Author: Kazi Miah

I While visiting her childhood abode after many years, Gertrud Stein made a legendary statement. Her hometown Oakland underwent many changes since she left it.   She noticed that her known Oakland she lived in did not exist...

Are we alone?
It’s a fundamental question for eons. Early in this decade astronomers, based on Kepler-Space-Mission-data, reported that there are 40 billion Earth-size planets orbiting Sun-like stars in the Milky Way galaxy alone; 11 billion of these estimated planets may be orbiting in the Green Belt of Life or Goldilocks Zone of the Sun-like stars; many of them are likely to be inhabited by advanced civilizations! We are talking about the Milky Way only – yet 100 billion galaxies in the universe still are uncounted!
Using Deep Space Network (DSN) Pioneer 11, Voyager 1 and 2 are still sending valuable information to earth. They also carry information for the inhabitants of other worlds inscribed on metal plates in symbols about who do we live on earth, our physics and nature of chemistry generated life here.

Kepler Mission is designed to search for earthlike stars; it adduced proof in 1995 for the first time and by 1998, it added another six more. Now it turns statistically viable that our universe is a spawning Creation that homes tens of millions of life raring abodes similar to earth.

The central argument of existence of life elsewhere lies in the fact that the same elementary particles, same physics, same amino acids that make life abundant all over the galaxy we live in, and possibly everywhere in the universe. The most essential ingredient, water, is also plentiful in other worlds! Many of the thousands of exoplanet [planet orbiting other stars] discovered to-date have similar sizes, temperatures, rocky surfaces, atmospheres, gas particles need for life.
Scientists strongly believe that today the question is no more of ‘if’ as of ‘where’.
Astronomers are extremely confident that we live in a well populated universe. Using Drake Equation [updated by Sara Seager] they conclude, – alone in our milky way in average every year 20 sun-like new stars are born, of them 10 have planetary systems, at least one of those systems holds a lucky planet in the Green Belt of Life Zone; out of 5 such lucky planets, one is blessed with life and out of all life possessing ‘civilizations’ at least half of them try to communicate with other civilizations!

II
Findings discussed follow from cutting-edge technology. Looking back at the Dark Age [178AD -1687AD], we can visualize how naïve human understanding was about our universe. Geocentric Theory placed earth at the centre of Creation; Copernicus who postulated Heliocentric Model suggested a static sun in 1543; yet that is regarded as the Renascence in science. It was not until the Newton’s Principia Mathematica [1687] declared that nothing in creation is static; everything is rotating on its own orbit. Newton confirmed Quran –“And the sun: it is travelling to its appointed destination. It is not for the sun to overtake the moon, nor can the night outrun the day. All of them swim along in their orbits”. [36:38-40]

Now imagine in 610AD, in the glooms of Dark Age, an unlettered prophet, Muhammad [pbuh] from an unknown desert of Arabia revealed the most advanced facts of science those have become the frontline information for science; they are inimitable; accurate in all critical respects! Of them ‘Life on other worlds’ turned to be the darling of 21st century!

III
Bible or any other authority on earth gives no information on the possibility of life on other planets. It is only Quran that inscribed the most specific evidence some 1400 years ago from the intense darkness of the Dark Age! Verse 65:12 reads – “God is He Who has created many skies, and earth(s) in similar numbers. Unto them descends His Commands that you may know that God has power over all things. And that God encompasses all things in His knowledge.”
Al-ard [الْأَرْضِ] is traditionally known as a singular noun. The word ‘mislahunna’ [مِثْلَهُنَّ] retains critical information within – according to rule of Arabic grammar, it dictates the use of ‘al-ard’ to be a plural though in many other places it is used as singular number. As such in all places Quran proposed ‘Saba’s samawati wal ard’ will literally mean – ‘many skies and many earths’. And assuredly in 65:12 – the word ‘al-ard’ [الْأَرْضِ] is unavoidably a plural number! Our earth is not unique, there are many like this!

Quran is the single proponent of many worlds’ concept where life like ours exists and God’s commands and blessings reach them as we receive. Science in 21st century bows down to Quran that was revealed in the Dark Age! Quran led and guided science to the truth.

How far those prospective worlds are?

In 2015, NASA’s New Horizons completed its 3-billion-miles on way to Pluto at a speed of 84,000km/h. It would take New Horizons about 55,000 years to reach the nearest life bearing planet of Proxima Centauri. If the nearest planet with a civilization existed in the nearest Andromeda Galaxy, it would take the spacecraft over 2 billion years just to reach the edge of the galaxy.

This endorses the monumental verse of Quran [55:33] – “O the community of jinn and mankind, if you are able to pass beyond the regions of the heavens and the earth, then do. You will not succeed except by authority of the Supreme [or except acquiring supreme power]”! This literally puts a full stop on human reaching other worlds using current technology.