The verse which Fazal Sahib is referring to is a verse in the Holy Quran which is unique in its nature and nowhere else in any religious book will you find the like of it. Man at the time of Hazrat Muhammad Mustafa s.a.w. had not reached that era of knowledge where man could conceive of other earths in the universe. The very concept of the heaven was so defective and so primitive that it has no bearing whatsoever with reality. People thought, and this was the philosophy inherited by the Arabs of that time from the Greeks, that the heavens were in the form of a plastic globe.
There were seven such globes, one, two, three, four, five, seven, and the nearest one, as well as the others, was studded with stars like jewels. And the whole globe moved while the earth remained stationary. And these different globes moved at different speeds to each other so that this astronomy was created by the study of relative positions of those studded stars, as they had thought. When one globe moved at a different speed to the other, their relative positions would change naturally. So a study of their relative position and their influence on life on earth was astrology. That was the sum total of human knowledge as inherited by the people of that age.
There was no concept whatsoever, no room whatsoever of there being an earth or thing like earth, earth like body, having been situated somewhere in space. And all the knowledge was not related to Hazrat Muhammad Mustafa, because it was not his subject anyway. So even if he was completely aware of all the knowledge that man had gained over his age, even then, yet the era had not come for man to conceive of a heaven fundamentally different from the heaven known to those people. This was the introduction which I gave to the Chinese communists who visited me a few years ago. And they wanted a proof of God, God’s existence.
So I told them that so far you agree, that is correct. And they said, yes, this is correct. I said now you can also take a step further and imagine that if a scientific era has dawned, there is a relationship between the man of that age and the jump of his imagination. And that relationship is a constant relationship that cannot be broken. For instance, I explained to him that in the pre-atomic era, those who wrote science fiction, their imagination also took jumps, wild jumps. But those jumps had relation to their own scientific era, not to the atomic era. Now you can also take jumps in future, just wild jumps in every direction. And those jumps would be related to atomic era, but a further remote era for time from this time. But if a new era dawns tomorrow, which we don’t know, our imagination simply cannot take jumps in that direction from a platform which is not provided to man.
So the inference, the safe inference which one can draw is this, that one’s imagination can take jumps into future, but those jumps are always related to the platform of knowledge provided to that era. So if a man takes a jump into future, which has completely no bearing, no relationship with the era of that knowledge, knowledge of that era, not only that, but he skips many other eras in between and begins talking of something which happens farther away. How can you explain that, that phenomena? I told him that is one thing, but that is not all.
The more interesting thing about this is that in science fiction, sometimes, like H.G. Wells and some others, people have conjectured a situation of the future, but out of a thousand chances they took, just one came to be true. And 999 proved to be wrong by the future as it unfolded. But I am talking of a completely different phenomena. I told them that I am talking of a phenomena where whenever a jump is taken into future, 100% that jump is in the right direction and reaches the right goal. Is that possible for man to do? I told him, I asked him.
Both of them were very much puzzled because they knew they were being cornered. But they were not like our Maulvis. They had enough courage and honesty to accept the truth where they saw it. To some extent, of course, they did. Particularly the gentleman, I was impressed by his honesty. He said, so far what you are saying is correct. But the wife put in that Mao Zedong has also been talking of future. So has Marx, so has Engels. So what of that? So I told her that look here, if you have understood me correctly, this question shouldn’t have arisen. You know that Engels and Marx took the jump into future. But that jump was from the platform of knowledge available to them. It was the 19th century philosophy that provided that platform. Had that philosophy not preceded them, they simply could not have conceived of communist philosophy at all. And then the industrial age of that time. And then the renaissance. And then the trade system.
All these things work together to make them take a jump into future. So they conceive a world of future related to their own time. I said give me one example of Mao Zedong, where he conceives of a future which has no relation to his present day knowledge. Then she had to keep quiet. But she was the most staunch of the two in communism. Anyway, once it was all settled, then I started telling them things which Hazrat Muhammad Mustafa sallallahu alaihi wasallam had been told in the Holy Quran about the future. Or the future knowledge of man, I should say. Not just what may happen. I told them the future knowledge of man, that knowledge would be gained and that would verify the facts which were told to Hazrat Muhammad Mustafa sallallahu alaihi wasallam.
One of these facts was that the whole mankind of that age was of one opinion. There was no second opinion about it. That the earth was stationary and it formed the center of the universe and all the heavenly parchments were revolving around this center. So they said, yes, this is correct. I said, but the Holy Quran says, that you see the mountains and you think that they are stationary. While they are not. They are moving, they are floating like clouds in the heavens. So, this is a beautiful verse and it cannot be interpreted in any other way than the fact that the earth is moving.
Because the Holy Quran tells us that you see the mountains and you believe, you think that they are stationary. While we tell you they are not. And they are revolving or floating without effort. You know, the anomaly of clouds speaks volumes about this whole phenomenon. That they are moving, floating quietly around as if the clouds are moving around the earth. So the mountains are moving. Now if the earth was stationary, how would mountains be moving? So, it is also a beautiful expression because people of that age were not agitated. They didn’t understand the meaning of this. But had the Holy Quran spoken of the earth moving, then they would have started raising objections against it. To prove it, this is wrong and all this is unbelievable and all that. So the manner of saying was so subtle, that it carried a message for the man of future, yet it did not irritate the sensibilities of the man of that age.
