Creation of The Stars
Selections from the Book The Story of The Beginning of Creation and The Creation of Adam, peace be upon him …
Written by Dr. Ali Muhammad al-Sallabi...
Episode (42)
The stars are among the great creations of Allah and a sign of His astonishing signs. The stars are a beautiful creation, shining with their brilliant light. Allah Almighty swore by them and by their positions and spoke about the wisdom of their creation: a decoration for the heavens, guidance for travelers, and missiles against the devils. He mentioned their prostration to their Lord and their submission to His authority. Allah swore by them, as in His saying: {By the sky and the night comer (1) And what can make you know what is the night comer? (2) It is the piercing star (3)} [At-Tariq: 1-3]. Also, in His saying: {Then I swear by the setting of the stars,} [Al-Waqi'ah: 75]. Indeed, the positions of the stars in the sky are significant, and Allah swore by them with a solemn oath, indicating that this oath is grand and immense if only you knew its significance. He swore that this Qur'an is a noble Book, rich in benefits and advantages, encompassing the foundations of religion, including faith, worship, morals, and transactions, as well as matters of the unseen, ethical guidelines, the stories of the prophets, the news of previous nations, the lessons derived from them, and a number of truths and manifestations of the universe that indicate the existence of Allah Almighty, His great power, perfect wisdom, and complete knowledge.
The answer to the oath is that Allah Almighty has pledged to preserve this final revelation in a single book, safeguarded by His power and protected from loss, alteration, and distortion. This is the Holy Qur'an, which should only be touched by those who are purified from all forms of physical impurity, namely, those who are in a state of ritual purity. Only those who are cleansed from the filth of polytheism, disbelief, hypocrisy, and moral vices can truly feel its greatness and blessings. This Noble Qur'an is the final revelation of Allah, revealed to the Seal of the Prophets and Messengers, peace be upon him, and it is His eternal miracle until the Day of Judgment. It was revealed, with His knowledge, to His last Prophet and Messenger. Our Lord, the Exalted, is the Creator, the Lord of the heavens and the earth and all that is in them, the Sustainer of the universe and its King. He Almighty says: {Then I swear by the setting of the stars, (75) And indeed, it is an oath - if you could know - [most] great. (76) Indeed, it is a noble Qur’ān. (77) In a Register well-protected; (78) None touch it except the purified [i.e., the angels]. (79) [It is] a revelation from the Lord of the worlds. (80)} [Al-Waqi'ah: 75-80].
This Qur'anic oath by the positions of the stars points to the Qur'an's prior indication of one of the astonishing truths of the universe, which is that due to the vast distances separating the stars in the sky from our Earth, a person on this Earth never actually sees the stars themselves. Instead, they see the positions that the stars have passed through and then left. Furthermore, all these positions are relative, not absolute, because light, like any form of matter and energy, can only travel across the sky in curved lines, while the human eye only perceives in straight lines. Thus, when someone looks at the stars from a surface, they see them along the straight line to the last point that the light has bent towards. This creates a deceptive position for the star, different from the position from which its light originated. Due to the bending of light in the sky, the stars appear to us in apparent positions that are not their actual locations.
Not only that, but modern astronomical studies have proven that ancient stars have extinguished or faded away long ago, while the light that emanated from them in various positions continues to twinkle in the darkness of the sky every night on Earth to this day. This is why the Qur'anic oath is by the positions of the stars, rather than the stars themselves, despite their immense significance. Science has revealed that these stars are astonishing cosmic nuclear furnaces where Allah Almighty creates all forms of matter and energy that make up this perceivable universe. Furthermore, the number of stars counted by astronomers in the observable part of the lower sky has surpassed seventy billion trillion stars to this day.
- Ali Muhammad al-Sallabi, The Story of The Beginning of Creation and The Creation of Adam, peace be upon him, pp. 287-290.
- From the verses of scientific miracles in the sky, Zaghloul El-Naggar, p. 197.
For further information and review of the sources for the article, see:
The Book of The Story of The Beginning of Creation and The Creation of Adam, peace be upon him on the official website of Sheikh Dr. Ali Muhammad al-Sallabi:
