The Mirror of the Excellences of Islam — Page 222
SUB-FOOTNOTE AUTHOR'S MARGIN NOTE The Nature of the Heavens The present-day scholars of Astronomy, who are the scientists of Europe, are not actually in conflict with the Noble Quran in the conception which they hold regarding the substance of the heavens, because although the Noble Quran does not regard the heavens to be merely an expanse of empti- ness, it has also not declared the heavenly matter that fills that empti- ness to be rigid and dense and impossible to be torn apart. Rather, it describes it as soft and dense like air or water, in which the stars glide. This is indicated in the Word of Allah, glorified be His eminence: كُلٌّ فِي فَلَكٍ يَسْبَحُونَ 20 AUTHOR'S MARGIN NOTE The interpretation offered by the Greeks concerning the heavens does not align with the interpretation given in the Noble Quran. The expla- nation set forth in the Noble The Greeks have considered the heavens to be dense matter which is formed layer upon layer like the scales of an onion. The sky of the last layer that encompasses all the layers is declared to be the ultimate extent of all creation which they call the 'Sky of the Skies' and also the 'Upper Limit of the Universe. According to their speculation the last layer, along with three other skies called Madir, Jouzehr, and Ma'il, rotate from east to west, while the Quran regarding the exist- ence of the heavens is wholly correct and such a self-ev- ident truth that no sound intellect can reject it. 1. Please see Footnote on page 200. In the original Urdu edition of Ā'īna-e- Kamālāt-e-Islām, the Promised Messiahas presented this sub-footnote along with the main text and footnote. For the ease of English readers, it is being presented as its own section. [Publisher] 2. All of them float in an orbit (Surah Yā Sin, 36:41). [Publisher]