Water is essential for life, and modern science has confirmed its crucial role in the formation of living organisms. However, over 1400 years ago, the Qur’an made a profound statement about the origin of life from water—long before scientific discoveries validated this truth. This article explores the connection between Qur’anic revelation, the Big Bang, and the scientific understanding of life’s dependence on water.
Across time, in our attempt to write down the exegesis of the Qur'an, scholars have tried to understand what God meant by this splitting or tearing apart of heavens (space beyond earth) and earth. But the words of Allah are true and absolute, and there are many things we do not yet know, or ever will. Because only Allah is the All-Knower. However, as time passes, we manage to piece together the knowledge that Allah bestows upon us. Therefore, the not-too-old scientific theory of the Big Bang has helped scholars and believing scientists to decipher this message a little better.
The universe, according to the Big Bang theory, started as a singularity – an extremely dense and hot state of the universe and started expanding. Thus the name. The singularity is also described by scientists to have zero volume. And who other than Allah, our Lord, can create something from nothing? Science today, although unable to comprehend the Big Bang in its entirety, is unable to disprove it. The vast majority of theories that explain the phenomena of the physical world align with the idea of the Big Bang. One thing is certain, the heavens (universe) started from a single “point,” in other words – a singularity. The proof that the universe is still expanding as it started from a single point holds true to this day according to empirical evidence. Allah specifically mentions the unbelievers in this verse. Do they not see? It is also acknowledged that people had no idea of the Big Bang before the 19th century.
The Qur'an was not written by a scientist. But by the One that caused the singularity to be split open – the Big Bang, in this case. Georges Lemaître first discovered the Big Bang. Later on, more scientists, including Edwin Hubble, picked it up and researched more on it, further proving its legitimacy. Interestingly, scientists have found out that before the Big Bang, the “space to contain the universe” did not exist, rather it was being created as the expanse was taking place. Who other than God, creates “space” itself?
Muslims believe there are seven samawat, meaning heaven, sky, or celestial sphere. So if this observable universe is the first sama, then there was something before the singularity of this universe as well. Physicist Roger Penrose suggested that there was another universe before the Big Bang. We, however, do not believe that there “was before,” rather there “is beyond,” and not just one, but a total of seven including the observable universe. Traces of the other universe/s can be discovered in the black holes and electromagnetic radiation spots present in the universe, according to Penrose.
Finally, Allah states that all of life originates from water. Previously, people believed water to be a medium from where all life came, but they did so from a theological perspective. And it wasn’t before the 19th century, through the works of Louis Pasteur, that this claim witnessed scientific support for water being the medium for all life to exist. Ultimately, Allah gives life, through water. And He knows best.