A Note on the Qur'an and the Big Bang...
Denis Giron
I am posting this with hopes of re-invigorating a discussion on the
subject of the Qur'an and the Big Bang. What is at issue here for me
is the claim put forth by proponents of the scientific-hermeneutic
approach that specific verses in Soorat al-Anbiyaa' and Sooraat
az-Zaariyaat *PROVE* that the Qur'an is of a divine origin. I am not
going to attack a position where one has an a priori faith in the
Qur'an and can derive a reading that puts the text in harmony with
modern science to their own satisfaction. I am simply criticizing
those who treat this as absolute and objective proof that the Qur'an
is of a divine origin.
The first verse I will be considering is Soorat al-Anbiyaa' 21:30, the
Arabic text of which can be found here (along with the Hilaalee-Khan
translation):
http://www.unn.ac.uk/societies/islamic/quran/noble/nobae021.htm#30
I will focus specifically on what I consider the most relevant part of
the text, which reads: "as-Samaawaati wa al-Arda kaanataa ratqan,
fa-fataqnaahumaa." I would translate this as "the heavens and the
earth were sewn [together], then we ripped them [apart]."
Now again, if Muslims who have an a priori belief that the Qur'an is
of a divine origin (as per their faith) want to interpret this as
being harmonious with the Big Bang model, I think that is a good thing
(the insistence of some evangelical Christians to not interpret the
Bible in a similar way may wreak havoc on the American education
system in the future). However, from an objective standpoint I don't
think one is truly forced to believe that this demonstrates knowledge
of the Big Bang.
First of all, if the ripping is implied to be the actual "big bang,"
then the text is rather explicitly stating that the earth existed
before that moment. Some would argue that the very idea of something
like the earth existing before the Big Bang is already problematic.
Regardless of that (which may lead to highly technical discussions),
the reality is that the earth is roughly 4-5 billion years old, thus
it came into existence billions of years after the Big Bang.
Some have tried to argue that this means the heaven and earth were a
single unit, but that is not what the text says. It presents it as two
things sewn together, and then it states "fataqnaahumaa," which means
"we ripped *them* apart," implying a duality, not a singularity (the
ripping apart of one unit would have better been described by having
something like "fataqnaahaa" {ending with ha-alif for singular, rather
than ha-mim-alif}, ripping *it* apart, possibly following something
about the two being one - "ahad" maybe). Thus there is not perfect
agreement between a literal reading of this verse and the theory of
the Big Bang. In order to make it harmonious with the Big Bang, one
needs to sprinkles a little hermeneutics and faith onto the text.
Moving along, we get to the next verse that I wanted to discuss:
Soorat al-Zaariyaat 51:47, the Arabic of which can be read here:
http://www.unn.ac.uk/societies/islamic/quran/noble/nobae051.htm#47
Some have tried to render this verse roughly "we created the heavens
with power, and we are expanding them," which I believe is a bit of a
leap. First, with regard to the expansion, this is derived from the
last word - "moosi'oona," which is the active participle (in the
plural) of the verb awsa'a, which can mean expand/widen (among other
things).
First I would like to discuss this active participle. Any given Arabic
word is derived from its verbal root (usually consisting of three
radicals). The word Moosi'oona is an active participle of the fourth
stem. Imagine any verb root XYZ... the common construction of an
active participle from that root in the fourth stem would be muXYiZ.
Examples might be "muSLiM" from the SLM root, or "muLHiD" (atheist)
from the LHD root. Moosi'oon is simply the plural of Moosi', from the
waw-seen-ayn (WS') root.
There is one other time in the Qur'an that this word (Moosi') appears,
which is Soorat al-Baqara 2:236. There it clearly means rich or
wealthy (which are also meanings of awsa'a), and does not have
anything to do with expansion (the root, as I understand it, has an
implication of preponderance). Indeed this could allow us to
understand how the verse is used in the Qur'an (as an implication of
influence, affluence, or the ability to enrich may be intended).
