AN EVENING WITH SIR JAMES JEAN

Here is an incident which occurred in England, as related by Inayat-ullah Mashriqi. “It was Sunday,” he writes, “the year 1909. It was raining hard. I had gone out on some errand when I saw the famous Cambridge University astronomer, Sir James Jeans, with a Bible clutched under his arm, on his way to Church.

Coming closer I greeted him, but he did not reply.
When I greeted him again, he looked at me and asked, ‘What do you want? ‘Two things, I replied.
‘Firstly, the rain is pouring down, but you have not opened your umbrella. ‘Sir James smiled at his own absent-mindedness and opened his umbrella.
‘Secondly’, I continued, ‘I would like to know that a man of universal fame such as yourself is doing—going to pray in Church?’ Sir James paused for a while, then, looking at me, he said, ‘Come and have tea with me this evening.’ So I went along to his house that afternoon. At exactly 4 o’clock, Lady James appeared. ‘Sir James is waiting for you’, she said. I went inside, where tea was ready on the table. Sir James was lost in thought. ‘What was your question again?’ he asked, and without waiting for an answer, he went off into an inspiring description of the creation of the celestial bodies and the astonishing order to which they adhere, the incredible distances over which they travel and the unfailing regularity which they maintain, their intricate journeys through space in their orbits, their mutual attraction and their never wavering from the path chosen for them, no matter how complicated it might be. His vivid account of the Power and Majesty of God made my heart begin to tremble. As for him, the hair on his head was standing up straight. He eyes were shining with awe and wonder. Trepidation at the thought of God’s all-knowing and all-powerful nature made his hands tremble and his voice falter. ‘You know, Inayat-ullah Khan’, he said, ‘when I behold God’s marvellous feats of creation, my whole being trembles in awe at His majesty. When I go to Church I bow my head and say, “Lord, how great you are,” and not only my lips, but every particle of my body joins in uttering these words. I obtain incredible peace and joy from my prayer.

Compared to others, I receive a thousand times more fulfillment from my prayer. So tell me, Inayatullah Khan, now do you understand why I go to Church?”

Sir James Jeans’s words left Inayat-ullah Mashriqi’s mind spinning. “Sir,” he said, “your inspiring words have made a deep impression on me. I am reminded of a verse of the Quran which, if I may be allowed, I should like to quote.” “Of course.” Sir James replied. Inayat-ullah Khan then recited this verse:

“In the mountains there are streaks of various shades of red and white, and jet-black rocks. Men, beasts and cattle have their different colours, too. From among His servants, it is the learned who fear God” (35:27-28).

“What was that?” exclaimed Sir James. “It is those alone who have knowledge who fear God. Wonderful! How extraordinary! It has taken me fifty years of continual study and observation to realize this fact. Who taught it to Muhammad? Is this really in the Quran? If so, you can record my testimony that the Quran’s an inspired Book. Muhammad was illiterate. He could not have learnt this immensely important fact on his own. God must have taught it to him. Incredible! How extraordinary!”

And how significant that Sir James Jeans should have concluded his book, The Mysterious Universe with these words:

“We cannot claim to have discerned more than a very faint glimmer of light at the best; perhaps it was wholly illusory, for certainly we had to strain our eyes very hard to see anything at all. So that our main contention can hardly be that the science of today has a pronouncement to make, perhaps it ought rather to be that science should leave off making pronouncements: the river of knowledge has too often turned back on itself” (p.138).