In our times, the Big Bang Theory is generally accepted to be the starting point of the universe. When the Big Bang happened, the universe and light were simultaneously created. The universe came into being at elevated temperatures from a single particle.

For the events that happened after the Big Bang, the most recent and accepted theory is the Inflation Theory. According to this theory, right after the Big Bang, the universe started inflating at an incredible rate, quantum fluctuations were scattered throughout the universe, and a homogenous inflation happened which allowed galaxies to be formed. Light was created at this period for the very first time.

What is “light” and what is the wisdom behind it?

Ibn Sina was the first scientist stating is was possible to measure the speed of light. And Newton used the marble example to explain the phenomenon of light containing colors of different wavelengths. Modern theories state that light is composed of weightless and charge-less particles called photons. Light is now known to be electromagnetic waves that carry energy as well as having the characteristics of refraction and reflection. A major discovery occurred in 1975, when the Danish scientist Ole Romer was observing the satellites of Jupiter. During this study, he was able to prove that the particle model proved to be insufficient, as was seen from the diffraction of light (changing its direction after having passed a narrow slit)..

Although the wave model is more dominantly talked about in modern times, it is known that both models are true.

Femto photography

Various experiments have been done to understand the properties of light. One of these experiments was a photography technique applied by Dr. Edgerton, in 1964. In this photo, the image of the apple right after the bullet passed through it was captured. This famous photograph, which was captured in a millionth of a second, inspired Prof. Ramesh Raskar from MIT (USA) to take a photo of light in order to see it by naked eye. Raskar developed a camera that can take up to a trillion frames per second. This would make it possible to visualize the human body without using X-ray. The wave like property of light was studied by this new technology called Femto Photography.

Light is the fastest substance in the universe. As long as it does not change its environment, the movement of light is linear because of its electromagnetic wave properties. If it passes to a different but transparent environment, it continues its movement. If it passes to an environment where the refractive index is larger than its original environment, it comes closer to the line accepted to be vertical to the surface (normal) and vice versa.

The speed of light and all electromagnetic waves in an empty, airless environment is 299,792,458 m/s (300 thousands kilometers). With this incredible speed, the Earth could be toured 7 times a second. The letter c represents this speed in science, and it’s based on the Latin name for speed: celeritas. While passing through any object (air, water, glass etc.) the speed of light is smaller than c.

If a laser pointer is activated for a thousandth of a second (a couple of femto seconds), a photon cluster is formed which is approximately 1 mm in width. This cluster of photons has a speed millions of times greater than the bullet passing through the apple.

What if the femto photo of a cluster of photons that were sent from the bottom of a glass bottle full of water was taken? How would the light appear in slow motion? Although this short journey of light takes place in less than a nano-second, it is possible to capture how it moves in slow motion by reducing the speed ten billion times with the femto camera. With this femto camera, it is possible to measure the average speed of light in a tomato and gain knowledge about its interior texture and quality without touching it. When a bunch of photons are sent to the surface of a sample, a three dimensional picture of it can be constructed by the high resolution detection of the photons that are reflected at different times from the sample.

With the science of light, technology for transportation that does not require a driver can be developed, creatures can be saved from natural disasters by the reflection of light on windows, and many new age surgery technologies can be developed.

In order for the eye to see, light needs to exist. One of the latest and most astonishing pieces of research done about light is the femto photography technology. By this technology, it will be possible to visualize the human body without the use of X-ray. If there was a femto camera incorporated in our cell phones, we would be able to understand the quality of the tomatoes we were buying when we went to the grocery store without having to touch them. By harnessing the great gift of light, we can make the great gift of life even better.

Concepts like the number zero, negative numbers, complex numbers, matrices, and spatial geometry are inventions of mathematicians which were studied earlier and presented especially for the use of physicists. When mathematicians theorized the “Group Theory,” they were reported to have said, “Finally we have developed something that physicists cannot use.” However, this theory, which stemmed from intangible algebra, was found to be useful in investigating the symmetry of physical systems and had serious applications in particle physics.

If there were no mathematical advances, would physics and other sciences have developed as far as they have? What does it mean that sciences are found in such an interrelated state, and thus support each other?

The perfect relationship between physics and mathematics, as in the expression of many physical laws via simple mathematical equations, is truly amazing. The laws that describe the physical world – from equations expressing the laws of motion (like X=V.t, V=a.t, F=m.a h= (gt2)/2), to basic electrical equations (like V=I.R, P=I.V, E=V/d), going all the way to the equations that define gravitational forces and the expansion of the universe (like F=G.m1.m2/d2, V=H.d) – can easily be expressed through mathematics. Furthermore, this simplicity and plainness in creation of the universe fascinates many scientists. Einstein expressed this fascination when he said, “The most incomprehensible thing about the universe is that it is comprehensible.”

One of the most important relations between mathematics and physics is that the independent study of intangible works of mathematics unexpectedly became one of the best tools to describe the physical world. Numbers, for example, are one of the greatest inventions of humanity. Humans have used them to quantify their properties. For thousands of years, people used numbers, but then the concept of negative numbers developed for seemingly no reason. For centuries, negative numbers were seen as nonsense. Of course there is not a square with a negative side length, a circle with a negative value area, or a classroom with negative number of students. However, negative numbers were found to be applicable in many areas of physics; they are now accepted as being as real as positive numbers. For instance, it is almost impossible to graph position-time, speed-time, acceleration-time, and the momentum-speed relation of objects without negative numbers.

Ellipses, parabolas, and hyperbolas (plane sections of cones cut in different shapes) were studied by Apollonius (BC 262-200), who was a contemporary of Archimedes. Interestingly these shapes were one day used by Kepler and Newton to describe the orbits of heavenly bodies like planets. Three dimensional pentagonal and hexagonal patterns, like those on the surface of a soccer ball, were also investigated by Archimedes. This shape has been found to be in exact configuration of a special carbon molecule composed of 60 atoms.

Likewise, the number zero, which was introduced by Muhammad bin Ahmad, in 967, led to many innovations in mathematics, as well as physics. Did al-Khwarizmi (780-850) know, when he found and utilized 1st and 2nd degree equations, that he was working on something mathematicians and physicists could one day never do without?

Imaginary numbers, as proposed against the main principles of arithmetic, also provides a very good example for this topic. We cannot think of a number whose square is negative in normal conditions. In other words, when a number is multiplied with itself, the resulting number is always a positive number. But mathematicians thought of a number that is negative when squared and continued various studies accordingly. Again, these studies have proven to be an important tool, especially in understanding electrical circuits by physicists.

Let’s finish our examples with ones from modern physics. Riemann (1826) was a mathematician who studied spatial geometry and proposed the concept of space curves. Mathematical equations designed by Riemann, pertaining to spatial geometry, were used by Einstein in 1908 to describe and formulate the concept of general relativity. Einstein also used Minkowski’s four dimensional geo-spatial continuum when developing his theory of general relativity.

There are many more examples. The famous Russian mathematician Friedman established a mathematical model that allows the expansion of the universe by improving Einstein’s model of universal geometry. This model was also later confirmed by the physicist De Sitter in discovering universal expansion and by Hubble in formulating the expansion. In addition, well before the discovery of quantum mechanics, Davit Hilbert proposed the complex vector space with a very different mathematical purpose known as “Hilbert Space.” This concept of space with an infinite number of dimensions is today used by quantum mechanics.

Sometimes physical realities can be foreseen via these invented equations. For example, Dirac proposed the existence of a particle known as the positron (or as we call it, the twin of the electron; it just differs by the charge) through his mathematical equation that he wrote in 1928. Four years later this particle was discovered by Carl D. Anderson, as predicted. To name, James Clerk Maxwell (1831-1879), a famous physicist and mathematician, predicted the presence and speed of electromagnetic waves mathematically via his own equations. Later, these waves were detected by Hertz (1886) through experiments. Again, Maxwell calculated the speed of electromagnetic waves via his equations, and by revealing that it was equal to the speed of light, it was understood that light was also a type of electromagnetic wave. Nowadays, the particle called the “graviton,” which is supposed to be in charge of gravitational forces, and the “Higgs” particle, that theoretically fills space according to quantum theory, are waiting to be discovered.

The book of nature is written in such a way that it is expressible by mathematical language. Famous physicist Sir James Jeans (d. 1946) expressed this situation as follows: “From the intrinsic evidence of his creation, the Great Architect of the Universe now begins to appear as a pure mathematician.” Yes, the level of knowledge that is at play in the universe encompasses both physics and mathematics. The overall interconnectedness of sciences and the interdisciplinary character physics and mathematics point to an owner of this knowledge.

As a conclusion we can deduce that physics and mathematics, just like material and non-material worlds, are in fact intertwined with each other’s various dimensions. The physical face of the universe is the place where records are kept and concepts of matter like heavy or light, big or small, and soft or hard, exist. The mathematical face of the universe (as if spiritual) is the unseen side of events or materials that are hidden and intangible. In a way, this relation between physics and mathematics is a display of the material and spiritual sides of universe.

Nuri Balta is the Head of Physics department at Samanyolu Schools in Turkey. He is also pursuing a PhD degree in Physics at Middle Eastern Technical University, Ankara, Turkey.

By the time you finish reading this sentence, you will have been carried over the earth, passed the sun, and moved through actual space of 1000 kms! In the time it takes you to ponder upon this, you will have moved another 1000 km through real space. Fast isn’t it? This is the speed at which one arm of our galaxy moves through space every second, and we don’t even feel a thing!

The motion of stars in their dedicated orbits, black holes, nebulas, and infinite number of other phenomena in the outer space display spectacular and equally thoughtful exhibitions thanks to Hubble and other new technologies. An increasing number of studies are thus devoted to stars, supernovas and interstellar space in recent years. Our contemplation of the universe deepens as we accrue more knowledge about it. Just as a cell is the functional building unit of the body, the main building blocks of the universe are galaxies. Just like every other living thing, galaxies will not be around for eternity; they form, develop, and cease within the cosmic laws that are put in place by their Creator.

According latest findings, it is estimated that around 100 billion galaxies exist in the observable universe and that there are galaxies 100,000 light years in size. A year has 31,536,000 seconds. Light travels 300,000 kilometers per second, therefore one light year equals to 946,080,000,000,000,000 (quadrillion) kilometers. Apart from the dispersal of stars, intergalactic distances of galaxies are not much bigger than their own galactic size. For example, the big Andromeda galaxy (the galaxy which is the closest to us) appear from the earth as wide as the sun or moon in the sky and can even be noticed with the naked eye. Latest research in astrophysics revealed that stars are not dispersed equally but rather found together in galaxies as an open system that exchanges energy and matter with its surroundings. A big portion of the galactic space is filled with gas and dust clouds which enable such exchanges to take place. This interstellar stage in which stars are born and die bears vital importance in sustaining and maintaining a galactic presence.

