BLACK HOLES

The 20th century saw a great many new discoveries regarding celestial
phenomena in the universe. One of these entities, which has only recently been
encountered, is the Black Hole. These are formed when a star which has consumed
all its fuel collapses in on itself, eventually turning into a black hole with
infinite density and zero volume and an immensely powerful magnetic field. We
are unable to see black holes even with the most powerful telescope, because
their gravitational pull is so strong that light is unable to escape from them.
However, such a collapsed star can be perceived by means of the effect it has on
the surrounding area. In Surat al-Waqi'a, Allah draws attention this matter in
this way, by swearing upon the position of stars:

And I swear by the stars' positions-and that is a mighty oath
if you only knew. (Qur'an, 56:75-76)

The term "black hole" was first employed in 1969 by the American physicist
John Wheeler. Previously, we imagined that we were able to see all the stars.
However, it later emerged that there were stars in space whose light we were
unable to perceive. Because, the light of these collapsed stars disappears.
Light cannot escape from a black hole because it is such a high concentration of
mass in a small space. The enormous gravitation captures even the fastest
particles, i.e. the photons. For example, the final stage of a typical star,
three times the mass of the Sun, ends after its burning out and its implosion as
a black hole of only 20 kilometres in diameter! Black holes are "black," i.e.
veiled from direct observation. They nevertheless reveal themselves indirectly,
by the tremendous suction which their gravitational force exerts on other
heavenly bodies. As well as depictions of the Day of Judgement, the verse below
may also be pointing to this scientific discovery about black holes:

When the stars are extinguished, (Qur'an,
77:8)

Moreover, stars of great mass also cause warps to be perceived in space.
Black holes, however, do not just cause warps in space but also tear holes in
it. That is why these collapsed stars are known as black holes. This fact may be
referred to in the verse about stars, and this is another important item of
information demonstrating that the Qur'an is the Word of Allah:

[I swear] by Heaven and the Tariq! And what will convey
to you what the Tariq is? The Star Piercing [the darkness]! (Qur'an,
86:1-3)

The above Sura is often quoted as a demonstration that God must
have been the author of the Quran since people in Mohammad's day had no clue
about orbits and the true nature of the heavens. What may be clearly observed,
however, is that from every practical point of view, 36:40 is in gross error.

Poetic View

It might be said that Mohammad was speaking in this phrase from a
purely poetic standpoint, not intended to present a literal proclamation of the
relationship of the Earth, Moon, and Sun. However, the context of
the passage is not poetic.

Forgetting for a moment that Muslims interpret this sura
literally; verse 37 remarks that these things (specifically, the night) are
signs for men. The language in this passage is literal. The questions is, is it
correct?

View from Earth

36:40 can only be understood from the perspective of a man
standing on the Earth and looking at the sky. Put yourself in that position.
Mohammad is standing somewhere on the Arabian peninsula and observing the motion
of the heavens. What does he see? "The Sun is not allowed to overtake the Moon."
I.E., Mohammad, along with everyone else, observes the regular motions of the
Sun and Moon traveling across the sky. The only way this verse can be accurate
is if Mohammad is talking about an eclipse. The Moon intersects his line of
sight covering up the Sun and passes, from his perspective, "over" the Sun. The
Moon, from a visual perspective, "catches up," the Sun. Of course, Muslims
believe 36:40 does not refer to an eclipse at all. Simply put, if Mohammad is
referring to an eclipse then nothing remarkable has been revealed.

Aside from interpreting this as an eclipse (which Muslims reject)
this verse comes into question. From the visual perspective of one standing on
Earth the Sun travels more often in the sky than the Moon. Each day the Sun
comes up and goes down. Because of its rotation around the Earth, on some days
the moon appears, and on others it does not (during the New Moon).

"They float each in an orbit." Could a mere man without God's help
have known this? Sure. The Greeks knew it long before Mohammad. The Egyptians
knew it when constructing the Pyramids. The Druids knew it when building
Stonehenge. Thus, there was no new revelation in 36:40. However, modern Muslim
scholarship attributes the term "orbit" as something very specific. Note the
next section.

View from Space

In every respect 36:40 is in gross error. From a comparative view
in space, the orbits of the Sun and Moon cannot be compared as if "outpacing"
one another. To begin with, they don't even orbit on the same plane. Secondly,
they don't orbit each other, the Moon orbits the Sun by means of its orbit of
Earth. The Sun can't catch up the moon because the Moon is in subjection to the
Sun; literally! The Moon is subject to the more powerful gravitation of the Sun.

Forget for a moment that the orbits aren't comparative. View the
verse in terms of raw speed. "The sun is not allowed to overtake the moon."
Wrong again. The Sun orbits the galactic center at approximately 144 miles a
second. The Moon orbits the Earth at approximately 2,300 miles an hour. Which is
faster? Even in this regard the Moon orbits the galactic center being carried in
part by the gravitational influence of the Sun. The Sun is not allowed to catch
up the Moon? On the contrary, the Moon is "caught up" in the gravitational
influence of the Sun and carried along by it. The Moon, in fact, does not have
enough of it's own gravity, or velocity, to escape the Sun's influence on its
own.

If you view this from the perspective of rotations rather than
literal orbits the Quran fails again. The Earth gives the appearance that the
Sun is orbiting it because it rotates on it's own axis. This happens once just
under every 24 hour period. The Moon circles the Earth once every 29.5 days; so
the Sun "catches up" the Moon all the time. Note that the Moon's rotation was
discovered thousands of years ago as even the Arabs of Mohammad's day used a
Lunar calendar based upon the rotational, rather than orbital ,perspective.

