The Mirror of the Excellences of Islam — Page 224
PREFACE SUB-FOOTNOTE 223 witness that however high one may fly, one does not come across a mere vacuum. Our observation, therefore, can help us a lot in holding the view that though it is wrong to circumscribe the heavens like the Greeks, it is equally wrong to say that the heavens are a mere vacuum devoid of any created material substance. As far as we have reached through experiments, we do not see any absolute vacuum. How, then, can we say against the conclusions drawn subsequent to a lengthy course of observation that farther away, above our own atmosphere, there is a total vacuum? Is there any proof of this conjecture which runs con- trary to the proven facts of observation? None at all. How then can anyone accept an unfounded conjecture? In the absence of any con- trary and weightier evidence, how can we ignore the evidence which is conclusive? Apart from this it would be derogatory of Allah, glorified be His eminence, to hold this view; as if God was unable to fill all space with creation; therefore He left a vast space empty after creating a little. I cannot say what conclusive argument there is with those who believe in the possibility of an absolute vacuum against the statement that there is no space without matter of some kind, however rarefied it may be. The argument from observation falsifies the views of those who hold that beyond a few balls of matter there is an infinite vacuum. It is evident that experience or observation furnishes the most fre- quent form of proof in this world. For example, the assertion that man has two eyes and one tongue; two ears; that he is born through the private part of woman; that he is first an infant, then, passing through adolescence, becomes old, and dies at a certain age; as also our assertion, that man sleeps, eats, sees with his eyes, smells with his nose, hears with his ears, walks with his feet, works with his hands, that he has his head between two ears, and many other things; and a variety of properties and qualities which we have discovered in minerals, and the vegetable or animal kingdoms-what is the basis of these except observation? If