The Qur’an is a religious book which has no scientific purpose and whenever man is invited to reflect upon the works of creation and numerous natural phenomena, the appeared intention is to stress divine nepotism. In these reflections (verses) we find illustrations of data connected with firmly established scientific knowledge. These findings (scientific discoveries) clearly appeared in modern times. One must take in account carefully the meanings of Qur’anic text while making its comparison to scientific knowledge. There is an example of the common translation of Verse 54 in Chapter 7 Al Araaf about the creation of earth:
إِنَّ رَبَّكُمُ اللّهُ الَّذِي خَلَقَ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالأَرْضَ فِي سِتَّةِ أَيَّامٍ.... {7/54}
“Your Lord is the One Who created the heavens and earth in 6 days.”
Nevertheless we know that the Arabic word الأيام , which is usually translated as days, appeared in the Qur’an as a very long period of time instead of twenty four hours. Other examples are mentioned in my book “The Bible, the Qur’an and Science.” What appears to be of fundamental importance to me is that, in contrast to the narration contained in the Bible and in the Qur’an does not lay down a sequence for creation of the earth and heavens.
The major notion to be derived from the Qur’an is a concomitance in the celestial and territorial notions with the fundamental details about an initial unique gaseous mass whose elements which were although fuse together but became subsequently separated. These notions are described in a part of the Verse 11, Chapter 41 Fussilat:
{ثُمَّ اسْتَوَى إِلَى السَّمَاء وَهِيَ دُخَانٌ {41/11
“Then God turned to heaven when it was a smoke”
And in Verse 30 Chapter 21 Al Anbiya:
أَوَلَمْ يَرَ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا أَنَّ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضَ كَانَتَا رَتْقًا فَفَتَقْنَاهُمَا وَجَعَلْنَا مِنَ الْمَاء كُلَّ شَيْءٍ حَيٍّ أَفَلَا يُؤْمِنُونَ {21/30}
“Don’t the unbelievers see that heavens and earth were joined together, and then We spilt them apart.”
This separation process resulted in the formation of multiple worlds.This notion has appeared a dozen times in the Qur’an like in the second verse of Chapter 1 Al Fatiha:
الْحَمْدُ للّهِ رَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ {1/2}
“Praise be to God, Lord of the worlds.”
All this is in prefect agreement with modern ideas on the existence of a primary nebula and process of secondary separation of elements which were in the initial unique mass. The separation resulted in formation of galaxies and then it divided into stars from which plants were to be born. All this is in perfect agreement to the modern notions concerning the history of universe. Moreover, a reference is made in the Qur’an about an intermediary creation between the heavens and the earth. In Verse 38 Chapter Al Dukhan 44:
وَمَا خَلَقْنَا السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضَ وَمَا بَيْنَهُمَا لَاعِبِينَ {44/38}
“We have created the heavens and the earth and what is between them for a purpose.”
This intermediary creation corresponds to the modern discovery of matter which is described as “prisons” outside organized astronomical systems. Can we imagine that a man, much more than a thousand years ago, would have in a position to write such reflections which are in total agreement to general concepts, about the universe, formed centuries after its death? (Which means the Qur’an is the word of God.)
In the Qur’an we find notions about the nature and movement of celestial formations for example, the sun and the moon, which may have been previously defined as “laminar rays” in the Bible. They (The sun and the moon) have been distinguished in the Qur’an by using different terms like light (noor) for the moon and torch (siraaj) for the sun. Presently we know that moon is inert body which reflects light and sun is a celestial formation which is in a state of permanent combustion and is a source of heat and light. The word najam (star) in the Qur’an is accompanied with another adjective which indicates that it burns and consume itself as it pears trough the shadows of the night. The word used (in the Qur’an) for this is “thaqib.” The word “kowkab “definitely means “planets” which are celestial formations that reflect light but do not produce it. Today we know that celestial organization is balanced by the position of the stars in defined orbits and interplay of gravitational forces related to the mass of the stars and speed of their movement. Each is with its own motion. Orbit and own motions are the foundation of this balance. They are precisely what the Qur’an describes in Verse 33, Chapter Al Anbiya 21: