THE SKY
The "sky" as used in The Holy Qur’an is the atmosphere that surrounds our earth and the blue dome, which we see above us. While the word "skies" or "heavens” denotes what surrounds all heavenly bodies in the universe.
The sky as mentioned in The Holy Qur’an beside its charm and the beautiful sight we always watch day and night has multiple scientific benefits for man. As for the benefits of day and night they are known to everybody nowadays. But, how this day and night happens to be, is one of God's wonders and signs.
Dr. M.G. El-Fandy says that The Holy Qur’an (1) "quotes the (facts) that reflect on the glory of organization, grandeur of creation, precision, supreme cohesion of purpose, proof of Divine, unique intelligence and elimination of the so-called "accidental [19] creation" God states in "Chapter 21" verse 32:
سورة الأنبياء الآية 32
And we set up the heaven as a roof
well- protected; yet still from our signs
they are turning away.
Dr. El-Fandy in the same book says:
The earth’s roof is its atmosphere. It is composed of a mixture of gases, which are preserved and not allowed to escape into space due to the relatively large gravity of the earth. This condition could not be realized on the moon, which lost its roof and thus became roofless, due to its relatively small gravitational force. In this way the moon soon lost the water of its oceans and seas. It evaporated into the vast space.
The earth's atmosphere or roof provides vital services to all living creatures on earth:
1) It contains oxygen necessary for the life of both the animals and the plant kingdoms, as well as Man’s
2) It carries water vapour from the earth’s surface up to the upper layers of the atmosphere where clouds form and give rain. This process involves the source of fresh water on earth.
3) It contains the carbon dioxide gas, which is absorbed by plants receiving sunlight by day to form sugar, starch, oil ……
4) Sound waves propagate through the air, thus we can hear the voice of each other. This is not the case on the moon.
5) Daylight is due to the scattering and diffuse reflection of sunrays in the thin air layer extending from the earth's surface up to 200 kilometers and facing the sun. This layer may be referred to as the (skin-layer). The rest of the atmosphere and space are dark and dim. As the earth rotates the skin-layer keeps facing the sun and appears as though it is flayed from the body of the atmosphere. [20]
Thus we can see that the scattering of sunlight is the reason behind daytime on earth. If we ascend outside the atmosphere of the earth, we find that the universal space is dark in spite of the fact that the sun is there. This means that the light is snatched from the night. In this respect God says in "chapter 36" verse 37:
سورة يس آية 37
And a sign for them is the night; we strip it of the
day and lo, they are in darkness.
And in "chapter17" verse 12 God states:
We have appointed the night and the day
as two signs; then we have blotted out
the sign of the night, and made the sign
of the day to see, and that you may seek
bounty from your Lord, and that you may know
the numbers of the years, and the reckoning;
and everything we have distinguished
very distinctly.
These two verses show that night is the original phenomenon in the universe and daylight is not but the scattering of sunrays in the lowest layer of the atmosphere. "This means that the blue sky at day time is but an optical phenomenon."
God has, in The Holy Qur’an, described the atmosphere that surrounds the earth in a very simple, but highly scientific way. In (chapter 13) verse 2 God states clearly that:
سورة الرعد آية 2
God is He who raised up the heavens
without pillars you can see,
سورة لقمان آية 10
He created the heavens without pillars
you can see, and He has cast on earth
firm mountains, lest it shake with you,
Is not the atmosphere that surrounds the earth (and other heavenly bodies) is raised without pillars which we can see; but which we can identify now as the earth's gravity? The word "heavens" here means the entire universe with all its planets, stars and galaxies where each swims in its own orbit. In (chapter 21) verse 33, God says, "All revolve in orbits", and in "Chapter 36" verse40, God says” each swims along/in (its own) orbit."
These divine verses include accurate scientific meanings:
1) All celestial bodies run in orbits and are bound by gravity. And they keep “their relative positions by centrifugal force and universal gravity”.
2) By God's will and mercy, He has built an atmospheric belt or cover that surrounds the earth to protect it from cosmic rays and bands of meteorites which run at a very high "speed of about 45 miles per second ". Dr. El -Fandy in his book “Cosmic Verses in The Qur'an", adds "Although the size of such a meteorite will not exceed at all the size of one particle of sand, it causes direct injury, in case it collides with a human body no less in damage than any resulting form a direct fire shot”. He goes on adding that thousands of millions of meteorites fall "every day down to the upper atmosphere of the earth, when the latter penetrates their path. But these meteorites soon evaporate or burn out…. The atmospheric cover protects us from their dangers. The same happens to meteors, but because of the big size of some of them, meteors sometimes reach the earth." The most famous ones are: The big Siberian Meteor (1908) and the one that fell down on Arizona
If this is the image of the outside universe, it is but natural that space travelers should be in great danger and must be very cautious. To this danger God says in chapter 72 verses 8-9
سورة الجن الآيات 8 – 9
And we stretched towards heaven, but we
found it filled with terrible guards and meteors.
We would sit there on seats to hear; but
any listening now finds a meteor in wait
for him.
سورة الرحمن الآيات 33 – 35
O tribe of jinn and of men, if you are able to
pass through the confines of heaven and earth,
pass through them! You shall not pass through
except with an authority. [21]
O which of your Lord's bounties will you and you deny?
against you shall be loosed
a flame of fire, and molten
brass: and you shall not be helped.
These two verses show the following:
1) The "universal space is not an absolute vacuum"
2) That " around the earth there are complete bands or belts containing big assemblies of electronic kept in space under the effect of the earth's magnetic field. These electrons are ejected from the sun with great energy. No living body can expose itself to such bands nor penetrate them without great precautions ….. Here, again, the atmospheric cover of the earth hinders such rays from reaching us". [22]
3) To overcome such danger scientists only in this century discovered what is called the geometry of space. Concerning this point Dr. El- Fandy says "according to the general theory of Relativity, the geometry of space is affected by the presence of matter in it, and travelling in space is thus accomplished in curved lines”. The Holy Qur’an miraculously introduces the verb "Ya a ruj" which means to move in curved lines and not in straight ones.
Now, we know that in the geometry of space, there are no straight lines; and The Holy Qur’an as always has been ahead of time and science, says in (chapter 70) verses 3-4.
المعارج الآيات 3 – 4
From God, the Lord of the Stairways/Ma'arig/
To him the angels and the spirit mount up in a day /yaaruj/
whereof the measure is fifty thousand years.
And in (chapter 34) verse 2 God says:
سورة سبأ آية 2
He knows what penetrates into the earth, and
what comes forth from it
what comes down from heaven and what goes up to it/ya’aruj/
He is the All-Compassionate, the All-forgiving.
Controversies take place everywhere as to whether there is any sort of life outside our planet or not. And ,I think there must be other creatures whether more or less intelligent than us. I say this, because God has not created this infinite universe with its billions of galaxies only for the benefit of a gang of unthankful human beings. In many verses, The Holy Qur’an, speaks about those in the heavens" and those on "earth". In "chapter 3" verse 83 God says:
Seek they then other than Allah's religion? And
to Him submitted whoever in the heavens and
the earth.
And in "Chapter 16" verse 49 God says:
To God bows everything in the heavens, and every
creature crawling on the earth, and the angels.
they have not waxed proud ……
Here is another translation from book IV "Islam and Science" it reflects The Holy Qur’an more correctly:
And to Allah makes obedience every living creature
that is in the heavens and that is in the earth and
the angels(too) and they are not proud
In "chapter 17" there are two verses 44 & 55 that deal with the same idea:
سورة سبأ آية 44 ، 55
The seven heavens and the earth, and whosoever
in them is extol Him …….. (verse 44)
And thy Lord knows very well all
who are in the heavens and the earth; (verse 55)
سورة النمل آية 65
Say : none knows the Unseen in the heavens and earth
except God.
and they are not aware
when they shall be raised;
"verse 65"
On the day the Trumpet is blown, and terrified is whosoever
is in the heavens and the earth, excepting whom God wills,
and every one shall come to Him, all utterly abject;
(The Ant- verse 87)
In Chapter 42 God makes it possible that those on earth and those in heaven could meet. In verse 29 God says :
And of His signs
is the creation of the heavens and the earth
and the crawling things He has scattered abroad in them;
and He is able to gather them whenever He will
We can detect from the previous verses the following:
1) The existence of beings outside our planet.
2) To those who might say that angels inhabit heavens, God differentiates very clearly between angels and other creatures in chapter 16 verse 49.
3) At God’s will, the encounter between the inhabitants of the earth and other planets could happen.
Here is an Islamic challenge to scientists and astronauts to try very hard to explore and find those inhabitants before more intelligent creatures could find us.
