Posted by Amir on 3/4/2009, 4:14 am
41.212.203.204
When the Cosmic Crunch to the Universe occurs, the Day of Judgment shall come.
Prophet Muhammad predicted that the Sun will rise from the West.
"When we are dead and have become dust and bones, shall we then, indeed be raised again?"
Al Quran Sura 37 verse l6
We did not will ourselves into existence nor do we accept death willingly. Life seems almost endless especially when things are going well. As we rush through our daily business we hardly notice the irony, that all this must eventually end.
All major religions of the world ascribe to some form of belief in life after death. The Day of judgment is one of the fundamental beliefs of the Muslims, Christians, and Jews. Hindus also have their almost endless reincarnations followed by the final reunion with the supreme being.
Even if we believe firmly in "The day of Judgment," anything that can enhance our belief is highly desirable. In this context let us look at the story of Prophet Ibrahim (peace be on him) given in the Quran. (Sura ii verse 260). Prophet Ibrahim wanted to know how Allah gives life to the dead. He said that he believed that it is the truth but he would like to have some reassurance. Allah then showed him a miracle. If a great prophet like Ibrahim could wish for reassurance then surely simple folks like us are in need of a lot more.
This is especially true in the present day world where many beliefs have been demolished by advances in science. Fortunately for the Muslims, scientific advancements have explained many of the obscure verses in the Quran and have given new meaning to others. Quran, because of this, stands raised far above other religious books in its authority as a truly revealed book.
There is only one version of the Quran. It is the only religious book that even the critics of Islam admit was never altered since its revelation to Prophet Mohammed (Pbuh) fourteen hundred years ago. There are many verses in the Quran that describe scientific facts that were discovered only in the last one hundred years. There is consistency in its description of various phenomenon. The verses accurately describe ideas that are in agreement with modern observations about the universe. According to the Quran, life originated in w ater and was created in numerous stages. There is mention of the orbits of sun and moon and possibility of numerous other worlds like the earth. There is also the impression of higher dimensions. The paradise and hell appear to be beyond this universe in some other dimension.
In this article, I would like to propose that even at the present time with our limited knowledge, there are remarkable similarities between some theories of cosmology and the day of judgment described in the Quran. I believe in the future, science will reinforce these predictions. However this is not the only way the day of judgment could come and indeed the real knowledge is with Allah only.
In the name of Allah The Beneficent,The Merciful Man thinks that We shall not assemble his bones Yes Truly! Yes, We are able to resfore his very fingers! Sura 75 verses 3 & 4
INTRODUCTION TO COSMOLOGY
To understand how the fiuture of the universe is linked to the day of judgment we will need to know some cosmology. We will in the next few pages learn, how the universe began, what it is like now and what are the future possibilities in store for us. Our solar system consists of earth and nine other planets that are moving in an orbit around a star we call the sun. The sun along with two hundred billion other stars, comprises our galaxy "The Milky Way," which is similar to "The Andromeda" galaxy, that is shown on the cover of this article. The galaxies are roughly shaped like a disc, with the stars moving in circular orbits at various distances around a large central mass.
THE LIGHT YEARS
The vastness of the universe requires, that the distances be measured in "Light years." Light year is the distance, traveled by light, in a year, at the speed of three hundred thousand kilometers per second. The distance from the earth to the sun is eight minutes at the speed of light. Compared to this the nearest star from earth other than our sun is four light years away. Our galaxy, "The Milky Way," is one hundred and fifty thousand light years across. This means that traveling at the speed of light, it will take one hundred and fifty thousand years to go from one side of it to the other. Average separation of the galaxies is about ten million light years. Many hundred billion such galaxies are part of the truly gigantic universe.
The creation of the heavens and the earth is definitely greater thing than the creation of mankind, but most of mankind knows not. Sura 40 verse 57.
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