The Big Bang: "the heavens and the earth were joined"

Surah Al-Anbiya Verse 30 2026-09-01 19:29:22

Quranic verses

أَوَلَمْ يَرَ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا أَنَّ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضَ كَانَتَا رَتْقًا فَفَتَقْنَاهُمَا

Have those who disbelieved not considered that the heavens and the earth were a joined entity, and We separated them and made from water every living thing? Then will they not believe?

Surah Al-Anbiya (21:30)

In Surah Al-Anbiya (21:30), the Quran declares:

"Do not the disbelievers see that the heavens and the earth were a joined entity, and We separated them?"

This description of the origin of the universe as a single mass that then separated remarkably evokes the Big Bang theory, according to which the universe began as an extremely dense and hot point that then expanded.

The Big Bang theory, proposed by Georges Lemaître in 1927 and confirmed by Edwin Hubble's observations in 1929, as well as by the discovery of the cosmic microwave background in 1965, is today the standard cosmological model.

Scientific findings

The Big Bang theory proposed by Georges Lemaître (1927)
Confirmation by Edwin Hubble of the expansion of the universe (1929)
Discovery of the cosmic microwave background (1965)
Precise measurements from the Planck mission (2013)

Scientific references

Un univers homogène de masse constante et de rayon croissant — Georges Lemaître (Annales de la Société Scientifique de Bruxelles, 1927)