The space age and travels were predicted in the Holy Quran more than 1,400years ago. This articlediscusses the relevant verses in the light of advances in modern astrophysics.
Says Allah in the Holy Quran:’’ oh company of Jinn and Men (Ins)! If you have power to break through (Tanfuzuu)the confines (Aqtar) of the heavens (Samaawaat) and the Earth (Ard), then break through them. But you cannot break through save with authority (Sultaan)”(Quran 55:34).
By the confines (Aqtar) of the Earth the Quran means the region of space surrounding the Earth in which gravity, directed to the Earth centre, is operative.
For anybody such as a rocket to escape into space it must overcome this force of gravity using a minimal speed called escape velocity. Gravity, pulling the rocket back to earth is indicated in the word “Tanfuzu” to break through that derives fromNafaza, meaning the same.
In the same way by the confines of the heavens (Samaawaat) the Quran means the space surrounding the planet, in which gravities are operating in our solar system and galaxies.
This should be so for the fact that the word “samaawaat” (heavens), plural of “Samaa”, is used severally in the Quran to mean the planets and heavenly bodies including the sun.
In reference to the big bang that saw the birth of the universe and the earth says Allah the Wise:”Do not the disbelievers see that the heavens (Samaawaat)and the earth (Ard) were a single matter (Ratqan) and We opened it with force’’ (Quran 21:31). Meaning that the planets, including the sun and earth, were all united into that single and infinitesimally small matter, then Allah opened it with force with the result that the planets, Earth and Sun formed separately from it.
If so then by the term Samaawaat (heavens) the Quran in 55:34 is not only referring to empty space but rather to space studded with the planets including the sun.
In short the Quran in the verse under discussion has hinted at the possibility of Jinns and Men breaking through the gravitational pulls surrounding the heavenly bodies and the earth to enable them escape into space. Such a feat can only be achieved with powerful rockets.
Empirical data of these escape velocities measured on the respective planet plus the sun in kilometres per second are as follows: Sun, 620; Mercury,4.3; Earth, 11.0; Jupiter, 36.0; Neptune; 23.0; Pluto 1.1; Saturn, 36.0,Uranius, 21.0; Venus, 10.0. (Kilometres per second). The figures show that the greater the value of the escape velocity the greater the gravity.Even the moon which is only a satellite of our Earth has some gravitational pull of its own.
In 1957 Russia, for the first time in the history of mankind, defied gravity and put an artificial satellite into orbit followed by a human being into space. This feat was immediately followed by America, thus ushering in the space age and race.
As at now many nations of the world including the European Union, China, Japan,Iran and India have sent satellite, into space. We are awaiting our Pakistan and Turkey to follow suit. The word “But you cannot do so save with authority” mean that they shall only be able to defy gravity and move into space only when God sanctionsthem (mankind). The early history of space exploration with its attendant hazards and failures attest to the truth of this statement.
Concerning the true identity of the Jinns, mentioned in the verses, as co-sharers with men in the space activities (Jinns and Men), Quran 55:32 that precedes Quran 55:34 under discussion reveals their identity in the following words:‘’Soon shall We attend to you two big groups (Quran 55:32).
The words “Two big groups” becomes “Al-Thaqalaan” derived from Thaqiil, meaning heavy. Literally it means two heavy groups, which Lisanul Arab, TaajArus and Lane’s Lexicons explain as Jinns and Men. The invisible Jinns and visible men have ever populated the earth from genesis and multiplied to become the two big group of beings as they are today. The Quran’s explanations by Muhammad and Ahmad, Companions and scholars have all affirmed that the Jinns exist with us on this earth, but invisible as a separatespecies of intelligent beings and not as a social group of human beings.The Quran in several verses has revealed that they have ever been soaring into space to access divine revelation before the present era. Hence they cannot be ignored in the modern era when mankind joined them in the space ventures. In effect while they are ever attempting to access divine news (revelation) from heaven (Quran 72:9-10)mankind, on the other hand, have been attempting to access scientific information on the creation of the universe.
In Quran 55:36 we read:” There shall be sent against you (Jinns and Men) a flame of Fire and smoke and you shall not be able to help yourselves. “The flame of fire to be sent against the Jinns and Men is in reference to fragments of planets that separated from their mother bodies some four billion years ago. Such debris include meteorites, comets and asteroids all floating in space at fantastic speeds. As a result of their speeding in space they acquire kinetic energies that translate into heat energies. They then impart the heat to gases in the atmosphere there by making them glow and shine and emit varying hues of beautiful colours in space.
They are at their most intense emissions if these hot bodies,especially meteorites pass through the layer of ozone surrounding the earth atmosphere. Being a moiety of molecular oxygen (O3) they burn fiercely in them to the point where they disintegrate in to smaller and harmless sizesby the time they reach the earth. Thus the words “There shall be sent against you” is an eloquent way of expressing the possibility of a head-on-collision of the meteorite, comets and asteroids with a space rocket speeding to the moon or to one of the planets. Besides the three debris the Quran also mentions smoke which may come from some carbonaceous material which when burnt produces carbon particles suspended in air to create smoke. Some meteorites from inner space are known to contain DNA molecules. Since these are largely carbon materials they could burn with thesedebris to produce the smoke
But interestingly the presence of DNA in meteorites from far outer space suggest that life could have begun in space and then transported to earth. Or that it could have originated on earth since the same DNA molecules are also found on earth. These discoveries have great bearings on scriptures (The Bible and the Quran), where one school of thought is of the opinion that Adam was created on earth and the other group shares the view that he was created in heaven and subsequently transported to earth. These contradictory views shall be resolved by science as the latter compiles more data. The Quran, in clear crystal terms, have explicitly prophecied the advent of the space age that began from 1957.
Conclusion
The space age was predicted by the Quran more than 1,400 years ago.
BY KHALID KOFI AHMAD
