Bismillahi rahmani raheem, assalamu alaikum.

Recently some questioned me about spiritual matters, challenging how much I knew, the short answer is people who have seen Angels, who are helped by them, who are taught by them, can write about them from that experience that is a source of knowledge, and what I write should be proof of what I have claimed because scholars can recognise the origin of words and their merit, even if you can’t.

In my last email, I explained that Allah created only one thing that can read every reaction in the universe perfectly and from that see all things into the future, and that is the Pen.

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From this, we can understand that seeing the future itself is a science created by the systems of the universe and not a “crystal ball” trick. This is because time is created by the particles of space and their entanglement together, and it is the direction and rate at which the universe is evolving, so if you see that occurring you can see the direction the universe is heading in.

After all, if the universe wasn’t preparing for your future by something of it existing in the present to evolve the universe to that point, then time would not exist, or rather space-time as physics now calls space, that is the space “physically” intertwined with time,  would not exist, but more on that later.

The Pen as the Prophet (saws) explained was the first intellect Allah created it was the archetype that all other intellects are based off, Allah then gave His other creatures various types of intellects like it, but the Pen is the most complete and perfect intellect and because it was the archetype this means the intellects of Angels, Jinn and Man are lesser kinds that are not as complete as it.

This tells us the role of each creatures intellect in trying to discover the future, it is the underlying thing that drives man to know new information.

“all (things) have We registered in a prototype (Imam in Arabic, the Imam is someone copied in prayer, literally Allah creates things from archetypes, Man was created in Allah’s image, DNA is another example), the archetypal Book” (36:12).

What each of Allah’s creatures has to catch up to the pen and how it sees the universe in a complete way, to gain that knowledge which helps us predict the future or predict answers to things, is the heart, and in this regard, man has surpassed every other creature because of his heart. Now I don’t mean heart in the same way it is said today which makes it almost worthless, but in the same way, Allah intended it when He proudly showed the Angels what Adam could do above them.

Allah said in a hadith Qudsi “Neither My Earth nor My Heavens can contain Me, but the heart of a Believing Servant, contains Me”, the heart has the capacity, in its vision of the universe to encompass anything and relay that vision to us through feelings and inspiration, even the entire universe which is the meaning of this Hadith.

Allah placed in Adam’s (ra) heart the name of every thing He ever created, then when He placed some of them in front of Adam (ra), so the Angels could see the difference between them and Mankind, Adam (ra) could speak their names from what He felt about them and His heart told Him (ra).

The Pen as an intellect could see everything in the universe and its future in absolute terms, while other creatures were given an intellect and a heart to catch up to it.

In this way, Angels in being are more closely related to the Pen, a Pure intellect, while Adam combines both, relying on his intellect to learn from his heart that feels things in the spiritual and physical world. We can understand then how Angels and Jinn, who are entirely spiritual creatures, use more of their intellects and less of their hearts.

Angels because of this have no need for an imagination, they don’t imagine anything which for us is just guessing things or being deluded about them because we can’t see them clearly, Angels only see things as they truly are, while Jinn because they are obsessed with earth and everything in front of their eyes, which they can’t get past because they need the wisdom of humans to do so, are corrupted by their hearts, because they rely more on the intellect their hearts are smaller as a result.

All of this has to do with the physiology of each creature and then about the choices they make in life.

The heart essentially works like a compression program on a computer, it Zip’s or compresses vast amounts of information about the universe. It senses and gathers information from the world around you then it compresses it into a feeling that you can feel and understand from or inspires you with it. This is what the verse “Man was created of haste. I will show you My signs (so your hearts can sense or see them), so do not impatiently urge Me” (21:37) means, man’s heart in a single moment has to see and judge matters, that behind them is a vast amount of information regarding them but it can’t convey any of that in the time it takes for you to notice your instincts.

So, feelings are the best form of compressing knowledge and wisdom and conveying the hearts judgment on something.

This is what it means to act on your feelings, and because of how important this is Allah instructed you to clean the machine responsible for your judgment, your body and heart, otherwise what you perceive will be warped in some way and you won’t have a right sense of things.

