL: Then He ordained them seven heavens in two Days and inspired in each heaven its mandate; and We decked the nether heaven with lamps, and rendered it inviolable. That is the measuring of the Mighty, the Knower.
SHAKIR: So He ordained them seven heavens in two periods, and revealed in every heaven its affair; and We adorned the lower heaven with brilliant stars and (made it) to guard; that is the decree of the Mighty, the Knowing.

According to Sura 41: 10 it is clear that Allah created the earth and everything one it.
In verse 11 we see Allah calling the earth and the heavens to come together, and in verse 12 we have the creation of the seven heavens, the seven stratums, in which Allah beautifies the lowest heaven with the stars.

When we look at this context, we realise that the claims of Bucaille are significantly overstated; especially if the Koran is supposed to present modern day discovery and scientific logic.

First and most we discover from the context of these two passages that the Koranic Big Bang does include the space or the void; it merely includes material.

Secondly, the Koranic Big Bang does not expand any universe, it simply separates an entity in which one remain in a fixed place and the rest is utilized to create seven heavenly stratums.

Thirdly, the whole idea of the earth existing in full shape prior to the creation of any cosmological edges or stars and even the subatomic elements of the stars is highly unscientific and in no way consists with the theories of modern scientific postulates or discoveries.

Then What does modern science tell us?

The Modern theory of the Big Bang states that the origins of the universe was compressed into a thing smaller than an atom, what scientists usually refer to as singularity and which some even refer to as infinity.

For some or other reason this atom size thing began expanding, some would say ‘appearing’; and within a second this ball grew from the size of an atom to the size of an orange; it contained existence, such as time, space and material.

According to scientific postulate this fireball consisted internally of subatomic material such as matter and anti-matter, they appeared due to high-concentrated energy which caused matter to appear spontaneously; this matter due to the lack of space continually collided, destroying each other, in which they turned back into radiation, and then back into matter and anti-matter.

Initially this fire ball no bigger than an orange was unable to take the pressure, as energy kept building up and the various forces within the unified super-force demanded their release.

A new expansion occurred, a cosmic inflation, which expanded space and permitted the matter out into the void to freely combine, form atoms, form the molecules, the clouds and finally the galaxies billions of them.

Each galaxy contained billions of stars, of which many or possibly all of them were surrounded by a multiple number of planets. One of these galaxies which the ancient Greeks coined by the name the ‘Milk way’ possessed a star which initially would be referred to as the sun. Around this star a peculiar planet was orbiting, it was by its inhabitant coined the planet earth.

Personally, I fail to see how scientist ever will be able to prove this dramatic postulate or theory. However, I fail at the same time to perceive any resemblance between the origin of the universe in the Koran and the theoretical modern theory of the Big.

In the Koran, the heavens and the earth appear spontaneously at the same time; there is no expansion, no mention of atoms forming galaxies or stars.

In stead the earth remains fixed while Allah takes the smoke part of the united entity and creates seven heavenly stratums; nothing is mentioned of the smoky material to form the galactic host.

In fact the Koranic passages revealed that the starry host was created by Allah and placed in the first heaven after the creation of the seven heavens.

This is highly unscientific, because the earth remains fixed and fully formed all the way through the formation of the heavens, including the time when Allah created the starry host.

What however becomes far more complicated is the fact that our modern observation tells us and confirms that the earth is but part of this starry host, as it orbits the sun, which in fact is star.

Obviously the Koran gets its science pretty wrong here.

Seems as if the Koran considers the earth to be the centrality, while everything else surrounds it, that is not what modern observation tells us and this is what I God willingly will attempt to point out.

However, if though the Koranic postulate would be correct, and if it resembled modern science, it would still be an overstatement to call it a miracle and even an amazing factor.

That the heaven and earth were once joined together and were separated by a divine being, was an idea which flourished and was commonly accepted long before the era of Muhammad.

The writings of Gilgamesh, which were written several centuries before Islam reveal the exact similar idea:

‘…when the heavens had been separated from the earth and the earth had been delimited from the heavens…’(Gilgamesh, Enkidu and the netherworld

Ancient Greek science we predated Islam also revealed the same idea:

Aristotle in his Physic’s (written fourth century BC) refers to Empedocles (492-432 BC) view of the cosmological origins:

The differences between Empedocles and Anaxagoras are that according to Empedocles mixture and separation occur in cycles, while according to Anaxagoras the separation was a unique event, and that Anaxagoras separates out an infinite number of things…Anaxagoras…assumed that nothing comes into being from non-being. That is why they make statements like ‘everything was originally mixed together’, and this is the kind of thing that coming into being is—alteration, though others talk in this context of combination and separation…So the reason they say that everything is mixed in everything is because, in their view, everything comes from everything (17).