Some amazing characteristics of galaxies

Stars with different masses exist in a galaxy. Smallest one can be one tenth of the Sun’s mass whereas the biggest can be 100 times bigger than the sun. The most important feature of a star in a galaxy is its mass. Brightness of stars increase with their mass and this relation is three dimensional (cubic mass). Therefore if a star is twice as big, it is eight times brighter. Another feature is the relation between the age and mass of a star. The bigger the star, the shorter its life. These big stars live shorter compared to smaller ones despite their giant fuel reserves because they consume it very fast. Similar relations can be observed in the human body, which is an index of the universe, such that overweight people who consume more calories than people with less calorie intake eventually consumes more energy and become subject to deterioration in health and faster aging. The lifespan of a star is inversely proportional with its square mass (1/m2). For example, if a star is twice as massive, it lives only for one fourth of the time. Calculations show that our sun has a lifespan of 10 billion years. Compared to this, if a star is 30 times bigger than sun, it will only live for 10 million years.

The timescale of events that are occurring in galaxies can vary from thousands of years up to millions of years. Time required for the creation of a star is perhaps like a day in a galactic scale. This long time frame is considered short when compared with the age of galaxies. Furthermore, verses in the Qur’an (Al-Ma’arij 70:4) open new horizons in this matter and point out to the fact that time can change depending on different ratios and scales; so a day can indeed vary in length from being 1000 years or 50,000 years.

The movement and behavior of galaxies are quite complicated. Such that even if the galaxy formation process is completed, the creation and expiration process of stars within the galaxy still continues. It takes tens of thousands of years for a gas cloud to collapse inwards under its own gravitational force and become a star under normal conditions. Even five-ten billion years after the creation of a galaxy, it amazes scientists that there is still plenty of gas to remain in the interstellar stage, enough for a star to be born. On the other hand there are galaxies in which star formation is much faster than our Milky Way galaxy. These galaxies are called “starburst” galaxies and new stars are created in variable speeds over a long period of time. The uniqueness that is observed in the specific characterization of animal and plant species can also be witnessed in the creation of stars at different speeds, making spiral galaxies even more mysterious. This is because while a steady and balanced speed in the creation of stars is maintained in spiral galaxies, all the gas and dust available is consumed for the formation of stars in other galaxies. In a galaxy where stars continue to be created, the regions where large stars are created can be observed better compared to other regions in the night sky.

Spiral galaxies

Galaxies are generally divided into three groups: irregular shaped, elliptical, and spiral. Irregular shaped galaxies are composed of many young stars, gas and dust clouds without a definite shape. Elliptical galaxies are made up of old stars and limited number of gas and dust clouds. They are created in different shapes such as round, flat or like a baseball. Spiral galaxies are in the shape of a disc composed of spiral arms extending out of the center as they rotate. Solar system is located inside such a spiral-like galaxy. In these types of galaxies, stars contain spiral signatures. Bright spiral arms found in many images taken of galaxies generally show star forming regions and not the locations of the stars themselves. That is why the exceptional quality of spiral galaxies is hidden in the continual formation and expiration process of stars. Spiral displays which show star creation regions do not revolve along other stars in the galaxy. However spiral galaxies do exhibit a special rotation. Observations point out that spiral signature within the galaxy deteriorates gradually and reshapes in a slower fashion than the galaxy rotation speed. With these new findings, it is possible to say that it is more appropriate to understand galaxies as dynamic systems which change in time instead of being static under the constant and instantaneous intervention and control of the infinite power and wisdom of the Almighty.

One of the most impressive features of spiral galaxies is that the regions where stars are created in the main spiral contain new sublevel spiral patterns. Just like clouds, it is possible for different spiral forms to be created. Sometimes very symmetric spiral arms or rectangular stick-like formations via extensions of spiral arms along with regular spiral looking shapes are generated. Despite this spiral variety, when observed from outside, stars are seen to be surrounding a flat disc and forming together as a giant globular halo. This halo was generated billions of years ago from short and longer aged stars. It is the dimmer region of the galaxy yet this halo is considered to contain most of the galactic material. Stars are located in a fashion that resembles a disc in this halo of dust and gas. The layer of dust slowly rotates around an axis that passes through the center of the halo. This rotation is not coincidental; it is controlled in such a way that the speed of stars nearby do not differ in the rotation speed of the whole disc any more than 10%. In other words, the disc does not have a constant speed. It exhibits flexibility and variations from within. Stars and gas clouds are made to revolve in similar average speeds no matter how far they are away from the center. These notions are confirmed with the use of motion laws that Newton discovered and named after himself.

Numerous types of stars from different age and mass groups exist in the disc section of a galaxy. The age of stars is determined by analyses of the light spectrum that they emit. According to the results from these analyses, the creation speed of stars has been found nearly constant around the disc section in a spiral galaxy. In many galaxies, disc material has been discovered to be around 10% gas and dust cloud and that 80-90% of the rest remains outside the disc in an invisible form, unlike stars and gasses. This is because it absorbs the majority of the light to be reflected. This kind of material is called “dark matter.” It is thought to be a very old black hole, with expired stars or an extremely cold dust cloud or a combination of these. Aside from this, it has been discussed that they are created from neutrinos or undiscovered particles. According to common notion, dark matter as generated by expired stars in the galaxy does not have any relation to the movement of spiral galaxies and their kinetic behavior, it only has gravitational effects.

Gas cloud in the disc is not dispersed proportionately; instead, it is collected in a thin layer. Furthermore, it is understood that these clouds are composed mainly of carbon, silicon, iron and many other elements, and these particles get ripped from surfaces and flown around via star winds or thrown towards interstellar space. Surprisingly, the interstellar space is a scarcely populated place. Even in areas that are considered to be empty, one atom exists in 1,000 cm3, and it can vary from one million atoms to a couple hundred per cm3 in denser regions. The density of interstellar spaces from the highest to the lowest can vary within a factor of a billion. This ratio is much greater than the density difference between air and a piece of rock.

Systems established without thermal equilibrium

Interstellar space is not in a state of thermodynamic balance. Very sizable molecular clouds are constantly shaped and get scattered into the medium. This way material exchange is carried out in between different phases on a smaller scale. Maintenance of a system where different components are preserved in a stable state with no equilibrium is a mystery to all. This elusive phenomenon has been studied by both physicists and chemists for the last 40-50 years. Data obtained so far recommends that two processes are particularly used to establish and maintain stable compounds away from an equilibrium state. The first is that such systems should include material recycling mechanisms between different components. Second is the regulation of processing speed with feedback. These two events should be executed with a balanced fashion so that the amount of material in each composition does not change. Thus, these two phenomena are executed in the most finely calibrated manner in spiral galaxies that can never be possible out of coincidence.

Plasma, one of the phases of matter, is about a couple million degrees Celsius. However, it is a much diluted phase; only one atom exists in a volume of 1,000 cm3. Temperatures rising to these levels are made possible by the energy provided from supernovas. A supernova explosion releases such energy into the space that it forms a hot gas cloud and this starts to expand. This gas cloud releases its electrons into its surroundings as it dissipates. A phase of diluted hot plasma in a bumpy shape is generated as gas cloud expands throughout the matter. One of the reasons that interstellar space took so long to be discovered is because we are still located in a hot bubble. This bubble has a magnitude of 300 light years. Studies so far have mapped this bubble and discovered it to have an irregular shape.

Aside from this, recently a new neutron star was discovered and this star is thought to be remnant of a supernova explosion that created this bubble. It should not be surprising that we are located in such a hot bubble because this only occupies 70% of our galactic disc volume. A supernova is created once every 30 or 40 years in our galaxy. Supernovas have the task of supplying the energy needed to keep the entire interstellar space under a constant pressure. It is an incredible phenomenon to ponder that a habitable planet exists in the depths of a cold space.

Interstellar spaces resemble an ecosystem from a standpoint of events that are taking place inside it. Each galaxy could be viewed as a dynamic system where stars are constantly born and extinguished in the presence of a determined cycle of energy and matter. Events that are executed with Divine wisdom in these heavenly systems (galaxies, stars, interstellar spaces) testify in their own languages to their Creator who fashioned them in the form of an art with wisdom and generously. Galaxies behave as if they are living organisms; they are born like humans and they die like humans. Continual composition and decomposition of galaxies with their contents stand as major proof to the cosmos of present and absent worlds. The heavens and the earth, the stars and galaxies all make up the Divine canvas painted and repainted on the easel of God’s command: “Be and it is.”

References

• Smolin, Lee. 1997. The Life of The Cosmos, Oxford University Press, New York.
• Syed, Ibrahim B. 2003. “Understanding String Theory,” The Fountain, Issue 41, January-March 2003.

Able to dive into the water at a speed approaching 90 km, the kingfisher can grab its prey at this speed in a depth of 60 cm, instantly pivot back and then, using its wings as oars, surface above the water. In order not to lose its prey, the bird’s precisely timed diving and surfacing takes place in three seconds.

A torpedo as light as a fly

The most basic factor that enables an animate creature to dive into the water is its body being heavier than the water. With a weight of 40 g and a length of 18 cm, the kingfisher (Alcedo atthis) should remain on top of the water and not be able to catch fish because it cannot dive. However, because God put the sustenance of this bird in the depths of the sea, He gave it the special diving ability. Able to dive into the water at a speed approaching 90 km, the kingfisher can grab its prey at this speed in a depth of 60 cm, instantly pivot back and then, using its wings as oars, surface above the water. In order not to lose its prey, the bird’s precisely timed diving and surfacing takes place in three seconds. In a short period of time the kingfisher has traveled a distance 414 times its height. This shows that it can move as fast as a fighter aircraft. If we consider what the kingfisher does on a human scale, a person would be able to dive 26 meters in three seconds and then resurface with a prey the size of a sheepdog. Here another interesting point should be made. The fish the kingfisher wants to catch is actually in a different position than it would visually appear from the sky due to the difference of the degrees of deflection of light in water and air. Bereft of any knowledge of optics, how does this bird solve this problem of physics?

How heavy is a bird feather?

There are physical limits to bird’s flying capabilities. In order for a bird to be able to fly, its weight should not be more than 15 kg. In order for birds heavier than this to fly, their wings have to be proportionately larger so it is difficult for this big a bird with heavy wings to fly. Male silent swans (Cygnus olor) weigh more than 14 kg; in fact, there are even some that weigh 20 kg. However, God compensated for this situation with a special structure. Like other birds, the silent swans have some bones filled with air and the inner part of these bones has been made stronger with small props. For this reason, the feathers and bones of these birds are one-tenth as heavy as their bodies. There are more than 12,000 muscle ligaments in the wings of swans to activate the feathers used in flying. Long (50 cm) wing feathers greatly increase the carriage surface of the wings. Each feather can carry 200 grams of weight during flight. For this reason, a swan that loses just one wing feather can no longer take flight. It takes 60 days for the feathers to be completely renewed.

Because the owl’s ears were created asymmetrically (the right ear is higher), sounds reach the close ear 1/300,000 of a second earlier. This small amount of time difference is enough for the owl to determine the exact place of the source of the sound.

Are owls flying radar stations?

