The Universe Seen and Unseen!
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Bismillah Ir-Rahman, Ir-Raheem. I begin with ALLAH's auspiciousness, whose Name is the Best among all the names. All Revences, All Sanctities and All Worships are due to ALLAH alone. Ashahadu An Laa illaaha illal llahu
Wa Ash Hadu Anna Muhammadan Abdu Hu Wa Rasooluhu
''I bear witness that there is no deity but Allah
who is without partner, and I bear witness that Muhammad (Peace be upon Him) is the Rasool.''
"O Allah, Shower Your Peace come upon Muhammad and the family of Muhammad, as you have brought peace to Ibrahim and his family.
Truly, You are Praiseworthy and Glorious. O Allah, Shower your blessing upon Muhammad and the family of Muhammad, as you have blessed Ibrahim and his family. Truly, You are Praiseworthy and Glorious". Iam Satisfied with Allâh as My Rabb and Cherisher,Iam Satisfied With Islam as My Din(religion) and I am satisfied with Muhammad as a Rasulallah (Messenger)sallallahu alaihi was salam) I seek Protection with ALLAH! With the Glorious and Noble Face of ALLAH! With the Complete and Perfect words of ALLAH! With the Exalted Attributes of ALLAH! From the Punishment of Hell; From chastisement in the Grave; From the Trial of Life and Death; From the Mischief of the dajjal. There is no power nor strength with (anyone) save Allah. ALLAH is Good and Only accept that which is Good. ALLAH is the Truth and only accept that which True. ALLAH is Pure and only accept that which is Pure. Ya ALLAH! ALL the praises are for You,You are the Holder of the Heavens and the Earth, And whatever is in them. Ya ALLAH! All praises are for You; You are are the Substaner of the Heavens and the Earth And whatever is in them. Ya ALLAH! All the praises are for you;You have the Possession of the Heavens and the Earth and whatever is in them. Ya ALLAH! All the praises are for You; You are Light(Nur) of the Heavens and Earth And whatever is in them. Ya ALLAH! All praises are for You; You are the King of the Heavens and the Earth And whatever is in them. Ya ALLAH! All praises are for You; You are the Truth and Your Promise is the Truth, And Your word is the Truth and the Meeting with You is true, And Parardise is True And Hell is true and All the Prophets(peace be upon them) are true; And Muhammad Rasulallah(sallallahu alayhi wa salam) is true,And the Day of Resurrection is True. Ya ALLAH! You have promise and Your promise is the truth,Ya ALLAH! You have promise and Your words is the truth, Ya ALLAH! You have promise and You are the Truth!. Ya ALLAH! You have created Rasulallah(sallallahu alayhi wa salam) to be the most truthful of men and what He(sallallahu alayhi wa salam) has said is the absolute truth! Ya ALLAH! You have promise that You would send one who would revive, restore, rejuvevate Your Din(religion).Ya ALLAH it is geting late and time is not with us,Ya ALLAH You have Promise! Ya ALLAH You have Promise! and Your Promise is the Truth!.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------The Almighty says in the Qur'an:"Are ye the harder to create, or is the heaven that He built? He raised the height thereof and perfected it." Al-Qur'an (79:27,28) Heaven and the genesis of planets The Almighty says in the Qur'an:("It is He who created the heavens and the earth in true (proportions): the day He saith, "Be," behold! it is. His word is the truth.)(6:73)--- "Then He directed Himself to the heaven and it had been (as)smoke, and said unto it and unto the earth: Come both of you, willingly or unwillingly."They said: "We do come (together), in willing obedience."So He completed them as seven firmaments in two Days, and He assigned to each heaven its duty and command. And We adorned the lower heaven with lights, and (provided it) with guard. Such is the Decree of (Him) the Exalted in Might, Full of Knowledge. Al-Qur'an(41: 11-12). Astronomers say that the bodies of the sky, the stars and the planets,the galaxies were originally a hazy, like smoke, matter, called a nebula. ALLAH left this as a sign in the Heavens that Even now we can see something that looks like smoke in deep space, stars consist of this matter, and the nebula consists of light gases(like smoke) in which are suspended tiny particles of solid matter, that making up a dark mass and deep space. This correspond with the Qur'anic word/ smoke', mentioned in the above verse. --Moving planets--- Ibn Al-Qayyim says: Consider then the handiwork of Allah in creating the heavens, their loftiness, roundness, and vastness; the excellence of their structure; the wonders of the sun, the moon, planets and galaxies; their dimensions and shapes; the variety of their risings and settings.