Imam Ghazali writes in his Ihya-u Ulumuddeen that ibn Abbas (ra) one of the scholars among the disciples says:
“If I were to interpret the meaning of the verse ‘It is Allah who created the seven heavens, and of the earth, the like of them. His command continually (without interruption) manifests between them’ surely you would call me an unbeliever and stone me to death!”
“He governs the earth (the brain) from the heaven…”
“And the stars are subjected by and in service (with the rays they permeate) to His command (the stars are also a manifestation of the meanings of the Names comprising their essence)...”[1]
So, what is their duty?
Surely they haven’t been created to adorn the skies with their pretty lights?
Let’s be realistic and see things objectively for what they really are rather than how we’d like to see them…
Since Allah is the infinite existence, there is no other existence besides Him. Everything we see and label is His conscious forms, existent and subsistent with the meanings of His Names.
Their only difference is the degree of manifestation of the various Names in their composition. Thus, it is always Allah who governs through every unit of existence and interacts with other units, guides, shapes and aids towards their purpose of existence.
There is no other Creator, Rabb, Guider, Mahdi, Muyhi, Mumit besides Him! But, because we don’t really comprehend this, we interpret things in ways that indicate denial.
Either we exalt Him beyond our imagination, beyond the heavens, beyond or further away from anything we can ever fathom! Or, we reduce Him to everything we can see; claiming every ‘thing’ is Him and thus limiting His infinite existence to His manifestations, even claiming our individuality to be Him!
Or else, we try to prove ‘everything’ exists, that you and I and him and her and every other being also exist alongside with Allah, yet again applying a limitation to Him! And then we talk at random about the things He makes us do!
Just as an author can’t be defined by the characters he creates in his works, Allah can’t be defined by or limited to His creations. Indeed, the power and meaning that is manifest under the label of existence belongs to Him alone… All of creation and their activities belong to Him and He influences them via each other.
Nevertheless, nothing in the micro or macro planes of existence can be labeled ‘Allah’! Yet His existence in that unit can’t be denied either! This is why the Rasul (saw) said, “You can’t thank Allah if you don’t thank the person!”
The giver is always Allah, as the verse evidences:
“Indeed, Allah is with those who have certainty (those who turn to Allah as though they see Him, i.e. the manifestations of the qualities of His Names).”[2]
This is the mystery of the unity of existence!
So, if you encounter one that gives and don’t thank him, you’ll only be thanking a god in your imagination instead…
Only after discerning this reality can one truly READ and understand the meanings denoted by the verses above…
The constellations of stars, i.e. the star signs, affect us and our world constantly via their cosmic rays…
The cosmic rays comprising some of the meanings of Allah’s names that are radiated by the stars affect the DNA and RNA strands of all living beings, activating some of their genetic codes and instigating them in particular ways.
Ibn Arabi, one of the greatest of saints and masters of unveiling, says in his Bezels of Wisdom, “Everything that transpires and is to transpire in the world, the intermediary realm (barzakh) and the heavens, is formed via the effects of the star signs…” Thus, it is said divine determining comes from the sky.[3]
Life forms called ‘angels’ in religious terminology, who are unperceivable by us due to the different dimension in which they reside, affect us also. These have nothing to do with the jinn, who also live among us. But there’s a great deception here…
The jinn, who, by the way, project themselves as aliens from outer space, also impose themselves as angels from time to time on those with whom they are in relation… Whether they claim to be aliens or angels, or claim to be Rumi or the spirit of someone else, they let us know with certainty that they are the jinn.