According to Quran, "God is the light of the heavens and the earth. The example of His light is as if there were niche and within it a luminary. The luminary is in glass. And glass is as if it were a planet glittering like a pearl." (Al-Noor:35)
In another verse He says, "We have indeed adorned the lowest heavens with our ornaments and planets." (Al-Safat:6)
It is said that the Quranic word As-sama-o-dunia stands for the solar system. About days and nights, rotation and revolution, the sun and the moon Al-Quran says, "He merges night into day and day into night. And He has subjected the sun and the moon (to His law). Each one runs its course for a term appointed."
The Quran addresses the basic questions of creation. Turning toward the creation of all living beings, the holy book says, "And we have created everything living from water." This is a categorical statement and very comprehensive answer of the Quran to the questions of creation and evolution of life -- all life is created from water. There is unanimity of view of almost all the scientists and cosmologists that the basic prerequisite of every kind of life is water. The creation of life without water is impossible.
About winds, clouds, and rain the Quranic interpretation is as scientific as ever. It says, "It is Allah who sends forth the winds, so that they rise up the clouds and We drive them to a land that is dead and revive the earth therewith after its death." (Al-Fater:9)
The Quran systematically describes the process of rising of winds, formation of clouds, and rainwater. And that water gives life.
About the atmosphere and ozone the Quran mentions that He made earth's atmospheric roof to prevent dangerous radiation reaching the earth. God says, "And We have made above you seven strong barriers." (Al-Nisa:12)
These radiations could have devastated the life on earth. The function of this roof is to save us from dangerous solar radiations, most of which are either reflected back into space or absorbed by it.
The most important question about the universe is its future, whether it has any end. The Holy Quran says the sky was smoke (gases) and once more it will be a smoke. "The sky will bring a smoke which will take everything in it." Many verses tell that the universe is moving toward its end. The sunspots, the depletion of ozone layer, the rising temperature, etc., demonstrate that one day everything will perish and there would be an end to this universe.
From the above discussion it can be safely concluded that the Holy Quran does not contain a single verse that is open to criticism from modern science or cosmology. I have taken just few glimpses from the Quran to present certain aspects of cosmology as seen from Islamic point of view. Science is in pursuit of ultimate truth; the Quran time and again calls upon the people to think over and over again about the creation of universe, human beings, stars, galaxies, so that they can reach ultimate truth. The Quran is not the book of science but it is a fact that it contains basic principles of almost all the sciences.
This article was first printed as science-islam.net and is reprinted with permission.
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