----No atom separates from a mass without there being wisdom in it. The heavens are more splendid in their structure and in the subtlety of their building than man's body; all the wonders of the earth are insignificant compared to those of the heavens.----But what is this Earth,This World in comparison to what ALLAH has created out there? This Earth, This World is insignificant! This World is meaningless to ALLAH! It means nothing!_ It is worthless! It is so worthless! Compare it with the Sun! The Sun is one Star!-Take this planet Earth! And you place it inside the Sun and you will be able to place 1.3 million Earths in the Sun! 1.3 million Earths in the Sun!(ALLAH-U-AKBAR) ALLAH IS THE GREATEST)! The Sun is one Star! One Star! There are Stars out there which are Millions of times bigger than that Sun that we see everyday. And it takes millions and Millions of stars to make one Galaxy! And that there are zillions of Galaxies out there!---- --------It takes millions and millions of stars to make one galaxy! And there are zillions of galaxies out there! After all of this and whatever you see above! what ever you see above, when you raise your head and look through a powerful telescope, whatever you see above! There are zillions, zillions, zillions of galaxies!Every thing you see and donot see! All of that is within the first Heaven! All of that is within the first Heaven!(SubhanALLAH!) And ALLAH is the Creator of seven Heavens! Seven Heavens!---After the Seven Heavens!-You have the Kursi of ALLAH,You have the chair of ALLAH! -His Kursi extends over the Heaven and Earth! We all read the ayatul Kursi! When we compari the Seven Heavens to the Kursi of ALLAH! There is no comparison Rasulullah(Sallallahu alayhi wa salam) has given an example in a Hadith! Just to give us a little bit of understanding with regards to the Seven Heavens! The seven Heavens compared to the Kursi of ALLAH! Take a ring from your finger!Take it off the small ring that you have and place it, Let's say in a desert! The Sahara desert its the biggest desert in the World! Now place the ring in the Sahara Desert,What comparison is in between the ring and the Sahara Desert Nothing! Nothing! The seven Heavens is the ring and the Kursi of ALLAH is the Sahara Desert! After the kursi of ALLAH! You have the Arsh(Throne) of ALLAH! You have the Arsh(Throne) of ALLAH ! And again This is explained just so we can understand! Take the ring and place it in the Desert. This time the ring is the Kursi and the Arsh is the Desert! Now what is the Kursi incomparison to the Arsh of ALLAH? There is no comparison! Then you have Angels that carry the Arsh (Throne) of ALLAH!
7. Those who sustain the Throne (of Allah. and those around it Sing Glory and Praise to their Rabb; believe in Him; and implore Forgiveness for those who believe: "Our Rabb! Thy Reach is over all things, in Mercy and Knowledge. Forgive, then, those who turn in Repentance, and follow Thy Path; and preserve them from the Penalty of the Blazing Fire!
8. "And grant, our Rabb that they enter the Gardens of Eternity, which Thou hast promised to them, and to the righteous among their fathers, their wives, and their posterity! For Thou art (He), the Exalted in Might, Full of Wisdom.
9. "And preserve them from (all) ills; and any whom Thou dost preserve from ills that Day,- on them wilt Thou have bestowed Mercy indeed: and that will be truly (for them) the highest Achievement" (Surah40:7-8-9)The Angels that carry the Arsh (Throne) of ALLAH! Their heads are in the Seventh Heaven and their feet are in the lowest Earth!
