Transcription
Asalam o Alaikum. My name is Furqan Qureshi and from today onwards, what you are going to listen is a true story. Yours, mine, and the story of all of our lives. A story about a wonderful past, present, and of a wonderful future. This story starts from when there was nothing, and it will end when there will be nothing left. From the skies to the earth, and whatever is in-between them, stars, planets, and the sun... time, and all those creations which we call The Universe in our language today.
We will start a journey... a journey to explore this universe. Who created it? What is hidden inside it? And a small planet which we call our world. What has happened in it? What will happen in it? A journey to explore all of that. And our journey starts 14 billion years ago. But why 14 billion years?
Have you ever seen the constellation of these seven stars in the night sky? My mother told me about it when I was a child. It's called The Ursa Major, or in Arabic or Urdu, it is called... The Dubb e Akbar. From Pakistan, this constellation is visible almost every night. And if your eyes were to be the most powerful telescope in the world, then you would have been able to... see a tiny red blob above this central star. This is the GN-z11, the farthest known galaxy so far. Trillions of stars in a form of a mere red blob. And on such a distance from us that... the light, which is the fastest thing there is... and left its surface, takes 14 billion years to reach us. It makes at least one thing clear that in our journey... we can go this far, at least.
But the 99.9985% of this 14 billion years is before the time of humans. Humans emerged only in the last few seconds of this cosmological time scale. Then how shall we be able to see the birth of the universe? To see this, free yourself from the chains of time... and come with me. We will explore all that knowledge which will tell us the true story of all the creation.
There is a very common branch of knowledge around us which is called science. And a branch of science is called Cosmogony, meaning the study of the birth of the Universe. Which enabled humans to make a discovery in year 1964. It was such an amazing find that its discoverers, Arno Penzias & Robert Wilson, were awarded the Nobel Prize. They had discovered a sort of radiation. But the strange thing is that this radiation wasn't coming from any star or any planet... and neither from any of the constellations. It was just like an energy spread through the entire universe. Wherever they looked; they found this energy. It was as if a huge bang or a great expansion created it and spread it everywhere. As if an echo born from a great bang happened billions and billions of years ago. They named it the cosmic microwave background. Today we know it as The Big Bang. That the sky and earth and whatever is in-between was all combined together once and was then separated after a mighty force which today we know as... the Big Bang.
But this discovery also came with a big problem, which is known as the horizon problem. The problem is that sometimes we see this energy spread as far as 46 billion light years and in some parts of the sky; just 0.3 million light years. It can only mean one thing, that the light is travelling on different speeds in the different parts of the universe. Which seems impossible. It seems to break all the known laws of physics in the nature as we know it. Light has only one speed, approximately 300,000 km/s. But if it was true that light travels at different speeds in different regions of the universe, then we must accept that... the time present in those regions will also be passing differently. At this point, one starts to realize that science also has its limitations. But who can blame science? It is only a few hundred years old knowledge.
So we must also explore the knowledge that existed before these few hundred years. The knowledge of ancient people. And to explore the knowledge of ancient people; we will have to go far back in time, much, much far back.
It happened 173 years ago... in year 1849. That an archaeologist in Nineveh, called Austin Henry, discovered some clay tablets. The tablets that were used thousands of years ago for writing. Austin Henry named those tablets Enuma Elish. It contained a story written on seven tablets, three and a half thousand years ago. And in which... people are talking about the creation of the universe. And they say that when there was no sky and when there was no earth, when there was neither any tree, nor any bog, and it was all just water... there was no human and there was no destiny written... at that time, there was an order from the God.
Now this is something very interesting. And if we study the entire text of 1000 lines; we will realize that before anything was created... they speak about the presence of water... lots and lots of water. Further, it speaks about an eternal garden, and the creation of human and its soul which descended from the sky. But probably the most interesting thing in this text is a word from its Greek translation called "logos", meaning "something that was said". That means when God wanted to create something... he said something. But what did he say? These tablets do not speak of it.
