The Cosmology of the Quran

Introduction: The more modem science unfolds the reality of these

phenomena, the more the truth of the Quran is evident to us, at a time
when the names of different scientific fields still do not exist, let alone
there begin scientific research conducted on them.

Heaven and earth were made in 6 days

al-A`raf 7:54
Indeed your Lord is Allâh, Who created the heavens and the earth in
Six Days, and then He rose over the Throne. He brings the night as
a cover over the day, seeking it rapidly, and (He created) the sun,
the moon, the stars subjected to His Command. Surely, His is the
Creation and Commandment. Blessed be Allâh, the Lord of the
'Alamîn (mankind, jinns and all that exists)!

In the light of modern knowledge, it would be a little more accurate to say

it is the daylight that "covers" the night sky. Night is hardly a cover of
daylight sky. The the sky is dark at night because of the absence of
sunlight when the sun is hidden by the earth.

The author of the above quotation probably supposed the six days of
creation to be literal days. Exodus 20:11 says God creates all things in six
days. This encompasses the formation of everything in heaven and in the
earth to the present day. [Are comets, meteorites, volcanoes, rainbows
and snowflakes included in God's six-day creation? Paul in 2 Corinthians
5:17 includes the saints as creations of God: "Therefore if any man be in
Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things
are become new."]

The firmament was made with skill

adh-Dhariyat 51:4-49
With power and skill did We construct the Firmament: for it is We
who create the vastness of space. And We have spread out the
(spacious) earth: How excellently We do spread out! And of every
thing We have created pairs: That ye may receive instruction.

I am puzzled by the "We" as it implies the angels who visited Abraham

were the creators. John 1:3 identifies Christ, the Word, as the one who
made all things. The reference to pairs refers to male and female. The
rigid heavenly firmament was thought to rotate about the earth once each
day. It was a wonder and a mystery in ancient times.

an-Nazi`at 79:27-33
Are you more difficult to create, or is the heaven that He
constructed? He raised its height, and He has equally ordered it, Its
 night He covers with darkness, and its forenoon He brings out (with
light). And after that He spread the earth; And brought forth
therefrom its water and its pasture; And the mountains He has fixed
firmly; (To be) a provision and benefit for you and your cattle.

There are seven heavens

al-Baqarah 2:25,29
He it is who created for you all that is in the earth. Then turned He
to the heaven, and fashioned it as seven heavens. And He is knower
of all things.

at-Talaq 65:12,38
Allah it is who hath created seven heavens, and of the earth the like
thereof. The commandment cometh down among them slowly, that
ye may know that Allah is able to do all things, and that Allah
surroundeth all things in knowledge.

In the Islamic legend of the Miraj, or the 'night journey', Muhammad rode
on a magic horse named Buraq from Mecca to the al-Aqsa mosque in
Jerusalem, and from there ascended to the seventh heaven on a ladder of
light. Jesus and the prophets were visited at the various levels of heaven.
The following is a summary (from The Prophet Of Islam).

Islam teaches the existence of seven heavens. In the first heaven

Muhammad supposedly met Adam; in the second, John the Baptist and
Jesus; in the third, Joseph; in the fourth, Enoch; in the fifth, Aaron; in the
sixth, Moses; and in the seventh, Abraham (who welcomed him as "Good
son and good prophet"). Fifty prayers were ordained by Allah to be said by
all believers daily. On the journey back, Moses, in the sixth heaven,
encouraged Muhammad to go back to the seventh heaven and request a
smaller quota, since this large number would be rather impractical to
execute. Ten daily prayers were deducted. Again Moses encouraged
Muhammad to go back and ask for still fewer prayers, which was repeated
three times, until five daily were set for observance. This Muhammad did
not dare query. (According to "Siratu'l Rasul" vs. 270-271)

Seven heavens are also featured in the book of Enoch, which is probably
the source of this story.

The lowest heaven contains the planets

as-Saffat 37:4-6
Lo! thy Lord is surely One; Lord of the heavens and of the earth and
all that is between them, and Lord of the sun's risings. Lo! We have
adorned the lowest heaven with an ornament, the planets.

God keeps the heavens revolving

 al-Fatir 35:41
Surely, Allah holds the heavens and the earth lest they deviate from
their positions. And if they did deviate, none can hold them back but
He. Verily, He is Forbearing, Most Forgiving.

at-Tariq 86:3,11
By the Firmament which returns (in its round),

The sun and moon orbit the earth

Ya Sin 36:38-40 (Tr. Rashad Khalifa)

The sun sets into a specific location, according to the design of the
Almighty, the Omniscient. The moon we designed to appear in
stages, until it becomes like an old curved sheath. The sun is never
to catch up with the moon. The night and the day never deviate,
each of them is floating in its own orbit.

