Badges mark quoted or attributed material (Qur'an, hadith, another author, an opposing view). Unbadged passages are Maulana Wahiduddin Khan's own words.
Increased Faith
T
he Sun is 93,000,000 miles away from our earth and is 1,30,000 times bigger than it. The sun is not as solid as the earth, but is rather a big blaze of fire. Its temperature is 11,000 degrees Fahrenheit and is so hot that even the hardest of matter would melt on its surface. If the earth were to come closer to it, it would melt in less than one minute.
How does the sun shine and how does it give out such large amounts of heat and light? Since ancient times, until quite recently, it was believed that the sun was continuously burning like a wood or coal furnace. But when astronomical research revealed that it had been giving out light in this way for thousands of years this theory was proved wrong. Had there been any matter burning up inside the sun, it would have been extinguished long since, because nothing can go on burning for such a long time.
Now, the scientists have advanced the theory that the heat of the sun is the result of a process similar to that which takes place in the atomic bomb. The sun changes matter into energy. This is different from burning. Burning changes matter from one form to another. But when matter is changed into energy, very little matter is needed to produce a tremendous amount of energy. One ounce of matter is capable of producing enough energy to melt more than a million tons of rock.
In this universe, there are innumerable signs which show that a great Creator is at work behind its functioning. Without God Almighty, such a great creation could not have come into existence. The Quran repeatedly exhorts the reader ‘to reflect’ on the signs of God spread out in the universe. This is a pure form of religious practice. It results in an extraordinary increase of faith in a believer.