Reflections on a starry night
Tags: God, Universe, Faith, Stars, Reflections

‘Verily, We have decorated the nearest sky with an adornment, the stars,’ 37:6

I stood out to stare at the sky after many, many years. The brightest star always gets your attention first, and then as you keep staring into the universe, many more twinkling wonders make themselves visible to you. It’s a sight to behold, and it’s a sight that was made for me by my Creator.

One can never offer enough praise nor reach the optimal appreciation for Allah. The strive to live that life, however, is what will make us the best versions of ourselves. As I kept staring into the sky, the verse quoted above kept ringing in my ears. This is that stretch of the sky that we have not even begun to explore, and as far as our science can see, there are stars. The lowest heaven engulfs our reality as we know it, yet, this magnanimity was created for my wonderment…for our wonderment…so that we could find Him.

You don't have to be a scientist to realize the sheer distance, power and order to keep the universe in balance. The black holes, we are told have a pull that doesn't even let light escape; yet there are millions and billions in this universe being controlled by the Almighty. Our sun alone, which is one of the weakest stars in comparison to what the universe holds, is beyond and will always be beyond any human control and exploration. Instability in our sun alone would perish life on earth in a matter of moments. Yet, it is the giver of life, source of our sustenance and what our life revolves around — literally.

Photo by Guillermo Ferla on Unsplash

Come to think of it, our solar system was enough to keep us occupied in exploration for a lifetime. This earth is enough to keep us indulged in awe. The human body was enough to keep us bowed down in His greatness. Yet, here we are, thankless and ungrateful, unhappy and bored, self-righteous and arrogant.

Isn’t this Allah’s love and respect for His creation, that this entire universe twinkles for us at night so we could find it beautiful? Your eyes were made with the capability to see the sky and find peace, tranquillity and Him in it. But, we chose to use the night to indulge in sin, abhorrence and crime.

The universe, the lowest heaven, was made with the consideration that to your eyes, these gigantic forces of gases and emissions look like stars, and that they are placed far enough that all you see them is as mere ‘stars’. As I kept my neck arched towards the sky, the overwhelming thought that this entire vision has the capacity to fit in my eyes, just so I can find it in my heart to appreciate my Lord left me stunned. Oh, what unthinkable mercy is this?

There is so much happening around me that has been filtered away from my eyes by a few wavelengths here and there. The animals see the same colours differently, the same reality differently. Those with weaker eyesight see the world differently, infants see it differently, the elderly see it differently. Positivity sees life differently, negativity sees it differently. The greatest perception is shaped by our thoughts. Blind is not the one who can’t see, but the one who can’t see Him. Look around, can you really not see Him?

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In this sky, mankind has been exploring life, finding more home grounds like the one we are on. The fascination with finding life elsewhere is as old as time. At first, the expeditions drove us around the earth, made us leap in deep waters, travel the land, climb mountains…travel to the moon. Now, mankind is going beyond. There is something inside of us that is driving this seek. There is another destination out there, but not in the lowest heaven, but on the highest heaven. There is an eternal bode that we are living for. Is it possible that our collective efforts as people to keep exploring our reality is a push coming from our souls? The soul was never made for this earth. It wants to return to the beautiful reality it has seen and known up there. The soul is in an unsettled state, and it keeps longing to nourish itself in Allah’s signs. But, you, the human, you are doing it grave injustice by keeping it away from that pleasure. Your thoughts and your ability to think is what, ironically enough, is keeping you from seeing Him.

There is an unmistakable coherence in everything Allah has created. The balance, the harmony is humbling. The solar system is around a central nucleus — the sun. The orbits are calculated, timed and have no room for error. On earth, the Holy Kaaba unites the believers with that same construct. Furthermore, the atom is made in the same way. The deeper you go in any creation that you put your hands on, there is a depth that we have only recently begun to understand how to explore. The cell has only made sense to us in the last few decades. The quantum reality is diverse in the same way on both ends of the spectrum. The choice is yours. Go explore what you want to, you will only find more and more and more.

Photo by Jongsun Lee on Unsplash

Like the system of an atom forms you, is it not possible that the solar system forms something greater, and the system of the universe forms something even far greater, and the billions of these centres orbit around something Supreme? Everything revolves around a nucleus. That is the basic unit of our reality. Then, how are we living a life without the acknowledgement of The Nucleus? There is no room in this perfection for an alteration by a Planck length. Science tells us that the universe will collapse if that were to happen, yet, it doesn’t move us? It doesn’t put us in submission? It doesn’t make us think?

May we be saved from the curse of ignorance. There is so much we don’t understand, yet the mind-numbing overconfidence with which we walk the earth is stupefying. We have not nurtured our minds in a way to see the marvels of what surrounds us, yet we are egoistic and proud of our non-sensical thoughts and views. What a disappointing lot we are.

Go travel the universe, the multiverse and more. Develop telescopes, technology and whatever else you can create — all you will find are stars, all you will see is the lowest heaven. To travel beyond, you need to travel within.

As I lowered my gaze and bowed down in front of my Lord, I prayed for guidance. Because this is a journey that can’t begin without it, and this is the only journey worth taking.