Today what you are about to experience is not just another story—it is your story. Mine. Ours. A story woven through every breath we take, every star that burns above us, every moment that has ever existed.
This is a story about a past so magnificent it defies imagination, a present charged with meaning, and a future that stretches beyond the boundaries of what we dare to dream.
Where does such a story begin?
At the very beginning. When there was nothing.
And where does it end? When there will be nothing once more.
From the vast expanse of the heavens to the solid earth beneath our feet, from the blazing stars scattered across infinity to the planets circling in silence, from the relentless march of time to every atom of creation—this is the story of what we call "The Universe."
Together, we will embark on a journey. A journey to explore this cosmic masterpiece. Who created it? What secrets lie hidden within its depths? And what of that small, spinning world we call home—what has unfolded upon it? What is yet to come?
Our journey begins fourteen billion years ago.
But why fourteen billion?
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THE FARTHEST LIGHT
Have you ever gazed up at the night sky and found those seven stars—the ones your mother might have pointed out when you were young, her finger tracing patterns in the darkness?
That constellation is called Ursa Major.
You can see it almost every night, a celestial compass hanging above our heads. Now imagine if your eyes possessed the power of the world's most advanced telescope. If they did, you would notice something extraordinary above the central star—a tiny crimson smudge, so faint it barely registers against the black void.
That smudge is GN-Z11, the farthest known galaxy humanity has ever observed.
Think about that for a moment. Trillions upon trillions of stars, entire stellar civilizations compressed into a mere red dot. And the distance? So incomprehensible that light itself—the fastest phenomenon in existence, racing through space at 300,000 kilometers per second—takes fourteen billion years to reach our eyes.
Fourteen billion years.
The photons that touch your retina when you look at that galaxy began their journey before our sun existed, before our planet formed, before anything we know as "life" drew its first breath.
This gives us at least one certainty: in our journey through time, we can travel at least this far back. But here's the humbling truth—99.9985% of those fourteen billion years passed before the first human ever walked the earth. Humanity emerged only in the last fleeting seconds of this cosmic timeline, a heartbeat in the grand symphony of existence.
So how can we, who arrived so late to this ancient stage, possibly witness the universe's birth?
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THE THREADS OF KNOWLEDGE
To see what transpired before us, you must free yourself from the chains of time. Come with me. We will gather the threads of knowledge—ancient and modern, scientific and sacred—and weave them into understanding.
Let's begin with what most of us know: science.
Within science exists a branch called cosmogony—the study of cosmic origins. In 1964, this field delivered humanity one of its most profound discoveries, so significant that its discoverers, Arno Penzias and Robert Wilson, received the Nobel Prize.
What did they find?
A peculiar form of radiation. But this radiation wasn't streaming from any star, any planet, any constellation. It was everywhere. No matter where they pointed their instruments, they detected this energy—a whisper from the beginning of time itself, spread uniformly throughout the entire universe.
It was as if some colossal expansion, some primordial eruption of creation, had left its echo reverberating through space—an echo born billions upon billions of years ago, still singing to us today.
They called it the cosmic microwave background radiation.
Today, we know it by another name: The Big Bang.
The evidence suggested something extraordinary: that the heavens and earth, and everything between them, were once unified—compressed together into a singular point—before being separated by an unimaginable force of expansion.
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WHEN SCIENCE REACHES ITS LIMITS
But every discovery brings new mysteries.
This one came packaged with what scientists called "the horizon problem." The cosmic background radiation, they observed, extends as far as 46 billion light-years in some directions, yet only 0.3 million light-years in others.
There was only one logical explanation: light must be traveling at different speeds in different regions of the universe.
But this seemed impossible. Light has one speed—approximately 300,000 kilometers per second. It's a universal constant, unbreakable, fundamental to the very fabric of reality as we understand it.
Unless... unless time itself flows differently in different regions of the cosmos.
At this point, even the most brilliant minds in science must pause. Science, for all its power and precision, has its limitations. And perhaps it should—after all, it is merely a few hundred years old, a child in the timeline of human knowledge.
If modern science cannot provide all the answers, where else should we look?
To the ancients. To the wisdom that existed long before laboratories and equations. To knowledge passed down through millennia, whispered from generation to generation, carved into stone and preserved in memory.
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VOICES FROM THE ANCIENT WORLD
To find this ancient knowledge, we must travel back. Far, far back.
