3. The Second Stage of Descent: Khalq

The Process of Creation
A Qur'anic Perspective

by Dr Israr Ahmad

3. The Second Stage of Descent: Khalq

The second stage of descent (of the realm of amr) to the realm of khalq (i.e. physical creation) is the first station of primal material creation of which present-day cosmologists and astrophysicists have started to have some vague and quasi-speculative clue.

The modern science of nature expressly limits itself to the corporeal domain alone, which it isolates from the entire realm of ‘being’ while considering objects in their purely spatial and temporal dimensions, as if supra-sensible realms with its differing levels were non-existent and those realities were not intelligible at all.

The second stage of descent of the creativity of Allah is the beginning of the realm of khalq with which modern scientific and cosmological theories are concerned and typically concur. Researchers have mapped out physical realities, ranging from the micro (sub-atomic) realm of quarks and electrons to the macro (universal) realm of planets, stars and galaxies. Physicists have shown that all matter is ruled by the four basic forces of gravity, electromagnetism, and the strong and weak nuclear forces. The universe exploded into existence around 15 billion years ago. Then 4.5 billion years ago, the disintegrating fragments of an exploding star, evolved into our solar system. 

 

Modern science seems unable to synthesize and summarize its body of knowledge into a comprehensive whole, possibly because it lacks elements of the sacred and the revealed guidance that are as really and truly experienced within man as they are manifested within the external world of Nature. Even in the realm of khalq, there is the creation of jinn who are non-physical and therefore invisible. Jinns, though incorporeal and invisible, are creatures of 'alam-e-khalq’ and the material out of which they were shaped is fire. In the Qur'anic ontosophy, the stage of the creation of jinns is temporally prior to the creation of humans and is of utmost importance as the jinn (Azazeel by name) who refused to prostrate before Adam pbuh, was called Satan (literally meaning ‘eternally  pessimist’) by Allah (swt) --- the archenemy of Adam pbuh and his progeny till Doomsday.

Among a few of the cosmological beliefs that lasted for long was that of a static universe. With the discovery of the general expansion of the universe, it seemed natural that if the universe is ever-expanding then as much as we move backward in time, the universe should be more condensed until we arrive at an infinitely dense and small point from which the universe originated, which is substantially the same as the concept of Big Bang Theory. Although Hubble’s discoveries supported this picture but they were not, in their own, sufficient to convince scientists to accept the Big Bang Theory. The Steady State Theory, for instance, while accepting the expansion of the universe, attempted to suggest an interpretation that nevertheless avoided any “beginning” or “end” of the cosmos. Hermann Bondi (1919-2005), Thomas Gold (1920-2004) and Fred Hoyle (1915-2001) were the originators of this theory in 1948, and for about two decades it was considered the leading competitor to the Big Bang Theory. According to the Steady State Theory, if the universe is expanding forever, there is no need for the initial Big Bang. To justify their theory, it was postulated that the density of matter remains constant through continuous creation of “new matter”. The universe would, therefore, look more or less the same at all times and one could say that it is not static but is in a steady state. 

 

Today, however, in view of the available evidence in support of the Big Bang Theory, especially from the COBE satellite, almost all cosmologists have debunked the Steady State Theory. The Big Bang Theory provides a mathematical description for the evolution of the cosmos, according to which the universe started from an infinite density and very high temperature and then expanded, thinned out, and cooled. As stated above, in this stage of naar (fire) the self-conscious and freedom-enjoying beings created by Allah (swt) were jinns. As the Qur'an says:

“Whereas the jinns We had Created, (long) before that, out of the fire of scorching winds.” [Al-Hijr, 15:27]

Source:  The Process of Creation

 to be continued  . . . .