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The Collapsing Universe
If the density of matter in the Universe is sufficiently large, gravitational forces will eventually cause the Universe to stop expanding, and then to start falling back in upon itself. If that happens, the Universe will end in a second cataclysmic event that cosmologists call The Big Crunch
The Koran describes the Big Crunch and what the physicist Heinz Pagels described as the "Cosmic Code" in this statement about the script of the universe:
The day when We shall roll back the skies, like a scribe rolls up a written document.
As We began the first creation, We shall surely repeat it. It is a promise (binding) upon us. Indeed it will happen (21:104)
The expansion of the universe is slowing down. Astronomers are working hard to measure how rapidly the deceleration is happening to determine whether it will be able to cause a collapse of the universe in the future, or not. The universe will get much warmer from its 2.7 K today to billions of degrees within the last few minutes. Galaxies will be torn asunder about 1- 5 billion years before the Big Crunch, and the stars themselves will cease to exist within 1 million years before the Big Crunch. Stars will become the coolest objects in the universe about 1 million years before the Big Crunch. In the Quran it will be the Day of Resurrection. There are various pictures of the horrible collapse of the universe which science cannot repudiate. For instance:
When the earth is shaken to her (utmost) convulsion. And the earth throws up her burdens (from within), And man cries (distressed): 'What is the matter with her?' On that Day will she declare her tidings: For that thy Lord will have given her inspiration (99:1-5)
When the sky is rent asunder, and it becomes red like ointment (55:37)
It is curious to note that astronomers still don't know how the universe began. They take refuge in quantum physics, saying it somehow evolved from the primeval nothingness. And, of course, they don't know that either. Quantum theory holds that a vacuum, like atoms, is subject to quantum uncertainties. This means that things can materialize out of the vacuum, although they tend to vanish back into it quickly. Does this phenomenon not prove all the verdicts of the Holy Quran.
THE WOVEN SKY
By the sky with all its weavings/knittings (51:7)
The Koran accurately describes the sky as having "weavings", or being like a knitted fabric. Space having "weavings" ties in with String Theory in physics. It is envisioned by scientists that at the smallest Planck Scale (10^-35 m), space-time is indeed "weaved" or "knitted".
Physicist Lee Smolin, in his book, Three Roads to Quantum Gravity(2001) states,
"...space may be 'woven' from a network of loops,...just like a piece of cloth is 'woven' from a network of threads."
Martin Rees, states in Our Cosmic Habitat (2001)
"According to our present concepts, empty space is anything but simple..., and on an even tinier scale, it may be a seething tangle of strings." The physicist Paul Davies in his book, The Edge of Infinity (1981), terms it, "One of the great scientific discoveries of the twentieth century"
Before we proceed further, it is not irrelevant to record herewith a statement given by Yushidi Kusan, Director of the Tokyo Observatory, Tokyo, Japan:
"I say, I am very much impressed by finding true astronomical facts in Qur'an, and for us modern astronomers have been studying very small piece of the universe. We have concentrated our efforts for understanding of very small part because by using telescopes, we can see only very few parts of the sky without thinking about the whole universe. So by reading Qur'an and by answering to the questions, I think I can find my future way for investigation of the universe."
Here is another statement of Professor Armstrong, Professor of Astronomy, University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas, USA and also working at NASA.
I am impressed at how remarkably some of the ancient writings seem to correspond to modern and recent Astronomy. I am not a sufficient scholar of human history to project myself completely and reliably into the circumstances that 1400 years ago would have prevailed. Certainly, I would like to leave it at that, that what we have seen is remarkable, it may or may not admit of scientific explanation, there may well have to be something beyond what we understand as ordinary human experience to account for the writings that we have seen."
Likewise when Sheikh Zindani asked Mr. Siaveda, Professor of Marine Geology, Japan about the shape of mountains; and whether they were firmly rooted in the earth. "What is your opinion of what you have seen in the Qur'an and the Sunnah with regard to the secrets of the Universe, which scientists only discovered now?", he answered:
"I think it seems to me very, very mysterious, almost unbelievable. I really think if what you have said is true, the book is really a very remarkable book, I agree."
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