Stars of Heaven within a Quranist Vision

Published in March 5, 2018

Translated by: Ahmed Fathy

Firstly: why has God created the stars?:

1- The magnificent celestial bodies that human beings see in heaven (i.e., planets, stars, and galaxies) with their scientific tools and devices are lamps of the lowest heaven; i.e., they are merely one detail within the larger design of the seven heavens and their overlapping ethereal Barsakh levels and the earth and its overlapping ethereal Barsakh levels. God says the following in the Quran: "We have adorned the lower heaven with the beauty of the planets." (37:6); "...And We decorated the lower universe with lamps, and for protection..." (41:12). The Quranic terms planets and lamps, of course, refer here to all stars, planets, and galaxies; i.e., to all celestial bodies in the outer space in general. 

2- This is the posed question: why has God created the earth and the seven heavens and what lies between them (i.e., planets, stars, galaxies, black-holes, and white-holes)? God has created this huge, magnificent universe only to test human beings: "It is He who created the heavens and the earth in six days - and His Throne was upon the waters-in order to test you - which of you is best in conduct..." (11:7). Are human beings able to bear this responsibility? Are they aware of it in the first place? 

3- God has created this universe with precise balance and minute calculations and measures that include everything: "...Who created everything and determined its measure." (25:2). This includes the movements of celestial bodies: "And the sun runs towards its destination. Such is the design of the Almighty, the All-Knowing. And the moon: We have disposed it in phases, until it returns like the old twig. The sun is not to overtake the moon, nor is the night to outpace the day. Each floats in an orbit." (36:38-40); and this includes other creations and creatures such as plants, renewable sources, rain, and embryos in wombs: "We spread the earth, and placed stabilizers in it, and in it We grew all things in proper measure. And in it We created livelihoods for you, and for those for whom you are not the providers. There is not a thing but with Us are its stores, and We send it down only in precise measure." (15:19-21); "And We sent down water from the sky in proper quantity, and settled it in the ground, and We are Able to take it away." (23:18); "Did We not create you from an insignificant fluid? Then lodged it in a secure place? For a known term? We measured precisely. We are the best to measure." (77:20-23).

4- This universe which has been created with precise measures and balance will be destroyed within a speed faster than the light speed within the Hour mentioned in the Quran: "To God belongs the unseen of the heavens and the earth. The coming of the Hour is only as the twinkling of the eye, or even nearer. God has power over everything." (16:77); "Everything We created is precisely measured. And Our command is but once, like the twinkling of an eye." (54:49-50).

5- Of course, scientists know little (if anything at all) about how the universe will be destroyed within a speed faster than the light speed; the Quran is the source to tell us about the features of this total destruction of the universe; this is the fate of stars and galaxies that amaze us: "When the stars are obliterated. And the sky is fractured. And the mountains are blown away." (77:8-10); "When the sun is rolled up. When the stars are dimmed. When the mountains are set in motion...When the oceans are set aflame." (81:1-6); "When the sky breaks apart. When the planets are scattered. When the oceans are exploded." (82:1-3); "When the earth is shaken with a shock. And the mountains are crushed and crumbled. And they become scattered dust." (56:4-6).  

6- Thus, God will destroy this magnificent universe when the test of all human beings ends one day within this Transient Day of Life; a new Eternal Realm within a new universe of eternal heavens and an eternal earth will be created along with Hell and Paradise; resurrected human beings will meet God to be judged and repaid for their deeds and faith: "On the Day when the earth is changed into another earth, and the heavens, and they will emerge before God, the One and Dominant Lord." (14:48). 

7- We do not know if this new universe or this Eternal Realm, which will be created after the Hour and the destruction of the current universe, would contain stars and galaxies or not.

Secondly: an overview about the scientific/miraculous Quranic verses about the stars:

  Most scientists who are amazed by stars and galaxies are heedless of the Creator; some of them may ridicule the Quranic facts about the universe. We quote some pieces of information from the wikipedia.org and Fussilat.org about stars in the points below.

1- We quote this from the Arabic page of wikipedia.org about the number of stars: (...  the human naked eye can see about 6000 stars within the ones nearer to us within our galaxy, but recent studies show that there are at least 100 billion galaxies and each of them contain the average number of 200 billion stars (as per the astronomer and author Harald Lesch of Munich University). Accordingly, there are about 10 thousand trillion stars within the known, observable universe; this is beyond the human imagination, of course, as humanity does not know the borders and magnitude of the universe; the most distant point from which some light reaches us since the Big Bang is away from us within about 13.7 billion light years ... When astronomers try to study how the universe looked like before this time, they perceive they cannot go beyond the universal horizon; no one knows what lies behind this horizon ... Yet, scientists know for sure that the universe has an amazing design of precise measures, balance, and calculations with no room at all for error ...). Note: of course, God the Creator has created the universe with precise balance, calculations, and measures, and scientists study only the known/seen level of the universe (planets, stars, and galaxies) and NOT the ethereal Barsakh levels.

