The Qur'an and the Expansion of the Universe

The Qur’an and the Expanding Universe

The ‘cosmological expansion’ has within the last century become a theory that has broken considerable ground, I am thinking of the famous Sir Arthur Eddington and his classic ‘The Expanding Universe’ published by Pelican Books already in 1940 (which I am right now holding in my hand) to a number of modern works; particularly some of my favourites, like the numerous works of Stephen Hawking and the lesser known Simon Singh in his book ‘Big Bang’, to George Smoot and Keay Davidson, Wrinkles in Time: The Imprint of Creation, 1993: 42-65 and John Gibbin’s, Science: A History, 1543-2001, 2002: 572-612, to another magnificent written work: ‘The Five Stages of the Universe’ by Fred Adams and Greg Laughlin.

Due to the popularity of the concept it ought not to surprise us that a range of Muslim exponents, have as usual attempted to create links between this modern concept and certain Qur’anic statements.

However, these are not easily correlated. If we bother studying the scientific postulate, the ‘expansion’ includes time, space and matter expanding from an almost infinite hot cosmological state of fused matter and energy, that emerged through the time-length of a 300.000 year long process from one or possible two preliminary Big Bang type events, namely: the expansion of a highly hypothetical singularity state to another highly hypothetical inflation that evolved the present universe from its pre-conditional state of an orange size chaos state.

Yet, contrary the claim of this Qur’an=Modern scientific enterprise movement, this is not the cosmological concept described in the Qur’an at all.

The Qur'anic description of Cosmological Structure

Looking at the sequences of the cosmological event described in Sura 21 and 41, we indeed find the concept of expansion, but only the expansion of matter, not space. In fact Sura 21: 30 reveals merely that the heaven was separated from the earth and verse 32 states that the heavens are placed like a roof:

‘And we made the heavens as a canopy well guarded’.

Here Yusuf Ali translates it ‘canopy’, while Pickhtal translates it ‘roof’

see Arab Gateway:

Qur’an Online, http://www.al-bab.com/arab/background/quran.htm#english:

‘And we made the sky a roof withheld (from them)’.

Yet nothing suggest that this particular roof is the edge of time, space and matter, which initially separated from the earth. In fact in modern science, the heavens never separated from the earth.

Sura 41: 11-2 provides us with slightly more insight, depicting the primordial heaven in a state of smoke, from which Allah creates the seven heavens.

Yet verse eleven states only that the heavens were created in two days and does not indicate expansion; certainly not continuous expansion. Hence the universe according to this passage, if it refers to the universe in its entirety as its structure, does not expand. Yet again this smoke reveals nothing as to space itself, not even the stellar matter, which only appears after the smoke has been divinely structured into the heavenly seven levels.

Hence the heavens in Sura 21: 32 may only reveal a matterlike structure. Obviously the smoke in Sura 41, which hoovers around the earth, is along with the earth already existing in a sort of emptiness vacuum. It's this particular vacuum that interests me in this article.

Hence, this is the vital point: the smoke in Sura 41: 11-12 does not apply to space but only matter; this is even in the Hadith literature since the seven heavens are referred to as stratums, as habitations of heavenly beings, including the prophets. This is, hence not related to cosmological expansion but the creation of cosmological structure via matter.

On the other hand there is a reference to ‘the raising of the canopy’ which indeed might relate to expansion of space, as referred to in Sura 79: 27-8; yet this verse becomes ambiguous, for several reasons, firstly that of contradiction, since verse 30 states: ‘And the earth, moreover hath he expanded’; which implies that the canopy was created prior to the earth, which indeed
Yusuf Ali in his footnote (5937) points out: Moreover: or more literally after that. See also 4475 to 41: 11 (The Meaning of the Hoy Qur’an, Abdullah Yusuf Ali, Amana Publications, 2001: 1596).

This completely contradicts Sura 21: 30-3, in which the authors depict the heaven as separating from the earth. Unless of course vacuum was brought into existence prior to matter. But Zakir Naiks famous correlation between the Qur'an and the primordial nebula are at risk.

