2 Minute Worlds

Everything we have explored has brought us to this moment — the concluding chapter where the search for origins transforms into the search for certainty.

Now these sources seems sound and logical because they are realistic, the have the concept of time and space, it has the concept of “nothingness” so we must look further into these resources and see were do the take us. 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 messenger 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:

Surah Al-Anbiya 21:30

اَوَلَمۡ يَرَ الَّذِيۡنَ كَفَرُوۡۤا اَنَّ السَّمٰوٰتِ وَالۡاَرۡضَ كَانَـتَا رَتۡقًا فَفَتَقۡنٰهُمَا​ ؕ وَجَعَلۡنَا مِنَ الۡمَآءِ كُلَّ شَىۡءٍ حَىٍّ​ ؕ اَفَلَا يُؤۡمِنُوۡنَ‏

“Did the unbelievers (who do not accept the teaching of the Prophet) not realize that the heavens and the earth were one solid mass, then We tore them apart,  and We made every living being out of water?  Will they, then, not believe (that We created all this)?”

Now this seems logical and truthful because when the sky and 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. This expansion also explains the drifting away of all the galaxies from each other because its something very common, it is very basic to understand that if you reverse this drifting away of all the galaxies you will eventually reach to 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, for example in surah Hud 11:07, Furqan 25:59, Sajdah 32:04 , Qaaf 50:38, Hadeed 57:04, so which days were those? were they our usual 24 hours days? in fact this was the very same problem with Christianity that considering short time it was impossible for us to see the light coming from GN-Z11. There is now explanation of those days or time in the Bible anyway.

Do you remember the Horizon Problem which I told you about in the beginning that it seems that time seems to be different in different regions of the universe?

But I believe science has made a mistake here. They should have named this a “revelation”, a “discovery”  instead of a “problem” because the concept of time is very clear in Quran unlike Christianity or Bible.

The Chapters of Hajj and Ma’arij tells us very cleary about the changing properties of time e.g,

Surah Hajj 22:47

 وَاِنَّ يَوۡمًا عِنۡدَ رَبِّكَ كَاَ لۡفِ سَنَةٍ مِّمَّا تَعُدُّوۡنَ

“A day to your lord equals your thousand years”

Surah Ma’arij 70:04

تَعۡرُجُ الۡمَلٰٓـئِكَةُ وَ الرُّوۡحُ اِلَيۡهِ فِىۡ يَوۡمٍ كَانَ مِقۡدَارُهٗ خَمۡسِيۡنَ اَلۡفَ سَنَةٍ

“Angels and rooh, ascend towards him on a day which equals your 50,000 years”

Now, somewhere a day equals a thousand years and somewhere it equals 50,000 years?… it seems to be pretty advanced book which speaks about changing properties of time on such an advanced level, a level which no other religion has ever reached. So we can go even further in-depth about the concept of creation in Quran.

Surah AL-Anam 06:01

اَلۡحَمۡدُ لِلّٰهِ الَّذِىۡ خَلَقَ السَّمٰوٰتِ وَالۡاَرۡضَ وَجَعَلَ الظُّلُمٰتِ وَالنُّوۡرَ

“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 light is called darkness, and the use of word “Khalaq” for the creation of skies and the word “Ja’al” for the creation of darkness and light, but why?. Moreover, 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 Olber, He raised a question, which we know of as “olber’s paradox”, he said that if this universe is truly infinite and if it is expanded uniformly then everywhere we should look in the night sky, our eye should be able to see all the star and the night sky should have been much bigger that it is… but it is not… it is as if something is covering all the light, something dark, something like a night. It has been three hundred years today that no one gave a satisfactory answer to Olber’s question but for me I feel that answer lies in Surah Shams in Quran:

Surah Shams 91:04

وَالَّيۡلِ اِذَا يَغۡشٰٮهَا ۙ‏

“and by the night as it envelopes (covers) the sun”

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 step is to understand the sky because afterall human’s relationship with sky is far old and far more deep. We have been looking into the sky of centuries, we even have names for those who like the sky e.g.,

Whoever likes the sky and its clouds = Nephophile

Whoever likes the sky and its roars = Ceraunophile

Whoever likes the sky and its rain = Pluviophile

Whoever likes the sky and its stars = Astrophile

Whoever likes the sky and its moon = Selenophile

Now the question is; what is exactly 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 that 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, presumable be called “SKY”. Someone answered that the “clouds” are probably the sky; there were so many interesting answers to be honest.

Lets take a look at science that what is sky according to science.

Now “the blue thing” is actually just the atmosphere, and it is blue because when sunlight enters our atmosphere (sunlight is made up of seven colors) then the blue color is separated from all other colors because of the gasses present in our atmosphere because the wave-length 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 atmosphere between us and the sun is almost 38% denser than the normal atmosphere in the sky

But how far above this atmosphere is? The science does answer this question, that six and half mile 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 and even the farthest looking clouds are actually inside this layer, but what is above that?

