The Mirror of the Excellences of Islam — Page 202
PREFACE FOOTNOTE وَلَقَدْ زَيَّنَا السَّمَاءَ الدُّنْيَا بِمَصَابِيحَ وَجَعَلْنَهَا رُجُومًا لِلشَّيطِينِ 201 ¹Surah al-Mulk, Part Number 29- Meaning that, We have adorned the lowest heaven with the stars and We have made the stars the means of driving away satans. It has been established by the Quranic text quoted earlier that the regulators and distributors of all matters from the heaven to the earth are angels, and now, this statement of Allah-glorified be His eminence-stating that the bright shooting stars are thrown in motion by those stars which are in the lower heaven. This might superficially appear to contradict the verses relating to the angels, but if we take a deeper look, there is no contradiction, because, as I have already stated, it is proven from the teachings of the Noble Quran that the angels are like the souls of heaven and celestial bodies, and it is obvious that the soul of anything is not apart from it. This is the very reason why God Almighty ascribes shooting stars to angels in some places of the Noble Quran, while in some other places He has attributed that act of throwing to the stars, inasmuch as angels influence the stars as the soul influences the body. Then that influence proceeds from the stars and affects the earthly vapours that have the capacity to become shooting stars and they are set aflame by the power of God Almighty. In another way, the angels establish a connection with the shooting stars and direct them to the right and left with their light. No philosopher would deny the fact that the initiating causes of whatever happens on the earth or in the atmos- phere are the stars and heavenly influences. Of course, not everyone can fathom this other abstruse mystery that the forces of the stars are realized through the benefit of angels. This mystery was first disclosed by the Noble Quran and then those with divine insight developed an interest towards it. 1. Surah al-Mulk, 67:6 [Publisher]