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Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books Inquiries about Islam How Islam Views the Universal Creation Wilson : With the progress of science, many questions may arise about the creation of the universe. These questions do not seem to have their answers in the Bible, and sometimes we find some Biblical statements contrary to the scientific knowledge of today. I wonder if we can find answers to some questions in the book of Islam. The universe now has been proven to be very old.

Its age is estimated to be billions of years. It seems that the Bible reduces the age of the universe to just a few thousand years. Does the Holy Qur'an contain any definition of the age of the universe? Chirri : The Holy Qur'an does not define the age of the universe in any way. Science so far is not able to tell exactly when the universe began.

The Holy Qur'an had been introduced in a non-scientific age when people were not able to conceive the stretch of time into billions or millions of years. Had the Qur'an stated that the stars were originated billions of years ago, people may have rejected the whole concept of Islam. The Qur'an, therefore, wisely kept silent on this matter. To be true, you do not need to tell all of what you know of truth; you need only to refrain from misinforming the people.

Thus, the door was kept open to any scientific theory, so the religious information will not clash with any scientific knowledge. Wilson : The celestial bodies, the stars, and the planets now are being counted by billions and hundreds of billions. The size of each is tremendous and, sometimes, beyond our imagination. To form such countless bodies, it would take amounts of materials beyond our ability to calculate.

Do we have any statements in the Qur'an on the kind of material out of which these bodies were built? Chirri : The Holy Qur'an states that the material out of which these bodies were built was a kind of gas. This is in accordance with the modern theory which says that the celestial bodies were built out of hydrogen gas.

From the Holy Qur'an: “Then He directed Himself to the heaven, and it was a vapor, so He said to it and to the earth: ‘Come both of you, willingly or unwillingly.’ They both said: ‘We come willingly.’” 41:11 Wilson : Does the Holy Qur'an contain any statement about the first material thing that was created?