Solar System:

The earth, on which we live, is one of the Millions of celestial bodies which float in space. It is a member of the solar system which consists of the sun, nine planets and their satellites. All planets revolve around the sun in nearly circular orbits and ail these orbits lie in nearly the same plane. The sun rotates in the direction of the planets. All planets rotate about their respective axes. the period of rotation of each being different. The speed at which each planet revolves around the sun is also different. The nine planets are at various distances from the sun. The earth which is third in position from the sun is 93 Million miles from it and the furthest planet Pluto is about 3,600 Million miles away from the sun. The sun, planets and their satellites freely suspended, float in space. A rotational motion keeps the individual members of the system in equilibrium against the gravitational force of attraction of the sun. Gravitation counteracts the centrifugal force of orbital motion. These two forces are in equilibrium.

The Earth:

The earth, a rocky globe 8,000 miles in diameter completes one rotation about its axis in 23 hours and 56 minutes. Due to this rotation, when one half faces the sun, the opposite half is in darkness, giving rise to the alternation of day and night. The earth takes 365 days 6 hours 46 minutes and 48 seconds i.e. one year for one complete revolution around the sun. The axis of the earth is inclined 23 ½ degrees towards the plane of its orbit. This inclination of the axis is the well-known cause of changes in sea­son.

The Moon:

A satellite is comparatively a small celestial body circulating around a planet. Moon is the satellite of the earth. It revolves around the earth and also rotates about its axis in 28 days with respect to the earth and 29 ½ days with respect to the sun. The moon is 2,000 miles in diameter and is about 250,000 miles away from the earth. Moonlight is reflected sunlight.

The sun and the moon, in addition to serving many other purposes, have served as a clock and a calendar. In fact, all clocks and calendars have been geared to these members of the solar system.

The Sun and the Stars: The sun is a typical self-luminous star, composed chiefly of hydrogen and helium. It is about 865,000 miles in diameter and 330,000 times heavier than the earth. Its central temperature is 20 to 30 Million degrees centigrade. The sun’s fuel is hydrogen which is gradually converted to helium. The heat and light of the sun are made to maintain life on the earth. The sun is not unique but one of the billions and billions of similar stars. There are something about 200 Million, Million, Million stars in that part of the universe which is visible through our most powerful telescopes. Each of these stars, like our own sun, is a source of energy radiating heat and light. They vary in size from bodies smaller than the earth to bodies larger than the whole solar system i.e. 3,600 Million miles.

Stars have been of great use to navigators and traveler’s in locating their position on earth. At night navigators in the northern hemisphere use the north star, while ships in the southern hemisphere use other stars for determining their latitude.

The Galaxies:

The stars are not uniformly distributed throughout the space of the universe, but are grouped together in clusters which are called galaxies. Galaxies populate the observable portion of the universe with more or less homogeneous and isotropic distribution.

Galaxies are separate systems of stars each containing on an average 100,000,000,000 stars and ranging in diameter from 1,500 to 300,000 light years. (One light year is the distance travelled by light in one year at the speed of about 186,000 miles per second.) Galaxies exist in various shapes and sizes. The solar system is situated in a galaxy known as the Milky Way. This galaxy of ours has the form of a great disc or wheel with a marked central thickening at the hub. It contains about 100 billion stars, of which our own sun is but one small insignificant member. The nearest star to our sun is about 25 Million Million miles away and the nearest galaxy to our galaxy is about 400,000 times further away than this. The thickness of bur galaxy is from 5,000 to 15,000 light years from edge to edge. In our galaxy, the sun with the solar system is situated about 3/5th of the way out from the center. Almost on the central plane. The whole system is rotating in such a manner that the sun with the planets completes one revolution around the common center of gravity of the galaxy in about 200 Million years. The sun with its planets travels nearly at 200 miles per second to complete its cycle.

Clusters of Galaxies:

The destruction of galaxies in space shows a definite tendency of galaxies to cluster. Our galaxy is at one edge of a small cluster known as the ‘Local Group’ which contains about 15 members. Our galaxy ranks amongst the largest, biggest and the most massive known.

