Fifth Session

I seek refuge in God from Satan, the accursed. In the name of God, the All-merciful, the Compassionate. Praise be to God, Lord of the worlds, and may blessings and peace be upon the noblest of the prophets and messengers, the beloved of the hearts of the truthful, Abu al-Qasim, the Chosen One, Muhammad. O God, bless Muhammad and the family of Muhammad, and his household, the good and pure, and may the everlasting curse be upon all their enemies.

The Creation of Water and the First Wind

We honour the blessed Days of Generosity, the ten days that include the night of the birth of Lady Maʿsuma (s), the first night of Dhu al-Qaʿda, and the night of the birth of the eighth Imam, ʿAli ibn Musa al-Rida (a), on the eleventh of Dhu al-Qaʿda. We hope that these two great figures will intercede for us all on the Day of Resurrection.

Our discussion was about the creation of the universe. In the previous session, we mentioned that the Almighty God created spaces and layers of space, split open their surroundings, and set the air in motion. We continue the discussion from here:

ثُمَّ أَنْشَأَ سُبْحَانَهُ فَتْقَ الْأَجْوَاءِ، وَشَقَّ الْأَرْجَاءِ، وَسَكَائِكَ الْهَوَاءِ، فَأَجْرَى فِيهَا مَاءً مُتَلَاطِمًا تَيَّارُهُ، مُتَرَاكِمًا زَخَّارُهُ.

“فَأَجْرَى فِيهَا”: In that vast space which the Almighty God created, He set water flowing—water whose waves surged and piled upon one another. “تَيَّارُهُ” means wave, and “زَخَّارُهُ” means piled up and abundant. After creating space and opening up its surroundings, the Almighty God created water. From a scientific perspective, we will later discuss the fact that some have taken “water” in this passage to mean liquid.

حَمَلَهُ عَلَىٰ مَتْنِ الرِّيحِ الْعَاصِفَةِ، وَالزَّعْزَعِ الْقَاصِفَةِ.

The Almighty God created water and set it upon the shoulders of a forceful, raging wind—a pounding wind.

فَأَمَرَهَا بِرَدِّهِ، وَسَلَّطَهَا عَلَىٰ شَدِّهِ، وَقَرَنَهَا إِلَىٰ حَدِّهِ.

After creating the wind, the Almighty God commanded it to turn the water and pile it upon itself. He made the wind dominant over the water so that the water would grow turbulent and crash against itself. At the same time, He confined the wind within set limits, so that the water would remain in a defined space and not disperse.

الْهَوَاءُ مِنْ تَحْتِهَا فَتِيقٌ، وَالْمَاءُ مِنْ فَوْقِهَا دَفِيقٌ.

Beneath this wind, the air is open, and water pours down from above it. “دَفِيقٌ” means poured out and flowing. Thus, this wind watches over the water so that it does not disperse and remains within a defined boundary. This is the first wind: a protective wind that holds and gathers the water.

The Second Wind and the Turbulence of the Water

ثُمَّ أَنْشَأَ سُبْحَانَهُ رِيحًا اعْتَقَمَ مَهَبَّهَا.

After that, the Almighty God created another wind, different from the first. The first wind protected the water, but the second had a different function. “اعْتَقَمَ مَهَبُّهَا” means that its blowing is sterile and barren: this wind does not bring about fertilisation or birth, and no rain comes from it.

وَأَدَامَ مُرَبَّهَا.

This wind blows continually and without interruption. “أَدَامَ مُرَبَّهَا” means that He made its blowing continuous and enduring, unlike winds that blow for a short time.

وَأَعْصَفَ مَجْرَاهَا، وَأَبْعَدَ مَنْشَأَهَا.

The current of this wind is strong, and its source is far away. A wind that comes from afar has a long current.

فَأَمَرَهَا بِتَصْفِيقِ الْمَاءِ الزَّخَّارِ، وَإِثَارَةِ مَوْجِ الْبِحَارِ.

The Almighty God commanded this wind to batter the piled-up water and stir the waves of the seas. “تَصْفِيق” means striking and beating together: the wind sets the waters in motion and makes them turbulent.

فَمَخَضَتْهُ مَخْضَ السِّقَاءِ، وَعَصَفَتْ بِهِ عَصْفَهَا بِالْفَضَاءِ.

The wind shook the water like a waterskin. Just as a waterskin is shaken and its contents are tossed about violently, this wind too churned the water forcefully and cast it up toward the space above.

تَرُدُّ أَوَّلَهُ إِلَىٰ آخِرِهِ، وَسَاجِيَهُ إِلَىٰ مَائِرِهِ.

The wind turned the beginning of the water back toward its end, mixing its calm part with its moving part.

حَتَّىٰ عَبَّ عُبَابُهُ، وَرَمَىٰ بِالزَّبَدِ رُكَامُهُ.

This turbulence continued until the water rose high and, as happens when water is churned vigorously, formed foam. The piled-up, dense foam was cast upward.

The Creation of the Heavens and Celestial Bodies

فَرَفَعَهُ فِي هَوَاءٍ مُنْفَتِقٍ، وَجَوٍّ مُنْفَهِقٍ.

The Almighty God raised that foam into the open air and vast space.

فَسَوَّىٰ مِنْهُ سَبْعَ سَمَاوَاتٍ، جَعَلَ سُفْلَاهُنَّ مَوْجًا مَكْفُوفًا، وَعُلْيَاهُنَّ سَقْفًا مَحْفُوظًا، وَسَمْكًا مَرْفُوعًا.

From it, He brought forth the seven heavens. He made the lowest heaven a confined and enclosed wave, and the higher heavens a lofty, protected roof.

بِغَيْرِ عَمَدٍ يَدْعَمُهَا، وَلَا دِسَارٍ يَنْظِمُهَا.

The Almighty God created these heavens without pillars to support them. “دِسار” means nail, and it has also been taken to mean rope. Thus, there is neither a pillar nor a nail or rope joining the heavens to one another and holding them up.

ثُمَّ زَيَّنَهَا بِزِينَةِ الْكَوَاكِبِ، وَضِيَاءِ الثَّوَاقِبِ.

Then He adorned the heavens with stars and the radiance of shining stars.

وَأَجْرَىٰ فِيهَا سِرَاجًا مُسْتَطِيرًا، وَقَمَرًا مُنِيرًا.

He placed a vast and luminous lamp in the heaven, meaning the sun, whose light encompasses everything. He also placed a radiant moon in the heaven.

فِي فَلَكٍ دَائِرٍ، وَسَقْفٍ سَائِرٍ، وَرَقِيمٍ مَائِرٍ.

These are situated in a revolving sphere, beneath a flowing roof and in a moving heaven.

The Creation of the Heavens and the Earth in the Qur’an

In this passage, the Commander of the Faithful (a) speaks about the creation of the heavens and space. His expressions about opening and splitting open lead us to a verse of the Noble Qur’an:

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أَوَلَمْ يَرَ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا أَنَّ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضَ كَانَتَا رَتْقًا فَفَتَقْنَاهُمَا وَجَعَلْنَا مِنَ الْمَاءِ كُلَّ شَيْءٍ حَيٍّ

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Have those who disbelieved not seen that the heavens and the earth were joined together, and We split them apart, and made every living thing from water?

This verse speaks of “رَتْق” and “فَتْق”. Do the disbelievers not see that the heavens and the earth were joined together, and that God split them apart? “فَتْق” means to open.

كَانَتَا وَاحِدًا

Regarding the phrase “كَانَتَا رَتْقًا”, Imam al-Sadiq (a) says that it means the two were one. The heavens and the earth were one, and God split them apart. After they were split apart, rain descended, and life came forth from water.

The Adornment of the Heavens and the Lowest Heaven

The life of every living being is made from water. Verse 30 of Surah al-Anbiya speaks of “رتق” and “فتق”: ratq means being one, and fatq means being opened and separated. Some have explained ratq and fatq as meaning that no opening had occurred before the rain fell; then fatq took place, rain poured down, and living beings were created. Another meaning that has been given is that everything was one at the beginning, and God opened it up and created the galaxies and other beings.

The Commander of the Faithful (a) says:

ثُمَّ زَيَّنَهَا بِزِينَةِ الْكَوَاكِبِ

That is, God adorned the heavens with the ornament of stars. The Qur’an also says:

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إِنَّا زَيَّنَّا السَّمَاءَ الدُّنْيَا بِزِينَةٍ الْكَوَاكِبِ

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Indeed, We adorned the lowest heaven with an adornment of stars.

In the Qur’anic verses, the sun, the moon, the stars, and the galaxies that we see are all attributed to the lowest heaven. “Dunya” means lower and nearer. The Qur’an says:

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فَقَضَاهُنَّ سَبْعَ سَمَاوَاتٍ فِي يَوْمَيْنِ وَأَوْحَىٰ فِي كُلِّ سَمَاءٍ أَمْرَهَا وَزَيَّنَّا السَّمَاءَ الدُّنْيَا بِمَصَابِيحَ وَحِفْظًا ذَٰلِكَ تَقْدِيرُ الْعَزِيزِ الْعَلِيمِ

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We adorned the lowest heaven with lamps.

On this basis, everything that humanity has so far discovered about galaxies and celestial spheres belongs to this lowest heaven. The distance between two galaxies may be thousands of light-years, yet both are within this very lowest heaven. Humanity has no knowledge of the other heavens yet.

Creation from the Perspective of Modern Science

Here, I have only translated the words of the Commander of the Faithful (a) and offered a brief explanation. If we wish to relate them to modern science, we must bear in mind that humanity did not exist billions of years ago, and what is discussed in human science today consists of various hypotheses. Here, we will relate the well-known hypothesis to the words of the Commander of the Faithful (a).

According to this hypothesis, the beginning of creation involved vast, densely concentrated gases. As mentioned, the Qur’an sometimes refers to the hot, vast gases mixed with liquid and in the form of vapour as “ماء”, and sometimes as “دخان”. These primordial gases contained two forces: attraction and repulsion. Attraction prevented the gases from dispersing and held them together.

Attraction is the first wind of which the Commander of the Faithful (a) spoke: a force that drew particles toward one another, prevented them from dispersing, and brought them together. Alongside attraction, there was also repulsion. Internal explosions or rapid rotation generated centrifugal force, pushing particles outward. In this way, attraction and repulsion played a role in the formation of space and galaxies. These are expressions that are related, in a different way, to the words of the Commander of the Faithful (a).

The Heavens in Different Viewpoints

In ancient astronomy, based on the Ptolemaic view, nine celestial spheres were spoken of. Seven spheres were associated with planets such as the moon, Mercury, Venus, the sun, Mars, Jupiter, and other planets. The eighth sphere was the sphere of the fixed stars: stars whose rising and setting were considered to be the same, and whose positions were fixed. Above them was the Atlas sphere, or the outermost sphere. In this view, the earth was considered the axis of the universe.

After that, Copernicus placed the sun at the centre, and other views were also proposed, including the theory of the ten intellects. Scholars and astronomers, both ancient and modern, have held various views, and Ptolemaic astronomy remained dominant for more than a thousand years.

But what is mentioned in the Qur’an and in the words of the Imam (a) is the seven heavens—not nine celestial spheres, nor any other view. Humanity has so far reached only one heaven, and everything it has discovered in astronomy belongs to this first heaven, that is, the lowest heaven. It has no knowledge of the other heavens yet.

The Ongoing Ratq and Fatq

The late Allama Tabataba’i also holds another view regarding ratq and fatq. What was said earlier about ratq and fatq concerned the beginning of creation: the heavens and the earth were one, and God split them apart. In explaining this separation, we also discussed the words of the Commander of the Faithful (a) and the scientists’ hypothesis about gases and the forces of attraction and repulsion. After that, expansion and growth continue, and creation is not a fixed and completed event.

In the view of the late Allama, ratq means potentiality, and fatq means the activity and actualisation of material things. Potentiality and actuality are matters that people perceive at every moment. All material things are constantly changing: every potentiality becomes actual, and this process continues. Each moment differs from the one before it, and the next moment will differ from the present one. In the words of the late Allama, this continuous change is ratq and fatq.

The Qur’an also speaks of ongoing creation:

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كُلَّ يَوْمٍ هُوَ فِي شَأْنٍ

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Every day He is engaged in a task.

It is not the case that God began creation and then left it; creation continues constantly. According to the late Allama’s view, ratq and fatq are ongoing processes that everyone can perceive and observe.

This is enough for tonight’s discussion. God willing, we will address other topics in the coming sessions.

May God bless Muhammad and the family of Muhammad.