Page 72 - Allah is Known through Reason

CREATION OF THE HEAVENS
Steven Weinberg, the author of the book, The First Three Minutes,
once remarked that a quick glance at the sky might give one the feeling of
a strongly "unchanging universe". Indeed, clouds drift along before the
moon, the blue vault of heaven turns around the pole star, the moon itself
waxes and wanes over a longer period of time, and the moon and the
planets move through a plane defined by the stars. We know, however.
that all these are local occurrences caused by the movements within our
solar system. Weinberg also adds that beyond the planets, the stars seem
to be motionless.
Indeed, a quick glance at the sky may give one the feeling that every-
thing is very stable and steady. Yet that is not the case. There is great activ-
ity in the sky and this fact, which goes unrecognised by the naked eye,
was reported centuries ago in the Qur'an.
There are many verses in the Qur'an that refer to the sky, most of
them being plural. The word "semavat", meaning "heavens", in Arabic

denotes both the earth's atmosphere and space.
The first point we will discuss here is the plural use of the word
“heavens”. This plural use is one of the miracles of the Qur'an. Let us now
explain why.
Assume that you go out into the open air and turn your head up
towards the sky. What will you see? If it is summer, you will see either a
bright blue sky or some clouds floating in the wind; and if winter, a grey,
hazy sky covered with clouds. Whatever you see, you will not be able to
see the atmosphere surrounding the world. You can never know that this
atmosphere is made up of several layers. That the Qur'an makes reference
to this detail unobservable by the naked eye is a great piece of evidence
that it is the word of Allah:

He Who has created seven heavens in full harmony with one another: no
incongruity will you see in the creation of the Most Gracious. And turn
your vision (upon it) once more: can you see any flaw? Yes, turn your
vision (upon it) again and yet again: (and every time) your vision will fall
back upon you, dazzled and truly defeated. (Surat al-Mulk, 3-4)

72 Allah is Known Through Reason