Nonetheless, while meanings other than expansion are possible,
expansion is nonetheless one of the meanings of the verb. Thus a
Moosi' can sensibly be understood as "one that expands." Saying that I
am a Moosi' does not necessarily mean I am expanding something right
now. An active participle means one who does the action or has a
tendency to do such, but does not mean one who is doing it right now.
For example, if I say "I am a baker," that is different from me saying
"I am baking something right now."
So, the Arabic of the verse is "al-Samaa'a, banaynaahaa biayydin, wa
inna la-Moosi'oona." I would translate that literally as "the heaven,
we built it with power (or possibly even "with hands"), and certainly
we are the Moosi'oon." While other meanings are possible, if we take
awsa'a to mean expand, then the last part could be rendered "we are
those who expand, or those with the power to expand" (note that the
Hilaalee-Khan and Ahmed Ali translations, which don't pass up an
opportunity to translate a verse in line with the
scientific-hermeneutic approach, rendered the last part "We are Able
to extend the vastness of space thereof" and "we are the Lord of the
expanse," respectively).
Though subtle, there is a difference between "those who expand," and
"we are expanding it." To get the latter, the text would not employ an
active participle, but rather the verb translated in the imperfect
indicative. Awsa'a in the imprefect indicative would be yoosi'u
(yaa-waw-seen-ayn, with damma over the last ayn). In the first person
plural (we), I believe it would be noosi'u (with a nun), and to say
"we are expanding *IT*" (i.e. the heaven), it would be noosi'uhaa
(with ha-alif at the end). Thus to say "the heaven, we built it with
power, and we are expanding it," the Arabic would have to read
something like "al-Samaa'a, banaynaahaa biayydin, wa noosi'uhaa."
Some may argue that even if it is not in the imperfect indicative, the
verse still speaks of some sort of expansion within the context of the
heavens. Thus even if one cannot make the text read "we are expanding
it," the verse can still be read as referring to an expansion of the
universe (regardless of whether it continues to this day). This is
true, but it is not proof of a divine origin. The fact is that texts
predating the Qur'an also imply an expanding universe.
First of all, one should notice that Soorat az-Zaariyaat 51:47-48
seems strikingly similar to Isaiah 42:5. As for Isaiah 42:5, the
Hebrew text describes God as "YHWH, bore ha-shamaim v'noteihem." The
key word is the last, from the verb lintot, which means "to stretch,
expand, elongate, extend" (which I suppose are all synonyms of one
another). The verb is actually conjugated in the present ("hoveh")
tense, thus the portion I have noted can be translated as "YHWH [who
is] creating the heavens and expanding them."
Also of interest would be Isaiah 51:13 which begins "Vatishkach, YHWH
'osekha noteh shamaim." This is relevant because "tishkach" (forget)
is actually conjugated in the future tense, and noteh is conjugated in
the present tense (past tense would have been "natah"). Thus I would
like to dedicate the most literal translation of Isaiah 51:13 to those
who think the Qur'an is the only book to speak of an expansion of the
heavens: "you will forget [that] YHWH your maker is expanding the
heavens."
Some may argue that the Bible too contains portions of divine
revelation, but while many Muslims believe that, it seems to be merely
an assertion rather than something that has actually been proven (i.e.
I have seen no evidence that the Bible was ever a divine text,
regardless of whether it has since been "corrupted" or not).
Furthermore, the point is that a text that seems to speak of an
expansion of the universe predates the Qur'an by more than a thousand
years. Saying something analogous after Isaiah does not imply divine
guidance (otherwise any Jew or Christian who recited Isaiah would be
divinely guided, and so too anyone who merely parrots what they say).
It is possible for a mere human to utter such.
So in the end, these are the reasons that I am not convinced that the
verses allegedly describing the Big Bang in the Qur'an are proof that
the Qur'an is of a divine origin. Now, this does not mean the Qur'an
is NOT of a divine origin (nor do I wish to imply that I have proven
the Qur'an is not divine). While this post may have read like an
attack on the Qur'an, it really was not; rather this was an attack on
a specific form of exegesis being applied to the Qur'an. What the
Qur'an "really" says is wholly up to the individual reader, and divine
origin is an issue for him or her alone to decide on.