Because of what people do in life some people are more deserving of being given wisdom as a result of all of this which is also a form of knowledge being compressed into shorter statements; “He grants Hikmah (wisdom) to whom He pleases, and he, to whom Hikmah (wisdom) is granted, is indeed granted abundant good. But none remember (this) except men of understanding.”(2:269)

Allah’s Apostle (saws) said about the Quran, “I have been sent with ‘Jawami-al-Kalim ‘ (the shortest expression with the widest meaning and knowledge) and have been made victorious with awe (cast in my enemy’s hearts), and while I was sleeping, I saw that the keys of the treasures of the world were placed in my hand.”

Abu Huraira (ra) added: “Allah’s Apostle (saws) has gone, and you people are utilizing those treasures, or digging those treasures (that knowledge in the Quran and Sunnah) out.” or said a similar sentence.” (Bukhari)

“Say (O Muhammad, to mankind): Whoever is an enemy to Gabriel! For it is He who hath revealed (the Quran) to thy heart by Allah’s leave, confirming that which was (revealed) before it, and a guidance and glad tidings to believers.” (2:97)

The average person doesn’t realise all of this is occurring in the background, in wisdom and the verses of the Quran is a large amount of knowledge describing the universe in a few short words. So, think of a prophet’s heart which receives revelation, the words of Allah and their meaning contain every other word that defines them, but the words of Allah in their meaning also contain all His knowledge, and Allah said about His words in the Quran;

“And if all the trees in the earth were pens, and the sea, with seven more seas to help it, (were ink), the words (knowledge) of Allah could not be exhausted. Lo! Allah is Mighty, Wise.” (31:27)

To demonstrate the capacity of the heart, Allah placed the names of everything in the universe in the heart of Adam (as) to illustrate this quality of the heart to compress large amounts of information into something small, the heart of a normal man from its senses gathers information on everything it can sense and does the same to a lesser extent.

The Prophet (saws) similarly said about himself and the knowledge Allah gave him; “My Lord came to me in the best form” -the narrator said: “I think he said: in my sleep”‘ – “and asked me over what did the Highest Assembly (al-mala’u al-avla) vie (“the angels brought near” those discussing the minute technical details of everything); I said I did not know, so He put His hand between my shoulders, and I felt its coolness in my innermost, and knowledge of all things between the East and the West came to me.” (So he could understand their technical and detailed speech) (Sahih, Tirmidhi)

Because of this vast amount of knowledge the spiritual (subatomic part of the) heart can carry, process and is responsible for, the scholars said the heart is the riding animal of Allah, and more famously, “Qalb al-Insan Arsh al-Rahman”, the heart of man is the throne of Allah.

This is all to compare the heart in each creature, Angel, Jinn and Man because it helps us understand how the Angels do their work.

The pen as a pure intellect could see what was going to happen in the universe until its end; “The first thing Allah created was the pen after which He commanded it to write. The pen asked its Rabb (Lord) what should I write. Allah said, ‘Write the decree of all that which is to occur till eternity/Qiyamah.”

Similarly, because of the same systems and mechanisms Allah placed in the universe for the pen to carry out its job, pure creatures who are also endowed with an intellect can see the future but to a lesser imperfect extent, their sense of what is going to happen based on the knowledge they are able to gather according to their scope, is exactly that mechanism.

But, because their intellect is housed in bodies with systems that intellect relies upon, each creature having different physiology and capacity, the Pen who as ahadith describe is a kind of light which means it is entirely composed of subatomic particles is the most Perfect at seeing the future.

This similitude between the role of the Pen and our intellects you can see from Ahadith and what Allah stated clearly in the Quran.

The Prophet (saws) said, “Dreams are one out of 46 parts of Prophecy,” and “Nothing remains of the beginnings of Prophethood except the true vision a Muslim may see.”

Abu Huraira reported: I heard the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, say, “Nothing remains of prophecy except glad tidings.” They said, “What are glad tidings?” The Prophet said, “Righteous (true) dreams.”

