The Universe

"He is the Originator of the

heavens and the earth."

(The Qur'an, 6:101)

As we know, the deeper we look into space, further back into time are we travelling.

For eg. If we see a star exploding 20 million light years away, it means in reality, the star has already exploded 20 million years ago, because that is the amount of time light took travel to us for us to see it exploding.

Thanks to the Hubble Space Telescope, we have been able to look deeper into the cosmos than mankind has ever had. Thus, the deeper we look into the cosmos, we are infact going back to the time of origin. The universe as we know is a vast vast space. So huge it's vastness is actually unfathomable.

"I was a hidden treasure desiring to be known,

and I created the universe

so that I might be known."

-Hadith

The reality is, all the 18 thousand universe and worlds is within us. It depends on how we visualize the world. From the outside in? or the inside out?

"You thought yourself a part, small;

Whereas in you there is a universe, the greatest."

-Amir-Al-Momenin Ali

The life of the cosmos, the stars, conforms to the life cycle described by the Sufis. Birth, Growth, Death and rebirth. All religious philosophy tries to understand the divinity within ourselves through that understanding.

The universe as the scientist say was started by the Big Bang. It is from that point of origin, which the universe came to be known.

"Do not the Unbelievers see that the heavens and the earth were joined together (as one unit of creation),before We clove them asunder,

and We made from water every living thing.

Will they not then believe?" - (The Qur'an, 21:30)

That is the point of origin, which we have to return to. Just like the telescope seeing deep into space, the deeper we venture within ourselves, to our divine origin We return back to. The secret of our inner reality is understood.

We, Man, carry the beauty of the entire universe within us. But we are too ignorant to realise it. ''In short, you and I, is the complete one, eternal, timeless, boundless.'' It is with that understanding the mystic says, "I thought I was person and then discovered that I am part of the Divine."

"Earth and heaven do not contain me, but the heart of my believing servent contains me...''

The next time you look up at the night sky filled with stars, know, you are actually looking, within yourself.