Gleanings — Paragraph 322
Source (Arabic)
ثابت و محقّق و اینکه از افلاک سؤال نمودید اوّلاً باید معلوم شود که مقصود از ذکر افلاک و سماء که در کتب قبل و بعد مذکور چیست و همچنین ربط و اثر آن بعالم ظاهر بچه نحو جمیع عقول و افئده در این مقام متحیّر و مبهوت ما اطّلع بها الّا الله وحده حکما که عمر دنیا را بچندین هزار سال تعبیر نمودهاند در این مدّت سیّارات را احصا ننمودهاند چه مقدار اختلاف در اقوال قبل و بعد ظاهر و م
Translation
Thou hast, moreover, asked Me concerning the nature of the celestial spheres. To comprehend their nature, it would be necessary to inquire into the meaning of the allusions that have been made in the Books of old to the celestial spheres and the heavens, and to discover the character of their relationship to this physical world, and the influence which they exert upon it. Every heart is filled with wonder at so bewildering a theme, and every mind is perplexed by its mystery. God, alone, can fathom its import. The learned men, that have fixed at several thousand years the life of this earth, have failed, throughout the long period of their observation, to consider either the number or the age of the other planets. Consider, moreover, the manifold divergencies that have resulted from the theories propounded by these men. Know thou that every fixed star hath its own planets, and every planet its own creatures, whose number no man can compute.