When you look into the night sky, you look back in time.
But how far back in time can you see?
Could you see, with a big enough telescope, the first stars and galaxies?
And could you see the light from the great flash of the Big Bang itself?
As we look out, we look back in time.
We cannot look inﬁnitely far out since, sooner or later, we will see the Big Bang.
The Universe started from an extremely hot, and dense era.
As we go backwards in time, the Universe gets progressively younger, hotter, and denser.
But how did the cosmos go from extremely hot, and dense
To being filled with the multitude of stars and galaxies
That dominate the night sky today?
The big bang theory tells us that, the history of the universe’s creation
Is a history of space eras.
Each era in space lasted for a specific period
And played a specific role in the formation of the universe after the big bang.
For example, there was an era where “light and matter are formed”
An era where “light and matter are coupled”
An era where “light and matter separate”
And an era where “atoms start feeling the gravity of a cosmic web of dark matter”
An era where” first stars start to form”
A re-ionization era and so on,
Until the era of the many stars and galaxies that exist today.
Amazingly, even though each of the past eras is considered a stage in a sequence of events
That led to the creation of the universe,
The evidence of each era still endures
And scientists and astrologers can still see each of them.
In an article written for space.com on March 17, 2014
Entitled Cosmic Inflation: How It Gave the Universe the Ultimate Kickstart by Karl Tate,
There is a very interesting picture that summarizes the big bang space eras.
It’s a picture of a man standing over planet Earth and looking toward space.
The caption over the image reads: “Looking out in space and back in time”.
The photo explains that your eyes can see back very far in time
To the degree that you might see the great flash of the Big Bang itself.
But to reach this farthest point, your eyes must first pass seven eras that took place
Over the past 13.7 billion years.
These seven eras are the solar system era, the galaxies era,
The proto-galaxies era, the re-ionization era,
The first stars era, then the dark ages era
Until you reach the great flash era of the Big Bang itself.
Each era represents an event that took place during the history of our universe.
The Big Bang caused the universe ,and thus the galaxies in it,
To expand, such that most galaxies are moving away from each other.
The most distant and thus the youngest galaxies
Are moving away at a very fast speed.
Because of the time it takes light to travel
The further away we look, the further back in time we are looking.
The further away we look, the younger things are.
In fact, as we look farther and farther away
We’ve found galaxies that go as far back as when the Universe was less than one billion years old
Just a few percent of its current age.
This illustration compares various telescopes and how far back they are able to see.
Recently, NASA announced the launch of the Webb telescope
As a successor to NASA's iconic Hubble Space telescope.
The Webb telescope has a much bigger mirror than the Hubble.
This larger light collecting area means that the Webb can peer farther back in time
Than the Hubble is capable of doing.
In another words, the Hubble Telescope can see the equivalent of "toddler galaxies"
And the Webb Telescope will be able see "baby galaxies".
Remarkably, long before NASA’s Webb or Hubble telescopes
That could peer into the mysterious night sky,
The Holy Quran told us that the history of creation
Is a history of seven space eras
Each of which took place in a specific order
Mandated by God in the process of the universe’s creation.
It is worth noting that at the time of the revelation of the Quran
The word “space” was not known, and people used the word “heaven”
To refer to what lies above the Earth.
So in the Quranic verses we are going to mention now, the word “heaven”
Is referring to what we now call “space”.
Just as the big bang theory tells us that the history of the universe’s creation is
A history of space Eras
With each era playing a specific role in the formation of
Our current Universe for a specific period of time
The Holy Quran narrates exactly that in chapter 41, verse 12.
The Holy Quran tells us that during the process of the universe’s creation
God “completed the heavens as seven heavens and He made in each heaven its affair”.
What’s even more interesting is that at the end of that verse, the Holy Quran says
That God adorned the nearest heaven with lamps.
The term “lamps” here refers to the moon and sun.
And now science has proved that the solar system is really in the nearest space era to Earth
As light travels from it to Earth in only 14 hours.
