The Planets [Greek
planētēs "wanderer"]
There is no denying that the Ancient Arabs had
developed, over the centuries, their own popular knowledge of the Sky
and celestial bodies and phenomenon. They knew the fixed stars and
planets. Hundreds of stars were known by name and there were indigenous
names for the planets. The Bedouins used the stars for orientation in
the migrations by night.**
However, the majority of translators of Grand
Qur'aan,
unfortunately, did not use different words feeling convenience in
describing various Arabic words of absolutely different origins and
significations by a single word "Star".
:
It is
one such word that was translated
by the majority as "Star". However,
the Grand Qur'aan has identified it as a celestial object, different and
distinct from the Stars, at the very first place of its use in 6:76:





-
Thereby having known the science of the
Skies and the Earth; when the
Night had veiled him darkening his surroundings,
he pointed a planet-Venus;
-
He said to them: "This Planet is my
caretaker lord".
-
Thereafter, when the planet disappeared
from the scene
he said to them:
"I do not like to consider as lord those who disappear from the
scene." [6:76]
: Verb: Perfect; Third person; Singular; Masculine.
Root: ج ن ن
signifying to veil, conceal, cover, hide.
It is conspicuously stated that Sydena
Iebra'heim
عليه السلام
had seen the celestial object in the Sky
when Night had spread darkness
veiling
his
surroundings. In the darkness of night, one does not see a single star in
the Sky but quiet a large number of stars are visible to naked eye.
One celestial object he saw in the darkness of that Night was:
the direct object of verb signifying seeing with naked eye.
Grand
Qur'aan came in 7th century, but people have known the
distinction between stars and planets from couple of centuries BC.
The
basic difference between both, as we know, is that stars emit light
but
planets do not have their own light; they reflect light. How both could have
same meanings and termed as stars?
After the Sun
and the Moon, planet Venus is the most shining object. It is visible in
Sky
three hours before Sunrise and for three hours after Sunset. After these
three objects, planet Jupiter is the brightest object. It is three times
brighter than the brightest star Sirius. Because of its prominence,
Romans had given it name Jupiter after the name of their bigger god,
idol.
A word is needed to convey
and transmit a specific perception
or verbal mirroring of an object. Words
serve as a medium to communicate perceptions. It is for this reason
that, a language will be considered rich, clear, perspicuous, eloquent,
distinct, free from admixture, void of indistinctness or without
concealment, apparent like the daybreak and divested of the froth, if
its words have the capability of transporting the perception from one
mind to a listener and reader, in a manner that it generates in the
recipient mind exactly the same neurological process of observation and
interpretation, and creates a true copy of that perception.
The Arabic language is
portrayed as:
-
Active Participle; [Form IV], the
language that makes things individually and collectively distinct and differentiated from others.
The language {لسان}of our Guide Lord, Last Messenger صلى الله عليه وسلم
has the capacity of transmitting and making the perception
reach to the listener and reader, in the aforesaid manner. Therefore,
plural
cannot,
and should not be translated as “Star” since
Grand Qur'aan
has made a clear distinction between the celestial bodies.
It is rather unfair with Arabic Language,
which is rightly proud of vastness
of its vocabulary and concepts,
that different words emanating from
different Roots be assigned the same meanings in the target language.
We find mention of specific
Planets in the Classical works about the above statement in 6:76
Learned
Al Qurtabi said: و رأي المشتري أو
الزهرة
And he saw
either Jupiter or Venus
Al
Jalalain said:
هو الزهرة
"That is Venus"
Who was right and precise?
The difference between Venus and Jupiter is that
Venus after three hours of Sunset disappears from the Sky and is not visible till three
hours before Sunrise. However, Jupiter, when it is visible from Earth, does not
disappear but remains visible on the Sky. Grand Qur'aan informs us that
the Planet towards which he drew the attention of his people, later on
disappeared from the scene.
o
-----
Thereafter, when the planet disappeared
from the scene
he said to them:
"I do not like to consider as lord those who disappear from the
scene." [Refer 6:76]

:
"Thereafter, when that planet disappeared
from the scene"
The Grand Qur'aan has vividly pointed out that on
that Night Iebra'heim [علیہ
السلام]
had drawn
the attention of people around him towards
Venus. Therefore, we can visualize the
session of that Night that it was held
after quite some time of Sunset
but within three hours of the Sunset, and continued till morning,
Sunrise.
The Grand Qur'aan describes the Sky as one which
was layered into Seven Segments, one above the other. The Layer of the
Sky immediately above the Earth is referred as the Sky of the Earth.
The information about this specific Layer of the Sky is that it is
beautified by the presence of Planets:


: It
is necessarily something in which there is an attraction. Anything that
does not absorb attention-attraction cannot be referred by this word. We know that man has always attraction and interest in the
Planets. Moreover, the Planets are related to the Sky of the Earth-the
Solar System in relation to the Lower World-Earth.
The Grand Qur'aan has drawn distinction between
Planets
and Stars. It says:




-
Moreover,
He the Exalted has arranged for you people the
Stars [Pointers
and North Pole]
-
So that you people might guide yourselves in finding direction by them in the
layers of darkness-clueless locations-unmarked spaces-bewilderment
of the Desert-Land and the Ocean..
-
Our Majesty has made
the Aa'ya'at:
verbal
passages conveying information, facts and knowledge
about things-concepts as
vividly distinct-demarcated-isolated-alienated-crystal clear
for the people in pursuit of knowing-understanding.
[6:97]
Here Plural:
on the
Pattern of
فُعُولٌ
is used, indicating abundance. This is wide general
information relating to the entire globe. However, specific information,
commonly known to majority of people, particularly the travelers in
Oceans and Deserts, is given separately:

And they people get the direction-guidance
with the help of the Star. [Ref
16:16]
The Grand Qur'aan is declared as:
"
", i.e.
the statement of absolute fact, established reality in time and space.
It once said that Allah the Exalted has appointed:
the
peculiar Stars [it is
plural], and later it is said that people get direction-orientation with:
the help of One specific Star [it
is singular]. Grand Qur'aan was
meant, not only for those Arabs who were to listen it first, but is for the
entire humanity in time and space. Therefore, its language is such that
it contains and narrates a fact in such manner that it should seem and
could have been perceived as an absolute truth by its first listeners,
and prove to be an absolute fact for the posterity for whom the
knowledge of the universe will keep unfolding. The above statement of
the Grand Qur'aan is a fact from whatever angle it may be seen.
In common knowledge, people perceive that North/Pole Star is
the one but that
is not the fact. Today North Star is Polaris but in 7500 there
will be some other Star as Pole Star and in 15000 another one will take
this place and after 9000 years today's North Pole Polaris will again be
stationed there. Let us verify the fact with thanks from Encarta, and
online
Wikipedia:
"North Star
or Polestar, conspicuous
star in the northern hemisphere, located closest to the point toward
which the axis of the earth is directed, thus roughly marking the
location of the north celestial pole. A polestar has been used by
navigators throughout recorded history for charting navigation routes
and is still used for determining true azimuth and astronomic latitude.
The positions of the celestial poles change as the earth's axis moves
with the earth's precessional motion (see Ecliptic), and as the
north celestial pole assumes different positions relative to the
constellations, different stars become the North Star.
During the past 5000 years the line of
direction of the North Pole has moved from the star Thuban, or
Alpha (a) Draconis, in
the constellation Draco, to within one degree of the bright star
Polaris, also known as Alpha (a)
Ursae Minoris, in the constellation Ursa Minor (Little Dipper),
which is now the North Star. Polaris is a binary star of second
magnitude, and is located at a distance of about 300 light-years
from the earth. It is easy to locate in
the sky because the two stars opposite the handle in the bowl of
the dipper in the constellation Ursa Major (Big Dipper), which are
called the Pointers, point to the star Polaris. See Big
Dipper; Constellation; Little Dipper.
In the year 7500 the
brightest star in the constellation Cepheus, Alpha (a)
Cephei, will mark the pole, and in the year 15,000 the star Vega,
in the constellation Lyra, will be the North Star. About 9000
years after that, Polaris will again become the North Star"{"North
Star." Microsoft® Encarta® 2006 [DVD]. Redmond,
WA: Microsoft Corporation, 2005} |
The Stars are declared as helping people in
finding direction in the bewilderment of oceans and deserts, no-clue
places. But the Planets are stated as beautification and attraction
embedded in the Sky of Earth.
Stars and Planets are distinct celestial objects, which is also evident
from their destined end:
[Read with
81:06]



