His exalted name, “Light,” touches the darkness
and everywhere is filled with light.
The letters written from a brilliant world
are revealed to the hearts;
Then the Divine command,
“Read in the name of your Lord!”
descends and becomes our intentions.

We look around the Earth and believe that we start to sail into the dark upon reaching the depths of the skies, the land, and the oceans. But if we look with care, we may notice that the inhabitants of those places often inform us of the beauties they are created with.

The depths of the oceans, especially, are where what we see leave us amazed. From microscopic bacteria to giant squids, and from tiny lighted jellyfish to spiny skin, many creatures, from ascidians to some sharks and stingrays, turn on their lights, literally, illuminating the darkness of the deep sea. This biological light-producing process in the body of some animals is called bioluminescence. It is astounding that these creatures can emit biological light with no change in their body temperature. Normally, light is formed by emitting heat. This basic principle applies to some of the most common sources of light that we know of, such as campfires and electrical lightbulbs.

A mechanism that produces light without heat has been created in some insects living under the sea as well as those on land. The basis of biological light production is generally the oxidation of luciferin, i.e. its conversion to oxyluciferin. The enzyme necessary for this chemical reaction to occur is luciferase.

Most living creatures that can produce bioluminescence live in deep, dark areas of the world’s various seas and oceans. Some of the inhabitants of these depths emit strong blue (secondarily green) light at an average wavelength of 475 nm. An interesting note is that underwater life forms are often created with sensitivity to the wavelengths of blue-green lights mentioned above. In rare cases, there are also sea creatures that emit light in the yellow-red wavelength range.

Animals with the ability to emit light are also usually given excellent control mechanisms so that they can use their equipment as a weapon. They can turn their lights on and off in a flash and can utilize complex chemical and neurological mechanisms that provide functions such as adjusting the intensity, color, and direction of the light. Creatures that produce light underwater sometimes do not need to use the light in order to see where they are going. Instead, they tend to use these marvelous gifts in a variety of strategic ways. Some will try to attract the attention of their prey; others will attempt to ward off predators and aggressors; still others will use their lights to indicate that they are ready for reproduction. It is even possible for some creatures to utilize several of these functions at the same time.

Let us now examine some specific species and how they employ bioluminescence.

Light vomiting shrimp

One of the most interesting examples of bioluminescence in animals is the light-emitting deep-sea shrimp Acanthephyra purpurea. This shrimp will actually vomit light from its mouth as a last-ditch effort to deter predators. The intent is to disorient, confuse, and even temporarily blind other creatures, similar to the effect of a flashbang grenade, so that the shrimp can retreat into the dark. As a result of their research on the shrimps, marine biologist Edith Widder states that the chemical substances sprayed are not blue when they are in the body and that the blue light production occurs when the luciferin substance in the sprayed liquid comes into contact with the oxygen in water.

Loosejaw fish

There are at least 42 recorded families of bony fish that have bioluminescent properties. One of them is the Photostomias guernei, or the “loosejaw fish”. This fish has a remarkable organ that emits light on the sides of its eyes. These lights, which resemble the headlight lamps of our cars, are not constantly lit, in order to avoid waste. When hunting, the fish illuminates the way ahead with the light it produces, and it can turn these lights off when they are no longer needed. A wonderful feature of this organ is that, just like headlights, a highly reflective layer is created behind the main center of the light. The reason that the fish is able to turn the light off may be because its black velvety body is contrasted by the light color of the organ and would thus attract much unwanted attention.

Deep sea hatchetfish

Bioluminescent systems were also given to creatures in order to act as a means of camouflage. They work phenomenally for both hunting and survival in situations where blending in with the environment is paramount for catching prey or evading predators. In the depths of the underwater world, the silhouette of an animal bathing in light is an easily recognizable target. One of the best examples of this phenomenon is the deep-sea hatchetfish. The fish has been created with its eyes on top of its body and its mouth facing upwards, making it easier to hunt. It also emits bioluminescence from its abdomen to provide camouflage against more aggressive, larger fish that swim lower than itself. The color of the light emitted makes it difficult to recognize the fish from below as it perfectly matches the color intensity of the environment. In the meantime, if the sunlight that hits the sea is interrupted in any way, the fish will turn off its lights and the camouflage will continue.

Black dragonfish

Diversity in the light organs of the scaleless black dragonfish (Melanostomias bartonbeani)

This species of black dragonfish (Melanostomias bartonbeani) takes advantage of luminescence in a number of ways. An illuminated area next to the eyes is used to find prey and send signals to its mates. The black dragonfish’s chin also has an illuminated extension that dangles in the waves as bait for naive prey. In addition, a set of small organs of light arranged along its abdomen play a role in concealing its silhouette. Furthermore, light-emitting pocket-like structures surrounded by a gelatinous capsule embedded in the skin are used as alarm systems. The bioluminescent systems within this creature are immensely complex and beautiful, and when observed in detail reveal the dazzling splendor of the world that we live in.

Fish with 3 different types of illumination

The Northern Stoplight Loosejaw (Malacosteus niger) has three different types of light organs, the complex use of which cannot be possible without top engineering skills. The wide, drop-shaped, illuminated organ under its eyes emits a red light at a wavelength of 702 nm as if it knows the laws of optics under the sea. This red light is not visible to most deep-sea creatures, for it is quickly absorbed in water. Yet, with this red light this fish is able to have vision in a close proximity while remaining largely undetected. This is similar to infrared binoculars soldiers use for night vision without giving away their position. The loosejaw is thus a dangerous hunter that has an edge over its prey. There also exists a blue light-emitting oval section, behind the organ, that emits red light and is usually larger in males. A third light organ is round and smaller and is located between the eyes and the red-light organ.

Angler fish

The angler fish is one of the most iconic fish of the deep ocean due to its famous rod and bioluminescence. The angler fish does not actually produce its light on its own: the light is credited to bioluminescent symbiotic bacteria that inhabit the end of the rod on their forehead. This illuminated part, which resembles a worm-like bait, is very attractive to small fish. These fish are thus lured to the angler expecting a quick snack, but instead the angler swallows them whole with its massive mouth. While doing their task of helping the angler hunt small fish, the bacteria maintain a symbiotic relationship with the fish and also find an environment in which to proliferate. In this way, they form a good example of cooperation and solidarity. One may wonder: how can such a mutual agreement come into fruition between a fish and some bacteria which are deprived of a nervous system, mind, and consciousness?

One of the reasons that marine biologists are interested in light-emitting bacteria is the wide-lit regions called the “Milky Seas.” These can be observed in satellite images of Earth. Recently, satellites helped detect a bioluminescent area of roughly 5,946 sq. mi in the Indian Ocean; scientists wondered if some bioluminescent bacteria or Dinoflagellate-type flame-colored algae may be the cause of the phenomenon.

Alarming jellyfish

The luminescence of some marine life serves as an alarm or distress siren. A remarkable example of this is the Atolla jellyfish (Atolla wyvillei), an elegant inhabitant of deep waters. This jellyfish produces blue lights that are spread in circles in the water when it is attacked. Thanks to these lights, it tries to draw the attention of larger and stronger animals than the initial attacker in order to escape from harm’s way.

As can be observed in some species that we are familiar with, such as fireflies, the bioluminescence feature that is full of wisdom granted to some living beings is a thought-provoking biological miracle which does not only make us ponder where they got these abilities from but also reveals how so many intricate patterns are found in nature.

References

• Steven H.D. Haddock, Mark A. Moline and James F. Case. 2010. Bioluminescence in the Sea, Article in Annual Review of Marine Science, DOI:10.1146/annurev-marine-120308-081028 Source: PubMed.
• Edith A. Widder. 2001. Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institution, Fort Pierce, Florida, Marine Bioluminescence, Bioscience Explained, vol 1, no 1, pp. 1-9.
• Edith A. Widder. 2010. “Bioluminescence in the Ocean: Origins of Biological, Chemical, and Ecological Diversity,” Science, vol. 328, pp. 704-708.
• www.wired.com/2012/01/glow-little-spewing-shrimp-glow/ March 28, 2018.
• en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malacosteus_niger / April 1, 2018.
• Harold, A. 2015. Malacosteus niger. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2015: e.T190149A21909439. http://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2015-4.RLTS.T190149A21909439.en.
• https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/190149/21909439

Spatial dimensions and unseen reality, important in both science and religion, are areas that have perennially fascinated human beings. The quest for truth, in these and other areas, is best realized when both empirical investigations and divine revelations are wisely utilized. The human race lives in and perceives a three-dimensional world, but the existence of at least one additional (unseen) dimension continues to intrigue humankind. Might not time be a fourth dimension, one that continues alongside the spatial dimensions of height, width, and depth? In terms of relativity, all actions take place not only in the three spatial dimensions but also in the fourth dimension of time; this constitutes the space-time concept.

In 1919, the Polish mathematician Theodor Kaluza (1885-1954) advanced the idea that the universe might have more than three spatial dimensions. He reasoned that there might be a curled-up dimension too small to be seen. Attempts to explain this dimension tend to be convoluted, even when accompanied by illustrations, precisely because it is impossible, in our three-dimensional world, to represent anything in more than three dimensions, even in a sculptured object.

Brian Greene (b. 1963)—a Columbia University physicist, and author of The Elegant Universe: Superstrings, Hidden Dimensions, and the Quest for the Ultimate Theory (Norton, 1999)—not only understands this field of physics, but also has contributed immensely to it. His writing concerning string theory, while admittedly controversial and based on a theory in its formative stages, suggests some interesting perspectives that are being considered. Creative speculation, coupled with critical evaluation, lies at the heart of scientific progress. He spends several pages in his bestseller developing an analogy based on a garden hose stretched across a canyon, with an ant crawling upon it. The hose, which appears different to a human with binoculars than to one without them, and also different to the ant, contains a curled-up space that is invisible to all. To imagine oneself successfully inserting a solid book through a solid mirror is to perceive the illusive fourth dimension. An indirect way to approach the complexity of the fourth dimension is to imagine a world of living things that are, like a drawing on a page, only two-dimensional. Those with 3-D capacity would be able to see a two-D world, but those living in two dimensions would be unable to comprehend the three-dimensional counterpart. The extra dimension that Kaluza worked out involved the amalgamation of electromagnetism and relativity.

What do things look like in a super tiny world with ten dimensions? Imagine a picture (displayed in approximations because it represents a six-dimensional shape on a two-dimensional page) in which a drawing of stairways going nowhere is rolled up into a kind of ball of yarn. The ball shape is no accident, for the additional dimensions posited are curled-up, which renders it as difficult to see as the inside of Greene’s hose stretched across a canyon with a crawling ant on the outside. These six-dimensional spaces exist within the three dimensions we know and see and trust. “String theory” maintains that these gigantically-minute vibrating strings, these multi-dimensional voyagers, actually determine the mass of particles and the charge of forces at the subatomic level, which in turn shapes activity in the real world we inhabit. Obviously, string theory is in its infancy, as is the case with all emerging scientific theories. The general pattern has been that theories partially explain truth, and thereby expand the sum of human knowledge. It is crucial to remember that theories are theories, attempts to advance human knowledge. According to this theoretical perspective, the dimensions beyond 3-D are required for the particular resonances rendered by the strings, similar to how musical resonance varies according to violin wood and shape.

Islamic insights into energy-based, higher-dimensional life forms

Since their genesis, humans have relied on religion to explain things which are true, but nonetheless unseen by the inhabitants of a three-dimensional world. Belief in the unseen, or that which cannot be scientifically proven, is a standard element of religious participation. The Qur’an provides many insights regarding the unseen and the effect of the hidden aspects of reality on human lives. First, it links the creation of life forms to water and other earthy elements: “God created every animal from water” (24:45); “… the heavens and the earth were joined together, then We clove them asunder and We got every living thing out of the water …” (21:30).