Aisha said about the Prophet (saws): “He would never see a vision, except it, subsequently came true as surely as the cleaving of the dawn.” The Prophet saw in his dream that he had conquered Makkah long before the conquest took place, after which the Quranic verse was revealed: “Allah has fulfilled the vision of His Messenger in very truth” (46:26). Similarly, Prophet Joseph saw 11 planets prostrating to him (12:4), which stood for his 11 brothers that betrayed him, and who eventually came under his leadership.

Among Allah’s creatures, prophets and Angels are the most perfect at seeing the truth about everything and consequently the future. It was because of the prophets perfection and mental ability that when the pagans accused the Prophet (saws) of Madness, meaning that His mind was warped and could not see clearly, Allah swore by the most perfect and pure intellect that He (saws) was not Mad;

“Nun. By the pen and that which they write (what the Angels record about everything, the human intellect also records), Thou art not, for thy Lord’s favour unto thee, a madman. And lo! thine verily will be a reward unfailing. And lo! thou art of a tremendous nature. And thou wilt see and they will see, Which of you is the demented. ” (68:1-6, see our Tafsir to this verse).

But, the rest of Mankind only gets glimpses of the future, unlike Angels it isn’t their daily staple. The work of the pen and Angels almost entirely relies on seeing the future and the systems in the universe that allow this.

The future itself is only a mystery when we are incapable of knowing it, otherwise, it is just the reactions of the universe playing out and where they will lead to. While the universe may seem infinite to us it isn’t infinite to Allah and it isn’t infinite to the Pen who saw everything, Allah even tells us in the Quran that He accounts for every single thing in it, that includes every subatomic particle in the universe and that isn’t difficult for him;

“Lo! We it is Who bring the dead to life. We record that which they send before (them), and their footprints. And all things We have kept in a clear Register.” (36:12)

Now, if you have ever wondered how Angels know what to do, how things seem to naturally fit in together in the grand scheme of things, this is how;

When Angels go to decide any matter they see its future first then work to bring that about because they are Allah’s hand in the universe, Allah in a way has placed them between the events that occur in the universe, so they are the intermediaries bridging the gap between cause and effect…but in terms of scale you have to think every minute thing that occurs everywhere.

Man sees the future and waits for it to happen but it is the job of the Angels to ensure it Happens. To us life is one continuous flow of time, one second occurring after another, one day after another and every event is followed by another.

In reality, everything that makes up our life is a small piece of a giant jigsaw puzzle that is put together by every Angel in existence. At any given moment something will occur next to an Angel relating to one small issue in your life, that Angel will be responsible for how to deal with it, for example, should a cup of coffee fall from a desk or not, when he goes to act He sees its future and brings about what needs to happen for the cup to fall or stay safe.

Some think Angels don’t have free will, rather it’s because of their absolute dedication to what Allah tasked each one of them with, that it is more accurate to say they don’t have lives of their own, they dedicate their lives to serving you and others, because absolute focus on the task is what is required to do the job perfectly and to give it its complete worth.

This is coupled with some other things like their physiology and the place they reside in, ghayb, that has a hand in why they are dedicated and don’t have lives of their own. We saw this in the story of the two Angels who came to live on earth as men and made the same mistakes as them when they took the complete form of man, so the matter definitely has to do with the place each creature exists in and their bodies.

It’s because man acts with out giving everything it’s complete and deserved worth that Allah criticised him in the Quran for having a nature of haste.

Abu Dharr, may Allah be pleased with him, who said: “The Messenger of Allah (saws) said: ‘I see what you do not see and hear what you do not hear. The heaven (space) makes a noise like groaning (you can listen to this on youtube), and it has the right to (it isn’t a surprise), for there is no space in it the width of four fingers, but there is an angel there, placing his forehead in sujood (obedience) to Allah (In complete submission to the task Allah made Him responsible for). By Allah, if you knew what I know, you would laugh little and weep much, you would not enjoy your relationships with women and you would go out in the street praying to Allah.’” (Tirmidhi)

The cup of coffee is a simple example of one thing occurring, the matter of our entire day is much larger and more complex, our day is made of pieces of the puzzle that Angels are charged with solving and putting together each day. They react to every action that is occurring in the world by everything in it, helping it continue on its path until Allah decides something different about it, then they make the changes to its state that are required to affect change.