Under normal conditions it is not possible to hear the sound waves of a mouse eating a hazelnut in a hayloft. Possessing a sensitive receiver, owls are an exception. The facial structure of owls resembles the high tech early warning equipment on AWACS planes. Focusing on even the smallest sound wave just like a satellite antenna, this structure cannot be explained by the intelligence of an owl.

Because the owl’s ears were created asymmetrically (the right ear is higher), sounds reach the close ear 1/300,000 of a second earlier. This small time difference is enough for the owl to determine the exact location of the source of the sound. Through the 95,000 nerve cells in the simultaneous hearing center, the brain imagines a 3-D image of the prey. Due to the anatomy of it 14 neck vertebrae (humans and other mammals have seven vertebrae), the owl was given the capability of turning its head 270 degrees and determining the exact position of its prey. While flying towards the place where the sound came from, the owl can constantly recalculate the position of the prey relative to its own position, even if the prey changes its place. As a result of this precise calculation, only three seconds passes between the moment the owl first heard the sound of the prey and the moment it makes its deadly attack.

Is there a mathematical formula for remaining alive?

The formula is this: 7-15-70. It is difficult to immediately understand what these three numbers mean. However, these numbers make it almost impossible for a starling to be caught by its enemies.

We can explain the meaning of these numbers as follows: Whatever 7 close neighbors do, imitate them; constantly fly at least 15 cm from them; do not ever fly more than 70 km per hour. There is one more rule: Keep your distance from all enemies. When these principles are followed, enormous protection follows.

Flocks of starlings are comprised of several thousands of birds that move like one organism. In less than a second, the flock’s direction, size and breadth can change. In this situation their enemies do not have much of a chance against such a tight mass. For predatory birds need to determine their targets in order to catch their prey. The fast and sudden movements of the flock prevent attack from predatory birds. In spite of this, predators who attempt attack go back empty-handed. For acting like one body, this enormous flock encompasses the enemy in a counter current with the waves they create and narrow it down until the bird can no longer fly. Becoming dazed, the predatory bird has no choice but to fly away from the flock. This instructive action of the starlings brings to mind the Qur’anic verse: “There is not an animal (that lives) on the earth, not a being that flies on its wings, but (forms part of) communities like you” (6:38).

The world’s best camera can see objects as big as a mouse from a height of 300 meters. This is an amazing thing, but even so, no camera can compare in any respect to an eagle’s eyes.

Can eagles see from the side?

The world’s best camera can see objects as big as a mouse from a height of 300 meters. This is an amazing thing, but even so, no camera can compare in any respect to an eagle’s eyes. Eagles can clearly see their targets from a distance of more than 1,000 meters. Eagles can even see a fish in fine detail from this distance. This special quality bestowed upon eagles is something technology would have difficulty imitating. For the lens of the eagle’s eye is soft contrary to human eyes’ and it sees clearly more quickly and it more greatly magnifies its object. In addition, each of the eyes of the eagle has two separate vision centers. This allows the birds to see clearly both in front of them and at their sides. To attain this perfect vision, more than a million light receiving cells are on duty in each square millimeter of the retina. Comparing this to a human eye, a person has 200,000 cells in the same unit of space in the retina. Due to this structure of the retina and lens, an eagle’s eyes are as large as a human being’s eyes. If a human eye were to have the same capability, it would have to be as large as an apple. Because a human does not need to hunt like an eagle, he was not burdened with such big eyes.

How much can a brain be shaken?

G-force expresses changes in a body’s weight caused by acceleration. For example, when a jet is climbing towards the sky, the gravity a pilot is subject to increases immensely and his blood puts a lot of pressure on the veins in his legs. A space vehicle has 3 G when it takes off; a war plane has an average of 10 G; and a car’s peak force is 120 G when it crashes head on at full speed. With every peck, a woodpecker’s beak reaches 1,200 G in a way that is hard to believe. In other words, it is like the bird’s head hits a cement wall at a speed of 25 km per hour, and the woodpecker does this 20 times a second.

Experiencing pressures greater than 14 G is deadly for a human being. In comparison, woodpeckers have been given the ability to endure several hundred times what astronauts experience in their landings. This is only possible with a very special histological/anatomic structure and a skull created with perfect proportions. With the beak hitting a tree in a hard manner, a woodpecker’s brain almost completely fills its skull in order to prevent a trauma from developing. Created with a spongy structure, its bone structure acts as a shock absorber. The head and nape of the neck muscles contract towards the place it has hit and the waves from the blow become harmless. Even the lower part of the tongue is wound around the skull once in order to secure the brain and protect it from shaking. This situation does not create a problem or difficulty for woodpeckers which hit their heads against trees for a handful of larva, for they have been prepared for these conditions in their creation.

Small birds creating the power of a hurricane

Having a spread of 35 cm between two wings when they are opened, swallows weigh less than a normal size lighter. At first glance the apparent body structure of swallows suggests that they should only display an average flight capability with their deficient ability to maneuver. However, when we go out into nature and see swallows soaring in the countryside, we see that the situation is not like that at all. With the amazing way in which they were created, swallows succeed in doing a job that appears to be almost impossible physically. These birds can pass with jet speed through a space only 2 cm wider than their bodies. They succeed in this by flapping their wings rhythmically without stopping. Researchers have determined that they do this by means of a wing structure that moves with a special mechanism. The upper part of the wings of swallows can turn the air into an eddy. With the pressure created by this eddy, a great power of lifting and balancing occurs. The birds virtually fly with the power of hurricanes. Until now, this style of flying was only known to exist with insects. By seemingly gluing their wings to their bodies with this wonderful mechanism bestowed by the Creator, swallows easily pass through difficult places. Consequently, swallows can make 90-degree turns at astonishing speeds. Supersonic planes also benefit by generating these same kind of mini-hurricanes.

Can there be flying submarines?

Every year in May, tens of thousands of sharks, whales and dolphins come to the South African coastlines because of the schools of sardines (Sardinella). However, the strongest sardine hunter is not under water; it is a bird eyeing its prey from 30 meters high. The northern gannet (Morus capensis) a much better hunter than other sea birds, has a perfect body structure. While even sharks can only catch one out of two prey, the northern gannet’s perfect hunting techniques enable it to make a record success. The first reason for this is its reaching its target quickly and directly; the second reason is its being able to move about comfortably under water. These sea birds can go down 10 meters at first and then 20 meters by flapping their wings. They can dive at a speed of 120 km per hour. Their capability of holding oxygen-rich air in their air bags allows them to hunt up to one minute under water. Because they usually finish their prey under water, it is not common for them to bring it to the surface.

As research supported by technological possibilities increases, many more amazing biological mechanisms will be discovered. Doesn’t it strain reason to explain the existence of animate creatures that continue life with such fine calculations by means of chance?

Physicists study on the biggest and smallest physical measures, on the strongest and weakest forces, and they have calculated the ratio between some of them and attained results close to 1040 several times. For example, it has been proven that “strong nuclear force,” which keeps protons and neutrons in the atomic nucleus together, is 1040 times stronger than the force of gravity. Although some consider this situation a result of coincidence, there are also some people who have shown the courage to question the accuracy of this result and open it to discussion. Since then, obtaining the same number several times has inevitably led to the belief that the number was determined and calculated before. This situation resembles the situation of a chess player who hears somebody telling him the opponent’s next move, or the situation of a composer who hears a melody from upstairs that perfectly fits his lyrics while he is trying to write the melody for his lyrics. Is it not amazing when somebody says what is going to be especially at a time when you least expect such a vision? Questions emerge: Have all actions and incidents in the universe and the values corresponding to them been determined in advance? Is there a certain logic behind the behavior of materials without intellect or consciousness?

Perhaps when Comte de Buffon (1707–1788) started to do research into probability calculations concerning falling matches and needles three centuries ago, he did not think that he would make such an astonishing discovery. According to his calculations, the probability of dropped needles hitting a pair of parallel lines that are drawn a certain distance apart is proportional to the number pi (π) (Figure 1–2). When the distance between the parallel lines are drawn the length of a match, this probability becomes exactly 2/π. This was a theoretical result that was calculated on paper, but trying it out would raise interesting results. In other words, when a certain number of tests were conducted, it could be expected that a number of matches equal to the number that was found through the theoretical calculations would hit the lines; and, indeed, that was what happened. In addition, mathematicians found another way to calculate pi by using this method since the ratio of the number of matches or needles that hits the lines to the total number of matches or needles should give a pi-proportioned number. In 1901, Mario Lazzarini threw one needle 3,408 times and, as a result, got the ratio 355/133 or 3.1415929; the difference between this value and the real value is only 0.0000003.

The experimental proof of this fact is not difficult. When the experiment, which has been conducted thousands of times up to today, was first tried by a group of mathematicians dropping 3,000 needles, the number of the needles that touched the lines was close to 1,900, which was the desired result, and the result was amazingly found to be proportionate to pi.

Although the real relation is like the equation given in Figure 3, when the length of the needles and the distance between the lines are equalized, the desired ratio becomes 2/π. What does this mean? Does the number pi, which was created with the universe and which we meet in different fields, play a role in showing the manifestation of the Majestic Will about where an object will fall-through having a result that can not be explained by coincidence? Is falling not an ordinary incident?

While this reality makes even falling an extraordinary incident, it opens a perspective on understanding the reality behind the verse: “…it was not you (O Messenger) who threw but God threw,” which was revealed about the Battle of Badr in the Qur’an. Actually, it is impossible even for a leaf to fall without the knowledge and the calculation of Our Lord, who is closer to us than our jugular vein.

Let us think about a group of creatures that lives with different physical laws in a different universe. Assume that they live on a flat, circular world (Figure 4) and their steps get longer when they come close to the center. For this kind of creature, the shortest distance between two points is not a straight line as it is for us (A–B). Since their steps get longer as they get closer to the center, they travel close to the center. Yet, since they make the way a little longer in this way, the shortest distance would be an oblique line that takes these two variables into account and that passes by partially approaching the center. So, what would we think if we saw these creatures walking in this way all the time? Or if we knew that the creatures acting in this way were inanimate beings? In these circumstances, we might wonder whether these beings are very intelligent or whether One who knows and sees everything, and is present in every place at every time, directs them.

For a soccer forward to find the best time to attack when he is facing the goal keeper or for a tennis player to choose the best timing and position to hit the ball requires a fine calculation. In tennis, the player sometimes approaches very close to the net to meet the ball. In this way, the player gains great advantage since, by his or her positioning, the player reduces the area into which the ball can fall to the minimum, and increases his or her own chances of returning the ball (Figure 5). Nevertheless, since the ball reaches the player faster and harder, there is also a raised probability of the player’s failing to return the ball. Therefore, advancing right up to the net may not always be advantageous. Thus, the best position for the player may lie at any point between the net and the baseline when area and speed variables are considered. Similarly, the most advantageous point for the goal keeper lies between the attacking forward and the goal line, at a point which depends upon the variables of the speed of the ball and the area.