Above that; there is 31 miles thick layer which is called “stratosphere” surely you must have heard of 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 fo this layer, but what is above that?

Above that there is 53 miles thick layer called “mesosphere”, life is not possible for humans there because the temperature can be -90 degree centigrade and there is almost no air or oxygen. Basically, this is that layer in which the meteorites start to burn when they enter it. Meteorites are 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 light shows of our planet, and my most favorite, the aurora lights…. but what is above them?

Above that there is an imaginary boundary line of our planet called the Karmen Line

After this, the greatest expansions of empty space begins … spread out tillions and trillions of miles into deep space… so far in space the the light from gn-z11 must take 14 billion years to reach us… BUT WHERE WAS THE 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 answers 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 in the atmosphere, so we need to find more clues about the sky in Quran. At Least 3 times Quran speaks about the sky as a “safe roof” (Surah Al-Anbiya 21:32, Surah Al-Baqarah 02:22, Surah Ghafir 40:64). At least two times it is mentioned that this “safe roof” is also secured so that it does not fall (surah Al-Hajj 22:65, Surah Fatir 35:41). Now 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 so that it may not fell. Does that mean that sky might be the name for ozone or any other similar layer? perhaps still, the clues are not enough. So we must study Quran  deeper for a better understanding of the sky. Surah Tariq speaks about a strange property of the sky….

Surah Tariq 86:11

وَالسَّمَآءِ ذَاتِ الرَّجۡعِۙ‏

“Swear by 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 springs….but the climate is 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 e.g. rain, fog, precipitation, snowfall, storm, winds all of them return to earth over and over again, influenced directly from the sky and atmosphere … in the sky.

At least 3 times it is so mentioned that the sun, the stars and the moon are also …. in the sky (Surah Yasin 36:40, Surah Safat 37:06, Surah Mulk 67:05)

Twice it speaks about the decorating stars that they are too … in the sky (Surah Safat 37:06, Surah Mulk 67:05) and,

thrice it speaks about the Pillars (بروج ) that are … in the sky (surah Hijar 15;16, Surah Furqan 25:61, Surah Buruj 85:01) for example;

Surah Hijar 15:16

وَلَـقَدۡ جَعَلۡنَا فِى السَّمَآءِ بُرُوۡجًا وَّزَيَّـنّٰهَا لِلنّٰظِرِيۡنَۙ

“That the beautiful pillars are placed in the sky for those who see”

Exactly which pillars those might be? who knows? but a picture was taken in 1935 that was called one of the ten most beautiful pictures ever taken of the universe.

It was such a beautiful picture that it was photographed many more times afterwards… 3 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 great expansion upwards. Besides the sun, the moon and the stars, Quran gives us more properties of the sky, e.g.

There are burning flames that chase and catch,

There are such mysterious stars which eat the entire galaxies without leaving a trace,

Infact in Quran, I even found the reference to such stars that can have a tail 6 million miles long coming behind it, we shall study about it some later time, first we must continue our journey upwards in the sky.

Such wonderful creations, the pillars, sun, stars … cannot be only just in our own galaxy 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, Andromeda, contains 2.5 times more stars that our milky way and there are some 2 trillion galaxies out there, just like milky way and andromeda. So 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:

Surah Ghashiya 88:18

وَاِلَى السَّمَآءِ كَيۡفَ رُفِعَتۡ

“Do they not see how the sky is elevated (بلند)”

Surah Zariyat 51:47

“We have created the sky with our own hands and we are the one to expand it”

Knowing 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 ther any limit to this great expansion?, the answer is yes there is a limit to this great expansion, a boundary which is mentioned infact in Surah Al-Naaziyat and Surah Al-Rehman;

Surah Naaziyat 79:27

ءَاَنۡتُمۡ اَشَدُّ خَلۡقًا اَمِ السَّمَآءُ​ ؕ بَنٰٮهَا

“Is it harder to create the sky 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.

Surah Rehman 55:33

يٰمَعۡشَرَ الۡجِنِّ وَالۡاِنۡسِ اِنِ اسۡتَطَعۡتُمۡ اَنۡ تَنۡفُذُوۡا مِنۡ اَقۡطَارِ السَّمٰوٰتِ وَالۡاَرۡضِ فَانْفُذُوۡا​ؕ لَا تَنۡفُذُوۡنَ اِلَّا بِسُلۡطٰنٍ​ۚ‏

“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 never 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 the outer layer of 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 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 would like you to know some small things.

During my research work in Quran,

• On four points… I discovered 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 jinns and shayateen traveling  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
• On five places … I observed Allah, the creator of everything, swearing upon the sky, one of the his greatest creation.

On time; I will share all of these things with you, one by one e.g.

