In the first part of this series of articles on black holes, the reader is taken on an intellectual journey to understand what are black holes, how they are formed and how this amazing astrophysical phenomena is portrayed in the Holy Quran.
In Quran, Allah (swt) implore us:
أَفَلَا تَذَكَّرُونَ
Then, will you not reflect …
To reflect and ponder on the mysteries of the universe is part of dhikr of Allah (swt). Black holes are one of His most awe-inspiring creations, and we hope to explore the context and meanings in Quran where they are mentioned. While we make this effort, we acknowledge that our intention is to understand the word of Allah (swt) and our efforts are too humble to truly encompass the vastness, complexity and grandeur of His creation. While His knowledge is perfect, we pray to Allah (swt) to open doors of inquiry for us as we embark on our sacred journey to understand His magnificent universe.
Black Holes – What actually are they?
Black Holes are undoubtedly one of the greatest mysteries of modern Astrophysics. Most people view them as endless pits of blackness, sucking everything that comes near them into oblivion.
As much as it sounds like science fiction, there is truth to this notion. Black holes are formed when giant stars, at the end of their lives, collapse under the force of their own gravity – to become a mass so tiny and so dense that nothing can escape it – not even light.
Size Matters…
Not all stars become black holes. Most medium sized stars, including our own sun, live an uneventful life, burning its hydrogen into helium non-stop until it runs out of fuel. This delicate balance, created by an outward pressure of burning gases and an inward pressure of gravity, will finally be toppled when there is no more precious hydrogen left to burn. Our sun will then collapse under the weight of its own gravity, humbly ending its life as a white dwarf.
But what happens to high mass stars? They have a shorter lifespan, and when they collapse, an amazing spectacle begins. Turning into exploding supernovae, their luminosity outshining the brightest galaxies in our universe, they blast out most of their stellar material creating the wildest fireworks one can imagine.
“The most massive of those stars turn into black holes. A place where the geometry of space and time becomes so warped, the normal laws of physics cease to exist. Time ceases to exist. ”
Hiding behind the backdrop of fireworks and explosions, something very interesting is happening inside the core. It keeps on shrinking, until even the constituents inside the atoms itself, the electrons and the neutrons, squeeze all their juices out leaving no space to breathe. Imagine something as big as our earth, with a radius of more than 6000 km, squashed down till it becomes the size of a blueberry – albeit a very heavy blueberry! A new life comes into existence and a black hole is born. A place where the geometry of space and time becomes so warped, the normal laws of physics cease to exist. Time ceases to exist.
A Collapsing star giving birth to a Black Hole1
The doomed star, named N6946-BH1, was 25 times as massive as our sun. It began to brighten weakly in 2009. But, by 2015, it appeared to have winked out of existence. By a careful process of elimination, based on observations researchers eventually concluded that the star must have become a black hole. This may be the fate for extremely massive stars in the universe. Photo Credit: NASA, ESA, and P. Jeffries (STScI)
Quran takes oath on “the star” as it collapses..
The death of a star is such a remarkable event that the Allah (swt) in the Holy Quran, takes oath on it at multiple instances.
In Surah Najm, ayah 1, Allah (swt) says:
وَٱلنَّجْمِ إِذَا هَوَىٰ
By the Najm, when it goes down to set…
The literal meaning of the word ٱلنَّجْمِ is “the star” and when used as a proper noun in ancient Arabia2, “ٱلنَّجْمِ ” was used frequently to point to the star cluster of Pleiades. Pleiades or “As-Surayya3” was a celebrated star cluster in Arab culture and they used to watch its motion in the sky closely as it related to the change in seasons. And here Quran catches their attention by taking an oath on the Pleiades as it collapses!
Does Pleiades have black holes?
Interestingly the word “هَوَىٰ” which means “collapses4” or “sets” or “vanishes” is important to note. Since a collapsing or vanishing star could mean a black hole, it would make sense to explore the possibility of there being such a star in the Pleiades cluster that the Quran is turning our attention to.
Amazingly, scientists have now discovered X-rays coming from the accretion disks of black holes inside the Pleiades cluster! Those highly energetic x-rays were emitted when the most massive stars inside the cluster collapsed, exploding into supernovae first and then collapsing to become black holes and neutron stars.
It is also important to remember that not all collapsing stars become black holes. Some fade into white dwarfs, others become neutron stars while the most massive ones end their lives as black holes. The fact that Quran takes an oath on Pleiades cluster as it collapses, along with the new-found evidence of a number of black holes inside the cluster, leads us to deduce that Allah (swt) is taking an oath on those massive stars that have turned into black holes as they, at the end of their lives, collapsed under the force of their own gravity. And Allah (swt) knows best.
We may also wonder: why is Allah (swt) swearing by the collapsing stars, or the black holes, inside the Pleiades cluster? Interestingly, the next ayah gives a clue:
مَا ضَلَّ صَاحِبُكُمْ وَمَا غَوَىٰ
Your companion [i.e., Muḥammad] has not strayed, nor has he erred.
It is as if to say: just like the black holes are right there but you cannot see them, the truth that your prophet (saw) brings, is something that you are not able to perceive yet. And as much as you deny him, his truth stands tall and he is not in error.
Narrations5 from the time of the prophet (saw) inform that at the end of the surah, everyone including the disbelievers fell in prostration along with prophet (saw). As if their hearts gravitated towards the truth against their own will.
What eyes cannot see, Quran brings into light. What their tongues denied, their hearts couldn’t defy!
The second oath…
Another place in the Quran where Allah swt talks about the death of the stars is in surah Waqiah:
فَلَآ أُقْسِمُ بِمَوَٰقِعِ ٱلنُّجُومِ
So, I swear by the setting places of the stars
The collapse of a star is such a remarkable event that the Quran takes oath on it again and again.
So what is the phrase “مَوَٰقِعِ ٱلنُّجُومِ” referring to? The Arabic word “مَوَٰقِعِ” is a unique adverb that is used to refer to both place and time. And interestingly, this is how physicists describe the final remnant of the collapsed star inside a black hole. They call it a singularity: a single dot in the fabric of spacetime, a point of infinite density and finally, a point in time where time itself stops.
And so it seems that the singularity inside the black hole could only be perfectly described by an adverb that could refer to both a point in space and a moment in time! And the Arabic language seems to have the perfect phrase for it: “مَوَٰقِعِ ٱلنُّجُومِ”.
The phrase "مَوَٰقِعِ ٱلنُّجُومِ" refers to the “afterlife” of a star - its ultimate fate - the inescapable destiny that it meets as its core is squeezed to its final limits. Its the singularity inside the black hole!
Allah (swt) takes an oath by مَوَٰقِعِ ٱلنُّجُومِ
And so Allah swt swears by مَوَٰقِعِ ٱلنُّجُومِ to say:
وَإِنَّهُۥ لَقَسَمٌۭ لَّوْ تَعْلَمُونَ عَظِيمٌ
and indeed it is a great oath, if you are to appreciate-
The singularity inside the black hole is such a strange and bizarre place that Allah (swt) pauses and comments on the enormity of the oath Himself. There are many places in the Quran that Allah (swt) has taken an oath, but no other place where He has paused to reflect on the scale of the oath. It is as if He is imploring our intellect to ponder – if only it could encompass the sheer scale and immenseness of this oath.
We may conclude that in both these surahs Allah (swt) is taking oath on the black holes – the ultimate end of the most massive stars. As these stars end their lives, it leads to a new beginning – a black hole is born. Its a place like no other, and one of the biggest signs of Allah (swt)’s miraculous universe.
- Read the full NASA Article here ↩︎
- For an introduction to Ancient Arabian Astronomy, read a primer ↩︎
- Ma’ariful Quran, Vol 8, Page 200 ↩︎
- Hans Wehr 4th Edition ↩︎
- Sahih Bukhari, Vol 2, Book 19, Hadith no 173 ↩︎
This is illuminating on so many levels.
I’ve just realized I had a very shallow understanding of blackholes. The way you’ve established their connection with the verses is mind blowing.
Mind blowing is the correct word, Saadia! It gives me goosebumps every time I think about it. May Allah grant us the curiosity to study His universe and the wisdom to understand the secrets that He may reveal to us. Ameen
Honestly, the reality of a black hole is mind- boggling. Seemed to me to be more fictional previously. And I had never connected the particular ayats with black holes. Need to revisit them.
Samia Khanam, even Einstein doubted it that nature would allow these weird astrophysical phenomena to exist. But then in 2019, we got the first ever image of an actual black hole in the heart of the galaxy M87. https://science.nasa.gov/resource/first-image-of-a-black-hole/
We now understand that supermassive black holes exist at the center of all galaxies (including our Milky Way).
This is amazing, mashaAllah! Thank you for sharing such thought-provoking insight on the universe and Quran. Our understanding of the Quran is limited by our material knowledge and when science collaborates what Allah swt has already mentioned, it’s a total light bulb moment.
Jak for your kind words. I feel those light bulbs too and sometimes goosebumps 🙂 In shaa Allah the point of tadabbur is that it should bring us closer to Allah (swt). Ameen
Such a beautiful reflection!
Jazak Allah khair for sharing!
In Surah Mursalat ayah 8,
Allah says:
فَإِذَا ٱلنُّجُومُ طُمِسَتْ٨
“So when the stars are extinguished”
Here the verb طمس is used. The dictionary describes it as (a star, the moon or the eye) becoming lost/ obliterated/ or becoming deprived of its light.
I wonder if that too may allude to something similar to a black hole?!?
This is a great exercise in tadabbur so really appreciate your reflection. In surah Mursilat though, the context is clearly of the day of judgement so we have to read the ayah in that context. Which makes it even more interesting, as now you have to think of how the universe and everything in it is behaving on that day as its being destroyed or obliterated. Allah (swt) never violates His own laws so the physics happening would be really interesting. Happy Tadabbur-ing!
Subhan Allah! This is so enlightening! Jazak Allah khair for sharing this.
Allah calls upon us again and again to reflect upon His marvelous creation in the Quran. To be able to grasp a mere fraction of the wonderousness of His craft would require more than a lifetime.
I will eagerly await your next blog. Barak Allah feeki
What an awe inspiring description that not only unfolds the massive universe , but motivates to reflect upon the Words of Qur’an as well as the Work of Allah SWT around and beyond us. In sha Allah your wonderful research will help me explain Surah Waq’ia in a more profound manner in my class next week. May Allah SWT grant you more knowledge and wisdom Rafia!