Naturally, we do not find tennis and soccer players’ positionings as described above strange since we expect them, as reasonable people, to play in this way. Yet, how would we interpret and explain it if we saw inanimate things acting in the same way? There is a phenomenon that applies this logic consciously but itself does not have consciousness. A phenomenon that astonishes people: light.

Let us think of a rectangular racetrack with points A, B, C, D. While the shortest distance for a horse that will run from one end of this racetrack to the other is the AC diagonal when the ground is homogenous, there will be a reroute if the ground is not homogenous. Assume the length of the racetrack is 80 meters and its width is 60 meters. Half of it is grass and the other half is sand (Figure 6). Also, assume the horse’s speed on the sand is half of its speed on the grass (it runs 10 meters in 1 unit of time on the grass). Under these circumstances, the horse will run the AC diagonal in 15 units of time while it will run AEC route in 14.5 units of time. The ABC route is much longer. Thus, any route which passes between these two routes will be shorter than these two. The point O, which the shortest route (AOC) passes, will be between the points M and E. When we look carefully, we understand that this is the route light follows as it enters environments of different densities; for example, the route it follows when passing from air to water (see a spoon’s broken image in a water-filled glass). As you see, light finds that specific mysterious point and follows that particular path. In other words, while entering different environments of varying densities, it finds the shortest way and follows it in an amazing way.

All these detailed calculations and functioning with great wisdom show that even inanimate beings and atoms are in the hands of a Majestic Will.

Every atom contains two truthful testimonies to the Necessarily Existent Being’s Existence and Unity. Despite being powerless and insentient, it bears decisive witness to the Necessarily Existent Being’s Existence by carrying out important duties and functions as though it were conscious. It also testifies to the Unity of the same Being, Who owns all material and immaterial dominions, by conforming to the universal order in general, and to the rules of each place it enters in particular. It settles in every place as if it were its homeland. All of this shows that the One Who owns the atom owns all the places it enters. By carrying out very heavy duties incompatible with its size and weakness, the atom shows that it acts at the command and in the name of One with absolute power. (The Thirtieth Word, Second Point, Risale-i Nur Collection)

Notes

1. See Al-Anfal 8:17.
2. “… And He knows whatever is on land and in the sea; and not a leaf falls but He knows it” (Al-An’am 6:59).

In the first stage, where the physical laws apply, the verses and hadith related to eschatology can be interpreted through the principles of dynamics. There have already been different views and comments concerning the issue. Interpretations under the light of contemporary scientific knowledge can bring new perspectives. We need to keep in mind that all our interpretations are works of the human mind and there can be error. Before we elaborate on the subject further we would like to acknowledge-like the earlier scholars did-that these are personal comments and state: “only God, the true possessor of absolute knowledge, knows best.”

Surat al-Qariah (The Sudden, Mighty Strike) in the Qur’an is about the dreadful occurrences on the Judgment Day:

In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate.

The sudden, mighty strike!

What is the sudden, mighty strike?

What enables you to perceive what the sudden, mighty strike is?

The day (when it occurs) humans will be like moths scattered about;

And the mountains will be like carded wool…¹

The sudden, mighty strike mentioned here may denote the impact of a huge asteroid. People are likened not to other insects, but to moths, flying things. This seems to suggest that people will be scattered in the air. Now let’s try to imagine how a mighty strike would send people scattered about like moths.

According to the science of dynamics, every object which has a mass and which is attracted by the earth’s gravity has a weight. Thus, “weight” can be related to any object (people, houses, cars etc) on earth. It can be a description of objects scattered in the air. If we assume that the law of gravity still applies when the apocalypse starts, can an upsurge be possible?

In figure 1, there is an illustration of a possible impact scenario. An asteroid with a mass of “m” approaches the earth-supposedly along a line tangential to the earth’s orbit around the sun-with a speed of “v” and hits the earth. According to the principle of the conservation of angular momentum, the rotating speed and direction of the earth’s rotation is expected to change. An impact, as shown in figure 1, might reverse the earth’s counter-clockwise rotation to clockwise. For a strong impact to reverse the direction of the earth’s rotation and affect a dramatic increase in the earth’s angular speed, the multiplied value of m, v, and d (mass, velocity, and distance from the spinning axis) must be great enough. The earth normally spins around its axis at a relatively low angular speed and this does not have a recognizable influence. After a violent impact, the boosted angular speed might apply great centrifugal forces on objects.

Figure 2 depicts a probable reversed force of gravity and a centrifugal force emerging along the equator. An impact great enough to send people flying in the air is calculated here as being 17.06 times faster than the usual speed of the earth. Such a violent speed will send the people in the equatorial region flying into the air.

Let’s try to estimate what might happen in other regions. The man in figure 3 is standing at a 45o angle to the equator (The upper regions of North America, Europe, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Argentina, New Zealand, etc). As you approach the Polar Regions, you also approach the spinning axis and the centrifugal force decreases, so it cannot completely annul the weights of objects. The man will weigh 50% less and a force equal to half his normal weight will be applied on him parallel to the ground. This might cause him to fall flat on his face. People who are further to the north probably won’t fly or fall, but they will also be affected.

The following verses warn us about the last hour:

In the Name of God, the All-Merciful, the All-Compassionate.

O humankind! Keep from disobedience to your Lord in reverence for Him and piety and get under His protection. (Never forget that) the violent convulsion of the Last Hour is an awesome thing.

On the Day when you all see it, every suckling mother will utterly forsake her infant in dread, and every pregnant female will cast off her burden. You will see all people as if gone out of their senses, while, in fact, they are in their senses. This is because God’s punishment is extremely severe. (Hajj 22:1-2)

The statement as if gone out of their senses is also translated as “drunken” in some commentaries. As a result of a violent impact and the earth’s boosted angular speed, people might walk as if they were drunk, or as if they have taken leave of their senses. The high angular speed might influence the inner-ear fluid, and cause people to lose their sense of balance. The following verses may be describing the effects of this violent rotation:

And when the earth is flattened out, and casts forth whatever is in it and becomes empty, obeying its Lord, as is expected indeed, and it always does so… (Inshiqaq 84:3-4)

An authenticated saying of God’s Messenger supports the possibility of a “reverse”: “The end of the world will not come unless the sun rises from where it sets. When it rises from the west, everybody sees and they all accept faith. However, this faith is of no benefit for anyone who did not previously believe or who has no good deeds caused by his faith.”²

As already mentioned above, the impact reverses the direction of rotation, the earth rotates clockwise and the sun rises from the west. The fact that faith after this impact will not benefit anyone implies that life on earth will not last long. The impact will probably render the earth uninhabitable. The great scholar Said Nursi made the following comment on the hadith about the sun rising from the west:

…The sun rising in the west will be a self-evident sign of the end of the world, and because it is self-evident it will be a heavenly event which closes the door of repentance, which is tied to the will and reason. Its meaning is therefore clear, and is in no need of interpretation. One may just say the following:

“God knows best, its apparent cause will be this: with the disappearance of the Qur’an, which is like the intelligence of the world, the earth will go mad. With Divine permission, when another planet collides with it, its rotation will be reversed. Through Divine will, its journeying from west to east will be reversed to that from east to west, and the sun will start to rise in the west.”³

Although this is not directly mentioned in the Qur’an, the dialogue between the Prophet Abraham and Nimrod is noteworthy:

Do you not consider the one who remonstrated with Abraham about his Lord (in defiance of Him) because of the kingdom God had granted him? When Abraham said, “My Lord is He Who gives life and causes to die,” he retorted: “I give life and make to die.” Said Abraham: “Surely God causes the sun to rise in the east, now you cause it to rise in the west.” Thus was the unbeliever utterly confounded. God does not guide (such) wrongdoing people. (Baqara 2:258)

The Prophet Abraham states that only God has the power to cause the sun to rise in the west, and He will realize this at the end of the world.

There is another authenticated hadith that describes the end of the world: “The end of the world will not come unless time shortens. This shortening is such that, a year will be like a month, a month like a week, and a week will be like a day, a day like an hour, and an hour will be (passing fast) like the striking of a match.”⁴

Commentators of the earlier periods interpreted “the shortening of time,” and they suggested that people would not be able to make efficient use of time and it would pass quickly. However, a literal understanding of the hadith makes perfect sense under the light of physics. A day being like an hour probably means the earth will spin 24 times faster. It has been mentioned above that a rotation more than 17 times faster than usual or more can cast people upwards. As for a year being like a month, this can be an allusion to the earth’s completing its orbit around the sun faster.

All these are attempts to interpret the eschatological verses and hadith within the principles of physics. God Almighty, “Master of the Day of Judgment,” knows best.

Notes

1. Unal, Ali. The Qur’an with Annotated interpretation in Modern English, The Light, Inc., New Jersey: 2006.

2. Bukhari, Riqaq, 39.

3. Nursi, Said. The Rays Collection, “20th matter of the 5th ray,” trans. Sukran Vahide, Sozler Publications, Istanbul: 2002, p.112.

4. Tirmidhi, Zuhd, 24.

In addition to all these questions, there is one aspect of time that will attract a believer in God and that is time’s fascinating connection with the act of creation and the continuity of physical processes. In this article, we choose to probe down to subatomic distances in an attempt to understand the act of creation and clarify the meaning of time, leaving cosmological time aside. Along the way, we will visit what some Muslim scholars have said regarding the issue. It is, however, useful to look first at the view of modern physics on time.

The classic and modern view on time in physics

The best known physicist who wrote on time is Newton. For Newton space and time were separate and were backgrounds on which physical processes evolved. Therefore, time can exist with or without events. As, according to Newton, time is a linear continuum of instants and each instant exists by itself, we can only talk about the existence of the present. In this approach time is absolute, meaning that it is the same everywhere in the universe. So your “now” is the same with my “now” no matter how fast each of us is moving. One consequence of this classic and commonsense view is that time-travel is not possible. At the beginning of the twentieth century, after the work of Hermann Minkowski and Einstein’s relativity theory the question “What is time” received the answer, “time is the fourth dimension,” which has become almost a cliché. It is not only difficult for us to visualize the fourth dimension itself, but also its relation with space. In Minkowski’s space-time, a time dimension can turn into a space dimension by a rotation, just as the length of an object can turn into its height by simply rotating the object. Actually, it is wrong, after all, to think of space and time as two independent things. As soon as there is space, there is time by default. An event happens in space-time at a particular space-time location and space-time spans all through these locations on which many other events happen. In 1919, in an interview he gave for The New York Times, Einstein explained the shift in the view of space-time: “Till now it was believed that time and space existed by themselves, even there was nothing, no Sun, no Earth, no stars, while now we know that time and space are not the vessel for the Universe but could not exist at all if there was nothing, no contents, namely, no Sun, no Earth, and other celestial bodies.”1

The new notion of space-time has also changed the deep-seated belief that only the present is real, because in the space-time present, the past and the future all exist together. “Physicists prefer to think of time as laid out in its entirety-a time space analogous to a landscape-with all past and future events located there together. It is a notion sometimes referred to as block time. Completely absent from this description of nature is anything that singles out a privileged special moment as the present or any process that would systematically turn future events into the present, then past, events. In short, the time of the physicist does not pass or flow.”2 The above view of the universe, described by Paul Davies, has been called “The Block Universe”; this view has also been supported by many philosophers like Leibniz and Spinoza. It is not wrong to say that it is not time that flows but it is us who are flowing by changing our space-time location in the space-time landscape at each instant. Simply put by Aristotle, “Time is motion.” There is a very nice example given by Rumi, also used by Imam al-Rabbani, given to explain the non-real nature of matter, which also explains how space-time comes into being with motion. Imagine a stick that is spinning at high speed with a fixed light on one side. Even though the light is fixed at just one point, once the stick is spun at high speed, we see a circle of light.