Let's go to another civilization who lived even before them. A civilization that lived 5000 years ago. The Sumerians. Sumer was also a civilization in Iraq. And they too have written in their tablets that there was a supreme being called "Nammu" who was forever present. Nammu created the skies and the earths from the great water. And don't think that the Sumerians are to be taken lightly. Sumerians were the oldest civilization that we know of in today's world. There are at least a hundred different inventions that we use which were made by Sumerians. For example... the first ever text was written by Sumerians, the first ever clock... first ever irrigation system, and even first ever geometrical system was invented by Sumerians.
Let's say that only two civilizations are not enough. So we look at a third civilization, 3000 years old Egypt, which was a superpower of its time. They too speak of "Nun" who created skies and the earths from a massive stormy ocean of water. An ocean of water which was completely hidden in dark. The Greeks, who too speak about the creation from a black sea of water called "Okeanos", 2300 years ago.
But one can say that these civilizations lived closer to each other and neither many years apart. It is possible that they might have learned these concepts from each other. Then let me take you to civilizations which lived very far from them. The aboriginal people from Australia. According to the Aborigines, there was a lord of all the souls, who was all alone. He created light and gave life to the earth. Even farther from the Aborigines, the Daoist mythology from China. They too speak of a God who separated the huge waters from each other. Who placed mountains where they are. And he did it with his knowledge and with the words he said. Korean mythology of Cheonjiwang after China also speaks about the unified skies and earths at some point in the past.
Now we are left with just two continents, so let's have a look into their cultures. "Mande" mythology from West Africa and "Yoruba" mythology from Central Africa. Both of them speak about a mighty power that was all alone. And then he created everything from water. Then the last continent of America, where there is an ancient tribe of Cherokee, which is a Red Indian tribe, and the islands of Hawaii, which are located in the middle of the oceans far away from all the other lands. They also talk about skies and earths created from waters in seven days... And lastly, a country in Europe called Finland, where they still talk about Vainamainen, how he created everything from water.
You must have noticed by now that I'm telling you cultures thousands of miles away and thousands of years apart from each other. But there was a problem in all those mythologies... there were some concepts pretty ridiculous in them. For example... there was a concept of earth bound in golden chains after it was created... or as in Finland... where a crow comes in and helps Vainamainen to create the universe. We all know that earth is not chained with any golden chain, and neither the creation of this universe was the work of any crow... So I filtered all these ridiculous things and... studied these cultures with the similarities they have with each other. And I noticed that... the common concept is always the same, word for word... A mighty force called The God. He was all alone and there was no one else other than him. He was the one who created everything from water. And it happened in six or seven days.
Now it seems that the same message was sent in all the corners of the world. The messengers were different, yes, and they came in different times. But the message and its sender was always the same. It proves one thing that there is a branch of knowledge besides science, in which 85% people of the planet believe somehow. And that knowledge is called "Religion". But which religion?... is a big question. There are 3000 different religions in the world today, and all of them claim to be the right one.
Let's have a look into some of the major religions and some of the oldest philosophies. Judaism is indeed one of the oldest religions. It says that the earth was created by God. But this earth is a flat earth and that it is floating on water. And there is paradise above the sky and hell under the earth. And then Christianity, the largest religion in the world today. They too say that God created the universe. But according to them, all the stars, sun and everything is rotating around our world. And all of the creation was done just six and a half thousand years ago. And on the seventh day... The God rested.
The Greek philosophy is two and a half thousand years old and is still influential today. The Greeks too believed in a godly creation of this universe. But they also believed that a goddess called Andromeda... flew into the sky. And wherever she flew, her milk was spilled and it created a milky starry way. Even today, we know this path with the same name, "The Milky Way", suggested by the Greeks.
Then the Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism. They're all ancient religions but insist that the universe has no beginning or an end. It was always there and it will always be there. But wait a moment and look back on these concepts. If Judaism is true, then why there is morning in America and evening in Japan at the same time? A flat earth should have morning and evening in all the countries at the same time. And also, there are 4550 satellites revolving around our earth right now, which prove that it's not flat. If Christianity is true that it all happened just six or seven thousand years ago, then the light from GN-z11 was not supposed to reach us. It would have been impossible. Even more confusing is that the God who created all this in six or seven days; why did he get tired? He is supposed to be almighty, all-powerful. And also, there are fifty different versions of the holy scripture of Christianity called the Bible. So which version are we supposed to accept? Which version is the truthful one? And if the Greeks were right, then who spilled the milk on these other galaxies which are actually collections of trillions and trillions of stars? And if the Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism are correct... that the universe was always there and will always be there, then why are galaxies drifting away from each other? And on such a high speed that only our Milky Way is travelling in space at 2.1 million km/hour. And anything that is travelling in space has a beginning and an end.
At this point, one can say that these religions too have their limitations. The message was same at some point, but with time; a lot has changed in them. But I have yet to tell you about one certain religion, the only religion which has claimed that there are no lies in it.
About 1400 years ago, there emerged a religion in Arab which is called The Islam. Within only a few years, this religion spread into entire Arabia and eventually in the whole world. And today, Islam is the second largest religion of the world. Islam too has a similar concept of creation in its holy book Quran. For example, Surah Hud (a chapter in Quran). God is the one who created skies and the earth in six days and his throne was on the waters. It seems as if the message in Quran was sent by the same being. But there is something that sets Quran apart from others... a claim... that was claimed in Quran. A claim in the very beginning of Quran. It is a book in which there is no doubt. Now that is a serious claim. And people like us who want to discover the truth, we will test this claim to be right or wrong. Good thing is that this is the only book which has no other versions in the whole world. One book, one version, and one claim. Neither cosmogony ever made this claim, nor any of the historical tablets or any culture or any other religion.
We will also check the concepts of creation of the man who introduced this religion... Muhammad bin Abdullah (s.a.w), which is there in the collection of his sayings called "Hadiths". Abu Razeen reports that he asked Muhammad (s.a.w), "Where was our God before the creation of everything?" And he replied that God was neither in time or space. And there was nothing above or below him. And then he created his throne on the water. Now these resources seem sound and logical because... they are very realistic. They have the concept of time and space. They have the concept of "nothingness". So we must look further into these resources and see where do they take us. And to explore it further, our major sources shall be two: the holy book of Islam called Al-Quran... and the person who lived in Arabia, the last messenger of all the messengers called Prophet Muhammad (s.a.w).
A concept of creation in Quran among all the religions which is hard to challenge is in its chapter of Anbiya that "Do disbelievers not see that earth and sky were together... and We separated them... and We created all living things from water?" Now this seems logical and truthful because... when the sky and the earth must have separated; it would have happened with a mighty force of expansion. The same expansion which is still echoing today. The very same echo which today we know as cosmic microwave background. And this expansion also explains the drifting away of all the galaxies from each other because... it is very basic to understand that if you reverse this drifting away of all the galaxies... you will eventually reach the point where all of this were closer, together with each other... un-separated.
These are very interesting revelations, but we need more. So we will explore this book even further. It is mentioned in the Quran at least five times that "We created the earth and sky in six days". Which days were those? Were they our usual 24-hour days? In fact, this was the very same problem with Christianity that considering such short time, it was impossible for us to see the light coming from GN-z11. And there is no explanation of those days or time in the Bible anyway. Do you remember the horizon problem which I spoke about in the beginning? That it seems that time... seems to be different in different regions of the universe? But I think science has made a mistake here. They should have named this a "revelation" instead of a "problem". Because... the concept of time is very clear in Quran, unlike in Christianity or Bible. The chapters of Hajj and Maa'rij tell us very clearly about the changing properties of time. For example... "A day to your Lord equals your thousand years"... "Angels and Rooh, ascend towards Him in a day which equals your 50,000 years". Somewhere a day equals a thousand years and somewhere equals fifty thousand years? ... It seems to be a pretty advanced book which speaks about changing properties of time on such an advanced level, a level which no other religion has ever reached.
