"Have they not considered how Allah originates creation and then repeats it?”{Qur’an 30:11}

In Stephen Hawking’s final book 'Brief Answers to the Big Questions,' published by Brantom Books, the late professor begins a series of 10 essays by addressing “a challenging hypothesis”: Is There a God? “I have no desire to offend anyone of faith,” Hawking wrote. “But I think science has a more compelling explanation than a divine creator.”

The English theoretical physicist who died in March 2018, wrote: “I think the universe was spontaneously created out of nothing, according to the laws of science. If you accept, as I do, that the laws of nature are fixed, then it doesn’t take long to ask: What role is there for God?”

Suggesting that God does not have a role in the creation of the universe is analogous to suggesting that a ruler over a country has no role, a monarch has no role over a kingdom, or the head of a household has no authority over his family. What they all have in common is a shared responsibility in deciding what’s best for their dependents.

There are a few places in the universe where the laws of physics break down. The discipline of astronomical science has trouble trying to explain the phenomenon of Black Holes where even light cannot escape, and how the universe started from a small singularity, then inflated over the next 13.8 billion years to the cosmos that we know today. The discipline of science has some knowledge about these laws. But, if we leave God out of the equation, these observations uphold only the reality of how much we really don’t know about the working of the universe or the origin of its existence.

Science understands that most of the matter of the universe is composed of a mysterious substance coined as Dark Matter and Dark Energy. Dark Matter is presumed to be the invisible glue that holds the structure of our solar system, galaxies, and clusters of galaxies together. Dark Energy is more unknown than known. Scientists think that they know how much Dark Energy there is in the universe. Other than that, Dark Energy remains an enigma. Apparently, this mysterious substance is the reason behind the rapid expansion of the universe. Science has concluded that the universe is expanding, as the Qur’an predicted it over 1,400 years ago. “And the heaven We constructed with strength, and indeed, we are [its] expander.” (Qur’an 51:47)

Current cosmological theories maintain that the universe formed from a smoking fireball of radiation at extremely high temperature and density in a trillion-trillionth of a second after (what scientists call the Big Bang) around 13.8 billion years ago. Stephen Hawking calls this cosmic miracle of creation by God, "The quantum laws that allowed the Big Bang to take place."

The Qur’an states : “Then, he rose over towards the heaven when it was smoke, and said to it and to the earth: Come both of you willingly or unwillingly.” They both said: “We come willingly.” (Qur’an 41:11)

How could Prophet Muhammed (pbuh) an unlettered man, who lived over 1,400 years ago,  have known about this modern-day scientific description of the creation of the universe and its expansion unless it was revealed to him by a transcendent power? The most ingenious minds of science ( including Albert Einstein ) had struggled with this revealed concept of an expanding universe, the astronomical word of science did not achieve this understanding until 1929. The famous theoretical physicist, Albert Einstein, fiercely resisted the view that the universe was expanding, despite his contemporaries’ suggestions that this was the case. However, Einstein later remarked that this was the biggest blunder of his career.

Stephen Hawking wrote: “We have finally found something that doesn’t have a cause, because there was no time for a cause to existed in, for me this means that there is no possibility of a creator, because there is no time for a creator to have existed in.”

If our mortal minds can’t understand the nature of cause and effect, how can we hope to understand the essence of the Creator which is the initial cause and we and everything else in creation are the effect? Allah is the architect of laws that determine the behavior of everything. There are laws of nature that governs our physical environment as well as our biological well-being. There are sacred laws that govern our spiritual interaction and morality. And there are cosmic laws that govern the universe. Any minor infraction of these universal laws put in place by God, can produce an irreversible consequence.

Humanity is but a speck of microcosmic dust in the expanse of space and time. The Qur’an advises us that the creation of the heavens and the earth is a greater creation than the creation of man. So how can something finite such as man comprehends the divine attributes of Allah that are infinite?

“[And] who created seven heavens in layers? You do not see in the creation of the Most Merciful any inconsistency. So, return [your] vision [to the sky]; do you see any breaks?

Then return [your] vision twice again. [Your] vision will return to you humbled while it is fatigued.” (Qur’an 67:3-4)

Ivan G. Nassar is a Cleveland base Islamic freelance writer. His research covers Islamic history, culture, and civilization.