2- We quote this from fussilat.org about pondering these verses: "By the sky and Al-Tariq. But what will let you know what Al-Tariq is? It is the Piercing, Knocking Star." (86:1-3): (... Stars are divided scientifically as per its color spectra,luminosity, temperature, and apparent magnitude, and our sun seems to be a medium-sized star (within the category "G") in comparison to the other stars in our galaxy. Stars have several phases; they are born within the process of condensing and fusing hydrogen into helium in high-temperature and high-pressure reactions near the core of each star, within other gases resulting from the explosions (or death) of previous gigantic stars that existed and whose light still remains for longer time ... An exploded star is turned into a huge red mass that is dwarfed gradually and turn into a white color, with huge masses like the neutron stars ... among them are the pulsating stars or pulsar which are white dwarf stars that emit electromagnetic waves detected by receiving units/stations by scientists on earth; these successive pulses are like knocking sounds; such pulses/knocks continue for millions of years until the star is suddenly silent and dwarfed ... The neutron stars cannot pierce the sky; they die suddenly, lose density, and emit Gamma rays for seconds as if one great last knock, before they turn into black-holes that suck in light and whatever comes near them with great gravitational power ... These black-holes seem to the human eye as holes pierced into the heaven; these black-holes slowdown movement and time as they pierce the heaven ...). This means that the piercing stars is the black-holes in the universe, which are phantoms without physical matter.

3- We quote this from fussilat.org about pondering these verses: "I swear by the locations of the stars. It is an oath, if you only knew, that is tremendous." (56:75-76): (... All stars seen by the human naked eye by night are located within our galaxy and the distances between them and earth remain the same; we feel as if they move because of the movement of the earth itself around its axis ... This is why the verses 56:75-76 miraculously tell us about the locations of the stars, as some of them exploded and are no longer there; we see only their lights; and some stars change their locations all the time ... In 1989, the European space Agency (ESA) launched its satellite named Hipparcos and it operated until 1993 within the mission to spot the accurate measurement of the positions of celestial objects and stars on the sky ...The resulting Hipparcos Catalogue, a high-precision catalogue of more than a million stars, was published later on. Our galaxy – the Milky Way – contains between 200 to 300 billion stars ... The atmosphere of the earth makes the measurements of the position of celestial bodies inaccurate when done by devices and machines on earth by scientists. The earth rotates around its axis with a certain tilt and the movements of the solar system (and sun and the planets that rotate around it) make any measurements inaccurate when done by scientists on earth ... The celestial bodies of our galaxy move with the speed of about 800 thousand km per hour around the galactic nucleus ... Hence, locations of stars cannot be accurately measured by devices and machines from earth; high technology was needed to put such changes into consideration ... This is an ancient science, though; the first scientist to try to measure the locations of stars was the Greek astronomer named Hipparchus (c. 190 – c. 120 BC) ... The Hipparcos Catalogue tells us only about a small sample of stars which are near our solar system; but there are no stable positions or locations of stars; all of them change their locations constantly all the time ...). In sum, we do not see the stars; rather, we see the light emitting from their changing locations. Some stars exploded millions of years ago and turned into black-holes, and they are away from earth by billions of light years, and yet, their lights still reach us; this is why God swears by the locations of the stars in 56:75-76 ant by stars themselves.

4- We quote this from fussilat.org about pondering these verses: "I swear by the planets. Which are sweeping and sunning their courses." (81:15-16): (... After long, extensive debates, in 2006, the International Astronomical Union (IAU) reached the definition of (planet) within our solar system: it is the celestial body that moves within an orbit around the sun, that has a round shape because of its gravitational force, and that has no minor planets or asteroids within its orbit; these descriptions fit the Quranic verses 81:15-16 which was revealed more than 1400 years ago and that describe planets as they sweep their way within orbits as per the definition of IAU ...).

Thirdly: Quranic scientific indications about stars which have not been pondered by scientists yet:

1- God has created the amazing stars (and all celestial bodies of outer space) only for the sake of human beings: "...and the sun, and the moon, and the stars are subservient by His command. His is the creation, and His is the command. Blessed is God, Lord of all beings." (7:54); "And He regulated for you the night and the day; and the sun, and the moon, and the stars are disposed by His command. Surely in that are signs for people who ponder." (16:12); "And it is He Who created the stars for you, that you may be guided by them in the darkness of land and sea. We thus explain the revelations for people who know." (6:97); "...And by the stars they guide themselves." (16:16).

2- Quran-believing people believe in the fact that all animate and inanimate creatures praise and glorify the Lord God in ways we cannot understand; this applies to stars: "Praising Him are the seven heavens, and the earth, and everyone in them. There is not a thing that does not glorify Him with praise, but you do not understand their praises. He is indeed Forbearing and Forgiving." (17:44); of course, human beings know very little: "...and you were given only little knowledge." (17:85).  

3- Praising the Lord God is synonymous with prostration; even stars prostrate to the Lord God: "And the stars and the trees prostrate." (55:6); "Do you not realize that to God prostrates everyone in the heavens and everyone on earth, and the sun, and the moon, and the stars, and the mountains, and the trees, and the animals, and many of the people? But many are justly deserving of punishment. Whomever God shames, there is none to honor him. God does whatever He wills." (22:18). As always, God says nothing but the Absolute Truth. Glorified be the Holy Name of our Almighty Lord God.