We can go even further in-depth about the concept of creation in Quran. The first verse of the chapter of Al-Anam is... "All praise is to Allah who created skies and the earth and the lights and the darknesses." It seems to be a wonderful verse because... if you look at it; it tells us about more than one skies... and also the creation of darkness... But how can the darkness be created? Normally, the absence of the light is called darkness. And then the word of "khalaq" for the creation of skies and the word of "ja'al" for the creation of darkness and light? Why so?
But probably the most important question, that who is Allah? Who is, after all; the creator of all this? One by one, we will look into all this. But first of all, the mystery of darkness. There lived a German astronomer in the 17th century called Heinrich Olbers. He raised a question which we know of as "Olbers' Paradox". And he said that if this universe is truly infinite and if it is expanded everywhere uniformly, then everywhere we should look in the night sky, our eye should end up on a star and the night sky... should have been much brighter than it is... But it is not. It is as if something is covering all this light, something dark, something like a night. It has been three hundred years today that no one gave a satisfactory answer to Olbers' question. But for me... I feel that answer lies in the chapter of Sun in Quran that "I swear by the night when she covers". It seems to be a very advanced book and one desires... to explore this book further to know the secrets of creation.
So the next stage is to understand the sky. Because human's relationship with sky is far old and far more deep. We have been looking into the sky for centuries. We even have names for those who like the sky. For example... we named him/her a "nephophile", whoever likes the sky and its clouds. We labelled someone as "ceraunophile", whoever likes the sky and its roars. Whoever likes the sky and its rain, we named him "pluviophile". Whoever likes the sky and its stars, we called him an "astrophile". And whoever loved the sky and its moon, has been called a "selenophile". But the question is; what exactly is the sky?
But before I tell you further; I would like to share an experience with you. Before I wrote this chapter; I had interviewed 20 people. What is sky in your opinion? Someone answered that the "blue thing" we see above is sky. And someone answered that somewhere far above... there must be a "white shield" which would, presumably, be called "sky". Someone answered that the "clouds" are probably the sky. There were so many interesting answers, to be honest.
Let's take a look at science. What is sky according to science? "The blue thing" is actually just the atmosphere. And it is blue because when sunlight enters our atmosphere, and sunlight is made up of seven colors, then the blue color is separated from all the other colors because of the gases present in our atmosphere. Because the wavelength of the blue color is the shortest of all the other colors. And in the evening, the blue disappears and the red takes over because then... the sun is closer to the horizon and the atmosphere between us and the sun is... almost 38% denser than the normal atmosphere in the sky.
But how far above this atmosphere is? Science does answer this question. That six and a half miles above, you will find the atmospheric layer called "troposphere". And almost all the climate of our earth... is present in this layer of atmosphere. Clouds, rain, storms, all the life in the world lives inside this layer... Even the farthest looking clouds are actually inside this layer. But what is above that? Above that; there is a 31 miles thick layer which is called "stratosphere". Surely you must have heard of the ozone layer which protects the planet from the harmful rays of the sun. Some of the commercial flights fly in lower regions of this layer and some spy jets fly in the middle region of this layer. But what is above that? Above that, there is a 53 miles thick layer called "mesosphere". Life is not possible for humans there because the temperature can be -90 degrees centigrade and there is almost no air or oxygen. When meteorites enter this layer; they start burning. The meteorites; the mysterious stones about which... I will tell you in the 10th chapter. But what is above that? Above that, there is another 300 miles thick layer which is called "thermosphere". This is the place where most of our satellites are rotating around the planet. And this is the place where the most beautiful dark green lights are born, which are called... the aurora lights. One of the most beautiful night shows of our planet, and my most favorite, the aurora lights... But what is above them? Above that, there is an imaginary boundary of our planet called the Kármán line. Because after this, the greatest expansions of empty space begins... spread out trillions and trillions of miles into deep space. So far into space that the light from GN-z11 must take 14 billion years to reach us.
But where was sky during all this? And what is above that? Science cannot help us above that because those places are out of the realms of knowledge of science. What mysteries lie in there? Where will we see the sky? How must sky look like? And what is above the sky? For that, now... the source of our knowledge is Quran and Hadith.
