The universe Allah spoke about in the Quran is the same universe science is discovering today, no one knows it better than Him, hence He is the one who can make the promise (41:53) to show it to mankind before the hour is established and He did this by speaking about it in the Quran, therefor the science of the Universe is already with us but only those with understanding of science can see, “And we strike these similitudes for the people, but no one understands them except those who know.” (29:42).
The Heart has many roles in the human body the simplest of which is to pump blood, Allah refers to it by different names in the Quran for which it must have specific physiological process’s beyond the pumping of blood in order to carry out these roles;
– Fuad, Af’idah: the heart engrossed or inflamed in emotion, this is it’s role of sensing and reacting with happiness, sadness, lust, frustration, anger or regret, this term is used 25 times to refer to the heart in the Quran.
– Sadr (chest), Sudur: Allah calls the heart by the name for the chest, it is the place where shaytan (the Jinn) tries to gain access to influence man, the term is used 25 times in the Quran in this context.
– Lubb, Albab: the innermost place where the light of tawhid (oneness or wholeness or completeness) resides, which is always used with “the people of” albab, meaning the people of understanding or intellect, the term is used 16 times in the Quran in this context.
In relation to this Allah says “Know that Allah intervenes between man and his heart”(8:24), this is a physical description referring to mans physiology because the heart is a physical organ that creates spiritual experiences in man, so there must be more complexity to the heart.
Allah directly puts things like knowledge, revelation, tranquility (sakina), peace (salam) in mans heart to guide and help him, the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) has said, “Verily the hearts of mankind, all of them, are between two fingers of the All-merciful like one single heart, which He turns whither He wills” (Muslim) Hence the heart must be capable of directing man in his life, an organ that just pumps blood is not capable of that so their must be more to the heart, recent advances in science have shown the heart has a very complex role in the body.
The first verse in the Quran is “In the Name of Allah, the Most Merciful and Compassionate” Imam Ibn al-‘Arabi says it is the predicate of a subject omitted in ellipse (intended in the subtext), as is frequent in the Qur’an, and its full meaning is “(The origin and appearance of the world are but) In
Both tranquility (sakina) and peace (salam) are subatomic substances that Allah mentions this way in the Quran, He for instance placed both in the Ark (Tabut) He gave to the Jews.
“Their prophet said to them, ‘The sign of his authority will be that the Ark [of the Covenant] will come to you. In it there will be [the gift of] tranquillity (Sakina) from your Lord and relics of the followers of Moses and Aaron, carried by the angels. There is a sign in this for you if you believe.’”(2:248), “Every single thing is perishing” because all particles can unravel to nothingness just like they formed, “except His face” (Qur’an 28:88) the face being an Arabic metaphor for what is most distinctive of someone, the person himself; here, the Being of Allah the originator of everything from His light.
If the heart just pumped blood how does it receive tranquility (sakina) and how is belief located in it, “It is He who sent down tranquility into the hearts of the believers, that they may add belief to their belief.” (48:4) the simple answer is found in the Light (electromagnetic field) the heart produces which is connected to it’s very intricate nervous system that is almost like a miniature brain in complexity and role.
Because all these matters refer to the subatomic part of our body and the universe Allah can say “And we are nearer to him than his jugular vein”(Qaf:16) which is another physical description, He can also say that He is the “light of the heavens and the earth” (24:35) He is all light (particles) that the heart perceives because all subatomic particles directly represent His will, this is what verse 24:35 means and it is also stated in a hadith Qudsi indirectly in which Allah says “I am Time” and time as physics teaches is created from the interactions of subatomic particles (quantum entanglement). Because light is an electromagnetic field and it is made from photons and the photon is the carrier of the electromagnetic force (Chi) He can also say He guides man’s heart to Him because the heart creates light (an electromagnetic field) and Allah places light in the heart as guidance, “Allah guides to His light whom He pleases”(24:35) the prophet (saws) used to pray “O Allah, place light in my heart”, these are the reasons behind that prayer.
“The Quran’s role in the soul’s transformation is implicit in the accounts of the Prophet’s ascent (miraj) to Allah, the “Night Journey,” to which reference is made in 17:1: Glory be to Him Who carried His servant by night. Laylat al-isra, “the Night of the Journey,” or al-miraj, “the Ascent,” was understood as the fulfilment of laylat al-qadr, “the Night of Power” (97:1-3, a reference to subatomic power). Having brought the Divine Word down to the Prophet on the Night of Power (when the effects of ghayb are increased), Gabriel took him up to meet Allah on the Night of the Journey. He could encounter Allah precisely because “His character was the Quran,” which had descended into his soul and transmuted it into a luminous lamp (33:46) in answer to his prayer, “Make me into a light.”(Muslim) The Quran itself, after all, is the light (64:8), revealed by the Light of the heavens and the earth (14:35) to bring forth mankind out of darkness into light (14:1)” and so light (particles in this context) is the medium by which mankind is guided.
‘Matter and energy are equivalent and can be transmuted through the equation E = mc^2; that is, energy (in ergs) is equal to mass in grams times the speed of light squared, in centimeters per second. In other words matter is just condensed energy, if you can get enough energy into one place (generally light or kinetic energy), then you’ll get a (mostly random) variety of particles popping out. This accounts for the vast energy released by small amounts of matter in nuclear explosions, but it also means that staggering amounts of energy are required to create even the tiniest particles of matter.’ Hence there is a clear relationship between every cell and atom in the body and the subatomic universe and what happens there influences every part of us directly.
Allah expands the chest, meaning opens the heart, to Islam, “Those whom Allah willeth to guide,- He expands their chest (heart) to Islam” (6:125), due to this opening man can then perceive deeper because guidance requires wisdom and wisdom requires depth. This opening is the essence of Tawhid, oneness with Allah, the light of the heart is connected with the light of Allah and through quantum entanglement with the rest of the universe. It is because light (particles) is the medium for tawhid that many sufi scholars often described tawhid in physical terms, and why translators often made the mistake of calling it unity with Allah. Being one with Allah means being the same as Him while unity with Allah means joining with Him, an impossible thing. Tawhid is the unity of man’s light with the Light Allah places in the heart, “It is He who sent down tranquility (a light) into the hearts of the believers, that they may add belief (light) to their belief (light).” (48:4), “so that he has received faith (light) from Allah” (39:22).
