03
The sky built and the measure of it
وَالسَّمَاءَ بَنَيْنَاهَا بِأَيْدٍ
51:47
وَالسَّمَاءَ بَنَيْنَاهَا بِأَيْدٍ وَإِنَّا لَمُوسِعُونَ
And the heaven We constructed with strength, and indeed, We are [its] expander.
79:27
أَأَنتُمْ أَشَدُّ خَلْقًا أَمِ السَّمَاءُ ۚ بَنَاهَا
Are you a more difficult creation or is the heaven? Allah constructed it.
The ayah in tafsir
Banaynaha: We built it. Bi-aydin: with strength, with power. Al-Tabari records musiun as We are able, We make it wide, We give ample provision. The language of building a roof over people is the language of the Arabs. The strength is Allah’s, not a mason’s.
What later eyes saw
Later cosmology speaks of a cosmos that is not a static bowl. Galaxies recede; space between them stretches. Many readers of 51:47 now hear lamusiun as that ongoing wideness. The Arabic can bear “We are expanders” and can bear “We are ample in power.” Both were said before Hubble. If the first reading matches what the sky now shows, it is a gift. It is not the only tafsir.
Where we stop
Do not chain the ayah to one metric of expansion, nor to a Big Bang timetable. The Quran is not waiting for a satellite. The sky is a built thing, raised, and Allah is still its Lord.