Quran speaks about the descending of water at least 22 times that "We descended the water from the sky". But the watery clouds are just at the elevation of 2 kilometers. So we need to find more clues about sky in the Quran. At least three times, Quran speaks about the sky as a "safe roof". At least twice it is mentioned that this "safe roof" is also secured so that it does not fall. At this point, it starts to seem as if sky is protecting us from something. And also as if it too, has been secured from something. Does that mean that the sky might be the name for ozone or any other similar protecting layer? Perhaps. Still, the clues are not enough. So we must study Quran deeper for a better understanding of the sky.
The chapter of Tariq speaks about a strange property of the sky... that it returns over and over again. Now whoever is aware of climatology, meaning the study of the climates, they are aware that there are only four seasons, meaning winter, summer, autumns and spring... But the climate is actually of 12 types which is influenced directly from atmosphere in the sky, which is returned from the sky... over and over again to the earth. For example, rain, fog, precipitation, snowfall, storm, winds. All of them return to earth over and over again, influenced directly from the sky and the atmosphere... in the sky. At least three times it is so mentioned that the sun, the stars and the moon are also... in the sky. Twice it speaks about the decorating stars that they too are... in the sky. And thrice, it speaks about the pillars that are... in the sky. For example, the 16th verse of the chapter of Stone says... that "the beautiful pillars are placed... in the sky... for those who see." Exactly which pillars those might be? Who can say... But a picture was taken in 1995 that was called one of the ten most beautiful pictures ever taken. It was such a beautiful picture that... it was photographed many more times afterwards. Three towering pillars which were, in fact, exactly called... "The Pillars of Creation", which have been a source of beauty, comfort and admiration for those who are watching.
At this point, it becomes crystal clear that the sky... is a great expansion upwards. Besides the sun, the moon and the stars, Quran gives us more properties of the sky. For example, burning flames that chase and catch such mysterious stars which eat the entire galaxies without leaving a trace. In fact, in Quran, I even found the references to such stars that can have a tail 6 million miles coming behind it. But all of it at its right time. First, we must continue our journey upwards in the sky. Such wonderful creations, the pillars, sun, stars... cannot be only just in the Milky Way. Stars, in fact, are there in the other galaxies. Our own galaxy, Milky Way, contains about 400 billion stars and our sun is just one of them. Our neighboring galaxy contains 2.5 times more stars than our Milky Way... that means more than a trillion stars. And there are some 2 trillion galaxies out there, just like Milky Way and Andromeda. Is it all... in the sky? Where is the highest limit?
Further research in Quran, guided me to at least 4 places where... it speaks about the expansion and the highest limits of the sky. And two of them are crystal clear. For example, the chapter of Ghashiya: "Do they not see, how the sky has been elevated?" Or the chapter of Dhariyat: "We have created the sky with Our own hands and We are the one to expand it." Looking at all these clues, finally start to build an understanding in front of us that the expansions of the sky start actually just above us and its expansion goes much, much high. But is there any limit to this great expansion? The answer is yes. There is a limit to this great expansion, a boundary which is mentioned in fact in Al-Naaziyat and Al-Rahman: "Is the sky more difficult to create or you? Allah is the one who created it and elevated its 'samak' (meaning the outer boundary)." And the second verse is a very mighty one which also carries a challenge in it: "Oh Jinn and Humans! If you have the authority to leave the 'boundaries' of sky and earth, then leave! Without power you cannot leave. Flames of fire and smoke shall be released upon you... and you will not be able to protect yourself."
Do you get the point? That after these huge expansions... the distances which neither can I explain, nor can you understand. Somewhere there must come a place where there will be a "samak" of the sky, meaning an outer layer of the sky. Where upon reaching, there shall be released flames and smoke. And perhaps that place is the boundary of the expansion of the sky of our world. The outer surface of the sky, the limit of the sky, and the expansion of the sky starts from just above us, from our atmosphere and goes all the way up above until its "samak", its outer layer. This is the reason why water is descending down from this sky. This is the reason why the sun, the moon and the stars are floating inside this sky. This is the sky which is decorated with the stars. Sky is actually... a huge expansion starting just above from our heads, expanded trillions and trillions of miles upwards, which finally has a boundary somewhere far, far above.