You can see this from the fact there are Angels named after every kind of Job needed for life to go on.

You have Mika’il who is in charge of the earth and its ecosystem, nature, along with the Angels that help him. There is Jibril who is in charge of revelation but since that door is closed what is left to man is inspiration, learning wisdom, knowledge and the truthful dream from Allah, He also has Angels that help Him inspire and teach man. You also have Angels in charge of the mountains, rivers, forests, cities, towns, sky, weather, rain, clouds, lightning and every kind of creature on earth.

Then you have the Angel of death and the Angels that help him, they are responsible not just for things dying but things ageing, falling apart and decaying. Then you have the recording Angels that write everything down, and the Angels in charge of every aspect of your life.

Between all these Angels and the ones we have not mentioned, the Jigsaw puzzle of your life is put together under their countless hands, each one sees the future in relation to their job and acts according to how something should happen, but they act independently of other types of Angels, so the process is organic and comes together as something well thought out, discussed, deliberated over, with freedom, in a natural state and not something that is forced.

Sometimes the Angels will argue with each over what the best path should be, and this primarily comes from our choices in life which always create new permutations on previous choices that older generations of mankind made, because the world changes and each event in life occurs in a different environment and circumstance as a result, the hikmah (wisdom) regarding it also changes, so the Angels are always learning something new from us.

Imam Ali asked the Prophet (saws) if the pen is dry and everything is in Allah’s foreknowledge do we still have a choice, the Prophet (saws) replied it is 50/50, half fate (half governed by the laws of the universe) and half free will, governed by the choices of creatures.

Besides governing according to the commands Allah placed in the universe, Angels will wait for everything to make its choice in life and decide on matters in context of that;

[The angels say], “There is not among us any except that he has a known position.” (37:164)

Consider the size of the Universe in its entirity it is surrounded by the Arsh, then the Kursi within that, then within that the part of the universe we know in our night sky; “The apostle of Allah asked some men of Medina what had been said there about the falling stars and was told: ‘We said, “A king has died or has begun to reign; a child has been born, or has died.” ‘ The apostle of Allah replied: ‘It was not so. When Allah reaches any decision concerning His people He is heard by the bearers of His throne (In the deepest part of the universe), who praise Him; and this praise is taken up by the angels below them (Near the Kursi), and by others still further below (at the edges of the visible universe); and the praise continues to descend until it reaches the sky of this world (our night Sky), where other angels also praise. Then these ask each other why they praise, and the question ascends gradually till it reaches the bearers of the throne. They then, tell of the decree of Allah concerning His people, and the news travels down by degrees until it reaches the heaven of this world, where the angels discuss it. But the evil Jinns (devils), who used to listen to such discussions by stealth, sometimes misheard, and what they retold to soothsayers on earth was sometimes true and sometimes false. The soothsayers also conversed about these matters, some giving true and some false accounts. So, when the coming of the apostle was being discussed by the angels, Allah foiled the evil Jinns by hurling meteors (at them), and from that time onwards an end was made to soothsayers”. (Seerah ibn Ishaq)

Abu Sa`id Al-Khudri (May Allah be pleased with him) reported: the Prophet of Allah (saws) said:

“There was a man from among a nation before you who killed ninety-nine people and then made an inquiry about the most learned person on the earth (seeking repentance). He was directed to a monk. He came to him and told him that he had killed ninety-nine people and asked him if there was any chance for his repentance to be accepted. He replied in the negative so the man killed him completing one hundred (murders).

He then asked about the most learned man in the earth. He was directed to a scholar. He told him that he had killed one hundred people and asked him if there was any chance for his repentance to be accepted. He replied in the affirmative and asked, `Who stands between you and repentance? Go to such and such a land; there (you will find) people devoted to prayer and worship of Allah, join them in worship, and do not come back to your land because it is an evil place.’

