1. Islam’s Scholars On Space Time

Many of islam’s scholars talked specifically about time and considered it to be on equal footing with spatial dimensions, so that space and time are interrelated. According to Ibn Hazm, time is defined to be “the duration within which a particle would exist motionless or in motion, and if it (time) is separated from the body, then the body will cease to exist and thus time will cease to exist too.” In this definition, time is directly connected with motion and the existence of a body that is the subject of the motion. This is why Ibn Hazm repeatedly referred to this definition of time throughout his discussion on the creation of the world. Ibn Hazm says, “Time is the duration through which an object stays at rest or in motion, and if the object is to be deprived of this [rest or motion] then that object will cease to exist and time will cease to exist too. Since the object and the time both do exist, therefore they both co-exist.”

Space and time were both considered to be dependent on the relative position of the observer, forward and backwards, “above” and “below” are all considered to be spatial assignments that depend on the reference point. Likewise “before” and “after” were considered to be relative to the person making the observation and their location.

Imam Al-Ghazali expressing his views on this point said “All this is due to the inability of the estimative [faculty] to comprehend an existence that has a beginning except by supposing a (before) for it. This (before) from which the estimation does not detach itself, is believed to be a thing realized and existing, namely, time. This is similar to the inability of the estimation to suppose the finitude of body overhead, for example, except in terms of a surface that has an above, thereby imagining that beyond the world there is no place, either filled or void. Thus, if it is said that there is no “above” above the surface of the world and no distance more distant than it, the estimation holds back from acquiescing to it, just as if it is said that before the world’s existence there is no (before) which is realized in existence, [and the estimation] shies away from accepting it” (All of this may seem tricky until you realise that every place and direction is created from particles, so if particles and time did not exist at some point then an above or below did not exist until the universe did).

Imam Al-Ghazali treated space and time on an equal footing in respect of being both relative in extension, and being observer dependent, he said: “Similarly, it will be said that just as spatial extension is a concomitant of body; temporal extension is a concomitant of motion. And just as the proof for the finitude of the dimensions of the body prohibits affirming a spatial dimension beyond it, the proof for the finitude of motion at both ends prohibits affirming a temporal extension before it, even though the estimation clings to its imagining it and it’s supposing it, not desisting from [this]. There is no difference between temporal extension that in relation [to us] divides verbally into (before) and (after) and spatial extension that in relation [to us] divides into (above) and (below). If then, it is legitimate to affirm an “above” that has no above, it is legitimate to affirm a (before) that has no real before, except an estimative imaginary [one] as with the (above).”

The Prophet (saws) in a lengthy Hadith found in Tabari said: If you wish to have this made clear (How the earth revolves around the sun), look to the circulation of the sphere alternately here and there. It is the circulation of Heaven and the circulation of all the stars together with it except those five. Their (referring it seems to heaven and stars) circulation today is what you see and that is their Prayer (Prayer is obedience, they follow set paths). Their circulation to the day of resurrection is as quick as the circulation of a mill because of the Dangers and tremors of the Day of Resurrection (so when time ends is tied to motion in the universe, which has deeper scientific implications). This is meant by Allah’s word: “On a day when the heaven sways to and fro and the mountains move. Woe on that day unto those who declare false (the Devine message). (52:9-11). (History of al Tabari vol 1, Pg 235-236).

2. The Significance Of The Number Seven In Everything

When Allah talks about the universe he often mentions His attribute al Azzim; the tremendous, vast, awe inspiring, a term that refers to something immense in size whose magnitude personifies the qualities of being one of the largest things in creation. It is a term Allah also used in Surah al Mulk which talks about His dominion and the vastness of what He controls, in which He likewise associated death and life with the topics being mentioned in ayat al Kursi, this is because both are things that exist because of how the universe is designed;

“Exalted is (Allah) who holds all control (in the universe) in His hands (the forces behind the laws of science); who has power over all things; who created death and life to test you and reveal which of you does best––He is the Mighty (Azziz), the Forgiving; who created the seven heavens (the seven sub atomic depths), one above the other (from us to the Arsh as we look out into space, the implication is the deeper we go into space the more subtle in nature Allah’s creations/life forms are ending with the Angels. Therefore, Heaven is above us, but science today when looking sub atomically looks down at it through a microscope so that shift of where to look is entirely something from us).” (Al Mulk; 67)

The prophet (saws) explains in various ahadith that there are seven regions to the subatomic world, the same as there are seven regions to Jannah which ends at the Arsh (throne), Jannah mimics the seven heavens but Jannah is a smaller region within the universe. There are also seven regions to Hell, seven expanses to outer space before it reaches the Kursi and seven earths as the terminology of the Arabs goes, meaning there are seven microscopic depths in our world and each is a world (earth) because it has its microscopic creatures living in isolated ecosystems.