As regards the translation of the term "orbit;" Muslim scholars
have noted that it means literally "to swim." The interpretation being that God
revealed to Mohammad that the planets move in their own motions of their own
accord. That is not correct. Planets, moons, comet, asteroids, and virtually all
stellar phenomenon in any kind of orbit rotate in such an orbit because of the
gravitational influence of the other bodies around them. I.E., the combination
of gravimetric forces of the major planets and the Sun determine the Earth's
orbit (the Earth's mass and gravity are factors, but it does not orbit of its
own volition. This is also true with all other orbiting bodies.) Regardless,
commentators have tried to justify this by applying the rotations of the Sun and
Moon, yet the passage is referring to orbits and not rotations on planetary
axis.

View from Regions on the Earth

"...nor does the night outstrip the day." Again we have a error
made from the perspective of one standing on the Earth. At different times of
the year night is longer than day. The closer you get to the polar regions, the
longer night or day become. Night can sometimes last months longer than day!

OXIDATION IN THE BLOOD
No indeed! Rather what they have earned has rusted up their hearts. (Surat al-Mutaffifin, 14)

The term ‘rusted’ used to describe hearts in verse of Surat al-Mutaffifin may be a reference to biochemical reaction that takes place in the heart. (Allah knows the truth.) Rust is the result of iron reacting with oxygen – oxidation. The oxygen we absorb from the air is carried through the body thanks to the iron in the hemoglobin in the blood. During this process, the oxygen reacts with the iron in the blood. This means there is a constant process resembling rusting in the blood in the human body, and therefore in the heart, the center of the circulation system. An excess of iron in the blood can even lead to premature aging in all the body’s cells by causing rust-like oxidation.1 In the disease known as ‘hemochromatosis,’ caused by excess iron accumulating in the body, iron produces a toxic effect and causes organs such as the liver to collapse. Since this is the result of iron oxidation, this phenomenon is often described as organs ‘rusting’ or ‘rust accumulation’ in organs.2 In the journal Science News Dr. Sharon McDonnell describes the iron oxidation in cells making up organs as ‘rusting’.3Another reference says this about the disease: “…those with hemochromatosis absorb iron, storing it in their organs. Over time, it accumulates in toxic amounts, causing organs to fail because they literally rust.” 4
It is only possible to identify the reaction of iron with oxygen in the body – oxidation in the blood – in laboratories with highly advanced equipment. The fact that such a comparison, so compatible with the scientific data, appears in the Qur’an is an evident miracle, given the time when the Qur’an was revealed. The fact that the Qur’an also contains countless other pieces of information all in agreement with modern science is another sign that it is the revelation of Omniscient Allah, our Lord and the Creator of all things.
1 E. Griffiths, Iron and Infection, John Wiley & Sons, New York, 1987, pp. 1-25; http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig/sardi10.html
2 Jane E. Brody, The New York Times, "Personal Health", 5 March 1997.
3 Kathleen Fackelmann, Science News, "Rusty origins: researchers identify the gene for iron-overload disease - hereditary hemochromatosis", 18 January 1997.
4 Deborah Weisberg, Post Gazette, "New center treats victims of chronic iron poisoning", 10 November 1998; http://www.post-gazette.com/healthscience/19981110hemo1.asp

And He it is Who sends down water from the cloud, then
We bring forth with it buds of all (plants), then We bring forth from it green
(foliage) from which We produce grain piled up (in the ear); and of the
palm-tree, of the sheaths of it, come forth clusters (of dates) within reach,
and gardens of grapes and olives and pomegranates, alike and unlike; behold the
fruit of it when it yields the fruit and the ripening of it; most surely there
are signs in this for a people who believe. [6-99]

The green factory in plants

This Ayat of Quran tells us that there is a ‘green’ factory in the
plants which produces grains. Green factories are built up by the plant at the
beginning of its growth and are called by botanists “Chloroplasts” which contain
the chlorophyll. Quran uses the term خضرا
for these green factories. Chlorophyll absorbs the light necessary for
photosynthesis.

Chloroplasts

An
examination of leaves, stems, and other types of plant tissue reveals the
presence of tiny green, spherical structures called chloroplasts, visible here
in the cells of an onion root. Chloroplasts are essential to the process of
photosynthesis, in which captured sunlight is combined with water and carbon
dioxide in the presence of the chlorophyll molecule to produce oxygen and sugars
that can be used by animals. Without the process of photosynthesis, the
atmosphere would not contain enough oxygen to support animal
life.

Richard
Kirby/Oxford Scientific Films

It is amazing that Quran mentions the chloroplasts and
chlorophylls which were discovered many centuries after the revelation of
Quran.

Iron is one of the elements highlighted in the Quran. In
the chapter known Al-Hadeed, meaning Iron, we are informed:

“And We also sent down iron in which
there lies great force and which has many uses for mankind…” (Quran 57:25)

The word “anzalna,”
translated as "sent down" and used for iron in the verse, could be thought of
having a metaphorical meaning to explain that iron has been given to benefit
people. But, when we take into consideration the literal meaning of the word,
which is, "being physically sent down from the sky, as this word usage had not
been employed in the Quran except literally, like the descending of the rain or
revelation, we realize that this verse implies a very significant scientific
miracle. Because, modern astronomical findings have disclosed that the iron
found in our world has come from giant stars in outer space.[1]

Not only the iron on earth, but
also the iron in the entire Solar System, comes from outer space, since the
temperature in the Sun is inadequate for the formation of iron. The sun has a
surface temperature of 6,000 degrees Celsius, and a core temperature of
approximately 20 million degrees. Iron can only be produced in much larger stars
than the Sun, where the temperature reaches a few hundred million degrees. When
the amount of iron exceeds a certain level in a star, the star can no longer
accommodate it, and it eventually explodes in what is called a "nova" or a
"supernova." These explosions make it possible for iron to be given off into
space.[2]

