WORLD OF ISLAM The Heavens without Pillars: A Quranic Message and Science (I)
The Originator of the heavens and the earth Allah the Almighty created the natural laws during the creation process. Establishing these natural principles, He activated the heavens and the earth to function in the way what we observe and feel today. The gravitational force, electromagnetic force, nuclear force and every natural phenomenon came into play as soon as the creation is complete. The celestial bodies in the heaven interact among themselves exhibiting a number of motions under the influence of these forces. The various motions caused by the various interacting forces have created a dynamic equilibrium among the heavenly bodies.
As a result of this equilibrium state the heavenly bodies are held high in the space above. This is a manifestation of the mighty power of creation and wisdom of the Great Creator Allah which He reminds us in the Quran.
Ancient beliefs about the Heaven
Our daily experience on earth is that to keep anything high above the ground we need to put a support so that it does not fall. How is then the sky held high above? Perhaps, since the dawn of human habitation on earth people have been looking for the answer to this question. Down the history of human civilization, different communities of people believed in different kinds of myths about the sky.
Even 1400 years ago, at the time of revelation of the Quran people mostly bore in their minds superstitious and groundless beliefs where scientific issues were concerned. Their knowledge of astronomy, physics and any other branches of science were poor and even in many subjects they had no knowledge at all.
The people of the then Arabian society believed in various legends and myths inherited from their predecessors. Lacking in scientific and technological knowledge they believed that the earth was flat and there were very high raised mountains at its edges. They thought that the sky was supported by these mountains.
The Great Creator of the heavens and the earth Allah SWT (Subhanahu Wa Ta’ala) declared in the Quran, - “It is Allah who erected the heavens without pillars that you [can] see; ----” - (Quran 13:2). This divine message in the Quran invalidated the superstitious belief that the sky rested on mountains.
The Seven Heavens in the Quran
For the sky or heaven Allah SWT has used in the Quran the Arabic word ‘samaa’. In the Quran He has also used the word ‘samawaat’ which is the plural of ‘samaa’. Allah SWT has said in the Quran, “- He Who created the seven heavens one above another;---” - Quran (67:3).
In this verse He has used the plural form ‘samawaat’ to disclose the truth that He has created seven heavens one above the other. In some of the verses in the Quran Allah SWT has used the singular form ‘samaa’ to mean the lowest heaven where He has set up the celestial objects.
However, in some other verses in the Quran He has also used the singular form of heaven ‘samaa’ to mean the atmosphere where birds fly, and clouds move. But mostly ‘samaa’ has been used to mean the innermost or lowest heaven in the Quran.
In scientific term ‘samaa’ or the innermost heaven is the ‘space’ which comprises of all the stars, planets, satellites, asteroids, nebula, comets, meteors, galaxies, galaxy clusters and everything we observe now and will observe in the future. This innermost heaven is the smallest heaven, and it is our universe. On top of this heaven are stacked six more heavens with vast spaces in-between.
The second heaven surrounds our universe and is very large. The third heaven surrounds the second heaven and is even larger and so on. The outermost heaven is the seventh heaven. No number exists to describe the size of this outermost heaven! The vastness of these seven heavens comprising our universe is incomprehensible.
The Heaven We Observe
We the human being can only observe a portion of the lowest heaven where some celestial bodies appear to shine. We do not have any kind of knowledge of the top six heavens that surround the innermost heaven, our universe. We also do not know what are inside the top six heavens. Allah SWT has not mentioned anything about these top heavens in the Quran.
Even we also do not have any idea of the roofs or partitions of the seven heavens and the kind of matters of which they are made up. It may be thought that Allah SWT has not mentioned it because human beings are not capable of perceiving it.
The earth on which we live is located at an infinitesimally small corner of the observable universe. With sophisticated space technology from such a small corner of the vast space we can observe a very small portion of the heavenly bodies only within the innermost heaven. As mentioned before, we do not have any knowledge of either of the upper six heavens or of the roofs or partitions of the seven heavens.
However, Allah SWT has stated in the verse 13:2 that He has erected all the heavens without any support, and He has reaffirmed this fact by saying ‘that you can see’. From the statement of erection of the heavens without support in the verse 13:2 we can only perceive erection of the heavenly bodies since we lack in any kind of knowledge of the upper heavens and also the roofs of the seven heavens.