The number seven is significant in Islam because of its spiritual connection with the universe and how it was designed, many things we do in religion are so we spiritually align our self with the natural order in the universe. This aspect of religion is famous the world over and most ancient civilisations from the Egyptians that aligned their Pyramids with the stars they followed to the Chacoan Indians who like the Egyptians built well aligned elaborate structures for the sake of worship and spiritual power.

To see the signs in creation you must align yourself, your spirituality, your mind, and perception to creation and the movement of things in the universe. This is done by first being conscious of them in your everyday life and their behaviour (movement), this means understanding the calendars of the sun, moon and stars and living by them. The elaborate structures constructed by Chacoan Indians for example where geographically aligned with the celestial bodies and followed their exact paths and calendars.

The paths their structures took over large distances spanning their entire territory, where a way to train their society and people to align themselves to the spiritual world and the universe as they followed the same celestial paths as the sun, moon and stars, performing acts of worship from structure to structure along well-defined roads. From this they could better perceive and read Allah’s signs in creation as the heart connected to the spiritual world above it.

Islam isn’t that different from this, if you don’t think so than answer the simple question what is the scientific purpose of going around the Kaaba counter clockwise seven times exactly, the answer given to children is we are imitating without knowing, the answer among the scholars is what this is doing to the self and our psychology, tassawuf. Because human physiology and how you focus and train the mind is the same the world over, by connecting our self with the universe around us we begin to see Allah’s signs in creation and then ultimately Him, Allah even says at the point you earn His love He takes hold of your senses and trains them so you can see, eventually as the Prophet (saws) described Human perfection (Ihsan) you come to worship Allah as if you see Him literally.

We see what the Chacoan Indians were doing in Islam in all our acts of worship, the purpose of Jummah prayer is to stay spiritually connected with our local community which is the natural result of praying in a group, hence through congressional acts in Islamic worship man connects himself with the Umma (larger community) and what he performs aligns him with the natural order of things in the universe, Hajj is a perfect example of all of this and each Muslim is obliged to do this once in his life;

“Allah created seven heavens, seven earths and seven days, and man’s creation is completed in seven stages; Allah has prescribed that His slaves should walk around the Ka’bah seven times (tawaaf) and go back and forth between Safa and Marwah seven times (saa’i), and stone the jamaraat with seven pebbles each, and the takbeeraat of Eid are seven in the first rak’ah. The Prophet (saws) said: “Instruct your children to pray when they are seven.”

The science behind this is simple, the very particles we are created from throughout our life continuously make connections, or entangle with whatever we do in life and the particles those things are made from, the Islamic acts of Ibadah help facilitate that entanglement so man has a giant network through his life he is spiritually connected with as a result of his work every day.

The Messenger of Allah (saw) said, “The Faithful are to one another like [parts of] a building – each part strengthening the others” and “The believers are like one body” (what happens to one part affects the entire body)(Bukhari and Muslim) and “The faithful are like one man: if his eyes suffers, his whole body suffers.” (Muslim)

Muslims benefit spiritually from the community (Umma) at large like going on Hajj at least once in your life, the Umma is like one single body spiritually and Hajj makes that happen, the Ummah is like a single body and whatever happens to one part affects the entire body, these connections form and acts we do in Hajj aligns the entire Umma with the natural order of the universe, this is the crux of everything being mentioned here, this is spiritual entanglement.

This underlying reality to spiritually connecting with distant things is also seen from the prophets (saws) dua who used to invoke every single thing Allah created, or the number of Angels in the universe, to empower the effectiveness of that dua, quantum entanglement facilitates all of that, it is also the reason we say Bi isim Allah, in the name of Allah, before reciting each chapter of the Quran (or doing anything in life), for the benefit of that spiritual connection with the things being mentioned by Allah in the Quran, Imam al Ghazali outlines all of this in his works.

