Fourth place winner Is there life outside the planet of earth?

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Fourth place winner

Marah Qasem

Essay Contest 2012

Is there life outside the planet of earth? 

 Is there life outside the planet of the earth? I hear this all the time. The universe is infinite. There are billions of galaxies, stars, planets... So there MUST be some form of life outside of our planet earth!

  Now you guys are probably what’s this girl saying. What does this have anything with Muslims and Islam? Well, let me tell you if you open the Holy Quran to the first surah, you will find it begin with:

 

The translation of this in English is “In the Name of Allah, the Beneficent, and the Merciful. Praise is to Allah, Lord of the Worlds.”

    There is the physical world, the spiritual world the world of bacteria, and so forth. That obviously is one since in which we can understand “worlds”.

    I know I know, you’re probably thinking that’s it? Wow! But no. In another verse, however it is clear that there are many earths Allah says in verse 65:12

The translation of this in English is “He who is created seven heavens, and of the earth the like thereof. The Divine command comes down in their midst, that you may know that Allah has power over all things, and that Allah encompasses all things in His knowledge.”

   Is it possible that there may be other earths out there? The Quran does not deny this neither do the scholars in Islam!

   Did you guys know scientist say it is likely there are many earths outside the solar system. 50 billion stars in the Milky Way rotate slowly as does the sun. This characteristic indicates that those stars are surrounded by planets that are their satellites. The Bernard Star, for example, is believed to have at least one planetary companion. Let me quote Dr. Bucquile P. Guerin as he says “All the evidence points to the fact that planetary systems are scattered on profusion all over the universe. The solar system and the earth are not unique.”

   In a recent article published in the Toronto Star, two advanced evidence that there may indeed be many earths waiting to be discovered. The headline read: Earths may be dime a dozen out there.”

    The Quran uses the symbolic plural number 7 to indicate to existence of a plurality of heavens Allah says in verse 2:29

 

“ He it is Who created for you all that is in he earth; then He turned towards the heavens, and He perfected them as seven heavens; and He has perfect knowledge of all thing..”           (Translation in English)

 

Allah said: (Quran 41:41-42)

  

In English this means “Those who disbelieve in the Reminder when it comes unto them (are guilty), for indeed it is an unusable Scripture. Falsehood cannot come at it from before it or behind. It is Revelation from the Wise, the Owner of Praise.”