The Mesopotamian Mystery
The year was 1849. In the ruins of Nineveh, an archaeologist named Austen Henry Layard unearthed something remarkable—clay tablets inscribed with wedge-shaped writing, the remnants of a civilization that had turned to dust thousands of years before.
He called them the Enuma Elish.
These tablets told a story, written 3,500 years ago, about the creation of everything. They spoke of a time when there was no sky, no earth, no trees, no marshlands. No humans. No fate yet written. Only water—endless, primordial water stretching into infinity.
And from this water, at the command of God, creation began.
Fascinating, isn't it? When you study all 1,000 lines of these ancient texts, one element dominates: water. Vast oceans of water existing before anything else. The tablets speak of an eternal garden, of human souls descending from the heavens, of life breathed into clay.
But perhaps most intriguing is a word in the Greek translation: logos—meaning "something that was spoken." According to these ancient Mesopotamians, when God wished to create, He spoke. Words brought forth existence.
But what words? The tablets remain silent on this final mystery.
The Sumerian Testimony
Let's journey even further back—to a civilization that predated even the Mesopotamians.
Five thousand years ago, the Sumerians built their cities in what is now Iraq. And they, too, recorded creation stories on their clay tablets. They wrote of a supreme being called Nammu, eternal and uncreated, who fashioned the heavens and earth from primordial waters.
Don't dismiss the Sumerians as primitive storytellers. They were the architects of civilization as we know it. The first written language? Sumerian. The first clock? Sumerian. The first irrigation systems? Sumerian. The foundations of geometry? Sumerian.
These were minds of extraordinary sophistication, and they unanimously testified: in the beginning, there was water.
The Egyptian Account
Three thousand years ago, Egypt stood as a superpower, its pyramids already ancient, its wisdom renowned throughout the known world. And what did the Egyptian scholars say?
They spoke of Nun—the primordial deity who created heaven and earth from a vast, stormy ocean of water. An ocean shrouded in complete darkness, chaotic and formless, yet pregnant with the potential for all existence.
The Greek Tradition
The Greeks, whose philosophy still influences us 2,300 years later, told of Okeanos—the great world-ocean, dark and infinite, from which all things emerged.
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THE GLOBAL CONSENSUS
Now, one might argue these civilizations lived relatively close to each other, separated by mere centuries or a few thousand miles. Perhaps they influenced each other? Perhaps their stories cross-pollinated through trade routes and conquest?
A fair objection. So let me take you to the far corners of the earth—to peoples who had no contact with Mesopotamia, Egypt, or Greece.
Australia: The Aboriginal peoples, isolated for tens of thousands of years, speak of a Lord of all souls who existed alone in the void. He created light and breathed life into the earth.
China: Ancient Daoist mythology describes a God who separated the primordial waters, raised the mountains, and accomplished all this through His knowledge and His words.
Korea: The mythology of Cheonjiwang tells of a time when heaven and earth were unified, undivided, one.
Africa: The Mande tradition of West Africa and the Yoruba teachings of Central Africa—both speak of a Mighty Power, existing alone, creating everything from water.
Americas: The Cherokee people—an indigenous tribe whose roots stretch back long before European contact—preserve stories of heaven and earth formed from waters in seven days. The same motif appears in Hawaiian traditions, isolated in the middle of the vast Pacific Ocean, thousands of miles from any other land.
Europe: Even in Finland, ancient songs tell of Vainamoinen, who created all from water.
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SEPARATING TRUTH FROM MYTH
Do you see the pattern emerging?
Civilizations separated by thousands of miles and thousands of years, with no possibility of contact, yet all preserving the same core narrative:
A mighty force called God. He existed alone. He created everything from water. And it happened in six or seven days.
Now, I must be honest with you. These mythologies also contain elements that are clearly fantastical—earth bound in golden chains, crows helping to create the universe, and other such imagery.
We know the earth isn't chained with gold. We know crows didn't participate in cosmic creation.
So I filtered out these obvious embellishments and focused on what remained consistent across all traditions. And what emerged was striking in its clarity:
One God. Existing before all. Creating from water. Accomplishing it in days.
Word for word. Story after story. Continent after continent.
It suggests something profound: that the same message was delivered to all corners of the world. Different messengers, different times, different cultures—but one message, one sender.
This points to a second branch of knowledge, one that exists alongside science—a branch in which 85% of the world's population places their faith:
Religion.
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THE RELIGIOUS LANDSCAPE
But which religion?
