Islam Teachings about the Universe (Edexcel GCSE Religious Studies B)

Muslim Teachings About the Origins & Value of the Universe

• Muslims believe that the universe and everything within it was created by Allah

• Creation was intended, planned and designed by Allah

• Allah created balance in the universe: night and day, sea and land, sun and moon

• It took periods of time to create the universe

• After creating the Earth, Allah created all living things, including humans

Scientific Explanations of the Origins of the Universe

• Science teaches that the universe started around 13.7 billion years ago with the Big Bang

• Matter was concentrated into one extremely small hot point and this began to expand and cool

• The expansion continues to this day

• The stars and planets were all formed by clusters of the cooling matter and more diverse atoms forming and condensing

• Scientists offer evidence for these explanations that include

  • The ‘ripple’ in space – the background radiation that can be detected

  • The fact that the galaxies are moving away, showing that the universe is still expanding from a central point

Muslim Responses to Scientific Explanations of the Universe

Muslim Response to the Scientific Theory of the Big Bang

• Most Muslims would say that the scientific explanation of the origins of the universe does not contradict their belief in Allah as the Creator of everything

• They would say that all events, including the Big Bang, have a cause, and the cause of the Big Bang was Allah

• The scientific explanation of the Big Bang fills in gaps in the account of creation outlined in the Qur’an (which was never intended as a book of science) and explains more fully how Allah created the universe

• What science has uncovered does not contradict but rather explains more fully scientific processes which are referred to in the Qur’an

  • For example, the idea of the Big Bang is compatible with this teaching in the Qur’an

• And this teaching refers to a universe that is expanding, as scientists today believe

• All of these scientific explanations can give Muslims a better understanding of Allah and the process of creation

• Some Muslims are Creationist Muslims who believe that the teaching that God created everything in six days should be taken literally, thus disproving the Big Bang theory

• They would point to the Qur’an teaching

• The Arabic word for day used in Surah 7:54 is ‘yawm’, therefore the world was created in six days, not over billions of years

• However, other Muslims would contradict this and say that ‘yawm’ could simply be a metaphor for a period of time passing.

• They would say that the meaning of Surah 7:54 is that the universe was created in six different stages across a time period of billions of years

Muslim Response to Scientific Arguments that the Universe has no Designer

• Atheists would say that scientific theories point to the fact that Allah does not exist, because the universe was not created by a designer, but by a Big Bang

  • They would argue that there is more scientific evidence for the Big Bang than there is for Allah

  • They would say that just because there is design evident in the universe does not necessarily mean that there must be a designer

• Muslims would respond that the beautiful design of the universe does in fact mean that it must have been designed by Allah

  • The Qur’an describes Allah’s creation as a work of perfection, no matter how hard someone might look for something imperfect

• Throughout history there have been several Muslim scholars who have not held their faith in conflict with their scientific discoveries

  • For example, Professor Abdus Salam who received the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1979 for his work on the discovery of the Higgs Bosun (also known as the ‘God’ particle) that was present at the Big Bang

  • He said that the Qur’an inspired his scientific research

• Some Muslims may not agree with the current scientific theories about the origins of the universe. They would argue that theories are not always right, and down the line the current beliefs may change again

  • For example, at one time scientists said that the universe had no beginning at all, before the Big Bang theory was developed

Muslim Responses to the View of the Universe as a Commodity

• Muslims believe that the universe provides all that humans need for life

• The Qur’an teaches that all of the world’s natural resources were put there for a purpose

• Muslims believe that the universe is a commodity – something valuable or useful

• Some might say that because of the belief that humans are the most important part of Allah’s creation, everything else in the universe is there for humans to make the most of and that they can take whatever they need to live their lives

• Most Muslims would understand that the universe and everything within it is an incredibly precious gift from Allah

  • Humans must not abuse this gift, but see it as a privilege. Therefore they must look after the world and not simply take whatever they want

  • They should carry out their jobs of being khalifahs, or stewards, of the universe

  • This is the approach that Allah requires and that will be rewarded in the akhirah