“Say (O Muhammad): Invoke Allah or invoke the Most Gracious (al-Rahmaan)” (17:110) Making these spiritual connections is so important to Ibadah (all acts of worship) in Islam that the Prophet (saws) said “There is no valid ablution for he who did not mention Allah’s Name in it.” The Prophet (saws) said: “When one of you eats some food, let him say Bismillah, and if he forgets to do so at the beginning, let him say Bismillah fi awwalihi wa aakhirihi,” think about what that Bismillah is spiritually doing to the food because that is what we are referring to in a modern language.

The number seven is something subtle deliberately designed into the universe and it is a result of how it formed naturally;

For example after first creating sub atomic space Allah created earth and everything physical like the planets, because physical matter formed from subatomic particles due to the collective Mass of these giant objects, like the sun, planets, black holes, galaxies that all now bent space around them concentrating gravity, as a result this influenced the sub atomic space and it was divided into seven regions. The number seven resulted from the natural formation of things in the universe.

Allah explains; “It is He who created for you all of that which is on the earth (considering the early point in time this is referring to, it means basic matter, and not life on earth as we know it). Then He directed Himself to heaven (sub atomic space), and made them seven heavens (seven sub atomic layers), and He is Knowing of all things.”(2:29)

As the rules of interpreting the Quran teach, the fact Allah mentions His knowledge of all things at the end of a verse about how the universe was created; that statement is related to ayat al Kursi and surah al Mulk, and it tells us the universe was also being influenced by His Kursi to create this, so this is another reference to what quantum entanglement did in the universe, it (the Kursi) helped create the seven sub atomic depths because Matter and everything it was entangled with was now being concentrated with each planet that formed.

Wahb ibn Munabbih (ra) who was a tabii said about Allah creating the microscopic world and the creatures found in it: When Allah created the earth, it was one stratum (“habitat”) and He split it and transformed it into seven (creating the microscopic layers for His creatures there), as He did with the heavens, and made between one stratum and the [next] stratum the distance of five hundred years (travel, had you been of that size traveling from one to the next). The name of the highest stratum (closest to us) is Adim, the second Basit, the third Thaqil, the fourth Batikh, the fifth Janb, the sixth Masikah, the seventh Al-Thura. (Tabbari)

3.There Was Nothing Then Allah Created Creation (All Locations)

The universe is the first “Place” Allah created as the prophet explained in many ahadith, hence there are no multiple universes or locations outside this universe. There was nothing but Allah then He created the universe, the descriptor “nothing” tells us we can’t understand the nature of Allah’s splendour (Beauty or light outside the universe), we only know it’s state/nature after the universe was created. Space/Locations need time to exist but outside of the universe time and place don’t exist because they are not attributes of Allah, when He said “I Am Time” He was talking about being the one that brings things about because time is required for things to occur, but the passing of time is not required for Allah to exist.

Hence the universe was given dimensions in something greater than it and we can’t comprehend its nature, because the light of His splendour represents the nature of His existence in the most complete way.

So, it is more than certain that the first location to exist, the universe, created a pocket/location in this timeless and location less place outside the universe that is described as the splendour of Allah. The prophet (saws) also says the Angels who are created beings don’t know anything about it and they know the nature of this universe from the subatomic.

Therefore the nature of “Allah’s splendour” isn’t something simple or has a likeness to anything we know about space, subatomic space, time or dimension (shape) or locations and we can’t speculate about new particles or laws existing outside the universe as some have tried in the past.

Particles for example are created by smaller particles but all have dimension, so if we are tempted again to ask the question “what is outside the outside” we haven’t understood the physics/significance of what you are looking at.

It may be the case that what is outside the universe now, the area that represents His qualities for the Arsh most perfectly and puts pressure on it causing it to groan, was created along with the universe for its benefit, nothing existed before Allah began creation literally means nothing, that is an absolute statement.

The scholars of Islam famously said whatever Allah does underneath the Arsh, in the universe, He does with the systems/laws of the universe, but whatever Allah does above the Arsh (outside the universe) He does instantly with a single command “Kun” (Be), which is how He began creation by commanding it to “Be” (Kun), because it is instant and comes from nothing this tells us the timeless and dimensionless nature of what is outside the universe.

