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No Big Bang in the Koran

By Dr Jones 1.0 Introduction Some Muslims often make extravagant (and spurious) claims that the Koran contains Scientific Miracles. That is to say, they claim that many of the discoveries of Modern Science were alluded to 1400 years ago in the Koran many centuries before they were uncovered by scientific investigation. This argument seeks to prove that the Koran is of divine authorship due it supposedly containing information that was not known until centuries after the death of Mohammed. One of the most popular examples of such claims is that the Big Bang in which the Universe came into existence is mentioned in the Koran. Modern Science did not discover this until the 1920s. If the Koran is not from God, it is asked, then how did Mohammed know about the Big Bang? The simple answer is that the Big Bang is not mentioned in the Koran. Mohammed and his followers did not know about it when some of them authored the Koran without any divine assistance. Here is my justification for such a claim. 2.0 The Big Bang in the Koran?

Do not the unbelievers see that the Heavens and the Earth Were joined together (as one unit of Creation), before We clove them asunder?.... Surah 21:30

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According to some Muslims, the Big Bang, in which the Universe came into existence, is described by the verses above. They seem to refer to everything in the Universe being joined together in one piece before being violently separated. How, we are asked, did the Prophet Muhammad know this, unless God told him? 3.0 Why the Big Bang is not mentioned in the Koran There is a very simple answer to the question in the previous section. The author of the Koran did not know about the Big Bang, and these verses are not referring to the Big Bang for three reasons. Surah 21:30 is not a scientifically accurate description of the Big Bang 1. These verses are similar to the creation myths of other peoples such as the ancient Greeks, Romans and Egyptians. The Big Bang describes the beginning of the Universe, but the Koran does not have any concept of a Universe in the modern sense of the word. Firstly, Surah 21:30 is not a scientifically accurate description of the Big Bang. The Big Bang did not involve the Earth being split apart from the rest of the Universe as described in Surah 21: 30. The Universe is 13.7 billion years old, while the Earth is only 4.6 billion years old. The Earth did not exist at the Big Bang and was not formed until almost 9 billion years later! Even the elements that make up the Earth did not exist at the Big Bang. All that came out of the Big Bang was hydrogen and helium. The other elements were synthesized in stars much later. Secondly, these verses are similar to the creation myths of other peoples such as the ancient Greeks, Romans and Egyptians. Compare Surah 21:30 with the following verses from Ancient Greek and Roman writers. Do not the unbelievers see that the Heavens and the Earth Were joined together (as one unit of Creation), before We clove them asunder?.... (Surah 21:30) He (Orpheus) sang of that past age when Earth, Sky and Sea were knit together in a single mold; how they were sundered after deadly strife; how

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the Stars, the Moon and the traveling Sun keep faithfully to their stations in the Heavens (Apollonius of Rhodes, Argonautica Book 1; 476-510, 240 BC) The God who is nature was kinder and brought this dispute to an end. He severed the Earth from the Sky and parted the Sea from the land (Ovid, Metamorphoses, Book 1; 20-22, 8 AD) These verses are very similar to Surah 21:30 and seem to be describing the same thing. How could Apollonius of Rhodes and Ovid find out about the Big Bang over 2000 years ago? Are these examples of a Scientific Miracle? Perhaps this proves that Zeus and the other Gods in the Greco-Roman pantheon really exist? Shouldnt we all convert to Hellenistic Paganism in order to avoid the risk of incurring the wrath of Zeus and burning in Tartarus for all eternity? These verses from the Argonautica and from Ovids Metamorphoses are not describing the Big Bang at all! They are describing Greek and Roman versions of a Creation Myth that is popular in many cultures. This is the Myth of the separation of Earth and Sky. The ancient Egyptians also had a version of this myth in which the God of the air separated the God of the Earth and the Goddess of the Sky.

In Egyptian Mythology, the Air God Shu raised up Nut the Sky Goddess Above Geb, the Earth God. Surah 21:30 is just another version of this Myth.

This is what Surah 21:30 really means. Here, God lifts up the solid Sky, which was previously lying on the ground.

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Thirdly, the Big Bang describes the beginning of the Universe, but the Koran doesnt have any concept of a Universe in the modern sense of the word. Notice how the Koran uses the term the Heavens and the Earth as being synonymous with the Universe. The author of the Koran is assuming that the Universe consists of two main parts. 1 The Heavens, or Sky 2 The Earth The implication is that both these parts are of roughly the same order of magnitude. In reality, the size of the Earth is insignificant compared with the size of the rest of the Universe. Of coarse, the phrase the Heavens and the Earth makes perfect sense if the author assumed that the Universe looked something like that in the picture below.

The Heavens

The Earth

The phrase the Heavens and the Earth to mean the whole Universe makes perfect sense in a Universe like this one, but not in the real Universe where the Earth is just an insignificant part. See note below. *

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4.0 Conclusion Now that we have examined this claim more closely, it does not stand up to scrutiny. The author of the Koran never meant to refer to the Big Bang since he did not know about it and claims to the contrary are based upon wishful thinking, circular reasoning and distorting the meaning of the words of the Koran. References 1 The age of the Universe. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Age_of_the_universe 2 The age of the Earth. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Age_of_the_Earth 3 Argonautica, Apollonius of Rhodes, published by Penguin, page 49 4 Metamorphoses, Ovid, published by Penguin, page 6 5 Egyptian Creation Myth. http://www.egyptgods.egyptholiday.com/heliopolis.htm For a detailed justification of this interpretation of the Cosmology of the Koran, see the following documents. http://www.scribd.com/doc/13080325/Flat-Earth-Koran-01-of-13-Introduction http://www.scribd.com/doc/13152686/Flat-Earth-Koran-02-of-13-The-Flat-Earth http://www.scribd.com/doc/13255324/Flat-Earth-Koran-03-of-13-The-Two-Seasthe-Ocean-of-Heaven http://www.scribd.com/doc/13280436/Flat-Earth-Koran-04-of-13-Heaven-in-theSky http://www.scribd.com/doc/13862451/Flat-Earth-Koran-05-of-13-The-Solid-SkyDome http://www.scribd.com/doc/13863012/Flat-Earth-Koran-06-of-13-Beneath-theFlat-Earth http://www.scribd.com/doc/13972477/Flat-Earth-Koran-07-of-13-The-Sun-theMoon-and-the-Stars http://www.scribd.com/doc/14363043/Flat-Earth-Koran-08-of-13-The-Hadith

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http://www.scribd.com/doc/14806013/Flat-Earth-Koran-09-of-13-Medieval-Islam http://www.scribd.com/doc/19052991/Flat-Earth-Koran-10-of-13-Koran-ScienceCosmology-Part-1 http://www.scribd.com/doc/19243379/Flat-Earth-Koran-11-of-13-Koran-ScienceCosmology-Part-2 http://www.scribd.com/doc/19400248/Flat-Earth-Koran-12-of-13-Koran-ScienceCosmology-Part-3 http://www.scribd.com/doc/19450997/Flat-Earth-Koran-13-of-13-Conclusion