Presented by Zia H Shah MD

Introduction

The Qur’ān contains numerous verses that hint at the ultimate fate of the cosmos. In an era when many cultures viewed the universe or starlight as eternal, the Qur’ān boldly asserted that the heavens and earth are finite and destined to end at an appointed time thequran.love thequran.love. Classical Muslim scholars understood these verses as references to the Day of Judgment – a cataclysmic event in which the current world will be utterly destroyed and a new order of creation will arise. Modern commentators, armed with contemporary cosmology, have revisited these scriptures to explore intriguing parallels with scientific theories about the end of the universe. In this paper, we will present a scholarly commentary on several key Qur’ānic verses (6:1–2, 13:2, 30:8, 31:29, 35:13, 46:3, 55:26, with special focus on 21:104) that discuss the end of the universe. We will examine classical and modern tafsīr (exegesis) on these verses, and correlate their imagery with current cosmological models – in particular the “Big Freeze” versus the “Big Crunch.” Our analysis will argue that the Qur’ān’s language, especially the metaphor of “rolling up” the sky in 21:104, aligns more naturally with a Big Crunch scenario of cosmic collapse (followed by renewal) rather than an indefinite Big Freeze. The discussion is framed academically at the intersection of Islamic theology and astrophysics, focusing solely on Qur’ānic perspectives and scientific theories without reference to other religious traditions.

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