Red Shifting and the Expanding Universe

For thousands of years, astronomers wrestled with basic questions concerning the universe.  Until the early 1920’s, it was believed that the universe had always been in existence; also, that the size of the universe was fixed and not changing.  However, in 1912, the American astronomer, Vesto Slipher, made a discovery that would soon change astronomers’ beliefs about the universe.  Slipher noticed that the galaxies were moving away from earth at huge velocities.  These observations provided the first evidence supporting the expanding-universe theory.

The Expansion of the Universe

In the Qur'an, which was revealed fourteen centuries ago at a time when the science of astronomy was still primitive, the expansion of the universe was described in the following terms: 

At the beginning of the 20th century, the Russian physicist Alexander Friedmann and the Belgian cosmologist Georges Lemaitre theoretically calculated that the universe is in constant motion and that it is expanding. 

In 1916, Albert Einstein formulated his General Theory of Relativity that indicated that the universe must be either expanding or contracting. Confirmation of the expanding-universe theory finally came in 1929 in the hands of the well-known American astronomer Edwin Hubble.

Allah Says in the Quran: 

And the heaven We constructed with strength, and indeed, We are [its] expander. (51:47)

The word "heaven," as stated in the verse above, is used in various places in the Qur'an. It is referring to space and the wider universe. Here again, the word is used with this meaning, stating that the universe "expands." The Arabic word "moosiaaoona" in the term "inna lamoosiaaoona," translated into English as "We are its expander", comes from the verb "evsea," meaning "to expand". The prefix "la" emphasizes the following name or title and adds a sense of "to a great extent". This expression therefore means "We expand the sky or the universe to a great extent". This is the very conclusion that science has reached today. Stephen Hawking, in his book, ‘A Brief History of Time’, says, “The discovery that the universe is expanding was one of the great intellectual revolutions of the 20th century.”  

Hubble’s Law  

This notion was confirmed by the use of observational data in 1929. While observing the sky with a telescope, Edwin Hubble, the American astronomer, discovered that the stars and galaxies were constantly moving away from each other. This discovery is regarded as one of the greatest in the history of astronomy. During these observations, Hubble established that the stars emit a light that turns redder according to their distance. That is because according to the known laws of physics, light heading towards a point of observation turns violet, and light moving away from that point assumes a more reddish hue. During his observations, Hubble noted a tendency towards the color red in the light emitted by stars. In short, the stars were moving further and further away, all the time. The stars and galaxies were not only moving away from us, but also from each other. A universe where everything constantly moves away from everything else implied a constantly expanding universe.  The observations carried out in the following years verified that the Universe is constantly expanding.

Do you remember how a rose opens up? That is, the outer petals move outwards more than the inner petals? Imagine that those petals have galaxies on them and that we are at the center of the rose. Now imagine this rose opening up; the farther out the petals are the faster their recession away from the center (where we are). Well this is exactly how the universe expands around us; the farther out galaxies are from us the faster their recession away from us.

Allah says in the Quran:

If the heaven ripped and it were a rose like paint (55:37)

Do you remember how an ambulance siren sounds like when it approaches you? And how it sounds like when it recedes from you? The sound pitch changes, right? Similarly when a light source approaches you or recedes from you its colors change. If it is approaching you the colors shift towards the blue, and if it is receding from you its colors shift towards the red; the faster it recedes the redder it appears. Today we know that galaxies are rushing away from us from red shifting of their light. The more distant galaxies are the more reddish their colors appear to us.

When you apply paint, the colors' intensity is not even but rather it changes with distance: 

 

Similarly the more distant galaxies are the more reddish their colors appear to us, that is, there redness is a function of distance. This is because the farther galaxies are the faster they are receding from us (like a rose). The Quran describes it as: Rose like paint, that is, it's color varies with distance.

All observers anywhere in the universe also see the universe expanding away from them the same way (like a rose). Hence everyone in the universe thinks that he is at the center of the Big Bang!!! This is because the Big Bang did not have a center. See, if you continue walking on Earth in the same direction you will circle Earth and eventually come back to where you started; right? Similarly when you continue traveling through the universe in the same direction you might come back to where you started; we still don't know this for sure. But what we are sure of is that every observer in the universe thinks that he is at the center of the Big Bang; every observer in the universe sees the universe expanding away from him like a rose.

  
Scientists just confirmed the existence of "Dark Energy", a mysterious repulsive force that acts in opposite to gravity. As the distance increases, the attractive gravitational force decreases but this mysterious repulsive force increases. This repulsive force is pushing galaxies apart; the greater the distance the greater the repulsion. Scientists today do not know what this "Dark Energy" is, but they know that it is causing the entire universe to expand at an increasing rate.

Moreover, scientists today use the same word "ripped" to describe how the universe expands (the same word that the Quran used 1400 years ago).

  

That the Quran mentioned such a fact centuries before the invention of the first telescope, at a time when there was primitive knowledge in science, is considered remarkable. This is more so considering that, like many people in his time, Prophet Muhammad happened to be illiterate and simply could not have been aware of such facts by himself. Could it be that he had truly received divine revelation from the Creator and Originator of the universe?  

Conclusion  

The Holy Quran and Islam are filled with scientific statements and notions. These are statements of Allah Almighty describing how He created things on earth and in the Universe. What's most amazing is that all of these scientific statements and notions had been proven to be in perfect agreement with science and our modern-day scientific discoveries. Allah Almighty made the Noble Quran be Prophet Muhammad's (peace be upon him) Everlasting Divine Miracle and proof for Prophethood. The Holy Book certainly stood the test of time 1,500 years ago with Its Claims, Prophecies and Miraculous language eloquence, and it does again and again in our day today with Its overwhelming agreement with science and discoveries that were not known to man 1,500 years ago.  

Allah Almighty Said: 

We will show them our signs in the Universe and inside their selves, until it will become quite clear to them that it is the truth. Is it not sufficient as regards your Lord that He is a witness over all things? (41:53)