The Quran is not a book of astronomy but a guide to life, and it speaks of the universe and the heavenly bodies as signs of God's power. Prothom Alo's religion desk has set out three such verses with their classical commentaries, and compares them with discoveries of modern astronomy.
The first is verse 47 of Surah Adh-Dhariyat, in which God says: "I built the heaven by My power, and I am its expander." The article sets it beside the expanding universe shown by Edwin Hubble in 1929. Ibn Kathir read the phrase as meaning that God widened the heaven and set it high and vast above the earth.
The second is verse 33 of Surah Al-Anbiya: night, day, the sun and the moon each move in an orbit of their own. Explaining the word yasbahun, al-Qurtubi said they travel through space as something swims in water. The article links this to the sun's movement with its solar system through the Milky Way.
The third is verse 30 of the same surah, which speaks of the heavens and the earth being joined and then parted. Imam al-Tabari explained that at the start of creation they were stuck together with no space between them, until God separated them. The article compares this with the Big Bang theory.
In the view of Prothom Alo's religion desk, these signs show that the Quran is not of human authorship. The comparison between the verses and the science is the article's own reading, and it cites the commentaries by title and volume.
Source: Prothom Alo
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