It all began from an instant then expanded in time and place creating a pocket of “place” in a dimensionless and timeless nothing (in the beginning there was nothing but Allah, then He created all locations so the shape of the universe is the first pocket of “place” to exist).

If you have understood what Allah meant by associating anything with Himself, then you can understand the following hadith about where Allah was just after He created the universe, but before He created its shape, life in it and locations as we know them now;

When the Prophet (saws) was asked where was Allah before he created creatures (life in the universe), the prophet (saws) replied “in a cloud (of particles) neither above which nor below which was any space.” (Tabari)

4.The Arsh and The Soul

We’ve written about the Arsh and Kursi in our other works, see the Islamic Journal #5, or the articles found in the notes section of our Facebook page;

When we first wrote about this subject that is when Allah marked the final stage in our spiritual Journey and we were blessed with seeing the Prophet (saws) soon after in a dream. He (saws) asked one of the Angels with Him to show us the Arsh, He (saws) then approvingly said to us “The Arsh is exactly like you wrote”, we wrote about that dream in detail describing the Arsh as much a possible (see the notes section), that night we were also blessed with taking knowledge from the Prophet (saws) who spoke to us about the nature of ghayb (the unseen), affirming it is the subatomic part of our universe, the understanding of what He (saws) gave us is what you see in our works.

Consider the fact that Angels are created from photons and the human soul from other subatomic particles, when a person dies the angels carry that soul, made of particles like them, and take it to its final destination which must exist in the universe because that is the only place things created in the universe can exist, and particles only exist sub atomically.

“Thus have We inspired you with a soul from Our command (created like the laws of the universe); you had known neither the Book nor faith, but We made it (the soul) a light (mechanism) by which We guide those of Our servants whom We Will.” (42:52)

Some modern scholars in trying to understand this subject applying what they understood of science to it, thought the soul is not of this universe and neither is the Barzakh we go to when we die, you should understand there isn’t enough energy in the sun to reach outside the universe let alone the human soul, “It has been related on the authority of Akrama that the sun is one seventieth of a part of the light (particle) of the Footstool (meaning its sub atomic reaction barely even reach to the Kursi let alone the Arsh), and the Footstool (Kursi) is one seventieth of a part of the light (particle) of the Throne.”

Other scholars throw around terms like metaphysics as if that is meant to make them sound informed, if you look at the definition of the word and what it is talking about carefully you will see they are talking about the physics of another universe, the word in arabic literaly means “after physics”, and that is how they are explaining spirituality, this term is kufr because of this and Islams major scholars through history rejected it. Allah created one universe and the physics of spirituality is the PHYSICS Allah created for this universe, if you can’t see that then it isn’t your place to talk about this subject, what you are doing with this term is diverting the scientific explanation of how things work because you don’t know, and putting in its place the idea your informed, its better for you to just say “I don’t know”.

Therefore everything in Islam should be explained with what we do know of the universe around us because that is the framework Allah gave us for everything in the Quran, certainty can’t be removed with doubtful matters and we are certain the soul is by the command of Allah like the laws of the universe and the physics behind spirituality is physics itself. The prophet (saws) said Allah hasn’t given any creature knowledge about what is outside the universe so you have no knowledge, but He has said much about the soul because it is created like the universe.

5. The State Of Ijazah and Islamic Institutions In Our Time

Our engineering studies have given us competency in scientific matters but for some, they have raised the issue of Islamic ijazah a number of times over the years since we began writing, there are Ijazah for every subject in Islam so a person can have Ijazah in one subject but not another, the subjects we speak about we have Ijazah to speak about them.

Because we have seen the prophet (saws) defend us several times when salafi’s and their friends insinuate more than a simple question, insha allah we will explain the matter as it was explained to us by the friends of Allah. In the time of the prophet (saws) every person could discuss and develop his ideas to their fullest extent no matter how far-fetched their understanding was, most people were uneducated and could not understand complex verses, so they needed to develop. There were no people going around correcting the minutest details in people’s knowledge because although it may seem wise, in truth this would harm the growth of society, a person’s intellect develops as he exercises it and it dies when he simply repeats things by rote.

