We know how the Universe began... But how will it end?! This presentation discusses the proposed scientific theories and explores the Quranic verses for a possible answer.

1. IN LIGHT OF SCIENCE AND QURAN
Dr. Hussein Mhanna

2. It all started with the “BIG BANG”
• The evidence that the Universe began
with the Big Bang is very compelling.
• 13.8 billion years ago, the entire Universe
was compressed into a microscopic
singularity that grew exponentially into
the vast cosmos we see today.
• But what does the future hold?
• How will the Universe end?

3. The ultimate fate of the Universe
• Astronomers have been pondering the
ultimate fate of the Universe for
thousands of years.
• In the last century, cosmologists
considered three outcomes for the end
of everything, and it all depended on the
critical density of the Universe.

4. The End of the Universe
Three Scenarios
Based on the Critical Density of the Universe

6. If this critical density was high
• If this critical density was high, then
there was enough mutual gravity to slow
and eventually halt the expansion.
• Billions of years in the future, it would
then collapse in on itself again, perhaps
creating another Big Bang.
• This is known as a Closed Universe, and
the final result is the Big Crunch.

7. Not
this
Big
Crunch!

8. Not
this
one
either!

10. If the critical density was low
• If the critical density was low, then there
wouldn’t be enough gravity to hold things
together.
• Expansion would continue on forever and ever.
• Stars would die, galaxies would be spread
apart, and everything would cool down to the
background temperature of the Universe.
• This is an Open Universe, and the end is
known as the Big Freeze.

11. Not this big freeze!

12. Miss the snow?!
Satellite image of North America's Big Freeze, January 2014

14. If the critical density was just right
• And if the critical density was just right,
the Universe’s expansion goes on
forever, but it’s always slowing down,
reaching a dead stop in an infinite
amount of time.
• This creates a Flat Universe…
also a Big Freeze.

15. What is the shape of the Universe?!
• Fortunately, astronomers were able to
measure the critical density of the
Universe, using NASA’s WMAP
spacecraft, and they discovered that the
actual density of the Universe predicts a
Flat Universe.
• So that’s it, right? Of the three choices,
the answer is #3.

16. Not quite right!
It’s not that simple!
A 1998 discovery confused everyone!

17. • Unfortunately, the Universe had other plans,
and came up with a reality that nobody
expected.
• In 1998, a team of astronomers were
observing distant supernovae to get a sense
of how fast the Universe is slowing down and
they made an amazing discovery.
• Instead of decelerating, as predicted by the
critical density of the Universe, the
expansion of the Universe is actually
speeding up.

19. But why?!
What is causing the acceleration?

20. • Some mysterious force is pushing galaxies
faster and faster away from each other,
accelerating the expansion of the Universe.
• We now call this force “dark energy”, and for
the time being, astronomers have no idea
what it is. All we know is that it’s pushing the
Universe apart.
• Distant galaxies are being accelerated away
from us, and in trillions of years from now,
they will cross beyond the cosmic horizon and
disappear from view. The evidence that we live
in a vast Universe will disappear with them.

22. Another frightening possibility
What if the expansion overwhelms the gravity?!

24. The Big Rip!
• But there’s a further unsettling possibility
about dark energy.
• Maybe the expansion pressure will
increase, eventually overwhelming gravity
on a local level.
• Galaxies will get torn apart, and then Solar
Systems, and eventually atoms themselves
will be shredded by the increasing dark
energy – this idea is known as the Big Rip.

25. Not this big rip!

26. Not this one either!

28. So how will the Universe end?!
Nobody knows!
It’s all theories for now…

29. But what do we know?!
• It started with a Big Bang.
• Galaxies formed from the gas cloud after the
explosion.
• The structure of the universe is a web.
• The old notion about vacuum in the universe is
wrong and that “dark matter” fills the universe.
• It’s causing the expansion.
• The shape of the universe is flat.

30. All these facts agree
with the Quran

31. The “Big Bang”
in the Quran

32. And have not the ones who disbelieved seen that
the heavens and the earth were an integrated
(mass)/ one entity, then We unseamed / separated
them, and of water We have made every living
thing? Would they then not believe?
{21:30}

33. The Primordial Gas
Cloud
in the Quran

34. Moreover He comprehended in His design
the sky, and it had been (as) smoke…
{41:11}

35. The Structure of the Universe
in the Quran

36. {And (by) the heaven comprising
interwoven tracks}
[51:7]

37. The Expansion of the Universe
in the Quran

38. 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.
{51:47}

39. A hint about the dark matter
• We can’t find in the Quran a clear
mention of the dark matter (as of yet),
but it seems like anytime there’s a
mention of the “skies and earth” in the
Quran, it is followed by “and what is
between them”.
• I counted 20 such verses!

40. A sample of these verses
• And We did not create the heaven and
earth and that between them in play.
[21:16]

41. Anything about the
shape of the Universe in
the Quran?

42. Scientifically proven…
• NASA’s WMAP spacecraft which can measure the basic parameters of
the Big Bang theory including the geometry of the universe, proved that
the universe is flat
• Recent measurements (c. 2001) by a number of ground-based and balloon-based
experiments, including MAT/TOCO, Boomerang,Maxima, and DASI,
have shown that the universe is flat (to within about 15% accuracy prior to
the WMAP results).
• WMAP has confirmed this result with very high accuracy and precision. We
now know (as of 2013) that the universe is flat with only a 0.4% margin of
error.
• This suggests that the Universe is infinite in extent; however, since the
Universe has a finite age, we can only observe a finite volume of the
Universe.
• All we can truly conclude is that the Universe is much larger than the
volume we can directly observe.

43. The Quran speaks…
• In a verse talking about the ultimate fate of
the universe, Allah says:
• The Day when We will fold the heaven like the
folding of a [written] sheet for the records. As
We began the first creation, We will repeat it.
[That is] a promise binding upon Us. Indeed, We
will do it. [21:104]

44. NASA agrees with the Quran
• {We will fold the heaven like the folding of a
sheet…} [21:104}
• So the universe is flat like a sheet according
to the Quranic description!
• Guess what?!
• That’s exactly how NASA described it as well:
“the universe is flat, like a sheet of paper”
• (http://wmap.gsfc.nasa.gov/universe/uni_shape.html)

45. Anything else in that verse?
• {As We began the first creation, We will repeat
it.} [21:1-4]
• According to the “Big Crunch” theory, after
it reaches maximum expansion, the universe
will contract on itself, galaxies will blend
with each other, stars will join with other
stars, until the universe returns ultimately to
its starting dimensionless singularity!
• Then another Big Bang scenario!

47. The cycle repeats itself
• So the Big Crunch will be followed by
another Big Bang, and another creation of
the Universe.
• So is the verse talking about this
possibility?!
• The Day when We will fold the heaven like
the folding of a [written] sheet for the
records. As We began the first creation, We
will repeat it. [That is] a promise binding
upon Us. Indeed, We will do it. [21:104]

48. Another verse about recreation
• God promises to recreate the heavens
and Earth once more before Judgment
Day:
• {On the day when Earth will be swapped
by another Earth and so will be the
heavens; and all (creatures) will resurrect
before the One Dominant God.} [14.48]

49. They do not measure Allah with His true
measure. The whole earth will be a mere
handful for Him on the Day of Rising the
heavens folded up in His right hand.
Glory be to Him! He is exalted above the
partners they ascribe! (Qur'an, 39:67)