The Qur’an also affirms the existence of aspects of creation that are beyond the comprehension of humans: “Glory be to Him Who created the components of couples of every kind: of what the ground caused to grow, of themselves (human beings) and of what you do not know” (36:36). Besides indicating that earthy life forms evolved from water and clay (earthy elements), the Holy Qur’an also mentions another type of life form created from “smokeless fire.” There are 117 identified elements on earth and all the earthy life forms evolved from some combination of these elements, with water playing a fundamental role. While elements have been identified, and are scientifically verifiable, we do not know how many forms of energy exist in the universe, but known forms include electrical, radiant, thermal, sound, motion, gravitational, chemical, nuclear, mechanical, solar, geothermal, hydro, fossil, biomass, wind, and natural gas. Moreover, since, each of these classes of energy has multiple subclasses, it is estimated that there are hundreds of kinds of energy. For example, visible light has various wavelengths representing numerous colors, each representing a different kind of energy within the visible light class. Within light there are spectra that are invisible to us, i.e. UV and IR lights that we utilize for our benefits (taking x-rays and for sterilizing various objects).

If “smokeless fire” is interpreted to refer to a class of energy, then the Holy Qur’an seems to suggest the possibility that certain life forms have arisen from energy sources: “And indeed, We created man from sounding clay of altered black smooth mud. And the jinn, We created aforetime from the smokeless flame of fire” (Qur’an Sura 15, verses 26-27; italics added). It stands to reason that our 3-D-limited vision and linear interpretation of time prevents us from seeing life forms that exceed these dimensions, but many people, from many faiths, have insisted that they have felt their influence.

Based on our knowledge of the speed of light (186,000 miles per second), we would assume that an energy-based life form moving at that speed would clearly be invisible to dimension-limited mortals. Humans cannot see any light beyond a limited visible spectrum, but they can sometimes perceive the effects of such light. Persons who hear their cell phones ring would think it ludicrous to dismiss the existence of sound-causing microwaves on the grounds that they are invisible. Nor would they refuse to acknowledge the heating capacity of microwave ovens simply because they cannot visually perceive the tiny waves. Likewise, x-ray photographs, or sunburned skin, give evidence of that which is unseen but nevertheless real. These effects of energy are routinely felt but not seen. Earlier theoretical postulations and examination have led to developments in these known areas of energy forms. Contemporary theories, including string theories, will, hopefully, result in further breakthroughs.

Perspectives on unembodied entities, often called spirits, abound. They range from deep doctrinal perspectives from theologians to the speculative viewpoints of scholars and persons from all walks of life. What these widely divergent views have in common is their belief in the reality of the unseen, and the idea that the unseen may, under certain conditions, be seen. In Zoroastrianism, the evil spirit Angra Mainyu opposes the leading deity, Ahura Mazda. Descriptions of this evil figure have much in common with the devil or Satan (the counterpart of the Islamic jinn, Iblis), who figures prominently in Judaism and Christianity. In Greek mythology, the Daemones are spirits who influence world conditions. Examples of these numerous spirits, and what they bring to humanity, are Algea (pain), Elpis (hope), Eupheme (praise), Momus (criticism), Nemesis (jealousy), and Phobus (fear) (Theo Greek Mythology: Exploring Mythology in Classical Literature and Art, http://www.theoi.com/greek-mythology/personifications.html). In Hinduism and other religions that teach reincarnation, spirits continue to exist through various iterations of life. Hinduism refers to the soul as the Atman, that spiritual entity that precedes birth and continues after death (Bhagavad Gita, chapter 2, http://www.bhagavad-gita.org/).

Mormons, like Muslims, stress the importance of the Prophet Abraham, peace be upon him, and their “Book of Abraham” (derived from an ancient Egyptian papyrus) reveals that spirits exist prior to gaining a body through mortal birth. These spirits “have no beginning; they existed before, they shall have no end, they shall exist after, for they are … eternal” (Abraham 3:38). Likewise, the Holy Qur’an informs to us that God has created all the souls of humankind before He created Adam and made covenants with them: “When your Lord drew forth the Children of Adam – from their loins – their descendants and made them testify concerning themselves, (saying): ‘Am I not your Lord?’ They said: ‘Yes! We so witness!’ Lest you should say on the Day of Judgment: ‘Of this we were unaware!’” (7:172). Referring to unembodied personages still awaiting birth, Abraham states, “Now the Lord had shown unto me, Abraham, the intelligences that were organized before the world was; and among all these there were many of the noble and great ones” (Abraham 3:22). Abraham learned that he was one of these: “And God . . . stood among those that were spirits, and he saw that they were good; and he said unto me: Abraham, thou art one of them; thou wast chosen before thou wast born” (Abraham 3:23). Christian and Jewish beliefs overlap in the Jewish Tanakh and the Christian Old Testament, which include this teaching from the prophet Jeremiah: “Before I [the Lord] formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations” (Jeremiah 1:5). These passages help us understand the views of other religious groups regarding unembodied spirits, a concept that exists prominently, albeit with significant differences, in Islam, which emphasizes jinn.

The Holy Qur’an states that the Creator has made many non-earthy life forms that are energy-based, and capable of changing shape and form. The two life forms described in the Qur’an (in addition to human beings) are angels and jinn. It depicts angels as having originated from light and as lacking free will; they simply obey. It describes the jinn, created from smokeless fire, as preceding the creation of humankind which was made from mud or clay. Both the Qur’an and related Hadith (words and deeds ascribed to the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him) identify the jinn as spirit entities capable of appearing in different forms and of acting according to their own free will to assist humans or lead them astray, as well as to worship God or to deny Him. Islam teaches that the jinns can take the form of various 3-D life forms, including birds, dogs, bees, and humans (Ameen, 2005). In an article describing Islamic medical sciences, Speziale (2003) describes the jinn as “created from fire, who inhabit a subtle world in which mankind is immersed, as into a liquid.” This description corresponds well with Kaluza’s string theory as both deal with a multidimensional world, much of which is beyond our limited sensory perceptions. The Qur’an thus portrays the jinns as occupants of a parallel world of spirits, a doctrinal stance that – as shown above – has its counterpart is many other religions.

The jinn are mentioned in more than forty verses in the Qur’an; one chapter is named (Surat-ul-Jinn) explicitly after them. Further information regarding the jinn, their food, behavior, and capabilities come to us through information regarding the Prophet that has been transmitted over the generations via the Hadith. Among the references to the jinns is the following passage from which we may infer that jinns have the ability and responsibility to choose right over wrong: “‘O you tribes of Jinn and humans, did not messengers come to you from amongst you and relate to you My revelations, and warn you of the meeting of this Day?’ They said: ‘Yes, we bear witness upon ourselves;’ and the worldly life deceived them, and they bore witness on themselves that they were rejecters” (Qur’an Sura 6, Verse 130). A second verse reinforces this conclusion: “I did not create the jinns and the humans except to worship Me alone” (51:55).

The validity of string theory relies on the reality of unseen dimensions, and although we do not purport that the Holy Quran directly endorses this theory, it does support a search for truth. Moreover, a number of Qur’anic passages suggest the reality of more dimensions than meet the human eye, and of human inability to comprehend these additional dimensions: “The seven heavens extol His limitless glory, and the earth, and all that they contain; and there is not a single thing but extols His limitless glory and praise: but you [O men] fail to grasp the manner of their glorifying Him!” (Qur’an Sura 17, verse 44; italics added); “Do you not see how God has created seven heavens in full harmony with one another?” (Qur’an Sura 71, Verse 15; italics added).

Can we see jinns?

As inhabitants of a three-dimensional world, we would presumably be able to see a 2-D world, just as we are able to read the two-dimensional words on these magazine pages. Following this logic, those living in a parallel world, with more dimensions than earth’s inhabitants perceive, would have the capacity to observe 3-D activity while remaining invisible to the lower-dimension world. According to such logic, jinns could see humans but not vice-versa. The Holy Qur’an states, “Lo, he [the devilish Iblis] sees you, he and his tribe, from whence you see him not” (Al-Araaf verse 27). Iblis (the counterpart of Satan, Lucifer, the Devil, etc.) is the leader of the evil jinns.

The following verse from the Qur’an, which sounds like a divine approbation of space exploration, has been intriguing to many: “O assembly of Jinns and Men, if you can penetrate regions of the heavens and the earth, then penetrate them! You will not penetrate them save with a Power” (Qur’an Sura 55, verse 33). The Pakistani Islamic scholar Mawdudi asserts that Qur’anic verses describe the capabilities and limitations of the jinn, specifically their ability to travel rapidly though space: “In surah Al-Hijr: 16-18, surah As-Saaffat: 6-10 and surah Al-Mulka: 5, it has been said that although the jinn can ascend to the heavens, they cannot exceed a certain limit; if they try to ascend beyond that limit and try to hear what goes on in the heavens, they are not allowed to do so, and if they eavesdrop they are driven away by meteorites” (The Alim for Windows).

Ghosts and jinns

Western civilization has generally misunderstood Islamic doctrine concerning jinns and has often erroneously equated ghosts with jinns. In Islam, the jinns are real life forms capable of carrying out behaviors and mental processes. Whereas the ghost of Western traditions tends to be the departed spirit of a deceased mortal; Islam has no such concept per se, but maintains that so-called manifestations of ghosts are nothing more than close encounters with jinns. Countless individuals have insisted that they have seen implausible life forms or other objects that appear to have crossed over into the human dimensions to become visible for a time. Many have affirmed that they have seen loved ones, which they explain as the spirit of the deceased, but Islam would tend to interpret such manifestations as evidence of jinns. Some have gone so far as to maintain that such occurrences are explicable via scientific theory, which may be substantiated by evidence. One theoretical explanation is founded on the presence of energy in human life, and in life from other dimensions. Others have maintained that energy appears when supernatural manifestations occur, including cases of so-called hauntings or paranormal activity. Assuming that jinns are made of energy and give off energy, it has been hypothesized that their presence might be measured by electromagnetic force (EMF) detectors, which can examine and record even the smallest fluctuations in electromagnetic fields. According to this line of reasoning, the human body radiates a limited electromagnetic field; electrical appliances – from low-energy light bulbs to higher-energy televisions and computers – give off even more; and jinns, or so-called ghosts, theoretically, would cause far higher levels of measurable electromagnetic distortion. Some have insisted that these distortions are so powerful that they interfere with the working ability of computer systems, EMF detectors, and audio-visual equipment; and that high levels of static electricity have been detected by sophisticated devices. Like string theory, such theoretical suppositions invite investigation, analysis, and refinement in pursuit of truth.

Yet another theoretical approach focuses on recording temperature changes to scientifically detect the presence of invisible entities. This approach maintains that because fluctuations of more than ten degrees have been recorded in small areas with constant temperatures, it is reasonable to conclude that some energy-altering form has been present. Temperature does not change unless something causes such a change. Further theoretical modeling has revolved around cold spots and hot spots, the former linked to the notion that light does not reflect correctly off ghosts, which gives them a dark form because light is absorbed into the ghost. This theory would explain the claim that, even though ghosts absorb both light and heat energy, the general area around them is several degrees cooler than elsewhere in the room. Hot-spot theorists argue that just the opposite occurs; ghosts reflect light and heat rather than absorb it, thus causing the area to be hot or cold.

One of the most common claims of unexplained objects that become temporarily visible involves unidentified flying objects (UFOs). In many accounts, UFO observers report serious EMF distortions, which may result in an engine stalling or car lights ceasing to function. One can speculate that the ability of giant flying objects to maneuver with amazing speed could be due to the presence of jinns, whether for serious or mischievous motives during their brief crossing into the 3-D terrestrial realm.