The theory of special relativity has also revealed that time is not absolute: Time actually slows with motion and stops when the speed reaches that of light. This effect becomes apparent only at speeds close to the speed of light at the quantum world and is not noticeable to us since the human scale motion is far too slow. The relative nature of time enters the general relativity theory as well with a theory that explains gravity as the curvature of space-time. One of the striking features of the equations of general relativity, which was noticed first by Godel in 1949 and then by many others, is that they allow for closed time-like curves in space-time. This means the possibility of time travel, at least theoretically.

A time scale we know nothing about

Modern view of time as explained above is valid up to atomic scale and has taken its place in the basic structure of quantum theory. However, science has no experimental ground to reveal anything about the nature of time at Planck’s scale or at smaller levels. The Plank scale corresponds to a time of 10-44 seconds and a distance of 10-35 m. This is a distance which is a hundred times a million times a million times a million smaller then the atomic nucleus. At such distances the quantum theory does not work. We have neither the necessary theory nor the necessary experimental facility to say anything about time.3

Relation of time with the act of creation

Long before revolutionary changes in the view of physical time at the beginning of the twentieth century there were always metaphysical explanations for what time really is; one of these was that of René Descartes. In his meditation on God’s existence, he argues that God must and does continually recreate the world at each instant. Therefore, time is a divine process of recreation. There are two points in Descartes’ statement. One is that creation is a continuous act and the other is its relation with time. We are all aware that the continuity of creation is found in the teachings of the Torah, the Bible, and the Qur’an. It is not that God created the universe at the beginning and left it to evolve according to laws. When it comes to the relation of creation to the essence of time, Descartes view, at first, may be considered to be a metaphysical speculation. But it may also be an inspiration which Descartes received from a divine scripture.

Many Muslim scholars as well have taken Qur’anic verses on creation as references for their meditations on the nature of time. Ibn al-Arabi, in his Kitab Ayyam al-Sha’n writes about the structure of time and takes the Qur’anic verse Every day (yawm) He is in a new manifestation (sha’n) (Rahman 55:29) as a reference. The Arabic word “yawm” which means day is interpreted not as a time period that we call “day” but as a day in God’s Divine Presence. In Qur’an, the special word “sha’n” is used while talking about God’s acts to distinguish these from human acts. Besides sha’n (God’s act of creation) is always associated with the smallest and finest of times that leads to the fact that His acts happen with an incredible speed. There are few Qur’anic verses about the incredible speed of creation. One is:

God creates whatever He wills; when He decrees a thing, He does but say to it “Be!” and it is (Al Imran 3:47).

And the other is:

Our commands are done within the blink of an eye (Qamar 54:50).

Both verses imply not only that God creates whatever He wills without any difficulty but also the speed which His acts and His commands are carried out. Therefore, most scholars interpreted verse 55:29 as “God is in a new manifestation or at an affair at each instant.”

Now going down to sub-atomic levels where we come closer to the recreation at each instant and reading the following lines from The Words by the Turkish Islamic scholar Said Nursi we are better able to understand the essence of time:

“Indeed, the transformations of particles are the motion and meaningful vibrations that proceed according to the dictation and principles of “The Clear Record” (Imam-i Mubin) which is a title of Divine Knowledge and Command and is the arrangement of the past origin and future progeny of everything in the World of the Unseen. They proceed by means of transcription from “The Clear Book” (Kitab-i Mubin), which is a title for Divine Power and Will and is formed of the present and the Manifest World and consists of the free disposal of that power and will in the creation of things. Thus, this motion and meaningful vibration proceed from the writing and drawing of the words of Power in ‘The Tablet of Effacement and Reaffirmation,’ which is a metaphorical page, and the reality of the stream of time.”4

The terms Imam-i Mubin and Kitab-i Mubin are used in the Qur’an in the following verses respectively.

And we have vested (the knowledge and authority) of everything in the manifest record. (Ya Sin 36:12)

The unbelievers claim, “The Last Hour will not come upon us.” Say: “Nay, but, by my Lord, Who is the Knower of the unseen, it will most certainly come upon you.” Not an atom’s weight of whatever there is in the heavens or in the earth escapes Him, nor is there anything smaller than that, or greater, but it is recorded in a Manifest Book. (Saba 34:3)

The term Imam-i Mubin, which is interchangeably used with Lawh al-Mahfuz by many Islamic scholars, is associated with Divine Knowledge and Command. Since Divine Knowledge encompasses everything, the Imam-i Mubin includes the past, present and future as well as the world of unseen. Time from azal (eternity in past) to abad (eternity in future) are found in Imam-i Mubin. Kitab-i Mubin, however, embraces only the present. We understand from the above Qur’anic verse that, Kitab-i Mubin accommodates the inward (batin) meaning of creation as well as the outward (zahir). The passage of time lies in a close relationship between Imam-i Mubin and Kitab-i Mubin. Time passes when God’s command proceeds from the Sphere of Divine Knowledge to the Sphere of Divine Power. Since we are restricted in time and are only witnesses to the Book of the Universe, that is, Kitab-i Mubin, we see only the present, instant after instant. In a way, we witness recreation instant after instant, a creation that continues completely unnoticed due to the incredible speed of God’s commands from Imam-i Mubin to Kitab-i Mubin. The interpretation given by Ibn al-Arabi to the Qur’anic verse Nay, (although they admit that We were not so,) they are in a confused state of mind about a new creation (after destruction) (Qaf 50:15) is that: There is continuous renewal of creation in every instant. What people see in the first instant is not identical to what they saw in the previous instant. So people are in confusion about this. Actually, through the manifestation of His Names, God continuously creates, annihilates and re-creates the universe.

Creation, time and the continuity of physical events

Keeping in mind the connection between Imam-i Mubin and Kitab-i Mubin and the renewal of creation at each instant, we can now contemplate on another puzzling issue: The continuity of physical events. Even before quantum mechanics revealed the discontinuous nature of sub-atomic particles, some philosophers argued that it is the mind’s apprehension of discrete events as being continuous that leads us to conclude that things around us are continuous. The best known macro scale examples are watching a motion picture in cinema which is actually seeing 60 images one after another in one second, and looking at a burning light bulb which is, in fact, light that is flickering many times. Even though these processes are discrete in nature, our mental snapshots one after another gives the impression that these processes are continuous. How about the discontinuity in the micro world? Professor Whitehead nicely explains the discreteness of the (motion of) electron in the following lines:

“It is not wrong to assume that an electron does not continuously traverse its path in space. The alternative notion as to its mode of existence is that it appears at a series of discrete positions in space which it occupies for successive durations of time. It is as though an automobile, moving at the average rate of thirty miles an hour along a road, did not traverse the road continuously, but appeared successively at the successive milestones remaining for two minutes at each milestone.”5

At this point it is agreeable to look further down to the distances that are smaller than Plank length, the smallest physical arena we can think of, where physics meets metaphysics and the act of creation takes place. This locus may well be the realm of discontinuity as well, as it is at this locus that materialization takes place. At this locus we may be able to witness God’s repeated acts of creation and annihilation and re-creation again, if we were able to probe down so far. So at the sub-atomic level, the transformation of particles can all be viewed as the vibrations that occur while God’s command is carried out from Imam-i Mubin to Kitab-i Mubin and back to Imam-i Mubin. Hence, there is the continuous cycle of coming into existence and dying in the Book of the Universe, if we call not appearing in the universe for a fraction of a fraction of a second dying, of course.

Taking the Qur’anic verse 28:886 as a reference, Nursi says “Existence continuously comes from God and returns to and perishes in God’s Knowledge”7 and he claims that there is no absolute nothingness (‘adam) since nothing can escape from God’s Sphere of Knowledge. In other words, even if something ceases to exist in the physical universe, or something that has not been even created or seen yet has some mode of existence, as it exists in God’s Knowledge. Because in God the ideas of all things are fixed, Imam-i Mubin, the title of His Knowledge, is also associated with a’yan thabita, which means fixed prototypes, where the latent realities of things exist.

Time versus dahr

Other than the term “zaman”, meaning time, the term “dahr” is also used in some Qur’anic verses (45/24).8 Scholars give different views on the use of the latter word; the widely accepted one is that “dahr” means a long period of time, an eon. Sadruddin Konevi calls God “Dahr-i Daim” meaning “everlasting dahr” and identifies this as the eternal time which does not have relative aspect but includes relative and temporal time (zaman). According to him, dahr is the essence of time. This helps us to understand the Prophetic saying: “Curse not dahr, for God is dahr.”

Conclusion

We have seen what physics has to say about time, but we will never know if science can grasp the whole truth. Moreover, science cannot tell anything about the nature of time for and smaller than “Plank era.” We either stop at that point and do not question further or break the tenets of positivism. Islamic scholars and intellectuals have always linked time to God’s act of creation. Said Nursi further linked the passage of time to the relation between Imam-i Mubin and Kitab-i Mubin. Being a creation in space-time we are bound to relative time and have only the perception of events in time. But it may well be that innermost essence of time lies not in the material world but in the Unseen.

Notes

1. The New York Times, December 1919.
2. Paul Davies, “The Mysterious Flow,” Scientific American (September 2002).
3. To probe down such small distances we need a particle accelerator much more powerful than the one proposed by SSC (Superconducting Super Collider) project that had been canceled by US Congress after spending $2 billion.
4. Said Nursi, The Words, The Thirtieth Word.
5. Alfred N. Whitehead, Science and Modern World.
6. Everything is perishable (and so perishing) except His “Face” (His Eternal Self and what is done in seeking His good pleasure (Qasas 28:88).
7. Said Nursi, The Letters, “The 15th Letter.”
8. And they say: “What is there but our life in this world? We shall die and we live, and nothing but time can destroy us.” But of that they have no knowledge: they merely conjecture (Jathiya 45:24).

However, as one’s age increases, most bodily functions peak and then start to diminish. A better aging strategy would be to age in the healthiest possible manner; i.e., keeping the physical and mental functions as sharp as possible, in particular the memory, so as not to lose human dignity in old age.

