We constructed the universe with power, and We are expanding it.
What does the Qur'an say about the 'expanding' of the heaven?
Key findingsEditorial
One finding for each passage this study carries, in the order the study reads them. Each is the reason that passage was signed into the study, in full and unedited - including, where the renderings disagree, the disagreement.
- 01 51:47 We have built the heaven with might, and We it is Who make the vast extent (thereof). In because it is the only verse the question can be about, and because the second clause is where all four renderings diverge - the participle has been read as making it wide, as being able to do so, and as continuing to widen it. ALSO CARRIED by Did the Qur'an predict modern science - and does any verse say it is making a prediction?, with a different reason there.
In plain wordsEditorial written by the editors, not a translation
One verse, eight words in English, and almost everything turns on the last two.
51:47: We have built the heaven with might - and We are, depending on which rendering you read, those who make it vast, those who are able to do so, or those who are extending it.
That spread is not a translator being careless. The Arabic ends in an active participle from a root that carries both WIDTH and CAPACITY or POWER. Pickthall's We it is Who make the vast extent (thereof) leans one way; older renderings lean toward the sense of ability - We have power, We are able. Both are defensible from the word, and this study is not equipped to choose between them: the morphology layer reaches this verse but records a real root for well under half of its tokens, and no lexicon and no has cleared the rights audit.
The claim built on the verse is that it anticipates the expansion of the universe - a result from the 1920s. That reading requires the participle to be continuous and to mean spatial widening rather than power. It is a possible reading of the word. It is not the only one, and it is not the one the older translators reached for.
What can be said without deciding: the verse asserts that God built the heaven with might, and attributes to God something to do with its vastness. It does not describe motion, it names no rate, and it makes no comparison between an earlier and a later state.
A reader who wants the claim examined rather than repeated should read Did the Qur'an predict modern science - and does any verse say it is making a prediction?, which carries this verse with a different reason and sets out what would be needed to settle it.
Scope of this study
This platform shows the verse, its easy-read line, its translations, a plain-words reading, and each verse among its neighbours. It does not supply occasion of revelation, interpretation (tafsir) or history, and it never invents them.
What this study does not answer, and which source would be needed. It does not say on what occasion any of these verses was given: this study holds no source whose usage rights can be verified. It does not report how any commentator has read them: this study holds no either - the Arabic of , and is public domain by age, but no English edition with verifiable usage rights exists. And it offers no academic-historical reading: this study holds no such scholarship. Each of those is an absence with a named cause, not an omission.
What this rests on
Opens with 51:47.
Easy-read
Easy-read is a simplified pronunciation, not authoritative — a rule-by-rule romanisation, not a reading. Each verse ends in its pause form, as it is said when you stop there. Pauses inside a verse and other tajwid rules are not shown. It is derived from the Tanzil Simple edition, while the Arabic above is the Uthmani edition; both are cleared, but they are not the same edition and their orthography differs.
The versesSource fact 1 passages, each with every cleared translation
1 passages, chosen for this question and signed as part of it. Each carries the reason it is here, and each renders in full: the Arabic, then every cleared translation of that verse under its translator's name.
Each verse opens on the translation that comes first in the site's fixed order, which runs from the newest translation to the oldest. The order is not a preference. Open Compare translations on any verse to read the others.
51:47
Why this passage is in the study finding 01
وَٱلسَّمَآءَ بَنَيْنَٰهَا بِأَيْي۟دٍ وَإِنَّا لَمُوسِعُونَ
Easy-read · not authoritative
Easy-read (simplified)was-samaa'a banaynaahaa bi'aydin wa'innaa lamoosi'oon
DIN 31635was-samāʾa banaynāhā biʾaydin waʾinnā lamūsiʿūna
EditionTanzil Qur'an text (Uthmani) ·Creative Commons Attribution 3.0
Compare translations (4)
We have built the heaven with might, and We it is Who make the vast extent (thereof)
And the heaven - we have built it with might, and, verily, we do surely give it ample space
And the Heaven - with our hands have we built it up, and given it its expanse
We have built the heaven with might; and We have given it a large extent
Sources
EditionTanzil Qur'an text (Uthmani) ·Uthmani, Version 1.1·Tanzil Project ·Creative Commons Attribution 3.0·retrieved 24 Aug 2026
Receipts Tanzil Qur'an text (Uthmani) · Uthmani, Version 1.1
- Edition
- Uthmani, Version 1.1
- Custodian
- Tanzil Project
- Layer
- canonical text
- Licence
- Creative Commons Attribution 3.0
- Licence URL
- https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/
- Commercial use
- yes
- Modification
- contradictory
- Licence text
- read verbatim
- Review state
- cleared
- Retrieved
- 24 August 2026
- Digest
- 203f0f1bf3158b1e5be4ab9f8f6870e5…
- Located at
- https://tanzil.net/pub/download/index.php?quranType=uthmani&outType=xml
- Convention
- Hafs/Kufan verse numbering, 6236 ayahs. The bismillah is delivered as a separate `bismillah` attribute on ayah 1 and is NOT fused into the ayah text. 112 surahs carry one: every surah except al-Fatiha, where the bismillah is ayah 1:1 itself, and at-Tawba, which has none. Sourced from the XML output; the plain-text output of the same release DOES fuse it, which is defect D1.