The Prophet Muhammad’s traditions inform us that the jinns live, take nourishment, have offspring, enjoy life, and die, although their lifespan is unfathomable to 3-D-limited mortals. Like humans, they create different languages, believe in diverse religions, establish varied civilizations, and may choose to be either good or evil. Islamic belief credits jinns with the capacity to terrify humans, carry out pranks, and take possession of their consciousness. Ameen (2005), in his text The Jinn and Human Sickness, describes the type of sickness caused by the jinn, including physical sickness, hallucinations, creating enmity between people, sexual problems, and psychological disorders (52-3). Symptoms of jinn possession have also been categorized and researched by Ameen and include erratic behavior, seizures with no medical cause, paralysis of limbs, frequent headaches, and barrenness in women with no medical cause, Therefore, Islam, as well as other religions, resorts to some form of exorcism – that is, the expulsion of evil spirits from possessed victims. The ability to expel jinn from the human body has been described in Hadithic tradition. Biblical literature also documents the existence of demon possession and the ability to remove such evil spirits from the human body (see specifically the Gospels of Matthew and Mark). Of course, the symptoms of possession are also common problems that plague many humans due simply to aging, accidents, genetic disabilities, or emotional trauma and should not automatically be attributed to jinn possession without careful medical and psychiatric examination.

In summary, we remind our readers that truth is truth, regardless of where it is found, and ultimately all truth is perfectly correlated and logical. Given the sensory and perceptual limitations imposed by three-dimensional mortality, the dazzling possibilities suggested by string theory and other explanations of the unseen prove tantalizing to humans, who are searching to correlate the truths gleaned from various sources, including science and religion. We trust that the summary of string theory, the citations from the Holy Qur’an, the comparative perspectives from other religious traditions, and the overview of some phenomena that seem logically inexplicable, without the insights of revealed theology, will spark interest in the ongoing quest for truth that renders the human experience both fascinating and meaningful.

Figure 1: One of the ways to explain the multiple Dimensions is “String theory.” Theoretical string theory analyses, in hopes of eventually producing a comprehensive “theory of everything,” have focused not only on strings but also on membranes and have inspired new mathematical advances vis-à-vis Calabi-Yau spaces and knots.

(Adapted from Onpedia http://www.onpedia.com/encyclopedia/string-theory)

The answer was interesting and had deep meanings, but still left questions in my mind. The creatures were told: a new species will be created and arrive soon, and each member of this species will be equivalent and worthy of a whole species.

Those who asked the question were silent, suggesting they were satisfied with the answer. But I wondered how a single member of a species can be worth an entire species – and whether destroying a whole species for a new one can really be just.

Here, it was obvious to me that the new species that would be created is humans, and those condemned were the species who went extinct in ancient times, before humanity appeared on earth. This dream vaguely reminded me something that I read in the “Risale-i Nur Collection” by Bediuzzaman Said Nursi.

Bediuzzaman remarkably states that, “A human being is equivalent to a species of other creatures” (Zuhra – 4th point, Isharat al-I’jaz, and Mathnawi al-Nuriya). This line hadn’t really struck me until I had the dream about older creatures questioning this wisdom.

In this dream, those creatures were dinosaurs. I was not scared; they weren’t threatening with their question. They were fighting for their rights and trying to understand the glorious plan, and beyond.

It seemed to me a lovely coincidence that I had a visit to Washington coming up soon and had a chance to visit the National Museum of Natural History, where you can see well preserved remnants of various dinosaurs.

All of the dinosaurs went extinct long before the first human showed up. Dinos first walked on earth over 200 million years ago and dominated the earth until 66 million years ago. Their dominion on earth ended with the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction. According to fossil records, there were more than 1000 dinosaur species. Dinosaurs had different habits of eating, as some were herbivorous (plant-eating) and others were carnivorous (meat-eating), including fish-eaters and insectivores, and omnivores (including both animals and plants in their diets). We should be thankful that we never knew many of the carnivores like T-Rex, which measured up to 12m (40ft)! It’s obvious that we could not live on earth if T-Rex were still running around. For our arrival, their departure was necessary.

There is no doubt that the human species is very valuable from various aspects, but what puts each person on the same level with another species?

One of humanity’s great merits is our collective understanding. This collective consciousness can be more fully realized through the glasses of faith in God. With the window of faith, humans not only comprehend His speech, but are better attuned to their fellow living beings – and maybe even non-living creatures. Humans are like one who is that all-inclusive and hears all other things. Hence, we can grasp proofs of the most beautiful names of the Creator from the speeches of all creatures.

The light of such understanding in humans leads to an expansion and improvement in our soul. This makes our value high, our sight universal, and our ability to achieve to perfection limitless. On the other hand, many other species are limited in many aspects by their nature, sights, and capacity of perfection. According to religious texts, though humans and other species are valued differently on earth, the divide grows larger in the hereafter. While every human being is re-created with their names, features, matter, and manner, other species return back to the soil.

When you visit nature museum next time, try to listen what the fossils of extinct species tell you about their complaint. They were created for a purpose; they have finished their job and gone. They have done a fantastic job and flourished, while leaving us many petrol reservoirs. Though countless species have gone extinct, more than 1.6 million other species are still living on earth. Death is not an end; nowadays, they are trying to reach out to us and tell us their secrets. We’re expected to become the best fruit of this universe.

This dream made me think about how the ways that Allah could teach us is not limited to what we do when we are awake. Would you ever think that ancient extinct species would also need the lights of the everlasting speech of the All-Wise and All-Powerful, as explained by why a man could be equivalent and worthy of a species of another creature by Bediuzzaman?

Another lesson is that as we live in an oil dependent-century, we are counting on reservoirs that formed millions years ago by the remnants of ancient living beings; but just as we depend on them, ancient extinct species are also counting on us and expecting us to contemplate our purpose for being here, and to show that we’re worthy of being the most glorious fruit in the universe. As the All-wise make things with infinite wisdom, he sends oil to people of this century to help in technology and he also sends further mercy in the form of knowledgeable scholars to answer our questions.

‘Ashq, which the spirit feels outside the intervention of free will, cannot be controlled by the person so affected, for its real source is God, Who loves Himself in a way special to His Sacred Essence and is essentially independent of the created. In addition, it is essentially different from the love felt by the created for the created or the Creator. This sacred, essential love of God for Himself is the reason why He created the universe and why He caused humanity to appear in the world. It is also this love that manifests itself in human beings as love for God, as the most essential center of humanity’s relationship with God.

‘Ashq is the final step leading to God, and a lover who has reached it almost has no further steps to take. God manifested Himself first as this sacred, essential love required by His being God. I particularly avoid attributing to Him ‘ashq (passion or esctatic love) in the absolute sense of the word, and prefer using the word mahabba (love).

Some tend to call this Divine Love Knowledge, as Knowledge is the first manifestation of the Absolute Divine Being, Who is infinitely exalted above having any equals or likes. Every manifestation of the Divine Being is a condescension. This first condescension is called “Knowledge,” as it is God’s Knowledge. It is also called “the Sacred Love” in the sense that God loves to observe and to be “observed;” or “the Tablet” as it comprehends or contains all of existence; or “the Pen,” as it handles all things in existence in all their details. Jabarut (the Realm of the Transcendental Manifestation of Divine Attributes and Names) and the Truth of Ahmad (the Prophet’s Name before his coming to the world) are other titles of this condescension.

Sacred Love is a mystery peculiar to the Divine Essence. Other Attributes of His are appended to or dependent on this love. It is for this reason that those who fly with the wings of ‘ashq directly reach the Divine Essence and attain amazement, whereas others have to pass through the intermediate realms of the worlds of things and Names. The ways leading to God are almost beyond number. Sufism, the science of truth, contains the food, light, and other necessities travelers need for the journey, and the (spiritual) orders (tariqas) are the ports from which they set out, or the schools in which the principles of the journey are taught.

The ways to the Ultimate Truth can be divided into two main groups. The first is the way in which the wayfarer is offered or taught such principles as eating less, drinking less, sleeping less, increasing contemplation, and refraining from unnecessary social intercourse. Almost all Sufi orders are based on these practices. The main invocations recited by followers of this way are the Seven Names: There is no deity but God, God, He, the Ultimate Truth, the All-Living, the Self-Subsistent, the All-Overwhelming. By reciting these Names, one seeks to pass through the seven steps of the human self or soul: the Evil-Commanding, the Self-Condemning, the Inspired, the Serene and Peaceful or the Soul at Rest, the Soul Well-Pleased (with God), the Soul Pleasing (to God), and the Purified or Innocent Self or Soul. To these seven Names, some add such Names of Majesty as the All-Powerful, the All-Strong, the All-Compelling, the Master, and the All-Loving; others add such Names of Grace as the All-Independent, Single One; the One (having no partners or equals), the Unique One, and the Eternally Besought-of-All.

The second way is based on strict adherence to the Qur’an and the Sunna, and the encouragement of certain recitations. Those who follow this way strive to comply with the Sunna in whatever they do. Rather than reciting certain Names, they follow the methods used by God’s Messenger to worship, invoke, and pray, reflect on His Acts and creatures, and mention Him with all of His Names. Joining these activities with a meticulous following of the commandments of Shari’a, they are firmly attached to their guides or teachers and abandon themselves to the tides of ‘ashq and spiritual attraction toward God.

Once they have attained ‘ashq and attraction, existence with its outer dimension vanishes from their sight. They are annihilated with respect to the carnal aspect of their existence and begin to feel and observe the absolute Divine Unity. At this point, they immediately come to their senses without becoming confused or going to extremes in the relationship between the Creator and the created. In such a manner do they complete their journey.

The basic principles of this second way are regular worship, love, spiritual attraction toward God, regular recitation, and the companionship of one’s guide or teacher. In this context recitation, in addition to mentioning God with all of His Names, involves study or attending classes in whatever leads one to God. This is what the Prophet, upon him be peace and blessings, meant when he described this kind of recitation: They study together. At times, a lover finds himself or herself in the stream of joyful zeal and yearning, regarded as another dimension of ‘ashq.¹

O God! Guide us to what You love and are pleased with, and bestow blessing and peace on Muhammad, the one with whom You are pleased, and on his faithful Companions.

1- Muslim, “Dhikr,” 11.

The sun and the moon are by an exact calculation (of the All-Merciful) (55:5).
He has made the night for repose, and the sun and the moon a means for reckoning (the divisions of time). (6:96)
He it is Who has made the sun a radiant, illuminating light, and the moon a light reflected, and has determined for it stations, that you might know (how to compute) the number of the years and to measure (time). (10:5)
The number of the months, in God’s sight, is twelve, as determined and decreed by God on the day when He created the heavens and the earth (and set them moving in the present conditions). (9:36)
They ask you (O Messenger) about the new moons (because of the month of Ramadan). Say: “They are appointed times (markers) for the people (to determine time periods) and for the Pilgrimage.” (2:189)

The concept of time is not mentioned directly in the Qur’an. But there are numerous verses reporting a time period in which many words are repeatedly used to allude to it. “Age” (karn – plural: kurun), “month” (shahr), and “year” (sana, am, hijaj, and havlayn) are mentioned 20, 21, and 30 times respectively [1]. Regarding the concept of time, al-Taftazani says in his book Aqaidu’n Nasafi, “Time is used to describe things that have a beginning. Things that have a beginning depend on certain conditions. God is beyond all measurements and limitations” [2].

Islamic scholars divide time into two, “earthly-physical” and “spiritual-metaphysical,” and they describe current time as “psychological time,” “expanding time,” or “existential time.” According to Bediuzzaman Said Nursi, time is a mysterious coordinate that is in charge of regulating the material world and events. He describes biologic time as activity, growth, development, and speed: “However unmoving, constant, and static a clock outwardly appears, it is in a state of continuous movement in essence and inwardly. Likewise the world, which is a huge clock of the Divine Power, rolls or revolves unceasingly in continuous change and upheaval. Its two ‘hands’ of night and day show the passage of its seconds, and its ‘hands’ of years and centuries show the passage of its minutes and hours respectively. Time plunges the world into waves of decay and, leaving the past and future to non-existence, allows existence for the present only” (Twenty-Fifth Word, p. 455) [3].

