The Qur'an revealed certain scientific truths with  regard to the movement of the heavenly bodies in the seventh century  A.D., when superstition and mythological ideas ruled supreme and when  scientifically the habitable world was in total darkness. These  revelations have now been established as scientific truths. Before  highlighting them it is proposed to explain the Qur'anic assertion that  Allah "created the heavens and the earth in six days," (Al-A'raf, The  Heights, VII: 54).
These six days symbolise  celestial days and are not to be treated like the normal six days of the  week in our calendar. According to the Qur' an the duration of each  celestial day may range between 1000 and 50,000 years. As for instance  in Surah Al-Sadah, (The Prostration, XXXII: 5), it is pointed out that  "He rules (all) affairs from the heavens to the earth: in the end will  (all affairs) go up to Him on a Day the space whereof will be (as) a  thousand years of your reckoning."
In Surah  Al-Ma'arij, The Ways of Ascent, (LXX: 4). "The angels and the Spirit  ascend unto Him in a Day the measure whereof is (as) fifty thousand is  years". In the light of this excessively long duration of the celestial  days one tends to agree with Maurice Bucaille that "the word days should  be taken to mean Periods" (p. 140). Abdullah Yusuf Ali also insists  that the six days referred to in the Qur'an signify stages in the  Creation and that the Qur'anic days (yawm) should be interpreted to mean  "very long periods, or Ages or Aeons." (Maurice Bucaille, p. 142). Thus  the process of the creation of heaven and earth in six days has to be  perceived in the light of the foregoing clarification.
The  creation of the earth is not to be viewed in isolation. Reference to  its creation implies the creation of the solar system which according to  the Qur'an was created in two celestial days "Say: Is it that ye deny  Him Who created the earth in two Days (Fussilat, XLI: 9).
The  Qur'an conceives of an integrated system of the Universe including the  solar system and the system of galaxies. This process was started  simultaneously with the creation of the earth or the solar system and is  implied in the following Qur'anic verses: "the heavens and the earth  were joined together (as one unit of Creation) before we clove them  asunder ." (Al-Anbiyii,' The Prophets, XXI: 30).
Subsequently  they were integrated into a well knit system: "Moreover He comprehended  in His design the sky, and it had been (as) smoke: He said to it and to  the earth: "Come ye together, willingly or unwillingly." They said:
"We  do come ( together) in willing obedience," (Fuussilat, XLI: 11). This  process of "cloving asunder" and "coming together" of the galaxies,  solar system and the seven heavens as part of a unified system was  accomplished simultaneously in two celestial days. In order to  comprehend their correct meaning and significance the two verses 12 and 9  of Sirah Fussilat (XLI) have to be read together.
Any  gap between the process of separation and integration will make the  emergence of an interlinked gallactic and solar system practically  difficult. This separate reference to two days in each of the two verses  (9 and 12) imply the same time-span and not additional two days.
This  simultaneous occurrence is also implied in the following verses. "So.  He completed them as seven firmaments in two Days, and He assigned to  each heaven its duty and command. And We adorned the lower heaven with  lights, and (provided it) with guard (Fussilat: XLI: 12). The Creation  of stars in the lower heaven is also pointed out in Surah Al-Saffat,  Those Ranged in Ranks (XXXVII: 6-7): "We have indeed decked the lower  heaven with beauty (in) the stars, - (for beauty) and for guard against  all obstinate rebellious evil spirits."
It is  therefore distinctly clear that the seven firmaments, the galactic and  the solar system were raised simultaneously and were interlinked as part  of the system of Universe within the same space of time and not in two  different celestial periods. The Qur'an further reveals in these verses  that each of the seven heavens has been assigned specific roles without  spelling them out. This has been done presumably to excite the curiosity  of man in order to motivate him to probe into the mysteries of the  Universe.
However, this revelation again stresses  the point that there is always a well defined purpose in all Divine  creations. In the remaining four celestial days of creation the Earth  was set in order and made habi table for man: "He set on the (earth),  mountains standing firm, high above it, and bestowed blessings on the  earth, and measured therein all things to give them nourishment in due  proportion in four Days in accordance with (the needs of) those who seek  (sustenance) (Fussilat, XLI: 10).
The recession  of the galaxies which is now firmly established by Hubble's Law and Red  Shift, and which implied expansion of the Universe is also clearly  indicated in the Qur'an: "With power and skill did We construct the  Firmament: For it is We Who create the vastness of Space," (Al-Dhariyat,  The Winds that Scatter, LI: 47). As indicated by the Big Bang Model the  Universe will be annihilated at a particular point of time through the  process of implosion (the big crunch), the Qur'an very definitely  proclaimed it in Surah Ahqaf, Winding Sand Tracts (XLVI: 3): "We created  not the heavens and the earth and all between them but for just ends,  and for a term appointed." This is also emphasised in Surah Al-Zumar,  The Crowds, (XXXIX: 5): "He has subjected the sun and the moon ( to His  law ): Each follows a course for a term appointed." This "term  appointed" presumably refers to the "big crunch," which according to the  Big Bang Theory will terminate the Universe.
According  to the Qur'an this will be"the (Day) of Noise and Clamour (it is) a Day  whereon men will be like moths scattered about and the mountains will  be like carded wool." Day of Noise and Clamour. CI: 1-5). This  description in the Qur'an of the Last Day of Judgement clearly hints at  the breaking of all scientific laws -which Hawking also pointed out in  the following words: "At the Big Bang and other singularities, all the  laws would have broken down" (PL, 183). It is thus clear that what the  astronomers have discovered now as scientific truth the Quran announced  it fourteen hundred years ago and can be rightly termed as its  scientific miracles