Aging and Memory

As one ages, reactions start to slow, the speed of understanding and the level of concentration diminish. The precipitous decline of dopamine-containing neurons in the human brain after age 45 is a universal characteristic of the aging process. The nigrostriatal region of the brain is richest in dopamine and undergoes the most rapid aging of any brain area. Age-associated depletion of dopamine also accounts for less noticeable symptoms, like a decline in physical drives and brain functions. These reactions are mostly on a mental or psychological level. In addition to these, wrinkles appear in the skin, hairs gray, and joints become gnarly. Perhaps, most important of all, is that according to recent research carried out on the brain, by the time most people hit 40, their brainpower starts to weaken. This does not mean that people become incompetent, just a bit slower in the cognitive process. This phenomenon is called “generalized slowing” by psychologists. According to James Birren, the Associate Director of the Center on Aging at the University of California, Los Angeles, the first signs of aging appear on tests used to measure mental speed and acuity, in which people count the number of lights flashed on a screen, for instance, or trace a complicated pattern while looking at a mirror.

“But eventually the down-turn affects almost everything we do,” says Birren, “From how fast we hit the breaks when a car pulls in front of us to how quickly we learn new skills on the job or remember old what’s-her-name’s name.”

Then the question is whether the slowing process is unavoidable. According to psychologist Robert Dustman, the answer to this is yes. One of the country’s top experts on aging and the brain, Dustman directs the Neuropsychology Research Laboratory at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Salt Lake City. He’s just turned 70 and shows no signs of slowing down himself. “It is true that when we compare 20-year-olds with 60-year olds on almost any test that measures the speed of information processing, younger people on average score significantly better than the older ones,” he says, “But that does not have to be. There is a simple way I can ward off the scourge of slowness,” Dustman says. And the way to do this is to stay in shape.

At first it seems to go against common sense that in some way a mindless act like jogging or striding around a park is relevant to the speed of thinking. But Dustman explains the connection in a very logical way.

Every cell in the body requires a continuous supply of oxygen and nutrients to function at its peak. But surprisingly, no cells need a greater oxygen supply than the gray matter that rests between our ears. The brain, although it makes up only 2% of our body weight, uses up 25% of the glucose and oxygen supply.

Now suppose a person slips out of shape, their heart gets lazy, the arteries get clogged, the blood flow to capillaries slows down, and the oxygen and nutrient supply to the brain falls us. As a result, neurons get less than they need to function properly, the electrical signals slow down, and hence the mind slows down. A recent study shows that blood pressure (or lack of it) is highly correlated to memory; so much so that, a reduction of it causes the memory to weaken.

But getting older does not mean that one must face a full-scale slowdown, Dustman says. The problem is that by 45, when the brain is quickly falling into decline, most of us neglect to perform the activities that keep the arteries open, the heart strong, and blood flowing; namely exercise. Dustman’s own studies suggest that working out might be an antidote. In one of his studies, he ran 60 male volunteers, half in their twenties, half in their sixties, through the standard mental tests. As expected, the younger group had higher mental speeds. But when Dustman looked closely at the older group, he noticed that the ones who were exercising or had remained active had a brain speed that was comparable to that of the younger set.

The tests included actions as simple as pushing a button each time an X appeared in a long string of O’s to memorizing numbers and symbols. “On many measures,” says Dustman “the older men in good condition scored just as well as men 30 and 40 years their junior.” In real life, that is, they could find a number in a phone book or remember that sensible is a synonym for rational.

When one exercise, in other words, the sections of the brain which control movement and balance are fired up, the electrical signals zap back and forth along the nerves from the brain to the muscles and tendons. The eyes, the inner ear, and other sensory nerves all roll into action. The benefits of these can be detected clearly in the brainwaves and electrical impulses recorded by researchers.

Indeed, in Dustman’s study, the older men who were still fit had surprisingly youthful-looking brain waves. They produced more alpha waves, a pattern associated with calmness under pressure, and had steeper peaks and valleys in waves, which signifies an ability to block out distractions. Furthermore, when subjected to a sudden flash of light or a sound blast, they were faster to produce a wave called P-300, which is associated with fast reactions. “People in good shape can really focus,” says Dustman. “They can pen a letter to a friend without the sound of children playing downstairs disturbing them. They can fill out tax forms correctly after reading the directions once.” For someone who’s out of shape, the news is grim. In addition to problems that range from overweight to heart disease and diabetes, the results of a sedentary life style, it turns out that the brain will very likely start to weaken as well. Still, Dustman is optimistic. He once encouraged 42 sedentary people over 55 to exercise (walking or jogging) three times a week. After four months, the aerobic capacity of the volunteers increased 25 % and they scored better on mental speed tests. In light of this study, Dustman thinks that even easy exercise, such as brisk walking can speed up the minds of people after years of inactivity. The time required varies, however. In similar studies, it took about a year to observe an increase in the speed of the brain.

But it is not time that is important here; the goal is rather not to lose brain capacity until a very old age. It would be better if one were always to keep in shape, as it is easier to keep something that works running than to start it up again once it has slowed down. “The real benefit seems to come from making a lifelong habit of staying active,” says Dustman.

It is better to maintain a regular routine of exercises than to start up new ones. Researchers at the University of Illinois compared middle-aged lab rats who padded daily on a running mill to rats who negotiated a complicated obstacle course of rope bridges and seesaws a few times a day. Predictably, both groups got more blood flowing to the brain. But the obstacle-mastering rats had 25% more hard-wired connections between neurons. Assuming the same is true for humans, then exercises which require more brain activity are potentially more rewarding.

Aging and Sleep

The obvious dangers of not getting enough sleep include mental fuzziness, an increased chance of accidents, illness, psychological problems, and decreased productivity at work or school. But Dr. Eve Van Cauter wrote in the prestigious medical journal Lancet that less sleep can actually speed the process of aging. In her informative study, young men who were allowed to sleep only 4 hours each night showed signs of aging in less than a week. Their glucose tolerance dropped considerably, and they started to release cortisol, the stress hormone, at a greater rate than normal.

Sleep offers the body an opportunity to heal and rebuild itself. Pro-sleep nutrients might help in this cause. For example, it has been shown that nutritional supplements containing zinc, magnesium, and pyridoxine (vitamin B6) , among other benefits, help sleep efficiency. A herbal amino acid 5-hydroxytryptophan is another promising sleep aid to use in times of extreme stress. Among sleep promoting herbs from traditional Chinese medicine are ziziphus spinosa (jujube), schisandra chinensis, and bupleurum chinense (Chinese thoroughwax). These herbs seem to relax the muscles and soothe the central nervous system. Sleep is and remains to be the most precious source of energy replenishment.

Melatonin: A God-given Sleeping Pill

Melatonin is a natural molecule made by the pineal gland, which is located in the brain. Melatonin is made from an amino acid called tryptophan. Tryptophan is an essential amino acid, that is, the body cannot make it; we need to get it from the foods we eat. Tryptophan is found in wide variety of foods. As we consume tryptophan during the day, the body converts it into serotonin, an important chemical for the brain that is involved with moods. Serotonin, in turn, is converted into melatonin. This conversion occurs most efficiently at nights.

Melatonin helps to set and control the internal clock that governs the natural rhythms of the body. Each night the pineal gland produces melatonin, which helps us to fall asleep. Research about this molecule has been going on since it was discovered at Yale University by Dr. Lerner in 1958, but recently there has been a great deal more attention being paid to melatonin. About a thousand articles on melatonin are published annually. One major reason is that scientists are discovering that melatonin is not only associated with deep sleep, but also with our hormonal, immune, and nervous systems. Research is accumulating about melatonin’s role as a powerful antioxidant, its possible anti-aging benefits, and its immune-enhancing properties.

Aging and Free Radicals

A free radical is a molecule that contains an unpaired electron through reactions with the essential element oxygen. These molecules “steal” electrons from nearby molecules to complete that final electron pair for stability. Then they are no longer free radicals, but they convert the new combined molecule into a new free radical. In a living organism, this process can cause a chain reaction of severe cellular damage, unless prevented.

The theory that free radicals are agents of bodily destruction is gaining widespread acceptance, as is the value of antioxidants in preventing such an occurrence.

According to the journal Annals of Clinical and Laboratory Science, the excess of free radicals in our body, i.e. “the domino effect”, is a critical factor in many health problems. An interesting and concerning fact about free radicals is that they cause the same reactions within the cells that occur during exposure to radiation. Free radicals released in the body destroy even proteins, the essential constituents of the body that regulate hormones and enzymes and that make up nerves, muscles, skin, and hair. It is usually suggested that antioxidants are used to fight these harmful free radicals. Fruits and vegetables are plentiful in vitamins A, C, and E, the key antioxidants. Polyphenols, which are found in grapes and green tea extracts are potent antioxidants. In fact, scientists have found out that procyanidins are the most promising polyphenols. In Japan, scientists have discovered that they may be 50 times more powerful than vitamins C and E in fighting free radicals. Alpha-lipoic acid, which is soluble in both water and lipids, can neutralize free radicals throughout the body. In fact, alpha-lipoic acid is involved in so many different antioxidant functions that it has been called the “universal antioxidant.” Citrus bioflavonoids and certain fruit and vegetable pigments are also strong free radical fighters.

Deprenyl: An Anti-aging Treatment?

Deprenyl (selegiline) provides selective protection against age-related degeneration of the dopamine nervous system. It is the only inhibitor used in clinical practice. The rate at which dopamine neurons age is quite variable. Before age 45, dopamine levels stay quite stable. Starting at 45, the decrease in average dopamine content in healthy people is linear, at 13% per decade. When it reaches 30%, the symptoms of Parkinson appear.

The sensitivity of the dopaminergic nervous system to oxidizing free radicals has been well established. The protective effect of deprenyl in lessening the neurotoxic effect of the oxidants (6-hydrpxydopa and 6-hydroxydopamine) appears to correlate with increased antioxidant enzyme levels. The increase in the antioxidant level is proportional to the deprenyl intake.

There as yet has been no definitive study of the long-term use of deprenyl in healthy people as a life-extension and cognitive-enhancing drug. But there has been extensive animal research. The lifespan of deprenyl-taking rats is significantly greater than normal rats, in fact, all the control rats died before the first deprenyl-taking rat died. Early research with deprenyl in humans (early-diagnosed Parkinson patients) shows delayed development of symptoms. Deprenyl has also been established as a treatment for Alzheimer’s disease. Eventually, deprenyl has the potential of becoming a general treatment for aging in people above the age of 45.

Conclusion

Although we know for sure that there cannot be an absolute cure for aging, the results of it can be slowed down considerably. Soundness and health of mind are desirable traits for all ages, not just for the elderly. After many years, many elderly people lose much of their memory and mental capacities; this occurs just at the time when they can pass on all their wisdom and experience to the younger generations. Hopefully, with the advent of science and technology, the deficiencies in the brain due to aging can be avoided to a certain extent. The solution lies in a balanced collaboration of modern medicine and traditional natural cures that have been practiced for centuries.