Tawhid can only be achieved when nothing else is in the heart of man but Allah, it means you experience the world through the Quran, Allah’s words, this is the true aim of saying Allahu Akbar, Allah is greater than everything else in mans heart, not verbally but literally, this is why Tawhid is called oneness it results in the self being the same as Allah in opinion.
Oneness with Allah is not an abstract or intangible idea, through subatomic particles it is physiologically literal and physical, “Allah is the light (particles) of the heavens and the earth” and He “guides to His light (particles) whom He pleases” (24:35). 1400 years ago Light was the name given to all particles by Allah because it could be understood by people of that time, Imam Abd al-Razzaq narrates that Jabir (May Allah be pleased with him) said: “I said: O Messenger of Allah, may my father and mother be sacrificed for you, tell me of the first thing Allah created before all things”. He said: “O Jabir, the first thing Allah created was the light of your Prophet (the light of prophethood) from His light (particles), and that light (particles) remained (“turned”) in the midst of His Power for as long as He wished (this is the first moments of the big bang), and there was not, at that time, a Tablet or a Pen or a Paradise or a Fire or an angel or a heaven or an earth or a sun or a moon or a jinn or a man.
And when Allah wished to create creation, he divided that Light (particles) into four parts and from the first made the Pen, from the second the Tablet, from the third the Throne (Arsh, the outer most subatomic layer of the created universe, sidrat al muntaha), and then he divided the fourth [part] into four [other] parts and from the first he created the bearer of the Throne, from the second the Kursi (Footstool, a subatomic layer just beneath the Arsh), from the third the rest of the angels.
Then He divided the fourth into four other parts and created from the first the heavens (space), and from the second the earth (planets), and from the third the Paradise and the Fire, and then he divided the fourth into four parts and created from the first the Light in the believers visions, and from the second the light of their hearts which is knowledge of Allah, and from the third the light of their inner harmony (‘Uns) which is Tawhid (that) ‘There is no god but Allah and Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah…”. (Abd al-Razzaq (d. 211) narrates it in his Musannaf according to Qastallani in al-Mawahib al-laduniyya (1:55) and Zarqani in his Sharh al-mawahib (1:56 of the Matba`a al-`amira edition in Cairo).
Here the prophet (saws) speaks about three different kinds of light in the human body that man relies on, the light of the believers vision is different from the light of the heart and this is different from the light of their Tawhid, (Uns) their inner light, it is very significant that the harmony of electromagnetic waves is called the coherence of waves, when there is coherence between waves (light) they can clearly communicate with each other, coherence is the name for Tawhid in physics.
The Prophet (saws) said, while pointing to his heart; “God-wariness is right here” (al-taqwa hahuna), if the heart wasn’t a perceptive faculty then it could not be aware of Allah, it is because of this that mens hearts will be judged “The day on which property will not avail, nor sons; except him who comes to Allah with a sound heart.” (26:88-9)
“but he who opens up his breast to unbelief, that is, [he who] opens it up and expands it [with unbelief]… upon such shall be wrath from Allah, and there is a great chastisement for them.”(Tafsir al Jalalayn, 16:109), the one’s who fail are those who bury their souls in darkness, they open the heart to perceive greater evil.
So then what is depth in relation to the heart, if we take the words literally the physical depth of the heart means we reach the other side of it which has no relevance, but because we know the heart is a vessel containing light which is a subatomic particle and light is used to pass on knowledge by Allah the depth we are referring to is subatomic depth. When Allah expands the breast He allows the heart to connect with deeper subatomic depths and this allows it to gather information from a wider number of sources (influences).
We know this because the qualities people display when Allah expands their chest (heart) are wisdom and sagaciousness and by definition these are the people who consider the widest amount of knowledge before judging anything, just like the prophet was “a walking Quran” they embody the physical attributes Allah gave them, “He gives wisdom to whomever He wills, and whoever is given wisdom has been given tremendous good” (Qur’an 2:269).
Hard heartedness is the root of all sin and sin is the root of all illness, the spiritual heart is affected by sin and the physical heart is affected by the spiritual heart.
Imam Tustari said “Allah does no open the heart of a servant if it still contains three things, loving to remain (in this world), love of wealth, and concern about tomorrow.” The prophet (saws) said “What I fear most for my community, is that they follow their desires and have long hopes” because of what these things do to the heart.
The Imam also said in his Tafsir “the nafs (self) has seven celestial veils (hujub samawiyyah) and seven earthly veils (hujub ardiyyah)”, things that cover the nafs, in relation to mans character a veil is something that covers our inner perception about things, it makes us in varying degrees delusional, the imam then explained “when ever man buries his nafs (self) in earth upon earth (ardan ardan), (lowers his esteem and ego), his heart (qalb) is raised up heaven upon Heaven (sama’an sama’an). And when he (completely) buries the nafs (ego) under the ground (tahta at tara), the heart reaches the throne” (Arsh, in it’s perception and the sustenance it receives).
In a number of verses Allah talks about the opening of the heart, which is a subatomic description referring to the heart opening up to the unseen world (quantum universe) and being influenced by it; “Is one whose heart Allah has opened to Islam, so that he has received faith (the heart is given light) from Allah, (not better than one hard-hearted)? Woe to those whose hearts are hardened against the remembrance of Allah! (because they can’t receive that light) they are manifestly wandering (this life in error)! (39:22), making bad choices because their judgment isn’t sound, their perception is not complete, and they are ill-informed.
