|
(67:3-4)
YUSUFALI: He Who created the seven heavens one above
another: No want of proportion wilt thou see in the Creation
of (Allah) Most Gracious. So turn thy vision again: seest thou
any flaw?
PICKTHAL: Who hath created seven heavens in harmony. Thou
(Muhammad) canst see no fault in the Beneficent One's
creation; then look again: Canst thou see any rifts?
SHAKIR: Who created the seven heavens one above another;
you see no incongruity in the creation of the Beneficent
Allah; then look again, can you see any disorder?
YUSUFALI: Again turn thy vision a second time: (thy) vision
will come back to thee dull and discomfited, in a state worn
out.
PICKTHAL: Then look again and yet again, thy sight will
return unto thee weakened and made dim.
SHAKIR: Then turn back the eye again and again; your look
shall come back to you confused while it is fatigued.
Seven Heavens
What are the seven heavens? There is no scientific theory
that talks about seven heavens but seven heavens can be found
in mythology, such as Jewish mysticism, that predates Islam.
Ultimately, these stories of the seven heavens can be traced
back to Zoroastrian beliefs where in the Arda Viraf a story
can be found of a man ascending to heaven and passing through
the heavens to meet god. This story is very similar to
Muhammad's night journey. The first heaven (or store) is for
the stars, which is the same in Islam.
(41:12)
YUSUFALI: 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.
PICKTHAL: Then He ordained them seven heavens in two Days
and inspired in each heaven its mandate; and We decked the
nether heaven with lamps, and rendered it inviolable. That is
the measuring of the Mighty, the Knower.
SHAKIR: So He ordained them seven heavens in two periods,
and revealed in every heaven its affair; and We adorned the
lower heaven with brilliant stars and (made it) to guard; that
is the decree of the Mighty, the Knowing.
In the Arda Viraf the next two stores or heavens are for
the moon and the sun. This, again, is reflexed in the Qur'an.
(71:15-16)
YUSUFALI: "'See ye not how Allah has created the seven
heavens one above poem another,
PICKTHAL: See ye not how Allah hath created seven heavens
in harmony,
SHAKIR: Do you not see how Allah has created the seven
heavens ,~ one above another,
YUSUFALI: "'And made the moon a light in their midst,
and made the sun as a (Glorious) Lamp?
PICKTHAL: And hath made the moon a light therein, and made
the sun a lamp?
SHAKIR: And made the moon therein a light, and made the sun
a lamp?
But the story in the Arda Viraf has a much earlier origin
in the Sumerian epic "Enmerkar and the Lord of Aratta"
which is about the journey of a massager of Enmerkar through
seven gates to Aratta.
The Perfect Universe
The idea of a perfect creation goes back long before Islam.
The ancient Greeks believed that creation was perfect.
Pythagoras, for example believed the Earth was a sphere
because it was the most perfect shape and Oenopides proposed a
view of the solar system with 10 heavenly bodies (including
the Sun) revolving around a central fire because 10 was the
most perfect number. Ptolemy's great system, proposed in
"Almagest", had perfect circles for the motion of
the planets but it was not until Kepler proposed ellipses that
the idea of a perfect universe was challenged. The Greek also
thought that the Sun was a perfect circle but this idea was
dismissed when sun spots were discovered; should a perfect sun
have blemishes like sun spots?
But what constitutes an imperfection or a flaw in creation?
The passages from the Qur'an at the start of this page
mentions rifts and disorder. The modern theory of plate
tectonic has rifts, distortions and faults in the Earth's
crust due to the movement of the plates. Are they
imperfections? Chaos is another modern theory that talks about
disorder and scientist study how order can come out of
disorder. Is this chaos an imperfection? Number theorists
looked at integers to be perfect but then other numbers were
found. The names of these numbers gives an indication of what
mathematicians thought about having their perfect number
system disturbed; irrational and imaginary numbers! Not to
mention Godel's incompleteness theory and how much that up
sets the notion of perfection!
Conclusion
The idea of seven heavens can be followed from its earliest
origins in Sumeria to Persia to Arabia with its final form in
Islam. This is a good example of how traditional stories can
change over time and from culture to culture. The story has
been retold over and over again with changes here and there
but the basic story remains the same. It also demonstrates the
human origin of the Qur'an; a god would not need to use
traditional stories!
What is perfect and what is imperfect is a concept that has
changed over many years and is subjective. The ancient
considered the Universe to be perfect but the old concept of
perfection has been shown to be incorrect as new discoveries
were made. Science does not show the Universe to be perfect
and never makes such a claim.
|