References

• Life expectancy around the world http://www.mrdowling. .com/800life.html
• Peter Jaret, (1997) THINK FAST- from Health Magazine, http://www.brain.com/TFarticle.html
• Ray Sahelian, M.D., (1997) “Melatonin: Nature’s Sleeping Pill,” http://www.brain.com/melatonin.html
• Ward Dean, M.D., and Steve Wm. Fowkes. “Deprenyl: A Universal Anti-aging Strategy?,” http://www.ceri.com/ deprenyl.htm
• Spiegel, K. et al. (1999), “Impact of sleep debt on metabolic and endocrine function,” Lancet; 354 (9188):1453-9.
• Amtoft-Nielsen, J., M.D. (2002), “Researchers Find Sleepless Nights Speed up Aging,” Journal of Longevity, Vol. 8/No.5: 38-39.
• Abraham, I., M.D. (2002). “The Domino Effect – The Cause of Rapid Aging?,” Journal of Longevity, Vol 8/ No. 4: 36-38.

While you are comfortably sitting in your chair or leaning against a pillow reading this article, you are rotating around the Earth’s axis at a speed up to 1000 miles per hour depending on how far you are from the poles. In addition, our planet is revolving around the Sun, in an orbit 186 million miles wide, at a speed of 67,000 mph. The Sun is taking its planets on a ride around the center of the Milky Way. In turn, the Milky Way, where the Solar System appears as no more than a small dust particle, is retreating from some galaxies and approaching others. For example, the Andromeda Galaxy is getting closer to us at a speed of 200,000 mph. And, even if you know all this, the apparent uniformity and order under which these movements occur enables you to feel at peace and to ignore them.

In distant space, new galaxies are being formed and many others are swallowed by mysterious black holes. Old stars collapse and explode to become supernova, or shrink and become little white dwarfs.

On our home planet which looks like a calm, blue marble from the space, atmospheric conditions from above and the volcanic forces from below cause continuous change in the layout of the continents and the oceans. Again, several centuries of scientific discoveries have shown that the continents are in constant motion, colliding on some fronts, and pulling apart in some other places. The theory of plate tectonics tells us that the continental plates float over the Earth and that when they collide, great mountain ranges (for example, the Himalayas) occur. For similar reasons, the Atlantic Ocean widens by four-tenths of an inch every year.

On the surface of the Earth, volcanoes rise and empty their contents as the building material for new lands. The wind and the rivers erode the soil, leveling the heights or causing deep canyons, slowly but steadily changing the layout of the land.

Animals and plants that sustain life on Earth come into existence and then disappear in lives that range from a few hours to several centuries. The plants recycle the soil and the gases and feed the animals, which return back to the soil when they die.

Your body is renewing itself without you being aware of it. Wounds heal, nails and hair grow. You breathe unconsciously and provide oxygen to blood cells that carry energy and nutrients to each and every cell in your body. The cells multiply for growth and renewal. The body fights against unknown intruders by producing its own medicines. The connections between your brain cells are constantly reestablishing themselves to enable you to understand and react to what you read or experience. Numerous decisions are made in the genes in the billions of cells in your body every moment to produce one or another kind of protein, which ultimately determines how your body functions.

The atoms, the building materials of all living or non-living matter in the universe, interact with other nearby atoms or even with atoms that are millions of light years away, reacting to their gravitational or electromagnetic forces. Atoms are bound to their neighbors, forming strong compounds or breaking bounds and releasing energy.

Even inside a single atom that is seemingly stable, a constant movement and renewal continues. The electrons circle the atomic nucleus at one percent of the speed of light. Even though matter in an atom constitutes a negligible part of the observed volume of the atom, the movements and resulting forces form the illusion of solid matter. When you are looking at a solid rock, are you aware that you are looking at an object that is 99.999999999 % empty? While the electrons continue their restless turn around the nucleus, they jump up and down the energy levels. The electrons seem to disappear from one level and reappear at another level without any continuum in between-hence the term “quantum leap.” When changing levels, electrons emit or absorb photons that are the building blocks of light.

The space-time continuum, first explained by Einstein, tells us that we will not be in the same place or at the same time twice. You will have traveled thousands of miles in the universe by the time you have finished reading this sentence.

In summary, everything in the universe, from the little subatomic particles to gigantic clusters of galaxies, is in a constant state of change.

In all this seemingly chaotic rush, there is a hidden order that keeps everything on course. When astronomers inspect the deep skies, they gasp when observing the beauty of celestial objects, like the nebulae structures recently discovered with the Hubble Space Telescope. On Earth, life continues to function on its course. Your body works until it has fulfilled its expected life span. And, despite all the electrons that are flying, disappearing, and reappearing, the book you left on the desk this evening will be there tomorrow morning-unless you have children at home.

It should be clear that any mishap, even for the slightest moment, might render the universe useless. So, why isn’t everything turning into a chaos of colliding, rotting, disappearing particles? What is the force that sets the harmony in the universe? This is best explained by Said Nursi, who wrote a century ago:

“The Glorious Creator of the universe is Self-Subsistent, that is, He subsists, continues, and endures of Himself. All things subsist and continue through Him, they remain in existence and have permanence. If that relationship of Self-Subsistence was cut off from the universe for even the fraction of a second, the universe would be annihilated.”

References

• See “The Great Attractor” at http://archive.ncsa.uiuc.edu/Cyberia/Cosmos/GtAttractor.html.
• Charles Flowers , Instability Rules: The Ten Most Amazing Ideas of Modern Science, John Wiley & Sons, 1st edition, March 15, 2002.
• See “Complete Coverage of the Hubble Space Telescope” at http://www.space.com/hubble.
• Nursi, Bediuzzaman Said, The Flashes, Sozler Publishing, 5th edition, December 1996.

It is We Who have built the universe with (Our creative) power, and, verily, it is We Who are steadily expanding it. (Qur’an 51:47)

In astronomical terms, this is a very short distance. It is estimated that within our own solar system the distance between the Sun and Pluto, the ninth and usually farthest planet from the Sun, is about 4.6 billion miles (7.4 billion kilometers) at aphelion (the point of the orbit that is farthest from the sun). It may be hard to believe that the Sun, Pluto, and all the intra-planetary bodies were once one giant mass. But this is what the Solar Nebular theory, the most popular account for the creation of solar systems, postulates.

The Solar Nebular Theory & the Holy Qur’an

According to the Solar Nebular theory, the emergence of a solar system begins with cosmic gas. A large cloud of gas and dust (a nebula) – believed to have initially come into existence through a slow process of conglomeration – slowly starts to lose peripheral matter as it slowly rotates. This collapse, as the theory goes, happens gradually as the force of gravity pulls the nebular matter inward (toward its center of gravity), overpowering the force of expansion due to gas pressure.

As the cloud collapses, it starts to spin faster in conformance with the Law of Conservation of Angular Momentum. The combination of the increased spin and the attraction of gravity cause the nebula to flatten into a spinning pancake-like structure with a bulge at the center. Slowly, the heavier regions within this evolving structure begin to contract gravitationally and condense. Eventually, the sun forms the center and planets form around it, rotating in the same direction and along the same plan (with exceptions, for example, in our solar system, Venus, Mercury, and Pluto spin “backward” – perhaps due to collisions during the formation stage). The centripetal force, a corollary to gravitational force, prevents the planets from drifting out of orbit. It is a very delicate balance.2

It is reported that Kant and Laplace presented the Solar Nebular hypothesis in the eighteenth century³Yet, this hypothesis that consists firstly of the coalescing of planetesimals* to form the solar nebular cloud, and then the differentiating of this cloud into planets, appears to have been referred to in the Qur’an since the seventh century. For example, in 71:14, God may be alluding to the phased nature of the birth of the Solar System. Verses 15 and 16 are further quoted to give the context of this Qur’anic revelation, i.e. the creation of the Solar System:

Seeing that it is He that has created you in diverse stages? See you not how Allah has created the seven heavens one above another? And made the moon a light in their midst, and made the sun as a (Glorious) Lamp? (71:14-16)

In 41:11 there is a verse about stage one – the formation of the nebular cloud; and, in 21:30 about stage two – the cleavage of the nebular cloud into our solar system:

Then He comprehended in His design the sky, and it had been (as) smoke: He said to it and to the earth:

“Come you together, willingly or unwillingly.” They said: “We do come (together), in willing obedience.” (41:11)

Have the unbelievers not beheld that the heavens and the earth were a solid mass, then We separated them . . . (21:30)

The Arabic word sama (plural samawat) is routinely translated as meaning “heaven” (also sometimes as firmament) in the mainstream translations of the Qur’an. However, in our context here, sky would be a more accurate term. [The Qur’an refers to Heaven itself (the place where good deeds will be rewarded) as either Janna or Firdaws, but never as sama.]

On several occasions, the Qur’an refers to seven skies (seven heavens) being stacked one above the other (as if in levels), for example, in 71:15, as quoted above. There is no consensus among Muslim scholars as to where these seven heavens lie. But if we look at our solar system we find that it consists of an average sized star that we call the Sun and nine planets orbiting the Sun. These planets in outreaching order are Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto. “Above” the Earth, therefore, there are six planets and seven interplanetary skies; there are also seven orbits, beginning with the Earth’s orbit, up to Pluto’s orbit.

In my opinion, however, the seven skies oft-noted in the Qur’an refer to these seven interplanetary “skies,” and not to the orbits. The Qur’an is rather explicit when reference is made to celestial orbits, and the Arabic word falak (aptly translated as orbit) is then used:

It is not permitted to the Sun to catch up the Moon, nor can the Night outstrip the Day: Each (just) floats along in (its own) orbit (according to Law). (36:40)

The fact that the sun “swims” in its own orbit – at the formidable speed of about 140 miles per second (225 km per second) – was finally realized in the 1910s when the American astronomer Harlow Shapley characterized our existence in the universe⁴Humanity was in for an “astronomical” surprise.

Our sun, it turned out, is but one of over 100 billion stars that make up our galaxy (the Milky Way) and that rotate around the galactic center (the center of our galaxy) in a near circular orbit. Most of these stars are closer to the galactic center than our sun. The distance from the center of our galaxy to the Sun is about 26,000 light-years (a light-year is about 6 trillion miles or 9.5 trillion kilometers and it is the distance that light travels in a year). The Milky Way itself measures about 100,000 light-years across.5 

It is not permitted to the Sun to catch up the Moon, nor can the Night outstrip the Day: Each (just) floats along in (its own) orbit (according to Law). (Qur’an 36:40)

This discovery closed the chapter on the heliocentric (sun-centered) model of the universe as popularized by Nicolai Copernicus in the sixteenth century and which held sway until well into the twentieth century. We live in an average-size solar system in a universe that is comprised of a potentially infinite number of galaxies.

My point is that most of the cosmological revelations in the Qur’an pertain to the creation of our solar system. Conventionally, 21:30, for example, is often ascribed to the Big Bang theory for the creation of the universe. It seems to me that these verses may be interpreted as referring to the creation of our solar system. Yet, all cognitively defensible interpretations of the holy text are equally valid. This is a component of the miraculous nature of the Qur’an – its fixed text but flexible interpretation. And, I would argue, the same can be said for the Bible.

