Chapter Two
THE BIRTH OF A UNIVERSE

"A LUCKY MISHAP"

       Billions of years ago, this universe evolved out of a violent explosion of some primordial mass, postulates the physicists of our era. An advanced research in this field explains that a micro second or so after the explosion there happened an unexpected remnant of surplus particles. This unforeseen emergence of one or more extra particles caused the imbalance of matter and antimatter. That accident  prevented our universe from recollapsing and it kept on spreading out and expanding. Today, we know this powerful explosion as -  Big Bang.

      Below are excerpts from Compton's Interactive Encyclopedia Deluxe, 1998 edition:

The Big Bang model is a theory about the origin of the universe. First proposed in the 1920s, it states that the universe emerged in a cataclysmic explosion from an infinitesimal point about 15 billion years ago. From the extremely dense concentration of energy at the beginning came all the energy, matter, space, and time in the universe. Eventually the millions of galaxies and their components were formed.
      In the February 8, 1999 issue of the magazine ‘New Scientist’ (www.newscientist.com), appeared an interesting article entitled ‘The Lopsided Universe’. The subtitle read: "After the big bang, all matter should have been annihilated by anti matter. Luckily for us, a smidgen was left over." Briefly, the article conveys that if the total count of matter and antimatter had tallied perfectly, there would have been bursts of pure light. The universe would have been filled with light instead of trillions of stars, planets and gas. 

     Ken Peach of the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory in Oxfordshire says; 

Naively, one would expect antimatter to be exactly the opposite of matter in all respects, including the early Universe... but a preference for matter must have arisen a fraction of second after the big bang. It only needed to be a tiny imbalance, with as little as one extra particle of matter surviving out of every billion created in the primordial inferno.
    The magazine's reporter, Robert Irion, has comprehensively surveyed the on going race by physicists to find out why this "preference" or  what triggered the imbalance? Until scientifically proven, the physicists will have to be contended with the label "A Lucky Mishap" for this benevolent imbalance. The term "Mishap" suggests that the unerring Mother Nature had erred. The Qur'an indicates that the explosion and the expansion were no errors. So, what are they?

THE ART OF COMMUNICATING

     Before we read the actual wordings of the revealed text it is essential to know the unique style of the Almighty for describing such events of the nature. The revealed description is in a simple term. A term that was easily understood fourteen centuries ago, plainly realized today and will be clearly recognized millenniums later. The author of the Qur'an - the Supreme Intelligence of Creativity and Order, has repeatedly claimed that His Revelations cannot be imitated. There are several reasons put forward by the scholars for it. One of the obvious and apparent reason being its language and style of communicating. The under mentioned statement, reproduced from the synopsis to 'THE KORAN Interpreted' published by the Oxford University Press under their series 'The World's Classics', endorses that. The statement reads: 

The Koran is a book apart, not only as Holy Scripture for Muslims throughout the world, but as supreme classic of Arabic literature..
     It is not uncommon to find a verse from the Qur'an that would precisely convey what it would take a proficient writer several paragraphs to communicate. In many instances, each line of the Message would end with a rhyme qualifying it as a classic composition. Difficult to communicate topics are propounded in the nobel nutshells. Brevity with an unceasing explicitness are the key ingredients of the Creator's handy work. Ellipsis are no errors but amazing accomplishments to be admired. They preserve the Message making them subjective and convincing for yesterday, today and tomorrow. 

    Following the defeat of Confederate forces by the Union armies in 1863, President Abraham Lincoln delivered an unforgettable brief eulogy. This epigrammatic address is regarded as one of the noblest speeches in human history. Lincoln was not the main speaker for the occasion. Edward Everett, a noted orator, was the chief speaker. The orator gave his best oratory and kept the audience spell bound for nearly two hours. Thereafter Lincoln was invited "to make a few appropriate remarks." Reading from a slip of paper Lincoln spoke for less than three minutes. "Government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from the earth" is one of the memorable passage from this famous "Gettysburg Address". The noted orator who spoke for two hours wrote to Lincoln: "I should be glad if I could flatter myself that I came as near the central idea of the occasion in two hours as you did in two minutes."
 

"WE  CLOVE  THEM ASUNDER"

      The Creation Science happens to be one of the many aptly defined complex subjects in the Qur'an. The Creator precisely and aptly tells us below how He Created this Universe. He does in just one sentence! 

       There is only one recognized text of the Qur'an in Arabic. However, there are several translated texts and interpretations of the Glorious Qur'an in English. Many of the recent ones are done by Muslim scholars while the earlier published versions were done by non Muslim scholars. To avoid any undue criticism on the issues of the piety and the fidelity of the translated texts, and also to have an opportunity of making a comprehensive comparison between the various texts, three different translations are used. The first two are by well known non Muslim scholars.

(1) Translation by Reverned J. M. Rodwell done in 1909.
     Rev. Rodwell is one of the early critics of the Holy Book.

(2) The translation done by professor Arthur J. Arberry in 1964. 
     Arberry's work is a scholarly "literal" translation.

(3) The translation with commentaries done by Abdullah Yusuf Ali.
      Since 1938 it is one of the most circulated English translations done
      by a Muslim scholar.

At the end of these three translations appears the Transliteration of the verse in Arabic.

Do not the infidels see that the heavens and the earth were both a solid mass, and that we clave them asunder, and that by means of water we give life everything? Will they not then believe?   Translation by Reverend J. M. Rodwell

Have not the unbelievers then beheld that the heavens and the earth were a mass all sewn up, and then We unstitched them and of water fashioned every living thing? Will they not believe?   Translation by Arthur J. Arberry

Do not the Unbelievers see that the heavens and the earth were joined together (as one unit of Creation) before We clove them asunder? We made from water every living thing.  Will they not then believe? 
                     Translation by Abdullah Yusuf Ali

Transliteration:   a- wa- lam yara 'alladhena kafaro 
'anna as- samaawaat wa- al- 'ard. kaanataa ratq(an) fa- fataqnaa -humaa wa- jacalnaa min al- maa' kull 
shay' h.ayy 'a- fa- laa yu'minon     (Qur'an 21: 30)


Comment:
1. The word "heavens" (plural) means; the whole vault of the sky with its myriad stars, etc. 

2. The word "asunder" is from the Old English. It means to break apart or to split into several parts or pieces, in separate directions or positions.

3. The word "cleave" means to divide by a heavy blow, as with an axe or a cleaver.

4. The analogy of "cleaving them asunder" conveys the meaning of Galaxies flying away in all directions from the center of the action, alike the soft wood splinters flying away when a heavy blow of axe delivered by a fire wood cutter. 

     The wood splinters that fly away at a great speed upon the impact gradually start loosing their speed. The galaxies of our universe are behaving in the like manner, in relationship to their distances from the center of action. The ensuing chapter deals with the so called "Doppler effect" upon these expanding galaxies and the Qur'an.

Please click  Chapter-3 to continue...

 INDEX