Jins and Universal Distances
Question:
Quran says: "And We have guarded it (the heavens) from every accursed devil, except one who is able to snatch a hearing and he is pursued by a brightly burning flame" (Surah Al-Hijr 15:18)
Jins can travel to a very far destinations in this universe even they try to listen the conversations of angels and they are shot with meteors as stated. While science at other hand says that universe is so vast that one has to travel from hundreds to billions of light years to reach at different Places.
Now I have three questions:
Q1.Does a Jin travel even faster than speed of light? whereas the meteors they chase them travel slower than light?
Q2.What is the concept of seven skies in islam? because science point of view there is no such sky?
Q3. What science explores if it is just first sky then jins should take million and billion years to reach the even highers skies?
Answer:
The pursue of Jins who try to steal a hearing by shooting starts has been referred to in three places in the Qur'an. These are: 15:16-18, 37:6-10,
72:8-9.
It seems like verses 72:8, 9 give a rather complete picture of this. According to the literal meaning of these verses:
- Jin had reached the depth of the sky and found it full of guards and shooting stars
- They used to place themselves at certain places in the sky and hear heavenly news
- At the time of the Prophet (pbuh) this was prevented using certain shooting stars
There is actually nothing in these verses to suggest how far Jins had to travel to hear things. In fact even the thought that directions of traveling for JIns are limited to the same physical dimensions that we know is an assumption. Also please note that the verses are not talking about the skies or seven skies, they are only referring to one sky, that is the sky of this world.
We need to appreciate that these verses are among the Mutashabihat (ambiguous) verses of the Qur'an. They are referring to a fact that is beyond our understanding. In my view these verses should not be interpreted literally. I therefore do not hold the view that these verses are literally referring to what we know as sooting stars. As far as we concern these verses are telling us that the revelation of the verses of the Qur'an, as well as any other heavenly communication, was protected from any disturbances at the time of the Prophet (pbuh).
The words, Sky, Shooting Star, Over Hearing, can have symbolic meanings (as many other instances in the Qur'an) or may have literal meanings. This too we do not know.
Accordingly I really do not think that your first and third questions apply to these verses.
Your second question was:
Q2.What is the concept of seven skies in islam? because science point of view there is no such sky?
What we understand from the Qur'an is that what the human being (science) knows as the Sky is in fact the first sky in the language of the Qur'an. This is the sky that is referred to as the 'sky of the world' in the Qur'an (37:6).
The Qur'an refers to six more skies. Since the first one is called the 'Sky of the World' my conclusion is that those six skies are beyond the human beings' reach and comprehension. The nature of these skies seem to be totally different from the physical nature of the 'sky of the world'. Therefore science is not capable to notice or study these skies (at least not what we refer to as the science today), just as a metal detector can never detect the scent of a flower. However, again cosnider that reference to seven skies is also among the Mutashabihat (ambiguous) verses of the Qur'an. This may mean there are exactly seven skies or it can simply be a symbolic way of referring to the complexity of the creation and its multi dimensions.
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May 2013
Quran says: "And We have guarded it (the heavens) from every accursed devil, except one who is able to snatch a hearing and he is pursued by a brightly burning flame" (Surah Al-Hijr 15:18)
Jins can travel to a very far destinations in this universe even they try to listen the conversations of angels and they are shot with meteors as stated. While science at other hand says that universe is so vast that one has to travel from hundreds to billions of light years to reach at different Places.
Now I have three questions:
Q1.Does a Jin travel even faster than speed of light? whereas the meteors they chase them travel slower than light?
Q2.What is the concept of seven skies in islam? because science point of view there is no such sky?
Q3. What science explores if it is just first sky then jins should take million and billion years to reach the even highers skies?
Answer:
The pursue of Jins who try to steal a hearing by shooting starts has been referred to in three places in the Qur'an. These are: 15:16-18, 37:6-10,
72:8-9.
It seems like verses 72:8, 9 give a rather complete picture of this. According to the literal meaning of these verses:
- Jin had reached the depth of the sky and found it full of guards and shooting stars
- They used to place themselves at certain places in the sky and hear heavenly news
- At the time of the Prophet (pbuh) this was prevented using certain shooting stars
There is actually nothing in these verses to suggest how far Jins had to travel to hear things. In fact even the thought that directions of traveling for JIns are limited to the same physical dimensions that we know is an assumption. Also please note that the verses are not talking about the skies or seven skies, they are only referring to one sky, that is the sky of this world.
We need to appreciate that these verses are among the Mutashabihat (ambiguous) verses of the Qur'an. They are referring to a fact that is beyond our understanding. In my view these verses should not be interpreted literally. I therefore do not hold the view that these verses are literally referring to what we know as sooting stars. As far as we concern these verses are telling us that the revelation of the verses of the Qur'an, as well as any other heavenly communication, was protected from any disturbances at the time of the Prophet (pbuh).
The words, Sky, Shooting Star, Over Hearing, can have symbolic meanings (as many other instances in the Qur'an) or may have literal meanings. This too we do not know.
Accordingly I really do not think that your first and third questions apply to these verses.
Your second question was:
Q2.What is the concept of seven skies in islam? because science point of view there is no such sky?
What we understand from the Qur'an is that what the human being (science) knows as the Sky is in fact the first sky in the language of the Qur'an. This is the sky that is referred to as the 'sky of the world' in the Qur'an (37:6).
The Qur'an refers to six more skies. Since the first one is called the 'Sky of the World' my conclusion is that those six skies are beyond the human beings' reach and comprehension. The nature of these skies seem to be totally different from the physical nature of the 'sky of the world'. Therefore science is not capable to notice or study these skies (at least not what we refer to as the science today), just as a metal detector can never detect the scent of a flower. However, again cosnider that reference to seven skies is also among the Mutashabihat (ambiguous) verses of the Qur'an. This may mean there are exactly seven skies or it can simply be a symbolic way of referring to the complexity of the creation and its multi dimensions.
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May 2013