The remembrance of Allah opens the heart and stops it from becoming hard (becoming shallow) which leads to depravity, “Has not the Time arrived for the Believers that their hearts in all humility should engage in the remembrance of Allah and of the Truth which has been revealed (to them), and that they should not become like those to whom was given Revelation aforetime, but long ages passed over them and their hearts grew hard? For many of them became depraved?.” (57:16)
Allah says in the Quran “AND [know, O men, that] whether you keep your beliefs secret or state them openly, He has full knowledge indeed of all that is in [your] hearts.”(67:13) Allah doesn’t simply know our thoughts He created the causes (asbab) in the universe that can make them known because He has creatures that record them which use these systems in the universe, this is the nature of the Universe what ever Allah says He can do has scientific reasons behind it’s existence, the underlaying science behind what is in the heart is light (the electromagnetic field), the subatomic part of the universe and it’s particles and Angels are made of the same matter.
Ibn ‘Abbas (may Allah be pleased with him) said that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said, relating from his Lord, may He be glorified and exalted: “Allah decreed good deeds and bad deeds, then He explained that. Whoever thinks of doing a good deed then does not do it, Allah will write it down as one complete good deed. If he thinks of doing a good deed and then does it, Allah [may He be glorified and exalted] will write it down between ten and seven hundred fold, or many more. If he thinks of doing a bad deed then he does not do it, Allah will write it down as one complete good deed, and if he thinks of it then does it, Allah will write it down as one bad deed.” (Bukhari, Muslim)
Al-Hafiz Ibn Hajar said in Fath al-Bari, “This indicates that the angel can see what is in the heart of the human being” because Angels are created from light and it is their place to know and record.
Imam Ibn Arabi said “Sound knowledge is not given by reflection, nor by what the rational thinkers establish by means of their reflective ability. Sound knowledge is only that which Allah throws into the heart of the knower (Allah himself literally places it there, and) it is (a) divine light for which Allah singles out any of his servants whom He will, whether Angels, Messenger, Prophet, friend, or a person of faith. He who has no unveiling (from Allah) has no knowledge.” Meaning through light (the electromagnetic field) Allah gives knowledge to all his creatures from Angels to men.
If we keep in mind that every thing occurs because of scientific causes in the universe, and Allah does things through the systems in the Universe, Allah then connects what is within mans heart with what occurs in the world “If Allah knows [any] good in your hearts, He will give you better than what was taken from you, and He will forgive you; and Allah is Forgiving and Merciful.” (Quran 8:70) Allah doesn’t look at the hearts then walks somewhere to bring us what He wants, He moves the universe from the deepest subatomic depths until we are given what He wants for us. The foundation for everything are subatomic particles, which is why the verse began with what is in the heart, and everything around us is made of them. The basis for any two things being connected regardless of distance is a Law in physics (quantum mechanics) called quantum entanglement, particles can connect with each other regardless of distance in space and physicist now believe this law which begins with just two small particles, on a cosmological scale is the driving force behind the entire universe shaping it’s evolution, the direction of it’s change.
Allah explains this in another verse, “Whatever misfortune befalls you is for what your very hands have earned, and He pardons much” (Qur’an 42:30) misfortune is a situation we fall into not a rock hitting us in the head, if we think of the many parts of any situation we fall into in life then some very complex things are occurring to bring it about which Allah is saying the bad of it comes together because of the evil we commit, quantum entanglement is the basis for this it’s building blocks, “what your very hands have earned” in the universe.
Allah in hadith Qudsi said “I am Time”, physicists believe time is born out of the quantum entanglement of particles, when Allah says He is something in the Universe, and keeping in mind time is something created while He is not, it is because it’s nature is encompassing of everything and quantum entanglement is the driving force behind every action in the Universe shaping it’s direction, and direction by definition is time.
Time as many assume is something that is meant to be intangible and abstract but it is created by “physical” matter, every moment of time occurs beocuse of how particles are entangled together creating literally everything that is occurring, from chemical reactions to electricity to the atmosphere, the fabric of space and time are woven together because in physics the arrow of time is the direction of matter in the universe, the quantum entanglement of particles shapes the direction of all matter and creates time.
Allah said, the “Sons of Adam inveigh against [the vicissitudes of] Time, and I am Time, in My hand is the night and the day”, the direction of the universe is the passing of the night and the day and they are created because of the forces in the universe, which is what “in My hand” means.
The soul directs the heart and the heart influences the mind creating our intellect which is our ability to understand based on the knowledge we can perceive into things, the act of sensing ghayb the unknown about something. Imam al Ghazali further elaborates on this,“The images supplied by the imagination hold together the knowledge supplied by the intellect.” (Imam al Ghazali, Mishkat al Anwar) and from here we can trace entire physiological process’s in the body that bring this about.
The Prophet (saws) said “There is a knowledge like the form of a hidden thing, known to none save those who know Allah.” (Imam al Ghazali, Mishqat al Anwar), the form of a hidden thing refers to knowledge that is inspired into man from ghayb (the unseen) when he looks into something, commonly called insight, the invisible things our heart has the ability to perceive about this world are the things that exist in ghayb (the subatomic world) about the nature of things, it exists as a hidden thing because “Allah has encompassed (in ghayb) all things in knowledge” (65:12).
In other words Allah’s knowledge is the knowledge gained from the subatomic universe because the prophet related the matter to the people who know Allah, and Allah said about them “Those whom Allah willeth to guide,- He expands their chest (heart) to Islam” (6:125) He gives them the ability to see deeper, Allah’s knowledge (light) is “neither of the East nor of the West” (24:35) because that depth is a subatomic depth.
All knowledge comes from Allah, it flows from the light of Allah which is beyond the Arsh (throne), He created the Universe from His light which are the subatomic particles and encompassed all He created with His Knowledge of it (65:12). The Arsh (throne) allows creation to know Allah because that is where He Istiwa (established) Himself for us while the Kursi allows creation to gain knowledge about everything because Ibn Abbas (ra) said: “His Kursi is His knowledge (kursiyyuhu `ilmuhu) (Bukhari), and man gains Allah’s knowledge through his self and heart, these are the roles of the Arsh and Kursi in the Universe.