From this conclusion of Bediuzzaman, we understand that different times are generated through perpetual flow of the heavenly bodies in space (moon, sun, planets and stars.) Bediuzzaman, in his evaluation of the metaphysical time, also states that all the existence in the universe, with their specific and suitable outfits obtained from the spiritual world, gains an image and flow in the river of time. He points to the fact that all beings continuously come from the future, arrive at current time for a rest, and join with the past, therefore allowing the formation of the time river: “What we call time, a mighty river flowing in creation, has a reality like everything else. Its reality is like the ink and pages of the writing of Power on the Tablet of Effacement and Reaffirmation. Only God knows the Unseen” (Tenth Letter, p. 59) [4]. Every moment of the reality of time is a stage of creation under the divine command of “Be, and it is” (Qur’an 2:117).

The creation of things and events in the present cosmos is initiated in the quantum world by the union of each particle to the existence in a chain of countless contingencies. The state before a matter enters the visible, sensible form (macroscopic state) is described, by Bediuzzaman, as the “sphere of contingency,” i.e. the realm of creation, while modern science names it as the quantum world and reality which is composed by n number of micro states in which contingent realities overlap.

The tablets (phases) that host the characteristic contingencies of creation via the instant transition of phases and increasing number of microstates are described as “the Tablet of Effacement and Reaffirmation [Lawh Mahw wa Ithbat])” by Bediuzzaman:

[T]hrough the Manifest Record’s dictates (namely, Divine Destiny’s decree and instruction), Divine Power uses particles to create or write the chain of beings, each link of which is a sign in the creation of things, on the metaphorical page of time (the Tablet of Effacement and Reaffirmation). Thus particles move because of that writing’s vibration and motion, which occurs while beings pass from the Unseen world to the manifest (material) world, from Knowledge to Power. The Tablet of Effacement and Reaffirmation is a slate for writing and erasing, an ever-changing notebook of the fixed and constant Supreme Preserved Tablet, and this latter Tablet’s notebook in the sphere of contingencies, where all things are unceasing manifestations of life and death, existence and ephemerality. This is the reality of time. What we call time, a mighty river flowing in creation, has a reality like everything else. Its reality is like the ink and pages of the writing of Power on the Tablet of Effacement and Reaffirmation. (Tenth Letter, Risale-i Nur Collection, pp. 58-59) [4]

In the Islamic philosophy of existence, the universe is represented as a book; the space-time union is as the union of pen and ink. The nature of existence and phenomena are explained with these representations.

The Preserved Tablet

Mentioned several times in the Qur’an, the Preserved Tablet (Imamun Mubin) and Manifest Record (Kitabun Mubin) (these are considered by some to refer to the same thing), encompass the present world with all its details and fineness, and each particle with their original and true forms that circulate within the infinite sphere of contingency. The transmission of registered events and particles in this book of knowledge through the sphere of contingency to the world of particles takes place in the Tablet of Effacement and Reaffirmation, or the quantum world that can be likened to a scratch pad. Phase transformations – the intercrossing of possible scenarios and overlapping representative images – here are not the reality itself but a variable, transitional, possible micro state reflection of it. The transition of the originals in the Supreme Preserved Book from a state of possibility to a present form, as from the spiritual to the material world, from unknown to the known, require particles to transform from one state to another (tahawwulat-i zarrat). These transitions of phases (vibrations) on the edges of the visible, determined world (space) generate the phenomenon of time. In fact, time follows creation in space (kawn). All of the images and the formations that are called existence in the cosmos are determiners of space.

In other words, space is a cosmos which transforms continuously from non-existence to existence. This way the universe becomes like a scratch pad and always new manifestations occur in the time river that flows through it. “Now is the time, now is the moment” is a mystical expression of this truth, which, for Ibn Arabi, is composed of a constant moment (an-i daim) and the true reality of time corresponds with the moment of manifestations of Divine Names over existence [5]. According to him, with the extreme power of Divine singular oneness over multiple beings, the earth gets terminated via the hand of non-existence every moment, because the existence of a world means that the non-existence of it has become a “moment.” This way, the Manifest One (al-Zahir) imposes His manifestation first on the hidden, then the Immanent One (al-Batin) imposes His immanence on the manifest; therefore the world continuously get terminated and created. At this stage, the Almighty wraps the current moment of things and events under His names the First (al-Awwal) and the Last (al-Akhir) into the past and the future. Later, the Manifest takes the authority, followed by the Immanent, allowing creation renewed until the doomsday.

Time, within its own relative nature, is thus a complex manifestation of the Divine names the First and the Last, the Manifest and the Immanent through the vibrations and movements of particles. The measurement of time is carried out over the movement and speed of the particles and objects. According to Ibn Arabi again, the continual renewal of similarities determined over time happens in such a way that as one thing gets terminated another similar thing (fractal) begins to get created instantaneously [5]. While, for instance, the color white disappears in the form of continual phase transitions, another white that is similar but not the same gets created. If an opposite black were to be created upon termination of the white color, this would disrupt the nature of the things. Existence and creation get renewed together, within the mysterious flow of time and the formation of space, every instant: “Every (moment of every) day, He is in a new manifestation (with all His Attributes and Names as the Divine Being)” (Qur’an 55:29).

Behind the fact that images are temporary and truth is eternal, stands the question of what the mysterious works of time and the reality of the matter really are. Every particle being created in the smallest frame of time, and therefore generating time and eventually flowing in this river that it has caused bears a wisdom of a divine law intertwined with a fine secret, a purpose that reads a universal meaning, an integrity among the opposites, existence in non-existence, and purpose in what seems to be without a purpose. There is no absurdity or anything that is against wisdom emerging from these states that rise as a result of deceptive conflict and limited willpower that seem as transforming, deforming, and dispersing formations and visual images in the sphere of contingencies. The expression of Imam Ghazali; “Nothing is better than what comes out of the sphere of contingencies,” is a beautiful declaration of the perfect wisdom and integrity of continual creation of all things in the page of the time.

References

1. Canan, Ibrahim. 2009. Islam’da Zaman Tanzimi [Time Management in Islam] Izmir: Akademi Yay. Third edition. p. 38.
2. Goodman, L. A. 1997. “Time in Islam,” Asian Philosophy, 2:1, 17.
3. Nursi, Bediuzzaman Said. 2010. The Words: The Reconstruction of Islamic Belief and Thought. NJ: The Light, Inc.
4. Nursi, Bediuzzaman Said. 2007. The Letters: Epistles on Islamic Thought, Belief, and Life. NJ: The Light, Inc.
5. Ibn-i Arabi. The Universal Tree and the Four Birds – Treatise on Unification (al-Ittihad al-kawni). Translated by Angela Jaffray. Anqa Publishing in association with Muhyiddin Ibn ‘Arabi Society.

In the case of Islam, the Qur’an does not separate between the physical and the spiritual, or between matter and meaning. They are all on one continuum. Matter is the vehicle conveying meaning, like the material of a book for instance, the paper, ink and shapes of the letters etc., all mean something; they convey meaning and there cannot be meaning without the matter. From the Qur’anic perspective, that is what nature is about. Everything is seen as a sign or a symbol pointing to a transcendent reality, i.e. something that transcends the material, transcends what is here. There is an ontological continuity with the world to the very concept of God.

This connection between the spiritual and the physical, the Divine and the Creator, imparts a certain degree of sanctity to the world of nature. Just as the scripture is sacred, so is the world in the Islamic interpretation. In fact, just as the Qur’an presents the world of nature as a sign, it also calls its own verses signs, using the same word. The verses in the Qur’an that talk about natural phenomena includes both the verse itself and what the verse relates to in the outside world. This semantic connection is further strengthened through various Qur’anic descriptions.

According to the Qur’an, God communicates by “sending” His signs. There is basically no essential difference between linguistic and non-linguistic (phenomenological) signs; both types are equally Divine signs. All that we usually call natural phenomena—such as rain, wind, the structure of the heaven and the earth, alternation of day and night, the turning about of the winds, etc.—would be understood not as simple natural phenomena but as the many “signs” or “symbols” pointing to the Divine intervention in human affairs, as evidences of the Divine Providence, care and wisdom displayed by God for the good of human beings on this earth.

God speaks through words in the scriptures and through actions in the world; both of these are seen as modes of communication. That is why nature is also referred to as the “cosmic Qur’an” in the Islamic tradition. God speaks through verbal speech and through creative activity. Both of them are signs and one does not exist without the other because the Qur’an always refers to the outer world. God speaks as He creates, and in order to understand His verbal speech, one needs to observe the creational activity in the world. The reverse is also true: in order to understand what is going on in the world, one needs to listen to the scripture (verbal speech). Like a movie and its script, if the movie is in another language or there is no sound, how are you to understand? That would be the same as looking at nature without scripture. Inversely, if we were to hear the sound of the movie but the screen was blank, that would be like listening to the scripture but not being involved in the world. As nature is viewed as the cosmic Qur’an, the two must be read together. It is viewed less as a book and more as a speech; there’s the idea that everything is dynamic and constantly in creation.

The Qur’an has a very clear view of nature and a coherent view of causality. It tells of the causal relationship of science that is assigned to the Divine Attributes. For instance, the difference between seeing an inanimate egg versus seeing a living, flying bird that has come from something apparently lifeless, makes one wonder. Because of the polarity between the two i.e. the cause being very simple yet the outcome is dynamic, the relationship and the connection is seen to exist.

The Qur’anic text mentions the heavens 310 times, the earth 451 times, the process of rain, the clouds and water more than 50 times. It also talks about the seas, trees, vegetation, the formation of the human embryo, etc.

In the heavens and on the earth there are indeed (clear) signs for the believers (pointing to God’s Existence, Oneness, and Lordship); And in your creation and His scattering (innumerable kinds of) living creatures (through the earth) there are (clear) signs for a people who seek certainty of faith (in His existence, Oneness, and Lordship). And in the alternation of night and day (with their periods shortening and lengthening), and in the provision (rain) God sends down from the sky and reviving thereby the earth after its death, and in His turning about of the winds — (in all this) there are (clear) signs for a people who are able to reason and understand. Those are the Revelations of God that We recite to you (through Gabriel) with truth. In what other statement, if not in God and His Revelations, will they, then, believe? (Al-Jathiyah, 45:3−6)

God it is Who has made the sea to be of service to you by making it subservient (to His command) so that the ships may run through it by His command, and that you may seek of His bounty, and that (in return) you may give thanks. He has also made of service to you whatever is in the heavens and whatever is on the earth, all is from Him (a gift of His Grace). Surely in this there are (clear) signs for a people who reflect. (45:12−13)

Surely in the creation of the heavens and the earth and the alternation of night and day there are signs for the people of discernment. They remember and mention God (with their tongues and hearts), standing and sitting and lying down on their sides (whether during the Prayer or not), and reflect on the creation of the heavens and the earth: “Our Lord, You have not created this (the universe) without meaning and purpose. All-Glorified You are. (3:190−191)

We have set up firm mountains on the earth lest it should shake them with its movement, and We have made thereon broad paths, so that they might find their way. And We have established the heaven as a canopy well-secured (against collapse and the ascension of devils). Yet they turn away from all such signs (of truth manifested) in the universe. It is He Who has created the night and the day and the sun and the moon. Every one (of such celestial bodies) floats in its orbit. (21:31−33)

O humankind! If you are in doubt about the Resurrection, (consider that) We created you from earth (in the beginning while there was nothing of your existence as humankind, and the material origin of every one of you is also earth). Then (We have created you) from a drop of seminal fluid, then from a clot clinging (to the womb wall), then from a lump in part shaped and in part not shaped, and differentiated and undifferentiated, and so do We clarify for you (the reality of the Resurrection). And We cause what We will (to come into the world) to rest in the wombs for an appointed term, then We bring you out as (dependent) infants, then (We provide what is necessary and appropriate) so that you may attain your age of full strength. Among you some are caused to die (during this period of growth and afterwards), and some are kept back to the most miserable state of old age, ceasing to know anything after once having known some things. (As another proof for the Resurrection and a sign to comprehend it,) you see earth dry and lifeless, and suddenly, when We send down the (known, blessed) water on it, it stirs and swells and grows every pleasant pair of vegetation. And so, God is He Who is the Absolute Truth and Ever-Constant, and He gives life to the dead, and He has full power over everything. (22:5−6)

It also makes ample use of phrases like, “So look at…,” “Do they not see…?” “Do they not think…?” calling repeatedly on its audience to look at the world.

