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Chapter Five
The
Formation Of
Our
Solar System
TWO
DISTINCT OCCURRENCES...
It may sound surprising to many a readers that the formation of our Solar
System is a very recent occurrence compared with the origin of our Universe.
The Universe is three times older than our Solar System. Recently
discovered scientific hypothesis are that these are two distinctly separate
occurrences and they happened billions of years apart.
Below are excerpts
from Compton's Interactive Encyclopedia Deluxe, 1998 edition:
15
billion years ago: Beginning of the Universe
In the
late 20th century most scientists believe that the universe came into existence
as a result of an event known as the big bang. The theory was proposed
in 1927 by the Belgian physicist Georges-Henri Lemaitre. The actual time
of the event is estimated at between 10 and 20 billion years ago.
4.6
billion years ago: Formation of the Solar System
Our solar
system includes the sun, the Earth, eight other known planets, many moons
and thousands, if not millions, of meteors, comets, and asteroids. It is
believed to be about 4.6 billion years old. Many scientists believe it
was formed from the gravitational collapse of a
large cloud of dust and gas, such as those
that exist between stars today.
(end of excerpts)
Comment:
There
is one major difference between the narration of "Creation" as found under
the 'Book of Genesis' in the Bible and the Glorious Qur'an. The Bible tells
us that God Created everything within Six Days and rested on the Seventh.
The Qur'an, in the opening verse of the chapter number 35, entitled "Fatir"
(meaning, the Originator of Creation), tells us that Allah "adds"
to His Creation as He pleases, from time to time, for Allah has power over
all things.
FORMATION
OF PROTOPLANET
The space scientists
of our era have now more reliable methods for gathering the scientific
evidences for the formation of the protoplanets. Their hypothesis are now
based upon the data collected by the various space probes that have been
successfully launched in the outer space. The prefix "proto" means;
first in time, original, primitive.
Two famous scientists;
Astronomer Gerard Kuiper (1905 - 1973) - the head of "Lunar and Planetary
Laboratory" at the University of Arizona and Geologist Thomas Chamberline
(1843 - 1928) - the author of Planetesimal Theory, have suggested the following
protoplanet hypothesis.
Below are excerpts from Compton's Interactive
Encyclopedia Deluxe, 1998 edition:
The most
widely accepted model for the origin of the solar system combines theories
elaborated by Gerard P. Kuiper and Thomas Chrowder Chamberlin. Astronomers
believe that about 4.5 billion years ago, one of the many dense globules
of gas and dust clouds that exist in the galaxy contracted into a disk.
The hot, dense center of the disk became our sun. The remaining outer material
formed a spinning disk, called the solar nebula, which cooled into small
particles of rock and metal that collided and stuck together, gradually
growing into larger bodies to become the planets and their satellites.
(end of the excerpts)
The elaborated theory states that a dense
cloud of interstellar gaseous material and of dust that was already existing
in the space contracted into a disk shaped solar nebula. The hot gaseous
matter which was rotating and spinning in opposite directions became unified
and concentrated and became the heat and light emitting protosun in the
center. Due to the gravitational forces of that rotating protosun the remaining
portions of the gaseous clouds and the clusters of solid matters formed
themselves into protoplanets with their proto moons. The scientists also
state that much of the matter from the outermost portion of that disk was
blown away by the radiation.
GOD'S
HANDIWORK AND HARMONY
The Qur'an reveals, as we shall soon see, that prior to the creation of
protoplanets there was a kind of chaos and discord within interstellar
matters. The contraction and union of these interstellar matters and the
formation of our Solar System was not only Allah's preconceived Design
but also a Divine Command to these aimlessly floating interstellar matters.
Today, we call this harmonious and orderly unified astral system as
- the cosmos. The Greek work "kosmos" means harmony. The Qur'an wants
us to believe that all the matters, be they in their liquid, gas and solid
forms, do willingly submit to Allah's Will. Furthermore, the results of
such willing submissions are eternally blissful and concordant.
Within the chemical terms "smoke"
is the visible upward flowing hot gaseous matter or the rising cloud of
fume often emitted from burning substances. The visibility of the smoke
is proportionate to the density of the suspended particles of carbon within
the emitted vapor, gas or fume.
The Qur'an reveals:
Then
He applied himself to Heaven, which then but was smoke: and to it and to
the Earth He said, "Come ye, whether in obedience or against your will?"
and they both said, "We come obedient." And He made them seven heavens
in two days, and in each heaven made known its office...
Translation by Reverend J. M. Rodwell
Then He lifted
Himself to heaven when it was smoke, and said to it and to the earth, "Come
willingly, or unwillingly!" They said, "we come willingly." So He determined
them as seven heavens in two days, and revealed its commandment in every
heaven...
Translation by Arthur J. Arberry
Moreover He Comprehended
in His design the sky and it had been (as) smoke: He said to it and to
the earth: "Come ye together willingly or unwillingly." They said: "We
do come (together) in willing obedience." So He completed them as seven
firmaments in two Days and He assigned to each heaven its duty and command....
Translation by Abdullah Yusuf Ali
Transliteration:
thumma istawaa 'ilaa as- samaa' wa- hiya
dukhaan fa- qaala la- -haa wa- li-
al- 'ard. i'tiyaa t.awc(an) 'aw karh(an) qaalataa 'ataynaa t.aa'icen fa-
qad.aa -hunna sabc samaawaat fe yawmain wa- awh.aa fe kull samaa' 'amr
-haa (Qur'an
41: 11-12)
Commentary by Abdullah Yusuf Ali:
The idea I derive from a collation
of the relevant Quranic passage is that Allah first created the primeval
matter, which was as yet without order, shape or symmetry. This state is
called Chaos as opposed to Cosmos in Greek Cosmogony. The next stage would
be the condensation of this primeval matter, into gases, liquids, or solids:
on this subject no precise information is given to us: it belongs to the
real of Physics.
Comment: During
the 1930's when the above commentary was written by Abdullah Yusuf Ali,
the information on the subject we have today was unknown even to the astronomers
and the geologists. The Glorious Qur'an is not a book of Science, but discovering
the recently revealed scientific facts within it makes the reader rekindle
his/her faith in the Creation Science and the Creator Himself.
Please click Chapter-7 (Chapter 6 is deleted) to
continue...
INDEX
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