The Arsh exists at the deepest most subatomic depth called sidrat al muntaha (the furthest limit) in the Quran (53:14) while the Kursi (footstool) is closer to us, it’s distance sub atomically is as a footstool in relation to a throne (Arsh), this is why it is called al Kursi, the footstool because of it’s role and location in relation to the Arsh of Allah not because it resembles a footstool.
Ayat al Kursi explains this reality of both the Arsh (Throne) and the Kursi (footstool) very clearly; “Allah! There is no deity save Him, the Alive, the Eternal. Neither slumber nor sleep overtaketh Him. Unto Him belongeth whatsoever is in the heavens and whatsoever is in the earth. Who is he that intercedeth with Him save by His leave? He knoweth that which is in front of them (death) and that which is behind them (this life), while they encompass nothing of His knowledge save what He will. His Kursi (footstool) encompasses the heavens and the earth, and He is never weary of preserving them. He is the Sublime, the Tremendous.” (2:255)
We can say much about this verse which the prophet (saws) said contains the greatest name of Allah, meaning it explains His greatest Quality in understanding it. The expression “He knoweth that which is in front of them (death) and that which is behind them (this life)” is the expression used to explain the Barzakh, a subatomic veil (field) stoping man from seeing ghayb (the unseen), mentioned in the Quran; referring to the dead Allah says “Behind them (in this life) lies the intervening barrier (Barzakh, stretching until) to the day of their resurrection” (23:99-100) stopping the souls from returning to this world.
“(He knoweth that which is in front of them) in front of the angels regarding the matter of the Hereafter (death) and who is to intercede (and that which is behind them) of the life of this world”(Tanwir al Miqbas min Tafsir Ibn Abbas 2:255)
What the verse is referring to is the subatomic world (ghayb) that the souls of the dead go to in relation to the physical world because that is the context in relation to the Kursi (footstool), it exists subatomicly. The main theme is about Allah’s knowledge which the verse teaches encompasses all that exists, none can gain that knowledge except by Allah’s leave, Allah then relates all these qualities He is mentioning in the verse to the Kursi which He says encompasses space and earth, this literally means it is spread out through the entire universe and earth. We usually assume everything relating to the unseen world like Heaven, Hell, and everything that exists in it exists in space above us because that is where it all begins and everything is distant from us, but Allah is saying something very different about His Kursi and by extension His Arsh, they cover the entire earth existing around us.
If we ask the simple question that if the Kursi covers the earth why can’t we see it and where is it; understanding that it is something which exists sub-atomically at a depth near the Arsh (sidrat al Muntaha) will explain how it can encompass the entire earth and space and can’t be seen, from Here we know the Arsh is larger than the Kursi and of a similar nature which also tells us the Arsh encompasses the heavens and the earth sub-atomically, and while the Kursi relates to His knowledge as Ibn Abbas (ra) said, and ayat al Kursi explained, the Arsh relates to His qualities directly as Allah explains in the Quran, man gains knowledge (al Kursi) to Know Allah (al Arsh) these are their roles, gaining knowledge is the steppingstone (Kursi/footstool) to knowing Allah hence it’s name.
“He is never weary of preserving them”, all matter in the universe is held together by forces Allah calls His hold on creation, this verse is the clearest indication that both the Kursi and Arsh are subatomic fields similar to the Higgs field which gives all particles their Mass. “Allah is the One who holds the heavens and the Earth (the universe), lest they cease to exist. And if they vanished no one could then keep hold of them. Certainly He is Most Forbearing, Ever-Forgiving.” (35:41) This verse refers directly to the subatomic forces that hold all particles together, if they stopped everything would vanish, this is what is directly preserving the Arsh and Kursi and “He is never weary of preserving them”.
“His Kursi is His knowledge”, man gains knowledge through His heart and Allah “encompassed all things in knowledge” (65:12) this is the explanation about the Kursi preferred by the Imams of the Salaf such as Sufyan al-Thawri, al-Bukhari, al-Tabari, al-Bayhaqi, and others. This means the Kursi is the thing responsible for gathering all the elements of knowledge in the heart of man from subatomic space so He can gain knowledge through his self, while the Arsh is responsible for gathering all the elements in man’s heart responsible for knowing Allah.
“Gravity in a three-dimensional volume (an object) can be described by quantum mechanics on a two-dimensional surface surrounding the volume (object) (think particles are relatively flat to solid matter so gravity is treated in objects layer by layer of particles in the object). In particular, the three dimensions of the volume should emerge from the two dimensions of the surface.”
Quantum entanglement is the entanglement of subatomic particles with each other, it is a subatomic “information carrier”, if we think about a heater heating a room the hot particles from the heater make contact with the cold particles of the room, they then entangle with each other and quantum entanglement carries the information (state) of the hot particle and tells the cold particle to become like it, hot, in this way a room is heated as the cold particles slowly copy the state of the hot particles, quantum entanglement does this for every single type of reaction in the universe it is how all particles interact with each other, essentially it is how everything occurs.
Presently it is believed quantum entanglement decides how the particles of all physical objects shape or create the object layer by layer, almost like a 3d printer prints the object layer by layer, not just because entanglement passes on information, the entanglement of all particles in a region like a giant spider web creates an atmosphere that influences what occurs sub atomically. Even though we are in the process of establishing all this, it is very significant Islamically because Allah states that He literally surrounds all things in Knowledge (65:12) which means every particle, and knowledge here does not mean words in a book it is a reference to how things come to be created.
“It is Allah Who created the seven heavens and of the earth, it’s like. The command (laws of physics) comes forth between them (subatomic space) so that perhaps you would know that Allah is Powerful over everything and that Allah, truly, enclosed everything in Knowledge.” (65:12), after Allah mentions the laws of physics and subatomic space He then explains how everything is enclosed in knowledge, the term here relates to the laws of the universe just mentioned in the verse and refers to how objects form since the verse begins with Allah creating the universe, the context of the entire verse.
