QUESTION:
Do aliens exist and what is the interpretation of these verses:
Is not He Who created the heavens and the earth able to create the like of them? Yea! and He is the Creator (of all), the Knower.
Shakir 36:81
His command, when He intends anything, is only to say to it: Be, so it is.
Shakir 36:82
Therefore glory be to Him in Whose hand is the kingdom of all things, and to Him you shall be brought back.?
Shakir 36:83
Samar
ANSWER:
In the Name of Allah, the All-Beneficent, the All-Merciful.
May Allah bless Muhammad and his Family and damn their enemies.
If by aliens you mean intelligent creatures living in places other than the earth, then yes, they do exist. Not only as evidenced in the quoted verses, but in other narrations too. It has been narrated that Allah (the Most Exalted) has created many worlds other than our own on which various creatures exist. They all had an Adam (the first creature of their kind) and will all be resurrected. All of these creatures in all different worlds are obligated to have knowledge of Muhammed and his pure Household (peace be upon them), obey their rules and befriend them.
Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him) has said:
Surely Allah has created twelve thousand worlds, each of those worlds is greater than the Seven Heavens and the Seven Earths. None of those worlds thinks that Allah has got any other world than them, and I am Allah’s Proof over them.
al-Bihar, Chapter 15, #1
Imam Muhammed al-Baqir (peace be upon him) has said:
Surely, Allah had created in the earth – since He created it – seven worlds; they (the creatures who live on it) were not from the children of Adam; He created them from the surface of the earth, then He placed them on it one after another with its world. Then Allah, the Mighty, the Great, created Adam, the father of mankind, and created his progeny from him.
al-Bihar, Chapter 28, #1
Jaber, son of Yazid, has once said in essence: “I asked Abu Jafar (peace be upon him) about the verse: ‘Were We then fatigued with the first creation? Yet are they in doubt with regard to a new creation.’ (50:16)
He said: ‘O Jabir, the interpretation of this verse is that when Allah, the Most Exalted, had ceased this creation and this world to exist, and dwelt the people of Paradise in Paradise and those of Hellfire in Hellfire, Allah will create a new world other than this world, and new creation (without reproduction) to worship and glorify Him. Do you suppose that Allah has created this single world and He has not created any other beings apart from you? Yes, by Allah, He has created a thousand-thousand worlds and a thousand-thousand Adams, and you are in the last of those worlds.
al-Bihar, Chapter 28, #2
For more narrations, please refer to:
- Al-Bihar, Chapter 15, narrations #2, #5 and #6;
- Al-Bihar, volume 54, #9
The Office of Sheikh al-Habib