Today, over 3,000 different religions exist, each claiming to possess the truth. To find our answer, we must examine the major ones—the oldest, most influential faiths that have shaped civilizations.
Judaism
One of humanity's oldest religions, Judaism teaches that God created the earth. But according to traditional Jewish cosmology, this earth is flat, floating upon waters, with paradise above the sky and hell beneath the ground.
Christianity
The world's largest religion by population, Christianity also affirms divine creation. However, classical Christian doctrine placed Earth at the center, with all stars, planets, and the sun rotating around our world. Moreover, traditional biblical chronology dates creation to merely 6,500 years ago, concluding on the seventh day when God rested.
Greek Philosophy
Though 2,500 years old, Greek thought still influences us today. The Greeks believed in divine creation but also maintained that the goddess Andromeda flew across the heavens, her spilled milk creating the streak of stars we still call the Milky Way.
Eastern Traditions
Hinduism, Jainism, and Buddhism—all ancient and profound—take a radically different stance. They propose that the universe has no beginning and no end. It has always existed and will always exist, cycling eternally.
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EXAMINING THE CLAIMS
Let's pause and examine these beliefs against what we can observe.
If Judaism's flat earth is true, why does America experience morning while Japan sees evening at the exact same moment? A flat earth would see sunrise and sunset simultaneously everywhere. Also, 4,550 satellites currently orbit our planet—they wouldn't function around a flat surface.
If Christianity's young earth is true, the light from GN-Z11 could never have reached us. Those photons would still be traveling through space. And why would an almighty, all-powerful God need to rest on the seventh day? Exhaustion seems incompatible with omnipotence. Furthermore, Christianity has produced over fifty different versions of its holy scripture, the Bible. Which version contains the truth?
If the Greeks were correct, who spilled milk across the billions of other galaxies we've discovered, each containing trillions of stars?
If Hinduism, Jainism, and Buddhism are right—that the universe is eternal—why are galaxies accelerating away from each other? Our own Milky Way hurtles through space at 2.1 million kilometers per hour. Anything in motion must have had a beginning and will have an end.
Each tradition, it seems, carries truth corrupted by time and human interpretation. The original message has been obscured.
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A BOOK WITHOUT DOUBT
But there is one religion I haven't yet discussed—the only religion whose scripture makes an extraordinary claim:
That it contains no falsehood whatsoever.
Fourteen hundred years ago, a religion emerged in the Arabian Peninsula called Islam. Within decades, it spread across Arabia and eventually throughout the world. Today, Islam is the world's second-largest religion.
Islam's holy book, the Quran, contains a creation narrative. For instance, Surah Hud states: "God is the One who created the heavens and the earth in six days, and His throne was upon the waters."
Similar to other traditions. But here's what sets the Quran apart:
In its very opening pages, it declares: "This is a Book in which there is no doubt."
That is an audacious claim. No other scientific theory, no ancient tablet, no culture, no religion has ever made such an absolute statement.
For those of us seeking truth, this claim must be tested. Either it will prove true, or it will prove false.
The good news? Unlike other scriptures, the Quran exists in only one version—one book, one text, unchanged, available for examination.
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THE PROPHET'S TESTIMONY
Beyond the Quran, we also have the recorded sayings of the man who brought this religion to the world: Muhammad ibn Abdullah (peace be upon him), preserved in collections called Hadith.
One particularly striking report comes from Abu Razeen, who asked the Prophet: "Where was our God before He created everything?"
The Prophet replied: "God was neither in time nor space. There was nothing above Him and nothing below Him. Then He created His throne upon the water."
Notice the sophistication here—concepts of spacetime, of nothingness preceding existence, of a reality beyond physical dimensions. These are not primitive myths; they're metaphysically profound statements.
So we have two primary sources to explore: the Quran and the teachings of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him). Let's see where they lead.
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THE SEPARATION
Among all religious texts, the Quran contains perhaps the most scientifically resonant description of creation, found in Surah Al-Anbiya:
"Do the disbelievers not see that the heavens and earth were joined together, and We separated them? And We created every living thing from water."
Read that again slowly.
The heavens and earth were joined together, then separated. A mighty force of expansion—the same expansion whose echo we detect as cosmic microwave background radiation, the same expansion still driving galaxies apart at incomprehensible speeds.
This is logical, verifiable through observation. If we reverse the current expansion, rewinding the cosmic film, we inevitably arrive at a point where everything was unified, unseparated, together.