-Denis Giron
http://freethoughtmecca.org/home.htm
Denis Giron
> Greetings!
This is an addition to my own post from June 23rd, 2003, which has
been archived by Google here:
http://groups.google.com/groups?selm=bac0a2be.0306231250.9949a16%40posting.google.com
> Nonetheless, while meanings other than expansion are possible,
> expansion is nonetheless one of the meanings of the verb. Thus a
> Moosi' can sensibly be understood as "one that expands." Saying that I
> am a Moosi' does not necessarily mean I am expanding something right
> now. An active participle means one who does the action or has a
> tendency to do such, but does not mean one who is doing it right now.
> For example, if I say "I am a baker," that is different from me saying
> "I am baking something right now."
I wanted to expand on this point about active participles, as some
have tried to argue that Arabic is different from other languages with
regard to its active participles. The argument is that an active
participle can be understood as one who is performing the action right
now, or continuously. If we are to accept this claim, it pulls us a
little back into the debate over Soorat az-Zaariyaat and the
scientific-hermeneutic approach to the Qur'an.
So then, the question comes up, is it possible for a man who does not
know about the Big Bang to write/utter something in Arabic that can be
translated as having the heavens expanding? Again, we are working
under the assumption that the claim about active participles in Arabic
being understandable as present tense or continuous action is true.
Thus my answer to the question is yes, and we have proof.
As I have noted in the past, Soorat az-Zaariyaat 51:47-48 is
strikingly like Isaiah 42:5 (and I have already noted how the text
from Isaiah can be translated as having the heavens expand).
Interestingly, I would like to note the Arabic translation of Isaiah
42:5 & 51:13 that was put out by the American Bible Society in 1816.
The 1816 ABS translation of these verses is identical to the 1867 Van
Dyke translation (maybe this is the case with the entire Bible, but I
am focussing specifically on these two verses), which can be read
here:
http://www.arabicbible.com/bible/pdf/2395isa2.pdf
The Arabic translation of 42:5 (or the relevant portion at least) is
"hakadhaa yaqoolu Allaahu 'r-Rabbu khaaliqu al-samaawaati
wa-naashiruhaa[.]" Here a man with no knowledge of the Big Bang (this
was a translation done in 1816!) describes the creation of the
heavens, and then says that the Lord is "naashiruhaa". This is from
the nun-sheen-raa root, nashara, and the active participle in the Form
I (fa'ala) stem would be "naashir". I looked up the nun-sheen-raa root
in Rohi Baalbaki, "Al-Mawrid: A Modern Arabic-English Dictionary,"
(Dar El-Ilm Lilmayin, 1988), and on p. 236 it listed among the
meanings of nashara "extend, expand". So, nashara can mean expand, and
the active participle naashir would mean "one who expands". According
to those who push the scientific-hermeneutic approach to the Qur'an,
an active participle can also mean present and/or continuous action,
thus with naashir in the Arabic translation, we have a text that
roughly states that God is expanding it (i.e. the heaven).
> Also of interest would be Isaiah 51:13 which begins "Vatishkach, YHWH
> 'osekha noteh shamaim." This is relevant because "tishkach" (forget)
> is actually conjugated in the future tense, and noteh is conjugated in
> the present tense (past tense would have been "natah"). Thus I would
> like to dedicate the most literal translation of Isaiah 51:13 to those
> who think the Qur'an is the only book to speak of an expansion of the
> heavens: "you will forget [that] YHWH your maker is expanding the
> heavens."
Also relevant to this way of examining the possibilities within the
Arabic language and the relevance this has to the
scientific-hermeneutic approach to the Qur'an is Isaiah 51:13, thus I
will transliterate the Arabic for the relevant portion of that as
well:
Wa-tansaa ar-Rabba saani'aka baasita 's-Samaawaati
Now, in case someone had a problem with me translating the Hebrew
"tishkach" (forget) in the future tense, the text of Isaiah 51:13
nonetheless is literally in the future tense with regard to the
relevant verb. Now, if I wanted to have my translation into Arabic be
in the future tense, what conjugation would I use? The answer is the
imperfect indicative. And - SURPRISE!!! - the imperfect indicative of
the nun-seen-yaa root (for "to forget") is tansaa (with alif maqsoora
at the end), precisely what appears in the translation I have cited.
