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| Extra-Terrestrial Life:
Religious & Scientific Findings Muhammad Naseem Khan Subject Specialist in Economics Govt. Higher Secondary School Sherpur, Mansehra, Pakistan Extra-terrestrial life or life on other
planets has been a subject of interest for quite some time not only for
the writers of science fiction but also for scientists exploring the
remote parts of our planetary system. H.G. Wells wrote a novel, The War of
the World, in 1898A.D about the intelligent beings like man on other
planets. (1) In 20th century science and technology made
great strides. Many space missions have been sent to explore the existence
of living organisms on other planets & theirs moons. In the eighties
of the previous century a great project named as Meta was started. In the
simplest term Meta is a huge telescope of 98feet diameter which enabled
man to explore remote parts of the universe. The electronic devices fitted
with this telescope can process and record 10 lack radio frequencies at a
time. (2) The space scientists believe that if some
intelligent beings dwell any-where in the universe would send some radio
signal to the inhabitants of the earth and it is important to catch that
signal and find the location where-from that signal is being transmitted.
In America the SETI Institute has begun to draft reply messages of the
sort that might some day be sent to intelligent beings around other stars.
The institute is using the language of math: and science to compose
interstellar messages that describe altruism as it is being encountered on
Earth by us. (3) Mars has long been thought favourable for
the existence of biological life. The reasons for this are: Mars has the
same rotation period as that of the earth, has the same atmosphere and
perhaps has substantial water at least in polar caps. It is also known to
have Nitrogen, Carbon dioxide and other gases. Mars does not have extremes
of temperatures. Because of these reasons, planetary explorations by
spacecrafts were strongly supported by both the U.S and Russian
governments. Several spacecrafts have been orbited and landed on Mars. The
first spacecrafts to study Martian soil in detail were Viking Landers in
1976. They carried special instruments meant to detect traces of life.
However, final results of these studies were negative and no substantial
traces of life were found. Recently, meteorite ALH84001 found in Antarctic
and is known to be from mars - - -because of composition of its gases - -
- has created a lot of excitement in researchers busy in the study of
extraterrestrial life. They suspected remnants of microscopic life
embedded in this meteorite. Mars is still a favorite candidate for life,
therefore, many more missions are planned; but life on mars is bound to be
microbial and could be very different from that on the earth. Currently, Jupiter’s moons, Europa and
Ganymede are the best candidates considered on the basis of spacecrafts
explorations. Europa is suspected to have vast amount of liquid water
ocean beneath its thin icy crust. The question of debate is how far the
ocean lies below the icy surface. If it is too far even the most tenacious
ocean life could be cut off from its energy source—the sun. Ganymede is
also suspected to have similar atmosphere. Future spacecrafts will be
directed at these moons and few other satellites.Saturn’s satellite
Titan is known to have an extensive atmosphere of methane and ammonia. The
Cassini spacecraft is expected to reach Saturn and its moons in July, 2004
and will drop a probe to explore titan and look for signs of life. Venus
is a twin of the earth but much closer to the sun. It has a dense
atmosphere and looks to have undergone a runaway greenhouse effect with
surface temperature into several hundred degrees. Therefore, possibility
of life is eliminated. (4) Here we want to add the opinion of
biologists about the nature of extraterrestrial life. Neil A Campbell,
Lawrence G Mitchell and Jane B Reece write in Biology—concepts and
connections: John Baross, a biologist at the University
of Washington and co-chairman of the Committee on the Origin and Evolution
of Life at the National Academy of Sciences, the America’s premier
scientific organization said: David Deamer, a biochemist at the
University of California, Santa Cruz, said: Leslie Mullen in his article, Living in the
Dark, appeared on the website of NASA has given interesting findings of
the research conducted about the unusual community of methanogenic
organisms by the research team of the University of Massachusetts and
U.S. Geological Survey. He writes: A member of the afore-said team, Lovley
said: Some of the findings of the research
conducted by Center for the Study of Extraterrestrial Intelligence are
given in an article written by Steven M. Greer on the website www.cseti.org These findings are very astonishing and
interesting. Steven M. Greer writes: Sudden and fully open contact with human civilization has been avoided because of a number of interrelated factors, including:
These beings and their craft belong to the
same Reality as humans; however their advancement in the realms of
physical science and the science of consciousness has given them
competence in a broader aspect of the Full Spectrum of Reality than is
usually experienced by humans. Some if not all EBEs have advanced mental
capabilities which include telepathy, precognition, remote viewing and
others, indicating that they have developed the 'science of consciousness'
to a degree which parallels or surpasses their advanced physical
technologies. Humans also possess these capabilities, but these remain
largely undeveloped by most humans. EBEs are more developed or advanced
than humans in a number of respects, but are not superior to humans as
beings. (10) We now turn to the second part of our
discussion, i.e., religious sources of knowledge. First we turn to the
Holy Quran in which some verses are very clear on the subject under
discussion. In Sûrah 42 verse 29 Allah Almighty says: The commentators of the Holy Quran both in
antiquity & in the modern times, while commenting on the above verse,
have indicated towards the existence of intelligent beings like humans in
heavens. Hazrat Ibn-i-Abbas, a disciple and companion of the Holy Prophet
(peace be upon him), was reluctant to explain this verse for common
people. When someone asked him to explain this verse he said if he explained that verse he would not believe in it. However, his explanation of the verse has been narrated through different sources in the following words: ‘Every earth has a prophet like Muhammad,
Adam like our Adam, a Noah like our Noah, and Abraham like our Abraham,
and Jesus like our Jesus (peace be upon them)’. (11) The author of the commentary KHAZIN (VOL:
6, p.104) says: According to commentary SADI-ALAL-JALALAIN
there is nothing to stop from adopting the literal interpretation of the
above verse, i.e., Allah has created living beings in the heavens which
move about in the heavens as humans do on the earth (vol:4, p:34). (13) The commentator of RUH ALMAHANI commented
on the verse thus: Maulana Maududi comments on the verse in
the following words: Bashiruddin Mehmood, a Pakistani scientist,
explains the above verse thus: Another verse of the Holy Quran which
refers to the existence of life supporting heavenly bodies is verse 15 of
SURA 65.The verse is: Allah it is, who has created seven heavens, Maulana Maududi interprets the above verse
in the following words: WAMINALARDH MISLUHUN (i.e. AND OF THE EARTH LIKE
THEREOF) means that as this earth is the abode of living creatures there
do exist other earths like bodies which are the abode of living beings.
Hazrat Ibn-i-Abbas among old commentators of Holy Quran is the only one
who stated this fact in that era when no one was ready to accept the fact
that there could be any other abode than the earth where intelligent
beings do exist. (17) The interpretation of the verse as given by
Bashiruddin Mehmood is: According to the Holy Quran jinns were
created from the fire. The Holy Quran says: And: Before the advent of man the earth was the
abode of jinns. We know that the earth took a lot of time to become
habitable for man. Before man Allah almighty created such intelligent
beings on the earth which can reside in a hot environment. Therefore,
jinns matter of creation was fire suited to the conditions of the then
earth. Allama Shahabuddin Nadvi, an authority on Science & Islam,
explains the above mentioned verses thus: The above discussion leads us to the conclusion that the intelligent beings dwelling elsewhere in the universe could be created of elements different from the human beings which suit their environment. Both Science and Islamic sources of knowledge hint to the existence of extraterrestrial biological entities. REFERENCE 1.
Syed Qasim Mehmood (ed.): Science Magazine,
May-June, 1991, pp 62-64 Source: with permission |