IN LIGHT OF SCIENCE AND QURAN

THE FATE OF THE UNIVERSE

Dr. Hussein Mhanna

• The evidence that the Universe began with the Big Bang is very compelling.

• 13.8 billion years ago, the entire Universe was compressed into a microscopic singularity that grew exponentially into the vast cosmos we see today.

• But what does the future hold?

• How will the Universe end?

It all started with the “BIG BANG”

• Astronomers have been pondering the ultimate fate of the Universe for thousands of years.

• In the last century, cosmologists considered three outcomes for the end of everything, and it all depended on the critical density of the Universe.

The ultimate fate of the Universe

Based on the Critical Density of the Universe

Three Scenarios

The End of the Universe

• If this critical density was high, then there was enough mutual gravity to slow and eventually halt the expansion.

• Billions of years in the future, it would then collapse in on itself again, perhaps creating another Big Bang.

• This is known as a Closed Universe, and the final result is the Big Crunch.

If this critical density was high

Not thisBig Crunch!

Not this one either!

• If the critical density was low, then there wouldn’t be enough gravity to hold things together.

• Expansion would continue on forever and ever.

• Stars would die, galaxies would be spread apart, and everything would cool down to the background temperature of the Universe.

• This is an Open Universe, and the end is known as the Big Freeze.

If the critical density was low

Not this big freeze!

Satellite image of North America's Big Freeze, January 2014

Miss the snow?!

• And if the critical density was just right, the Universe’s expansion goes on forever, but it’s always slowing down, reaching a dead stop in an infinite amount of time.

• This creates a Flat Universe…

also a Big Freeze.

If the critical density was just right

• Fortunately, astronomers were able to measure the critical density of the Universe, using NASA’s WMAP spacecraft, and they discovered that the actual density of the Universe predicts a Flat Universe.

• So that’s it, right? Of the three choices, the answer is #3.

What is the shape of the Universe?!

A 1998 discovery confused everyone!

It’s not that simple!

Not quite right!

• Unfortunately, the Universe had other plans, and came up with a reality that nobody expected.

• In 1998, a team of astronomers were observing distant supernovae to get a sense of how fast the Universe is slowing down and they made an amazing discovery.

• Instead of decelerating, as predicted by the critical density of the Universe, the expansion of the Universe is actually speeding up.

What is causing the acceleration?

But why?!

• Some mysterious force is pushing galaxies faster and faster away from each other, accelerating the expansion of the Universe.

• We now call this force “dark energy”, and for the time being, astronomers have no idea what it is. All we know is that it’s pushing the Universe apart.

• Distant galaxies are being accelerated away from us, and in trillions of years from now, they will cross beyond the cosmic horizon and disappear from view. The evidence that we live in a vast Universe will disappear with them.

What if the expansion overwhelms the gravity?!

Another frightening possibility

• But there’s a further unsettling possibility about dark energy.

• Maybe the expansion pressure will increase, eventually overwhelming gravity on a local level.

• Galaxies will get torn apart, and then Solar Systems, and eventually atoms themselves will be shredded by the increasing dark energy – this idea is known as the Big Rip.

The Big Rip!

Not this big rip!

Not this one either!

It’s all theories for now…

Nobody knows!

So how will the Universe end?!

• It started with a Big Bang.

• Galaxies formed from the gas cloud after the explosion.

• The structure of the universe is a web.

• The old notion about vacuum in the universe is wrong and that “dark matter” fills the universe.

• It’s causing the expansion.

• The shape of the universe is flat.

But what do we know?!

All these facts agree with the Quran

The “Big Bang”in the Quran

And have not the ones who disbelieved seen that the heavens and the earth were an integrated (mass)/ one entity, then We unseamed / separated them, and of water We have made every living thing? Would they then not believe?

{21:30}

The Primordial Gas Cloudin the Quran

Moreover He comprehended in His design the sky, and it had been (as) smoke…

{41:11}

The Structure of the Universein the Quran

{And (by) the heaven comprising interwoven tracks}

[51:7]

The Expansion of the Universein the Quran

And the heaven (is also a sign). We have built it with (Our) Hands (i.e., Capability) and surely We are indeed extending (it) wide.

{51:47}

• We can’t find in the Quran a clear mention of the dark matter (as of yet), but it seems like anytime there’s a mention of the “skies and earth” in the Quran, it is followed by “and what is between them”.

• I counted 20 such verses!

A hint about the dark matter

• And We did not create the heaven and earth and that between them in play.

[21:16]

A sample of these verses

Anything about the shape of the Universe in the Quran?

• NASA’s  WMAP spacecraft which can measure the basic parameters of the Big Bang theory including the geometry of the universe, proved that the universe is flat

• Recent measurements (c. 2001) by a number of ground-based and balloon-based experiments, including MAT/TOCO, Boomerang,Maxima, and DASI, have shown that the universe is flat (to within about 15% accuracy prior to the WMAP results).

• WMAP has confirmed this result with very high accuracy and precision. We now know (as of 2013) that the universe is flat with only a 0.4% margin of error.

• This suggests that the Universe is infinite in extent; however, since the Universe has a finite age, we can only observe a finite volume of the Universe.

• All we can truly conclude is that the Universe is much larger than the volume we can directly observe.

Scientifically proven…

• In a verse talking about the ultimate fate of the universe, Allah says:

• The Day when We will fold the heaven like the folding of a [written] sheet for the records. As We began the first creation, We will repeat it. [That is] a promise binding upon Us. Indeed, We will do it. [21:104]

The Quran speaks…

• {We will fold the heaven like the folding of a sheet…} [21:104}

• So the universe is flat like a sheet according to the Quranic description!

• Guess what?!

• That’s exactly how NASA described it as well: “the universe is flat, like a sheet of paper”

• (http://wmap.gsfc.nasa.gov/universe/uni_shape.html)

NASA agrees with the Quran

• {As We began the first creation, We will repeat it.} [21:1-4]

• According to the “Big Crunch” theory, after it reaches maximum expansion, the universe will contract on itself, galaxies will blend with each other, stars will join with other stars, until the universe returns ultimately to its starting dimensionless singularity!

• Then another Big Bang scenario!

Anything else in that verse?

• So the Big Crunch will be followed by another Big Bang, and another creation of the Universe.

• So is the verse talking about this possibility?!

• The Day when We will fold the heaven like the folding of a [written] sheet for the records. As We began the first creation, We will repeat it. [That is] a promise binding upon Us. Indeed, We will do it. [21:104]

The cycle repeats itself

• God promises to recreate the heavens and Earth once more before Judgment Day:

• {On the day when Earth will be swapped by another Earth and so will be the heavens; and all (creatures) will resurrect before the One Dominant God.} [14.48]

Another verse about recreation

They do not measure Allah with His true measure. The whole earth will be a mere handful for Him on the Day of Rising the heavens folded up in His right hand.

Glory be to Him! He is exalted above the partners they ascribe! (Qur'an, 39:67)