Quantum entanglement projects data on the two dimensional surface of all objects and shapes how they form from the subatomic to the physical, this allows for the computation of energy density which is a source of gravitational interactions, this method is emerging as a possible way to unify general relativity with quantum mechanics and explains how things are created, by simile it is like DNA that defines the shape of the body but for subatomic particles. (This is explained in detail in our book “Ibn Arabi On Imagination and The Creation Of The Universe”, in the chapter with the same name.)
Quantum entanglement is very significant to many verses in the Quran because it is the underlaying law in physics at the heart of much of what Allah said. It is believed that it creates time and Allah says He is time, when Allah says He is something it means it is encompassing of all His qualities, translators often translate verse 65:12 as “enclosed everything in His knowledge” and Allah says elsewhere in the Quran His Kursi surrounds all things, “His Kursi (footstool) encompasses the heavens and the earth”(2:255), the Kursi is a subatomic field in space like the Higgs field, the companions explained that His Kursi is His knowledge hence it has a role in quantum entanglement and the data it projects onto objects shaping how they form.
Imam Tabari writes that many Companions (Allah be well pleased with them) and students of the Companions (Allah be well pleased with them) held the opinion that the word Kursi in this verse refers to the Knowledge of Allah Most High, meaning that His Knowledge encompasses all that is the heavens and the earth. Ibn Kathir writes that “Abdullah bin Abbas (Allah be well pleased with him) narrates that the meaning of the word Kursi in this verse is the Knowledge of Allah Most High, and His Knowledge encompasses the earth”, hence the purpose of the Kursi is to allow Allah’s creatures to gain knowledge about His universe.
Mans consciousness is connected to the subatomic part of the universe through the heart more directly than any other part of his body. We feel before we think and that should tell us we sense before we see, our senses direct our mind shaping our personality.
The miracle of the prophet (saws) was the opening of science for mankind, which we have elaborated on in previous articles of the Journal, it is because of this fact and the Kursi is Allah’s knowledge that the prophet (saws) said “On the Day of Resurrection your Prophet shall be brought and shall be made to sit in front of Allah the Almighty, on His Kursi.” (Abd Allah ibn Salam by Ibn Abi `Asim in al-Sunna (p. 351 #786) and al-Tabari in his Tafsir (8:100))
Imam al Ghazali further explains the unseen world: The Real Light is Allah; and the name “light” is otherwise only predicated metaphorically (light is a simile for particles)… you must know that the word light is employed with a threefold signification…”Light” as Physical Light; as the Eye (that sees); (and) as Intelligence (our imagination, which is made from more than just light)…You have now realized that there are two kinds of eye, an external and an internal; that the former belongs to one world, the World of Sense, and that internal vision belongs to another world altogether, the heavenly World (subatomic); and that each of these two eyes has a sun and a light whereby its seeing is perfected; and that one of these suns is external (the sun in space), the other internal (it’s sun is the Quran which is a light for the intellect)… If then this has been disclosed to you thoroughly and entirely, then one of the doors of the heavenly realm (Ghayb) has been opened unto you. In that world there are marvels, in comparison with which this world of sight is utterly condemned; For this reason the latter is called the World of Spirit (world of subatomic particles), or the World of Light (particles), in contrast with the World Beneath (the physical world), the World of Matter and of Darkness. (Mishkat al Anwar)
Illness is a manifestation of imbalance or lack of ch’i (energy) within the body, this is the top down approach to healing the body and self from our most subtle (Lataif) parts down to our physical organs. Unlike acupuncture from China the Islamic Lataif (subtle aspect of the body) deal with an even higher part of mans physiology relating to his psychology that is created from the subatomic world, but unlike modern psychology which has a myopic world view, Islam treats man from the absolute origins of his self and what influences them.
Allah teaches us about what influences our self from the subatomic world in the Quran in many places like surah al Rahman (55), al Shams (91), the verse of light (24:35), al Nun (68), al Najm (53) and indirectly in surah al Takwir (81). Two of these things are the Arsh and Kursi, other subatomic forces are the sun’s electromagnetic field (solar activity), the moon that reflects the suns light and earths gravity and atmosphere, all specifically mentioned by Allah as being responsible for inspiring the soul in surah al shams (91).
The picture Allah is painting for us in the Quran is that every subatomic field or force influences mans nature, a person need only take a flash light and shine it on their skin to feel the effect of photons hitting us, today there are clinics that conduct light (photon) therapy to treat depression, bipolar disease and other psychological disorders because increasing light (photons) is a natural antidepressant, in fact shining a soft natural light like an LED light on a persons head, face and shoulders will make you feel the tension is lifting from your body because every cell in the body naturally takes in light and uses it, (we have written a tafsir to surah al shams on our website).
If we understand that our consciousness is created from different parts of the body, the different senses and the organs responsible for them, all giving input to the brain at the same time to make up who we are and how we experience the world, then we can understand that while acupuncture is closely related to the physical body the Lataif of Islam are closely related to mans psychology as it comes about through his Chi meridians (centres of the nervous system), and it primarily revolves around the connection between the soul and the self through the heart, in other words the connection between the subatomic and the physical.
The human soul is the highest part of man’s consciousness because it is responsible for inspiring man with what it experiences (sees) in the unseen world, it plays an important role in who man is as an individual it doesn’t just give him life, this is why Allah said in surah al shams (the sun); (7) And inspired it (the soul with conscience of) what is wrong for it and (what is) right for it. (8) He is indeed successful who causeth it to grow, (9) And he is indeed a failure who stunteth it. (10), meaning the soul receives inspiration from the subatomic part of the universe and the person who causes it to grow, nourishes it with good acts and their light succeeds and the person who stunts it with evil fails.
