101 Reasons Why We Left Islam – Chapter 3: Islam and Science – Reason 41
This is yet again one of the heavily marketed claims of the ‘Miracle of the Quran’ that you will find in nearly all the Islamic Dawah videos, and it is shocking the extent of the lies or deception that they apply whereby even well-respected Islamic sources joined the lie in their drive to convert people.
First, of all let us get some key terminologies right. A 7th century book did not use once the term universe because this term in Arabic is Al Koun “الكون”; which did not exist back then. We do not have detailed Arabic linguistics sources to identify when the term first started being used. But as an example, the earliest Latin use of the word ‘Universe’ was first mentioned in 16th century.
https://www.etymonline.com/word/universe
Instead, what we have in the Quran that is an essential part of this analysis: sky, seven skies, heavens, and “the worlds”. These correspond to the following four Arabic terms:
السماء, السماوات السبع, السماوات, العالمين
- Al Sama’a: The sky or the heaven. The word is in singular and refers to the sky above us and from which the Islamic belief is that up in the sky is heaven. The word appears in the Quran 300 times.
- Saba’a Samawat: Seven heavens refer to the space beyond our heaven and beyond our sky. In classical terms, it refers to the five planets (along with the Sun and Moon) that create a total of seven heavenly bodies that have their own heavenly space – which was borrowed from ancient beliefs and is also a scientific error as well. But if we take it by its face value, at best, it refers to our Milky Way galaxy. It only appears seven times.
- Samawat: Skies, which also means heavens. Whenever the Quran wanted to refer to the “seven heavens/skies” as beyond our heaven and sky, it simply used the plural of sky or skies (Samawat). This appears 190 times in the Quran.
- Al Alameen: Or ‘The Worlds’ appear 73 times mostly referring to Allah as the ‘God of the worlds’- intended to cite other worlds such as Jinns and devil worlds – of which Allah is the God of the world we see and we do not see. This world could be seen as reference beyond our galaxy and to refer to the universe as a whole.
So, what we have is a sky, beyond which we have seven skies/heavens which many times the Quran simply refer to them as skies/heaven, and finally the most inclusive term of the whole universe we see is the term for “The worlds”.
The reason why we had to explain these terms is important when you read Quran 51:47. Because this is what you find that the actual term used is:
We built Al Sama’a with ˹great˺ might, and We are certainly expanding ˹it˺.
And if you examine the classical translations of it (before it got twisted), this is what you get:
Sahih International:
And the heaven We constructed with strength, and indeed, We are [its] expander.
Yusuf Ali
With power and skill did We construct the Firmament (sky): for it is We Who create the vastness of pace.
Abul Ala Maududi
And heaven – We made it with Our Own Power and We have the Power to do so.
Muhsin Khan
With power did We construct the heaven. Verily, We are Able to extend the vastness of space thereof.
Pickthall
We have built the heaven with might, and We it is Who make the vast extent (thereof).
Dr. Ghali
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.
All of which you can read here: https://myislam.org/surah-dhariyat/ayat-47/
But also, you can examine the meaning of the word here or on any website that makes translations:
It is significant to note that none of the translators use the term universe or skies. It was always about the sky above us and how Allah expanded it as part of the creation. And if you reexamine the translations, it is about the sky being a vast expense – visually, how we see it. But if you are still unsure, the next verse will surely finish off this claim.
Quran 51:48:
And the earth We have spread out, and excellent is the preparer.
So, according to the Quran, and we want to apply the same logic of Quran 51:47, then the Earth should be spreading out too. In fact, this claim is repeated several times in other places:
Quran 2:22: https://legacy.quran.com/2/22
[He] who made for you the earth a bed [spread out] and the sky a ceiling and sent down from the sky, rain and brought forth thereby fruits as provision for you. So do not attribute to Allah equals while you know [that there is nothing similar to Him].
Quran 20:53: https://legacy.quran.com/20/53
[It is He] who has made for you the earth as a bed [spread out] and inserted therein for you roadways and sent down from the sky, rain and produced thereby categories of various plants.
Quran 79:30: https://legacy.quran.com/79/30
And after that He spread the earth.
Why is this important? Because science shows, the Earth is actually shrinking! The Earth is losing mass at a rate of about 60,000 metric tons per year due to atmospheric escape, where gases like oxygen, hydrogen, and helium escape into space. While this might sound like a lot, it’s actually a very small amount compared to the total mass of the Earth. One thing is for sure, it is definitely not expanding!
https://www.livescience.com/is-earth-expanding-or-shrinking
In conclusion, the claim was baseless to start with. Whoever invented this claim intended to twist the word that was clearly referring to the sky or heaven as referring to the universe – two very different things. Also, this claim did not pick up much attention in the Arab world for the simple reason every person who read it in Arabic was quick to point out this refers to the sky in singular and, therefore, it is not the universe as we do have other ways to refer to the universe – unless the all-knowing and perfect Allah made a typo!
Note: With ‘Debunk’ reasons for leaving Islam we do not provide Islamic excuses as the debunk is meant to address a false claim for a miracle. Debunking a claim works particularly better for people who converted to Islam or held onto their Islamic belief based on these claims. Also, more and more Islamic Dawah pages have moved away from using these techniques, see the conclusion of Chapter 3.
Final thoughts:
The manipulation of words that may mean something, but let’s pretend it means something else, is a common tactic we will be talking about in the last reason and conclusion of chapter 3. What is even more shocking is the extent that some popular Islamic websites such as Quran.com or Sunnah.com decided to join in to twist words that do not match any of the translations given to them by reliable translators. We will come back to this reason where we show as an example that Quran.com used the term ‘universe’ to translate sky/heaven despite the fact they use Sahih International for all their other translations. However, in this instant, they choose to ignore Sahih International and use their own twisted translation! This is going to expose how deep the deception goes.