The Expanding UniVerse

The entire universe is now estimated to contain about 100,000,000,000 (100 Billion) galaxies. Between its Millions and Millions of stars each galaxy contains vast stretches of wide space. Matter exists in this near vacuum but is very thinly distributed. From the evidence, available it is believed that the universe is not of a fixed size but is constantly expanding outwards into space in all directions. This may be explained by the example of a baloon, the surface of which is marked with spots. Imagine the baloon to be the universe and the spots to be clusters of galaxies. When the baloon is inflated, it will become larger and larger as a result of which the distance between the spots i.e. the clusters of galaxies, will go on increasing. In a like manner the distant galaxies are receding from us at enormous speeds. It must be made clear, that our galaxy, like most others, belongs to a local cluster of galaxies, the components of which are not receding from each other, it is the distant clusters of galaxies which are receding away from our local cluster. The furthest away a cluster of galaxies is, the greater is its observed speed of recession. In fact, recently a very distant galaxy has been observed to be receding from us at nearly half the speed of light i.e. 93,000 miles per second, from the evidence available, it now appears to be extremely likely that even more distant galaxies are receding from us at the speed of light itself and therefore light from them can never reach us. This means that with all our scientific progress we may not be able to detect even objects of the sizes of galaxies, though they exist.

Our Journey in Space:

Summarily, we find that the moon revolves round the earth in nearly a month. The earth rotates about its axis in about 24 hours, causing day and night, in such a manner that a man sitting at any point on the equator travels at a speed of 1,041.41 miles per hour. The earth further revolves around the sun at an average speed of 66,000 miles per hour along with the moon and takes nearly 365 ¼ days i.e. one year to complete one revolution. The sun in turn rotates about its own axis and with the earth and other planets and their satellites, revolves around the common center of gravity of the galaxy (Milky Way) at a speed of about 720,000 miles per hour. Finally, various clusters of galaxies are receding away from each other at tremendous speeds.

This setup of the universe shakes the very power of human imagination. Bodies weighing billions and billions of tonnes, occupying volumes expressed in Millions of light years, raveling at speeds approaching that of light, could it be a self-styled universe inanimate bodies managing their own affairs and that too in such a grand and organised manner? This possibility is more unimaginable that the very setup of the universe. The unity in the organisation of the universe, the magnitude and the quality of affairs managed are sufficient to prove the existence of a Creator-Manager God, Who is at the helm of all affairs.

Thus, a person relaxing on an easy chair on the surface of the earth, apparently feeling himself to be at rest, is in fact travelling in a spaceship, the earth, unaware of the complicated paths, unaware of the tremendous speeds, even unaware of his very destination.

The seven systems of movements of the celestial bodies encountered in the universe are:

1. The movement of the satellite (moon) around the planet (earth).

2. The rotation of the planets (earth) about their own axes.

3. The revolution of the planets (earth) around a star (sun).

4. The rotation of the star (sun) about its own axis.

5. The revolution of the star (sun with its family of planets and satellites) about the common center of gravity of the galaxy (Milky Way).

6. The mutual movement of the galaxies within a local group of galaxies and

7. The outward movement of groups of galaxies in all directions (The Expanding Universe).

It is quite possible that the seven skies, layers, Orbits, ways referred to in Chapter: 2, Verse 29; Chapter: 23 Verse I7; Chapter: 67, Verse 3; and Chapter: 78, Verse 12; may be four different sets of things each containing seven items or they may all refer to only one set of seven items or they may refer to something which is beyond our present understanding. The word ‘Sawaun’ conveys the sense of equality, equilibrium, balance, etc. Its derivative ‘Istawa’ would therefore mean receiving or seeking equality, equilibrium, balance, etc. In the verse under discussion the subject is Allah, and Allah does not seek but gives or sets- In view of this background, this part of the verse has been translated as “Then He set the balance…..”