Ok, so this one is a bit of mind bend when you think about it too much . Over the past 60 years there has been a growing discussion in the scientific community on whether our universe is just one, or actually one spec in a sea of universes, otherwise known as a Multiverse. Its stuff thats been popular in science fiction for the past 2 decades, but in the past few years more and more theoretical and actual physicists think this could actually be more fact than fiction.

The idea goes (and I will try to keep it as non-technical as possible) is that there could be tens, hundreds, thousands, maybe millions and even billions upon billions of parallel universes, some of which have parallel Earths that maybe exactly the same as ours, or very slightly different, or even extremely different from ours. Actual physical experiments in quantum mechanics like the Double Slit Experiment, that proves that an atom can exist in multiple different states, even though from our perception it can only exist in one state, is evidence that our understanding of what 'reality' actually is from a scientific point of view is seriously flawed, and some scientists even go as far as saying thats its proof that multiple universes exist.

Everyone from Stephen Hawkins to Neil Degrassi Tyson, to the guys at CERN believe we live in a multiverse (CERN even spoke to the media back in October 2015 I think, stating that they may soon have the means to actually 'communicate' with parallel universes via their large hadron collider). The philosophical implications alone are too deep to comprehend, so naturally I checked it from an Islamic perspective so I can dismiss it... but this is where it gets scary. Most (not all, but most) knowledgeable people and sheikhs online do not dismiss the idea. In fact, those who talk about the multiverse within quantum mechanics say it could be a possibility...(and on a side note: with regards to Quantum Mechanics and its explanation of time, space and our perception of it, Islam pretty much matches up with it on most points and doesn't contradict it).

Furthermore, the concept of the Multiverse has been discussed by our own Middle Eastern scientists and philosophers since the early days of Islam, long before Western science even though about it. So this isn't new:

Fakhruddin Al Razi was a huge philosopher from the 12 Century who wrote based on his knowledge of the Quran, that our Earth could be one of a thousand, thousand parallel earths. Its mentioned in this video here from 3m 48s - 4m 53s https://youtu.be/1EtHgqKkCgM?t=3m51s

Even Ibn Abbas has a similar idea, but on a smaller scale.... http://almadinainstitute.org/blog/ib...-worlds/#Notes

Anyway, regardless if its one universe or many, I guess whats most important is how we live in the one we can perceive or experience, so ultimately it doesn't matter if parallel versions of ourselves exist... but still the possibilities of this theory, especially when factoring Islam into it, is mind-blowing. For those understand Arabic, here is what this alim says (sorry its in Arabic, but there a several videos in English and Arabic on the subject if you just search (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E1QG...ature=youtu.be)