But before I tell you about that... I want to tell you some of the things during my research work in Quran. On four points... I observed about the design of the sky. On six places, I observed the clues about creatures in the sky. On three places, I observed the "rizq" descending down from the sky. On six places, I observed the doors and pathways of the sky. On two places, I observed the emotions of the sky. On two places, I observed the Jinnat and Shayateen travelling in the sky. On three places, I observed the places that ascend and descend in the sky. On sixteen places... I observed the destiny of the sky... what will eventually happen to it. And on five places... I observed Allah, the creator of everything, swearing upon the sky, one of His greatest creations. On time; I will share all of these things with you, one by one. For example, the creatures who live in the sky. For example, the things that ascend and descend into the sky. For example, the doorways and pathways of the sky. Or what will finally happen to the sky. And on seven places in Quran... I observed the number of skies, that they too... are seven. And from here on; I will tell you about those seven skies.
It has become very clear now that up to this point, reaching through science would have been impossible. So through the Quran and Hadith... I explored more about the composition of the skies. And in a book from a 14th century Egyptian scholar, Jalal-Al-Deen As-Sayooti's book... As-Samaya Fil Hayat As-Samiyyah, I discovered a detailed description and the composition of these seven skies. And now I will tell you... what lies beyond the Kármán line, the last frontier of mankind's reach.
The last boundary of this great expansion which starts from above us... is the first sky... which is the sky of the earth. It is made out of water and it is called "Raqiya". And probably because of this water, smoke will be released to anyone who dares reaching it, according to Surah Rahman. Hadith of Mi'raj tells us that this is the sky where Adam and Eve are living now. And according to some traditions, this was the sky where Prophet Muhammad saw an angel called Habib... built half with fire and half with ice.
I want to share something with you about the water of this sky. Roman Emperor Heraclius wrote a letter to Mu'awiya (r.a). He requested to tell him the things, which people often ask about... but the answers... should only be from the teachings of Prophet Muhammad (s.a.w). Mu'awiya (r.a) sent that letter to Ibn Abbas (r.a) so he could answer it better. This letter carried a question about "mujarra"... and Ibn Abbas answered that "mujarra" is... like a door in the sky, which acts like a barrier between "here" and "there". It is the kind of a barrier through which, nothing can pass, not even the heat, not even the temperature. I also discovered about "mujarra" that it is a liquid that is alive, a kind of water that is alive. Although I couldn't verify this tradition from another place, but if it is correct... then the first sky is made of such water which is alive. It contains such doors... through which nothing can pass, not even the temperature.
Above it... there is the second sky made of white pearls... it is called "Aazfiloun". According to Hadith, Prophet Eissa (Jesus) and Yahya (John the Baptist) are living there. Above that; there is the third sky which is called "Qaidoum" and is made of pure iron. In this third sky, Prophet Youssef (Joseph) lives. And according to some traditions... this is the sky where Hazrat Izraeel (a.s)... the angel of death. Above that... there is the fourth sky which is made of pure brass and it is called "Maaou'na". It is where Prophet Idrees (a.s) lives. And there... lives an angel called "Kisfaa'eil" who is the angel of tears. Above that... there is the fifth sky which is called "Riqqa", made out of pure silver. There lives Prophet Haroon (Aaron). And that is where the custodian of hell, Malik lives. Malik... who commands some of the most mysterious angels who are mentioned in Surah Alaq, referred with the name of "Zabaaniyah". But the details about angels will come up in the second chapter. Above that... there is the sixth sky which is called "Daqna'a". It is made of pure gold and pure stones of red color... where Prophet Musa (Moses) lives.