The Prophet (saws) encouraged this state of affairs Himself when He (saws) warned that his community should not ask Him (saws) to many questions so they are not burdened like the Jews before them because their prophet (saws) answered every small question they had, He wanted His Ummah to think for themselves so they could grow, and because Allah repeatedly in the Quran instructed Muslims to think about matters they were allowed to think for themselves and develop.

So here we have two legal sources telling us how we should develop society, in explaining what Allah preferred the Angels in a dream showed us a sincere Muslim Bedouin in the desert amongst his tribe discussing what the prophet (saws) had said and giving entirely wrong explanations. He was left alone so He could grow as a person without anyone stunting his intellectual and spiritual growth. After you strengthen your intellect you can sit with any scholar to straighten your views, but if you don’t have mental capacity the scholar will stunt your growth if all you are doing is memorising by rote and repeating without thinking.

This is the failure of the Ummah today, the prophet (saws) warned about the Maskh/Stunting of people in our time, it would be widespread and cover the entire world.

It was then said to me by them, in the prophets (saws) time people themselves could recognise those who had knowledge from those who did not when they spoke and this was enough to safeguard people, we naturally turn to imams for anything official and having them there was enough for people to ignore the uneducated, the idea of a “thought police” today is haram because it results in Maskh.

Fake scholars are an entirely different matter, these are people who studied at Islamic universities, and with the real credentials they do have as their seal of authenticity, they deliberately misguide people.

Today we have taken safeguarding knowledge to extremes and taken it into people’s homes and lives, and the restrictions we placed on thinking about Islam in our life time “We invented it” (as the prophet (saws) said to us), we just assumed Allah would punish people who spoke without ijazah, the Prophet (saws) entirely looked down upon such assumptions, they have no right in Islam and should not expect Allah to be on their side.

Anyone recalling ahadith on this subject which placed restrictions on tafsir they are primarily for those in authority, official matters and situations where the matter is clearly affecting society at large. We should consider the hadiths intent. Today the entire world is gripped by Maskh, the deliberate stunting of people’s personal growth, which would inevitably warp our language and understanding of history to make it stricter than Allah intended in the Quran.

The verses on people thinking for themselves are many and all speak against the reality we live under today.

If society went to one extreme scholars who were responsible for correcting society would have to go in the other direction to bring them back to the middle ground, many scholars today already state the light of Allah won’t be found in Islamic institutions because they are state controlled and only teach the governments version of Islam, none of them are really Islamic.

So, we shouldn’t be surprised if Allah wants to protect His people from them and teach them himself in an age where Maskh is being practised in these institutions, do people actually expect Allah to be blind to what is happening in the world or not even react to it.

Why would Allah want to send anyone He cares about to a place he knows exactly how corrupt it is, even Imam Mahdi (ra) Allah will take care of His education Himself, so it is a hallmark of the end of days to expect this to occur to Allah’s people;

The prophet (saws) said “Al-Mahdi (as) is one of us, from the Ahl al-Bayt. Allah will purify him in one night [in other words, He will equip him with spiritual knowledge and wisdom in a single night]. (Sunan Ibn Majah, Kitab al-Fitan, Kahraman Press, Vol. 10, Ch. 34, p. 348)

How do you think this purification of Imam Mahdi (ra) will occur if it is not in the exact same manner He gave knowledge to the Prophet (saws) and Umar (ra) by placing it directly in their (ra) hearts?

These people in Islam were traditionally called al Arifeen (Knowers) and Allah and His prophet (saws) spoke about them in the Quran and Sunnah. One of Allah’s qualities is the Knower and He bestowed that quality on some of his servants;

“Surely Allah is the Knower” (35:38).

“We will show them Our signs in the horizons and within themselves” (41:53).

“Those who strive hard in Us, We shall most surely guide them in our Ways” (29:69)

“Be aware of Allah, and Allah Himself will teach you” (2:282)

“Whoso acts upon what he knows, Allah will make him inherit a knowledge that he did not have” (Hilyat al-awliya)

“Al Hakim al Tirmidhi in the second chapter of his Adab al muridin describes such striving as a kind of door which leads to nearness to Allah, and Shaykh Abd al Qadir al Gilani refers to the knowledge and power that result from it in Discourse 16 of Futuh al-ghayb. Imam Bukhari said: “The Knowers are the inheritors of the Prophets, that is: they have inherited knowledge.”