The word tansaa means either "you are forgetting" or "you will
forget".
Then we get to the Arabic word baasit, which is an active participle
from the baa-seen-taa root. Baalbaki, "al-Mawrid," p. 1171 lists among
the meanings of this root "extend, expand," and J. Milton Cowan, "Hans
Wehr: A Dictionary of Modern Written Arabic," 3rd ed., (Spoken
Language Services, 1971), p. 57, has the verb mean "to spread out,
stretch out, enlarge, expand". Thus, if I were to concede that in
Arabic active participles can be understood as present tense, this
verse can be understood in a way very similar to my own English
translation of the original Hebrew: "and you will forget the Lord your
maker is expanding the heavens..."
So now we should all be able to see how this is relevant to the
scientific-hermeneutic approach to the Qur'an (with regard to the Big
Bang, the expansion of the universe, and Soorat az-Zaariyaat). We have
proof that it is possible for a mere mortal to employ an active
participle that comes from a verb that can mean (among other things)
"expand". Once you concede to that possibility, we are no longer
forced to accept some conclusion about a divine origin for the
relevant verse in Soorat az-Zaariyaat. Furthermore, I doubt it is a
coincidence that this happened with an Arabic translation of Isaiah
and Soorat az-Zaariyaat 51:47-48 is so similar to Isaiah 42:5.
-Denis Giron
http://freethoughtmecca.org/home.htm
Altway
Comment:-
The Quran is not a text book on Cosmology or science, but a book in
religion. The Quran, therefore, provides us with as much knowledge about the
fundamental nature of the universe and its contents as is required to lead
an intelligent life in adjustment to Reality. This knowledge does not merely
consist of facts, but these have to be presented in a manner relevant to
human existence and to provide values and meanings. It provides a guidance,
a framework of reference in which things can be interpreted, leaving man to
make the efforts and explore it further. This is, in fact, the purpose of
his existence.
The opinions and criticisms of those who do not understand this is
irrelevant and futile.
The Quran will be interpreted by readers according to their experiences,
knowledge, motives and presuppositions and as these change over time and
culture. Some will have a negative attitude and understand nothing, others
will have a positive attitude and expand their consciousness, conscience and
will. And many will be between these to various degrees.
As for the Big Bang, the following verses are relevant. But they do not
necessarily support the Big Bang. It is a theory that fits certain facts.
But knowledge expands and at no time is it a certainty. The same applies to
the interpretation of the Quran as interpretation of experiences and
scientific data. It could be that there is some Central Sun or Black Hole in
the Universe from which forces radiatiate and into which they are also
reabsorbed.
"Have not those who believe known that the heavens and the earth were of one
piece. We parted them..." 21:30
"And Our Commandment is but one, as the twinkling of an eye." 55:50
"Allah it is who has created seven heavens, and of the earth similarly. The
commandment comes down among them slowly, that you may know that Allah is
Able to do all things, and that Allah surrounds all things in knowledge."
65:12
"For everything there is a time prescribed." 13:38
"And He it is Who created the heavens and the earth in six periods - and His
Throne was upon the water - that He might try you which of you is best in
conduct..." 11:7 and see 49:13, 67:2-4
"Then He ordained them seven heavens in two Periods and inspired in each
heaven its mandate; and We decked the nether heaven with lamps, and rendered
it inviolable. That is the measuring of the Mighty, the Knower." 41:12
"We created not the heavens and the earth, and all that is between them,
save with truth, and for a term appointed." 46:3
"He produces creation, then reproduces it, that He may reward those who
believe and do good works with equity." 10:5 and 10:35
---
Hamid S. Aziz
www.altway.freeuk.com
..