CLEARED. Licence read verbatim from the block embedded in this very file. Ingested exactly as shipped: no normalisation, no stripping of marks, no Unicode recomposition.
Other languages (18)
Qiellin e kemi ndërtuar me fuqinë Tonë dhe Ne e zgjerojmë atë.
আর আসমান আমি নিজ শক্তিবলে নির্মাণ করেছি, আর নিশ্চয়ই আমিই এর সম্প্রসারণকারী।
Mi smo nebo snagom sazdali, i Mi, uistinu, proširujemo njegove krajeve.
Mi smo nebo snagom sazdali, i Mi, uistinu, proširujemo njegove krajeve.
Kammu ngun, Min mahir ngu doole Amen. Pellet, ko Min yaññuɓe.
და ჩვენ ავამაღლეთ ცანი ძალით და, ნამდვილად, ჩვენ ვართ განმავრცობელნი [ცათა].
Und den Himmel haben Wir ja mit Kraft aufgebaut, und Wir weiten (ihn) gewiss (noch) aus.
Χτίσαμε τους ουρανούς με δύναμη, και πράγματι, Εμείς επεκτείνουμε συνεχώς την απεραντοσύνη τους.
तथा आकाश को हमने शक्ति के साथ बनाया और निःसंदेह हम निश्चय विस्तार करने वाले हैं।
E il cielo lo abbiamo costruito con le Nostre mani, e in verità ne siamo capaci.
47. Su (didele) galia mes sukūrėme dangų. Ir iš tiesų, Mes plečiame jo ribas.
Samii humnaan ishee ijaarre. Dhugumatti, Nuti (ishee) bal’isoodha.
И небо — Мы воздвигли его с мощью, и, воистину, Мы — расширяющие его.
Ми смо небо снагом изградили, и Ми га, уистину, проширујемо.
Na mbingu tumezifanya kwa nguvu na uwezo na hakika Sisi bila ya shaka ndio wenye uwezo wa kuzitanua.
Vi skapade universum med enorm kraft och vi fortsätter att utvidga det.
Göğü kendi ellerimizle biz kurduk ve biz onu elbette genişleticiyiz.
Show context
The verses around this oneSource fact
shown so it's never read alone
فَمَا ٱسْتَطَٰعُوا۟ مِن قِيَامٍ وَمَا كَانُوا۟ مُنتَصِرِينَ
Easy-read · not authoritative
Easy-read (simplified)famaa stataa'oo min qiyaamin wamaa kaanoo muntasireen
DIN 31635famā staṭāʿū min qiyāmin wamā kānū muntaṣirīna
The translators word this verse differently
They could not rise up, nor could they find help.
And they were unable to rise up, nor could they help themselves
And they could not stand upright, and they were not helped
They were not able to stand upright, and could not help themselves
and they were not able to stand on their feet, neither did they save themselves from destruction
وَقَوْمَ نُوحٍ مِّن قَبْلُ إِنَّهُمْ كَانُوا۟ قَوْمًا فَٰسِقِينَ
Easy-read · not authoritative
Easy-read (simplified)waqawma noohin min qablu innahum kaanoo qawman faasiqeen
DIN 31635waqawma nūḥin min qablu ʾinnahum kānū qawman fāsiqīna
And before that, the people of Noah. They were immoral people.
