The Twelfth Flash

The Second Question

Two important matters will be explained in connection with the Second Question because the sciences of geography and astronomy have criticised the âyah and even tried to deny it foolishly since they have been unable to ascend to the samâwât of the Qur'an with their very short laws, narrow principles and tiny scales, and since they have failed to discover the seven levels of meanings in the stars of âyahs.

First Important Matter: This is about the earth having seven layers, like the samâwât. This matter appears to be untrue to the philosophers of the present time. Their sciences about the earth and samâwât do not accept it. And using this as a pretext, they raise objections to certain haqiqahs of the Qur'an. We shall concisely write a few points about this.

The First: Firstly, the meaning of the âyah is one thing, and the parts of the meaning and confirmations of it are another. Therefore, its meaning cannot be denied if one of the many parts of the universal meaning cannot be seen. Seven confirmations of the numerous parts of the universal meaning of the âyah concerning the seven levels of the samâwât and the seven layers of the earth are clearly apparent.

Secondly, the âyah does not explicitly state that the earth has seven layers. اَللّٰهُ الَّذِى خَلَقَ سَبْعَ سَمٰوَاتٍ وَمِنَ اْلاَرْضِ مِثْلَهُنَّ (to the end of the âyah). The âyah explicitly states, “He created the earth like the seven samâwât and made it a dwelling place for His creatures." It does not state that I created it as seven layers. The earth and samâwât are compared from the aspect of their similarity in being a creature and being a dwelling place for creatures.

The Second: Although the globe of the earth is tiny in comparison to the samâwât, as it serves as the exhibition, display, gathering place and centre of countless artful creatures of Allah, the globe of the earth is the heart and the ma’nawî centre of the samâwât and is equivalent to the vast and endless samâwât as the heart is equivalent to the body. For this reason, it has been understood from the âyahs of the Qur'an that the globe of the earth too has seven layers, as was accepted from early times, the earth having seven {Note: The tawâfuq of seven repetitions of the word 'seven,' together with the wordسَبْعَ , is very beautiful here.} climates; also the well-known seven continents, Europe, Africa, Oceania, the two Asias and the two Americas; also together with the seas, the East, West, North and South, the well-known seven continents of this face and on the face of the New World; also the different adjacent seven layers from the centre to the outer crust, which have been established by science; also the famous seven universal elements called the "seven levels," which comprise the seventy simple, particular elements that are the source of life for living beings; also the seven levels and ‘âlams of animals, vegetables and minerals, which are called “mawâlid salâsa1” together with water, air, fire and earth called the four elements; also the ‘âlams of the earth having seven levels, which are the ‘âlams and dwelling places of jinns, ifrîts and other various conscious and living creatures, as has been established by the testimony of the numerous people of kashf and shuhûd; also the seven levels indicate the existence of seven further globes of the earth resembling our globe of the earth and that they are the dwelling places of living beings.

Thus, it is confirmed that seven sorts of levels of the earth exist in seven ways. The last meaning, the eighth, is important from another point of view, so it is not included in these seven.

The Third: Since the Absolute Hakîm does not waste and create useless things; and since the existences of creatures are for conscious beings and find perfection, rejoice and are saved from futility through conscious beings; and since we see with our eyes that the Absolute Hakîm and Qadîr Zuljalâl inhabits and beautify the element of air, the ‘âlam of water and the layer of soil with innumerable living beings; and since dense matters, like earth and stone, do not prevent the movement of matters, such as electricity and X-rays, just as air and water are not an obstacle to the movement of animals; indeed, Al-Hakîm Zulkamâl, the Undying Sâni’, will not leave empty and uninhabited the seven adjacent comprehensive layers from the centre of our globe to the outer crust, which is our dwelling place and centre, and the broad spaces, ‘âlams and caves of those layers. He has, indeed, inhabited and beautified them and created conscious creatures appropriate to those ‘âlams and settled them there.

Those conscious beings must be from among the species of malâikah and rûh beings; therefore, the densest and hardest layer even will be to them as the sea is to fish and the air to birds. For those conscious creatures, even the terrifying heat at the centre of the earth must be like the sun's heat for us. Since those conscious rûh beings are created from nûr, fire is like nûr for them.

The Fourth: A comparison mentioned in the Eighteenth Letter about the depictions of the people of kashf on the strange wonders of the earth's levels that are outside the bounds of reason. A summary of it is this:

The globe of the earth is a seed in al-‘âlam ash-shahâdah; in al-‘âlam al-mithâl and al-‘âlam al-barzakh, it is of a vastness equivalent to that of the samâwât, like a huge tree. The level of the globe of the earth specific to ifrîts that was seen by the people of kashf as a breadth of a thousand years is not in the seed of the earth belonging to al-‘âlam ash-shahâdah; what they saw is rather a manifestation of the branches and levels of the earth in al-‘âlam al-mithâl. Since a seemingly insignificant level of the globe of the earth has such a vast manifestation in another ‘âlam, indeed, it can be said that it has seven levels that are equivalent to the seven levels of the samâwât. In order to call to mind the aforementioned points, the âyahs of the Qur'an indicate that the tiny earth is equivalent to the seven levels of the samâwât by showing in a miraculously concise way.

Second Important Matter:

تُسَبِّحُ لَهُ السَّمٰوَاتُ السَّبْعُ وَاْلاَرْضُ وَمَنْ فِيهِنَّ2  

(to the end of the âyah...)

ثُمَّ اسْتَوَى اِلَى السَّمَاءِ فَسَوَّيهُنَّ سَبْعَ سَمٰوَاتٍ وَهُوَ بِكُلِّ شَيْءٍ عَلِيمٌ3

Many âyahs, such as these, proclaim the samâwât to be seven. It is appropriate to write here only a summary of this matter, which, on the front during the first year of the First World War, we were compelled to explain very briefly in the tafsir Isharat al-I'jaz4. It is as follows:

Earlier philosophy regarded the samâwât as nine; considering the seven samâwât together with the ‘Arsh and Kursî — the terms that belong to Sharî'ah — they depicted the samâwât in a strange manner. The glittering expressions of the genius philosophers of earlier philosophy held mankind under their influence for many centuries. To such a degree that many mufassirs were compelled to make the explanation of the explicit meanings of âyahs in a manner that aligns with their approach. In this way, the miraculousness of Al-Qur’an Al-Hakîm was veiled to an extent. As for the modern philosophy called modern sciences, instead of the ifrât of earlier philosophy, about the samâwât that cannot pass or end and be destroyed or censured, it fell into tafrît and quite simply denied the existence of the samâwât. The former fell into ifrât, and the latter fell into tafrît; therefore, they were unable to demonstrate haqiqah in its entirety.

As for the sacred hikmah of Al-Qur’an Al-Hakîm, it cast aside such ifrât and tafrît and went on istiqâmah and said that As-Sâni’ Zuljalâl created the seven levels of samâwât. The moving stars wander in the samâwât, like fish, and offer tasbîh to Allah. It is said in a hadith: اَلسَّمَاءُ مَوْجٌ مَكْفُوفٌ That is, "Samâ is a sea whose waves are settled."

Here, we shall prove this haqiqah of the Qur'an very briefly through seven rules and seven aspects of meaning.

The First Rule: It is established by science and hikmah that the limitless space of ‘âlam is not an infinite emptiness but filled with a matter that they called athîr.

The Second: It is established by science and reason and even by the observation that a matter filling the space exists, which is the bond between the laws of the lofty celestial bodies, such as attraction and repulsion, and the conductor and transmitter of powers in matters, such as light, heat and electricity.

The Third: It has been demonstrated through experiments that the substance of athîr exists in various shapes and forms, similar to other substances, while it continues to be athîr. Just as gas, liquid and solid, three kinds of things, such as steam, water and ice, come into existence from the same substance. In the same way, there is no rational obstacle to the existence of levels of the substance of athîr; it cannot be objected to in any way.

The Fourth: If attention is paid to the celestial bodies, it will be seen that there is a difference in the levels of those lofty ‘âlams. For example, the level at which the vast cloud-shaped sphere known as Nahr us-samâ and Kahkashân and called the Milky Way is located certainly does not resemble the level of the fixed stars. It is as if the level of fixed stars has ripened and matured like the summer fruits, while the infinite stars that appear in the form of a cloud in the Milky Way are newly emerging and beginning to mature constantly. According to an accurate opinion, the level of fixed stars is also different from the level of the solar system, and so on. Seven distinct systems and levels can be comprehended through perception and hads.

The Fifth: It is established by hads, perception, deductive reasoning and experience that if a material is given an arrangement and a form and if other artefacts are made from that material, various levels and forms certainly emerge from it. For example, when a diamond mine is about to be formed, both ashes and coal and various forms of diamonds emerge from the material. And for example, when a fire is about to be formed, it separates into levels of flame, smoke and embers. And for example, when water and oxygen are combined, levels like water, ice and steam are formed. It means that when a single material is formed, it is divided into levels. In which case, since the qoudrah of Al-Fâtir started to form the substance of athîr, It indeed created the seven sorts of samâwât from it as different levels through the mystery.

فَسَوَّيهُنَّ سَبْعَ سَمٰوَاتٍ5

The Sixth: The previous proofs necessarily indicate both the existence and the multiplicity of the samâwât. Since the samâwât are indeed numerous, and through the tongue of the Qur'an of Miraculous Exposition, Mukhbir as-Sâdiq6 stated that they are seven; indeed, they are seven.

The Seventh: Since in Arabic, terms such as ‘seven’, ‘seventy’ and ‘seven hundred’ express multiplicity, these comprehensive seven levels may consist of multiple levels.

In Short: Al-Qadîr Zuljalâl created and formed the seven samâwât from the substance of athîr and arranged them in a subtle and wondrous order and sowed the stars in the athîr. Since the Qur'an of Miraculous Exposition is an azalî khutbah addressing all the classes of mankind and jinn, each class of mankind will indeed receive its share from each of the âyahs of the Qur'an, and the âyahs of the Qur'an will contain various and numerous meanings, both implicit and indicative, in a way that will satisfy the understanding of each class of mankind.

Yes, the breadth of the Qur'anic address, the vastness of its meanings and indications and the Qur'an flattering and conforming to all the degrees of understanding from the most ignorant ‘awâm to the most elevated khawass show that each of its âyahs has an aspect looking to each class of mankind.

Thus, because of this mystery, seven classes of mankind have understood the seven different levels of meaning from the universal meaning of the phrase "seven samâwât." It is as follows:

From the ayah فَسَوَّيهُنَّ سَبْعَ سَمٰوَاتٍ , a short-sighted and narrow-minded class of mankind understands the layers of the atmosphere, while another class of mankind, dazed by astronomy, understands the famous stars known among people as the Seven Planets and their orbits. Yet another group of men understands seven other samâwî globes that resemble our globe that serve as homes of living beings. Another group of men understands the separation of the solar system into seven levels and also seven other solar systems in addition to our system. And yet another group of men understands the separation of the substance of athîr into seven levels during its formation. Another class of broad-minded men considers all the visible skies gilded with stars as a samâ, says that it is this samâ of our world and understands that there are six levels of samâwât besides it. And the seventh class of mankind and its highest group do not consider the seven samâwât to be restricted to al-‘âlam ash-shahâdah but rather they understand that there exist seven samâwât, each of which is an encompassing container and roof of al-‘âlam of the âkhirah, al-‘âlam al-ghayb, al-‘âlam ash-shahâdah and al-‘âlam mithâl, and so on.

There are many further particular meanings in the universality of the âyah, such as the abovementioned seven meaning levels of the seven levels of samâwât. Everyone receives their share according to their degree of understanding, and everyone finds their rizq from that samâwî table.

Since the âyah has such numerous accurate confirmations, the mindless modern philosophers and their vain astronomy attacking the âyah in this way under the guise of denying the samâwât is like silly children throwing stones at a star, hoping to make it fall. Because if one of its confirmations from the universal meaning of the âyah is accurate, the universal meaning is accurate and haqq. In order to conform to the common thought, even one of the particular meanings of it, which did not occur with its literal meaning but is commonly used, can be included in its universal meaning. Whereas, we saw numerous particular meanings of it, which are haqq and haqiqah. Now look at this unfair, unjust geography and foolish, drunken and intoxicated astronomy! How wrong these two sciences have been. Closing their eyes to the universal meaning that is haqq, haqiqah and accurate, and not seeing the accurate confirmations, they have fancied an imaginary and extraordinary particular meaning to be the meaning of the âyah and thrown stones at the âyah. They have broken their heads and lost their îmân!

In Short: Since unbelieving materialist thoughts, which are like jinns and shaytans, have been unable to ascend to the seven levels of the samâ of the Qur'an, which was revealed in seven recitations, and contains seven aspects, seven kinds of miraculousness, seven haqiqahs and seven pillars, they do not know what exists and what does not in the stars of its âyahs, and give lies and false information. And flames, like the above verifications, fall on their heads from the stars of those âyahs and burn them. Yes, the samâwât of the Qur'an cannot be risen to through the philosophy of cunning philosophers, but rather the stars of âyahs can only be risen to through the mi’raj of true hikmah and the wings of îmân and Islam.

اَللّٰهُمَّ صَلِّ عَلَى شَمْسِ سَمَاءِ الرِّسَالَةِ وَ قَمَرِ فَلَكِ النُّبُوَّةِ وَ عَلَى آلِهِ وَ صَحْبِهِ نُجُومِ الْهُدَى لِمَنِ اهْتَدَى

سُبْحَانَكَ لاَ عِلْمَ لَنَا اِلاَّ مَا عَلَّمْتَنَا اِنَّكَ اَنْتَ الْعَلِيمُ الْحَكِيمُ

اَللّٰهُمَّ يَا رَبَّ السَّمٰوَاتِ وَ اْلاَرْضِ زَيِّنْ قُلُوبَ كَاتِبِ هذِهِ الرِّسَالَةِ وَ رُفَقَائِهِ بِنُجُومِ حَقَائِقِ الْقُرْآنِ وَ اْلاِيمَانِ آمِينَ

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