Here in Sura 41: 11-2, the authors appear to imply that the structure of the heavens was brought into existence after the earth was made inhabitable.

Is this reference to first 1) void 2) then earth, 3) and finally the heavenly structure. I am doubt many scientists will confirm the possibility of this.

Or is it possible that the raising of the canopy merely describes the structure of the universe not the vacuum itself, but in that case we have a contradiction.

Even Kathir might be referring to this as a contradiction, in Tafsir Ibn Kathir volume 8, 2000: 519, concerning Sura 79: 27: 30:

‘So he mentioned the creation of the heavens before the earth’. As to Sura 41: 9-11, he writes: ‘Here he mentioned the creation of the earth before the creation of heavens’.

(Let me quickly summarize this, before we move on: The problem concerns the relation between Sura 79 and 41, in terms of structure and space. The possibility remains, that Sura 79: 27-6 refers to space, while Sura 41: 11-2 along with Sura 21: 30 refers to structural matter within this expanded or expanding space; but then. But then again why does Sura 41 describe the seven heavens within this context? Is it not presumable that edge of the universe was included within such a structure?)

The confusion, which the Qur’anic authors found themselves in, is obvious and highly understandable when we consider all the pre-islamic concepts he had to draw from.

If we cast aside the cosmological structure and focus on space alone, and if the Qur’an correctly is correlated to modern science and references related to space, it is probably Sura 51: 47 which becomes most significant. In the translation of Pickhtal we read: ‘We have built the heaven with might, and We it is Who make the vast extent (thereof)’.

Some Muslim propagandist, e.g. Osama Abdallah have asserted in the article: ‘Allah Almighty said in the Noble Quran that He is “Expanding” the Universe, that the passage predicts the modern postulate of continuous universal expansion.

Abdallah asserts that the passage should read:

"And it is We who have constructed the heaven with might, and verily, it is We who are steadily expanding it."

This interpretation is however disputed! Dr. Abdul-Kalaam Panglos, a writer on the humanist website Freethought Mecca (http://www.geocities.com/freethoughtmecca/home.htm) in a refutation to the claim states that the particular Arabic word moosi’oon is the plural word for moosi, which usually is translated ‘rich’ or ‘wealthy’ (see: Sura 2: 236).

In other words ‘enriching;’ while the root of the word is awsa´a, which indeed can mean expanding, stretching and enriching, the correct word for ‘expanding’ would be noosi´u and ‘continuous expansion’ would read noosi´uhaa.

Hence ‘continuous expansion’ is excluded:

The Qur’an and the Big Bang: http://www.geocities.com/freethoughtmecca/bigbang.html.

While Panglos might have a point here, there is another matter of consideration, namely that the issue of ‘space and matter’ was brought up and debated even centuries before Islam, and hence might derive from the ancient thinkers or texts that preceded the Qur’an.

Interestingly, Panglos points to the possible derivation from Jewish Old Testament sources, particularly, the book of Isaiah, chapter 42: 5:

‘This is what God the Lord says—he who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spread out the earth and all that comes out of it, who gives breath to its people, and life two those who walk in it’

(see also Isaiah 40: 22 and 42: 5).

This resembles Sura 51: 47-8 remarkably, both in context and terminology:

‘With the power and skill did We construct the firmament: for it is We Who create the vastness of space. And We have spread out the (spacious) earth; how excellently We do spread out!’

Considering the proximity and interaction between the early Muslims and the Jews, as well as Jewish converts to Islam, the particular similarity might be a clear indicator; see:

http://debunkingquranicscience.blogspot.com/2010/01/did-quranic-authors-borrow-information.html

In his essay, Panglos points out that the Hebrew of Is.42: 5 can indeed be translated ‘continuous expansion’:

‘…the words ‘YHWH bore ha-shamaim v'noteihem’ most literally means "YHWH is creating the heavens and expanding them." For example, the verb noteh is the present tense (hoveh) conjugation of the verb lintot, which can mean stretch, bend, expand, et cetera.’

Even Henry Morris, a Christian writer on modern science who tends to object to the view of ‘cosmological expansion’ concedes that these Old Testament passages and the modern concepts of cosmological expansion could be correlated. Morris also points to another Old Testament concept that may suggest such a cosmological occurrence, the Hebrew word raqia for ‘firmament’ is correctly translated ‘expanse’ or ‘perhaps better, “spread out thinnes”’ (Henry Morris, The Biblical Basis for Modern Science, p. 154)

Furthermore, the flourishing concepts of the Greek and Roman philosophers do also show awareness of cosmological expansion and structure. Lucretius in 50 AD claimed that nature consists of the two-fold nature of matter and space which do not mix (Lucretius, The Nature of the Universe, p.42).

The ancient philosophers therefore wondered how matter could have expanded in a dimension that contained no space.

There were several possibilities: did space expand with matter? But then again did matter coexist with or create more void than it was able to regulate? This relates closer to the Big Bang theory and even Lucretius, and this was indeed the concern of Aristotle who elaborated on the correspondence between place and body (Aristotle, 1999: p. 69).

Others, such as Hesiod concluded that the chasm was put in the system prior to matter (Aristotle, 1999, p. 79); based on the above information, if Sura 79: 29-30 and Sura 51 would describe an incident or cosmological factor separate from Sura 21 and 41 (which themselves appear contradictory in their structure), the Qur’an might refer to the Cosmological process of Hesiod, who postulated space prior to matter!

However, if Sura 21 and 41 include the canopy, then we are dealing with firstly with an irreconcilable contradiction and secondly a cosmos that hardly appears to expand. In any case the Qur’an clearly from Sura 21 and 41 describes the heavenly structure which might include the canopy, e.g. space to have emerged from or after the full creation and formation of the habitable earth--which is everything but scientific!

Yet even if the Qur'an proposes cosmological expansion, this hardly reveals miracolous inspiration.

Lucretius, despite that his work also appears unclear and contradictory (e.g. Lucretius, p. 55, in which he depicts the universe as unconfined, not bounded in any direction and bottomless), seems to make a great deal out of cosmological expansion; first and most his cosmogony implies that the mass which separated from the earth, raised the heights of the heaven and composed the outer walls of the great world and all the intermediate material, such as the stars, the sun and the moon:

‘…they (the atoms) began, in fact, to separate the heights of heaven from the earth, to single out the sea as a receptacle for water detached from the mass and to set apart the fires of pure and isolated ether. In the first place all the particles of earth, because they were heavy and intertangled, collected in the middle and took up the undermost stations. The more closely they cohered and clung together, the more they squeezed out the atoms that went to the making of sea and stars, sun and moon and the outer walls of the great world.’

(Lucretius, 1957: 184-5).

Interestingly, much like the Qur’an, Lucretius refers to the outer walls beyond the stars, sun and moon. Was this a reference to the seven heavens, referred to in the Qur’an and which the the Jews and the church fathers also referred to prior to Islam? Or is Lucretius referring to the seven orbits of the seven planets orbiting the earth, also mentioned in the Qur’an and elaborated on by the pre-islamic philosophers?

Hence as deplorable as reality might strike to these Islamic exponents, yes the ancient writers did view and depict a structured universe that expanded from the earth, much like the Qur’an, but hey, is such a concept scientifically correct anyway?

To Lucretius space appears to be a dimension created and expanding alongside the separated matter.

Furthermore, Lucretius states: ‘If there were no empty space…they could not possibly have come into existence’ (Lucretius, 1957: 37). What he means is basically:

‘if there were no space, everything would be one solid mass’ (Lucretius, 1957: 42).

In other words without space all matter would be compressed into one solid entity.

In fact Lucretius describes this solid state of the universe, a chaotic state of atoms:

At that time the sun’s bright disc was not to be seen here, soaring loft and lavishing light, nor the stars that crowd the far-flung firmament, nor sea nor sky, nor earth, nor air nor anything in the likeness of things we know – nothing but a hurricane raging in a newly congregated mass of atoms of every sort.’