But before I tell you further... I wish you to imagine just for a second... a sky made of pure gold and red rubies... Surah Najm speaks of a great tree there, whose roots... are there in the sixth sky and... its branches reach high up in the seventh sky. The tree is called "Lote Tree of the Farthest Boundary". It is a berry tree whose leaves... are large and its fruit... is like large pots. Beetles made of pure gold are flying around this tree. And Muhammad (s.a.w) reports... that on the night of Ascension, when this tree was covered with the order of Allah... the color of that tree changed in a way... that I never even knew those colors. No living being of the world... can describe how beautiful those colors are.
And then there is the seventh sky which is called "Areeba", which is also known in the people of the book as "Araboth". This is the sky where Prophet Ibrahim (Abraham) lives. It is made of such light which humans cannot understand. The branches of the Lote Tree can only reach up to this place. Whatever goes from below... is stopped here. And whatever comes from above is received from here. But what is above that?
From this moment onwards... I will be very careful and I request you to listen very carefully. Above that... there is the Throne of God which is carried by eight great angels. This throne is made of red ruby. And there is the great chair above the throne. And this is the limit of all the knowledge that was ever there of anyone, including mankind. Above that... there is the Lord of the Throne, Allah... The Lord of everything. My creator... your creator... the Lord of whatever I have written or spoken... and writing about. Above the throne... I feel a certain kind of fear. There is a place on the right side of the throne where everything is written... Loh-e-Mahfooz. Allah has made it with pure white pearls. Its pages are made of red rubies and its writing is written with light. This is where everything is written about everything that was ever there and about everything that there will ever be. And whatever Allah wills, is written in it. Its base is made of pure white stone and it is placed in the lap of an angel. Allah, The Lord of everything looks at it 360 times in a day. Prophet Muhammad reports that the seven skies compared to the throne... are like a ring in a huge desert. And the throne compared to the great chair is like a ring in a huge desert. Just pause for a second and imagine what you just heard. Can your brain truly understand these great expansions? Can I truly explain these greatnesses to you? ... Perhaps never. It was never meant for any creation to fully understand these things.
Do you remember me saying in the very beginning that nearly all the cultures in the world... speak of a mighty force creating everything... and speaking some words? But no culture could tell what words were those. Even theoretical physics has a theory that... before the creation; many universes were floating among many forces, for example, the force of gravity etc... and after every few trillion years; these universes collide with each other, resulting a massive bang, a big bang. The reason of this collision might either be an unimaginably powerful force of gravity or... or according to this theory... a force which is unknown to us. I don't know what do you make of these last words. But... when I was writing these words in this chapter; I actually smiled. Because... in Quran; I found this unimaginably mighty great force mentioned at least 7 times. "When we wish something to be... we order it 'Be'... ...and so 'it becomes'." The most unimaginable and most powerful force that ever existed... is the force of "Kun Fayakun", the word of God.
This universe and the mysteries hidden in it has always been one of the biggest questions of mankind. Imran bin Hussain once visited Prophet Muhammad (s.a.w) and tied his camel on the front of the door. Imran also saw some of the people from Yemen also visiting the Prophet. And he heard them saying, "O Prophet of Allah... we have come to know from you, how this universe came into be." Prophet started to tell them how Allah had always been there. He was all alone and his throne was placed above the water. He wrote everything in the Loh-e-Mahfood and created the skies and the earth. The Prophet was still telling, but someone shouted to Imran that "Imran, your camel has broken off and ran away!" And as Imran heard of this, he too... ran after the camel. And he saw that the camel has reached far into the desert. And later Imran was heard saying, "I swear by God... I wish I had let that camel escape but had heard what the Prophet was telling." If I be honest; I too wish that the she-camel had not broken off that day and Imran bin Hussain would have reported us what Prophet had told that day. Allah knows how many secrets would had been uncovered by Prophet that day. Exactly the way... how Prophet Muhammad reported about Prophet Musa's meeting with that mysterious personality and his inability to be patient during their trip and said... "May Allah have mercy upon Musa... if he just had been patient; Allah would have revealed many more of those mysteries to us."
Today's chapter... was just a beginning of our journey. From today on, I'm going to tell you more chapters in which we will take guidance from Quran, Hadith and the modern scientific knowledge to uncover the mysteries of the universe. May Allah bless you.