And the folk of Noah aforetime. Lo! they were licentious folk
And the people of Noah of yore; verily, they were an abominable people
And we destroyed the people of Noah, before them; for an impious people were they
And the people of Noah did We destroy before these: For they were a people who enormously transgressed
51:47 — the verse above
وَٱلْأَرْضَ فَرَشْنَٰهَا فَنِعْمَ ٱلْمَٰهِدُونَ
Easy-read · not authoritative
Easy-read (simplified)wal-'arda farashnaahaa fani'ma l-maahidoon
DIN 31635wal-ʾarḍa farašnāhā faniʿma l-māhidūna
And the earth-We spread it out-How well We prepared it!
And the earth have We laid out, how gracious is the Spreader (thereof)
And the earth - we have spread it out; and how well we lay it out
And the Earth - we have stretched it out like a carpet; and how smoothly have we spread it forth
And We have stretched forth the earth beneath; and how evenly have We spread the same
وَمِن كُلِّ شَىْءٍ خَلَقْنَا زَوْجَيْنِ لَعَلَّكُمْ تَذَكَّرُونَ
Easy-read · not authoritative
Easy-read (simplified)wamin kulli shay'in khalaqnaa zawjayni la'allakum tadhakkaroon
DIN 31635wamin kulli šayʾin ḫalaqnā zawǧayni laʿallakum taḏakkarūna
We created all things in pairs, so that you may reflect and ponder.
And all things We have created by pairs, that haply ye may reflect
And of everything have we created pairs, haply ye may be mindful
And of everything have we created pairs: that haply ye may reflect
And of every thing have We created two kinds, that peradventure ye may consider
What this study rests on, and what it refusessigned with it4 of the 5 paragraphs signed with this study; the paragraph naming what it does not answer is at the top of the page
The selection above and this account of it are part of what was signed. Where the renderings disagree it says so; where the question runs past what has cleared the rights audit it says that too.
Read across the four public-domain translations - Sale 1734, Rodwell 1861, Palmer 1880, Pickthall 1930 - of 51:47, in full, and nothing else. This study consults no , no , no occasion of revelation and no biography, because none is yet available in an edition whose usage rights can be verified. Itani 2012, the fifth translation shown with these verses, was not consulted for this study.
How this set was arrived at. The verse set was chosen by the Editor before the study was written, and is NOT a search result. No word search was run, because on this question a word search would have found the wrong verses or missed the point of the passage.
Verses carried by more than one study. Some passages here also serve another study. Each carries its own reason in each place, and the reason states where else it appears.
Where the translations part company, named rather than resolved. How differently the translations word each verse is shown on that verse's page, and the study names the differences it turns on rather than choosing between them.
Sources & method
Translations Edward Henry Palmer, English translation of the Qur'an·Public domain — copyright term expired
Edward Henry Palmer, English translation of the Qur'an ·1880 translation, digital edition of unverified printing·None — public domain work ·Public domain — copyright term expired·retrieved 24 Aug 2026
Translations George Sale, English translation of the Qur'an·Public domain — copyright term expired
George Sale, English translation of the Qur'an ·1734 translation, digital edition of unverified printing·None — public domain work ·Public domain — copyright term expired·retrieved 24 Aug 2026
Translations John Medows Rodwell, English translation of the Qur'an·Public domain — copyright term expired
John Medows Rodwell, English translation of the Qur'an ·1861 translation, digital edition of unverified printing·None — public domain work ·Public domain — copyright term expired·retrieved 24 Aug 2026
Translations Pickthall, The Meaning of the Glorious Koran·Public domain — copyright term expired
Pickthall, The Meaning of the Glorious Koran ·1930 translation, digital edition of unverified printing·None — public domain work ·Public domain — copyright term expired·retrieved 24 Aug 2026
Translations Talal Itani, ClearQuran·Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
Talal Itani, ClearQuran ·ClearQuran, "God" edition, EPUB·Talal Itani / ClearQuran.com ·Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International·retrieved 7 Sep 2026
Translation by Talal Itani, ClearQuran.com https://clearquran.com
Editorial status
- Editorial status
- Editorially prepared · not independently reviewed — signed by the AALAMIN Editor; no external scholarly review
- Theme
- Review status
- Published
- 5 September 2026
- Updated
- 17 September 2026
A dashed outline marks a tag the editors handle with extra care. It describes how this study is filed and shown, not what the verses say.
AALAMIN Editor
Qur'anic text from the Tanzil Project. Copyright (C) 2007-2026 Tanzil Project License: Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Source: tanzil.net · Updates: tanzil.net/updates/ https://tanzil.net/updates/