Quite identical to early cosmological nebula, which contrary to Zakir Naik is not mentioned in the Qur'an (the Qur'an depicts earth and smoke side by side within a vaccum; while the Nebula consititutes of energy and matter compressed within the whole of existence; the earth did not exist at the time). But how did Lucretius' knowlege exceed that of the Qur'an and even prior to the Qur'an? Is it possible that Lucretius was he a prophet? No, in fact Lucretius was an atheist.

The fact is, even though Muslims were ever to find traces of modern science in the Qur’an, this would hardly accomplish anything of greater significance, any more than the ideas referred to by Lucretius 600 years earlier!

The Big Crunch and the Cyclic Universe

Furthermore, Lucretius believed in a reverse of all matter; he identifies the world as a whole, and proposes that as the sky and the earth have ‘had their birthday’ the inauguration, they also ‘will have their day of doom’ (Lucretius, 1957: 184-5). This doom is depicted as a cosmological crash, when the heights of heaven, the earth and all the intermediate material are brought to together:

‘These three bodies so different in nature, three distinct form, three fabrics such as you behold – all these a single day will blot out. The whole substance and structure of the world, upheld through many years, will crash…I am well aware how novel and strange in its impact on the mind is the impending demolition of heaven and earth…that your own eyes will see those violent earthquakes in a brief space dash the whole world to fragments…may reason rather than the event itself convince you that the whole world can collapse with one ear-splitting crack!’ (Lucretius, 1957: 174).

It remains a fact that Lucretius does refer to earthquakes and a progressive demolition of the earth, yet at the same time he suggests that ‘whole substance and structure’ of the world which has been ‘upheld’ will ‘crash’ and ‘collapse’. His terminology implies that in a brief space dash the entire world will be turned into ‘fragments’; in a ‘one ear-splitting crack’.

This was also the idea of a cyclic universe, in which the universe reverses back to its original state and repeats its creation. This was a predominant view among the pre-Islamic philosophers (see: Arthur Fairbanks: Anaximander, Plut. Strom. 2 ; Dox. 579; and Aet. Plac. i. 3: Dox. 277, 1898: 15-6. Concerning the concept of Pythagoras see description of Ocellus Lucanus in Kenneth Sylvan Guthrie’s, The Pythagorean Source Book and Library, Grand Rapids Michigan, Phanes Press, 1987: 20).

Hence it should not surprise us that the Qur’an follows the same concept:

‘The Day that We roll up the heavens like a scroll rolled up for books (completed), –even as We produced the first creation, so shall We produce a new one: a promise We have undertaken: truly shall We fulfil it (Sura 21: 104).’

Ibn Kathir purports even that creation will be repeated, much like the view postulated by pre-islamic writers:

‘…means, this will inevitable come to pass on the Day when Allah creates His creation anew. As He created them in the first place He is surely able to re-create them’ (Tafsir Ibn Kathir, vol.6, 2000: 506-7).

Indeed a range of Islamic authors propose the possibility of a repetitive cycle of creations:

‘After another seven hundred fifty quadrillion years, the universe will become an infinitely small point of infinite density and infinite temperature. What next? Who knows! The universe may continue to oscillate between Big Bangs and Big Crunches for all eternity. Or, the Big Crunch may be the end of everything. One thing is certain, however. If a new universe were created, it would have no memory of the old one. It could develop without regard for anything that happened before’

Mustafa Mlivo, Qur’an and Science: http://www.quranm.multicom.ba/science/1e-astronomy.htm

To conclude the expansion issue, we may conclude that the Qur’an is not clearly depicting a continuous expanding universe. Indeed the Qur’an refers to the universe has having expanded, but such hardly proposes a miraculous prediction of modern science, since such ideas flourished prior to the rise of Islam. Furthermore, the Qur’an appears to describe the heavens as having emerged from a separation from earth and the heavens, describing the structure of a seven levelled universe. This is certainly not the world of science.

