All of us are very minute particles in the cosmos. This vast creation of our Lord is so enormous that to talk of ends or beginnings is playing games. Its vastness just stretches and stretches, appearing almost endless. Somewhere on one of its smallest planets in one of its smallest solar systems in this universe, we are situated. In relation to the vastness of the cosmos or all of the universes or whatever you want to call them, we are so insignificant; perhaps the most insignificant creation, as we understand. But, in all of this – we do not know what happens in most of the rest of the creation – Allah (ﷻ) appears to have focused on this planet, in some way that we do not understand.
It is one of those unbelievable mysteries of our Lord’s creation that He (ﷻ) has given special attention to planet Earth or what He (ﷻ) calls the Dunya and an occasional reference is made to the rest of His (ﷻ) creation. We do not really understand why Allah (ﷻ) is giving so much attention to this planet. It appears, to us, that many of the creations of the Hereafter, and here I am referring to matters such as Paradise and similar matters, have to do with us. When Nabi Muhammad (ﷺ) went on the Mi’raj, he (ﷺ) experienced so many things in what we call the Hereafter or any other way we wish to describe this, and those descriptions appear to be directly related to this planet. When we talk of Heaven and Hell, of the Balance, of the Sirat; are we the only beings that will be going through judgment one day and has Allah (ﷻ) created these things just for us? We do not know. We only assume, because we, here on this planet, see ourselves as the centre of all existence, and we are so minùte. Perhaps it is like that. Perhaps this little planet called Earth is central in the scheme of things and perhaps all the creations of the Hereafter are equally central, in the same way.
You might be wondering why I am telling you all these things. I have learnt that eons ago our Lord had created a spot of light called the Light of Muhammad (ﷺ) and from this spot of light He (ﷻ) brought into existence this immeasurable creation. I have learnt this. Today when I think of it I just say; “Allahu akbar” or “Subhanallah” and although these phrases are sufficient to express our wonder, we do not understand their true nature just as we do not understand the true nature of the creation that causes us to make these statements. Every now and then major new discoveries are made in the heavens, in the seas and elsewhere. Major forms of life not known before are discovered and all that we can say is what our Lord has taught us: “Subhanallah”. This statement which is short and succinct gives recognition to a Glory which is endless and absolute. Even the words we use, although provided for us by our Lord, cannot really be understood by us. We do not in fact know what Subhanallah means or what Allahu akbar means.
Although the statement, for example, Subhanallah, appears to be understood by us, these are not our words. These are Allah’s (ﷻ) Words. And only He (ﷻ) knows what all Glory to Him means. We do not understand the extent of that Glory and its nature. We have assumptions about this and we use words in the languages we understand to describe the nature of the Glory that belongs to Him. Many of the phrases in the Qur’an that pertain to certain aspects of our Lord such as Subhanallah, Alhamdu lillah, Allahu akbar, La hawla wala quwwata, are way beyond our comprehension. All of these have to do with descriptions of aspects of our Lord, such as His Glory, His Praises, His Greatness, His Power, etc. All of these and the many others that are found in the Qur’an, and the Hadith, are way beyond us. We know what these words mean when we apply their meaning to our world, but we do not know what these words mean when they apply to Allah (ﷻ). Accepting this is part of our humility as servants.
So where do we stand with regard to the matters that I’ve raised? We occupy a very small space in all of creation and we use many of the statements with regard to our Lord, which He (ﷻ) had given us, but which we do not understand. Despite all of this and despite our weakness, our ignorance, our lack of understanding and our pretence; in a certain sense, we are very special to Him (ﷻ) and this is what I want to come to.
The fact that we appear to be insignificant particles in all of creation; this is only an appearance because Allah (ﷻ) has granted a special honour to us:
وَ لَقَدْ كَرَمْنَا بَنِى آدَمَ
We have granted honour to the descendants of Adam
It appears that He (ﷻ) has not granted this honour to any of His (ﷻ) other creations, as we understand and as we know. But for me the greatest significance of the human race in His (ﷻ) creation is that out of this race He (ﷻ) has brought individuals who stand out as the greatest of us all. Here I am referring to Nabi Muhammad (ﷺ), the greatest of mankind, and the other many different groups or grades of intensely pious people. Are similar people found anywhere else in creation? We do not know. Everything to do with religion that He (ﷻ) has sent down to humanity is an indication of the speciality of human beings on the planet Earth. We are special by Him (ﷻ); that is why He (ﷻ) has granted special things for us in the Hereafter. It is the most amazing thing that in this creation of His (ﷻ), so big that it doesn’t appear to have an end with so many different forms of creation, both animate and inanimate, it is only on the planet Earth, a very small planet in the universe, to which Allah (ﷻ) has sent the truth of Himself, or so I think. There is no evidence in the Qur’an, for example, that revelation and revealing Himself to His creation, have descended anywhere else in all of creation, in the same way that it has come to us. In a sense we are alone but we are proudly alone. We ask Allah (ﷻ) to continue to favour us with what is good from His Oceans of Mercy, amin.
[Unpublished 2012]
