The seen and the unseen
June 24, 2009 by Guest Author
The seen and the unseen © Greeks Rethink
Last summer I made a resolution – not exactly an oath, but a strong resolution – to memorise the last part (the 30th part) of the Noble Qur’an by end of Ramadan.
Now, compared to the daunting task of memorising the whole book achieved by hundreds of thousands of Muslims around the world – most of which aren’t even Arab or don’t even speak Arabic, the task ahead of me seemed a humble one.
Luckily enough, I found myself advancing at a good pace and ended up memorising the 29th part too.
Two Ayas, among the many ayas in this section of the Qur’an that made me think often ever since were the deceivingly simple Ayas 38 and 39 of Surat Al-Haaqqa (The Inevitable):
“So I swear by whatsoever you see, And by whatsoever you don’t see”.
Now, when we humans swear by anything, we intend to give an extra boost of strength to our arguements.
But when Allah, the Creator of the Heavens and the Earth, in all His glory, swears by elements of His own creation, then it is to draw our attention to His glory that is manifest in those elements.
Example? Ayas 74 and 75 of Surat Al-Waqi’a, where Allah (swt) says: “So I swear by the locations of the stars. And verily, that is indeed a great oath, if you but know.”
These two Ayas – though they don’t consist a scientific miracle per se – do draw our attention to a fascinating reality: when we lift our gaze towards the sky on a clear moonless night and see that spectacular view of the stars, what we see is actually zillions of spectacular “video clips” of past events seamlessly merged together!
Only God knows what minute part of the visible heavens is actually still there; since Alpha Centauri – the closest star to us outside our solar system – is 4.37 light-years away. In other words, its light takes 4.37 years to reach us!
On the other hand, the Andromeda Galaxy is one of the farthest objects visible to the naked eye and that is approximately 2.5 million light-years away!
Now back to the two Ayas of Surat Al-Haaqqa…
Consider what a man – any man – could see at the time when the Qur’an was revealed to Prophet Muhammad (in the 7th century)… Pretty much the same as a person living nowadays could see if he were living a primitive life in a remote part of the world with no access to modern technologies.
As little as that may be, it is enough to fascinate a wise person with a reflecting mind.
But now let’s consider just some of the things that we can see nowadays that were unseen in the 7th century:
Clear images of distant stars and galaxies – thanks to powerful space telescopes.
The surface of the moon and Mars in detail – thanks to space travel and space probes.
The Earth itself – as a planet – thanks to developments in the field of aerospace.
Aerial views of continents, countries, cities and homes – thanks to the development of aeroplanes and reconnaissance satellites.
Inside views of our own (living) bodies – thanks to endoscopy.
Extreme close-ups of insects, flowers, organic tissue, cells, crystals, snow flakes, germs, etc. – thanks to light micorscopes.
The list can go on and on. Yet this is nothing but a fraction of “the unseen” (things not seen without the aid of technology).
Thus, we realise that when we take in the full meaning of these two deceivingly simple Ayas and give our minds full rein, we could spend perhaps ages just pondering, wondering and – hopefully – getting humbled by God’s awesome ability to create.
And so we also see that mankind’s “creations” (technological advancements) have only served to enhance the believers’ admiration of God’s own incomparable and immatchable creation – a fact exemplified in the following beautiful Aya (the 11th Aya of Surat Luqman):
“Such is the Creation of Allah. Now show Me what is there that others besides Him have created; nay, but the transgressors are in manifest error!”.
Thank you Sister Iman. Every thing from our own bodies to the whole Universe glorifies Allah SWT. He and only Him knows all secrets. Man indeed should humble himself infront of Allah and never forget to thank Him and praise Him. I really appreciate your article. Jazaki Allah Kheir.
Thanks but I can’t take credit for it. One of our guest authors wrote it. But eye-catching photos you added there.
beautiful
Assalamu alaikom wa rahmatu’llahi wa barakatuh,
Jazakumu’llahu kulla khair for posting this great article .
It’s a very nice article and indeed the world around us is full of “ayas” (signs/wonders) of God’s limitless ability to create.
In light of this article, I’d like to share with you a link to a video about one bizarre creature – a deep sea fish – recently discovered off the coast of California”
It has a transparent, canopy-like head – Subhana’llah!
Watch, enjoy, and glorify Allah!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RM9o4VnfHJU
Asalamu Alaykum Brother Adelfos
Thank you for your kind comment .
May Allah bless you. I find this article very beautiful myself. And I think the fish in the link you sent us was so………..I can not find the words. Allah SWT creates what He wills. Subhana Allah!
Well, I’m very glad you liked the video, dear Sister.
Being a nature lover and an amateur naturalist, I search every now and then for such wonderful videos on the net.
Here’s another link… This time to a video on a peculiar spider called the bolas spider:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2UfMJJAzvbI
When I was a young boy, I didn’t really like spiders.
But as I grew, I started appreciating them more and more as some of the most fascinating creatures of Allah SWT.
By the way, please let’s all make dua’ that Sir David Attenborough will be guided to Islam!
Wa’ssalamu alaikom wa rahmatu’llah
Asalamu Alaykum Brother Adelfe. Another perfect example of Allah’s Creation and a thubs down to the evolution theory. Allah provides for everyone one of us every second of the day with every breath we take. And then some of us forget the favours of Allah SWT. I do make dua for Sir David Attenborough and all the Non Yet Muslims to be guided. Insha Allah.
One hour study of science is better than 70 yrs of worship.
Since the definition of worship is anything that pleases Allah, as long as you make the intention, you could be studying, helping others, smiling or even sleeping and it’s counted as worship!
There’s a little difference between studying and smilling,studying and sleeping,studying and donating through the internet.
And sometimes the way to hell is paved with good intentions.
As for D.Attenborough this high priest of Darwinism,agnosticism and atheism,this companion of R.Dawkins suffers from Dementia and he will never recover.
It’s funny though, Brother Bilal, and at the same time very sad, when someone like Sir David Attenborough should increase our bewilderment and our awe towards Allah’a creation, and ultimately towards Allah (SWT) Himself, while remaining himself a high priest of all the above (all of what you had mentioned earlier).
If so then – unfortunately for him – he represents a good example of what Allah (SWT) describes as a “donkey carrying tomes (volumes of books) [which he doesn't understand]“.
And like what Brother Abdur-Raheem Green said once in one of his lectures, this man’s* basis of denying God is – like most atheists’ basis for doing so – rather emotional than scientific: “If God exists, why does He allow so much suffering, diseases, parasites, etc.?”
*Note: Brother Abdur-Raheem Green didn’t actually name anyone in particular.
May Allah guide Sir David Attenborough before it’s too late – if not for his own good, for the sheer fact that he represents a big figure in the eyes of nature lovers.
Assalamu alaikom, dear all!
The following is a link to an awazing “must see” video – it’s called “Dolphin Bubbles”:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wuVgXJ55G6Y
Subhana’llah!
Subhanallah, amazing indeed!
Thanks for sharing brother!
When I perform flexible sigmoidoscopy and the patient is awake,I use to answer to their question how to distinguish the presence of a tumour from normal tissue:the disturbance of the beauty of creation,the destruction of its fine lines and shape ,of the elegant contour and the smoothness of the mucosa inside the colon.
Images of disease are ugly and cancer even uglier.
http://www.endoatlas.com/co_ge_01.html
http://www.endoatlas.com/co_mt_02.html
He is the Master of the worlds
http://images.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http://www.manyuniverses.com/UniverseJPEG.jpeg&imgrefurl=http://www.manyuniverses.com/&usg=__vPJ9u7KyGm5PzHE0ffmZxAZVL84=&h=391&w=400&sz=44&hl=en&start=13&sig2=Iin88lcUD2nKU8VyHvDdaQ&um=1&tbnid=e9h2AnPexIy7iM:&tbnh=121&tbnw=124&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dparallel%2Buniverse%26hl%3Den%26rlz%3D1R2GGIT_en-GB%26sa%3DX%26um%3D1&ei=B_BNSp_6LIfx-QaJv-CABA
Amazing photos, amazing creation, Subhana Allah
http://news.uk.msn.com/in-pictures/gallery.aspx?cp-documentid=9773060