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The expansion of the Universe is the most imposing
discovery of modern science. Today it is a firmly established concept and
the only debate centres around the way this is taking place.
| It was first suggested by the general theory of relativity and is backed
up by physics in the examination of the galactic spectrum; the regular
movement towards the red section of their spectrum may be explained by
the distancing of one galaxy from another.Thus the size of the Universe
is probably constantly increasing and this increase will become bigger
the further away the galaxies are from us. |
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The speeds at which these celestial bodies are moving may, in the course
of this perpetual expansion, go from fractions of the speed of light to
speeds faster than this.
The following verse of the Qur'an (sura 51, verse 47) where God is
speaking, may perhaps be compared with modern ideas:
"The heaven, We have built it with power. Verily. We
are expanding it."
'Heaven' is the translation of the word sama' and this is exactly
the extra-terrestrial world that is meant. 'We are expanding it'
is the translation of the plural present participle musi'una of the verb
ausa'a meaning 'to make wider, more spacious, to extend, to expand'.
Ramidullah in his translation of the Qur'an talks of the widening of
the heavens and space, but he includes a question mark. There are those
who arm themselves with authorized scientific opinion in their commentaries
and give the meaning stated here. This is true in the case of the Muntakab,
a book of commentaries edited by the Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs,
Cairo. It refers to the expansion of the Universe in totally unambiguous
terms. |
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