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The Age of our Earth
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The Age of our Earth
He placed on the earth firm mountains, standing high, showered His blessings upon it, and ordained ˹all˺ its means of sustenance—totaling four Days exactly for all who ask.
Then He turned towards the heaven when it was ˹still like˺ smoke, saying to it and to the earth, ‘Submit, willingly or unwillingly.’ They both responded, ‘We submit willingly.’
So He formed the heaven into seven heavens in two Days, assigning to each its mandate. And We adorned the lowest heaven with ˹stars like˺ lamps ˹for beauty˺ and for protection. That is the design of the Almighty, All-Knowing.”
Indeed your Lord is Allah Who created the heavens and the earth in six Days, then established Himself on the Throne. He makes the day and night overlap in rapid succession. He created the sun, the moon, and the stars—all subjected by His command. The creation and the command belong to Him ˹alone˺. Blessed is Allah—Lord of all worlds!
Bismillahir Rahmanir Raheem
As the world celebrates another year around the sun, I thought it would be a good idea to reflect on the beautiful gift given to humanity from Allah swt. Our home, the earth, is approximately 4.54 billion years old. Although the Quran is not a scientific textbook, it contains verses that allude to the creation of the cosmos and inviting believers to reflect upton the marvels of Allah swt.
In the Quranic verses presented above, Allah tells us that the earth was created in two days and that both the heavens and earth were completed in 6 days. Although we can certainly say the earth is older than 2 days and the universe is much older than 6 days, we must also accept that time is relative. What we label as a 'day' is certainly different depending on where you are in the universe, as identified by Einstein's theory of special relativity and the existence of time dilation.
What's quite amazing is if we reflect on the age of the Universe which is 13.7 billion years old. The absolutely awe inspiring relevance of this number is that it is exactly three times as old as the earth. If the universe and earth was created in a totality of 6 days and the earth was created in just 2 days, then the earth must be 1/3 of the age of the universe.
(Age of Universe) 13.7 billion years / 3 (Ratio presented by Quran) = 4.56 billion years
Subhanallahi Wa Bihamdihi
Islam is a beautiful mercy from Allah swt and provides a framework to appreciate the granduer of Allah's creation, specifically the universe. The Quranic verses invite reflection and contemplation, emphasizing the divine wisdom behind the cosmos's intracacies. It's quite unbelievable that Allah swt revealed information to us 1400 years ago that is scientifically applicable to us today. Alhamdulillah
˹This is˺ a blessed Book which We have revealed to you ˹O Prophet˺ so that they may contemplate its verses, and people of reason may be mindful.