Say: “Go about on the earth and see how God originated creation. Then God will bring forth the other (second) creation (in the form of the Hereafter). Surely God has full power over everything” (29:20)

Then, let human consider his food (and so reflect on his Lord’s Mercy and the truth of Resurrection), That We pour down the water in abundance; Then We split the earth in clefts; And so We enable grain to grow therein, And grapes, and edible plants, And olive-trees and date-palms, And gardens dense with foliage, And (diverse other) fruits and herbage, As a means of livelihood for you and your animals. (80:24−32)

Do they not consider the camels – how they are created? And the heaven, how it has been raised high? And the mountains, how they have been set firm? And at the earth, how it has been spread out? (88:17−20)

There is less interest in the “why” but rather in the “how.” Thus science, as a systematic study of nature that developed in Islamic civilization, could not treat nature and its study as an entity separate from the Islamic worldview; this includes the sciences that were inspired by the very worldview of Islam—the concept of time, space, functions (everything is relational). Many scientific findings including functions like sine, cosine, all have a background to a particular worldview. The regularities, the laws of nature are actually mirroring the laws of the Divine Names.

In this Qur’anic view, nature is a dynamic system rather than an inert body. Nature accepts and acts upon Divine Commands, like all else between the heavens and the earth. This view of nature grants it distinct metaphysical qualities. Rather than being self-subsisting, autonomous or random, nature is described by the Qur’an as a sophisticated system of interconnected, consistent, uniform, and highly active entities, all of which are ontologically dependent on the Creator and exalt Him in their own specific ways. As the Qur’an often repeats “The seven heavens and the earth and whatever is between them sing the glories of God.”

This dependence and subservience of nature to God however does not occur haphazardly, since God’s ways and laws are unchanging (33:62). Actually, that is how the Muslim is supposed to reach belief in the Divine i.e., through observing the uniformity of nature, which is a sign of Divine activity. Thus the entire world of nature operates through immutable laws that can be discovered through the investigation of nature. Since these laws are both uniform and knowable, and since nature points to something higher than itself—indeed, to the Creator Himself—it follows that the study of nature leads to an understanding of God, and is in fact a form of worship.

Science historian Professor Briffault wrote about the scientific enterprise as it was carried out centuries ago in the Muslim civilization as follows:

The method of continuous observation was systematically carried out—some observations extending over twelve years—at the observatories of Damascus, Baghdad, and Cairo. So much importance did they attach to accuracy in their records that those of special interest were formally signed on oath in legal form. (Briffault, 143)

He also wrote:

Not only did the Arabs create those mathematics which were to be the indispensable instrument of scientific analysis, they laid the foundation of those methods of experimental research which in conjunction with mathematical analysis gave birth to modern science (Briffault, 144-145)

In fact, the emergence of science within the Islamic civilization is interconnected to the phenomenon of the Qur’an which provides a clear conception of nature, the laws of nature and causality, thus giving a coherent view of the subject of scientific investigation (i.e. nature). Sciences that emerged in Islamic civilization can be shown to have intrinsic links with the Islamic worldview including Islamic rituals such as the five daily canonical prayers and the pilgrimage to Mecca.

Many branches of science were directly related to Islamic practices and emerged from a specific view of nature anchored in Islam: astronomy used to determine the distance and direction toward Mecca (the direction Muslims face for their obligatory prayers five times a day); geography; cartography, and more. At the time, when the earth was generally thought to be flat, Idrisi (12th century) drew it as spherical.

Muslim scientists were concerned more with the infinite than the finite. Time and space were no longer static concepts (Greeks), but dynamic. Since God reveals himself in this world at every moment of existence, and this world is continuously coming into existence, they regarded the universe not as finite or as being, but as becoming. They expressed this conviction by elevating numbers to the status of functions that imply movement, dynamism, and relational connections rather than separate, static entities.

The Qur’an continuously states in the clearest terms that nothing at all other than God possesses the attributes of Divinity, and that under whatever name, no cause has attributes like maker, creator, giver of sustenance, bringer down of rain from the skies, and raiser of plants from the earth.

Say: “Who is it that provides for you from heaven and earth, or Who is it that possesses full power over (your) hearing and eyes, or Who is it that brings forth the living from the dead and brings forth the dead from the living, and Who directs the whole affair (the universe)?” They will say, “It is God.” Then, say: “Will you not then keep your duty to him in reverence for Him and in fear of His punishment?”

The universe exists in order to make the Creator known. By considering the manner in which beings are created, those who think may find attributes which pertain to their Creator. These Divine attributes are known in the Islamic traditions as the “Beautiful Names.” As such, Muslims are supposed to study the universe in order to get to know their Sustainer through it. Both causes and effects, and particularly their orderly relationships, mirror the Divine Names. The Qur’an points out the numerous and significant benefits in the effects so that it will be understood that unconscious causes are infinitely distant from intending the effects. It may also be understood that causes are only veils and these wise aims are the work of the One Who is All-Knowing, Wise, and Powerful, possessing infinite knowledge, wisdom and power etc. In this way, the Qur’an dismisses causes from owning their effects. A Muslim scholar explains this point with a metaphor: when seen from afar, mountain peaks on the horizon appear to be adjacent to the sky. But as one approaches, it is understood that there is an infinite distance between the earth and the sky. Similarly, when seen from afar, that is, when seen superficially without questioning, causes and effects appear to be adjacent. But on drawing close, and scrutinizing the relationship intentionally, it may be realized that there is a great distance between the cause and the effect. That is, it is understood that even an apparently powerful cause such as the sun has not the slightest influence on a most simple effect. The so-called cause of the effect does not possess the knowledge and will not be necessary for the occurrence of the effect. Cause and effect occur together but they have no relationship by which they affect each other. In fact their purposeful arrangement is a sign from the Creator that has created them side by side. The Qur’an says that should all causes unite, they would be powerless to create even the least significant being, like a mosquito.

The general logic of the Qur’an concerning causality is that:

1. Since causes are extremely commonplace and powerless and the effects attributed to them are significant and full of art, this dismisses causes.
2. And the aims and benefits of effects also discharge ignorant and lifeless causes, and hand them over to an All-Wise Maker.
3. Also, the adornment and skill on the face of effects indicates a Wise Maker Who wants to make His power known to conscious beings and desires to make Himself loved.

This conception of the world by no means denies the uniformity of the world. It is actually quite the opposite; order is itself a proof of unity. Each relation between cause and effect is itself considered to be a sign pointing to the Maker and ascribing all the rest of creation to Him. The crucial point is that these relations are vertical and directly connected to the Maker. The remarkable ordering of the universe is understood to proceed from God’s Wisdom. The rules and ordinances of creation proceed from Divine Attributes. The uniformity of sequence of cause and effect is also a sign (aya) pointing to God and making Him known with His Names and Attributes.

Given the inherent relationships between God, humanity, and nature, it is impossible in Islam to conceive of nature as an independent, self-subsisting entity. Likewise, science—as an organized enterprise that studies and explores the natural world—is conceived as an entity integral to Islam. In fact, the lack of separation of state and religion in Islamic polity is applicable to all other domains, as Muslims believe that Islam is not merely a set of commandments and rituals but a complete way of life, encompassing all domains of knowledge and human activity. This worldview is based on the principle of Tawhid, the Oneness of God, a concept that lies at the heart of the Islamic tradition. Oneness or Tawhid unifies all realms of being and of knowledge, making them branches of the same tree. Everything is interconnected and stems from One Unique source. It may be difficult for the modern materialist mind—accustomed to regarding religion solely as a set of personal beliefs—to understand this aspect of Islam.

Meaning of phenomena and regularity is intentional and there is mercy in this. Order is not a given but is a gift and a sign of care and love. When a baby is delivered out of the womb, the mother’s milk is ready for feeding. There is always the same arrangement for all babies—it is a given. This is where philosophy and science begin to “touch” one another, and where Islam provides a philosophy to what science observes.

Dr. Yamina Mermer is a member of the Scriptural Reasoning Group based at the Faculty of Divinity, University of Cambridge, UK.
Dr. Eren Tatari is Assistant Professor of Political Science, Rollins College, Florida.

Art, on its quest for refinement, is the expression of the ethos and values of society. It serves to remind us that life must be permeated with physical, spiritual and emotional beauty. The objects in these Met Galleries are the memoirs of civilization, yet they are not cast in the amber of the past. They pulse with life. They help us to understand how the cultures touched by Islam were built and evolved through the present day. A balanced display of objects of all types and techniques leads the visitor on a rich ride through the artistic, cultural and religious contexts of regional spheres stretching from Rabat to Ulan Bator, from Trabzon to Jakarta.

A paradise of artistic delight

Selecting these outstanding pieces must have been an emotional and challenging experience for the curators. How to choose only 1200 pieces from the Museum’s vast collections of 12,000 objects to tell the story of the interlinking themes across centuries and continents? The galleries explore the richness of Islamic art in objects big and small: from monumental bronze salvers of princely palaces to humble ceramic bowls, from stylish illuminated manuscripts to Qur’an pages filled with graceful calligraphy, from steel sabers to gardens of textile delights.

Some of the stunning artifacts on exhibit include miniatures from the most famous series of paintings in Islamic art, the celebrated 16th century Shahnama of Shah Tahmasp, ornamental doors from the 9th century royal residence at Samarra in Iraq, a monumental 12th century Seljuk feline incense burner from Iran, a 12th century astrolabe from Yemen, and carved stucco panels from a 10th century house in Nishapur, Iran. Turkish and Mamluk carpets are presented in a room under a newly-assembled wooden ceiling from a 15th century Spanish monastery crafted by Muslim artisans, offering visitors a constellation of stars above and below.

Architecture, one of the most visible and unifying manifestations of the Islamic heritage, has a place here as well. Peeking into the Damascus Room, an intact 18th century reception room from an upper-class Syrian Ottoman house, gives insight onto the daily life of the era. The 11-foot high turquoise tiled prayer niche from a 14th century theological school in Isfahan has been moved to a more prominent place in the galleries (and respectfully reset to its correct kibla orientation), which allows visitors to feel its architectural impact. One of the most popular attractions is the Moroccan Courtyard – a room built from scratch to resemble a 14th century home interior, with intricately carved niches and a bubbling fountain. This graceful gem was created by craftsmen from Fez brought in especially for the project.

Innovative objectives

A desire to rethink the presentation of the galleries prompted the museum to close them for renovation in 2003, two years after the events of 9/11. The curatorial staff set out to sensitively join the galaxy of cultures touched by Islam, and to make its appreciation more accessible by the general public through a judicious intermingling of art objects. The curators chose three major strategies to achieve this monumental task.

Firstly, the official name change from the former reductive “Islamic Galleries” was a bold one. The new name is indeed a mouthful, but it removes the stigma of Islam as opposed to the West and alien, as well as the stereotype of an art produced only in relationship to religion. It effectively dismantles the notion that Islamic art is a single, uniform production.