-----------------ALLAH has will our existence In the grand scheme of things, whether we are grateful and ungrateful will determine if we are significant or insignificant in the sight of ALLAH! "In The Grand Scheme of things"
It's a variation from "in the scheme of things", meaning in light of how things – all things – generally work. In the religious sense, the scheme is seen as ALLAH's scheme, His great plan for everything. Otherwise it's just an overview of the overall situation. In other words, it's the bigger picture.
In the Grand scheme of things, Indeed, the Earth itself is insignificant compared to a galaxy in the scheme of things, for example, in that it's a small piece of rock hurtling in the solar system, which itself is in fact a - insignificant system in comparison to other systems in this galaxy among in numerous other galaxies in the whole universe... this Earth is as insignificant, as a grain of sand on a vast desert ,or on a beach or a drop of water from the ocean, humans are on that tiny rock ,in that tiny solar system in a Gigantic Galaxy, among gigantic galaxies ,when looking through a powerful telescope into the vastness of space, Men are able to see how insignificant this Earth is and how insignificant he is on the earth, in the vast scheme of things, and If a Muslim prays to Allah and seeking His help, his affliction will be alleviated. If he does not seek the help of Allah, he will become insignificant, he will be left suffering. Thus Allah says, "Say (O Prophet), had it not been for your prayers unto Him, my Rabb would care not for you." (25:77)taking one individual who's praying to ALLAH that one who created the Universe and the Seven heavens and their vastness, How insignificant this world is, and how insignificant Man is standing before ALLAH, The ALL- Powerful Rabb! The Originator, The Planner, The Fashioner, The Designer, The Maker, The Architect of The Heavens and the Earths,We are talking about the Rabb of the universe and beyond! The human being prayers make him significant before ALLAH! So how can the human heart have anything other than a profound love, respect and great humility before ALLAH. Will such a Rabb who is the Owner of Might , Glory and Honor, who is over the entire creation, Seen and unseen, known and unknown who is far beyond anything that we can comprehend. Will He accept us being such insignificant creatures? Who are full of weakness and shortcomings. “Here, humans are being discussed with respect to all species and in terms of the cosmos as a whole. After all, we are just a small part of what's going on with the Nature of the Earth. The fact that all nations and communities throughout history believed in a Creator (with the exception of insignificant few) made the mission of all prophets in all ages concentrate on guiding their people away from the worship of creations to the worship of The One and Only Creator ALLAH. The Prophets(The anbiya)may ALLAH be pleased with them and the Rasuls(The Messengers)may ALLAH be pleased with them came with the guidance and exemplify that guidance and showed men how to live on this Earth and take care of it, and how achieve excellence in doing so. But man as a whole never reach that state of Excellence, and now our time has ran out)Man's ego make him think that he is a significant creature in this universe, but the truth of the matter is that, it is a possibility that in the grand scheme of things man is the most insignificant and the most primitive creature in this universe. It was just yesterday that Men was telling other men that the Earth was flat. They were ignorant than and even more so now!!! With all the human accomplishments, The situation now in the world is different because there's so much turmoil, unrest and oppression and now a very large number of people who do not believe in a Creator or in life after death these people has become insignificant in the sight of ALLAH, and significant in the eyes of men, because they have turn away from ALLAH, The One who gives them dignity from the very beginning of man's creation, who gives him these ability, the one who created him, the one who gives life to him, now man(the human being) is turning away from ALLAH, too the darkness of homosexuality and every kind of wickedness and superstition there is! This shows Great ignorance, Great arrogance on the part of men! This is the attitude of satan, the rejected enemy! And this attitude makes men more insignificant in the sight of ALLAH, than anything else. Then man become a worthless creature. But Man becomes a significant creature in the sight of ALLAH when he becomes obedient and shows humility before ALLAH .---When we compare our lifespans, wherein our lives unfold, to the age of the earth or to the visible universe as we look through telescopes. Of nearly fourteen billion years, it seems our lives seen less significant than a drop of water in an endless ocean. To today’s materialists life holds little significance beyond that of selfish greed. To believers in Allah and His Oneness (tawhid), that grant us the opportunity of knowing Allah and of worshiping Him. Allah stresses in the Qur’an, I only created jinn and men that they may worship Me. [51:56]
