Closure Of The Heavens And Earth
“Do the kuffaar not know that the heavens and the earth were (at one stage) closed, then We opened them, and We created every living thing from water. Do they still not believe?” (Surah Ambiyaa, aayat 30) According to the Sahaabah and the Jamhur Mufassireen, at one stage in the history of creation neither was there rainfall nor vegetation. This is the meaning of the heavens and the earth being ‘closed’. When Allah Ta’ala desired to settle man on earth, the heavens were opened up with rain and the earth with vegetation, i.e. rain began falling and plants started to grow.
Once a man approached Hadhrat Abdullah Ibn Umar (radhiyallahu anhu) and asked for the tafseer (meaning / explanation) of this aayat. Hadhrat Ibn Umar (radhiyallahu anhu) referred the man to Hadhrat Ibn Abbaas (radhiyallahu anhu) and instructed the man to report back to him with the tafseer of Ibn Abbaas (radhiyallahu anhu). When the man posed the question to Hadhrat Ibn Abbaas (radhiyallahu anhu), he said:
“In the beginning the heaven, was closed, i.e. it did not rain. Similarly, the earth was closed, i.e. there was no vegetation. When Allah Ta’ala desired to inhabit the earth with mankind, He opened up the heavens with rain and the earth with vegetation.” After the man reported this explanation to Hadhrat Ibn Umar (radhiyallahu anhu), he commented: “I now concede that the knowledge of the Qur’aan has been bestowed to Ibn Abbaas. I now realised that Allah Ta’ala has imbued him with a special ability regarding Qur’aanic Knowledge. He has indeed interpreted ratq and fatq correctly.”(Ratq – to be closed – and fatq – to be opened – are the two terms mentioned in the aayat.)
In the aayat Allah Ta’ala says: “We have created every living thing from water.” Water is a vital constituent of every living thing. Water plays a vital role in their creation, growth and development. Modernists enamoured and over-awed by the baseless and kufr theories of the atheist scientists, resort to fanciful and whimsical interpretation of this aayat in an attempt to eke out Qur’aanic support for the kufr doctrines of the priests of atheism. But, in the Qur’aan there is no basis and no support for the theories of atheism deceptively described as ‘science’. Man did not evolve over millions of years from a cell and from a fish then into a baboon which ultimately developed into a human being in terms of the kufr theory of the atheist scientists. Man was created in Jannat in his highest and perfect stage of development beyond which existed only spiritual progress and elevation. At no stage in his life did man require any progress of physical evolution for attaining physical perfection. Such perfection was bestowed to him at the very time of his spontaneous creation by the Power of Allah Ta’ala.