So he went away and hardly had he covered half the distance when death overtook him; and there was a dispute between the angels of mercy and the angels of torment. The angels of mercy pleaded, ‘This man has come with a repenting heart to Allah,’ and the angels of punishment argued, ‘He never did a virtuous deed in his life.’ Then there appeared another angel in the form of a human being and the contending angels agreed to make him arbiter between them. He said,`Measure the distance between the two lands. He will be considered belonging to the land to which he is nearer.’ They measured and found him closer to the land (land of piety) where he intended to go, and so the angels of mercy collected his soul”. [Al Bukhari and Muslim]

Another hadith adds: “Allah ordered the village (towards which he was going) to come closer to him, and ordered the village (whence he had come), to go far away, and then He ordered the angels to measure the distances between his body and the two villages. So he was found to be one span closer to the village (he was going to). So he was forgiven.” (Bukhari)

Looking back at how the universe prepares for the future, Allah says “By the heavens full of paths” (51:7), the complete passage around verse 51:7 relates to every minute thing the Angels are responsible for;

“By those that winnow with a winnowing (Angels of the wind). And those that bear the burden (of the rain. Angels of the rain). And those that glide with ease (upon the sea. Angels responsible for the sea and its ships). And those who distribute (blessings) by command (Angels responsible for putting the Jigsaw puzzle of your day together), Lo! that (punishment) wherewith ye are threatened is indeed true, And lo! the judgment (to come in the next life) will indeed befall. By the heaven full of paths.” (51:1-7)

Meaning by the paths the heaven (sub atomic) prepares for future events which is the context of that verse and the underlying thing behind the work of the Angels. The paths exist so the work of the Angels can occur, so they can see the future, and every life in the universe can follow one of these spiritual paths.

The very next verses then talk about how mankind has been very wrong about this matter and everything else;

“Verily, [O men,] you are deeply at variance as to what to believe” (51:8), meaning by the heaven full of spiritual paths to follow, you are still lost on which are the right paths we have prepared for you.

“perverted in his views thereon is he who would deceive himself! They but destroy themselves, they who are given to guessing at what they cannot ascertain.” (51:9-10) the universe is complex and figuring life out for your self will cause you to become lost from all the choices, from the possible paths you can take in life… “they who blunder along, in ignorance lost” (51:11), just because the universe is full of paths to follow it doesn’t mean they are all right for you.

The Messenger of Allah (saws) said: “When Allah created Paradise, He said to Jibreel: ‘Go and look at it.’ Jibreel went and looked at it, then came and said: ‘O my Lord! By Thy might, no one who hears of it will fail to enter it.’

Allah then surrounded it with disagreeable things, and said: ‘Go and look at it, Jibreel.’ He went and looked at it, then came and said: ‘O my Lord! By Thy might, I am afraid that no one will enter it.’

When Allah created Hell, He said: ‘Go and look at it, Jibreel.’ Jibreel went and looked at it, then came and said: ‘O my Lord! By Thy might, no one who hears of it will enter it. ‘

Allah then surrounded it with desirable things and said: ‘Go and look at it, Jibreel.’ Jibreel went, looked at it, then came and said: ‘O my Lord! By Thy might and power, I am afraid that no one will remain who does not enter it.’ (Abu Dawud)

The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said:

حُفَّتِ الْجَنَّةُ بِالْمَكَارِهِ وَحُفَّتِ النَّارُ بِالشَّهَوَاتِ

“Jannah is surrounded by hardships and the Hell-Fire is surrounded by desires (ease).”

If you want to know what that thing is which helps the universe move into the future and makes part of the future exist now, the simple answer is particles and the thing that connects them together, quantum entanglement. The famous double slit experiment (of physics) we mentioned in our last email has already shown how particles will move to the future position of events long before the rest of the universe catches up, that is a subatomic or spiritual path being created, and Allah said in the Quran “By the heavens full of paths” (51:7), meaning by the paths that everything will come to follow, the smallest particles being the trail blazers for the rest of the universe because they are the most sensitive to any kind of force or action.