• the creatures who live in the sky;
• the things that ascend and descend into the sky
• the doorways and pathways of the sky
• what will finally happen to the sky

However, on seven places in Quran, I observed the number of skies that they too …. are 7 and from here on; I will tell you about those 7 skies. It has been clear now that upto this point, reaching through science would have been impossible so through 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-Sammaya 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 Karmen Line, the last frontier of mankind’s reach.

THE FIRST SKY

The last boundary of this great expansion which starts from above us … is the first sky … which is the sky of the earth and it is made of water and it is called “Raqiya” and probably because of this water, smoke will be released to anyone dares reaching it, according to Surah Rehman. According to the Hadith of Mira’aj… 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 who was built half with fire and half with ice.

I want to share an event with you about the water of this sky; Once a roman emperor Heraclius wrote a letter to Mua’wiya (r.a.). He requested to tell him the things, which people ask about … but the answers … should only be from the teachings of Prophet Muhammad (S.A.W). Mua’wiya (r.a) sent that letter to Ibn Abbas (r.a) so he could answer it better. This letter contained a question about “Mujarra” and Ibn Abbas (r.a) answered that “mujarra” is like a door in the sky, which acts like a berrier between “here” and “there”. It is a kind of berrier 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 could not 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.

SECOND SKY

It is made of white pearls, it is called “AAZFILOUN” according to Bukhari and Sunan Nissae Hadith, prophet Essa (jesus) and Yahya (John the Baptist) are living there.

THIRD SKY

Third sky is called “QAIDOUM” which is made of pure iron. In this sky Prophet Yousaf (Joseph) lives and according to some traditions this is the sky where Hazrat Izrael (a.s) also lives there who is known as Malik ul Mout (the angel of death).

FOURTH SKY

It is made of pure brass and it is called “MAAU’NA”. It is where prophet idrees (a.s) lives and there and there also lives an angel called “Kisfaa’eil” who is the angel of tears.

FIFTH SKY

It is called “Riqqa” it is made of silver. There lives the prophet Haroon (Auron) and that is where the custodian of hell, “Maalik” also lives there. Maalik who commands some of the most mysterious angels. Who is mentioned in Surah Alaq 96:18 referred with the name “ZABAANIYAH”

Surah Alaq 96:18

سَنَدۡعُ الزَّبَانِيَةَ ۙ

“We too shall summon the guards of Hell”

The details about angels will come up in the second chapter.

SIXTH SKY

It is called “DANQNA’A” it is made our 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 (yaqout) and according to Surah Najam there is a great tree, whose roots are in the sixth sky and its branches reach high up in the seventh sky. This tree is called Sidratul Muntaha, 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 (Muslim 411) that on the night of Ascension (Miraj e Rasool) when this tree was covered with the order of Allah, the colors of that tree changed in a way that I never even knew those colors and no creature of this world can describe how beautiful those colors are.

Surah Najam 53:14

عِنۡدَ سِدۡرَةِ الۡمُنۡتَهٰى‏

“by the lote-tree at the farthest boundary”

SEVENTH SKY

It is called “AREEBA”, which is also known in the people of the book as “Araboth”. This is the sky where Hazrat Ibrahim (abraham) lives. It is made of such light which humans cannot understand. The branches of lote tree (Sidratul Muntaha) can only reach upto this place (Muslim 411). Whatever goes from below… is stopped here and whatever comes from above is received from here but is above that?

From this moment onwards … I will be very careful and I request you to read 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 because 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 and writing about above the Throne I feel 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 (noor). Loh e Mahfooz is 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 a day.

A hadith reported in Silsilat us Sahiha 3189; Prophet Muhammad reports that the seven skies compared to the throne are like a ring in a huge desert and Throne (arsh) compared to the great chair (kursi) is like a ring in a huge desert. Now just pause for a minute and imagine what you just read. Can your brain truly understand these great expansions? Can I truly explain these greatnesses to you? …. Perhaps never. Its never meant for any creation to fully understand these things… Its impossible.

Do you remember me saying in the very beginning that nearly all cultures of 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 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 unimaginably powerful force of gravity 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 unimaginable mighty great force mentioned at least 7 times Al-Baqarah 02:117, Ale Imran 03:47, Al Inaam 06:73, Al Nahal 16:40, Maryam 19:35, Yasin 36:82, Ghafir 40:68. That when we wish something to be … WE ORDER IT “BE” and so it happens. The most unimaginable and most powerful force that ever existed is KUN FAYAKUN.

This universe and the mysteries hidden in it has always been one of the biggest questions of mankind.

Sahih Bukhari 3191

Imran bin Hussain once visited prophet Muhammad (S.A.W) and tied his camel on the front 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 Mahfooz and created skies and the earth. The prophet was still telling but someone shouted to Imran that 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 the 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 (Sahih Bukhari 4727) … 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 the beginning of our journey, from today on ; I am going to tell you more of the 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 (Jazak Allah)