The famous Quranic exegesis (mufassir), Mujahid, explained Allah’s words: “that they may worship Me (illa li ya‘budun)” to mean: “that they may know (Him) (illa li ya‘rifuni).”1 The rationale here being pretty straightforward, which is that we can’t worship Allah without first having knowledge of Him. --- Ibn Rajab al-Hanbali wrote: ‘Allah created creation in order that they may worship Him, with love, fear and hope and having firm knowledge of Him. Allah, exalted is He, declares: I created jinn and men only that they may worship Me. However, Allah, transcendent is He, can only be worshiped after knowing Him. This is why He created the heavens, the earth and whatever is between them, as pointers to His oneness and majesty. Allah informs: Allah it is who has created seven heavens, and of the earth a similar number. His command descends throughout them, that you may know Allah has power over everything and that He encompasses all things in knowledge. [65:12]‘2-- So here we are told that the whole of creation was created li ta‘lamu – “that you may know” Allah, and know that His Command courses throughout creation and that His omnipotence and omniscience envelop all things. This, then, forms the infinite wisdom behind why creation was created: to know Allah; know He is One, Utterly unique, The sole Rabb, The Creator and Controller of creation, and that none deserves to be worshiped except Him. ----- When speaking about Allah, In the language of Islam and of its learned ones often make reference to the term, ma‘rifatu’Llah – having ma‘rifah of ALLAH.
Ma’rifah (Arabic:),which literally means knowledge, is the term used by Sufi Muslims to describe mystical intuitive knowledge of spiritual truth reached through ecstatic experiences, rather than revealed or rationally acquired –Ma’rifah (which is derived from the word ‘arafa: “to know”, “to be acquainted”) may be translated as: knowledge of ALLAH. It is of varying degrees and tends to refer to knowledge which has been arrived at through reflection and contemplation, and then internalised and experienced by the heart and the senses. In other words, ma‘rifah is experiential knowledge (sometimes translated as “gnosis”). Gnosis generally signifies a spiritual knowledge or "religion of knowledge"or spiritual enlightenment, in the sense of mystical enlightenment or "insight". --------The deeper the reflection, the profounder the ma‘rifah. ----- Whilst elaborating on the following hadith: “Know Allah in times of prosperity and He will know you in times of adversity,” Ibn Rajab said:
A person’s ma‘rifah of his Rabb(having knowledge of his Rabb) is of two degrees: Firstly, a general ma‘rifah that entails acknowledging, affirming and believing in Him(ALLAH).- Indeed, in the creation of the heavens and earth, and the alternation of the night and the day, and the [great] ships which sail through the sea with that which benefits people, and what Allah has sent down from the heavens of rain, giving life thereby to the earth after its lifelessness and dispersing therein every [kind of] moving creature, and [His] directing of the winds and the clouds controlled between the heaven and the earth are signs for a people who use reason. - This degree of ma‘rifah is common to every Muslim. Secondly, a more specific type of ma‘rifah which causes hearts to incline completely to ALLAH, be devoted to Him, seek intimacy in Him, be at peace whenever remembering Him, feel shy before Him and be in awe of Him. This level of ma‘rifah is the type around which the knowers of Allah (‘arifun) revolve. One of them said: “The paupers of this world have departed from it without having tasted the sweetest thing in it.” Someone inquired: What is the sweetest thing in it? He said: “Ma‘rifah of Allah--( Mystical Intuitive Knowledge of ALLAH ); mighty and majestic is He.” Ahmad b. ‘Asim al-Antaqi said: “I wish not to die until I attain to ma’rifah of my Rabb. I don’t mean a ma‘rifah in terms of merely believing in Him. But a ma‘rifah such that, when I know Him, And by drawing near to Him, by His grace and mercy, I feel shy before Him.” ------‘In the Qur’an, Allah invites His servants to attain ma‘rifah in two ways: The one, by contemplating the creation. The other, by meditating upon the Qur’an and contemplating its meanings. The first are His signs that are seen and witnessed; the second, His signs that are read and understood.’