Particles are sensitive to our intentions and will go to where we intend things before we do anything, or they will begin to shape things when we make an intention even if we don’t act upon it because intentions are a simple way of saying a force that acts upon the particles.

In terms of the universe, the smallest particles will move in the direction any force (from anything) is heading before it arrives there, and Amazingly Allah spoke about this in a hadith Qudsi;

“Allah has written down the good deeds and the bad ones. Then He explained it [by saying that] he who has intended a good deed and has not done it, Allah writes it down with Himself as a full good deed, but if he has intended it and has done it, Allah writes it down with Himself as from ten good deeds to seven hundred times, or many times over. But if he has intended a bad deed and has not done it, Allah writes it down with Himself as a full good deed, but if he has intended it and has done it, Allah writes it down as one bad deed.”

“Writes it down” basically means how the universe reacts to simple thoughts and the power behind each thought that drives the process. Allah doesn’t have a pen or paper and already knows everything, the only thing left that is moving in the hadith is the universe, the ink of Allah as the Prophet (saws) described it or the giant recording machine we mentioned in our last email.

The prophet (saws) said, “The first thing Allah created was the pen, then He created the ‘Nun’ (space) which is an inkwell” (for particles that are the ink);

“This is what Allah stated ‘Nun and the Pen.’ (68:1) And He said to it, ‘Write’. So the pen wrote all that will be until judgment day. Then Allah created the Nun (outer most part of space) above the waters (the subatomic depths, water or ocean is a simile for a sea of particles in space) and He pressed the earth into it’s back (into subatomic space, the Earth bends sub atomic space around it which is how gravity is created and why the Prophet (saws) said pressed into its back). He (Allah) then said to the pen ‘Write.’ The pen asked ‘What shall I write?’ Allah replied, ‘Write what was and what will be until judgment day; whether deed, reward, consequence and punishment- until judgment day.’ Thus the pen wrote what shall be until judgment day. Allah then placed a seal over the pen and it will not talk until judgment day. Then Allah created the mind (intellect of living things) and said, ‘By my Glory, I will establish you in those whom you love and I will take you away from those whom you despise.’” (Imam Qurtubi gave the following chain, Narrated by Al-Walid Ibn Muslim, narrated by Malik Ibn Ans, narrated by Sumay son of Abu Bakir, narrated by Abu Salih Al-Samaan, narrated by Abu Hurayrah who heard the prophet (saws))

When you do something compared to just thinking about it, its effects are up to 700 times more powerful in the universe than any thought or intention.

Knowledge of all of this is to help you see the world Allah created around you so you can stay connected to Him and your Deen. The path of Ihsan in Islam helps you make sense of everything that seems to be chaos, the Angels who put the jigsaw puzzle of your life together can make all of it clear to you because they work with it.

Every little item in your life, every small thing around you, arrived there because of the work of the Angels deciding something about it at every moment of its existence, they are made from light and act at the speed of light and faster, and all their work is what makes up the day you experience.

Looking at this in modern terms; we live on earth, the physical part of the universe, but around us is the subatomic world, that part of the universe decides the qualities each thing is going to have and its qualities decide how you will feel about it, experience it and react to it.

Everything has its qualities but how you feel about things often changes, one moment a pen could be your favourite another moment that changes to something else, there are spiritual reasons behind this and every other small change in your life, from good sources and bad.

We are a single person while Angels are countless, so consider that there are many types of feelings we can have about everything and even more types of thoughts you can think about anything, it is easy for them to arrange all that.

The best way to see Angels is to understand they are like the light in our intellect, in our mind, and the simplest way to describe their hand in your life is to say Angels are the power behind our thoughts.

They are the power that decides the effectiveness of entanglement, underneath the world around us is ghayb the sub atomic, Angels makes certain everything arrives at its destination as Allah decreed it and the Pen foresaw. In modern terms, this is saying that the laws of the universe (fate) bring things about in our world, and while that is occurring at every moment we live our life, that is the 50 % freedom from fate Allah gave all creatures.

Sayyid Rami Al Rifai.