Revelation, Rationality, Knowledge & Truth — Page 316
THE QURAN AND COSMOLOGY . . . As We began the first creation, so shall We repeat it; a promise binding on Us; that We shall certainly fulfil. 7. Following the eventual collapse of the universe into a black hole, here we have the promise of a new beginning. . God will recreate the universe, as He had done before. The collapsed universe will re-emerge from its darkness and the whole process of creation will start yet again (see plate 2). . This wrapping up and unfolding of the universe appears to be an ongoing phenomenon, according to the Holy Quran. . This Quranic concept of the beginning and the end of the creation is undoubtedly extraordinary. It would not have been less amazing if it had been revealed to a highly educated person of our contemporary age, but one is wonder-struck by the fact that this most advanced knowledge, regarding the perpetually repeating phenomenon of creation, was revealed more than fourteen hundred years ago to an unlettered dweller of the Arabian desert. ▼he Quran and the Heavenly Bodies. Now we turn to another aspect of the description of ☐ the cosmos which relates to the motion of the heavenly bodies. The most striking feature of this description relates to the way the motion of the earth is described without glaringly contradicting the popular view prevailing in that age. All the scholars and sages of that time were unanimous in their belief that the earth is stationary while other heavenly bodies like the sun and the moon are constantly revolving around it. In view of this, the motion of the earth as described by the Quran may not be apparent to the casual reader, but to a careful student the message is loud and clear. If the Quran had described the earth as stationary and the heavenly bodies as revolving 307