These are remarkable statements for a book revealed 1,400 years ago.
But we need more evidence. Let's go deeper.
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THE MYSTERY OF TIME
The Quran mentions at least five times that God created the heavens and earth in six days.
But what days?
Were they our standard 24-hour days? This was Christianity's critical error—insisting on literal days, making it impossible to reconcile scripture with the observable universe.
Remember the horizon problem? The apparent paradox that time seems to flow differently in different regions of space?
Perhaps scientists shouldn't have called it a "problem." Perhaps they should have called it a "revelation."
Because unlike the Bible, the Quran is explicit about time's fluid nature. In Surah Al-Hajj and Surah Al-Ma'arij, we read:
"A day with your Lord is equivalent to a thousand years of your reckoning."
"The angels and the Spirit ascend to Him in a day whose measure is fifty thousand years."
Somewhere, a day equals a thousand years. Elsewhere, fifty thousand years.
This is not primitive cosmology. This is sophisticated understanding of time dilation, of relativity, of the fluid nature of temporal experience—concepts that wouldn't be formulated in scientific terms until Einstein's work in the 20th century, thirteen hundred years after the Quran's revelation.
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THE CREATION OF DARKNESS
We can delve even deeper. The opening verse of Surah Al-An'am states:
"All praise belongs to Allah, who created the heavens and the earth, and the darknesses and the light."
A remarkable verse for multiple reasons. Notice it speaks of heavens (plural) and also mentions the creation of darkness.
But how can darkness be created? Isn't darkness simply the absence of light?
This question puzzled thinkers for centuries.
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Olbers' Paradox
In the 17th century, a German astronomer named Heinrich Olbers posed a question that has haunted cosmology ever since, known as Olbers' Paradox:
If the universe is truly infinite and uniformly filled with stars, then everywhere we look in the night sky, our line of sight should eventually intersect with a star's surface. The night sky should be blazingly bright, as brilliant as day.
But it's not.
It's dark. Profoundly dark.
For three hundred years, no one offered a satisfactory answer.
But listen to this verse from Surah Ash-Shams:
"By the night when it covers."
When it covers. As if night itself is a tangible thing, a covering, a veil of darkness that can be placed over the light—not merely the absence of illumination, but a created entity in its own right.
This fourteen-hundred-year-old book speaks of concepts that modern science is only beginning to fully appreciate.
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UNDERSTANDING THE SKY
Now we must tackle an even more fundamental question: What is the sky?
Humanity's relationship with the heavens is ancient and profound. We even have specific words for those who love different aspects of it:
Nephophile: a lover of clouds
Ceraunophile: a lover of thunder and lightning
Pluviophile: a lover of rain
Astrophile: a lover of stars
Selenophile: a lover of the moon
But what exactly is the sky?
Before writing this chapter, I conducted an informal experiment. I asked twenty people: "What is the sky?"
The answers varied wildly. Some said "the blue thing above us." Others suggested "a white shield somewhere up high." Some thought clouds constituted the sky. Each answer reflected a different intuition, a different perception.
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The Scientific Definition
Science offers a partial answer. The blue we see isn't the sky itself—it's our atmosphere. Sunlight, composed of seven colors, strikes atmospheric gases. Blue light, having the shortest wavelength, scatters more than other colors, painting our daytime sky azure.
At sunset, the angle changes. The sun sits near the horizon, and light must travel through 38% more atmosphere. This filters out the blue, allowing reds and oranges to dominate.
But how high does this atmosphere extend?
Six and a half miles up: The troposphere, where all earthly weather occurs—clouds, rain, storms. All life exists within this thin shell.
Beyond that, another 31 miles: The stratosphere, home to the ozone layer that shields us from the sun's harmful radiation. Commercial aircraft cruise through its lower reaches; spy planes pierce its middle altitudes.
Beyond that, 53 more miles: The mesosphere, where temperatures plunge to -90°C, where air becomes so thin that humans cannot survive, where meteorites burn to ash upon entry.
Beyond that, 300 miles: The thermosphere, where satellites orbit, where the aurora borealis performs its ethereal dance—shimmering curtains of green and violet light, one of Earth's most sublime displays.
Beyond that: The Karman line, the arbitrary boundary where Earth ends and space begins. Beyond lies the vast emptiness, the incomprehensible distances, the fourteen billion light-years stretching to GN-Z11.
But where in all of this is the sky?
