UNRAVELLING THE SECRETS OF THE
UNIVERSE
The Universe Beyond: Spiritual Interpretation
of the
Universe
By M. Munir
(Dawn Newspaper, Karachi, Pakistan)
Earth, infinitesimally small, smaller
than even a speck in the mind boggling vastness of the
universe, nevertheless, is a prized entity
as there lives in its recesses man who though
overawed by the gigantic system, surrounding
his small habitat, not in the least over-powered by
its magnitude.
On the other hand, his fragile self, his
short span of life not with standing, he has the tendency,
something inherent in his being to look
beyond, a longing for new heights.
But how did he attain this top slot? Was
it an accident or it was through the process of
evolution as propounded in "Origin of
Species", a theory not challenged so far holds sway.
The book, a profound attempt on unravelling
the secrets of universe and beyond gives a
different picture. It does not contradict
the process of development in so far as it goes from
lower to higher forms of life. What it
does contradict is its continuity, unbroken like a thread
stretched from point to point.
According to it the development had taken
place in stages. A stage of development when it had
run its course got sealed, immutably fixing
the values attained at the stage. Next stage,
simultaneously starting at its lowest
rung, dominated the earlier stages as it progressed. If this
was not so, the book claims, and had the
process of development continued unchecked at each
stage (varieties kept coming up) there
would have been chaos and higher forms of life would
not have emerged. So came man, what the
book calls a big leap, starting with amoeba (with
human cell) simultaneously with the sealing
of animal stage, when it had ran its course, the
values attained getting fixed. And he,
coming in the last a self-conscious entity, all creative
activity was directed towards which sits
at the top of all creations dominating all earlier stages.
In all there were eight such stages the
book claims.
The book says outside development, spread
over millions of years had its parallel within;
squeezed within it turned into enlightenment.
What the book attempt is, "to understand
the scientific discoveries under the revelations made
in Quran". According to it, "the nature
of development of universe is not mechanical; the
universe is a creation and its creations
in successive rational orders implies appearances of
greater and greater cognition and appreciation
as creation of possibilities, attributes and beauty
of its creator as it develops from stage
to stage and come nearer the desire and will of creator".
The book nevertheless says that there does
not exist any absolute stationary frame of
reference. It extensively quotes from
Quran. The strain of rationalising which runs unbroken
like a thread through out its discourses,
nevertheless, is admirable the discourses though brief,
subject would not allow stepping out of
line, are pregnant with meaning showing the labour of
love and a high degree of commitment.
The range of this not voluminous book is as
encompassing as its subject and its approach
as scholarly as it is enlightening. For instance
when it discusses as to how what it calls
the infinite gaps between the conscious and
intellectual levels of different stages
are bridged? How the system works in polarity and
plurality that even galaxies exist in
groups, occasionally embracing each other, a sort of mating.
And when the discourse leans towards sublimity
it tells us as to how the finality of the
prophethood was necessary or how a soul
is immortal. It enthrals a reader like me when it says
while discussing the Big Bang (there was
nothing, not even empty space out side for the Big
Bang to explode into) that the chaos and
unimaginably high temperatures
resulted, when matter separated with the
Bang from its source, agitated. And the rationalisation
which followed immediately thereafter
culminating in emergence of man, a self-conscious self,
an attribute of the creator, if any thing
it was expression of its (matters) inmate desire to find its
way back to its source.
The contents of the chapter 7, 8 and 9
further renew ones belief in his own self as against the
absurdity of existence that dominates
the modern human thought giving rise to ethnicity, crime,
corruption, sexual perversions and what
not, a natural corollary when the sight is thwarted of its
vision beyond. The book says "the higher
life the individual with a developed personality (as
desired by the creator) is capable of
living after his life in this material world is called heavenly
life or the life of paradise. On the other
hand the onward march of the personalities who could
not fully develop in the present world
is bound to be thwarted, this kind of life is called an
infernal life or life of hell.
Of late it is felt that as the science
has progressed Quranic revelations have become more
relevant, helping to understand microcosm
with or against macrocosm. This brings in a
relationship harmonious helping growth
of man to stages far and high, giving him respectability
which should be his while he travels through
universe to a destination that lies beyond.