---------Contemplating the Maker’s handiwork in creation enables us, to a great extent, to admire His wisdom, splendor and sublime power. This, in turn, inspires humility, reverence and love of ALLAH in the human hearts. For the natural world is like a mirror, itself beautiful while reflecting an even greater beauty of Allah’s creation. So if the starry heavens elicit in us a sense of awe; if a newly sprung red rose evokes in us a sense of beauty; if the solemn stillness of an autumn woodland kindles in us a sense of sublimity, then how much more awesome, beautiful and sublime must the Creator of such things be! Far beyond anything we can comprehend. Appreciating the splendor of the creation and being enchanted by it is, therefore, a means of having some knowledge of the still greater splendor of ALLAH its Maker.) Ibn al-Qayyim tells us, along with knowing Allah via His revelation, precisely this!- As for the Qur’an, in demonstrating Allah’s tawhid, it depicts a vivid portrayal of Allah. This is so we may attain a more immediate awareness of Him, through pondering over His acts and attributes of perfection, by which He makes Himself known. When the Qur’an depicts such attributes – like when it says that Allah is The Most Kind, The Most Merciful ,The Most wise, The just,The majestic, The omnipotent, The most generous, The compassionate, The loving and oft-forgiving-"He(ALLAH) is the Master Who is perfect in His Sovereignty,
- The Most Noble Who is perfect in His nobility,
- The Most Magnificent Who is perfect in His magnificence,
- The Most Forbearing Who is perfect in His forbearance,
- The All-Knowing Who is perfect in His knowledge, and
- The Most Wise Who is perfect in His wisdom.
- He(ALLAH) is the One Who is perfect in all aspects of nobility and authority.
He is Allah, glory be unto Him. These attributes are not befitting anyone other than Him. He has no coequal and nothing is like Him. Glory be to Allah, The One, The Irresistible.''
– The Holy Quran said Allah possesses such qualities in utter perfection. This ‘divine disclosure’ is, again, aimed at inspiring hearts to incline to Allah in reverence, awe and loving submission.
Therefore, amidst the dramas of the world, and amidst its songs of joy and sorrow, the Qur’an asks each of us to know our Maker and to live out our lives in conscious awareness of Him. Those who worship Allah with such awareness, and in accordance with Islam’s Sacred Law or Shari‘ah, are led by it to an even deeper awareness. So it is that Allah, in His overwhelming generosity and perfect grace, elevates those who are imperfect, weak and ignorant, yet they strive to subdue their lower souls, open their hearts to His light(Nur) and seek to know and draw closer to Him.
Ya Allah! We bag of You to deepen our ma‘rifah(our knowledge of You, and fill our hearts with faith(Iman), devotion and Love for You)
and awe of You, grant us sincerity in our
worship of You, and please do not deprived us
of Your shade; on the Day there
shall be no shade
but Yours.
Amin.------("O Muslim people please make Dua for Me, Your Brother in Din of ALLAH, k.ibrahim, That ALLAH increase our Faith(IMAN) and devotion, And grant me a Good Muslim wife,who has knowledge of Din!And grant me a home of safety security and peace Amin!([email protected])--------------------------- PLEASE MAKE DUA FOR ME!"-----Glory be to ALLAH, and Blessed is Your Majesty.
And,there is nothing worthy of worship except ALLAH
Ya ALLAH! enable us to be grateful for the Favors that you have bestowed upon us!Ya ALLAH! This is Your Slave k.ibrahim begging at Your Door! I am in need of a home, Ya ALLAH Grant us a Home of safety,Security and peace ,A home Lawful,Good and Purified by Your Grace! in this world life,out of the reach of your enemies and out of the reach of my enemies. Ya ALLAH! We are in need of a Home of safety,Security and peace ,A Home Lawful,Good and Purified by Your Grace! in the Life Hereafter,out of the reach of the Fire of Hell! Ya Arhamar Rahemeen, Ya Arhamar Rahemeen, Ya Arhamar Rahemeen!Ya AR-Razzaq! Ya Ar-Razzaq! Ya Ar-Razzaq. ALLAH is Ar Razzaq,
And, Glorified is He,
"The Provider" of all sustenance and Bounty."For, it is He who has everything in His care! Amin!"
