Epigraph

الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ الَّذِي خَلَقَ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضَ وَجَعَلَ الظُّلُمَاتِ وَالنُّورَ ۖ ثُمَّ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا بِرَبِّهِمْ يَعْدِلُونَ

هُوَ الَّذِي خَلَقَكُم مِّن طِينٍ ثُمَّ قَضَىٰ أَجَلًا ۖ وَأَجَلٌ مُّسَمًّى عِندَهُ ۖ ثُمَّ أَنتُمْ تَمْتَرُونَ

Praise belongs to God who created the heavens and the earth and made darkness and light; yet the disbelievers set up equals to their Lord! He is the one who created you from clay and specified a term [for you] and another fixed time, known only to Him; yet still you doubt! (Al Quran 6:1-2)

[Prophet], do you not see that God causes the night to merge into day and the day to merge into night; that He has subjected the sun and the moon, each to run its course for a stated term; that He is aware of everything you [people] do? (Al Quran 31:29)

Presented by Zia H Shah MD

Ponder over the verses quoted as epigraph as you watch the video or read the article. How could a seventh-century Arab know that the future of the universe is not endless?

Introduction

What is the ultimate fate of our expanding universe? Modern cosmology has formulated several scenarios for how the cosmos might end, two of the most discussed being the “Big Freeze” (or heat death) and the “Big Crunch.” These terms describe very different cosmic destinies: one a gradually fading, ever-cooling universe, the other a violent collapse of all cosmic structures. Our best astrophysical models – incorporating cosmic expansion, the effects of dark energy, and the relentless rise of entropy – currently favor a Big Freeze outcome en.wikipedia.org en.wikipedia.org. Yet, the door is not entirely closed on a Big Crunch, especially in light of new questions about dark energy’s nature theguardian.com theguardian.com. Intriguingly, the concept of a cosmic ending is not only a scientific concern; it also appears in theological narratives. In Islam, for example, the Qur’an vividly foretells an eventual end to the heavens and earth, and classical Islamic scholarship has reflected on how this eschatological end might unfold. In what follows, we examine the Big Freeze and Big Crunch models in detail, compare them with current astronomical evidence (from galaxy redshifts to the cosmic microwave background), and explore how Islamic eschatology – through Qur’anic verses and classical tafsir (exegesis) – envisions the end of the universe. The goal is a comprehensive, scientifically grounded discussion that remains open to interdisciplinary insight, highlighting both parallels and contrasts between scientific and Islamic perspectives on cosmic destiny.

Read further in PDF file: