Qur'anic Minarets - Subtle Life on Stars

Subtle Life on Stars

Tags: Universe, Stars, Subtle body, Earth

In connection with the recognition of oneself and the universe, it is extremely important for us to reflect upon and understand through the light of the Qur'an, why in this spacious and vast universe decorated stars are found in such plenitude. Can the concept that life is found only on the planet earth and all other stars are bereft of any living creature be correct? Is every star, not a world full of subtle creatures? What does the wise Qur'an say about this? Concerning this, the following are arguments in the form of answers:

According to the wisdom-filled verse (2:22), the earth functions as the floor for humankind and the heaven, that is the surrounding space, as a ceiling. This verse is indeed applicable to every star. This creates the impression that no star is bereft of subtle creatures.
Study carefully verses (3:190-191 ), that nothing in the universe is created useless, in which case, how can the stars be useless, rather it is a fact that they are the countless worlds for the subtle life of humankind.
Not only is a human being a world, every star too, is a world. Thus, wherever in the Qur'an the word "`alamin" (worlds) has come, it means personal worlds and the stars whose Creator and Sustainer is God Himself. And in this creation, His greatest praise is in the sense that He, the One, the Self-sufficient, by His unique providence, can sustain each individual intellectually and in knowledge to such an extent that they may be a khalifah and a king on a star (24:55).
The purport of the teaching of the Qur'an itself is that the law of nature (according to which God created the universe and stars) and the nature of human beings are the same thing (30:30). This means that like human beings, stars are also born and die in different times, even though their ages are extremely long.
Nothing physical or spiritual is bereft of mercy and knowledge according to the Qur'an (6:80; 40:7). Remember that in mercy there are spiritual bounties and in knowledge, intellectual ones. Thus, if on most stars there is no physical population, it is necessary that because of mercy and knowledge, there should be the prosperity of paradise, and humankind remain happy in boundless bounties.
There is nothing and there is no such star which does not need the Divine Treasures and upon which God does not gradually send down the bounties of soul and intellect (15:21), and there is no doubt that this indirect mention is that of humankind because it is humankind who in true sense is the soul and inhabitant of the stars.
Regarding verse (16:81) it has been repeatedly mentioned that the Lord of the worlds, by His special providence, has created such shirts that protect humankind from every kind of heat and such shirts that protect them from all wars. These shirts are the subtle bodies, only after attaining them can humankind live a pleasant life of paradise in the hottest and the coldest stars.
The Qur'an alludes that where paradise is in its own place, it is spread in the length and width of the universe (3:133; 57:21) and where it is brought near (26:90; 50:31), it is in the personal world. Thus, collectively stars are the external earth of paradise, where every kind of subtle bounty is available for the astral body and nothing is lacking [there].
God's signs are the holy Imams, as He says (7:40): "Verily those who belie Our signs (ayat) and turn away in haughtiness from them, the gates of heaven shall not be opened for them, nor shall they ever enter paradise." This shows that the gates of the physical heaven and the heaven of spirituality are the gates of paradise and they can be opened only through knowledge and recognition.
The ether of the universe is the surrounding ocean, in which the stars are the great ships of God and those who embark on any one of these ships, when they attain the rank of merging in God (fana' fi'llah) and surviving in God (baqa' bi'llah) are transformed from dense into subtle body, find the stars to be the earth of paradise (55:24-27 ).
Although individual human beings are separate from each other, collectively they are called humankind or the world of humanity. Similarly, what surprise can there be if the Qur'an gives the [collective] name of 'earth' to all the stars together, and we due to our partial intellect call only our planet earth on which we live presently? Indeed, the compendium of countless stars together is the external earth of God, which for the sake of vicegerency (khilafat) and kingdom is boundlessly spacious (29:56; 39:10).
