Transcription
Hi, black holes. We've all heard of them, and I don't just mean that mysterious place where all your loose change seems to disappear—otherwise known as your children. I'm talking about that region of space with a gravitational field so intense that no matter, radiation, or even light can escape it.
There's a joke that asks two physicists to tell, and it goes something like this: A star walks into a black hole, but it doesn't seem fazed. The black hole turns to the star and says, "Sir, I don't think you understand the gravity of this situation." But as with most jokes, it carries a ring of truth to it.
Until 2011, astrophysicists were not able to confidently report this phenomenon of stars falling into black holes, but now they can. The total number of cases of stars falling into black holes reported until 2016 has been three. Interestingly enough, although it's not an astrology book, there's an entire chapter in the Koran called "The Star," and the first verse of that chapter is, "By the star when it falls."
In this chapter, the Quran describes characteristics of a place so similar to what we now know is fitting the description of the black hole that it will send a shiver down your spine. In the Islamic faith, it is believed that God granted Prophet Muhammed a special trip to the heavens. This trip was miraculous, of course, as there was no technological way the Prophet could have taken such a journey at the time, seeing as how planes hadn't even been invented, let alone rocket ships. Nonetheless, if you study this miraculous night journey closely, you'll find that there are many clues to prove that this incredible journey did indeed occur. Not only that, where it took place turns out to be of great interest—because astonishingly enough, the description of the area the Prophet ascended matches the characteristics of what we now know about the black hole.
So let's look at what we now know about the black hole through the recent discoveries of science and compare it to the mysterious area that the Quran describes in its pages as part of this miraculous night journey the Prophet took. Firstly, in verse 16 of chapter 53, the Quran describes this place in space as very dark. In fact, it describes it as darkness covered or draped in darkness, which is not surprising—space is a pretty dark place. Even so, some areas are darker than others, but nothing is darker than a black hole. Because black holes have such immense forces of gravity, nothing, not even light, can escape from them. That's why they're black, and because they're black, they are veiled from direct observation. They nevertheless reveal themselves indirectly, as scientists have special tools that can help them see how stars that are very close to black holes act differently than other stars because of the immense force of gravity that black holes have, and this helps them identify the location of black holes.
Secondly, according to the Quran, when ordinary people look at this dark area in space, they can't see it directly, as their eyes bypass or surpass the boundary of this area, and they only see beyond it or around it. It's almost as if this area behaves as a lens. Science, it turns out, has a term for this: it's called gravitational lensing. Let's take a closer look. Normally we think of light traveling in straight beams, but near a black hole, the powerful force of gravity bends and warps rays of light around it, creating a visual imprint on the surrounding material. Astrophysicists have proved that a black hole bends light to act like a cosmic magnifying glass, giving astronomers a view of an even more distant galaxy behind it. And this, my friends, is what we call a gravitational lens. However, the Quran brings our attention to an interesting fact regarding this matter in verse 17 of chapter 53 when it says, "The eyesight of the Prophet Muhammad did not swerve nor did it pass beyond the boundary; he certainly saw it as one of the greatest signs of his Lord." Could this first be alluding to the fact that the Prophet Muhammad actually visited the black hole and looked at it directly?
Thirdly, the Quran describes this area's shape: wider at the top with sloping sides and a narrow tube at the bottom—almost funnel-shaped. In verse 14 of chapter 53, when it says, "By the finite jujube tree," it is likened to the shape of a jujube tree, which fits the same description as the one I just mentioned. A black hole makes such a deep dent in space-time, and that's why it appears to look like a funnel. Despite the black hole's effects on the movement of matter and its tremendous suction power, the black hole space-time dent remains hidden behind its event horizon, and it's always surrounded by an area which does not allow light to escape and therefore cannot be directly observed.
Fourthly, once again in verse 14, chapter 53, "By the finite jujube tree," the Quran reveals that this area is finite. So how does this claim stack up with science? Until recently, it was assumed that black holes had such an infinite strength of gravitational field that occurs deep within them, ensuring that nothing, not even light, can ever escape them, and a trip into a black hole is a one-way journey. Once you cross the event horizon—the point at which light can't escape—there's no turning back. But researchers such as George Fullen, Rodolfo Gambini, and Gerard 't Hooft have recently been able to prove otherwise and show that energy can escape black holes; from this, the black holes are finite. This essentially means that black holes don't end in infinite density but rather act as a portal to another universe. The acclaimed British physicist Professor Stephen Hawking supports this claim and further suggested that there could be a way out of the black hole when he famously said, "If you feel you're in a black hole, don't give up; there's a way out. It might have a passage to another universe, but you couldn't come back to our universe." So although I'm keen on spaceflight, I'm not going to try that.
In conclusion, the Quran swears by the star when it falls that the Prophet Muhammad travelled through space and reached an area which, according to the Quran, is one of God's greatest signs; an area that is much darker than its surrounding darkness hides its funnel jujube tree shape underneath, and no one can see this area directly, as his or her eyesight will swerve and pass beyond its bow. Finally, we're told that this area is finite and a portal to another universe. So it would seem that the Quran and astrophysicists agree, as the way in which the Quran describes this mysterious area matches what we now call the black hole. However, the Quran takes it one step further by asserting that it is, in fact, a portal to heaven—a claim which science has yet to prove. But if past experience is any indication, it's only a matter of time before science catches up to the scientific miracles already contained in the pages of the Quran.