It is difficult to propose from the Qur’anic text from which space itself originated, possibly, the Qur’an follows Hesiod’s view, that space was created prior to the earth, whereupon the heavens and its host were created by their matter separating from the earth, a view that also flourished among the ancient writers. But such is difficult to conclude. In any case such concepts are hardly ideas that correlate with modern science.

As to the reversing of the universe including space and matter, this is not explicitly stated, and it must be noted that the concepts of an expanding and reversing universe existed prior to Islam, but neither is explicitly evident in the Qur’an.

680)A 680-Post Blog Summarized:The Story Of My Blog Told Through Collections Of Posts To Date: Winter, Spring And Summer Reading For Anyone Interested

In the beginning there was nothing and then, ex nihilo, there was Blogpost 1. Now there is Blogpost 680. I was not exactly sure where I was going with my Blog when I started out in March 2006 but every Blog should have a reason to exist, a scaffolding within which it can be constructed and also the ability to diversify into other areas when the occasion calls for it:



A Blog Begun As A Retirement Project "To Prevent My Brain From Turning Into Mush":No 13 On The Top 50 Science Blogs among 125,000 NetworkedBlogs.

http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2009/12/533a-blog-begun-as-retirement-project.html



A Collection Of Posts Describing The Ethos Of My Blog On The Link Between Science And Religion In Islam; Quotes Of Aga Khans And Others.

http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2009/04/463a-collection-of-posts-describing.html





I am lucky to be living in the present era because we all have online access to information and knowledge of the highest scholarly standard and I take full advantage of this wisdom to advance the case of my Blog on the link between Science and Religion in Islam:



Blogpost Five Hundred IS Blogpost Four Hundred, The High-Octane Fuel That Powers My Blog On The Link Between Science And Religion In Islam

http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2009/08/500blogpost-five-hundred-is-blogpost.html



A collection of speeches by Aga Khans IV and III, source of some of my doctrinal material on science, religion, creation, knowledge and intellect

http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/05/365a-collection-of-speeches-by-aga.html



A Collection of Posts on my Blog from the Institute of Ismaili Studies, Aga Khan Development Network and Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy.

http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2009/04/467a-collection-of-posts-on-my-blog.html



A Collection Of Posts Describing The Philosophical, Theological, Doctrinal, Historical, Scientific And Esoteric Underpinnings Of My Blog.

http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2010/02/568a-collection-of-posts-describing.html



My Favourite Cosmologist-Philosopher-Theologian-Poets: Abu Yakub Al-Sijistani, Nasir Khusraw And Ikhwan Al-Safa; A Collection Of Posts On My Blog.

http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/11/428my-favourite-cosmologist-philosopher.html





Along the way two of many topics that have consumed my interest are the golden ages of Astronomy and Particle Physics we currently find ourselves in. I find it mentally orgasmic to study, on the one hand, one discipline dealing with the largest and most distant objects in the universe(galaxies: recently very clear telescopic pictures show us a galaxy 10 billion light years away in the early universe; that would be a 1 with 23 zeroes in front of it, kilometers away from us, an unimagineable distance). The burgeoning array of very powerful ground- and space-based telescopes have made all of this possible. On the other hand we have the Large Hadron Collider in Geneva smashing together protons at close to the speed of light, releasing the most miniscule subatomic particles that existed by themselves only a fraction of a second after the Big Bang 14 billion years ago:



A Collection of Posts on Astronomy; Quotes of Noble Quran, Aga Khan IV, Aga Khan III, Nasir Khusraw, Abu Yakub Al Sijistani and Aristotle

http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2009/03/456a-collection-of-posts-on-astronomy.html



The Large Hadron Collider Collection Of Posts On Easy Nash's Blog: A 10 Billion Euro Gizmo That Could Unlock The Secrets Of Genesis.

http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2010/03/598the-large-hadron-collider-collection.html





