A physicist wonders how Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, the man hell-bent on building a giant mosque at the 9/11 Ground Zero site, educated in Physics at the prestigious Columbia University, reconciles his training in Physics with preposterous Islamic notion on many scientific issues.

Recently, Feisal Abdul Rauf, the Imam of the al-Farah Mosque in New York City, has attracted headlines for his ruthlessly determined efforts for erecting a giant 13-storey mosque, to be named Cordoba House, at the Ground Zero of dastardly 9/11 terrorist attacks by Muslim radicals in New York. That was the greatest Islamic terrorist attack ever to occur in the United States, causing the death of over 3,000 innocent people and destroyed twin towers of the World Trade Center.

Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, a devout Muslim, was born in Kuwait in 1948 into an Egyptian family steeped in religious scholarship. He was educated in England, Malaysia and the United States. Most importantly for me, he has a degree in physics from the renowned Columbia University in New York, USA. Being physicist (Professor of Physics) myself, I tend to relate to him, mentally and psychologically. Among all branches of science, physics, the mother all sciences, helps one understand the ultimate reality of this phenomenal world. Physics also enables one to develop a rational mind. Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, we assume, by studying physics, has also positioned himself as man of reason and logic.

The fact is: Almost all great minds of this world have designated Islam as the most irrational creed; most conclusions of the holy scriptures of Islam, namely the Koran and Hadiths, are horribly irrational and unscientific. So, according to my observation, physics and Islam are mutually exclusive. It, therefore, stuns me as to how Imam Feisal can accommodate both physics and Islam into his brain. This curiosity has inspired me to ask him a few questions.

Meanwhile, we must also keep in mind that, as a creed, Islam is a package. To be a Muslim, you have to believe in each and every aspect of it—every verse, word by word, of the Koran. A Muslim cannot say: I believe in these Suras of the Koran and I have some confusion over others. If he does so, he would be declared an apostate and his life will be at stake. Therefore, Imam Feisal, being not only a devout Muslims but also a cleric, must believe each and every aspect of the Islamic creed. 

First Question

I will confine my questions within the purview of the Koran, blindly believed by Muslims to be the divine words of God. In the Quran, Allah says that He has created the heaven and earth in 6 days from nothingness. So, according to Islam, Allah creates everything from nothingness; if Allah desires to create something, He just utters the Arabic word “kun” or "let it be", and the desired object gets shape; it becomes a reality.

But in physics, there is an established law, called Conservation of Mass and Energy, that says the total mass and energy of this universe is conserved. Matter can be changed to energy and vice versa, but it is not possible to create extra matter or energy. I, therefore, ask supposedly rational minded physicist Imam Rauf: Which one do you think is the rational picture of this world – the 'law of conservation of mass and energy' or 'creation of the universe from nothingness by Allah'? 

Second Question

The Koran says: Allah created water first and then placed solid earth over it; and to keep the unstable earth firm, he created mountains as nails or pegs (21:26).

• The Allah created the sky as a solid roof to cover the earth, which he has been able to fix in position without pillars by his extraordinary miraculous power or qudrah (31:10).
• And over this solid sky, he created seven heavens (38:27).

Obviously, the sun, the moon and the stars, visible in naked eyes, lie below that solid roof. The Quran also says that, on the Day of Judgment, Allah will destroy that solid sky and the debris will fall upon the earth.

My humble question to Imam Feisal: What is the height of the solid roof, which Allah has created to cover the earth?

With the help of Hubble Space Telescope, NASA is able to take photographs of distant stars and galaxies, some of them hundreds of millions or billions of light-years away from the earth. So, the logical conclusion is: the sky or the roof created by Allah is also billions of light-years away from the earth. Thus, the heaven that Allah created beyond the earth's roof must be further away from us.

Buraq of Muhammad's miraj (night journey) to heaven

My humble question to Imam Feisal: How could Prophet Muhammad, during his journey to heaven or meraj, cover such an infinitely long distance and return within 6 to 7 worldly hours, aboard an animal called buraq? In addition, he travelled 5 times between the lower and upper heavens for a lingering back-and-forth negotiation with Allah so as to reduce the number of times Muslims must pray from 50 to 5. He also travelled different heavens to meet earlier prophets and visited hell within that small interval of time. Allah has endorsed the validity of Prophet’s journey to heaven by revealing verse 17:1 of the holy Koran.

So, I ask Imam Feisal: Does he believe that Prophet Muhammad really travelled to heaven, or it is a myth? Does he, as a man of physics, believe that a man of earthy physical body can go and return millions or billions of light-years within a few worldly hours? 

Question 3

As pointed out above, the holy Koran says, the sky is a solid roof created by Allah and He fixed it in position, without any pillar, with the help of His miraculous power or qudrah. My humble question to Imam Rauf: Do you believe that the sky is a solid roof? If so, then how could the Angel Zibrail manage to travel between the heaven and earth and succeed to break through that solid roof (called the sky), to meet the Prophet and enlighten him with the verses of the Holy Koran? Has Allah made a "secret hole" in the solid sky for his convenience? And, did the Prophet, during his journey to heaven (meraj) utilize the same hole? I hope Imam Abdul Rauf would enlighten us on this matter.

