We mention just two traditions and a scientific fact in...

We mention just two traditions and a scientific fact in order to clarify our point. Creation of Various Worlds The great scholar, Sayyid Hiybat Al-Din Shahristani , in his singular book “Islam wa Hiy’at” (Islam and Astronomy) has narrated from “Khisal” of Saduq, “ Bihar al-Anwar ” of Allamiyi Majlisi , “Anwar Nu’maniyya”, “Sharh Sahifa”, and “Tafsiri Nur Al-Thaqalayn” a tradition by Imam Sadiq (as), with a strong citation: إنَّ للهِ عَزَّ وَجَلَّ اثْنَي عَشَرَ ألفِ عالَمٍ؛ كُلُّ عالَمٍ مِنْهُمْ أكْبَرُ مِنْ سَبْعِ سَمَاواتٍ وَسَبْعِ أرَضينَ، ما يُرَى عالَمٌ مِنْهُم أنَّ للهِ عَزَّ وَجَلَّ عالَماً غَيْرَهُمْ.

The Almighty has created twelve thousand worlds, each of which is larger than all the heavens and the earth, and none of them is cognizant of the worlds outside its world!

[^1] The contemporary astrologers believe that the living world is composed of thousands of worlds, each of which contains heavens and the earths larger than our world’s.[^2] By referring to numbers, the Holy Qur’an and the traditions do not intend to show the exact record or extent of things, but rather to illustrate their enormity. We should not, therefore, consider the number of the worlds as twelve thousand.

The number of the worlds is far beyond what is mentioned in the holy Qur’an, the traditions, and the astrological books. Hanging Lanterns in the Heaven and the Solar System In his “Sharh Sahifa”, Sayyid Ni’mat Allah Jazayiri has narrated from the Prophet (S) and the infallible Imams (as) that Allah has created a hundred thousand lanterns, hanging them from the sky.

Allah has placed all the heavens and the earth and the things inside them in one of these lanterns, and only He knows about what is inside the other lanterns! Allama Shahristani , in the exigency of this fascinating tradition says that there are similarities between lanterns and the solar system: First, a lantern is oval is shape, and according to contemporary scientists the solar system has an oval shape too.

Second, a lantern contains an object at its center that spreads light and heat, and the scientists believe that the solar system too has the sun at its heart, scattering out light and heat to the surrounding planets. Thirdly, a lantern is floating in the air, not fixed to a wall or an object, just like our solar system which is floating in space, too.

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