I also highlight on my Blog the seminal contributions of a few scientists, both Muslim and non-Muslim, whose work I find mesmerizing as they set about answering the fundamental questions: "What is the Universe made up of and how does it operate?":



A Collection of Posts on this Blog about Great Scientists; Quote of Aga Khan IV(update)

http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2009/01/437a-collection-of-blogposts-on-great.html



The Ikhwan Al-Safa(Brethern Of Purity), The Original Encyclopedists: Balancing Revelation And Reason; A Collection Of Posts; Quotes Of Aga Khan IV

http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2009/05/483the-ikhwan-al-safabrethern-of-purity.html



Ibn Al-Haytham(AlHazen), Father Of Modern Optics, Mathematician, Astronomer, Physicist, Philosopher: A Collection Of Posts; Quote Of Aga Khan IV

http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/10/418alykhan-velshi-on-ismaili-mail.html



A Collection of Posts on Charles Darwin,a Scientist Way Ahead of His Time; Dynamic vs Static Creation; Quotes of Noble Quran, Aga Khans IV and III

http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2009/02/450a-collection-of-posts-on-charles.html





Different aspects of the relationship between Science and Religion also caught my interest along with earlier well-established knowledge societies in the Muslim world:



The Peter McKnight Collection Of Posts On Science And Religion; Read Them Along With Blogpost Four Hundred; Quotes of Aga Khans IV and III

http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2009/01/441the-peter-mcknight-collection-of.html



Knowledge Society: A Collection of Posts on the Rise and Fall of Islamic Spain; Quotes of Aga Khan IV.

http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2009/01/438knowledge-society-collection-of.html





Many scientific developments, in addition to Astronomy and Particle Physics, have found their way onto my Blog and all of these have opened up for us a mind-boggling window into the marvels of God's creation:



A collection of posts about life: tiniest matter, supernovae, living cells, water, proteins, blood, photosynthesis, etc;Quotes of Aga Khans+others.

http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2009/01/435a-collection-of-posts-about-life.html



A Collection of Posts on Symmetry in Nature, as a Product of the Human Mind, Geometry and Harmonious Mathematical Reasoning; Quotes of Aga Khan IV

http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2009/03/454a-collection-of-posts-on-symmetry-in.html



Ayats(Signs) In The Universe Series:A Collection of Seven+ Posts;Quotes of Noble Quran, Prophet Muhammad, Aga Khans, Nasir Khusraw + Al Sijistani

http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2009/03/460ayatssigns-in-universe-seriesa.html



A Collection Of Posts On The Much-Visited And Wildly Popular ISMAILI MAIL Website Entitled 'BBC: Science And Islam-The Power Of Doubt'.

http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2009/12/536-collection-of-posts-on-much-visited.html





In the end, however, this is a Blog about the relationship between Science and Religion in Islam and there is no shortage of information in the Shia Nizari Ismaili Muslim literature about the fundamental Islamic concept of Monoreality, around which my Blog revolves. My three favourite Ismaili cosmologist-philosopher-theologian-poets, Abu Yakub Al-Sijistani and Nasir Khusraw, both hailing from eastern Persia about a thousand years ago, and the Ikhwan Al-Safa(Brethern of Purity), hailing from Basra around twelve hundred years ago, use the elaborate languages of Philosophy, Theology, Poetry, Allegory and Mysticism to masterfully describe this intimate relationship:



'Ismaili Philosophy' From The Internet Encyclopedia Of Philosophy, By Professor Azim Nanji; Quotes Of Aga Khans IV And Others

http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2010/03/578ismaili-philosophy-from-internet.html



A Collection Of Posts Describing The Philosophical, Theological, Doctrinal, Historical, Scientific And Esoteric Underpinnings Of My Blog.

http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2010/02/568a-collection-of-posts-describing.html



My Favourite Cosmologist-Philosopher-Theologian-Poets: Abu Yakub Al-Sijistani, Nasir Khusraw And Ikhwan Al-Safa; A Collection Of Posts On My Blog.

http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/11/428my-favourite-cosmologist-philosopher.html