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THE QURANIC SKY
Science cannot help us beyond the Karman line. Those realms exceed the boundaries of empirical investigation.
For answers, we turn to the Quran and Hadith.
The Quran mentions water descending from the sky at least 22 times. But rain clouds form at only 2 kilometers altitude—surely "sky" means something more expansive.
Three times, the Quran describes the sky as a "protected roof." Twice, it mentions that this roof is secured so it will not fall.
This suggests the sky serves a protective function, shielding us from something—and that it too requires protection.
Could "sky" refer to the ozone layer, or similar protective atmospheric phenomena? Perhaps. But we need more clues.
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The Returning Sky
Surah At-Tariq speaks of a curious property:
"By the sky which returns."
Returns? What returns?
Anyone familiar with climatology knows this: weather patterns cycle continuously. Rain, fog, snow, storms, winds—all originate from atmospheric processes and return to Earth repeatedly, an endless cycle of descent and ascension mediated by the sky.
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Celestial Objects in the Sky
The Quran states at least three times that the sun, stars, and moon exist within the sky. Twice it mentions decorative stars in the sky. Three times it references pillars in the sky.
For instance, verse 16 of Surah Al-Hijr:
"Indeed, We have placed constellations in the sky and beautified it for observers."
What pillars?
In 1995, the Hubble Space Telescope captured an image that became one of the ten most beautiful photographs ever taken—so stunning it was photographed multiple times thereafter. The image showed three towering columns of interstellar gas and dust, aptly named "The Pillars of Creation," sources of wonder and beauty for all who behold them.
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THE GREAT EXPANSION
At this point, clarity emerges: the sky is not a thin shell but a vast expansion upward.
The Quran provides additional properties. It speaks of burning flames that pursue mysterious objects, of stars that devour entire galaxies without trace, of celestial bodies with tails extending six million miles.
But let's maintain our journey's structure. First, we must understand the sky's scope.
These wonders—the pillars, the sun, the stars—cannot be confined to our Milky Way alone. Our galaxy contains approximately 400 billion stars; our sun is merely one. Our nearest galactic neighbor, Andromeda, contains 2.5 times more—over a trillion stars. And there are an estimated 2 trillion galaxies in the observable universe.
Is all of this the sky? Where does it end?
Further Quranic research revealed at least four passages discussing the sky's expansion and limits. Two are crystal clear:
Surah Al-Ghashiyah: "Do they not look at how the sky has been raised high?"
Surah Adh-Dhariyat: "We built the sky with power, and indeed, We are its expander."
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THE BOUNDARY
So the sky begins just above us and expands to incomprehensible distances. But is there a limit?
Yes. A boundary is mentioned in Surah An-Nazi'at and Surah Ar-Rahman.
"Is creating the sky more difficult, or you? He constructed it, raising high its ceiling."
And in Ar-Rahman, a verse that carries both information and warning:
"O company of jinn and mankind! If you are able to pass beyond the boundaries of the heavens and earth, then pass! You will not pass except with authority. There will be sent against you flames of fire and smoke, and you will not defend yourselves."
Understand what this is saying: After vast expansions of distance, somewhere there exists an outer boundary to the sky—a limit where flames and smoke await those who attempt to breach it without divine permission.
This is the edge of our sky, the frontier of our universe.
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THE COMPOSITION OF SKY: A SUMMARY
The sky begins just above our heads, in our atmosphere, and extends upward through unimaginable distances to a final boundary.
This is why water descends from the sky—clouds float within its lower reaches.
This is why the sun, moon, and stars float within the sky—they occupy its vast middle expanses.
This is the sky decorated with stars, the sky that protects us, the sky that returns weather to us in cycles.
Sky is not a thing but a space—a tremendous expanse stretching from just above our heads to a boundary so distant that human comprehension fails.
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DISCOVERIES ABOUT THE SKY
During my research into Quranic verses about the sky, I discovered:
Four references to the sky's design and structure
Six mentions of creatures inhabiting the sky
Three passages about sustenance descending from the sky
Six descriptions of gates and pathways in the sky
Two verses describing the sky's emotions
Two accounts of jinn and demons traveling through the sky
Three discussions of things that ascend and descend through the sky
Sixteen prophecies about the sky's ultimate fate
Five instances where Allah swears by the sky, one of His greatest creations
In time, I will share all of these discoveries with you—the creatures who live in the sky, the gates and pathways, what eventually happens to this magnificent expanse.