In another verse, verse 6, chapter 37
The Quran says: “Indeed, We have adorned the nearest heaven
With an adornment of planets”
Reaffirming again, that the planets of the solar system are in the nearest space era to Earth.
Now assuming that the current age of the universe is about 13.7 billion years
The timeline of the Universe indicates that planet Earth was formed when the universe
Was about 9.15 billion years old
Two-thirds of its current age.
The timeline of the universe also indicates that, around this time, there was a transition
From decelerating to accelerating expansion in space.
This accelerated expansion prevented any more inflationary structures from entering the horizon
And prevented new gravitationally bound structures from forming.
This exactly matches the Quranic timeline
Of the Universe mentioned in chapter 41, verses 10 to 12.
In these verses, the Holy Quran tells us
That the Earth was formed “in 4 days out of a total of 6 days”.
Namely, when the universe was two thirds of its age.
Then the verses continue to tell us that after Earth had been formed,
The heavens, what we now call space
Continued to increase in size
What we now call accelerating expansion.
“In four days, He made in the Earth what anchors from high above it, and put barak in it
And equally measured out sustenance (of its dwellers) for those who ask.
Then He directed Himself to the heaven while it was smoke...”
Then verse 12 says “And He completed them as seven heavens within two days
And He made in each heaven its affair. And adorned the nearest heaven with lamps.”
In his book The Dragons of Eden (1977)
Carl Sagan popularized the idea of the cosmic calendar
Which is a way to visualize the history and chronology of the universe
Scaling it’s current age of 13.7 billion years
Down into one year, to help us normal, non-physicists better understand it.
God Almighty has done the same thing in the Holy Quran
Condensing the Universe’s age in six days.
Moreover, although we all know that the Earth is round
It’s actually more like a bumpy spheroid
NASA has determined the geometry of the universe to be nearly flat.
And God tells us in the Holy Quran that He completed the creation of the space’s seven eras
In a flat shape.
In chapter 2, verse 29 the Holy Quran states
“It is he Who created for you all that is in the Earth
And then He directed Himself to the heaven
So He completed the seven heavens in a flat shape
And He knows all things”.
Interestingly enough, the Holy Quran also references
What modern physicists now refer to as the Cosmological principle.
The Cosmological principle “is the notion that the spatial distribution of matter in the universe
Is homogenous and isotropic when viewed on a large enough scale.”
In simpler terms, this principle is telling us that the universe is uniform.
And thanks to today’s telescopes, we can now observe the uniformity of the universe
By looking out and back in time through the different space eras.
Now would you believe that the Holy Quran told us 1400 years ago
That we can observe this uniformity by doing the same exercise
Of looking through space eras when it stated: “Who created seven heavens one upon another.
You will see no non-uniformity in the Merciful One's creation.
Look again, can you see any flaw?”
This uniformity among the universe’s distant regions
Led physicists to come to an important conclusion in the big bang theory
That these distant regions of the universe we see now
Must have been in contact with each other in the past prior to cosmic inflation.
This again is consistent with what the Holy Quran revealed 1400 years ago
When it stated: “Have those who disbelieved not considered
That both of the heavens and the earth each of them was as one united piece
And We separated each of them and made from water every living thing?
Then will they not believe?”
Think about this for a momentm The Holy Quran is telling us
That the heavens, or the space eras as we now call them
Were one united piece, and then God separated them.
Just as science now asserts that the distant eras of the universe we see now
Must have been in contact with each other prior to the big bang
And then, thanks to cosmic inflation became widely separated eras.
But it doesn’t end there.
The verse is also telling us that planet Earth as well was as one united piece
And then God separated it, another consistent fact with science.
The young Earth was a rock, with the same composition on its surface as in its inner layers.
Then the Earth went through a separation process called planetary differentiation
Since it was formed 4.5 billion years ago.
This differentiation is separating Earth into multiple layers based on their density
Meaning that the Earth’s interior is zoned by density, with the heaviest material
Residing at the center (the core),
and the lightest stuff floating about at the surface (the crust)
One verse of the Holy Quran, two incredible scientific facts confirmed!