Allah Ta`ala gently directs us to His Stature and Greatness right at the beginning of the Qur’aan Majeed:
“All Praise is due to Allah—The Rabb of the entire universe (mankind, jinn and everything that exists)..”
Advising mankind and Jinn towards His recognition, Allah Ta`ala declares in the following verses:
“Verily in the creation of the heavens and earth (and whatever wonders are in and lie between the two); in the changing of the night and the day (following each other and each one becoming longer or shorter); in the huge ships which travel on the oceans carrying goods of benefit to man (without sinking despite their tremendous weight); in that water that Allaah showers from the heavens, bringing life (all types of growth) to the earth after its death (after it was bare) and causing all types of creatures to spread out on earth (because most of creation are attracted to fertile areas); and in the varying (directions and temperature) of the winds; and the obedient clouds (that travel and shower rain only where Allaah commands) hanging between the earth and sky (In all of the above events) are signs for those who use their intelligence (to think deeply about these signs).”
“Verily in the (perfect and wonderful) creation of the heavens and the earth (and whatever is within these) and in the alternation (changing) of the night and day are signs (that show Allaah’s great power) for those who have intelligence (who care to ponder).”
WE CANNOT COMPREHEND
The true greatness of Allah Ta`ala, His Awe and Power—are all beyond the grasp of our intellect and comprehension. We can only begin to understand His Greatness when we reflect on that which we can see of His creation. In reality, our existence—in fact that of the entire earth—can be likened to the tiniest spec of dust we see floating in the sunshine. Just as we see that miniscule spec of dust and compare it to our size and to that of the entire earth, we, nay our entire earth, is even more insignificant in size to the Grandeur of Allaah Rabbul Izzat!
OUR INSIGNIFICANCE
Mankind, with all its technological ‘advancement’ has discovered some truths regarding its standing in the (known) universe. We Muslims should be grateful for all these ‘discoveries’ because they serve to strengthen our Imaan and bring us much closer in recognising our Rabb.
Our earth is just one little planet amongst a few orbiting our sun. Leaving aside the size of earth to other planets in our solar system, we will just compare earth to the sun—The sun weighs about 333 000 times more than earth. It is so large that about 1 300000 (1.3 million) earths can fit inside it!
Now if we compare our sun to other stars in what is known as ‘The Milky Way’ galaxy, we realise that it is regarded as a dwarf. There are other stars which are more than 700 times larger and 14 000 times brighter than our sun.
Then again, ‘The Milky Way’ is just one galaxy amongst billions and even trillions of other galaxies. This is according to what man can see using various instruments.
Then there are phenomena known as ‘black holes’ which no one knows where they lead to.
The ‘Milky Way’ galaxy is basically a spec compared to all the other galaxies that can be seen.
There are more stars in the sky than all the sand particles in all the beaches around the world!!!! Our sun is just one of these innumerable stars and also amongst the smallest, and yet, 1.3 million earth can fit in this dwarf star (our sun). Can you even begin to imagine the size of this earth compared to all this? Can you even speculate your existence and size in all of this?
Beyond all this, there is much more, which man has yet to discover, If Allaah Ta`ala Wills it. We can argue that all of this is possibly just the first ‘heaven’ in what Allaah Ta`ala describes as the seven heavens.
NOW CAN YOU FATHOM?
Just sit and contemplate over what has been briefly described above and you will come to discern exactly how insignificant we, as individuals, are in the entire creation of Allah Ta`ala. When the creation is so huge and gigantic, just consider how Great the Creator of it all must be!
AND YET SO HAUGHTY
Notwithstanding man’s insignificance in the entire creation, he still struts around like he is something or someone. Allah Ta`ala warns us in the Qur`aan Majeed:
“And do not walk haughtily on earth (strutting with your heads in the air). You can certainly not tear the earth open (with your strutting), nor can you reach the height of the mountains (by lifting your heads in the air. This proud manner of walking is therefore futile because you cannot achieve anything by it).”
Allah Ta`ala guides us as follows:
“Ar-Rahman’s bondsmen are those who walk on earth in humility (without pride) …”
Allah Ta`ala created us from sand and we will ultimately be returned to that sand. We were created from an impure clot and will eventually become fodder for the creatures of the earth. Allah Ta`ala set us to this earth with one purpose and objective. Our bodies, wealth, families and everything that we have in this ephemeral abode are merely borrowed and temporary. Our deeds and acts of Ibaadat are what make us worth anything. Allah Ta`ala reminds us:
“I have created man and Jinn only to worship Me .”