So the soul expands with good acts meaning it is able to sense deeper sub-atomically and shrinks with evil making the person become shallow, his soul is not being nourished. The soul needs to sense deeper sub-atomically to gain more insight about this universe because our actions in the physical world affect the subatomic world to it’s deepest depths, our acts shape it’s atmosphere (quantum entanglement establishes this occurs) and this is something Allah mentions in the Quran. The prophet Luqman (saws) said referring to mans actions, “If there be (but) the weight of a mustard-seed (the grain is a simile for the smallest subatomic particle) and it were (hidden) in a rock (the name is a simile Allah and the prophet gave to a subatomic depth), or in the heavens (space) or on earth, Allah will bring it forth: for Allah understands the (most) subtle mysteries (a reference to the subtle subatomic part of our universe), (and) is well-acquainted (with them).”(31:16)
The companions understood the rock wasn’t in space or on earth, which the verse affirms, but was referring to a subatomic depth because the verse mentions the rock as something seperate from both space and earth, and the prophet (saws) said this in a number of ahadith. “Whatever misfortune befalls you is for what your very hands have earned, and He pardons much” (42:30) In other words the verse is saying Allah will hold us to account for the most subtlest impact our actions have on this universe down to it’s subtlest subatomic depths because “Allah understands the (most) subtle mysteries” and our actions bring about the situations we find ourselves in, in life, (our book “Ibn Arabi On Imagination and The Creation Of The Universe” discusses the prophets knowledge of subatomic space and quotes these ahadith).
It is because the heart is connected to the subatomic world and gains it’s insights from it that Allah said in the Quran that the Angel Jibril who is made from light revealed the Quran from the unseen world (the subatomic universe) to the physical one through the prophets heart, the heart is focused on the soul and the soul is constantly experiencing what is happening in the unseen world, because it is made from subatomic matter.
Our physical world is affected by what occurs on the subatomic level all the time, for example if we go to the beach our body can be burnt by the sun’s ultra violet (U.V) rays, so we need sun screen to protect us, those U.V rays are basically invisible light and part of the quantum universe, visible light has a longer wavelength and less energy while U.V light has a shorter wavelength but more energy which is why it burns.
Man is capable of seeing the unseen world normally, Allah created Adam (ra) with this ability and he saw Jannah (heaven) and everything in it clearly but a veil was placed over mans inner vision on earth, the physical part of the universe. When we see the unseen world the imagination shows man the spiritual world while his eyes the physical world, they both work at the same time. An example of this in life is a mirage which we see in front of us but it is our imagination showing something that we created from our lower self. Allah lifts the veils only for people who get rid of their lower self so it is impossible for them to see delusions, Imam Tustari said “Allah does no open the heart of a servant if it still contains three things, loving to remain (in this world), love of wealth, and concern about tomorrow” because these things are the basis for man’s delusions especially having long hopes, which is why the prophet (saws) said “What I fear most for my community, is that they follow their desires and have long hopes”.
Imam Ibn Arabi called the universe the imagination of Allah because He created it from subatomic particles like we imagine something, this is how we are created in Allah’s image, our mind imagines by arranging subatomic particles to make the image we see in our mind or dreams, the difference is the universe is the world Allah shaped from these particles, it isn’t a temporary.
It should become clear by now the subatomic world is the canvas our imagination uses to shape our world, what we think with our mind bears fruit there and we shape the subatomic world with it, with evil or good, the prophet (saws) affirmed this when He (saws) said “every statement has a reality” and our reality is how the subatomic world around us is shaped by us, this to is something the prophet (saws) affirmed in ahadith when He visited Jannah the place we are most pure and connected with the subatomic world; The Messenger of Allah (saws) said, “I met Ibrahim (saws) on the Night of Ascension (Al-Asra), and he said to me: ‘O Muhammad, convey my greetings to your Ummah, and tell them that Jannah has a vast plain of pure soil and sweet water. It is a plain levelled land. The plants grow there by uttering: Subhan-Allah, Al-hamdu lillah, La ilaha illallah and Allahu Akbar (Allah is free from imperfection; praise be to Allah; there is no true god except Allah; and Allah is Greatest).” (At- Tirmidhi).
Allah says “Is the reward of goodness anything other than goodness?” (55:60) but because of our lack of purity many of our thoughts don’t have significant impact but specific statements are worth everything and the key is purity in the self because it means nothing is blocking our influence over the subatomic world. The Messenger of Allah (saws) said: “Purity is half of (our) iman (faith, inner light). (Saying) ‘Al-hamdu lillah (all praise and gratitude belong to Allah)’ fills the scales (of our deeds), and ‘subhan-Allah (how far is Allah from every imperfection) and ‘Al-hamdulillah (all praise and gratitude belong to Allah)’ fill that which is between heaven and earth.”(Muslim) all of these are allusions to subatomic realities because we can simply ask what is filling the entire sky, it isn’t sound and it isn’t our thoughts it’s the light of saying the things.
Regarding the impact of the subatomic world on us the prophet (saws) said “Belief (the light of Iman) is seventy and some branches (it appears through our acts in seventy or so ways). Its lowest branch is the removal of harm from the road while its highest is to say: There is no god but Allah. (A person gains real belief in Allah)” (Muslim)
The prophet (saws) said “Allaah created Adam in His image”(Bukhair), The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: “When any one of you fights his brother, let him avoid the face, for Allah created Adam in His image.” (Muslim) this isn’t because Adam has a face like Allah, man’s mind, intellect and imagination are what the prophet (saws) is referring to.
In Jannah (heaven) our imagination at this time acts like our eyes seeing the invisible world, almost like an image superimposed on the physical world that our two eyes are seeing. Our inner sight sees only what is actually there since the lower self can’t control our imagination because it is no longer there, so when the veils are removed it becomes almost impossible for the imagination to create false images, our imagination is completely focused on what it sees because nothing is hindering it’s sight hence it can’t “wonder” because it is held in place.
When Allah took Adam (ra) out from heaven, He placed a barzakh (veil or field) over his vision so he couldn’t see the unseen world any longer, and asked for faith (Iman) of mankind, this was Allah’s test on earth because Adam wronged himself in Jannah while He (ra) could still see, the test at the same time is meant to train our hearts to trust Allah while facing deception and delusion, so we suffer the imagination in this world not the next.
