Short answer
Yes. The universe runs on a few fixed numbers, such as the strength of gravity. Change some of them only slightly and there would be no stars, no chemistry and no life. Pure luck on that scale explains nothing. A deeper law that fixed the numbers would only move the question back: why does that law allow life? So two answers remain. Either the numbers were set, or there are countless unseen universes and ours happened to work. The universe also obeys laws that can be written in mathematics, and a mind on one small planet can read them. The physicist Eugene Wigner found this beyond explanation. Islam's answer is one wise Maker, who made both the order and the mind that grasps it. The Qur'an calls such things signs.
Full explanation
Numbers set on a knife-edge
Martin Rees is a leading British astronomer who holds the title Astronomer Royal. In a book of 1999 he shows that a handful of numbers decide whether there can be stars, chemistry or life at all. These numbers were fixed in the early universe. Small changes to them would leave a dead universe. He is not arguing for God (﷾), and he prefers the idea of many universes. So the fine-tuning is his conclusion as a leading scientist, not a believer's claim.
Argues that six numbers fixed in the early universe, among them the strength of the force that binds atomic nuclei, the ratio of the electrical force to gravity, and the energy of empty space, decide the whole shape of the physical world; if several were even slightly different there could be no stars, no complex chemistry and no life. Rees weighs coincidence, providence and a multiverse, and himself prefers the multiverse.
Design, or countless unseen universes
Once blind luck is set aside, there are two choices. One is a universe that was set. The other is an endless number of universes with other numbers. Some hope a deeper law will one day fix these numbers. But that law would itself have to be exactly the one that allows life. So the question only moves back a step. No one has observed another universe, and on most accounts no one could, since they lie beyond anything we can see. So the second answer needs an endless number of unseen worlds, where the first needs one Creator. Whatever produced all those universes would also run on laws, and those laws would still need explaining.
Argues that six numbers fixed in the early universe, among them the strength of the force that binds atomic nuclei, the ratio of the electrical force to gravity, and the energy of empty space, decide the whole shape of the physical world; if several were even slightly different there could be no stars, no complex chemistry and no life. Rees weighs coincidence, providence and a multiverse, and himself prefers the multiverse.
| Question | The point in a few words |
|---|---|
| Why are the numbers right? | A few fixed numbers, such as the strength of gravity, decide whether there can be stars, chemistry or life. Change some of them only slightly and there would be none. |
| Could it be luck, or a deeper law? | Luck on that scale explains nothing. A deeper law that fixed the numbers would itself have to be exactly the one that allows life, so the question only moves back a step. |
| What about countless other universes? | No one has observed another universe, and on most accounts no one could. That answer needs an endless number of unseen worlds, where design needs one Creator. And the laws that made those worlds would still need explaining. |
| Why is there any order to find? | The universe obeys laws that can be written in mathematics, and a creature on one small planet can read them. The physicist Eugene Wigner could find no rational explanation for this. |
This is what we should expect if one wise Maker made both the order and the mind that grasps it. The Qur'an calls such things signs.
Why mathematics works at all
There is a second puzzle. The physicist Eugene Wigner won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1963. In 1960 he asked why mathematics, worked out by the human mind, fits the physical world so exactly. He could find no rational explanation. He called it a gift we neither understand nor deserve.
Argues that the power of mathematics to state the laws of physics borders on the mysterious and has no rational explanation, and calls it a wonderful gift that we neither understand nor deserve.
Creation made in measure
The Qur'an says God (﷾) created everything in exact measure and proportion. It invites the reader to look at the heavens again and again for a flaw. It presents this order as a sign of its Maker, not as a lesson in physics.
“Verily, all things have We created in proportion and measure.”
“He to whom belongs the dominion of the heavens and the earth: no son has He begotten, nor has He a partner in His dominion: it is He who created all things, and ordered them in due proportions.”
“He Who created the seven heavens one above another: No want of proportion wilt thou see in the Creation of (Allah) Most Gracious. So turn thy vision again: seest thou any flaw? Again turn thy vision a second time: (thy) vision will come back to thee dull and discomfited, in a state worn out.”
Order as a sign for people who think
The Qur'an ties the order of the heavens and the earth to people who reflect. Those who study it are meant to see that it was not made for nothing. The Qur'an also promises that its signs will keep appearing, in the far reaches of the world and within people themselves.
“Behold! in the creation of the heavens and the earth, and the alternation of night and day,- there are indeed Signs for men of understanding,- Men who celebrate the praises of Allah, standing, sitting, and lying down on their sides, and contemplate the (wonders of) creation in the heavens and the earth, (With the thought): "Our Lord! not for naught Hast Thou created (all) this! Glory to Thee! Give us salvation from the penalty of the Fire.”
“And He has subjected to you, as from Him, all that is in the heavens and on earth: Behold, in that are Signs indeed for those who reflect.”
“Soon will We show them our Signs in the (furthest) regions (of the earth), and in their own souls, until it becomes manifest to them that this is the Truth. Is it not enough that thy Lord doth witness all things?”
The many-universes answer
Just Six Numbers (1999)
Argues that six numbers fixed in the early universe, among them the strength of the force that binds atomic nuclei, the ratio of the electrical force to gravity, and the energy of empty space, decide the whole shape of the physical world; if several were even slightly different there could be no stars, no complex chemistry and no life. Rees weighs coincidence, providence and a multiverse, and himself prefers the multiverse.
Cited for
Physicists who accept the fine-tuning often explain it with a multiverse (many universes). With enough universes, one like ours was bound to turn up, and only in such a universe could anyone ask the question.
The response
The answer swaps one Creator for an endless number of unseen worlds. It also leaves the laws that would produce all those universes, and the mathematical order Wigner could not explain, just as unexplained as before.
Where it lands — The multiverse moves the question back a step. It does not remove the need to explain the order of the laws themselves.
Perspectives
Multiverse
Some physicists, Martin Rees among them, hold that ours is one of a vast number of universes with different numbers. So a universe that allows life was bound to occur somewhere.
Suppose there are huge numbers of universes, each with different constants. Then one that allows life is to be expected. And we could only find ourselves in such a one.
Rebuttal
Enough universes would make one like ours likely, but the idea swaps one Creator for endless unseen worlds. Whatever makes those worlds would still run on laws that need explaining. And the mathematical order Wigner could not explain stays as unexplained as before.
The Islamic perspective
The exact numbers and the lawful, mathematical order of the universe are signs of one wise Creator. He also gave people minds able to read that order.
Martin Rees, the Astronomer Royal, reports on a few fixed numbers in nature. Small changes to them would leave a universe with no stars, no chemistry and no life.
Blind luck can be set aside, and a deeper law would itself need explaining. So the only rival to design is an endless number of unseen universes.
The universe follows laws written in mathematics, and human minds can grasp them. Physics itself has no explanation for either fact.
The Qur'an describes all things as created in measure and proportion. It calls the order of creation a sign for those who reflect.
One wise Creator explains both the order of the world and the mind that understands it.