Philosophical paradigm of Islamic cosmology

Abstract

Humans have been examining the cosmic bodies for many millennia, but scientific discoveries and ideas about the origin of the universe have changed the religious discourse and rely completely on empiricism. Many theories were put forth by the physicists, philosophers and even religions at large but Islam has its prime source of information “Quran” upon which Muslim cosmologists builds their theories and directed their ideas about the cosmology. According to Quran with the role of man or other creatures in the formation and regulation of heavenly bodies, it is God who holds everything and has power to create things which are observable or hidden in this universe. A large portion of the Holy Quran contains such information from first big bang to expansion of the universe, the concept of time, space, creation of heavens and earth, constellations and extinction of the total canvas of the universe. An attempt has been made to answer all the challenges put forth by modern sciences to religious knowledge particularly to Islamic cosmology. Different sources were utilized to highlight those challenges and response to them is provided through mutakallimun literature, and also directly from Qur’anic references. Key words: Big-Bang, cosmology, cosmogony, expansion of universe, formation of sky and earth, Ratqan, red shift.