We only have partial vision of the unseen world it is this veil (or field in physics) that stops mankind from seeing the unseen world with our physical eyes, but the heart can still see because the imagination is created by the mind no the heart.
Allah says “(But the unbelievers will persist) until when death comes to one of them he will say: “O Lord, send me back again, That I may do some good I did not do (in the world).” Not so. These are only words he utters. Behind them (the life they came from) lies the intervening barrier (Barzakh, stretching until) to the day of their resurrection” (23:99-100)
On the day of judgment Allah will remove this Barzakh (veil) from space and He will say to mankind on that day “We have stripped from thee the Veil that covered thee and thy (inner) vision, this day is iron” (50:22), meaning the subtle world you saw with your imagination will be seen clearly like solid iron. (We have explained this in detail in our books “Allah Is The Light Of The Heavens and The Earth” and “Who Was Al Khidr”).
Imam al Ghazali and many of the scholars said about this matter; “when the intelligence is separated from the deceptions of phantasy and imagination (delusion), error on its part is inconceivable; it sees things as they are. This separation is, however, difficult, and only attains perfection after death. Then is error unveiled, and then are mysteries brought to light, and each one meets the weal (a healthy state) or the woe which he has already laid up for himself (through his own actions), and “beholds a Book, which reckons each venial (small) and each mortal sin, without omitting a single one”. In that hour it shall be said unto him: “We have stripped from thee the Veil that covered thee and thy vision this day is iron.” Now that covering Veil is that of the imagination and phantasy; and therefore the man who has been deluded by his own fancies, his false beliefs, and his vain imaginations, replies: “Our Lord! We have seen Thee and heard Thee! O send us back and we will do good. Verily now we have certain knowledge!” (Mishqat al Anwar).
Imam Ibn al Arabi explains “It is to something like this reality (our world) that each human being goes to in their sleep and after their death”, meaning the world we see in our sleep is the same one we go to after death this is the subatomic part our universe. Imam al Ghazali identified the unseen world (ghayb) as the world our imagination looks at when we imagine something but a deluded self can’t see it properly because fantasy is a veil that distorts the vision the particles of the heart create.
Our dreams are made from subatomic particles we arrange to create it, but what we see is created inside the subatomic universe that Allah created, in this part of the universe He placed countless creatures on other planets as well as Angels throughout space whose number is only known to Allah, this is the picture of the universe we have to piece together from everything Allah said.
It’s because there is a relationship between the physical world and the unseen world that the science of Lataif attempts to help man understand the unseen forces in the universe that affect his psychology through his physiology.
That their is a physical relationship between mans body and ghayb (the subatomic world) was the understanding of Imam Ibn Arabi, Imam al Ghazali and many other scholars of Islam, this is what Ibn Taymiyah objected to (see Issue#4 of the Journal) when he debated with Ibn Ata Allah. He couldn’t understand that science was the basis for the scholars words and was the basis for all Imam Ibn Arabi’s works who He disagreed with.
Essentially Ibn Taymiya looked at physics and physiology with the mind of a lawyer (faqih) and said it was wrong and impermissible because law can’t explain it, this was the world 600 years ago if you hadn’t studied physics then it may as well not have existed. He even labeled the sciences behind it a Bidah (a reprehensible innovation), if that was truly the case with Allah then all scientific discoveries are Bidah but the universe is nothing but science waiting to be discovered, Imam Ibn Arabi and like him Imam al Ghazali employed science to understand religion so it shouldn’t be surprising that their detractors where the lawyers not trained in science.
It may be surprising to some but most sects in Islam that deviated in Aqeedah, Islamic creed, did so because they held wrong beliefs in physics. In Islam Aqeedah is the science that deals with physics because physics explains the universe, the nature of what Allah created, so modern physics and medicine have long since solved the arguments posed by Aqeedah, it was part of Allah’s plan to show mankind what Space and physiology were, mentioned in verse 41:53 and it would turn out that it was the Ashari and Maturidi schools of Aqeedah, that the majority of Muslims follow, that are in line with modern physics, even quantum mechanics. (Our book “Who Was al Khidr” discusses Physics and Aqeedah and our Book “Al Fiqh al Akbar: An Accurate Translation” covers the history of Aqeedah in more detail).
Man was created in the best of forms, he was given a unique soul which Allah honored above all other creations by likening it to His own self in the Quran, this is because it would have the responsibility of knowing Allah completely, so it must be capable of understanding everything in the universe completely which is why Allah created man with His two hands having the complete spectrum of matter in him “in the best of moulds”(94:5) and “in the image of Allah”.
The soul or Ruh of every person is a created reflection (it caries a likeness as Allah said) of the Divine Attributes, but with human limitations, this is how we are capable of knowing and understanding Allah, and it originates in Alam al Amar (the Realm of Command), the deepest part of our subatomic universe this is why the depth of the heart ends with the Arsh of Allah at sidrat al muntaha (the deepest limit to the universe).
The scholars separated the creation of the universe into it’s components in order to simplify these teachings, the realm of command is one component, the realm of the Angels is another and the human realm is another. These are simply the pre-modern terms for the physical and subatomic, the realm of the Angels is the quantum universe (subatomic world), the earthly realm is the physical universe, and the realm of command are the Laws of physics or laws of Allah governing creation, the Arsh (throne) of Allah is the limit of the created universe, the Laws (commands) of Allah have a realm (location or origin) because the scholars understood that what ever Allah does beneath his Arsh (throne) He does through the causes (laws) in the universe, and what ever Allah does above the throne He does with His command of “Be” (or Kun) and it occurs instantly, all commands or Laws originate (or began) from there hence the soul originates from there and it is one of the commands (Laws) of Allah.