Secondly, intelligent architecture, using an open plan, created more square footage and brightened the former dim and mysterious rooms into a light and positive space. Lattice screens made in Egypt point the way and provide awareness of the mutual visibility of the cultures. The floors are paved in a different stone for each section, ranging from Egyptian marble inlaid with stars to soft Indian sandstone. Created as well are two new galleries, one linking Spain and North Africa, and the second for the South Asian sphere. The circular path though the galleries encourages visitors to make intuitive cultural interconnections as they rove.

Lastly, and most importantly, the curatorial approach is groundbreaking. The galleries are arranged not in a chronological order, but attempt a more geographical transverse. Particular attention is paid to display objects that emphasize the exchange of artistic influences with surrounding cultures. One gallery is devoted to depicting the imprint of the late Roman, Sassanid and Coptic traditions on the formation of this art. Objects from the Byzantine Empire, China, and Europe are skillfully sprinkled in the cases to highlight the interplay of cultures. Particularly intriguing is portrayal of the hybrid Buddhist-Jain-Hindu-Muslim-Colonial context of the Indian subcontinent. Effort was also paid to present objects which highlight secular and cosmopolitan aspects, not just those exclusively linked to liturgical needs.

In this fashion, the Met galleries help us break with the idea of art compartmentalized solely in reference to a single religious or cultural tradition. Our eyes are lifted towards a more universal vision. The voyage through trans-regional history presented in these Galleries opens new lines of conversation and leads us to contemplate the artistic and historical traditions of our own practices in relation to those of a different civilization.

A reinterpretation of misconceptions

Interpretation of Islamic art in the past by the Western world has often dismissively focused on the visual differences of this art: Islamic art “bans human representation,” Islamic artists “did not understand perspective” in their miniature painting, Islamic art is limited only to the “flat surface” and to the production of the “minor arts,” and “uses only geometry and calligraphy” to express the aesthetic, and so forth. The current presentation allows visitors to see the contrary, persuading them to make up their own mind about how these artists sought to depict the divine and mundane in ways different, yet just as powerful, as those in Western art: flowing calligraphy soars off Qur’an pages as high as the arches of Gothic cathedrals, glass mosque lamps sparkle with the intensity of a king’s gold treasure, colossal wall tiles shine forth with the same inspiration as stained glass windows, and carpets sing as brightly as a Cezanne or Klee painting.

The revised perspective of these galleries, filled with a respectful, reconciliatory motivation, allows visitors to appreciate the distinctive themes and the monumentality of this production, as well as the complexity and diversity of artistic expression. By providing objects illustrating the universal human aspiration towards beauty and refinement in society, we are led to reassess our present relations to these cultures accordingly.

Many examples here illustrate universal human aspirations and the interconnection of the peoples of the earth. Through excellence in craft, these objects poignantly illustrate the hope-filled quest of the honored verse of the Qur’an: “We created you nations and tribes that ye may know one another.” (49:13). The first piece visitors view upon entering the galleries is a large, 10th century white ceramic bowl from Nishapur in Iran, inscribed in a boldly powerful black calligraphy. It sets the tone for harmony, for the potter and the calligrapher needed to work closely hand in hand to produce such a masterpiece. On an Iznik plate from 16th century Ottoman Turkey, the artist has depicted 4 types of flowers – a rose, a hyacinth, a honeysuckle sprig and a tulip – all gracefully springing from the same clump of roots. A special grouping of manuscripts side by side explores the triple traditions of Judaism, Islam and Christianity that lived together harmoniously in medieval Spain. A folio illustrating the preparation of medicine from honey, copied in Baghdad 1224 from the Greek medical manuscript De Materia Medica by Discorides, illustrates the respectful heritage of scientific thought from one culture to the next. A judiciously-situated doorway pulls visitors out of the Egypt/Syria gallery into the room containing the Met’s 19th century “Orientalism” collection. These paintings depict the Middle East as seen through the eyes of European painters. Pausing to look at these colorful and often fanciful interpretations forces us to ask ourselves how we view these cultures today.

A Courtyard of Hope

The mainstream portrayal of Islam is not always kind, and does not usually deal with transcendent beauty, refined ornamentation, or intricate arabesques. Yet one of the most famous hadith, or sayings of the Prophet declares: “God is beautiful and He loves beauty.” Should it thus come as a surprise that this culture has led to the creation of so many great works of art? Perhaps the art at the new Met Galleries will close some chasms and conflicts that plague Muslim-West relations, especially over the last 10 years. Instead of blaring headlines on a newspaper article, perhaps scrutiny of the elegant calligraphy of a Qur’an page will offer grounds for reflection of the other face of the story and provide hope for well-needed harmony. The spiral of galleries ends in the serene Moroccan courtyard. Visitors are invited to linger there a moment and take home with them its restorative light and spirit of tranquility.

A new game

One of the most engaging pieces on display is a 12th century chess set from Iran, one of the earliest to come down to us. Crafted from glazed clay, the modern-looking pieces challenge us to a game. Yet, we cannot play because one piece is missing. Somewhere along the march of time, through earthquakes, Mongol invasions, wars and strife, one pawn has gone missing from this stunning set.

Looking at this chessboard, one cannot help but reflect on the still-charged game of misunderstandings which pits East and West on opposing sides. Does the loss of this representative of castles and conflicts auger a more peaceful society? Perhaps this missing foot soldier can presage the beginning of a new game, one where we are all on the same side of the chessboard; a game without confronting pieces and with reconciliation as the victor.

May the art in these Met Galleries inspire us to write the rules for this new Game of Peace.

Katharine Branning is the author of a series of essays on Turkey, “Yes I would love another glass of tea” and the curator of the exhibit “Song of Stones” dedicated to Seljuk art held at the Turkish Cultural Center in New York in the fall of 2011.

Until today, almost all of your organs and systems introduced themselves and explained the great artistry in their creation along with their wisdom and precision. Certainly, these were not just for your information. Of course, it is important for you to know about your organs and their duties, and for you to live accordingly with this knowledge. However, its main purpose has been to introduce you to your Lord, who created you and all living and nonliving things perfectly. Just like seeing a work of art and not appreciating the artist is a twisted view, so is seeing the art exhibited on the body of the world’s most dignified entity, the human being, and not appreciating our Lord. It would just be a worthless and pointless heap of knowledge.

Today, we will look at the human body statistically, have our last lesson, and say goodbye.

Before we talk about the systems and organs that make up your body, you should know that it is a blessing that God didn’t leave you in nonexistence, and put you into existence. Then, you should know that it is also a blessing that He didn’t leave you as inorganic molecules, but created you as a living organism. For you to understand better, I would like you to look carefully at the delicate measures of the numbers I will give you in the tables below and to realize how high your value has been lifted.

The weights and percentages of inorganic elements in a 70 kg human body:

Oxygen…….. 44 kg……. 63%
Carbon……. 14 kg……. 20%
Hydrogen……. 7 kg……. 10%
Nitrogen……. 2.1 kg……. 3%
Calcium……. 1 kg……. 1.5%
Phosphorus……. 700 g……. 1%
Potassium……. 170 g……. 0.25%
Sulfur….. 140 g……. 0,2%
Chlorine……. 70 g……. 0.1%
Sodium….. 70 g……. 0.1%
Magnesium.. 30 g……. 0.04%
Iron…… 3 g……. 0.004%
Copper…… 300 mg……. 0.0005%
Manganese….. 100 mg……. 0.0002%
Iodine……. 30 mg……. 0.00004%

The total percentage of trace elements found in the blood serum and in enzymes, such as zinc, cobalt, cadmium, molybdenum, nickel, lead, fluorine, selenium, mercury, and aluminum, is 0.80526%.

As you can see, 76% of you (53.1 kg of oxygen, hydrogen, and nitrogen) are gases that dissolve into the air. These aren’t worth anything because there are plenty of them in the air. From 14 cents per kilogram, 14 kilograms of carbon (coal) is worth around 2 dollars. One kilogram calcium (lime) is worth around 12 cents. 140 grams of chlorine and sodium together (salt) is worth around 3 cents. All of the other elements (such as iron, copper, and magnesium) are worth a handful of soil, because they are found easily in soil, and there is only very little of them in the human body. So in total, your elements are worth $2.15.

Let’s increase your value a little bit! Our Lord didn’t leave you as elements; He turned you into organic material with very large molecules, such as protein, fat, carbohydrates, and vitamins. That gives us the table below:
Organ…. Water (%) …. Fat (%)…… Protein (%)…. Ash (%)
Skin…… 64.68…… 13.00…… 22.10…… 0.68
Skeleton…… 31.81…… 17.18…… 18.93…… 28.91
Teeth…… 5.00…… 0.00…… 23.00…… 70.90
Skeletal muscle…… 79.52…… 3.35…… 16.50…… 0.93
Brain-Spinal cord…… 73.33…… 12.68…… 12.06…… 1.37
Liver…… 71.46…… 10.35…… 16.19…… 0.88
Heart…… 73.69…… 9.26…… 15.88…… 0.80
Lungs…… 83.74…… 1.54…… 13.38…… 0.95
Spleen…… 78.69…… 1.19…… 17.81…… 1.13
Kidneys…… 79.47…… 4.01…… 14.69…… 0.96
Pancreas…… 73.08…… 13.08…… 12.69…… 0.93
Intestines…… 79.07…… 6.24…… 13.19…… 0.86
Adipose tissue…… 50.09….. 42.44…… 7.06…… 0.51
Other tissues…… 70.40…… 12.39…… 16.06…… 1.01
Blood and lymph…… 93.33…… 0.17…… 5.68…… 0.94
Total…… 67.85…… 12.51…… 14.39…… 4.84

If you wonder about your value as water, protein, fat, and ash, you can calculate it according to a 70 kg person. If you do this, you can see that you are made up of 47.495 kilograms of water, 8.757 kg fat, 10.073 kg protein and 3.388 kg ash (mineral salts). Since the water in you is dirty and not clear, it isn’t worth anything. Your minerals and ash aren’t worth anything because there are plenty of them in soil. For $1.42 per kilogram, your fat is worth around $12.86. Your protein is worth around 16 kilograms of lamb, which costs around $36.57. So when you are elevated from elemental material to organic material, your value rises up to around $50.