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THE SEVEN SKIES
And in seven places, the Quran states explicitly:
The skies are seven in number.
From this point forward, I will describe what lies beyond the Karman line, beyond the reach of science, beyond the final frontier of human exploration.
Up to now, reaching this knowledge through science alone would have been impossible. So through the Quran and Hadith, I explored the composition of these seven heavens. In a 14th-century work by the Egyptian scholar Jalal Al-Deen As-Suyuti, "Al-Haba'ik fi Akhbar Al-Mala'ik," I found detailed descriptions.
Now I will tell you what exists beyond humanity's reach.
THE FIRST SKY: RAQIYA
The first sky, nearest to us, is called Raqiya. It is made of water—living water, according to some traditions.
Hadith literature tells us this is where Adam and Eve now reside. Some traditions mention that Prophet Muhammad, during his night journey, saw an angel named Habib here—an angel constructed half of fire, half of ice, existing in impossible equilibrium.
A letter from the Roman Emperor Heraclius to Muawiya (may Allah be pleased with him) mentioned something called "mujarra"—described by Ibn Abbas as a barrier within this first sky, a door separating "here" from "there," through which nothing can pass. Not matter. Not energy. Not even temperature.
If these traditions are accurate, the first sky is composed of living water containing barriers that hermetically seal different regions of reality.
THE SECOND SKY: AZFILON
Above Raqiya lies the second sky, called Azfilon, composed of white pearls.
According to Hadith, Prophets Isa (Jesus) and Yahya (John the Baptist) reside here.
THE THIRD SKY: QAIDOUM
The third sky, Qaidoum, is made of pure iron.
Here dwells Prophet Yusuf (Joseph) and, according to some traditions, Azrael—the Angel of Death.
THE FOURTH SKY: MA'OUNA
The fourth sky, Ma'ouna, is fashioned from pure brass.
This is the residence of Prophet Idris and an angel called Kifsa'il—the Angel of Tears.
THE FIFTH SKY: RIQQA
The fifth sky, Riqqa, is made of pure silver.
Prophet Harun (Aaron) lives here, as does Malik—the custodian of Hell, who commands the mysterious angels called Zabaniyah, mentioned in Surah Al-Alaq.
THE SIXTH SKY: DAQNA'A
The sixth sky, Daqna'a, is composed of pure gold and red rubies.
Prophet Musa (Moses) resides here.
But before I continue, pause for a moment. Close your eyes. Try to imagine a sky made entirely of gold and crimson rubies, glowing with inner radiance.
Surah An-Najm describes a great tree in this realm—Sidrat al-Muntaha, the Lote Tree of the Farthest Boundary. Its roots anchor in the sixth sky, its branches reaching up into the seventh. Its leaves are enormous; its fruit resembles great vessels. Beetles of pure gold fly around it.
Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) described what he witnessed during the Night Journey: when Allah commanded this tree to transform, its colors shifted into hues beyond earthly comprehension—colors no living being can describe, colors that have no names in human language.
THE SEVENTH SKY: AREEBA
Beyond all others rises the seventh sky, Areeba—known in the traditions of the People of the Book as Araboth.
Prophet Ibrahim (Abraham) resides here.
This highest sky is made of light—but not light as we understand it. Not photons, not electromagnetic radiation. A light beyond human comprehension.
The branches of the Lote Tree extend only to this seventh sky. Whatever ascends from below stops here. Whatever descends from above is received here.
This is the boundary of ascension and descent.
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BEYOND THE SEVENTH SKY
Listen carefully to what comes next.
Above the seventh sky stands the Throne of Allah—Al-Arsh—carried by eight magnificent angels. The Throne is made of red ruby, and upon it rests the Kursi, the Footstool.
This is the limit of all knowledge ever possessed by any created being, including humanity.
Above that...
Above that is the Lord of the Throne—Allah, the Lord of Everything.
My Creator. Your Creator. The Lord of these words and the one who reads them.
Writing about what lies above the Throne fills me with a particular kind of awe—a trembling awareness of my own limitations.
To the right of the Throne exists Al-Lawh al-Mahfuz, the Preserved Tablet where everything is written. Allah fashioned it from pure white pearls. Its pages are red ruby. Its script is written in light.
Everything that ever was and everything that will ever be is inscribed upon it—every moment, every choice, every possibility. Whatever Allah wills is recorded here.
Its base is pure white stone, and it rests in the hands of an angel.