Allah taught the Prophet (saws) Himself, but the prophet was Ummi (unlettered), Abu Dharr said (from Abu al-Darda): “When the Messenger of Allah left us there was not a bird that flies in the sky but that he had given us some (scientific) knowledge about it.” (Tabarani and Ahmad)

Abu Malik al-Ash`ari related: When the Prophet finished his prayer, he turned to face the people and said: “O people! Listen to this, understand it, and know it. Allah has servants who are neither Prophets nor martyrs and whom the Prophets and martyrs yearn to be like, due to their seat and proximity in relation to Allah.”

One of the Bedouin Arabs who came from among the most isolated of people twisted his hand at the Prophet and said: “O Messenger of Allah! People from humankind who are neither Prophets nor martyrs and yet the Prophets and the martyrs yearn to be like them due to their seat and proximity in relation to Allah?! Describe them for us!”

The Prophet’s face showed delight at the Bedouin’s question and he said: “They are of the strangers from this and that place. They frequent this or that tribe without belonging to them. They do not have family connections among themselves. They love one another for Allah’s sake. They are of pure intent towards one another. On the Day of Resurrection, Allah will place for them pedestals of light upon which He will make them sit, and He will turn their faces and clothes into light. On the Day of Resurrection, the people will be terrified but not those. They are Allah’s Friends upon whom fear comes not, nor do they grieve.” (Tabarani and Ahmad)

6. Ijazah

The word Ijazah simply means permission, the companions who did not have Ijazah from universities like the scholars of today were mostly Bedouin Arabs without formal education, but they could explain the Quran better than most scholars.

So how can the companions be more correct than people with formal training? formal education and intellect are separate things, any person can get credentials but that doesn’t mean they have a high intellect, this just speaks to each person’s circumstances in life. So, the answer to the question is simple, but most people don’t consider it, the companions witnessed the Prophet and witnessed what everything in the Quran meant, they already had all the answers and didn’t need study to know what the right answer was.

So, a person who the Prophet educates will have a better understanding of what things mean than a person spending years of study just so he knows how to look for a needle in a hay stack and still not be certain of anything at the end, if you know usul al fiqh and the process behind Ijtihad then you know what we are talking about.

A person who knows what the “ocean” looks like knows more than a person who spends his entire life in a desert, this is how people like the companions and Arifeen (knowers) can know the Quran better than scholars.

Imam Bukhari said in his Sahih, “al-alim ar-Rabbani is the scholar who raises people on small knowledge (easy concepts) before big knowledge (intricate or confusing matters)”, Allah said in the Quran to the companions long before the first ijazah or university appeared “Be you Rabbaniyun” (3:79) learned men of religion who are saintly and practise what they know and teach it to others.

We invented the systems we have in Islam for good reason, but in our time, they no longer exist as we knew them because of the fitnah on earth. Islamic universities never dictated to Allah who deserved the light of knowledge, this is what the prophet (saws) frowned upon because today it is part of people’s belief today while the ummah never believed that, for 1300 years they actively looked for the (Arifeen) knowers of Allah and recognised them from their words were ever they found them.

The scholars easily know a liar because his tafsir is corrupt like him, if you want to accuse anyone of lying be certain you are a scholar yourself with Ijazah, otherwise you’re committing a crime in Islamic law by insinuating anything publicly and that it is punishable. You should be asking scholars with sound belief if you are uncertain, this is how the prophet (saws) wanted people to behave.

The companions (ra) learned to explain the Quran better than any person because the Quran can be explained by those Allah guides, He shows them what to see in it; the prophet (saws) said “Allah (mighty and sublime be He) said: Whosoever shows enmity to someone devoted to Me, I shall be at war with him…My servant continues to draw near to Me with supererogatory works so that I shall love him. When I love him I am his hearing with which he hears, his seeing with which he sees…” (Bukhari)

Allah sent to the entire world a prophet who was Ummi (unlettered) to teach them about science and wisdom, He then asked them to take Him as their role model. This alone told the ummah that they would find unlettered people in the Muslim community who know about Islam better than them because Allah guides their hearts to know the Quran.