Our "Creator," Our "Sustainer!"
"The Sustainer of the Heavens and the Earth! Amin!
------ Let us read about the Creation in the Noble Qur'an: "Are ye the harder to create, or is the heaven that He built? He raised the height thereof and ordered it." (79: 27- 28) "Lo! in the creation of the heaven and the earth, and the difference of night and day, and the ships which run upon the sea with that which is of use to men, and the water which Allah sends down from the sky, thereby reviving the earth after its death, and dispersing all kinds of beasts therein, and in the ordinance of the winds, and the clouds obedient between heaven and earth, are signs of Allah's sovereignty for people who have sense." (2: 164) In the above verse He gives priority to the heavens. This occurs again in another verse: "Lo! In the creation of the heavens and the earth and in the difference of the night and day are tokens of His sovereignty for men of understanding." (3: 190) Verses like the above abound in the Qur'an. The entire volume of the earth, the oceans, the atmosphere and all beneath the soil and, when compared to the heavens themselves, like a drop of water compared to the volume of the sea. Hence ALLAH, mentions of the heavens throughout the Qur'an occurs again and again, their vastness and enormity; swearing by them, calling men to contemplate them, or guiding them to find in the heavens evidence of the majesty of their Builder and Raiser; or referring to their creation to prove the Qur'an's description of the hereafter and resurrection; The Rabb may mention His controlling of the heavens to confirm His Oneness, that He is Allah, beside Whom there is no other god, or may refer to their splendour, compactness, and the integration of their parts, without any rifts, to assert the perfection of His wisdom and ability. The Qur'an also often mentions the planets, the sun, the moon, and all the wonders of their creation, of which men can but discern a small part. Time and time again, the Qur'an would swear by these bodies, such as in the following verses: "By the heaven, holding mansions of the stars;" (85: 1 ) "By the heaven and the morning star!" (86: 1 ) "And [by] the heaven and Him Who built it;" (91:5) "By the sun and his brightness;" (91: 1) "By the star when it sets;" (53 1) "O, but I swear by the planets;" (81: 15). The last -mentioned are the planets which are partly hidden at rising, racing along their orbits at their zenith, and then moving towards their setting; so the Qur'an swears by them in all three phases. No other creation of the Rabb's is more used to swear by than the heaven, the stars, the sun and the moon. When the Almighty swears by any of His creations, he does that on account of the significance and wonder that object represents, pointing to the Rabb's power. The more remarkable and compelling as a sign, the more a particular creation is used as an object of oath in comparison with other creations. The wording of the oath will also be emphatic in this case, as we can see in the following verses: "Nay, I swear by the places of the stars - And lo! that verily is a tremendous oath, if ye knew - " (56: 75) The word planets, 'nujoom', in the above verses means most likely the stars in the sky, rather than the verses of the Qur'an, as some claim, because this is the sense that naturally comes to mind when the word is mentioned, and because the word 'nujoom' is never in the Qur'anic style used in reference to the verses of the Qur'an, not even once. So, there is good reason to take the word to refer to the 'location of stars', especially as the word 'nujoom' has been used to refer to planets throughout the Qur'an; and identical oaths are used, when the Qur'an swears by the setting of the star, in the following verse: "By the star when it sets," (53: 1). The exegesis we have chosen is in fact that accepted by the majority of exegesists. Besides, the Rabb swears by the Qur'an itself, not by the way it is conveyed to Allah's servants, as may be seen in the following verses, among others: "Sad. By the renowned Qur'an/' (38: 1); "Ya Sin. By the wise Qur'an," (36: 1-2); "Qaf. By the glorious Qur'an," (50: 1) "Ha Mim! By the Scripture which makes plain (43: 1-2); To conclude, the Almighty uses certain creations of His as signs that speak of His Rabbship and Oneness, I swear by the positions of stars A primitive observer will think that stars are close to us, that if he climbed a mountain he might be able to touch some of them. This was the attitude of Pharaoh of Egypt when he declared, as recounted by the Qur'an: "O Haman! Build for me a tower that haply 1 may reach the roads, - The roads of the heavens, and