One scientific source provides
the following information on this subject:

“There is also
evidence for older supernova events: Enhanced levels of iron-60 in deep-sea
sediments have been interpreted as indications that a supernova explosion
occurred within 90 light-years of the sun about 5 million years ago. Iron-60 is
a radioactive isotope of iron, formed in supernova explosions, which decays with
a half life of 1.5 million years. An enhanced presence of this isotope in a
geologic layer indicates the recent nucleosynthesis of elements nearby in space
and their subsequent transport to the earth (perhaps as part of dust grains).”[3]

All this shows that iron did not
form on the Earth, but was carried from Supernovas, and was "sent down," as
stated in the verse. It is clear that this fact could not have been known in the
7^th century, when the Quran was revealed. Nevertheless, this fact is
related in the Quran, the Word of God, Who encompasses all things in His
infinite knowledge.

The fact that the verse
specifically mentions iron is quite astounding, considering that these
discoveries were made at the end of the 20th century. In his book Nature’s
Destiny, the well-known microbiologist Michael Denton emphasizes the importance
of iron:

“Of all the metals
there is none more essential to life than iron. It is the accumulation of iron
in the center of a star which triggers a supernova explosion and the subsequent
scattering of the vital atoms of life throughout the cosmos. It was the drawing
by gravity of iron atoms to the center of the primeval earth that generated the
heat which caused the initial chemical differentiation of the earth, the
outgassing of the early atmosphere, and ultimately the formation of the
hydrosphere. It is molten iron in the center of the earth which, acting like a
gigantic dynamo, generates the earth’s magnetic field, which in turn creates the
Van Allen radiation belts that shield the earth’s surface from destructive
high-energy-penetrating cosmic radiation and preserve the crucial ozone layer
from cosmic ray destruction…

“Without the iron
atom, there would be no carbon-based life in the cosmos; no supernovae, no
heating of the primitive earth, no atmosphere or hydrosphere. There would be no
protective magnetic field, no Van Allen radiation belts, no ozone layer, no
metal to make hemoglobin [in human blood], no metal to tame the reactivity of
oxygen, and no oxidative metabolism.

“The intriguing and
intimate relationship between life and iron, between the red color of blood and
the dying of some distant star, not only indicates the relevance of metals to
biology but also the biocentricity of the cosmos…”[4]

This account clearly indicates
the importance of the iron atom. The fact that particular attention is drawn to
iron in the Quran also emphasizes the importance of the element.

Moreover, iron oxide particles
were used in a cancer treatment in recent months and positive developments were
observed. A team led by Dr. Andreas Jordan, at the world famous Charité Hospital
in Germany, succeeded in destroying cancer cells with this new technique
developed for the treatment of cancer—magnetic fluid hyperthermia (high
temperature magnetic liquid). As a result of this technique, first performed on
the 26-year-old Nikolaus H., no new cancer cells were observed in the patient in
the following three months.

This method of treatment can be
summarized as follows:

1. A liquid containing iron
oxide particles is injected into the tumour by means of a special syringe. These
particles spread throughout the tumour cells. This liquid consists of thousands
of millions of particles, 1,000 times smaller than the red blood corpuscles, of
iron oxide in 1 cm3 that can easily flow through all blood vessels. [5]

2. The patient is then
placed in a machine with a powerful magnetic field.

3. This magnetic field,
applied externally, begins to set the iron particles in the tumour in motion.
During this time the temperature in the tumour containing the iron oxide
particles rises by up to 45 degrees.

4. In a few minutes the
cancer cells, unable to protect themselves from the heat, are either weakened or
destroyed. The tumour may then be completely eradicated with subsequent
chemotherapy.[6]

In this treatment it is only the
cancer cells that are affected by the magnetic field, since only they contain
the iron oxide particles. The spread of this technique is a major development in
the treatment of this potentially lethal disease. Iron has also been found to be
a cure for people suffering from anemia. In the treatment of such a widespread
diseases, the use of the expression “iron in which there lies great force and
which has many uses for mankind” (Quran, 57:25) in the Quran is particularly
noteworthy. Indeed, in that verse, the Quran may be indicating the benefits of
iron even for human health. (God knows best.)

AUDIOs from Dr. Zaghlool Al-Najjar

Lack of Oxygen and low air pressure in space.

The constant reduction of earth's size: The earth used to be
200 times bigger!

Iron was sent down to earth from space.

The origins of the Universe, Big Bang theory, Cosmic Crunch, and
the creation of the SECOND EARTH after the second Big Bang in the Noble Quran
and Science. Also, Dr. Zaghlool's scientific explanation of the earth
and heaven coming to Allah Almighty "willingly or unwillingly" and how each
celestial object behaves differently depending on its mass.

The Cosmic Crunch and the creation of the second Universe
and second earth.

Time and the Speed of Light precisely
calculated and mentioned in the Noble Quran.

Is it possible for the sun to rise from the West and for the
moon to be swallowed by the sun relatively quickly?
See what Western
Scientists say about this.

Please also visit:

The Miracle of the Space Fabric - Mentioned in the Glorious Quran and confirmed by Science.

The Big Bang Theory and the Cosmic Crunch in the Noble Quran:

The sections of this article are:

1- The Universe was formed from hot gaseous in the Noble Quran.

2- The Bible never mentioned anything about the formation of the
Universe.
3- Articles and links of official web sites that
confirm the Noble Quran's claims.
4- When the Cosmic
Crunch to the Universe occurs, the Day of Judgment shall come.
Prophet Muhammad predicted that the Sun will rise from the West.

1- The Universe was formed from hot gaseous in the Noble Quran:

Let us look what Allah Almighty said about the Universe in the Noble Quran:

"Moreover He comprehended in His design the sky, and it had been
(as) smoke: He said to it and to the earth: 'Come ye together,
willingly or unwillingly.' They said: 'We do come (together), in willing
obedience.' So He completed them as seven firmaments in two Days, and He
assigned to each heaven its duty and command. And We adorned the lower heaven
with lights, and (provided it) with guard. Such is the Decree of (Him) the
Exalted in Might, Full of Knowledge. (The Noble Quran, 41:11-12)"

"Do not the Unbelievers see that the heavens and the earth were joined
together (as one unit of creation), before we clove them
asunder? We made from water every living thing. Will they not then
believe? (The Noble Quran, 21:30)"

The Arabic word for "sky" in Noble Verse 41:11 above is "samaa", which is the
same word used for "heaven" and "Universe". Since the 7 heavens didn't
exist yet (because the seven firmaments or heavens were mentioned in the next
Noble Verse 41:12), then this CLEARLY MAKES the "samaa" be referring to the
Universe, since the heaven was the entire Universe when GOD Almighty
"comprehended in His design the sky". He then later divided it into seven
firmaments or heavens.

Anyway, as we clearly see above in the Noble Verses, Allah Almighty initially
created the Universe or the "samaa" with smoke (Dukhan). Dukhan in Arabic
refers to the smoke coming from fire, which is always HOT GAS.

A new star forming out of a cloud of gas and dust (nebula), which is one of
the remnants of the "smoke" that was the origin of the whole
universe. (The Space Atlas, Heather and Henbest, page 50)
Allah
Almighty said: "Then He turned to the heaven when it was
smoke...(The Noble Quran, 41:11)"
The Noble Quran on
the Origin of the Universe
Only Islam claims that the universe was
originated from Dust and Hot Gas, or Smoke.

Now as to Noble Verse 21:30 above, according to the Big Bang Theory, the
Universe experienced an unbelievable explosion from the hot gases that were
forming it, which caused the Universe (which consisted of the ball of gases) to
split and expand. The Earth was separated then from the gaseous mass that
was forming the Universe. The gases according to the scientific articles
below in this article made "the universe be consisted of compact ball of
hydrogen -- protons, neutrons, electrons, and their anti-particles -- plus
radiation. There were not differentiated planets, stars, suns, galaxies.
Five billion years ago, the compact hydrogen soup blasted apart with huge
force, matter was hurled in all directions, and the universe doubled in
size. This expansion of the universe is still going
on." [taken from "Ask Yahoo" web site at http://ask.yahoo.com/ask/20001027.html]

It is really interesting to know that the Big Bang Theory suggests that the
Universe is still expanding until today, because this is EXACTLY what Allah
Almighty also claimed in the Noble Quran:

"And the firmament, We constructed with power and skill and verily
We are expanding it. (The Noble Quran, 51:47)"

Again, the word "samaa" was used for "firmament". "samaa" as I
mentioned above means either "heaven", or "Universe" depending on how it is
used. Certainly, the meaning of the word "samaa" in Noble Verse 51:47 is
"Universe".

Please visit How
could Allah create the world in 6 days if science has proved that the world and
universe took millions of years to make?

Also, since Allah Almighty didn't have any names for the explosive gases
(such as hydrogen) 1400 years ago, He summed them up by calling them "smoke
(dukhan)", which is literally a hot gas. Smoke is also ball-shaped and
compacted together while it is hot and in the air. This description
perfectly fits what the big bang theory suggests from the shape of the "compact
ball" of gases that formed the Universe.

2- The Bible never mentioned anything about the formation of
the Universe:

No where in the Bible do we see any mention of the creation of the
Universe. The Bible lacks a great deal of information about how GOD
Almighty created things.

3- Articles and links of official web sites that confirm the
Noble Quran's claims:

The following links and article prove that the Big Bang Theory existed in the
Noble Quran 1400 years ago.

http://www.themodernreligion.com/verses_sci.htm

http://hepwww.rl.ac.uk/pub/bigbang/part1.html This page
has "Next" button at the bottom of it which continues with the next pages.

http://image.gsfc.nasa.gov/poetry//ask/acosmexp.html

http://imagine.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/features/news/21nov00.html

http://www.er.doe.gov/feature_articles_2001/June/Decades/38.html

The following article was taken from http://ask.yahoo.com/ask/20001027.html

Note: The underlined in dark green words prove that the Universe was
originally formed by hot gaseous.

4- When the Cosmic Crunch to the Universe occurs, the Day of
Judgment shall come:

Please also visit: The Miracle of the Space Fabric
- Mentioned in the Glorious Quran and confirmed by
Science.

Let us look at what Allah Almighty said about the "Cosmic Crunch" Theory:

يوم نطوي السماء كطي السجل للكتب كما بدأنا أول خلق نعيده وعدا علينا إنا كنا
فعلين

"The Day that We roll up the heavens like a scroll rolled up for
books (completed),- even as We produced the first creation, so
shall We produce a new one: a promise We have undertaken: truly shall We fulfill
it. (The Noble Quran, 21:104)"

Notice here how Allah Almighty Said that He will ROLL BACK the heavens like a
scroll rolled up.

The following article http://www.bigear.org/vol1no4/wheeler.htm, which contains an
interview with a Scientist, Professor John Archibald Wheeler, who was a
colleague of Albert Einstein, explains the Noble Verse above in good details.

Important Note: Before we go into the article,
it is important to know that Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him had also talked
about the "Cosmic Crunch" Theory by predicting that the Sun around the time of
the Cosmic Crunch's occurrence would rise from the West and set in the East due
to a change in our orbit's rotation. Who knows, perhaps the "Cosmic
Crunch" would cause the Earth to flip upside down, which would cause the sun to
rise from the West and set in the East, or perhaps it would change the rotation
of the sun and its planets all together:

Narrated Abu Dhar: "The Prophet asked me at sunset, 'Do you know where
the sun goes (at the time of sunset)?' I replied, 'Allah and His Apostle know
better.' He said, 'It goes (i.e. travels) till it prostrates Itself underneath
the Throne and takes the permission to rise again, and it is permitted and then
(a time will come when) it will be about to prostrate itself but its prostration
will not be accepted, and it will ask permission to go on its course but it will
not be permitted, but it will be ordered to return whence it has come
and so it will rise in the west. And that is the interpretation of
the Statement of Allah: 'And the sun Runs its fixed course For a term (decreed).
that is The Decree of (Allah) The Exalted in Might, The All-Knowing.'
(36.38) (Translation of Sahih Bukhari, Beginning of Creation, Volume 4,
Book 54, Number 421)"

Narrated Abu Huraira: "Allah's Apostle said, 'The Hour will not be
established........and till the sun rises from the West. So when
the sun will rise and the people will see it (rising from the West) they will
all believe (embrace Islam) but that will be the time when: (As Allah said,) 'No
good will it do to a soul to believe then, if it believed not before, nor earned
good (by deeds of righteousness) through its Faith.' (6.158) And the
Hour will be established while two men spreading a garment in front of them but
they will not be able to sell it, nor fold it up; and the Hour will be
established when a man has milked his she-camel and has taken away the milk but
he will not be able to drink it; and the Hour will be established before a man
repairing a tank (for his livestock) is able to water (his animals) in it; and
the Hour will be established when a person has raised a morsel (of food) to his
mouth but will not be able to eat it.' (Translation of Sahih Bukhari,
Afflictions and the End of the World, Volume 9, Book 88, Number 237)"

"The Day ye shall see it, every mother giving suck shall forget her
suckling-babe, and every pregnant female shall drop her load (unformed): thou
shalt see mankind as in a drunken riot, yet not drunk: but dreadful
will be the Wrath of God. (The Noble Quran, 22:2)"

Is it possible for the sun to rise from the West and for the
moon to be swallowed by the sun relatively quickly?

See what Western Scientists say about this.

Continuing with the article......

Cosmic Search Vol. 1 No. 4

FORUM: John A. Wheeler

From the Big Bang to the Big Crunch

Scientist-philosopher, teacher-cosmologist, father of the Black Hole,
Wheeler's thoughts encompass the entire cosmos from the Big Bang to the Big
Crunch.

This exclusive interview with John A. Wheeler was made by Mirjana R.
Gearhart of COSMIC SEARCH.

COSMIC SEARCH: You have often commented that the greatest discoveries
of science are yet to come. What do you have in mind?

Wheeler: To me, the greatest discovery yet to come will be to find how
this universe, coming into being from a Big Bang, developed its laws of
operation. I call this "Law without Law" [Or "Order from Disorder"].

COSMIC SEARCH: Could you explain further?

Wheeler: One of the biggest problems is how to state the problem. It's
an old saying that the minute you can state a problem correctly you understand
90 percent of the problem. One of the greatest problems concerns the meaning of
measurement or observation. According to quantum theory, measurements can
influence what happens. The fact that it is difficult to talk about this problem
in an easy way suggests that we have much to learn.

This is a partial response to your question. Putting it another way:

How can we possibly imagine the universe with all its regularities and its
laws coming into being out of something utterly helter-skelter,
higgledy-piggledy and random?

Or, in still another form:

If you were the Lord constructing the universe, how would you have gone about
it?

COSMIC SEARCH: That certainly is a very deep question.

Wheeler: It's inspiring to read the life of Charles Darwin and think
how the division of plant and animal kingdoms, all this myriad of order, came
about through the miracles of evolution, natural selection and chance mutation.
To me this is a marvelous indication that you can get order by starting with
disorder.

COSMIC SEARCH: Do you think there can be any progress on this problem?

Wheeler: One of the conditions, I think, for advance in this field, as
in any field, is believing that advance is possible. What I hope I'm creating is
a sense of faith that it can be done. Faith is the number one element. It isn't
something that spreads itself uniformly. Faith is concentrated in a few people
at particular times and places. If you can involve young people in an atmosphere
of hope and faith, then I think they'll figure out how to get the answer. Faith
and hope are absolutely central to everything one does.

You need people who have imagination, daring and the ability to get
somewhere. That, to me, is the way research works.

Of course another point to all of this is to keep in touch with key ideas,
with what people are doing. Make sure you aren't overlooking something. Here's
where it's so important to talk with the young people. Some modest young person
comes along with some idea no one else is paying any attention to. His idea may
just be the central point.

I'm very fortunate that at Austin, the University of Texas has been willing
to finance this kind of work, bringing in two or three people each year for a
period of time. So, we'll see what happens.

COSMIC SEARCH: You were a colleague of Albert Einstein. We are
celebrating the 100th anniversary of his birth this year. When did you first
meet him?

Wheeler: October 1933, the month he took up permanent residence in the
U.S. was my first meeting with Einstein. Then in 1953, when I first started to
teach relativity at Princeton, he was kind enough to invite me to bring my
students around to his house for discussions. So, we sat around the dining room
table and his secretary, Helen Dukas, and his stepdaughter, Margot, brought tea
and the students asked him questions.

COSMIC SEARCH: Are there some tenets of his that stand out in your
mind?

Wheeler: Yes, his work revolved around three rules which apply to all
science, our problems, and times:

1. Out of clutter, find simplicity;
   
   
2. From discord make harmony; and finally
   
   
3. In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity.

COSMIC SEARCH: You began your work in relativity about that time then?

Albert Einstein, Hidekei Yukawa and John A. Wheeler at Princeton in 1954. Yukawa received the Nobel prize in physics in 1949.

Wheeler: Yes, it was about the period 1952-53-54-55, Einstein's last
four years, when l was just getting into relativity. The thing that really got
me into it more than anything else was this concern about what happens to a
cloud of matter when it collapses. What's the final state?

I had not yet invented the term "black hole". I hadn't yet realized how
important it was to attach a name to this concept.

COSMIC SEARCH: How did you come up with the name "black hole"?

Wheeler: It was an act of desperation, to force people to believe in
it. It was in 1968, at the time of the discussion of whether pulsars were
related to neutron stars or to these completely collapsed objects. I wanted a
way of emphasizing that these objects were real. Thus, the name "black hole".

Diagrammatic representation of a black hole suggesting how space is curved or warped by its enormous gravitational pull. All details of infalling material are wiped out in the black hole, only the net mass, charge and angular momentum remaining. A black hole is the ultimate trash compactor.

The Russians used the term frozen star -- their point of attention was how it
looked from the outside, where the material moves much more slowly until it
comes to a horizon. [Or critical distance. From inside this distance there is
no escape.] But, from the point of view of someone who's on the material
itself, falling in, there's nothing special about the horizon. He keeps on going
in. There's nothing frozen about what happens to him. So, I felt that that
aspect of it needed more emphasis.

COSMIC SEARCH: A few years ago you asked the question: "Are life and
mind irrelevant to the structure of the universe, or are they central to it?"

Have you found an answer?

Wheeler: No, I'm one of the most baffled men in the world on this
subject. There is a line of investigation involving the anthropic (or
man-related) principle -- the idea that the universe has to be much as it is
or life would be impossible. Not only life as we know it, but any life at all
would be impossible. On what else can a comprehensible universe be built but the
demand for comprehensibility?

My Princeton colleague, Robert Dicke, expressed it this way:

What good is a universe without somebody around to look at it?

That, to be sure, was an old idea, going back not only to the Bishop Berkeley
of the time of Newton, but all the way back to Parmenides, the precursor of
Socrates and Plato.

But it was new in the form that Dicke put it. He said if you want an observer
around, you need life, and if you want life, you need heavy elements. To make
heavy elements out of hydrogen, you need thermonuclear combustion. To have
thermonuclear combustion, you need a time of cooking in a star of several
billion years. In order to stretch out several billion years in its time
dimension, the universe, according to general relativity, must be several
billion years across in its space dimensions.

So why is the universe as big as it is? Because we're here!

COSMIC SEARCH: A very interesting view.

Wheeler: You could put it another way: You can say there's an
efficiency expert who's come to look over the Lord's shoulder. He says,

"Why, Lord, you're wasting a lot of money on this universe. See, you've put
one hundred billion (10^11) stars in the Milky Way, and you've put one hundred
billion (10^11) Milky Ways in the universe -- that's ten billion trillion
(10^11) stars -- that's a mighty extravagant way to get one planet (the Earth)
with life on it so there'll be somebody around to be aware of this universe.
Now, Lord, we efficiency people want to cut you down, but we won't cut you down
to one star. Instead of 10 billion trillion stars, we'll cut you down to one
hundred billion stars -- that's enough to make one galaxy. This will be a great
economy move."

"The universe starts with a Big Bang, expands to a maximum dimension, then recontracts and collapses (to the Big Crunch); no more awe-inspiring prediction was ever made." Quotation from Charles W. Misner, Kip S. Thorne and John A. Wheeler in "Gravitation", W. H. Freeman, San Francisco, 1973, page 1196.

From me, Osama Abdallah: Please visit
Allah
Almighty said in the Noble Quran that He is "Expanding" the
Universe.

continuing with the article....

The only problem is, according to general relativity, when you cut the amount
of mass down by a factor of 100 billion, you also cut the size of the universe
down by the same amount, just enough universe for one galaxy. You also cut down
the time from the Big Bang to the Big Crunch from 100 billion years to just one
year which isn't time enough to evolve even one star, let alone evolve life.

Put it another way. There's no obvious extravagance of scale in the
construction of the universe. The efficiency expert would have a right to
complain if life had been created on several planets, in several parts of the
universe, because then he could say that's more than you really need in order
for somebody to be around to be aware of the universe. But, if you have life on
one planet only (the Earth), then, it's not obvious that you're being
extravagant.

The anthropic principle provides a new perspective on the question of life
elsewhere in space. It puts in question the common view that the universe is a
big machine; that man is unimportant in the scheme of things; that we're an
accidental bit of dust that doesn't have anything to do with it all. From that
point of view, it is not very important whether you're going to have life on a
billion planets or on just one planet -- or no life at all. Life or no life
still wouldn't matter in the scheme of the universe.

But, if we adopt this other perspective that Dicke suggests -- the anthropic
principle -- then it's quite a different assessment that we make. Then the
universe has to be such as to permit awareness of that universe; otherwise the
universe has no meaning.

We are now nearer the Big Bang than the Big Crunch since the universe, as we
observe it, is still expanding.