Of course, our Lord didn’t leave you like this. He created you in the form of organs and tissues, which carry out miraculous tasks so that you can stay alive. Now, let’s see the groups of trillions of differentiated cells:

Total number of cells in the human body………… around 100 trillion
Number of cells that die in one second…………around 50 million
Number of cells created in one second…………around 50 million
Number of cell types…………more than 200
Number of red blood cells in 5 liters of blood…………25 trillion
Height reached by putting all of our red blood cells on top of each other…………around 60.000 km
Length reached by putting all of our red blood cells side by side…………192.500 km
Red blood cells’ surface area………..more than 1000 m2
Number of white blood cells (leucocytes) in our blood…………40 billion
Number of nerve cells…………30 billion
Length of a sperm…………35 micrometers
Diameter of an egg cell…………100-120 micrometers
Average length of a liver cell…………30-50 micrometers
Lifespan of small intestine mucous cells…………1.4 days
Lifespan of stomach entrance area (cardia) mucous cells…………9.1 days
Lifespan of stomach exit area (pylorus) mucous cells…………1.8 days
Lifespan of epithelial cells in lung alveoli…………8.1 days
Lifespan of large intestine (colon) mucous cells…………10 days
Lifespan of upper skin (epidermis) cells…………19.2 days
Lifespan of covering epithelial cells in the bladder…………66.5 days
Lifespan of neutrophile leucocytes…………45 days
Lifespan of eosinophile leucocytes…………10 days
Lifespan of lymphocytes…………5 days to 1 year
Lifespan of monocytes…………months
Lifespan of red blood cells…………120 days
Number of times a red blood cell travels the body during its life…………300.000
Number of red blood cells generated in a second…………2.4 million
Number of red blood cells generated in a day…………208 billion
Lifespan of a liver cell…………222 days
Lifespan of a kidney cell…………286 days
Number of mitochondria (power plant) in a nerve cell…………up to 10.000
Number of ribosomes created in a liver cell in one second…………180
Total length of the DNA in one cell…………2 m
Number of muscles in the body…………around 600
Number of muscles that work when smiling…………15
Number of muscles that work when frowning…………43
Total amount of work done by our muscles in one day
(Equal to lifting a 6 ton truck 50 meters into the air with a crane)…………around 3.106 Newtons
Total number of capillaries…………30 billion
Number of alveoli in the lungs…………400 million
Total amount of air taken in by the lungs in one day……………around 10.000 liters
Total amount of air we use in 75 years…………around 285 million liters
Total length of the nephrons in the kidney…………around 50 km
Total length of the glomerulus capillaries in the kidney…………around 25 km
Total inner surface area of the kidney channels…………20 m2
Total filtration area of the Bowman capsules in the kidney…………1 m2
Total skin weight…………11.15 kg
Total surface area of the skin…………1.5-1.8 m2
Total length of capillaries in 1 cm2 of skin…………around 1 m
Weight of dead keratin cells that fall off the skin in one day…………10 gr
Length of the nerve fibers in the skin…………80 km
Number of sweat glands…………around 2 million
Number of sebaceous glands in the skin on the head…………around 120.000
Total number of cells in the skin…………around 100 billion
Number of sensory receptors in the skin…………around 60 million
Daily sweat amount…………800 ml
Maximum daily sweat amount…………18 liters
Number of cells in the retina…………127 million
Number of values of the same color our eye can distinguish…………around 200
Number of shades of light that we can perceive…………around 500

The reason I gave all these numbers was not just to show the multitude of cells, organs, and tissues, but to emphasize that our Lord can create these with the precision that He creates a single cell. Mammals also have the organs and tissues that I have mentioned. Besides, some mammals have different organs with superior aspects. From this point of view, we are not much different from a cow or a horse. However, our Lord says that He created us in the best form possible, equipped us with superior qualities, and granted us the authority over all creation. Dear Peter! It’s time that you shed out of being an animal and rise to the degree of humanity. You cannot do this with your cells, organs, or tissues, but by gaining knowledge of divinity via spiritual virtues (such as the mind, conscience, and free will) that our Lord gave you.

If we see our body as a palace, could the stones, glass, porcelain, and wood come together and say, “Come on let’s make a palace, which will be the greatest palace in the world.” Could elements first turn into organic matter with macromolecules, then into cell organelles, then into cells, and finally into cells with different special duties, all on their own?

Finally, I believe it will be useful to give a table that shows every organ’s share in your body. My advice is not to evaluate anything materially. You cannot live without your pancreas, which only takes up a very small part of your body. Your heart, which is only 0.7% of your body, pumps the water of life (blood) to all of your organs; and your brain, which is 3.5%, manages your whole body. You can never give up on your kidneys, which take up only 0.5%.

Percentages of organ weights to the total body weight
Skeletal muscle (red meat)…………31.56 %
Skeleton and teeth…………14.90 %
Adipose tissue…………13.63 %
Skin…………7.81 %
Blood and lymph…………3.77 %
Lungs…………4.15 %
Brain and spinal cord…………3.52 %
Liver…………3.41 %
Intestines and stomach…………2.07 %
Kidneys…………0.51 %
Heart…………0.69 %
Spleen…………0.19 %
Pancreas…………0.16 %
Cartilage, ligaments, blood vessels and peripheral nerves…………13.63 %

All in all, we can say that the human body has holistic perfection with its functional parts, from hair to nail, to intestines and kidneys, as well as its aesthetic beauty.

Dear Peter! We have talked with you for a long time. I hope it was useful. I did everything I could. I am sorry that I couldn’t portray your true value!

Occasionalism in Islamic philosophy and theology

Named after Imam Ash’ari (936 AD), a famous scholar on Islamic theology, the Ash’arite tradition was the first school to embrace occasionalism consistently. In Ash’arite cosmology, the universe can be analyzed in terms of two main categories: those of substance and those of accident. An accident can be simply regarded as a property and a substance is the thing to which properties are attributed. Substances are usually identified with indivisible particles (atom). Atoms are homogeneous, and the diversity in nature appears as a result of the heterogeneity of accidents inhered in these substance-atoms. Accidents are considered to be perishable by their nature. No accident can endure but perishes in the second-instant of its coming to be if God does not recreate it in its substance. This is the crucial point in support of occasionalism. Accidents cannot exist by themselves and the atoms which need accidents to exist cannot exist by themselves either. All atoms and accidents need the power of God in order to exist and subsist over time. In Ash’arite metaphysics, it is not the case that God can create anything. Some things do not fall under the extension of divine power. It is absurd that substances can exist without accidents and there is no rationality in saying that God can create a substance without accident. Logically contradictory cases are also excluded from the scope of divine power. In other words, to say that God can create round squares or logically contradictory cases is a category mistake like saying that number 2 is green. Numbers are not the things to which the color predicates apply. In other words, color-predicates have a certain range or extension of applicability which excludes numbers. On the other hand, the properties of “being odd” or “being even” apply to numbers, but not to material objects. Saying that this chair is even is another category mistake. So each predicate has a certain extension to which this predicate legitimately applies. Things or expressions which are not in the scope (extension) of a certain predicate lead to a category mistake if they are associated with this predicate. So the sentence “God cannot do something” includes a category mistake if that thing in question is a contradiction for instance, because contradictions are not within the scope of divine power. In brief, the general features of the Ash’arite cosmology present a discontinuous universe, which depends on God’s creative power to exist and subsist at each moment. Furthermore, it does not consider certain cases such as absurdities to be possible with respect to creation. Al-Kindi supports the Ash’arite picture of the universe by indicating the impossibility of a real causal link between natural objects. He points out that anything which is being affected or being acted upon cannot be a true agent. The true agent acts upon what is affected without itself being affected by any kind of effect. Everything in this universe is acted upon and affected by something else. So God is the only true agent. The rest are only metaphorically causes which do not have real causal powers. Later, al-Ghazali focused on the apparent causal relations between events and argues that the causal relation between any two events can be justified neither logically nor by experience. Let’s consider his following example where fire and a piece of cotton are found together and the cotton is burned. A piece of cotton and fire cannot have a logically necessary relation between themselves because we can think of one event without the other, which does not lead to any contradiction. Observation cannot justify that burning of the cotton is a necessarily causal effect of fire because we can observe only that fire and the burning of cotton appeared together, but not that fire caused the burning. This occasionalist metaphysics does not deny that human beings are free in their choices and will be responsible for what they do. The Ash’arites suggest the following formula with respect to human acts: human beings acquire their acts, while God creates these acts. Al-Maturidi later clarifies the nature of the acquisition of their act by human beings by considering human choice as the ground for this acquisition. The thesis that God is the only causal agent in the universe provoked discussion as to whether or not human choice is created by human beings. If human choice is created by human beings, then occasionalism is rejected because, in that case, humans will have causal power together with God. If God creates human choices, then human beings cannot be held responsible for their choices simply because they are not their choices. Sadr-us Sharia and later Taftazani offer an ingenious solution to this problem by denying that human choice falls under the scope of divine power. In their view, human choice is a relational and relative matter that appears between the inclination and the action. For instance, assume that I have a desire to drink water. I choose to drink it and then take a glass of water and perform the action. My choice is a relational matter between my desire to drink water and the act of drinking it. Relations are not things that have definite existence. Think of rightness and leftness. My pen is on the right side of my tea cup from a certain perspective and is on the left side from another perspective. Even though my pen and my tea cup have definite existence, the relations of rightness and leftness which appear between them do not have. These relations are relative matters and because of that they are not genuine objects to which divine power is applicable. In other words, human choice as a relational matter is not under the scope of divine power as round squares are not. As a result, it would be a category mistake to say that God could or could not create human choices. Let’s see how occasionalism is articulated in the West.

Malebranche’s occasionalism and the Cartesian tradition

Malebranche (d. 1715) is a follower of Descartes. He accepts the basic principles of the Cartesian philosophy and inherits the problems remained from Descartes. What is the exact nature of causality? How is the mind related to the body? These are some of the important questions the Cartesian philosophers tried to answer. Malebranche’s occasionalism is a reply to such problems as well as a result of his theological concerns. As far as his theological motivation is concerned, Malebranche concluded that a belief in secondary causality, namely ascribing causal power to beings other than God, leads to paganism. For Malebranche, if we are under the control of a power belonging to a natural being, then we should serve it because of the following principle of St. Augustine: whatever truly acts upon us, it is above us, and inferior things serve the superior things. As a result, he denies any causal efficacy in the created realm. Malebranche calls his doctrine “occasionalism” because God creates events, not arbitrarily but in a regular manner, where certain natural events are “occasions” for God’s creation of certain effects. What people ordinarily call “causes or natural powers” are in fact “occasional causes” in the sense that they are depicting the uniformity of God’s operation in the world and providing us with an ordered system of created nature. If we use al-Ghazali’s example, we can say that the existence of fire near a piece of cotton is the occasional cause for God’s burning of that cotton. Because of the emphasis on occasional causes, occasionalists do not rule out scientific activity-on the contrary, they encourage it. In their view, scientists are looking for the secret and hidden occasional causes and try to understand how God operates on earth. God is the only true cause having genuine causal power. According to Malebranche’s analysis of true causation, there must be a necessary link between a true cause and its effect. A necessary link holds only between the will of an infinitely perfect being and some effect. This is the reason why only God can be regarded as a true cause. In other words, any event or effect needs an absolute power to become existent. It is impossible for finite beings to cause anything at all. That is to say, the two types of finite beings of the Cartesian metaphysics, namely bodies and minds are causally inefficacious. Malebranche accepts Descartes’s characterization of bodies and minds. Bodies are essentially extended substances, minds are thinking substances. Bodies are by definition impotent because the idea of extension does not include the idea of power; there is no power belonging to the essence of bodies. Malebranche believed that observation or sense experience leads us to imagine a causal link between two interacting bodies such as when a billiard ball hits another one. He holds that reason corrects sensation and shows us the truth about the inefficacy of the balls in question by reflecting upon the concept of extension which excludes the concept of power or causal efficacy. Minds also are causally impotent. However, people have free will by which they are responsible for their acts. Malebranche abstains from ascribing causal power to the human will by saying “I do not know if that can be called power.” However, he does not offer a detailed account like that of Taftazani regarding the question as how people can be free without having causal powers of their own. Nevertheless, his occasionalism offers a good solution to the mind-body problem which bothered Descartes and many Cartesians. This problem is quite complicated because mind and body are postulated as two completely distinct substances having nothing in common. How then are they interacting, for instance, when we feel pain whenever we cut our hand or when we move a chair should we desire to do that? Malebranche resolves this problem by claiming that every state in mind and body is created by God in accordance with each other. It is God who creates the desire to drink water and again God who moves our arms without any intervention between mind and body and creates the action of drinking water. Simply speaking, the human’s role in this picture is choosing to actualize or ignore the intentions they have in their minds. Malebranche comes closer to the Ash’arites in his approach to the matter of absurdities. Contradictions and similar absurdities are not subject to divine power and will. This contention of Malebranche diverts him from Descartes’s path because Descartes allows that God could have changed logico-mathematical laws. Malebranche rejects this view and excludes logico-mathematical contradictions from the scope of divine power.

