Epigraph:

We will show them Our Signs in the universe and also among their own selves, until it becomes manifest to them that the Quran is the truth. (Al Quran 41:53)

He is the Mighty, the Forgiving; Who created the seven heavens, one above the other. You will not see any flaw in what the Lord of Mercy creates. Look again! Can you see any flaw? Look again! And again! Your sight will turn back to you, weak and defeated. (Al Quran 67:2-4)

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Written and collected by Zia H Shah MD, Chief Editor of the Muslim Times

Modern cosmology now suggests that our universe came to being some 13.7 billion years ago and that there are two trillion galaxies in our universe.

The Muslims take the Quran to be the literal word of All-Knowing God. The non-Muslims either are unsure about it, don’t have an opinion on this, or may think of it as word of Muhammad, his own words or borrowed from some helper.

I am writing a series of articles on this theme, discussing one or a few verse at a time. The first three article of this series are: Quran: Is This God Speaking or Muhammad? The Quran and Creation Ex Nihilo: Is This God Speaking or Muhammad? and: The Quran and the Expanding Universe: Is This God Speaking or Muhammad?

Prophet Muhammad, may peace be on him, grew up and lived in 7th century Arabia, which was a wasteland according to the modern as well as 7th century standards. The sublime and amazing character of the verses quoted as epigraph of this article, is beyond his human consciousness. These verses have a prophetic element of predicting the future scientific developments.

The modern breathtaking discoveries of physics and universe remind me of the opening verses of the Surah Furqan:

Exalted is He who has sent the Differentiator down to His servant so that it may be a warning to all people. It is He who has control over the heavens and earth and has no offspring––no one shares control with Him––and who created all things and made them to an exact measure. Yet the disbelievers take as their gods things beneath Him that create nothing, and are themselves created, that can neither harm nor help themselves, and have no control over death, life, or resurrection.
The disbelievers say, ‘This can only be a lie he has forged with the help of others’––they themselves have done great wrong and told lies––and they say, ‘It is just ancient fables, which he has had written down: they are dictated to him morning and evening.’ Say, ‘It was sent down by Him who knows the secrets of the heavens and earth. He is all forgiving, all merciful. (Al Quran 25:1-6)

It is only in recent centuries that we have come to know of the full import of many of the verses that are highlighted in this series of articles. Another way to look at these verses is that they were revealed not only in the literal heat of the desert of Arabia but the metaphorical heat of on going defensive battles for the very survival of Muhammad and his religion.

Are these verses and many more to be discussed, word of a finite man Muhammad or an All-Knowing God?

If you have come this far in this article, my main suggestion to you is to read on and in the words of Sir Francis Bacon, “Read not to contradict … but to weigh and consider.”

The verses of Surah Mulk mentioned as epigraph were also included in the Nobel Banquet speech of Dr. Abdus Salam, when he received Nobel Prize in physics in 1979. I quote from the Nobel Prize website:

The creation of Physics is the shared heritage of all mankind. East and West, North and South have equally participated in it. In the Holy Book of Islam, Allah says

مَّا تَرَىٰ فِي خَلْقِ الرَّحْمَٰنِ مِن تَفَاوُتٍ ۖ فَارْجِعِ الْبَصَرَ هَلْ تَرَىٰ مِن فُطُورٍ

 ثُمَّ ارْجِعِ الْبَصَرَ كَرَّتَيْنِ يَنقَلِبْ إِلَيْكَ الْبَصَرُ خَاسِئًا وَهُوَ حَسِيرٌ

“Thou seest not, in the creation of the All-merciful any imperfection, Return thy gaze, seest thou any fissure. Then Return thy gaze, again and again. Thy gaze, Comes back to thee dazzled, aweary.”

This in effect is, the faith of all physicists; the deeper we seek, the more is our wonder excited, the more is the dazzlement for our gaze.

If God gives me life and health this series of articles will continue. Please stay tuned.

Additional reading:

Everything is a Miracle According to the Holy Quran and Albert Einstein