The Infinity

..? by Mir Wazir Khan

Man has been and will remain powerless in the face of the infinity and enormousness of the powers of Nature and the size of the universe. In pre-historic times thunder, lightning, earthquakes and a host of other natural phenomenon compelled man to think about the existence of a Great Creator Who manages the universe. Despite huge progress in science and technology, there are many subjects and topics about which man is still bewildered. For instance, questions surrounding the origin, size and infiniteness of the universe, the paradox of ?soul? and ?intellect? (aql), the power of ?thought? and ?ideas,? ?the enigma of ?dreams? and ? afterlife? are matters that are beyond the comprehension and grasp of pure Natural Sciences. Even the present breathtaking scientific progress cannot answer some of the aforementioned riddles. Why is it, for example, that one man?s intellect (aql) is greater than the other and everyone cannot be Newton and Einstein? Atom consists of electron, proton and neutron; but one still doesn?t know that what electron, proton and neutron are and what are the basis of their origin and who holds the molecules of atom together?

These mysteries make it difficult to deny the importance of religion because it guides man in the understanding of what is beyond the purview of Science. ?Einstein is one of the greatest scientist of the modern era. About the spirit of religion and its importance for humanity, Einstein has said thus: ?The most beautiful emotion we can experience is the mystical. It is the sower of all true art and science. He to whom this emotion is stranger??is as good as dead. To know that what is impenetrable to us really exists, manifesting itself to us as the highest wisdom and the most radiant beauty, which our dull faculties can comprehend only in their most primitive forms??..this knowledge,? this feeling is at the centre of all true religiousness. In this sense, and in this sense only, I belong to the rank of devoutly religious man?.

Charles P. Steinmetz, the great electrical engineer was once asked: ?what line of research will see the greatest development during the next fifty years? ?I think the greatest discovery will be made along spiritual lines. Here is a force which history teaches has been the greatest power in the development of men. Yet we have merely been playing with it and have never seriously studied it as we have the physical forces. Someday people will learn that material things will not bring happiness and are of little use in making men and women creative and powerful. Then the scientist of the world will turn their laboratories over to the study of God and prayer and the spiritual forces which as yet have hardly been scratched. When this day comes, the world will see more development in one generation than it has seen in the past four.?

Modern science has achieved great miracles in the understanding of the sensory and perceptible physical world by sending different mission into unimaginable distances of the Space. The journeys and recordings of Voyager 1 and II, Mars Rover and the Curiosity?to name just a few– have shown that what man knows about the universe and God?s creation is very basic and small in comparison to the vastness of the universe. According to RT report of November 24, 2019 under the title: ??..Astronomers capture brightest ever light seen by humanity; more energy in seconds than 10 billion years of energy of our sun.? ?????After almost fifty years of waiting, scientist have finally directly witnessed a gamma ray burst, in an explosion which has set the record of brightest light ever witnessed by humanity. The brief but immensely powerful gamma ray burst took place seven billion light-years away from Earth, and expended more energy in a few seconds than our sun would burn in ten billion years, as dying star was torn asunder in a supernova on January 24, 2019?.

Now imagine the unimaginable! Light travels at the speed of 186000 miles per second.? What would be the distance in miles that light would travel in 7 billion years? Our existing computing powers couldn?t give us figures to calculate the distance that light would travel in 7 billion years if it travels 186000 miles in a second. Think about the vastness of the universe and the omnipotence, omnipresence and omniscience of its Creator. From its position in orbit 500 kilometers above the Earth, the Hubble telescope is reporting minuscule of the great divine drama. Scientist now believe that in ancient first generation galaxies the first primordial star may have been 100 times the mass of our sun. Hence it is still almost impossible for modern science or human intelligence to know about the vastness of the universe or about the Time and Space drama. Was it Time which came into being first or was it Space which was created first? How to measure Time and Space? What is the beginning of the Beginning and the end of the End? A great puzzle indeed and in the face of it our whole new scientific and civilizational progress and the position of all humanity, their planet Earth and their technological development is just a speck and a dot within the larger cosmic show.

Great Muslim Sufi mystic Farid-ud-Din Attar or Attar Nishapuri ( 1145-1220 CE), the author of ?Mantiq-el-Tayr? or ?The Conference of the Birds? has described the indescribable powers of the great Creator and the immeasurability of the universe thus: ? If stars are spilled bit by bit from the heavens, imagine a leaf gone missing from a tree in the universe??..if two worlds completely disappeared , imagine a grain of sand disappearing in the world?? if nothing of the works of jinn and man, imagine that a drop of rain went missing??two worlds again if you gathered up hundreds of thousands more, shuffled all that there is, and mix it, only a mirage will appear to you; it consist of nothing that remain at the top of the riddle.? About the enormity of knowledge and vastness of the Creation a Sufi exhortations says: ?whatever it is that you think you know, think again?. The great Greek philosopher and mystic Socrates said: ?I am the wisest man of the world because I know, I know nothing.? The famous physicist Stephen Hawking (1942- 2018 CE) said: ?The primary enemy of knowledge is not ignorance; it is the illusion of knowledge.?

Since our knowledge about the perceptible and imperceptible worlds is very small and our understanding of the bygone ages and of what is in store for us in the future is quite limited; it is better to spend one?s time free of disputations and in good works; in love and affection for humanity and possibly in the service of humanity. Famous Christian saint and mystic Joseph the Seer said: ?Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself. This is the exercise which brings man nigh unto God, and that is the short way in which there are no ascents and descents?.? The Holy Quran says: ?Verily Muslims and Jews and Christians and Sabeites— whoever of these believeth in God and the Last Day, and does that which is right, shall have their reward with the Lord?.

Allama Iqbal says that if a man becomes nearer to God through total submission then he possesses powers over supererogatory acts, about which God has said: ? I am his hearing by which he hears, his sight by which he sees, his hand by which he takes hold.?? ????? ?? ???? ?? ????? ???? ?? ???? ‘ ???? ? ??? ????? ? ?? ????? ??? ????

?..? by Mir Wazir Khan, Chitral 05 Jan 2020

3 thoughts on “The Infinity

  1. Maashaa Allah very heart warming thought spread out in text.
    Science is the study and utilisation of the properties Lord Almighty has placed in matters. No scientist has become successful, ever, without the help, encouragement and eventual reward of the hard work in the search of what that scientist has been seeking by no one but Lord Almighty.
    Can anything be beyond the knowledge, grasp and control of the Creator and Owner?

  2. Wondeful write up Sir g.The way you have explained limitations of science and human intellect is amazing and impressive.The references are highly scholastic.

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