Relativity

So, in this spirit, let us resume our celestial reflections. Could it be that the six-day creation account found in both the Bible and the Qur’an starts here (i.e., six days for the formation of the Solar System or even our galaxy and not necessarily for the creation of the whole universe)? Which begs the question, are these days necessarily days as we know them? Is it explicitly stated in either of the holy books that a day is necessarily made up of twenty-four hours? The answer is no. Let us review two key verses from each book. Cross-referencing between the two holy books is not unwarranted. Muslims believe that it is the same God who revealed both books.

He Who created the heavens and the earth and all that is between, in six days, and is firmly established on the Throne (of Authority) . . . (Qur’an 25:59)

In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. (Bible, KJV Genesis 1:1)

Reference is made to the creation of “the earth.” There is no compelling reason to assume that the six-day narrative pertains to the creation of the whole universe. Reference may be to the creation of the Solar System or just the Galaxy. Second, there is no particular reason to theorize that the six days are days as we know them now.

Let us ask a simple question here, what is a day? It is the time it takes the Earth to revolve around its axis (24 hours). Given that the Milky Way is a gigantic spiral disk with a bright, central bulge, what would be a day for our galaxy? The time for it to revolve around its axis (galactic center) is estimated to be 225 million years.6

It is estimated that up until now the Sun has completed 20 revolutions around the galactic center – that is a time span of 4.5 billion years (the estimated age of our planet); or, if we look at it in another way, 20 days. Six days in this sense, therefore, is equivalent to 1.35 billion years. We must also wonder whether the time it takes the Earth to revolve around its axis has been twenty-four hours since “day one.” Ultimately, time is a relative measurement.

Einstein’s 1905 theory of time and space, Special Relativity, proposed that distance and time are not absolute. The ticking rate of a clock and the length of a “yardstick” depend on the motion of the observer. The closer you approach the speed of light – about 186,000 miles per second or 300,000 kilometers per second – the slower your watch seems to be ticking relative to others. Another way to put it is, the faster you travel through space, the slower you travel through time. Imagine a vehicle capable of such maneuvering – this is, in effect, a time machine.7

It may not be very helpful to think about this too much, but if you have seen Paramount Pictures’ 2002 sci-fi movie Clockstoppers, imagine: you, moving at a speed approaching the speed of light, would see everyone else as if they were the ones functioning in “hypertime.” This notion of a “hasty” human attitude is reiterated in the Qur’an; and, the whole idea of time relativity is also suggested several times in the Qur’an. Two examples follow. When looked at in the light of Relativity, these verses make perfect sense and are quite revealing:

Yet they ask you to hasten on the Punishment! But God will not fail in His Promise. Verily a Day in the sight of your Lord is like a thousand years of your reckoning. (22:47)

The angels and the spirit ascend unto him in a Day the measure whereof is (as) fifty thousand years. (70:4)

Further, Relativity posits time and space as being one insolvable unit called space-time, as the fabric of the universe, as it were. As such, time and space as we know them only started from the moment the universe was conceived… with a “big bang.”

The Big Bang Theory

The Big Bang theory (BBT) is the most popular scientific theory on the origin of the universe. Its most popular version, the -inflationary universe,- presented by Alan H. Guth in 1980, postulates that the universe was created some fifteen billion years ago in an escalatory manner from a cosmic explosion of a -Primary Nebula- (singularity) – that is, an infinitely condensed matter – that cast matter in all directions. The theory holds for an initial expansion rate faster than the speed of light⁸Guth”s inflationary notion came into being in order to account for the fact that if the initial explosion was linear, as held the traditional version of the theory, first theorized by George Lemaitre in 1927, it would not explain the differential interstellar and intergalactic distances. The distances are such that some celestial regions could never have been in proximity at any point in time if the expansion had always simply proceeded at the speed of light⁹The big bang could not have happened at a particular place in the universe, because before it happened, as the theory goes, there was no universe. Rather, there was nothing, except for the singularity which started it all. Quantum mechanics tries to explain how, before spacetime, subatomic particles in this singularity interacted to produce an unfathomable amount of energy which was the initial spark of creation. It is believed that every particle has its anti-particle (as every matter has its anti-matter) that is a complete opposite (for example, in charge, spin, etc.). When these two antagonists meet, they annihilate each other in a tremendous burst of energy that would humble a nuclear explosion. Einstein”s famous relativity equation E=mc2 (where E denotes Energy, M mass and C the speed of light) suggests that energy and matter are interchangeable. Thus, matter was created from this primary explosion which kicked off a rapid expansion of space, and (we think) space has been expanding ever since. In the early 1920s, Edwin Hubble observed that galaxies were moving away from each other at a rate proportional to the distance between them. As galaxies moved away from us, the light they emitted was red-shifted. That is, light waves shifted to longer wavelengths (a phenomenon known as the Doppler Effect). The faster the object moved, the greater the shift. From these observations, Hubble formulated the Hubble”s Law, which helped cosmologists determine the age of the universe, and proved that the universe was expanding¹⁰The Qur’an explicitly foretold this fact: It is We Who have built the universe with (Our creative) power, and, verily, it is We Who are steadily expanding it. (51:47)¹¹The BBT also predicted the existence of residual cosmic background radiation (the glow leftover from the explosion itself). This radiation was discovered in 1964 by Arno Penzias and Robert Wilson, who later won the Nobel Prize for their discovery.12

Omega & the Universe

If the universe is expanding, then it inevitably emerged from an ever-smaller mass. Go back long enough (to time zero) and you have the singularity that exploded with a -big bang,- By the same token, Einstein”s 1915 theory of General Relativity offers the antithesis scenario for the BBT. If the gravitational force pulling the matter of a massive star inward exceeds that of its gas pressure, it will collapse onto itself creating a -black hole.- Does a similar -black- fate await the universe? In Stephen Hawking’s Universe documentary, Hawking contends that the concept can be extrapolated to the whole universe. If the universe has too much matter, it will eventually collapse onto itself under the influence of its own gravitational force. This bleak scenario is called the Big Crunch. By contrast, if the universe has too little matter, it will continue to expand indefinitely stretching ever thinner and colder. This bleak scenario is called the Big Chill. If the amount of matter present (i.e. the average density of our universe) is equal to a certain hypothetical value, the -critical density,- a state of perfect balance occurs, leading eventually (albeit hypothetically) to a static universe. The ratio of the average density to the critical density is known as Omega. In a state of perfect balance, corresponding to a flat geometry of the spacetime -fabric of the universe,- Omega equals one¹³Now imagine if in the instance following the big bang, Omega was anything but one. The universe would have either quickly collapsed onto itself (Omega >1), or quickly headed to a big chill (Omega <1). This predicament is known as the Flatness Problem. Guth”s inflationary notion again comes to the rescue. It posits that the initial rapid expansion caused spacetime to flatten, forcing Omega toward one, regardless of what its initial value actually was. In other words, even if the pre-inflation spacetime was curved like a sphere (Omega>1) or hyperbolic like a saddle (Omega<1), the initial expansion thrust forced it into flatness (zero curvature). As it stands, we can only detect too little matter in the universe and our best estimates of Omega lie well below one. We have observed that not only is the universe expanding, it is doing so at increasing rates. Is the universal matter being slowly transformed into energy, thus driving us faster toward the Big Chill? To counter this bleak scenario and in their quest for idealism (Omega equals one), scientists are on the look out for some undetectable -dark matter- that would tip the scales. In the final analysis, it is generally believed that the universe is infinite in time and space and is destined to expand forever. But things get murky when we talk about forever. How long is forever? We can conceptualize what eternity means, even though we cannot comprehend it. Can we say the same of God?

The Convergence of Philosophy, Religion & Science

With this debate of an expanding universe comes the open/closed universe debate, with all its philosophical and scientific controversies. The consensus among scientists is that this is an open universe, expanding and not limited in space. This means that astrophysicists cannot apply the laws of thermodynamics to help decipher the mysteries of the universe, as these only apply to closed systems. Of special interest is the Second Law of Thermodynamics (Law of Increased Entropy), which states: -Energy spontaneously tends to flow only from being concentrated in one place to becoming diffused or dispersed and spread out.-¹⁴Thus, had the universe been closed, the Primary Nebula could not have formed or existed in the first place, unless -someone- had introduced it into the system. Moreover, the mathematical precision that governs the universe certainly defies the Law of Increased Entropy. To admit creation, one has to first admit the existence of a moment when the universe did not exist. Both science (especially the BBT) and religion agree on this point. Science says energy can neither be created nor destroyed (Principle of Conservation of Energy), or simply put, nothing comes from nothing. So, there must have been a master source of energy and matter that started it all: where did the primary nebula come from? I employed the investigation philosophy employed by the fictitious detective character Sherlock Holmes while reflecting on this celestial quandary: when you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth. I came up with the following argument that vindicates the existence of God: If there is nothing in the universe, then the existence of God is not required. But there is something. And since nothing comes from nothing, there was an original very first something. This very first something is the originator of everything else; and it is a unity. It must be the most supreme something to ever exist because it needs nothing else to originate. And since it was there first, before everything else, before time itself, and its existence is independent of anything else, it will therefore be there after everything else. And since nothing can overwhelm it, it is omnipotent. And since it exists in no defined locality, it is omnipresent. This most supreme something is God, the originator and creator of everything else.

Conclusion

Whether you choose to believe cosmological theories, no matter how skeptical you are, you must concede that there was an originator for everything. The precision and order (and can we dismiss the mesmerizing wonder of the cosmos?) that govern our solar system and sustain the universe is indicative of an omnipotent guardian. In fact, the very laws of physics are clarion proof of order, not randomness. Order needs a maintainer. God gave us ample revelations; His holy books are too accurate to be dismissed as coincidental. Above all, He gave us intelligence, curiosity and the power to reason. The inquisitive mind of the human and our insatiable appetite for knowledge promise magnificent scientific breakthroughs to unimagined realms and dimensions. We have come a long way since the last opposition. But we are still crawling, attempting to decipher the complex and exquisite codes of the universe and life.

Footnotes

1. http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/allabout/nightsky/nightsky03.html
2. http://csep10.phys.utk.edu/astr161/lect/solarsys/ nebular.html
3. http://home.earthlink.net/~meteordust/wsn3F06.html
4. http://www.pbs.org/wnet/hawking/programs/html/prog-content_1-4.html
5. http://www.seds.org/messier/more/mw.html
6. http://hypertextbook.com/facts/2001/AngelaChan.shtml
7. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/einstein/relativity/ index.html
8. http://superstringtheory.com/cosmo/cosmo41.html
9. http://islamonline.net/English/Science/2002/10/ article11.shtml
10. http://www.edwinhubble.com/hubble_bio_001.htm
11. http://www.creationofuniverse.com/html/ equilibrium01.html
12. http://www.physicscentral.com/action/action-01-4b.html
13. http://archive.ncsa.uiuc.edu/Cyberia/Cosmos/ FlatnessProblem.html
14. http://www.secondlaw.com/two.html * planetesimals: Any of innumerable small bodies thought to have orbited the sun during the formation of the planets.