Hence, we cannot discuss anything about the erection of the bodies within the upper six heavens and the roofs of all the seven heavens. Therefore, in this article our discussions will be focused mainly on how the erection of the heavenly bodies within the innermost heaven called the space could be possible.
Establishment of Natural Laws by Allah
In the Quran Allah SWT states that, “--- - Thus, He completed the seven universes in two days, and set up the laws for every universe---” – Quran (41:12). We learn from this verse that during creation of the heavens Allah SWT has decreed His rules for the heavens necessary for their functioning. The rules decreed by Him are nothing but the natural principles which the heavens have to abide by.
Every single bit of matter within the space including trillions of trillion celestial bodies with enormous size and mass therein is subject to these natural laws. These natural laws are associated with the natural forces like the gravitational force, electromagnetic force, nuclear weak and strong force and other forces that control the natural phenomena occurring in the universe.
Allah SWT has not left the universe to survive by miracles or by chance. Also, He has not allowed the universe to be in a state of chaos and instability. Instead, He has set up natural laws to establish a high discipline and order in the universe. Whatever the event or phenomenon that occurs in the universe must take place according to the natural principles set up by the Great Creator Allah.
Gravity and Orbital motion
In the vast space within the innermost heaven there are trillions of galaxies. In each of these galaxies there are hundreds of billions celestial bodies like stars, planets, asteroids, and many others. We live in the Milky Way galaxy containing a minimum of 100 billion stars of huge size and mass. Out of these huge numbers of stars our sun is one.
The sun has a family called the solar system consisting of at least 8 planets and their few hundred moons, about a million of asteroids and other objects. All the planets in the solar system including our earth move around the sun in specific orbits. The earth’s satellite the moon moves around the earth. A question arises at this point, why does a celestial body move around another celestial body?
Humankind had to wait till 17th century to know the answer to this question. The English mathematician Isaac Newton could provide an answer to this question in 1687.
There is a legend that Newton formulated a law after watching an apple fall from a tree and asking why the apple fell straight down, rather than sideways or even upward. He showed that the force that makes the apple fall is the same that holds us on the earth. Also, it is the same force which keeps the planets and the moons in their orbits.
By virtue of this force every object attracts all other objects towards it. This force is known as Gravitational force or simply Gravity. The law that defines gravity is one of the natural laws which Allah SWT decreed on the heavens as mentioned in the verse 41:12. The Great Creator Allah the Almighty created this force during creation of the heavens and by order of Him this force has come into play in the universe. Gravity of a particular body pulls other bodies towards it and causes orbital motions among the trillions of trillion celestial bodies in the universe.
Can the Earth be swallowed by the Sun?
Anything released from a high altitude falls to the ground since the gravity of the earth pulls it towards the earth. In the same way gravity of the sun pulls the planets towards it. The planets also pull the sun towards them. The more massive the body is the stronger is its force of attraction (gravity). The sun is the heaviest body in the solar system.
The mass of the sun is 99.80% of that of the entire solar system. The gravity of the sun is the strongest in the solar system since its mass is the highest. For this reason, the sun does not move towards any planet rather a planet moves towards the sun.
Now one may ask, why don’t the planets fall on to the sun which has much stronger gravity than that of the planets? The answer lies in the fact that the planets are not stationary, they are in motion. If they were stationary, they would have fallen into the sun and would have burnt down. Actually, the planets have a sideways motion acting perpendicularly to the direction of the gravitational force between the sun and a planet.
For example, the earth has a sideways velocity of 30 kilometer/sec or 108000 km/hr. Similarly, other planets also have strong sideways motions. But this sideways motion is not strong enough to overcome the gravitational pull of the sun on the planet so as to escape from the solar system.
On the other hand, the gravitational pull of the sun on the planet is not so strong that it can draw the planet inside it surpassing the effect of the sideways motion of the planet. However, if the planets did not have the sideways velocity they would have entered into the sun and if the sun did not have gravitational force, the planets would have entered into the deep space leaving the solar system behind.
If such a situation happens with the earth on which we live, either the earth would have flown away from the solar system with us on board towards any unknown location deep into the space with a speed of 108000 km/ hr. or the sun would have swallowed us along with the earth in the blink of an eye. Therefore, it is the sideways velocity of the earth which prevents it from falling on to the sun and being swallowed by it.