They are always on time

ar-Rahman 55:5
The sun and the moon are made punctual.

Allah owns and surrounds everything

an-Nisa' 4:8,126
Unto Allah belongeth whatsoever is in the heavens and whatsoever
is in the earth. Allah ever surroundeth all things.

Heaven is a roof covering the earth

al-Anbiya' 21:32-33.
And We have made the heaven a roof, safe and well guarded. Yet
they turn away from its signs. And He it is who has created the
night and the day, and the sun and the moon, each in an orbit
floating.

The sky is referred to as a canopy in the following passages:

al-Baqarah 2:21-22
O mankind! worship your Lord, Who hath created you and those
before you, so that ye may ward off (evil). Who hath appointed the
earth a resting-place for you, and the sky a canopy; and causeth
water to pour down from the sky, thereby producing fruits as food
for you. And do not set up rivals to Allah when ye know (better).

al-Mu'min 40:64.19
 Allah it is Who appointed for you the earth for a dwelling-place and
the sky for a canopy, and fashioned you and perfected your shapes,
and hath provided you with good things. Such is Allah, your Lord.
Then blessed be Allah, the Lord of the Worlds!

Allah holds heaven up

al-Hajj 22:65.
See you not that Allâh has subjected to you (mankind) all that is on
the earth, and the ships that sail through the sea by His Command?
He withholds the heaven from falling on the earth except by His
Leave. Verily, Allâh is, for mankind, full of Kindness, Most Merciful.

The firmament has gates

The gates of the firmament will open up to receive those who believe, but
not those who offend.

al-A`raf 7:40 (tr. Maulvi Sher Ali)

Those who reject Our Signs and turn away from them with disdain,
the gates of spiritual firmament will not be opened for them, nor will
they enter Heaven until a camel goes through the eye of a needle.
And thus do We requite the offenders.

Unbelievers are to be consigned to fire

al-Balad 90:1-9
But those who reject Our Signs, they are the (unhappy) Companions
of the Left Hand. On them will be Fire vaulted over (all round). By
the Sun and his (glorious) splendour; By the Moon as she follows
him; By the Day as it shows up (the Sun's) glory; By the Night as it
conceals it; By the Firmament and its (wonderful) structure; By the
Earth and its (wide) expanse: By the Soul, and the proportion and
order given to it.

Heaven to be rolled up like a scroll

This idea comes from a prophecy found in Isaiah 34:4. When a scroll is
rolled up, it stops rotating because the spindles of the scroll meet, and
there can be no further rotation. The prophecy refers to the scientific
revolution, and the discovery that it is the earth that rotates, not the
heavens.

al-Anbiya' 21:104
And (remember) the Day when We shall roll up the heavens like a
scroll rolled up for books, as We began the first creation, We shall
repeat it, (it is) a promise binding upon Us. Truly, We shall do it.
For more information see: Asronomy in the Bible

Heaven will be stripped away; hell will burn fiercely

at-Takwir 81:11-12.
And when the heaven shall be stripped off and taken away from its
place; And when Hell fire shall be kindled to fierce ablaze.

Doom is inevitable?

According to the Quran, certain doom awaits the unbeliever.

at-Tur 52:7
Lo! the doom of thy Lord will surely come to pass; There is none
that can ward it off. On the day when the heaven will heave with
(awful) heaving, And the mountains move away with (awful)
movement, Then woe that day unto the deniers.

The New Testament offers men much more hope: "For therefore we both
labour and suffer reproach, because we trust in the living God, who is the
Saviour of all men, specially of those that believe." [1 Timothy 4:10]

Universe is continually expanding

AI-Anbiya 21:30
Why do not the unbelievers realize that the heavens and the earth
were one piece, then we parted them and we made every- thing of
water. Will they not believe?

In the 1920’s Edwin Hubble put forward the idea that the universe was not
static and unchanging but continually expanding. Later in 1964 two
American scientists, Arno Penzias and Robert Wilson said that the physical
universe began from single entity, naming it the’ Cosmic Egg”, which in
turn burst and resulted in the creation of different strata of the universe.
The Quran, however, clearly stated fourteen hundred years ago.

The two Arabic words used in the verse are Ratq and Fatq. Ratq
means to bind and fuse together forming a homogenous mass. Fatq, the
opposite of ratq means an action to break, diffuse or separate.

Also with regard to the theory that the universe is continually expanding
the Quran stated.

An-NahI16:8
And He keeps creating what you do not know

AI-Fatir 35:1
And He keeps expanding His creation as He wills
Every being from water

As to the words “We made everything from water,” these are consistent
with our recent knowledge of biological science that all life began in water

Link: http://www.sentex.net/~tcc/quran-cosmol.html