Who Created The Heavens And The Earth In Six Days? Part II

The theory of relativity and time
In the past, Arabs used distance to denote time like: a one-month walk, a one-week walk or a day’s walk.. Usually walking in this context meant riding camels or walking on foot. In the theory of relativity time is used like the fourth dimension along with the other three known dimensions. One of the ancient Muslim Sufis (Mohei el-Deen Ibn al-Arabi) has surpassed Albert Einstein by hundreds of years when he stated the fact that the universe in an abstract existence when it comes to both: place and time. He also preceded him in linking the convexity of the universe to the convexity of time. All of these issues are considered nowadays to be of the most important results of the general theory of relativity. The Quranic verses describing the “day” as “a thousands years of what you reckon” and in another verse as “fifty thousand years of what you reckon” could be taken as the base of the theory of relativity. Not just that, but the Qur’an has also mentioned the speed of light in Allah’s saying (Exalted be He) says what can be translated as, Sûrat An-Naml - (The Ants) 40. One with whom was knowledge of the Scripture said: "I will bring it to you within the blink of an eye!"

Ibn al-Arabi has used the light year in the same concept in which it is used nowadays in astronomy and in view of this very same verse mentioned above. At the wake of the century Albert Einstein announced both the special and the general theory of relativity in 1905 and 1915.

The general theory of relativity is based on a postulate that gravity is equivalent to acceleration and it described gravity as a curve caused by mass and energy (and both are two faces for the same coin), in a four-dimensioned universe. The special theory of relativity is based on two basic postulates:

That the laws of physics are constant on any still body or any body moving at a constant speed.
The speed of light in space remains constant regardless of the speed of the source it started from or the speed of its viewer. It is an absolute speed in any case. So the light coming from a lamp fixed in a train would spread at the same speed whether this train is approaching the viewer or moving away from him.

These two hypotheses aim at having the physical laws constant (mechanic and electromagnetic) whether the body they are being measure at is still or moving at a constant speed. This is because motion and stillness are both inconstant in the observed universe, meaning that everything connected to the universe is relative. The sole exception to that is the speed of light because it is constant to the outside viewer and it isn’t affected by both the viewer and the source of the light. The speed of light has been experimentally estimated to be 299792.5 kilometers/second in space.

The curvature of a beam of light (the curve in its passage) between the sky and the earth has been detected in 1919 and it was proven that the whole universe (matter & energy) is in a curvature and that all forms of matter and energy can never move in straight lines in the universe. Glory be to Allah who mentioned in the Holy Qur’an (1400 years ago) the movement in the sky with the term “uruj: ascending in a curved path” in seven different verses.

The constant speed of light refuted the old assumption that time is absolute. Consequently, this refutes the assumption that this universe is self-ruled. In other words, any absolute ruler for this universe has to be from outside this universe not from within it. This is called the authority of the sole Ruler and Creator (swt). It has been proven that the universe is under constant expansion and if we retreat in time with this expansion we will have to reach an extremely minute point with no dimensions and with an infinite mass and energy. This state that is very close to non-existence (al-ratq’: the single entity of the first material that formed the universe) has exploded by order of the Creator and from this explosion came both: matter and energy (two faces for the same coin), from it also came: time and place (two consecutive existences). All of these were intertwined within themselves and at the same time with the universe and all the other creatures on it.. all of which came from non-existence to existence, then they will go to non-existence then existence again. The creator (swt) is above and surrounding all that: time (past, present and future), not restricted by any place, nor any time… Because He created all that. He is neither formed from matter nor energy, because He (swt) is the creator of all. He is not like any of His creations… And non of His creations can be like Him.. He is indeed as He has described Himself in what can be translated as, Sûrat Ash-Shûra - (The Consultation) 11. … There is nothing like Him; and He is the All-Hearer, the All-Seer.

The theory of relativity clarified the fact that the mass of any moving body increases by the increase of its speed and diminishes (i.e. gets shorter) in the same direction of its movement. When it reaches the speed of light, it totally vanished within itself to be transformed into energy according to this equation: E = MC2, [where E is (energy), M is (mass of the body moving at the speed of light), C is (the speed of light)].

The theory explains that apart from the speed of light, any TIME in the observed part of the universe is considered to be a relative time depending on the speed of the moving body. The more its speed increases (compared to any other body) the less the impact of time on it. In other words, the percentage between the time for a rocket moving in the sky and the time on earth would increase as the speed of this rocket increases. Till this speed reached 99.995% of the speed of light, at that instant a year at this rocket will be equal to 100 years on earth. So TIME on earth is limited to the standards of earth and is connected to PLACE and SPEED (motion). So it is a relative TIME because a moving body would carry its own TIME with it and every celestial body will remain in motion till a known time.. refer to: Sûrat Ar-Ra‘d - (The Thunder) – verse 2 and Sûrat Yâ-Sîn – verse 38.

If we change verse 5 (Sûrat As-Sajda) and verse 47 (Sûrat Al-Hajj) into a mathematical equation, we will get the speed of light according to the enclosed chart. Proving that Qur’an is miraculous in referring to this fact 1400 years ago. The deducted amount from these two verses matches those of the calculated speed of light (in vacuum) as internationally agreed (with the accepted margin of deviation). Blessed and Exalted be Allah who send the Qur’an 1400 years ago saying what can be translated as, “He manages and regulates (every) affair from the heavens to the earth; then everything will go up to Him, in one Day, the span whereof is a thousand years of what you reckon (on earth).” (Surat As-Sajdah (The Prostration): 5). And what can be translated as, “And they ask you to hasten on the torment! And Allâh fails not His Promise. And verily, a day with your Lord is as a thousand years of what you reckon.” (Surat Al-Hajj (The Pilgrimage):47).


By: Dr. Zaghloul Ragheb Mohamed El-Naggar
Professor of Geology, Head, Committee on Scientific Nations in the Glorious Qur'an & Purity Sunnah Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs, Cairo, Egypt.