The anthropic principle looks at this universe, that universe and the other
universe and rules out as mere meaningless machines all those in which awareness
does not develop somewhere at some time. Stronger than the anthropic principle
is what I might call the participatory principle. According to it we
could not even imagine a universe that did not somewhere and for some stretch of
time contain observers because the very building materials of the universe are
these acts of observer-participancy. You wouldn't have the stuff out of which to
build the universe otherwise. This participatory principle takes for its
foundation the absolutely central point of the quantum:

No elementary phenomenon is a phenomenon until it is an observed (or
registered) phenomenon.

COSMIC SEARCH: You also collaborated with Niels Bohr. Could you tell
us about him?

Wheeler: As a student in 1934, 1 applied for a fellowship to go to
Copenhagen to study with Bohr. I remember writing down my reason on the
application:

"Bohr sees further ahead in physics than any other man alive".

My fellowship was granted and the next year I went to study with Bohr, the
great leader of physics and father figure of all physicists. There in
Copenhagen, Christian Moller, just back from Rome, reported Fermi's results on
the capture of slow neutrons. Bohr immediately became terribly concerned, and
interrupting Moller, talked and talked while walking back and forth. All the
while you could see the liquid drop model of the nucleus taking shape right
there before your eyes. For him no physics was of any interest unless it yielded
some paradox or some beautiful way of seeing things simply.

I do not remember anyone at Bohr's institute who ever succeeded in finishing
a seminar talk, even though he was the invited speaker. He might be able to
speak fifteen minutes, but soon Bohr would take over and would use the whole
time discussing the meaning of the speaker's results and what they proved or
disproved.

COSMIC SEARCH: You were also involved with Bohr later, weren't you?

Wheeler: Yes, I was down at the pier in New York on January 16,1939,
to meet him, and I had hardly said "Hello" when I learned that just before his
ship left Copenhagen, he had been told of the discovery of nuclear fission by
Hahn and Strassmann. So we dropped everything else and started to work on
fission.

During the war I met Bohr in Washington at the time he was dividing his time
between Los Alamos and Washington. He told me confidentially about his
discussions with President Roosevelt about the future of nuclear energy. He told
me about his efforts to work out some kind of control of nuclear energy after
the war.

Bohr made a great impression on Roosevelt and they had several discussions.
The last speech Roosevelt wrote -- he died while he was still working on it --
had in it some words, quoted by Roosevelt from Thomas Jefferson, about how
scientists serve as indispensable means of communication for bringing peace
between different countries of the world.

It was enormously impressive to me to see Bohr's courage in facing up to what
the great questions were. I can vividly remember him saying to me:

"I must always seem to you like an amateur. But I am always an amateur."

Of course, that is a very modest way of saying that one is a pioneer, an
explorer. If you are working on something new, then you are necessarily an
amateur.

COSMIC SEARCH: Niels Bohr created one of the world's most influential
schools of modem physics in Copenhagen. You, too, have educated many leading
physicists, both in nuclear physics and in general relativity, at Princeton. Do
you have some thoughts about educating students?

Wheeler: Shouldn't you rephrase your question? After all, I'm sure
that it is really the students who educate me! We all know that the real reason
universities have students is to educate the professors. But, in order to be
educated by the students, one has to put good questions to them. You try out
your questions on the students. If there are questions that the students get
interested in, then they start to tell you new things and keep you asking more
new questions. Pretty soon you have learned a great deal.

COSMIC SEARCH: What insights can one gain from the collapse of a star
into a black hole as regards the ultimate collapse of the universe?

Wheeler: I would regard the black hole as a here-and-now model for the
collapse of the universe. We've come to recognize that in the typical closed
model universe, a black hole that forms at some point in the history of the
universe is not a singularity -- a Gate of Time -- separate and distinct from
the Big Crunch, but is part and parcel of the same thing.

"Think of yourself in an ice cave with time pointing upward from the floor (the Big Bang). The roof represents the Big Crunch and the icicles represent black holes. The water level represents the time where we are now, beginning to engulf a few icicles. That's when black holes are formed."

Let me put it this way. If you'll permit, let's imagine ourselves as in an
ice cave, and let's think of time as pointing upward from the floor. The floor
of ice represents the Big Bang. The roof of ice represents the Big Crunch -- and
some spikes hanging down, icicles, represent black holes. Think of water
gradually filling the cave as it comes up, representing the advance of time. No
water, and you're back at the Big Bang; a little water, and you're in the early
days of the universe. More water and your time level is where we are now. As the
water rises -- as time goes on -- it engulfs a few of the spikes, the icicles --
that's the moment when black holes are formed. Keep the water level going on up
and you get to the point where the spikes are completely immersed and the water
even reaches to the top of the cave. Then you have arrived at the Big Crunch.
From this point of view, you can see that the Big Crunch or final Gate of Time
is not distinct in nature from the black hole. They're the same kind of animal.
In that sense, learning about a black hole is learning about the final stages of
the universe.

Although many articles are being written about the outsides of black holes,
hardly any deal with the question of what happens inside the black hole,
on the way to the Big Crunch. All the indications I can see point to it being
the direct opposite of what happens on the outside. The outside settles down to
a steady standard condition. If it's perturbed a little bit away from that ideal
state, it once again reverts to the steady condition.

But, on the inside, the condition is the exact opposite, in the sense that if
the collapse of matter is not exactly symmetric, then the perturbations from the
infalling matter will get worse and worse, and bigger and bigger. There will be
so-called "mixmaster" oscillations. Matter -- and space geometry as well -- will
be driven into a gigantic chaos. If, as we believe, the black hole is really
part and parcel of the final singularity, then these "mixmaster" oscillations
should be a common property of black holes and the big crunch. We have much to
learn from studying this chaos from the theoretical end. That doesn't mean these
extreme conditions have no observational consequences; they certainly do.

