“Imagine what will happen when the world wakes up to find that we are not alone”?
You might recall that quote from the introduction to this blog. It is Dr. Matt Mountain, Director of the Space Telescope Institute on July 14, 2014, at the televised panel of leading science and engineering experts discussing NASA’s search for life elsewhere in the Universe. It is the primary theme of this entire blog. That is, wondering what will happen when people of faith discover that we are not alone. Will science and faith collide or merge??
One thing I have learned from discussions I have had and comments that have come back to me is that some religions are more prepared than others. Some faiths are open to the idea of other worlds and life beyond our earthly borders and perhaps even welcome it. Others cannot accept that there may be other forms of life in our universe and may find the ultimate discovery of the existence of other worlds and especially other intelligent civilizations, challenging to their world view. They may even find it frightening.
The Muslim culture/ religion is not one of them and in a recent discussion with Islamic Theology and Extraterrestrial Life author Matthias Detterman, I learned more about why that is the case.
First of all, let me tell you a bit about Matthias. Although he lives in Qatar with his wife and 4-year-old daughter, he is not Muslim but rather a German born Christian. I “met ” him through an online community of astrobiologists and academics who have generously allowed me to remain with the group (and periodically participate) after I accidentally wound up on their mailing list a few years ago. (that is another story) Matthias is an academic and I am not but we managed to have a rich discussion about his fascinating and compelling book. Perhaps some things are meant to be?
Islamic Theology and Extraterrestrial life ( ET) is not an easy read. It is detailed, dense and deep but it is worth it to take the dive and learn about the subject and start to ponder some of life’s bigger questions. I will do my best to give you an overview of some of the book’s key points but I have only read a few chapters and had so many questions that I felt I had to have a discussion with Matthias before I could continue. We will definitely be talking again so there will likely be Part 2 to this post at some future date.
First of all, let me begin by stating that I will be speaking in broad generalities, and it is important to understand that the Islamic faith is very diverse. There are different sects (and I’m not sure if that is the right word) such as Shiite and Sunni and their beliefs of Islamic law may vary. And there are different chapters within these communities apparently so it could get complicated. But for the purposes of our discussion, I will keep it general and simple. For you and for me 🙂
One of the first, and probably pivotal points of our discussion came about in regard to the title of the introductory chapter, “Islamic theology on the final frontier”. It didn’t take long for Matthias and I to discover that we are both Star Trek fans. Science fiction fans in general but ST fans in particular. And the iconic mission of the Enterprise crew ” to seek out new worlds, new civilization and to boldly go where no-one has gone before.” really resonated with our shared curiosity about what lies beyond our earthly borders and elsewhere in our unfathomably vast Universe. And young Muslim astronomers are leading the way in the search for exoplanets in a Universe that is likely teaming with life. And their faith finds no conflict with the possibility of ET life. In fact, they base their reasoning on one of the main verses of the Quran which reads ” All praise belongs to God, Lord of the Worlds” with worlds being plural. In fairness, there are similar quotes in the Bible (referring to the word “world” in the plural) but as far as we know, most Christian religions do not speak to the existence of other worlds beyond earth and therefore have no specific dogma to address ET life. Islamic theology, on the other hand, is prepared for “that moment when we discover we are not alone: and has even coined its own term – “exotheology. “
This is a fascinating term to me and one I had not heard before, even though the study of exoplanets and the possibility of life on other planets has been a passion of mine since the first planet orbiting another star was discovered in 1992. The book defines exotheology (sometimes called Astrotheology ) as “an emerging field of study that seeks to explore the theological implications of the existence of extraterrestrial life”. Which is, in a sense, what I am trying to do with this blog. Because the best way that I can think of doing that is by talking about, asking questions and trying to understand it rather than giving into fear, distrust, ignorance or blind acceptance. And having a meaningful dialogue while always respecting the other person’s beliefs.
And so Matthias and I learned from each other. One of the main issues that we saw through a different lens is the concept of what would be considered ET life. Islamic theology speaks of the existence of the Jinn who are invisible intelligent creatures who live in a world of their own and will one day be judged by God. They are evil but not always and their world is separate from ours in that they don’t live on Earth. That probably is an oversimplification, but I am trying to keep it simple for the purpose of our discussion. I feel that the Jinn are not really ET as we understand the concept of ET but rather supernatural beings, much like angels in the Christian tradition. And generally, in the Christian and Western tradition we don’t view angels (or demons) as being “aliens” –as in coming from another planet in a spaceship –as in the popular culture image of “little green men”. Which is totally unscientific and one I find hokey and generally cringeworthy, but I use it in this discussion as more of a metaphor to illustrate my point. Which is the belief in Jinn or angels falls more under a spiritual belief rather that a pragmatic guide or even a religious dogma of some sort to deal with the possible discovery of alien beings who may one day make contact with us. I find it very interesting that Islamic exotheology doesn’t make that distinction and deals with them both together. Of course, that is my opinion only and that is one reason this is such a BIG discussion. There are no right or wrong answers here, only the mutual and respectful exchange of ideas.
After generously listening to my perspective on this, Matthias explained that because the Jinn are spoken about in the Quran, the Islamic theology believes that they are not magical or supernatural creatures. They, in fact, really exist. The concept of the world being a planet is more of a modern idea that came about as the result of the Copernican revolution which decentered the Earth by turning it into a planet orbiting the sun (literally a “wanderer “) . It thus also turned the other planets into possible earths. In fact, Matthias quoted a particular verse of the Quran which speaks of ” creatures and other things of which humans know nothing of” So all of this appears to point to the fact that the home of the Jinn is indeed another place and therefore the Jinn are an ET civilization, at least as most of us in the West understand them to be. It occurred to me that the Islamic theology is already so rich and multilayered in their belief system and world view, they are already better prepared than many other faiths for that ultimate moment of first contact.
Christians, on the other hand, have to deal with the matter of Jesus Christ becoming incarnate and the discovery of beings on other planets raises the obvious question. This was best put to me some years ago by an elderly family friend who had been a devout Catholic all his life. It was shortly after the discovery of exoplanets, and it was all over the news. Knowing my interest in the subject, he called me and asked if I believed there was life on other planets and when I replied yes as, given the sheer vastness of the Universe, I didn’t know how there could not be. So he then asked the obvious question, quite simply and purely: “Would Jesus have to go to those other planets to die for the sins of those other people”? I told him that I didn’t know but that I hoped we would find out someday. I was touched by the fact that he was obviously thinking about this and perhaps (but I hoped not) worrying about it. And shortly thereafter, this blog was born.
This question remains way above my pay grade, but we learn from each other. And having a meaningful and thoughtful discussion on the issue is a good place to start. Because the moment that we wake up and find we are not alone may be coming sooner than we think.
I would love to hear your thoughts, questions and or comments. regardless of your faith, religion, beliefs or non-beliefs. Let’s start the conversation 🙂
M.A.N.