So that is something very interesting and strange. It has no bearing with the knowledge of that age. Second I told him, that as there is no room for any earth being found in the universe of that man, other than this earth. In the universe of that man I mean, the universe of the imagination of man of that age. He had an imagination of the universe and it went on changing from time to time as the man progressed. So in his imagination of the universe, the contemporary of Muhammad Mustafa sallallahu alaihi wasallam, that man had not conceived of any possibility of an earth being situated outside this earth, other than this earth. So they said yes, they agreed.
Particularly the husband I noticed was quite emphatic in his agreement in this respect. But the wife was a bit lukewarm and later on she showed her reaction too. So I said there is a verse which says, وَمِنْ آيَاتِهِ خَلْقُ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ وَمَا بَسَّ فِيهِ مَا مِنْ No, no, I am sorry, I am talking of the other verse. The whole verse I don’t remember, but it says, وَمِنْ الْأَرْضِ خَلْقُ مِثْلَهُنَّ That we have created, it is one of the signs of Allah, that Allah has created seven heavens. And also earths of the same number or alike, of the same type. Now this is very interesting. مِثْلَهُنَّ is a word rich in meaning. It opens many possibilities. It only says that also Allah has created earth. Earths, more earths. مِثْلَهُنَّ, like them. Now if heaven was just a parchment spread out around the earth, then it could not be like the earth. To say that heaven, earth was, other earths were created like the heavens. That means that earth itself was something like heaven. And heaven was something like earth. That is, there were many bodies like earth, many globes floating in the heaven, and that concept of that plastic cover is completely rejected by this verse.
Secondly, it has been translated by many of the earlier scholars and later scholars as well, to mean that مِثْلَهُنَّ refers to the number of heavens. As Allah has created more than one heavens, so Allah has created more than one earth. So there are many earths. And مِثْلَهُنَّ again can cover the type of earth which we find here, that is, its capabilities and its potentials. So when the Holy Quran says there are earths other than this earth, which are similar to this earth, because مِثْلَهُنَّ refers to the heaven, as well as those earths are similar to this earth, what would that mean? That would mean that if other earths are created like this earth, and they are spread in the heavens, and the whole nature of the heavens is like the earth, this is the full meaning, then those earths should have the same potential and qualities which this present earth possesses. That also means that there is a possibility of life being developed, not exactly in the same lines, but there is a possibility of life being developed there, which may take different directions from the direction taken by evolution on this earth. Yet it is similar, that phenomena is similar.
Now this is just a possibility. Positively it is not said. And one can say that you are extending the scope of مِثْلَهُنَّ, similar to them, too far, beyond the scope which was meant by the Holy Quran itself. Perhaps you are putting words in the mouth of the Holy Quran. But we have another verse, which further explains the phenomena and supports this view, when it was said that مِثْلَهُنَّ, similar earths were created elsewhere, that did mean that there was a possibility of life being found on those places as well. And that was the last verse which you referred to. وَمِنْ آيَاتِهِ خَلْقُ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ وَمَا بَثَّ فِيهِ مَا مِنْ دَابْبَةٍ وَهُوَ عَلَى جَمِّهِمْ إِذَا يَشَاءُ قَدِيرٌ وَمِنْ آيَاتِهِ From among the signs of Allah is this, that He created the heavens and the earth. وَمَا بَثَّ فِيهِ مَا مِنْ دَابْبَةٍ And this sign, that He has spread life in both the heaven and the earth. And the word used for life is daabba. Life in English covers the animal life and every other type of life as well. But daabba has a limited sense. Daabba means the zoological life, not the botanical life. And daabba means the life we find on this earth, not the type of life which is possessed by angels or so-called jinn or ghosts or other such ethereal beings. Daabba in Arabic is not applicable to such types of life.
So it is a word very limited in spectrum. It covers only the zoological life as we see, which has a motor system and it moves about. All the life we find like insects and other animals, all are covered, even the birds and man of course. So that shows that Allah, the Holy Quran is telling us that He has created heavens of such a nature, not parchments, but of such a nature where life could exist. And not only that, but life does exist there. So I told them that this is something which even the man of today cannot declare positively, cannot assert that there does exist life outside the life found on this earth. So this is very strange, this is something to be fulfilled. But man has reached a stage where he is conceiving the possibilities.
But the Holy Quran doesn’t stop there, because it is the book of future as well. It is a book which is going to suffice man till the day of judgement, I mean till the day when the whole man is annihilated. So I told him, it further says, وَلَّهُ عَلَى جَمِعِهِمْ وَهُوَ عَلَى جَمِعِهِمْ إِذَا يَشَاءُوا قَدِيرٌ When Allah so desires, He will bring the life on this earth and the life found on the heaven together one day. Here Allah doesn’t say if, I am sorry I said if. Allah tells us when Allah so desires. So if is a comparatively thin possibility. And when is not a possibility, is a declaration pertaining to future. We don’t know what time it will be, but we know that this will happen. When you want to say that, then isa is used in Arabic or when is used in English. So it is not if, that if Allah so desires, He will create. That is just an open possibility either way.
But the Holy Quran says, وَلَّهُ عَلَى جَمِعِهِمْ إِذَا يَشَاءُوا قَدِيرٌ Which is a definite item of news and it pertains to future. So I said, the man so far has not found the positive proof of life’s existence elsewhere. The Holy Quran says that life not only exists, both the types of life found here and elsewhere, one day would be brought together by Allah. It doesn’t say whether the meeting would take place on earth, or man would reach those places in the heaven and meet the life there. But meet the way, that is positive. So that was the subject of discussion.