Consider the fact the Dajjal will come in a future more advanced than ours capable of creating illusions (holograms) in front of people, yet “The Prophet (saws) said, ‘I know more about the powers which the Dajjaal will have then he will know himself. He will have two flowing rivers: one will appear to be pure water, and the other will appear to be flaming fire. Whosoever lives to see that, let him choose the river which seems to be fire, then let him close his eyes, lower his head and drink from it, for it will be cold water. The Dajjaal will be one eyed; the place where one eye should be will be covered by a piece of skin. On his forehead will be written the word Kaafir, and every believer, whether literate or illiterate, will be able to read it.(such is Allah’s guidance)’ ” [Muslim]

The prophet (saws) said about our time “Books will be widespread (but) knowledge will be low” (Ahmad) why is that if there are so many Islamic institutions in the world? they placed corruption in these places and Allah placed His knowledge elsewhere.

7. The Ijazah I Was Given

Having said that many years ago in our youth after surviving a lengthy fitnah that Allah prepared us through, which would have destroyed most people, and retaining a sound heart, we formally took knowledge from the Prophet (saws) himself, the same way Allah had given it to Him (saws), Umar (ra) the other companions and those that came after them, by placing it directly in their hearts, we were then given ijazah from Him to teach Islam. In the following ahadith you will see the Ijazah (permission) that was given in the time of the prophet (saws) and this is the same kind we received;

Ibn Abbas reported: When the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, sent Mu’adh to Yemen, he said to him:

إِنَّكَ تَأْتِي قَوْمًا مِنْ أَهْلِ الْكِتَابِ فَادْعُهُمْ إِلَى شَهَادَةِ أَنْ لَا إِلَهَ إِلَّا اللَّهُ وَأَنِّي رَسُولُ اللَّهِ فَإِنْ هُمْ أَطَاعُوا لِذَلِكَ فَأَعْلِمْهُمْ أَنَّ اللَّهَ افْتَرَضَ عَلَيْهِمْ خَمْسَ صَلَوَاتٍ فِي كُلِّ يَوْمٍ وَلَيْلَةٍ فَإِنْ هُمْ أَطَاعُوا لِذَلِكَ فَأَعْلِمْهُمْ أَنَّ اللَّهَ افْتَرَضَ عَلَيْهِمْ صَدَقَةً تُؤْخَذُ مِنْ أَغْنِيَائِهِمْ فَتُرَدُّ فِي فُقَرَائِهِمْ فَإِنْ هُمْ أَطَاعُوا لِذَلِكَ فَإِيَّاكَ وَكَرَائِمَ أَمْوَالِهِمْ وَاتَّقِ دَعْوَةَ الْمَظْلُومِ فَإِنَّهُ لَيْسَ بَيْنَهَا وَبَيْنَ اللَّهِ حِجَابٌ

Verily, you are coming to a people among the people of the Book, so call them to testify there is no God but Allah and I am the Messenger of Allah. If they accept that, then teach them that Allah has obligated five prayers in each day and night. If they accept that, then teach them that Allah has obligated charity to be taken from the rich and given to the poor. If they accept that, beware not to take from the best of their wealth. Be on guard from the supplication of the oppressed, for there is no barrier (veil) between it and Allah. (Muslim)

Mu`adh ibn Jabal said: “When Allah’s Messenger (saws) sent me to Yemen he said: ‘How will you pass judgment if a judgment is asked of you?’ I replied: ‘I shall pass judgment on the basis of Allah’s Book.’ He said: ‘What if it is not found in Allah’s Book?’ I replied: ‘Then according to the sunnah of Allah’s Messenger’ He said: ‘What if it is not in the Sunna of Allah’s Messenger?’ I replied: ‘I will make ijtihad (reason) through my judgment. and I will leave no stone unturned.’ Whereupon the Prophet (saws) slapped my chest and said: ‘Praise belongs to Allah Who has made the messenger of the Messenger of Allah consistent with what pleases him.'” (Abu Dawwud, Tirmidhi, Ahmad)

In the following hadith, you will find what the prophet (saws) gave to us of knowledge that night before granting us Ijazah;

Ibn ‘Umar (ra) said: “I heard the Prophet Muhammad saying, “While I was sleeping, I saw a bowl full of milk was brought to me and I drank of it (to my fill) till I noticed its wetness flowing (in my body). Then I gave the remaining of it to ‘Umar (Ibn al Khatab).” They asked, “O Prophet Muhammad! What have you interpreted (about the dream)? He said, “(It is) knowledge.” (Bukhari)

The bowl of Milk meant Allah was placing knowledge in His (saws) heart and the heart of Umar (as), many through history and still to this day, have been given knowledge in such a manner by Allah, and scholars like Imam ibn Sireen (ra) have written about it.

