[55:37] And when the heaven is split open and becomes a rose; colored like oil

{ فَإِذَا ٱنشَقَّتِ ٱلسَّمَآءُ فَكَانَتْ وَرْدَةً كَٱلدِّهَانِ } – الرحمن 37

With the advances in technology in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, scientists became more capable than ever to observe the universe, such observations allowed scientists to conclude that stars don’t live forever, in fact, they have a life-cycle of their own; stars are born from the remains of older stars, they live for a while depending on their size, and then, all of a sudden, they collapse, spell out their outer layer (explode) and then die. A sun-like star will go through the phases illustrated below.

The following image was taken by the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) for a star that reached the end of its productive life, it is known as the Cat’s Eye Nebula, but if you take a second look at it, it really looks like a rose that  was painted with an oil brush. The picture was described by NASA’s astronomy picture of the day site as “The Cat’s Eye (NGC 6543) represents a final, brief yet glorious phase in the life of a sun-like  star  … outer pattern of dusty concentric shells by shrugging off outer layers in a series of regular convulsions … of course, gazing into the Cat’s Eye, astronomers may well be seeing the fate of our sun, destined to enter its own planetary nebula phase of evolution …”

Its creator described it over 1400 years ago as “And when the heaven is split open and becomes a rose, colored like oil [paint]” in Sorat Al Rahman – Ayat 37.

 سورة الرحمن 37

This was immediately followed by the following Ayat: [55:38] So which of the favors of your Lord would you deny? [55:39] Then on that Day none will be asked about his sin among men or jinn.

Ayat [55:39] puzzled me for ten years because it says that we will not be asked about any sins we commit after the heaven is split and becomes a rose colored like oil! Until I linked it to Sorat Al-Inshiqaq: [84:1] When the sky has split [open] which describes the end of life on our planet. It suddenly hit me, this is what is now known as learning by example, while [55:37] is the example of how the sky (heaven) is split when a star explodes, [84:1] tells us what happens when our star explodes.

The event is described in more detail in Sorat Al-Takweer 81 and Sorat Al-Infitar 82 in which the order of the events is significant since they align with a prophet saying that described the event (in Arabic).

Sorat Al-Takweer [81:1] When the sun (with its spacious light) is folded up; [81:2] When the stars fall, losing their lustre; [81:3] When the mountains vanish (like a mirage); [81:4] When the she-camels, ten months with young, are left untended;

To clarify the translation as per exact arabic words, “Takweer“ means lost its light and shrunk, while “Kadr” is the opposite of clarity and “Soyyerat” means moved or driven as shown below:

فمعنى التكوير: الشَّمْسُ كَوِّرَتْ أزيل ضياؤهَا أو لُفَّتْ وطُويَتْ  بينما معنى الكدر: الكَدَرُ: نقيض الصفاء، والكُدْرَةُ من الأَلوان: ما نَحا نَحوَ السواد والغُبْرَةِ، قال بعضهم: الكُدْرة في اللون خاصةً، والكُدُورة في الماء والعيش، والكَدَرُ في كلٍّ.  ومعنى العشار عطِّلت: النّوقُ الحواملُ اهْمِلَتْ بلا رَاعٍ.

It seems that a strong solar storm accompanied by thick solar dust particles will take place, earth will survive the storm but soon after, the sun will collapse on its self and its light will disappear, stars will become difficult to see (unclear) due to the solar dust storm that passed. The storm and sudden collapse of the sun will cause earth’s tectonic plates to move away from each other causing mountains ranges – that usually exist at the edges of tectonic plates – to appear to be moving from the point of view of the observer from the other plate. Earth crust will make wobbling movements making people feel dizzy and appear as drunken as explained in Sorat Al-Haj [22:1] O mankind! fear your Lord! for the convulsion of the Hour (of Judgment) will be a thing terrible! [22:2] The Day ye shall see it, every mother giving suck shall forget her suckling-babe, and every pregnant female shall drop her load (unformed): thou shalt see mankind as in a drunken riot, yet not drunk: but dreadful will be the Wrath of God. Until this moment, life still exists on earth, but in total horror and disarray.

The reason the sun collapsed was because it burned most of its fuel (hydrogen) that was acting against its gravitational forces, as it collapsed, its core heated up again to several million degrees and accumulated enough hydrogen to re-start a nuclear fusion, however, the fusion (ignition) will happen so quickly that the sun explodes; spelling out its extremely hot (6000 degrees) outer layer onto the orbiting planets; including earth. Sorat Al-Infitar explains the event:[82:1] When the heaven is cleft asunder, [82:2] When the planets are dispersed. The event is so powerful that the outer planets are driven off their orbit, the speed at which this event takes place is as fast as a thunder. Life will no longer exist on earth as we know it. As for the mountains, well, [20:105] And they ask you about the mountains, so say, “My Lord will blow them away with a blast. [20:106] And He will leave the earth a level plain; [20:107] You will not see therein a depression or an elevation.”.

Next is the day of resurrection; [101:1] The Striking Event! [101:2] What is the Striking Event? [101:3] And what may let you know what the Striking Event is? [101:4] (It will happen) on a day when people will be like scattered moths [101:5] and the mountains will be like carded wool [101:6] Then, as for him whose scales (of good deeds) are heavy [101:7] he will be in a happy life [101:8] But he whose scales are light [101:9] -his abode will be Abyss [101:10] And what may let you know what that (Abyss) is? [101:11] A blazing Fire!

The Almighty explained to us in precise detail 1400 years ago the end of the sun and life on earth as we know it, during the past 100 years, astronomers started to observe and conclude the lifecycle of the stars including our own in a strikingly similar detail to what was mentioned in the Quran. [81:27] It is not except a reminder to the worlds [81:28] For whoever wills among you to take a right course [81:29] And you do not will except that Allah wills – Lord of the worlds.

By: Husein Kattab