Can something be brought into existence out of nothing and can something be sent into nonexistence?

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There is a quotation we come across with in physics and chemistry lessons. Nothing is lost, nothing is created. The expression known as the Law of Conservation of Mass belongs to the French chemist A. L. de Lavoisier.

Before we answer the question, we find it useful to explain something. Some people make demagogy on this law and draw the question to an ideological atmosphere by misinterpreting it. We can explain their way of thinking by giving the following example:

There is an artistically written piece of beautiful calligraphy in front of us. It can be understood with a very little thought that there is a calligrapher of this calligraphy. A person who has the purpose of denying the calligrapher of that calligraphy attracts the attention to the ink of that calligraphy in order to distract people's attention from the calligraphy, the fine art, and the meaning it conveys. He puts forward a question, Was this calligraphy created out of nothing or out of ink? He tries to hide the calligrapher from the eyes by expanding and deepening the discussion on the ink.

People who frequently put forward the law of mass of conservation make a demagogy similar to this. They act as if it is necessary for that work to be created not out of existing elements but out of nothing in order to accept that there is a creator of the wonderful things in the universe. As a matter of fact when we examine the true nature and content of the law, we see clearly that this law does not open a door for denial; on the contrary it is one of the divine laws that shows the system in the universe.

We all know that there is an area where the laws enacted by the state are applied and relevant. The people in question are sometimes criminals, sometimes taxpayers and sometimes inheritors. Similarly, there are areas where the law of conservation of mass is valid and not valid. The law of conservation of mass is especially used in physics and chemistry experiments and to solve problems in these subjects. Let us make it more comprehensible with an example:

Let us apply the law of conservation of mass in the equation of the reaction
C + O2 = CO2
showing the formation of carbon dioxide from carbon and oxygen. We determine our system in the beginning by writing this equation. We say we are only interested in carbon and oxygen. We make calculations only regarding their weights If the weights of carbon and oxygen are in proper rates, the weight of the carbon dioxide to come out of this reaction will be equal to the total of the weights of carbon and oxygen. That is, the mass will be conserved. In the beginning, we framed our system and ignored the input and output of other matters.

Now let's imagine a closed container. Let's suppose that there are hundreds of kinds of compounds in it. Let's weigh it and put it on the fire. Let's imagine that as a result of this, there have happened a lot of reactions and new compounds have formed. When we weigh the container at the end of the experiment, we see that the weight remains the same. Since the container was closed, no matter went out, that is, the mass present in it did not disappear. Since no matter entered the container, a new mass was not created out of nothing. If we had put something in or had taken something out, the weight of the container would definitely have changed.

Similarly, we either personally witness various changes and transformations or find out about them by knowledge in the world of matter in which we live and which resembles a closed container. We know quite well that the mass of this world neither increases nor decreases. Unless there is an outside intervention, neither an escape from existence to disappearance, that is, going out of the container nor a flow of matter from nothing happens. That kind of an intervention can only be done by Allah, who is not conditional with matter and who is free of place. He creates with his might and will, puts them in our world or decreases our world.

In short, the law of conservation of mass is a law showing the relationships about the weight during the transformation of the matter applied to a closed system with a determined framework. When we read the biography of Lavoisier from the encyclopedias, it is seen that he is the first scientist to use the scales in chemistry. From this, it can be understood what that chemist meant with the expression in question. He never became the pioneer of a way of thinking that contradicts the might and will of Allah. What is more, in some chemistry books used as school books in Europe and America, after the expression of conservation of mass, come the words but the God. In short, it is stated, Only Allah is excepted from this judgment. Thus the doubts that may occur in peoples minds are eliminated in the beginning.

At the beginning of this talk, we had mentioned that laws were valid in certain areas. There are some real physical happenings where the principle of conservation of mass is not valid. For instance, today it is known that matter transforms into energy. From the most important discovery of Einstein, the equivalence of the loss of energy as much as ms mass is found as a result of its multiplication by the square root of c light speed. For instance; the total masses of neutrons and protons decrease when they come together to form the nucleus of the atom. The mass chlorine that is shown as 35/17 Cl needs to be equal to the total mass of 18 neutrons and 17 protons, that is, equal to17X1.007277+ 18X1.008665 = 35.289005 atomic mass unit. Here 1.007277 is the mass of a proton and 1.008665 the mass of a neutron. However, as a result of very sensitive experiments the atomic mass unit of a nucleus of chlorine atom was found to be 34.96885, that is, 0.32016 less than it should be. The difference in mass was transformed into energy and disappeared from the world of matter.

Another real event that shows that matter can be lost was observed by astronomers. Recent researches have shown that some stars each of whose mass is many times larger than that of the world have entered into places called black hole whose true nature is not known and disappeared.

It is impossible to explain the two happenings we have tried to describe with the principle of conservation of mass. That is, the principle in question does not have an absolute value. There are certain conditions and places where it can be applied.

As a result the principle of conservation of mass has no aspects that conflicts and contradicts the deeds of Allahs creation and destruction. 

ALLAH Knows Best.