So, what does this all mean for us? To begin we are hardily unlettered, we come from a long line of scholars and educated people, and have read a small library worth of books and material over the years and have had the benefit of a good education, studying engineering is a far harder task than studying fiqh so had the opportunity opened for us we would have completed it with out much trouble, but the fitnah gripping this world today prevented us.

Allah instead decided to make us a shaykh of Tassawuf and the prophet (saws) granted us a silsila in the naqshbandi tariqah, and as it was explained to us when we asked Allah had made us one of the Arfieen, the prophet (saws) would then instruct us to speak (teach), “And he (the Prophet) is not stingy about (the news of) the unseen.” (81:24).

In life when Allah wants to teach someone religion He guides their senses and perception so they can see the right answer, sometimes I arrive at a conclusion that I’ve never thought of before from whatever I’m studying, then a day or two later I read this is what one of the major scholars of Islam said, or one of the companions, and sometimes it’s what Allah said in the Quran.

An example of this is our present work, I finished the entire work (over 80 pages) then a translator posts a research paper online about what Imam Ibn Arabi and His students said on the subject and I find my work is almost identical to the Imam’s opinions on the matter, except I’m using modern physics to arrive at my answers and he wasn’t.

This is one of the more important works we have written because if you can understand it you can understand almost any aspect of Islam, it is a work that when looking at it as a whole explains what the Hand of Allah is (means). We have worked on it for a long time and it is a work Allah elevated our rank with Him over, the prophet (saws) and Sayydinah Ibrahim explained (as) to us, in it we have completely fulfilled the requirements of explaining what the Hand of Allah is. When devils challenged us asking if I was certain about anything I have written, Allah sent us his prophets (saws) and showed us how much of this subject Sayidinah Ibrahim and Sayidian Muhammad (saws) understood and to what extent we reached in comparison to them, all so we can have certainty (Al Yaqeen) in what we wrote.

“Serve your Lord until conviction (Al Yaqeen) comes to you!” (15:99), we can comfortably say the work fulfils a good 70% or so of what we saw in the prophets (saws). What is left are matters to technical to put into simple words, when we wondered at the kind of knowledge we didn’t have access to, we saw this knowledge in the prophet (saws) and it is akin to reading a research paper on pure physics, except there is no conjecture in it and everything is absolute Haq.

A little above our understanding, is the kind of technical knowledge you will find in Imam Ibn Arabi’s works, and above Him, the science behind the universe becomes even more difficult to understand and delve into and that is where the Prophet (saws) and Sayidinah Ibrahim are, which they gained whilst they were still alive (this is something that was explained to us to spur us on so we can catch up to them, insha Allah).

Allah the Exalted says: “I am as my servant expects me and I am with him as he remembers me. If he remembers me in himself, then I will remember him in myself. If he mentions me in a gathering, then I will mention him in a greater gathering. When he draws near to me by the span of his hand, I draw near him by the length of a cubit. When he draws near me by the length of a cubit, I draw near him by the length of a fathom. When he comes to me walking, I will come to him running.” (Bukhari)

After we were given knowledge and Ijaza by the prophet (saws) we related all of this to our family at the time and then sought the opinion of two prominent scholars on the matter, later they would both become the Mufti of our country, one after the other. Unfortunately, soon after this we learnt about the true state society was in, to our horror.

Allah chose for us to know the world at this point in our life, so after we spoke to the scholars we experienced the next major fitnah in our life, which prevented us from studying as we wished, and after surviving it some years later, that is when Allah granted us a vision of the Arsh (throne) and the answers we sought.

“Those who believe and suffer exile and strive with might and main in Allah’s cause, with their goods and their persons, have the highest rank in the sight of Allah: they are the people who will achieve.” (The Repentance, 9:20)

ٱلۡحَمۡدُ لِلَّهِ رَبِّ ٱلۡعَـٰلَمِينَ