The Relativity of Time

2:00

25 Sep 2008

Cosmology, Miracles / I'jaz

This appears to be a clip from a Turkish-language video on scientific miracles in the Qurʾān (iʿjāz).  The short clip notes that Albert Einstein’s theory of relativity includes equations that demonstrate the viewer’s position relative to objects may have an effect on the object’s apparent speed to the viewer.  The clip suggests that this is mentioned in the Qurʾān in three places, verses 22:47, 32:5, and 70:4, “more evidence that it is a divine book”, since the Qurʾān was revealed in the seventh century.

In Turkish with English subtitles.  There is no indication of the source for the clip, or the date it was produced.

Evaluation:

The material on Islam is within the bounds of what Muslims have historically understood as acceptable.

The suggestion here that Einstein’s theory of relativity presents time as completely relative is incorrect; the theory represents that different viewers would perceive objects moving at different speeds (time dialating = speed slowing) based on relative positions at very high speeds/masses.  If these were, in fact, accurate measures of time’s relativity, then a day would not be both 1000 years and 50,000 years.

There is insufficient historical material on which to base an evaluation.