-
And when the
Planets would have caused themselves powdered-fragmented-self destructed-dispersed;
[82:02]
-
and when the Glaciers-water reservoirs would
have been caused to burst and emerge flowing;
[82:03]
Verb: Perfect; Third Person; Singular;
feminine; Intransitive;
[Form-VIII]; Subject pronoun hidden; مصدر-إِنْتِثَارٌ
Verbal noun.
Verb: Perfect; Third Person; Singular; Feminine;
Passive;
[Form-II]; تَ Proxy Subject pronoun hidden;
تَفْجِيرٌ Verbal Noun.
The common factor in this pair is that both absorb
as well as reflect light. Both the verbs relating their end share the
commonality of fragmentation and dispersing.
[Read with
81:2]

In consequence
[of first blow in the Trumpet]
when
the Stars are obliterated/scattered/lost luster; [77:08]
[Read with
77:08]

And when the Stars would have become disintegrated losing their luster/light; [81:02]
How Many Planets are in the Solar System?
We are not sure at the moment about the number of
planets in our solar system. The International Astronomical Union has
already put Pluto out of the Planet Club declaring it as a "dwarf
planet". Under the new definition, planets must orbit a star, be
spherical in shape,
and clear out their neighborhood of orbital
debris.



-
One day
when Yu'suf [alai'his'slaam]
said to his father: "O my father! It is a fact that I watched
eleven planets, and the Sun
and the Moon.
-
Father! I observed them
as
reverent coming nearer and paying obeisance for me." [12:04]
It is an Active Participle, plural, accusative,
used for circumstantial state/description. After having stated the
objects seen in his dream, he repeated the word
which
signifies expression of wonder and strangeness that he saw them in a
state of reverent for him.
Indeed this dream reflected metaphorically a fact that had to happen in
the life of
Yu'suf عليه السلام
when his mother, father and 11 brothers were to come near to him-join
him in Egypt after his separation and having been taken by a caravan and
sold to an advisor/ \minister of the king of Egypt.
At the end of the Episode, we see that his
eleven brothers, mother and father come to him in Egypt as his reverent
and admirers. Interestingly, eleven planets seen and mentioned first
representing his eleven brothers came to him first and afterwards his
ten brothers came back to Egypt bringing their own families and their
mother and father along. The dream got physical manifestation exactly in the
manner it was seen.


-
And he-Yu'suf
[alahissalam] raised his
mother and father upon the throne. And they three [plural:
father, mother, Yu'suf] voluntarily
went in prostration for Allah the
Exalted.
-
And after
prostration he said, "O father, this is the outcome-true meaning of my
dream of aforetime. Indeed my Sustainer Lord has made it a proven
reality. [Refer 12:100]
There is a
similarity between the planets and 11 brothers of
Yu'suf عليه السلام.
They did not have their own "light", they owe their recognition and
popularity to
Yu'suf عليه السلام.
They at that point in time, unlike their past conduct resembled
definition of Planet suggested by
International Astronomical Union, that is "clear
out their neighborhood of orbital debris".
But the fact remains that he had seen 11
planets. The question is can we see-perceive even in dream a thing which
does not exist in reality somewhere? What he had seen also happened in
reality. Can neurons create and pass on a signal for storage in the
memory without existence of a thing somewhere?
One thing is certain that Messengers of Allah never see a dream which
does not exist as a fact in the past, present or future. He has seen 11
planets, excluding the Earth. We will find them sooner or later; it is
promise of Allah the Exalted:

[Read with
27:93]
-
We will henceforth keep visually exposing Our
tangible-physical realities prevalent in the Universe-horizons and in their own bodies to the eyes of those who do not accept
the Qur'aan.
-
The purpose of this visual manifestation is that it might become
self manifest for them that Qur'aan
is
Infallible Doctrine-Discourse of
Reality-Profitability and substance
of permanence.
[Refer 41:53]
May I suggest to NASA that
whenever they find 11 Planets, two should be named after
two brothers of Yu'suf
عليه السلام,
one from his own mother and the eldest from his second mother which may
be proposed by our cousins, Bani Israel living in Israel. I suggest to
all Muslim communities/countries to recognize Israel as there lives Bani
Israel whom Grand Qur'aan addresses directly. When Allah the Exalted,
his Last Elevated Messenger and the Last Book recognizes them, why
Muslim countries should not recognize them as a nation and obviously a
nation lives in a geographical territory?

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