And further:

…because not only is there a beginning of the separating process from which each individual arises, but there must also be a beginning for the universe as a whole. Why? Because anything which comes into being comes into being (although not at the same time), and this process of coming to be must have a source. Moreover this sources must be a single principle…And the upshot of all this is that everything must once have been mixed together and must have started changing at some point in time Aristotle, 64

In other words, from the early first century the scientific idea flourished among the Greeks that the universe was at one point mixed up, then a unique event occurred, it separated, but not all in one go, but as a process:

…because not only is there a beginning of the separating process (64)

Aristotle also refers to Hesiod:

Hesiod seems to be on the right track in putting Chasm first in his system. At any rate, the reason he says: ‘First came the Chasm, and then broad-breasted Earth’ is presumable because the first requirement is that there should be space for thing (Aristotle, 79)

The reason why the Koran does not refer to the expansion of space within the event of the separation of heavens and the earth, is probably, because common ideas were flourishing up to that time, that space was created before the unity of heaven and earth was separated.

The most interesting of all is however the Roman philosopher and scientist Lucretius, who writes his book ‘On the Nature of the Universe’ approximately 50 BC

He writes about the Big Bang, the separation of heaven and the earth in great details:

At that time the sun’s bright disc was not to be seen here, soaring loft and lavishing light, nor the stars that crowd the far-flung firmament, nor sea nor sky, nor earth, nor air nor anything in the likeness of things we know – nothing but a hurricane raging in a newly congregated mass of atoms of every sort. From their disharmony sprang conflict, which maintained a turmoil in their interspaces, courses, unions, thrusts, impacts, collisions and motions. From this medley they started to sort themselves out, like combining with like, and to rough out the main features of a world composed of distinct parts: they began, in fact, to separate the heights of heaven from the earth, to single out the sea as a receptacle for water detached from the mass and to set apart the fires of pure and isolated ether. In the first place all the particles of earth, because they were heavy and intertangled, collected in the middle and took up the undermost stations. The more closely they cohered and clung together, the more they squeezed out the atoms that went to the making of sea and stars, sun and moon and the outer walls of the great world. For all these are composed of smooth round seeds, much smaller that the particles of the earth. The first element to break out of the earth through the pores in its spongy crust and to shoot up a loft was ether, the generator of fire. Owing to its lightness it carried off with a quantity of fire. We may compare a first flush of dawn among…It is these vapour when they all coalesce and combine their substance in the upper air, that weave a cloudy curtain under the sky. Just so in those days the ethereal fire, buoyant and diffusive coalesced at the circumference and trickled this way and that till it generally diffused and enveloped the other elements in an ardent embrace. On this ensued the birth of the sun the moon, whose globes revolve at middle height in the atmosphere. The earth did not claim them for itself, nor did the transcendent ether, because they were either heavy enough to sink and settle nor light enough to soar in the uppermost zone. Yet in their midway station they are so places as to revolve as actual bodies and to form parts of the world as a whole. Just as in our own bodies, while some members remain fixed at their posts, others are free to move 184-5.

Basically if we follow Lucretius theory which resembles and expounds on the previous and which resembles the Koran to a great extent.

Then the heavens and earth were joined together as a cloud of atoms, with this chaos they composed the earth, but the heaviest gather in the middle and separated the heavens which at that time were composed of atoms, and raised it up.

According to Lucretius the separation raised the heights of the heaven, and made the outer walls, a roof, which we also in saw in Sura 21: 30-31:

Have not those who disbelieve known that the heavens and the earth were of one piece, then We parted them, and we made every living thing of water? Will they not then believe? And we have made the sky a roof withheld (from them). Yet they turn away from its portents.

Lucretius’ science is however much more significant than the Koran, as his separation of the heavens and earth, not only creates the earth and raises the heavens but also by the same material, atoms creates the starry host:

The more closely they cohered and clung together, the more they squeezed out the atoms that went to the making of sea and stars, sun and moon and the outer walls of the great world (Lucretius 184-185).

What are we able to conclude from this:

1 The Koranic view on the origins of the universe are not compatible with modern science

2 The Koranic view on the origins agree with the ideas and scientific postulates which were already commonly known before and within Muhammad’s era.

Which is why the Koran stated:

Have not those who disbelieve known that the heavens and the earth were of one piece, then We parted them, and we made every living thing of water? (Sura 21: 30)

It is obvious as we have seen that, Empedocles knew, the believers in the Gilgamesh knew, Aristotle knew about it, and certainly Lucretius believed it!




Unless there are any comments I will start preparing a similar post on the next stages of the cosmological development according to the Koran:

The Cosmological expansion
If Life came from wather
The smoky substance and the heavens

[Kai Hagbard]

What I probably failed to point out was basically that in the Modern science there is not separation of heaven and earth. This is where the Koran strictly contradicts modern science.

In the Koran heaven and earth are separated, which is in agreement with the philosophies and religious beliefs in Muhammad's era and prior to it.

Yet in modern science the earth never separates from the heavens, it remains a part of the heavens, and gradually forms after the universe has expanded through billions of years and its atoms have formed galaxies of which one of these initially contained the planet earth.


Do you see the difference?