Allah's kursi, that is, the Universal Soul has comprised all the heavens and the earth (2:255), and you know that every whole is a compendium of its parts. Thus, all over the surrounding space and the stars are found the parts of the Universal Soul, which are jinns, angels and human souls. This shows that whether it is the moon, Mars or any other star, they are not bereft of subtle creatures.
During my extremely arduous hardship and spiritual exercise in China, I saw a luminous dream in which an angel in the form of a mu'min called `Abdu'l-Ahad was indicating by his hand that spiritual kingdoms are kept for the people of faith in the stars. `Abdu'l-Ahad had suffered very great financial loss, therefore he used to continue to do abundant giryah-u zari (crying, groaning and supplicating in the Divine presence).
See verse (55:33): "O the community of jinn and humankind! If you are able to pass through the margins of the heavens and the earth, pass through them, but you cannot do so without power." Here, there is a wisdom-filled invitation to go even beyond the stars and the heavens and merge in the Lord of the Throne, for which there is an extreme need for power, which is Divine remembrance, worship, knowledge and recognition.
You may have heard about merging in Allah (fana' fi'llah) and surviving in God (baqa' bi'llah). This rank is far superior and more everlasting than paradise. Thus, it is possible that a mu'min who was granted the kingdom in a paradise of a star may reach the "rank of Rizwan" (9:72) or the destination of merging [in God] (manzil-i fana') after long ages and may transcend even the need for paradise. Of course, this is the reason that the Kingdom of the supreme paradise (Firdaws-i barin) is continuously given as an inheritance (23:10-11 ) and something is called inheritance when its owner dies, whether physically or spiritually or being merged in Allah.
In verse (21:105), God has promised that His righteous servants will inherit the 'earth'. This promise of God is related to the inheritance of the earth of stars, otherwise the question would arise: "When?", whereas so many righteous servants of God have passed away from this world.
Read verse (45:13) carefully, that there is nothing in the universe which is not subjugated to the believers. Further, what is there in the heavens and the earths, that is the stars, which is not vouchsafed to His servants (14:34). In short, the earth of the stars is the earth of paradise, whose inheritors will be mu'mins.
To see oneself flying in a dream is the result of some successful worship or giryah-u zari. This alludes that tomorrow in the paradise of stars, the power to fly is going to be vouchsafed on a large scale, so that thereby travelling through the stars may be possible, as the holy Prophet saw Ja`far-i Tayyar in a dream flying in paradise.
There are many meanings to God's act of enfolding the universe and existents in His hand, wherever and whenever He does so. One of them is: God brings to an end every spatial and temporal distance; unites scattered things, joins the parts to the whole; makes a circle of azal and abad; creates everything anew; renews the creation of the universe and Adam; unifies people's souls to the Single Soul; and in such a state, it should be stated that although the stars are countless, they are one, i.e., the name of all stars together is "the earth".
God has adorned the heaven of the earth with the shining stars and has also protected against every rebellious satan (37:7). Those Satans cannot listen to the High Council [of angels], for they are pelted from every side (37:6-8 ). That is to say, the secrets of the stars are not so easy for anybody to be fully conversant with and to reach the higher world.
One more example of the existence of subtle creatures on uninhabited stars is that in the beginning when the planet earth was barren, it was inhabited by jinns. Later by removing their majority, Adam and his children were made to settle there so that the jinns would not dominate. If in the future this earth being deprived of water reservoirs becomes barren (18:8), again there will be the domination of the jinns, because this universe is based on the law of space and spatial characteristics (makaniyyat) and characteristics of a vessel (zarfiyat). Thus, no vessel can remain empty. It has to have either air, water or something else. Another reason is that when the planet earth becomes barren without water and vegetation, by that time human beings will have been transferred into the subtle body.
There is light as well as fire from the lamps of stars (67:5). That is, there is in them the light of knowledge and guidance as well as the flame of curse, just as the Chamberlain leads the King's friends to his special palace, but puts the thieves to flight as well (72:8).

Rabi` I 1410 AH/10th October, 1989 AD

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