The Mirror of the Excellences of Islam — Page 223
222 Ā'ĪNA-E-KAMĀLĀT-E-ISLĀM―DĀFI UL-WASĀWIS other skies rotate from west to east. In their speculation, the sky known as the Upper Limit of the Universe is the end of the universe and there is no empty space or existence beyond it. It is as if God Almighty has put a wall around the creation under His control, beyond which noth- ing exists-neither emptiness nor something existing. The objections which the views of the Greeks invite are no secret— they are falsified not only in theory but also by observation. When modern telescopes have brought the most distant stars to view and when it is possible with their help to see the Sun and the Moon as if these were only at a distance of a few miles, it is surprising that the heav- ens-which according to the Greeks is dense matter and so dense as to be impenetrable and which is so big as to make the Sun and the Moon look like mere specks in comparison-should not have been discov- ered by these telescopic instruments. Even if the distant heavens were not visible, the lowest heaven, which is nearest, must have been visible. There is no doubt, therefore, that the picture drawn by the Greeks of the high heavens is not at all true, and it invites a host of objections from which there is no escape. However, the account of the heavens, as stated in the Noble Quran, is absolutely correct and valid, which we cannot but accept as true. To criticize it would be to expose one's own ignorance and a proof of one's own prejudiced mind. Contrary to the Greeks, the Noble Quran does not declare the heavens to be made up of a solid substance; nor does it-like some ignorant people-declare them to be mere empty space that contains nothing. The error of the first of these is obvious as has just now been stated on the basis of rational arguments; and the sec- ond, namely, that the heavens have no material existence whatsoever is proven to be wrong by experimental observation; for, our experiments and observation of the higher regions up to the bright stars, which we are able to see, show that the Divine law is that God Almighty has not left the atmosphere as mere empty space. For example, someone going through the higher regions of the atmosphere in a balloon can bear