Question 4

As Allah creates everything from nothingness, it is also intriguing why Allah needed clay to created Adam. I Imam Feisal explain: Why Allah did not create Adam from nothingness?

Question 5

Also Allah created the heaven and earth from nothingness in six days; on the seventh day, he created Adam, the first human being, with clay. And in Islamic belief, Prophet Muhammad was the 90^th generation descended from Adam. Considering 30 years to be the age difference between two successive generations, it turns out that Allah created the heaven and earth only about 4,140 years ago. But geological experts determine that the earth is more than 3 billion years old. So, I request wise Imam Feisal to enlighten is on this matter.

Question 6

I have many video CDs on Islam and most of these CDs begin with pictures of distant galaxies taken by NASA with the help of Hubble Space Telescope. This is to impress viewers that Allah, the creator of heaven and earth, has created those galaxies within 6 days. The Islamic scholars who create those CDS lie that Allah has created this universe. But Allah's wisdom, as reflected in the Koran, reveals that He was utterly ignorant of even the existence of other planets and our solar system and the real nature of the stars and planets, not to speak of the vast universe, of which the earth is a very insignificant part. The Koran only says that Allah has created the heaven and earth, but there no mention of the universe. Moreover, the Koranic earth is flat like a carpet covered by (21:33). Verse 67:3 of the Koran asserts that Allah has created the roof and the seven heavens with such perfection that no one is able to find a crack in Allah’s creation. All such revelations obviously reflect very limited knowledge of Allah regarding real nature of the vast universe. My humble question to Feisal Abdul Rauf: Does he subscribe to the Koranic belief that the earth is flat and Mecca is at the center of this flat earth and the sun and the moon, according to the will of Allah, are moving round the stationary earth?

Question 7

Here, it is worth mentioning a few other ridiculous astronomical knowledge of Allah, as reflected in the Koran and other Islamic scriptures. It has been pointed out earlier that Allah is ignorant of the fact that the earth is elliptical in shape. The verse 17: 12 of the holy Koran says, “We made the night and the day twin marvels. We enshrouded the night with darkness and gave light to the day, so that you may seek the bounty of your Lord and learn to count the seasons and the years. We have made all things manifestly plain to you”. The text of the verse is sufficient to prove that Allah is quite ignorant of the diurnal motion of the earth. Evidently, Allah was unable to comprehend the rotation of the earth, which according to him is flat like a carpet, around the light-emitting sun. Verse 18:83-86 of the Koran says that the sun sets in a marshy water, and Zulkarnain, purported Alexander the Great according to Muslim scholars, went all the way there and observed the sun setting in that pond. My humble question to Feisal Abdul Rauf: Does he, having a degree in physics, subscribe to these Koranic notions?

Question 8

The texts of some ahadith also imply that Allah was ignorant of the annual movement of the sun and, hence, the real cause of changes of seasons. For example, Tabari (I:232) says:

“Gabriel brings to the sun a garment of luminosity from the light of Allah’s Throne according to the measure of the hours of the day. The garment is longer in the summer and shorter in the winter, and of intermediate length in autumn and spring. The sun puts on that garment as one of you here puts on his clothes.”

A Bukhari hadith, in this context, says:

“Allah’s Apostle said, ‘The Hell Fire complained to its Lord saying, “O my Lord! My different parts are eating each other up.” So, He allowed it to take two breaths, one in winter and the other in summer. This is the reason for the severe heat and bitter cold you find in weather.” (4:54:482)

Another ridiculous hadith says: “The sun and the moon were in eclipse for seven days and nights.” (Tabari I:332)

My humble question to Imam Feisal: Does he believe in these sacred Islamic explanations of changes in seasons?

For now, with these eight questions on science, I look forward to Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf's reply, although I doubt he will come forward to do so. Imam Feisal and his lot — I mean all members of the Muslim community — are slaves of Arab religious imperialism. They don’t have the freedom of thought and speech. They are shackled people, with no right to question Islamic doctrines, turning them into dumb slaves. Imam Feisal, being a man of science, may find these unscientific Islamic ideas ridiculous, but he would not dare deny or reject them, because they are divine in nature and hence must be true in one or another. And if he disagrees with them, he wouldn't dare express it, for fear of being declared an apostate, with an Islamic death fatwa on his head. Either way, Muslims are the people, terribly repressed by Islam.

One may feel pity that Islam has turned these otherwise intelligent people into duffer slaves with no mind of their own. And one would be shocked to see these slaves of Islam make grotesque, determined and conscienceless efforts to turn the rest of humanity into Islam's slaves through initiatives, like the building of a mosque at 9/11 Ground Zero.