In the post-Einsteinian era, science discovered that the universe is not a haphazard world; it is a highly meaningful world, well-designed, and extremely harmonious. It appears that the universe is a centrally controlled universe. Perhaps the first scientist who pointed out that there is a mathematical mind behind the universe was Sir James Jeans. Einstein spent a large part of his life searching for a 'unified field theory'. Then, Stephen Hawking introduced what is called single string theory which developed into the unifying M-Theory which is one of the candidates for a ‘Theory of Everything’. Stephen Hawking originally believed that M-theory may be the ultimate ‘Theory of Everything’ but later suggested that the search for understanding of mathematics and physics will never be complete. There are some scientists who believe in the existence of the Higgs Boson particle popularly known as the God particle, which is supposed to explain many questions about the nature of our universe. Recently, a scientist2 declared that there is a ‘master computer that controls the working of the universe’. This same thought is expressed by some scientists in these words that the ‘universe is an intelligent universe’ or of ‘design’ and ‘fine-tuning’ in the universe.
When God created humans, He began to send prophets to earth. Many prophets came. But God's scheme of things doesn’t come to an end here. The prophets gave statements about the truth. There are many aspects apart from these prophetic statements which we humans have to know ourselves. The period of prophets belongs to the pre-civilization age. In that period, the data for discovery of God wasn’t present. When you said earlier that God is great, you didn’t know that the universe is very vast. When you came to know that the universe is very vast, you then realized that God is indeed very great. For example, we see stars in the night sky. Throughout history, humans believed that these stars were the only ones present in the universe. The stars visible in the night sky were believed to be the entire universe. Modern scientific study tells us that stars in the night sky make up only the Milky Way galaxy. The stars twinkling at night are not the whole universe, rather they are only part of the Milky Way. There are many more celestial objects. When humans didn’t know about the vast universe, how could they have said, Copy Arabic text (1:2). Then what did God do?
First, God sent messengers to proclaim the truth. Second, God kept all the truths in nature which can help discover God's greatness. In the period of the prophets, only description of the truth was given. But its supporting data was still hidden in nature. The Quran then declared: Copy Arabic text (41:53)
We shall show them Our signs in the universe and within themselves, until it becomes clear to them that this is the Truth. Is it not enough that your Lord is the witness of all things? Here 'anfus' means human beings, and 'sama' means the rest of the universe, that is, material world and human world. The Quran declared that in the future such signs will be discovered in the human world and the material world which will confirm the veracity of prophetic knowledge. This is the meaning of the verse.
