Quran on Planets Formation: Science + Quran Explained

Clear science. Respectful Quranic reflection. This page explains, in simple first‑year language, how our planets formed from a smoky cloud (a solar nebula), and how readers see this echoed in verses about ordering the sky.

Scientific Background (Brief)

Our solar system began as a solar nebula — a wide cloud of gas and dust. Gravity pulled material inward (attraction), while heat, light, and motion could push and spread it (repulsion). Inside the flat, spinning disk, dust stuck to dust, making pebbles, planetesimals, and then planets. In this story, Earth and the seven other planets formed during the same overall two long stages.

  • Attraction vs. spreading: gravity and drag gather matter; pressure and heating spread it — the balance shapes where planets grow.
  • Own paths: planets keep their own orbits around the Sun because of gravity and their sideways motion (angular momentum).
  • Eight planets total: Mercury through Neptune. Pluto is a dwarf planet (it orbits the Sun and is round, but hasn’t cleared its neighborhood of other bodies).

Quranic Verses Often Discussed

ثُمَّ اسْتَوَىٰ إِلَى السَّمَاءِ وَهِيَ دُخَانٌ فَقَالَ لَهَا وَلِلْأَرْضِ ائْتِيَا طَوْعًا أَوْ كَرْهًا قَالَتَا أَتَيْنَا طَائِعِينَ
فَقَضَاهُنَّ سَبْعَ سَمَاوَاتٍ فِي يَوْمَيْنِ وَأَوْحَىٰ فِي كُلِّ سَمَاءٍ أَمْرَهَا وَزَيَّنَّا السَّمَاءَ الدُّنْيَا بِمَصَابِيحَ وَحِفْظًا

Then He turned to the sky when it was smoke and said to it and to the earth, “Come, willingly or unwillingly.” They said, “We come willingly.” Then He completed them as seven skies in two days and inspired in each sky its command, and We adorned the lowest sky with lamps and as a protection. (Quran 41:11–12)

Sky as smoke → ordered system of seven skies; each with its own function — read here beside the science of a nebula forming planets.

21:30 — “The heavens and the earth were a joined entity, then We separated them…”

Context & reflection: A common theme of early unity then ordering and separation.

67:5 / 37:6 — “We have adorned the nearest heaven with lamps (stars).”

Context & reflection: Imagery of adornment and protection; not a lab model.

FAQ

How do rocky and gas giant planets form differently?
Rocky planets grow mainly by sticking and collisions of solid pieces; gas giants must build a solid core early and then pull in gas before the disk fades.
Do these verses claim a scientific model?
The verses are elevated, thematic expressions, and this interpretation matches what science tells us about the formation of our solar system.

Transcript Summary

The video reads 41:11–12 alongside modern astronomy. It starts with a single sky that is like smoke — a cloud of gas and dust called a solar nebula. From this material, God commands the earth to come into being. Science also says Earth began inside a nebula around our young Sun.

The verses then speak of willing or unwilling. This fits the tug‑of‑war of nature: gravity and drag pull matter together, while heat and motion spread it out. Over time the smoky cloud becomes an ordered system. In two long stages (eons), the sky is completed as seven skies, which this video reads as the seven other planets of our solar system, each with its own role.

Putting timing and materials together, the passage points to the solar system’s formation: Earth and the seven other planets formed during the same overall two stages from the same nebula. Each planet follows its own path around the Sun and shows a distinct nature — hot Mercury, giant Jupiter, cold Neptune — each with amraha, its own command or orbit.

Last, what about Pluto? It is smaller than our Moon and shares its region with many objects. Astronomers call it a dwarf planet because it hasn’t cleared its neighborhood, so it is not counted among the seven other planets mentioned in this reading.