No self-respecting Blog that I write could ever be complete without the mention of my and my extended family's origins, both remote and recent, as well as their life stories. The truism 'you can choose your friends but you can't choose your family, you're stuck with them, whoever they are, wherever they are, whether you have ever met them or not and whether you like them or not' is a more all-encompassing description than talking scientifically about the sharing of genes and bloodlines:



A Collection Of Posts On My Blog About All Things KESHAVJEE; Quotes from Blogpost Four Hundred.

http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2009/11/505a-collection-of-posts-on-my-blog.html





My political leanings are also revealed through various posts mixed in with the main topic of my Blog; some of these posts are a magnet for large numbers of readers from six continents to my Blog(a good number of prospective Canadians actually study Canada's magnificent new Citizenship Guide directly from my Blog) and are also designed to push the hot buttons of an obnoxious coreligionist or two:



The Canadian Conservative Government Featured On Easy Nash's Blog: Rt Hon Stephen Harper, Hon Jason Kenney Et Al; A Collection Of Posts

http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2010/03/592the-canadian-conservative-government.html



A Collection Of Posts On My Blog Relating To The Stephen Harper Government's Magnificent New Citizenship Guide; Quotes Of Minister Kenney Et Al

http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2010/03/576a-collection-of-posts-on-my-blog.html



Having Purged Myself Of The Putrefaction Of Liberalism + Socialism Here Is A Collection Of Posts Coursing Nourishing Conservatism Through My Veins

http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2009/06/489having-purged-myself-of-putrefaction.html



Professor Salim Mansur, Provocative, Fearless, Definitely No Shrinking Violet And Not A Jamal Public Pinko Either; A Collection Of Posts.

http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2010/03/595professor-salim-mansur-provocative.html



A Collection Of Posts By Pervez Amirali Hoodbhoy, World-Renowned Physics Professor And Disciple Of 1979 Physics Nobel Laureate Abdus Salaam

http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2009/03/461a-collection-of-posts-on-pervez.html



A Collection Of Posts Honouring Courageous Sisters in Religion:Irshad Manji,Yasmin Alibhai-Brown,the Redoubtable Moghul,Sheema Khan and Sheela B.

http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2009/03/462a-collection-of-posts-honouring-our.html





Whenever I take a break from Blogging, or develop a mental block, I try to leave a personal selection of posts for the benefit of my readership while I am away and my current post, Blogpost 599, will be one such example:



Summer, Fall and Winter Reading For Those Who Are Interested: My Choice Of The Top 50 Posts In My 500-post Blog

http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2009/08/499summer-fall-and-winter-reading-for.html



Summer Reading For Those Who Are Interested; My Choice Of My Top Collections Of Posts On My 491-Post Blog

http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2009/07/491summer-reading-for-those-who-are.html



Fall And Winter Reading For Those Who Are Interested: My Choice Of The Top 50 Posts On My 427-Post Blog.

http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/11/427fall-and-winter-reading-for-those.html



A Post About Collections of Posts And A Collection Of Posts About Collections Of Posts.........; Quote of Anonymous.

http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2009/04/465a-post-about-collections-of-posts.html



A Collection Of Posts About My Choice Of My Favourite Posts, Off-Topic Posts and Sundry Things; Quote Of Anonymous

http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2009/04/464a-collection-of-posts-about-my.html





The above compilation of collections of posts contains a very large number of, but not all, the 680 posts that make up my Blog on the link between Science and Religion in Islam. In order to find the orphan posts that do not fit into any particular collection you will need to read the entire Blog from start to finish and pick them out yourself.



In conclusion my Blog description sums it all up to my satisfaction:



"This blog contains my thoughts on the above, reflecting the tradition of Shia Nizari Ismaili Islam: The material universe is part of the structure of truth, the ultimate nature of which it is the goal of religion to reach(monoreality). Among other things this blog asks two questions, what is the universe made up of and how does it operate? The answer to these questions finds its way onto a continuum of knowledge ranging from rationally-acquired knowledge to transcendental knowledge of the divine.



The signature post of my blog, Blogpost Four Hundred, quotes of Aga Khan IV and others, forms a solid doctrinal underpinning to my blog:

http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/09/400blogpost-four-hundred-knowledge.html



Quote of the Blog:"The Quran itself repeatedly recommends Muslims to become better educated in order better to understand God's creation"(Aga Khan IV, Louvre Museum, Paris, France, October 17th 2007).



This is what drives my blog: The Prophet Mohammed said that the first(and only) thing that was originated, through the Divine Command or Will, by the Absolutely Transcendent God, was Intellect(Aql). Intellect(from which all else emanates) provides 'tayyid' or inspiration to Natiq(Speaking Prophet, of whom there were six great ones) and Soul; Natiq composes('talif') a scripture made up of words and sentences from this inspiration, and Soul composes('tarkib') a universe made up of matter from this inspiration. This is what forms the basis of the link between science and religion. The compositions of Natiq and Soul are equivalent(both called 'ayats' or 'signs') and each contains Intellect wrapped within it. The Asas(Founder) interprets('tawil') the compositions of the Natiq and Soul, unincorporating them to uncover Intellect in its pure glory.



My blog is constructed and conceived within a scaffolding of the Al Sijistani-Khusraw cosmological doctrine(identifying the four wellsprings of knowledge: Intellect, Soul, Natiq and Asas), allowing for the discoveries of modern, empirical science to fit neatly into its overall structure. Abu Yakub Al Sijistani and Nasir Khusraw were Ismaili cosmologist-philosopher-theologian-poets who lived during the period of the 14th to 18th Fatimid Ismaili Imam-Caliphs in Egypt around a thousand years ago."





Easy Nash http://apps.facebook.com/blognetworks/blog/science_and_religion_in_islam_the_link/ http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2009/08/500blogpost-five-hundred-is-blogpost.html http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2009/03/453a-blog-constructed-within.html

In Shia Islam, intellect is a key component of faith. Intellect allows us to understand the creation of God: Aga Khan IV(2008)

The Qur'an itself repeatedly recommends Muslims to become better educated in order better to understand God's creation: Aga Khan IV(2007)

The Quran tells us that signs of Allah's Sovereignty are found in the contemplation of His Creation: Aga Khan IV(2007)

This notion of the capacity of the human intellect to understand and to admire the creation of Allah will bring you happiness in your everyday lives: Aga Khan IV(2007)

Islam, eminently logical, placing the greatest emphasis on knowledge, purports to understand God's creation: Aga Khan IV(2006)

The Holy Qu'ran's encouragement to study nature and the physical world around us gave the original impetus to scientific enquiry among Muslims: Aga Khan IV(1985)

The first and only thing created by God was the Intellect(Aql): Prophet Muhammad(circa 632CE)

Science among the ancients

In light of previous articles on this blog, in which I believe I have provided good and solid evidence that assumed Qur'anic prediction of modern science incorporates nothing but pre-Islamic conjecture, I have to notify the reader on a particular book:

Evidence of Greek philosophical concepts in the writings of Ephrem the Syrian, By Ute Possekel

Almost the entire work of Possekel can be read on amazon books:

http://books.google.com/books?id=rZ3gGQuJUS4C&pg=PA99&lpg=PA99&dq=ephrem+the+syrian+cosmology&source=bl&ots=9LOd-cKBrj&sig=j-DC270v2pk0Gsj07VN0eSejvlY&hl=fo&ei=jj1LTeamAoSDhQeXm5HZDg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CA8Q6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=ephrem%20the%20syrian%20cosmology&f=false

This book is amazing and reveals the variaty and indepth matter, circulating within the very complicated debates occuring between pre-islamic scientists. Kind of refutes even further, the Islamic position that the Qur'an brought us highly developed science out of a societal vaccum, a civilization simply bursting with ignorance.

Considering the time and scientific development, that was certainly not the situation of the pre-Islamic era.

God willing there is more to come.