Various means of travel: from primitive to modern to future
Please observe how the Quran alludes to various means of travel – from the primitive to the modern – as well as the future vehicles and conveyances for travel that are yet to be invented:
And in the livestock there is a lesson for you. …/ And on them and on the ships you are carried. 23:21-22 (cf. 40:79-80)
And a Sign unto them is that We bear their race in a loaded ship;/ And We create for them things of a similar kind whereon they (will) ride. 36:41-42
While the verb ‘yarkaboon’ (‘they ride’ or ‘they will ride’) above suggests both present and future time, here the Quran describes human inventiveness as a direct manifestation of the continuous creativity of God, the ultimate creator of everything including all human initiatives and activities (76:30, 37:95-96). Please also read the following:
And (He created) horses and mules and asses for you to ride, as well as for beauty: and He creates (will create) things what you know not./ And upon God is the direction of the way. But there are ways that deviate. 16:8-9
Once again, the verbal form ‘yakhluqu’ (‘creates’ or ‘will create’) in this particular context – contrasting the past form ‘khalaqa’ (‘created’) in the preceding verses (16:3-8) – clearly implies both the present as well as the future tense.
Because this mention of God’s continuing creativity appears immediately after a mention of primitive transports – i.e. wild animals domesticated by man – this clearly relates to other, including as yet unknown, things of the same category, i.e. new means of transportation which the Divinity unceasingly creates through the instrumentality of the inventiveness whereby He has endowed man’s mind (cf. 36:42).
Since every successive stage of human development bears witness to new, previously undreamt-of inventions in the realm of transport, this reference is valid for every period of human history – past, present and future.
Thus we get here also an allusion to all transportation vehicles that were not available during the time of Quranic revelation, such as bicycles, trains, automobiles, helicopters, aeroplanes, rockets, and spaceships, as well as, since we are also the Quran’s audience, many more that are not yet available in our time.
Flying vehicles
Below one can read some Quranic allusions to flying vehicles, such as aeroplanes, rockets and spaceships, as well as the positive possibility of humans penetrating the gravitational fields of the Heavens and the Earth:
And if We opened unto them a gate to the Heaven and they kept ascending through it,/ They would say: our sights have been dazzled; rather we are a folk enchanted. 15:14-15
From God, the Lord of the Ascending Stairways. 70:3
And the Moon as it grows full,/ You shall surely ascend from stage to stage. 84:18-19
And We have created above you seven (numerous) ways and We are never unmindful of creation. 23:17
And how many a Message in the Heavens and the Earth which they pass by, yet they turn away from it! 12:105
Neither is it for the Sun to overtake the Moon, nor can the night outstrip the day; and all swim along in orbit./ And a Sign unto them is that We bear their race in a loaded ship;/ And We create for them things of a similar kind whereon they (will) ride. 36:40-42
And (He created) horses and mules and asses for you to ride, as well as for beauty: and He creates (will create) things what you know not./ And upon God is the direction of the way. But there are ways that deviate. 16:8-9
O assembly of Invisibles and humans! If you can penetrate the borders of the Heavens and the Earth, then penetrate! – Not without authority shall you be able to penetrate./ Which then of the favours of your Sustainer will you deny?/ On you will be sent a flash of fire and molten metal: no defence will you have. 55:33-35
Now carefully look at the last passage. Here we are faced with a challenge: “If you can cross the boundaries of the gravitational fields of the Earth and other celestial systems, then cross them! But for that you need ‘sultan’ (authority, sanction and power)”. It means, in this context, the prerequisites for space travel: divine authorisation, scientific knowledge and power of self-propulsion of physical vehicles.
At the same time, by reminding God’s favours to man (‘Which then of the favours of your Sustainer will you deny?’), it confirms that this penetrating into sky should be possible as a divine gift to mankind: an idea that definitely seemed lunatic until man’s recent beginning of travel to space.
However, the passage immediately warns that if any such attempt of space travel clashes with the natural laws (‘without authority’), then this will lead to failure and destruction (‘On you will be sent a flash of fire and molten metal: no defence will you have. 55:35’). Translated here as ‘molten metal’, the word ‘nuhas’ – which means ‘thick smoke’ or ‘molten metal/ copper/ brass/ iron’ – alludes to the thick smoke and molten metal resulting from a burnt vehicle in space catastrophe. Thus, this depiction of flash of fire together with thick smoke from molten metal seems to graphically portray aero- and astronautical accidents like plane crushes and space shuttle disasters.
God is the actual possessor and the ultimate destination
The Quran, over and over again, reminds the reader that it is God who is the actual possessor of all human inventions including all these transport vehicles and conveyances:
Do you worship what you yourselves carve?/ And God has created you and all that you make (do). 37:95-96
And among His signs are the vessels that sail through the seas, lofty as mountains. 42:32
And to Him belong the ships sailing through the sea, lofty as mountains. 55:24
Here, once again, we note the emphasis on the divinely gifted nature of man’s intelligence and inventiveness (‘to Him belong the ships’) – a reflection of God’s creative powers – which expresses itself in all that man is able to produce.
Obviously therefore, all the roads man journeys along, together with all the means of travel and man’s ability and inventiveness to master them, all ultimately belong to God alone:
He it is who has made the Earth a cradle for you and made for you ways therein that you might be guided. …/ And He it is who has created opposites in all things and has provided for you ships and livestock on which you ride,/ That you might gain mastery over them, and that, whenever you have mastered them, you might celebrate your Sustainer’s favour and say: Glory be to Him, who has subjected this to us, since we could not have otherwise subdued it./ And indeed unto our Sustainer are we returning. 43:10, 12-14
While the expression ‘on it’ (alayehi), though in singular form, relates here to collective entity comprised in ‘all whereon you ride’ (ma tarkabun), i.e. ‘all transports’, the word ‘istiwa’ refers to mastery, dominance and ability to tame or subdue.
Please note how the passage – after describing ‘roads of travel’ (43:10) and ‘means of travel’ (43:12-13) – reminds the reader that the ultimate destination of all journey is otherwise to God alone (43:14). Here is a similar message:
And (He created) horses and mules and asses for you to ride, as well as for beauty: and He creates (will create) things what you know not./ And upon God is the direction of the way. But there are ways that deviate. 16:8-9
Final thoughts
The Quran reminds us that it is God alone who is the Possessor of all the roads we journey along, and all the means of travel and all our ability and inventiveness to master them – and that “to Him is the ultimate destination”.
Lamp of Islam 