may look upon the God of Moses,..." (40: 36-27). The scientific progress, however, has revealed the distances of stars, which were unknown to humans over the ages. The sun, for instance, is 93 million miles from us (150 .million km), a distance that light travelling at a speed of 300 km/sec covers in eight minutes. Light covers the distance between the nearest star to earth in four and a quarter years. Some stars are hundreds of light years away from us (i.e. light takes a hundred years to cover the distance from that star to the earth), some are thousands of light years away, some are millions of light years away, some are 340 millions of light years away, and some are many more zillion of light years away! Does not this reveal to us new meanings, unknown to previous generations, of the following verses: "Nay, I swear by the places of the stars - And lo! that verily is a tremendous oath, if you but knew -" (56:74-75) Universe - Earth,Mars ,Saturn, Venus Sun Jumtfer Mercury Uranus | Pluto The Solar System Our Solar System consists of orbiting planets, their moons, the comets and the meteors, all rotating along elliptical (oval) orbits, all in one direction round the sun, and revolving around their axes in the same direction, from east to west. All planets are dark in themselves, but they reflect the sun's light. The planets, in the order of their closeness to the Sun are: Mercury, Venus, the Earth, Mars; then there are some small planetlets; then there are the gaseous planets Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. Lastly, there is the planet Pluto. The virtue of contemplating the heavens and the earth The Rabb compliments in His Book those who contemplate the creation of the heavens and the earth, while He reviles those who fail to do that. This may be seen, for instance, in the following verse: "And We have made the sky a roof withheld from them. Yet they turn away from its portents/' (21: 32) Reflect then on the greatest of roofs , the heaven, and its solidity, strength and cohesiveness, despite its being Like smoke, or water vapour. The heavens are described in the Qur'an in the following verses: "And We have built above you seven strong heavens/' (78: 12) "Are you the harder to create, or is the heaven that he built?" (79: 27) "And We have made the sky a roof withheld from them/' (21:32) Look, then, at that sublime structure, strong and overarching, raised by the Rabb to such a lofty place, and adorned by the most spectacular adornment, and abounding with so many wonders and signs. All this was first begun from water vapour which rose like smoke. This was well expressed in a couplet: Glory be to Him who is not duly appreciated by His creation. Who, established upon the throne, is Single and One. He did lay down for His creatures various landmarks, and erected for them compelling signs, and made clear for them the most evident of pointers, so that those who are destined to perish should perish by clear proof of His sovereignty, and those who survive should survive by clear evidence; for Allah is the Hearer, the Knower. Look, then, afresh at the sky. See its planets in their orbiting, rising and setting; its sun and moon, and diverse rising points and setting points, their tireless unceasing progress, without slowing down their movement or deflecting from their orbits. They run along their predestined orbits exactly as was designed for them, until the day their Maker wills to call them back. Notice the great number of stars and planets, their dimensions and their colours; some reddish, some whitish, and some greyish. Look now at the progress of the sun in its orbit during a year, and its rising and setting every day along a route that its Rabb has determined for it, so that it will never exceed it or fall short of it. Had it not been for its rising and setting we would not have known day from night,---- nor would it be possible for us to know time. There would be permanent darkness over the world, or there would be eternal light; it would not be possible to assign a time for sleep and rest and another time for work. ---------Say: See ye? If Allah were to make the night perpetual over you to the Day of Judgment, what god is there other than Allah, who can give you enlightenment? Will ye not then hearken? -----Say: See ye? If Allah were to make the day perpetual over you to the Day of Judgment, what god is there other than Allah, who can give you a night in which ye can rest? Will ye not then see? It is out of His Mercy that He has made for you Night and Day,- that ye may rest therein, and that ye may seek of his Grace;- and in order that ye may be grateful.(28:71-72-73)