One might question this point. One might ask, what sense is it to talk about
the physics inside a black hole? Who's ever going to fall inside a black hole?
But, here we are living inside -- if Einstein is correct -- a closed universe,
and we will eventually head into a Big Crunch ourselves -- so the laugh's on us!

COSMIC SEARCH: If that is true -- that the last laugh is on us, how
does that affect mankind's attitude?

Wheeler: If the universe is only going to last for a finite time, I
think it's far too early in the scheme of things to try to draw conclusions
about how we should react. We're still so much in the learning phase. We have to
keep separate what we're learning from our attitudes.

To me to live a one-life-only in a one-life-only universe provides a poetic
parallelism. How precious life is! Every day, every person one meets, every
experience -- that's all we're going to have. It distresses me that so many
people go through life in an alienated spirit, not realizing that this is the
only opportunity they have -- they'll never have it again.

COSMIC SEARCH: We certainly are at a very important time in mankind's
thinking about its place in the universe. Thank you, Professor Wheeler, for
sharing with us a glimpse of these great discoveries yet to come.

John Archibald Wheeler has been at the forefront of
theoretical physics for nearly five decades. In the 1930's, with Niels Bohr, he
developed the first general theory of nuclear fission.

According to the "liquid drop" model of Bohr and Wheeler (1939), a slow neutron entering a uranium 235 nucleus causes it to split like a drop of liquid into two smaller drops representing the nuclei of a tellurium 137 atom and a zirconium 97 atom while emitting two neutrons. Energy released by this type of reaction forms the basis of nuclear fission power.

In the 1940's, with a student, Richard Feynman, he discovered a new approach
to electrodynamics which has proven to be of great value. In the 1950's he found
new solutions to Einstein's gravitational equations of importance in
astrophysics. In the 1960s he pioneered studies involving gravitational
collapse, neutron stars and Black Holes (a name he invented). More recently
Wheeler has proposed and analyzed "delayed choice" experiments. In them a
difference in what one measures on the particle -- or photon -- now makes
an irretrievable difference in what one has the right to say the particle
already did in the past. This effect, which makes it impossible to
monitor the events of nature with complete detachment, he calls
"observer-participancy".

Wheeler is a scientist-philosopher whose thoughts encompass the entire cosmos
from its smallest microstructure to its astronomical maximum, while spanning its
past and future between the two "Gates of Time": the "Big Bang" beginning and
the "Big Crunch" ending. The Gates of Time is also a term he coined. Wheeler's
dynamic career gives special meaning to the statement that scientists are even
more interesting than science.

Wheeler is Director of the Center for Theoretical Physics at the University
of Texas, Austin. Before going to Austin in 1976, he was the Joseph Henry
Professor of Physics at Princeton University, where he had been a faculty member
for 38 years.

Born in Florida in 1911, he received his doctorate from Johns Hopkins
University in 1933. In 1938 he joined the physics faculty of Princeton
University where he served until his move to Austin in 1976. Wheeler is past
president of the American Physical Society, recipient of the Albert Einstein
Prize of the Strauss Foundation (1965), the Enrico Fermi Award for his work on
nuclear fission (presented by President Lyndon Johnson in 1968), the Franklin
Medal of the Franklin Institute (1969), and the National Medal of Science
(1971), as well as numerous honorary degrees.

He is the author of many scientific articles and author or co-author of six
books. His famous, monumental 1280-page text "Gravitation" (1973) was written in
collaboration with his former students Kip Thorne and Charles Misner; his most
recent, "Frontiers of Time", appeared in 1979.

A man of great modesty, Wheeler radiates a contagious enthusiasm coupled with
a charming informality. He has a fondness for paradox as epitomized by: "We will
first understand how simple the universe is when we recognize how strange it
is".

Wheeler on Science

• "The greatest discoveries are yet to come."
  
• "What good is a universe without somebody around to look at it?"
  
• "There's no obvious extravagance of scale in the construction of the
  universe."
  
• "If you're working on something new, then you are necessarily an amateur."
  
• "So, why is the universe as big as it is? Because we're here!"
  
• Learning about a black hole is learning about the final stages of the
  universe."
  
• "You have to keep separate what we're learning from our attitudes"
  
• "We will first understand how simple the universe is when we recognize how
  strange it is."
  
• "The real reason universities have students is to educate the professors."
  
• "You need people who have the imagination, daring and ability to get
  somewhere. That is the way research works. "
  
• "No elementary phenomenon is a phenomenon until it is an observed
  phenomenon. "

Back to Science
in the Noble Quran and Islam.

The Miracle of the Space Fabric - Mentioned in the Glorious
Quran and confirmed by Science.

Life
originated from water in the Noble Quran.

Allah
Almighty said in the Noble Quran that He is "Expanding" the
Universe.

AUDIOs from Dr. Zaghlool Al-Najjar

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The constant reduction of earth's size: The earth used to be
200 times bigger!

Iron was sent down to earth from space.

The origins of the Universe, Big Bang theory, Cosmic Crunch, and
the creation of the SECOND EARTH after the second Big Bang in the Noble Quran
and Science. Also, Dr. Zaghlool's scientific explanation of the earth
and heaven coming to Allah Almighty "willingly or unwillingly" and how each
celestial object behaves differently depending on its mass.

The Cosmic Crunch and the creation of the second Universe
and second earth.

Time and the Speed of Light precisely
calculated and mentioned in the Noble Quran.

Is it possible for the sun to rise from the West and for the
moon to be swallowed by the sun relatively quickly?
See what Western
Scientists say about this.