Dr. M. Hassab El Naby has an interesting interpretation of some verses in the Holy Our’an and which enriches and adds to what is written previously. He says that:
The conquest of space is hinted at directly without any trace of ambiguity in the following verses:
O tribe of Jinn and of men if you are able to
pass through the confines of heaven and earths,
pass through them! You shall not pass through
except with an authority
O which of your Lord’s bounties will you and you deny?
Against you shall be loosed
a flame of fire, and molten
brass and you shall not be helped.
Chapter 55 verses 33 – 35
Here the Jinns and men are addressed collectively indicating that they cannot possibly escape out of the Zones of the earth and heavens without power from God. They should, therefore, be grateful to God for the chances of the conquest of space, He the exalted gas given them![23]
He goes on proving that God in The Holy Qur’an has hinted at space travel. He illustrates it with two verses.(Chapter 36 verses 41 – 44):
سورة يس الآيات 41 - 44
And a sign for them is that We carried their seed
in the laden ship,
and We have created for them the like of it
whereon they ride;
and if We will, We drawn them,
then none have they to cry to
neither they are delivered
save as a mercy from Us, and enjoyment for a while
Is it by chance that scientists call the machine that carries them through space a “ship”, and is it by mere coincidence that God says “and We have created for them the like of it / whereon they ride;” What completes this images is what God says in chapter 84 verses 16 – 19. He says:
No I swear by the twilight
and the night and what it envelopes
and the moon when it is at full,
you shall surely ride stage after stage
Dr. M. Hassab El Naby refers to science in explaining these two verses, he says:
…. In the Apollo II trip, Armstrong, Aldrin and Collins at 9.32 am , July 16, 1969 , were launched on a mission that will be long remembered in history. The vehicle was the mighty Saturn 5 rocket, one of the most awe - inspiring machines ever made. As tall as a 35-story skyscraper, the rocket produced is thrust of about 3800 tons and it carried at its top the Apollo II spaceship, in which the lunar lander and the mother ship were included. A speed of nearly 7 miles per second (2500 miles per hour) has been attained by the spacecraft to escape from the earth’s gravitation and to travel a distance of about 240,000 miles to reach the moon. The lunar lander carried Armstrong and Aldrin to the surface of the moon while Collins waited for them in the mother ship in orbit around the moon. In the return trip the lunar lander approached the mother ship… the moon walkers transferred to the command module and all three astronauts headed for home! Such Apollo trips to the moon from stage to stage and from vessel to vessel are hinted at in the Glorious Qur’an
He goes on giving us the different meanings of the Arabic word "طبق". It could mean a stage or a layer of heaven or just a vessel. Actually the word means them all:
This new comment is scientifically accurate because the spacecraft had to ascend through the atmospheric layers, mainly troposphere, ozonosphere, thermosphere and exosphere. In this case the Arabic word (tabag) may be translated as “layer”. It may also be translated as vessel, because the astronauts had to ride a vessel after vessel either in the form of the five-stages rockets or in the form of the spaceship which includes the Lunar lander and the mother ship as explained before.
Dr. M. Hassab El Naby says that the trip to the moon is within our reach. But it is impossible for man to travel to most distant “planets of other stars”. He goes on explaining that:
…the nearest star (Alpha Centauri) is 4.2 light years i.e. 39.9 million km, indicating that it is impossible for us to reach. Moreover there are many dangers in space such as astroid belt, cosmic rays…and other unknown dangers.
……………………………….
No one knows the safety range in the heavens, yet the Glorious Qur’an points to a certain danger which may, in my point of view, indicate a nuclear reaction between copper and fast protons producing the antiprotons or antimatter, which in case of collision with matter causes annihilation! (refer to chapter 55 verses 33-35)
سورة الرحمن الآيات 33 - 35
O tribe of Jinn and of men if you are able to
pass through the confines of heaven and earths,
pass through them! You shall not pass through
except with an authority
O which of your Lord’s bounties will you and you deny?
Against you shall be loosed.
A flame of fire, and molten
brass and you shall not be helped.
[19] Islam and Science" book Ш, Prof. Dr.M.G. El - Fandy
[20] Islam and Science" book Ш, Prof. Dr
[21] The authority of God.
[22] “On cosmic verses in the Qur’an”, Dr. M.J. El Fandy
[23] "The Glorious Qur'an and Modern Science.” By Dr. M. Hassab el Naby.
