An Evening with the Stars: A Ramadan Offer

By Hasan Zillur Rahim

Through a 7” refractor telescope at the Montgomery Hill Observatory of Evergreen Valley College in San Jose, California, I was viewing the celestial wonders of the universe. The sky was dark and clear. To the east, the waning moon of Shaban hung just above the foothills of the Diablo Range. In the northeastern sky were the seven stars that make up the Big Dipper. I could see its two outer stars – the pointer stars - pointing to the North Star, the Polaris. Being directly above the North Pole, it stays at the same spot throughout the year as the earth rotates around its axis, a guide for ancient mariners and sailors.

In the southwestern sky, the night-sky was aglow with Venus, Mars and Saturn, a spectacular conjunction. Three years ago, through the same telescope, I saw for the first time the Rings of Saturn, an indelible experience. Venus, the Evening Star, was at its most dazzling. A few months earlier it was the brightest object in the pre-dawn sky. Then it was the Morning Star. Tracing the changing tapestry of the sky through the seasons is the surest way of knowing how wondrous our universe is.

After a while, I scanned the sky without any optics. Once my eyes adjusted to the darkness, the subtle details of the Milky Way slowly revealed themselves. The galaxy was a like a river of light across the vast emptiness of the firmament. The Quran reminds us of our insignificance in the grand scheme of creation but to truly appreciate its meaning, there is nothing like lying on your back in a meadow or at the beach, far from city lights, and immersing yourself in the nebulous knots of light and emptiness of the Milky Way. Bathe yourself in the suffused light of the stars that seem to bloom endlessly throughout the night in the garden of the sky, and feel the cares and concerns of life seeping away. As your gaze roams the far reaches of the domed space, you begin to grasp intuitively how the Divine encompasses the infinite.

We Muslims get misty-eyed talking about the golden age of Islam, when polymaths like Al-Biruni (973-1048), Ibn Sina (980-1037), Ibn ­al-­Haytham (965–1040) made the Muslim empire the epicenter of the intellectual world. We marvel at the achievements of astronomer, mathematician and poet Ulugh Beg (1349-1449) who established an observatory at Samarkand and, with astounding accuracy, charted the course of more than 1000 stars over a period 18 years.

But that was then and this is now. We cannot reclaim our glory merely by channeling the past. One of the first things we can do to advance our intellectual reach is to revive the culture of stargazing. This is best done at the family level. Don’t rush out to buy a telescope if you don’t have one. Make a habit of looking at the night-sky once or twice a week with your spouse and children and see if you can locate the major starry wonders as the earth cycles from winter and spring to summer and autumn. Don’t be formal or bookish about it. Let only a sense of curiosity and a spirit of adventure drive you.

(After the Isha prayer at our Evergreen mosque, whenever the sky is clear, I play a game with young Muslims. “Who can locate the Big Dipper and the North Star first?” I am amazed at how many kids have picked up an interest in astronomy from this simple game over the years. Now they can locate the Andromeda Galaxy, the Aries, Cassiopeia and Pegasus constellations, the Orion, the Pleiades star cluster (the Seven Sisters), Jupiter and its satellites, and more. Some are in tune with the waxing and waning of the moon and so can follow all twelve months of the lunar calendar. Some can even predict which stars and constellations will be where in the sky when the season changes. The parents have now become willing astronomy students of their children!)

When imagination is kindled by the mysterious and the eternal, our faith becomes stronger as we draw closer to the sources of art and science.

Ramadan is the perfect month to renew our ancient romance with the stars. When we wake up for the morning meal – the Sehri – we can step outside for a few minutes and gaze heavenwards. The stars will do the rest.

It is He who makes the stars as beacons for you, that you may guide yourselves through the dark spaces of land and sea. Thus do We detail Our signs for those who know. (6:97)