Allah, Lord of Everything, looks upon it three hundred and sixty times each day.
Prophet Muhammad reported that the seven skies, compared to the Throne, are like a ring thrown into a vast desert.
And the Throne, compared to the Kursi, is like a ring thrown into a vast desert.
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PAUSE AND REFLECT
Stop for a moment.
Let your mind attempt to grasp what you've just read.
Can your brain truly comprehend these expansions? Can I adequately convey such magnificence?
Perhaps we were never meant to fully understand. Perhaps that's the point—to stand in awe at the edge of our comprehension, humbled by what lies beyond.
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THE FORCE OF CREATION
Remember how I mentioned that nearly every culture speaks of a mighty force creating everything through spoken words? But no culture could identify those specific words?
Even theoretical physics proposes something called the "ekpyrotic universe model"—the idea that multiple universes float among various forces (gravity, electromagnetism, etc.), and every few trillion years, these universes collide, producing a massive Big Bang. The cause might be unimaginably powerful gravitational forces, or according to this theory, a force unknown to us.
When I wrote those words, I smiled.
Because in the Quran, this unimaginably mighty force is mentioned at least seven times:
"When We decree a matter, We only say to it: 'Be,' and it is."
Kun fayakun.
"Be," and it becomes.
The most powerful force that has ever existed—the Word of God.
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THE STORY OF IMRAN BIN HUSSAIN
This universe and its hidden mysteries have always captivated humanity.
One day, Imran bin Hussain visited Prophet Muhammad and tied his camel outside. He noticed some people from Yemen also visiting, and he overheard their request:
"O Prophet of Allah, we have come to learn from you about how this universe came to be."
The Prophet began to speak. He described how Allah had always existed, alone, without beginning. How His Throne rested upon the primordial waters. How He inscribed everything in the Preserved Tablet, then created the heavens and the earth.
The Prophet was still speaking when suddenly someone shouted: "Imran! Your camel has broken free and run away!"
Imran's heart sank. He turned and ran after the animal, watching it disappear into the desert sands.
Later, Imran was heard saying these words, heavy with regret:
"I swear by God, I wish I had let that camel escape. I would have given anything to hear what the Prophet was revealing that day."
If I'm honest with you, I share Imran's regret. I wish that camel had not broken free. I wish Imran bin Hussain had remained and reported every word the Prophet spoke. Allah alone knows how many secrets would have been unveiled that day.
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THE WISDOM OF PATIENCE
The Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) himself once expressed similar sentiments about Prophet Musa (Moses) and his journey with the mysterious figure Khidr:
"May Allah have mercy upon Musa. If only he had been more patient, Allah would have revealed many more mysteries to us."
Sometimes the most profound knowledge slips through our fingers because of a moment's distraction, a failure of patience, the demands of worldly concerns.
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THE JOURNEY CONTINUES
Today's chapter is merely the beginning of our journey.
From this point forward, I will share more discoveries with you—chapters in which we will draw guidance from the Quran, the Hadith, and modern scientific knowledge to unveil the mysteries of this vast universe.
We have established the foundation: the creation of the cosmos, the nature of time, the composition of the seven skies, and the throne that lies beyond all created realms.
But so much remains unexplored.
What are the creatures that inhabit these skies? What travels through the gates and pathways between them? What will be the ultimate destiny of these magnificent expanses? What secrets lie hidden in the stars, the planets, the mysterious forces that govern existence?
All of this awaits us in the chapters to come.
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A CLOSING REFLECTION
Before we part, consider this:
You began this chapter as a person living on a small planet, perhaps viewing the night sky as a distant, abstract thing.
Now you know differently.
Now you understand that above your head stretches an expansion so vast that human language fails to capture it. That this expansion is structured, purposeful, designed with precision. That it contains realms of water and pearl, of iron and brass, of silver and gold and ruby. That prophets dwell in these heights. That angels traverse these spaces. That beyond it all sits a Throne of unimaginable magnificence, and upon that Throne, the Lord of All Creation.
You are not insignificant. You are not random. You are not an accident of chemistry and time.
You are a being created by the same force that spoke universes into existence. The same power that decorated the heavens with billions of galaxies gave you consciousness, gave you the ability to wonder, to question, to seek.
And you are invited—invited to explore, to discover, to understand as much as your finite mind can grasp of the infinite.
This is your story. This is our story.
And it has only just begun.
May Allah bless you and illuminate your path with knowledge.
Ameen.