The name Arsh (throne) is an honorific for what it is and what it does, it isn’t an actual throne. As the prophet (saws) said ‘the throne of Allah is the largest thing Allah ever created’, it surrounds the universe and sub atomically it exists everywhere in it, the heart with the help of the soul can perceive to the depths of the Arsh (throne) which our prophet (saws) consciously achieved, then Allah took Him (saws) on His night journey (Isra wal Miraj) to show Him (saws) that universe and praised him for reaching the furthest limit of creation (sidrat al muntaha).
“And they ask you about the soul. Say: The soul is one of the commands of my Lord, and you are not given aught of knowledge but a little.” (17:85)
Imam Suyuti said regarding this verse “And of knowledge you have not been given except a little’, relative to His knowledge, exalted be He.”(Tafsir al Jalalayn 17:85).
Each person’s soul began and is created from the Realm of Command, and because it is also made from matter all living souls require sustenance something to nourish it so it grows. Allah is the sustainer of everything as the human body grows from an infant to an adult the soul grows with it, when the body dies the soul persists, the souls of people going to Jannah (heaven) after death will be white with a beautiful musk smell from the light they nourished it with in life, while the souls of the people going to Jahanam (hell) will be black having a foul smell to it from the evil they buried it in during life, from this and other things Allah has said we know our actions in life shape the soul and change it.
Allah said “Think not of those who are slain in Allah’s way as dead. Nay, they live (their souls live), finding their sustenance in the presence of their Lord” (3:169), as the prophet (saws) explained it was a gift to Martyrs that when they died Allah kept their souls alive in Jannah receiving sustenance from Allah until the hour, this isn’t the case with normal people their souls experience the life after death in the grave, not Jannah (heaven).
Imam Suyuti said “The following was revealed regarding martyrs: Count not those who were slain (read qutilu or quttilu) in Allah’s way, that is, for the sake of His religion, as dead, but rather, that they are, living with their Lord, their spirits inside green birds that take wing freely wherever they wish in Paradise, as reported in a hadith; provided for [by Him].”(Tafsir al Jalalayn 3:169).
Allah is the light of the Heavens and the Earth, the food of the soul for living people is the Light of Allah, which it acquires from the Realm of Command through our actions in life, our actions in life bring the light of Allah to earth which nourishes the soul and heart, so does the knowledge we learn and the Quran whose status and function in the spiritual (subatomic) world is like the sun for the mind, the Quran is referred to as a light by Allah many times, “O mankind! Now hath a proof from your Lord come unto you, and We have sent down unto you a clear light” (4:174) through it the light of the heart and soul are nourished and grow until death.
Notes:
On the Hadith of Ibn Abbas that he said: “His Kursi is His knowledge” (kursiyyuhu `ilmuhu). (Bukhari)
Narrated marfu from the Prophet by Sufyan al-Thawri with a sound chain according to Ibn Hajar in Fath al-Bari (1959 ed. 8:199) and al-Tabarani in al-Sunna; and mawquf from Ibn `Abbas by al-Tabari with three sound chains in his Tafsir (3:9-11), al-Mawardi in his Tafsir (1:908), al-Suyuti in al-Durr al-Manthur (1:327), al-Shawkani in Fath al-Qadir (1:245), and others. Al-Tabari chooses it as the most correct explanation: “The external wording of the Qur’an indicates the correctness of the report from Ibn `Abbas that it [the kursî] is His `ilm… and the original sense of al-kursî is al-`ilm.” Also narrated in “suspended” form (mu`allaq) by al-Bukhari in his Sahih from Sa`id ibn Jubayr (Book of Tafsir, chapter on the saying of Allah Most High: {And if you go in fear, then (pray) standing or on horseback} (2:239). Its chains are documented by Ibn Hajar in Taghliq al-Ta`liq (2/4:185-186) where he shows that Sufyan al-Thawri, `Abd al-Rahman ibn Mahdi, and Waki` narrated it marfû` from the Prophet , although in the Fath he declares the mawqûf version from Ibn `Abbas more likely.
On the Hadith of Jabir that Allah created the universe from His Light;
It is certain that what Allah meant by light are particles by simile because a number of sources indicate this like the verse of light which begins with the words “the simile for His light” then goes on to explain how Atoms and particles come into existence. In the hadith of Jabir there is something very unique that only future discoveries in physics can prove.
At the moment we don’t know what photons, the “particle” light is made of are created from, by definition it is simply energy, it is like one of the building blocks of other particles which are called elementary particles, protons and electrons are not elementary particles because they are made of smaller particles. Because E = mc^2, matter is just energy condensed, light is energy and energy creates particles.
Im certain that Allah meant particles when he used the term light in the hadith of Jabir becouse light is an elementary particle but in the Hadith Allah divides Light a number of times to create everything so the light mentioned here is no longer elementary, He then uses it to create space and the earth which are made from the many particles we know about but continues to use the term light, because it is a simile, instead of something else for physical matter such as the earth.
Particles are created from smaller particles, if we go back to beginning of the universe when this step by step process was occurring; “We don’t know what happened in the very early stages of the Big Bang because we have no experimentally tested theory that takes us back that far. However, courtesy of the LHC (Large Hadron collider) we have an experimentally tested theory that takes us back to a time (in the creation of the universe) called the electroweak epoch, and we can use this theory to answer the question (was the universe created literally from Light, photons) in the negative.”
“Electromagnetism is a low energy effective theory. It works below energies of somewhere around a teraelectron volt, but above that energy it has to be replaced by a unified theory of the electromagnetic and weak forces (these are two of the three subatomic forces in the universe) called (somewhat obviously) the electroweak theory. The discovery that proved this (not that anyone seriously doubted it) was the discovery of the Higgs Boson at the LHC in 2013”, in other words photons (light) could not have existed at the very beginning of the universe.
“The electroweak theory tells us that during the electroweak epoch (at this stage in the formation of particles from smaller particles) there were four massless vector bosons (particles). At low energies these become the (particles) Z, W+,W−, and the photon (that light is made of), but above the electroweak transition (before this period) the four bosons were indistinguishable.”
This is exactly as the hadith of Jabir states, Allah divided that light (particle) into four lights but before it was divided they were indistinguishable, as one particle.