Conclusion

For many people, the idea that the universe is constantly created and controlled only by divine power is difficult to grasp. Many tend to believe in a more naturalistic explanation of the universe, where everything has its own power and role in the whole system. Nevertheless, it is easy to see how we sometimes can be mislead if we remember of our inability to perceive movie frames. The picture of the reality is more complicated than its appearance. There are very good reasons to adopt an occasionalistic explanation of the universe. It is interesting to see that this explanation is advocated by both Muslim and Christian philosophers. We see many parallel lines between Malebanche and the Muslim philosophers on this issue. There are sufficiently strong arguments both from East and West showing that occasionalism is well justified, and has satisfying implications in terms of human responsibility and scientific activity.

We are a small group of women of Turkish-Muslim and Catholic origins who became acquainted in the Spring of 2009 and immediately recognized our soulful connection with one another. Since that time, we have been meeting regularly to share our faith and love of God. During our studies we discovered that Mary holds a unique place of reverence in both our traditions. For instance, she is the only woman mentioned by name in the Holy Qur’an, and is mentioned in twelve chapters throughout the Qur’an, a total of thirty-four times, (The Fountain Magazine, Issue 72, pg 46ff). One chapter in particular, Sura 19, (Maryam), is named after her. In addition, within the Catholic tradition the honors given to Mary are innumerable. Litanies composed in her honor and prayed at various times throughout the year reveal such titles as: Mother of our Redemption, Mother of Comfort and Understanding, Immaculate Conception, Our Lady of Perpetual Help, just to name a few!

But why did we actually choose Mary to begin our more formal studies together? Perhaps on a more unconscious level the need for the universal, open-hearted Mother is keenly felt by many of us at a time when other sources of grounding and spiritual nourishment are so troubled in our world. Perhaps it was because we intuitively understood that Mary reveals to us a sublime expression of what it means to be truly human; to be incomparably holy, yet void of any judgment or dualism; of strong Jewish culture and spirituality, yet universally receptive to all of God’s people.

The conception and the birth of the Messiah

Christianity and Islam each teach that Mary was chosen to be the mother of the Messiah Jesus/Isa, and that her conception was accomplished by God’s miraculous intervention, and not by human intimacy. Both traditions record that the Angel Gabriel appeared to Mary announcing to her that she had found favor with God:

“Mary, full of Grace, blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb.” (Luke 1:26ff)

“Mary, God gives you the glad tidings of a Word from Him, to be called the Messiah, Jesus son of Mary, highly honored in the world and the Hereafter, and one of those near-stationed to God.” (Sura 3:45)

When Mary questioned the angel as to how this could be accomplished, since she “did not know man,” Gabriel once again responded very similarly in both Holy Scriptures.

“The Power of the Most High will over shadow you so that the Holy One to be born shall be called, the Son of God.” (Luke 1:34-36)

“God creates whatever God wills. He does but say to it ‘Be’ and it is.” (Sura 19:35);”We breathed onto her out of our Spirit and We made her and her son a miraculous sign.” (Sura 21:91)

Although the Qur’an makes no direct mention of Mary’s visit with her cousin Elizabeth, as recorded in the New Testament, the encounter is well-known among Muslims and is tenderly represented in a beautiful Muslim film depicting the life of Mary.[1] Further, both the Qur’an and the Bible make mention of Zachariah’s three days without speech during these events, as a consequence of his having asked God for a “sign” (Luke 1:18ff; Sura 19:10).

Christianity and Islam agree that Mary was alone when the angel Gabriel appeared to her. Islam, however, also holds that at the actual moment in which Mary gave birth to Isa in Bethlehem, she was again without human companionship. The Qur’an records that Mary was alone in the desert and that during moments of great distress, just prior to Isa’s birth, God comforted and reassured her. He provided nourishment to her from a nearby sacred date palm tree, as well as refreshment from a rivulet which miraculously appeared. Shortly after his birth, the infant Isa/Jesus spoke reassuring and comforting words to his mother who vowed to remain in silence that day and “enter into no talk with any human being” (Sura 19:26).

The Christian image of the birth of Jesus differs on several accounts. In the New Testament, Mary is betrothed to Joseph who assumes the role of her chaste companion, and the guardian and protector of her and her child. It is usual for Christians to visualize Mary and Joseph together in a stable or cave with the babe Jesus wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger; indeed this is the scene described in the Gospel account by St. Luke. However, the precise moment of Jesus’ birth is not revealed to us, only the setting following his birth. It is actually later that night or perhaps the following day that is described by St. Luke in the Gospel account when the shepherds arrive and “marvel,” in the company of Mary and Joseph, at the sight of the infant Messiah wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger (Luke 1:8ff). It is interesting to note that in contrast to the “marveling” of the shepherds, Luke uses the phrase, “but Mary kept all these things in her heart.” Might we consider this notation a subtle reference to the vow of “silence” Mary may have been keeping that day, which the Qur’an more explicitly makes reference to?

It is also worth noting that accounts of Jesus’ actual birth, revealed in both the writings of Mary of Agreda and Catherine Emmerich, [2] indicate that Mary was alone in the company of the Divine during the moments in which she gave birth to the Messiah. Catherine Emmerich, a Catholic nun and mystic of the seventeenth century, for instance states that Joseph noticing the supernatural light surrounding Mary, “went into his little cell and threw himself on his face in prayer.” Similarly, Mary Agreda, also a Catholic nun and mystic of the fourteenth century, records that Joseph had retreated to another section of the cave and kept prayerful vigil through the night. Reminiscent of the scene in the Qur’an, she writes that shortly after his birth the infant Jesus actually spoke comforting words to his mother![3]

Of further interest is an account given by Catherine Emmerich of what happened just hours before the Nativity, in which Mary and Joseph take a walk through the valley behind the Cave, and visit the “tomb of Mahara (Abraham’s nurse).” This tomb was situated near a “sacred tree.” While at this site, Joseph and Mary spent time in prayer together. At one point it was decided that Joseph would go into the city of Bethlehem to obtain some provisions, leaving Mary by herself. This image of Mary being alone on the outskirts of the city and near a sacred tree shortly before the birth of Jesus bears a remarkable resemblance to the scene recorded in the Qur’an where Mary, just prior to Isa’s birth, is alone in a remote area of Bethlehem and near a sacred date palm tree. Catherine Emmerich records that when Joseph returned with their provisions he accompanied Mary back to the cave and shortly thereafter she gave birth to Jesus.[5] Muslims believe that Mary gave birth to her child at this sacred tree (Sura 19:23ff).

We would like to make one last observation regarding Mary’s conception and the birth of the Messiah. As clearly noted in the Qur’an, but only alluded to in the Gospels, Mary is scorned by those who judged the birth of Jesus to be the product of an adulterous relationship. This may account in part for the distress she experienced recorded in Sura 19 above when God comforted her moments before giving birth. Other passages in the Qur’an make reference to a confrontation between Mary and her own people regarding Isa’s birth. They exclaim to her, “O Mary! Assuredly you have done unexpected and strange things. O sister of Aaron, your father was never a wicked man, nor was your mother unchaste” (Sura 19:27-28). In comparison, one may examine a subtle reference made in the Gospel of John. In chapters seven and eight St John describes a setting in which Jesus was confronted by a few false religious leaders. In the course of their taunting, they infer that Jesus was the “son of a Samaritan.” Though more subtle in its inference, the judgment being made regarding Mary’s reputation and the implication that Jesus was the product of an illicit relationship is apparent. Jesus’ response to them, “you dishonor me” is particularly appropriate in light of this. Hence, the Qur’an seems to convey more clearly the painful experience which Mary in particular underwent in this matter.

Although not completely identical in their details, these accounts of Mary’s experience regarding the conception and birth of Jesus contain many astounding parallels. Perhaps what seems at a first reading to be irreconcilable differences presented in the Gospels and in the Qur’an are in reality only partial glimpses of a more total picture. This more “total” picture is not absent in the sacred writings of each tradition, but merely some aspects are hidden. If we ponder them with an open heart perhaps they will allow us to enter something much greater and more profound.

Mary – the “Kli” of Jewish mysticism:

Although the virgin birth of Jesus by Divine intervention is not honored in Judaism as it is in Christianity and Islam, it is interesting to note a comparable theme revealed in the spiritual teachings of Jewish mysticism, known as “Kabbalah.” Though complex in theory at times, an aspect of Kabbalah teaching may be applied to Mary and perhaps thus more easily understood.

Essential to the teachings of Kabbalah is the understanding that God, the Divine Creator, is in His very essence the “Will to Bestow.” In other words, God is God because He is continually in the act of Self-Giving, and possesses no other desire than to Bestow His Abundance onto His Creation. By contrast, the created were created and designed to receive God’s Abundance. This is known in Kabbalah as the “Will to Receive.” Thus, God created His creation in order to receive of His goodness and thereby accommodate his Desire to Give and Bestow. The created’s will to receive is compared to an empty cup or vessel waiting to be filled by God’s abundance. This vessel is known in Kabbalah as “Kli.” Kabbalah teaches that although God’s Will to Bestow is continually and perfectly being manifested, the created’s will to receive is limited and marred by egocentric needs.[6]

If one takes a quantum leap of association one may use the teachings of Jewish mysticism to perceive Mary as the ultimate model of “Kli,” (i.e. the human receptivity to God, totally emptied of the self-serving ego). In her pristine human desire to please God and receive God’s Will, referred to in the Gospel’s as her Fiat – “Be it done unto me according to your Will” – Mary perfectly fulfills the essence of her existence. By way of her selfless love for God, her unwavering trust in His Benevolence, and complete receptivity to His Will to Bestow, Mary, the perfect “Kli,” becomes a means that God brings forth through her what has been previously unrealized – the fullness of His own Divine bliss manifested in the soul and humanity of Jesus.

Just as we are discovering through quantum sciences that our own thoughts or intentions will eventually be manifested on the physical plane in some form or other, so too, a thought or word or intention that exists in the “mind” of God – so to speak – will ultimately be realized in physical reality as well. It is interesting to note that Jesus is known and referred to as the “Word” of God in both Islam and Christianity (Qur’an 3:45; John 1:1-3,14).

On the mundane and practical level, the human mind has difficulty grasping Mary’s miraculous conception and the virgin birth of Jesus, but in the mystical realm of Kabbalah, for instance, we may come to acknowledge Mary’s experience as the receptivity to God as we were all created to be and the manifestation of His Love as we were all meant to bring It forth into the world.

From the heart – how Mary has personally touched us Who is Mary in my life?

by Ayse

When we first started to come together and share our faith with each other, I realized how much more I needed to learn about my own faith. I had always been told that my faith brings together all Abrahamic religions and the name of my faith stood for peace: Islam. I could understand it in my mind. But as we came together, as we studied the Bible and the Qur’an and found how God loved diversity and thus created us in different shapes, colors, nationalities and so on, my heart started to agree with what my mind had been saying. That is when my heart began to work with my mind. Now, I feel God in my heart.

As time passed and as we studied Abraham, Jesus, the Night Journey, and Mary, my own faith started to get stronger. Mary was Jesus’ mother and one of the most praised female characters in the Qur’an; I knew this before we started to study Mary in both traditions. Now Mary represents how much God loves women as His own creation, as He gives her name to a large section of His own sacred book. In my country I was asked so many times about the women rights in Islam. Now I think I know the answer. Mary is obedient to God’s order, she stands strong in her community and is proud of her baby, while being very humble in her relationship with God, as pure as an angel. In this way, Mary (may God be pleased with her) has taught me: I am obedient, I am humble, I refrain from sins and I am still standing as a woman of my time in my community; as I do these I become closer to God. I would love to spend my whole life in this way. I would like to thank all my friends who worked together on this article and who helped me to understand Mary in my mind and feel her in my heart.

Mary in my life

by Hulya K.

First of all, during our meetings I learned how important the interfaith dialogue is. God loves diversity and created us so different from one another. At the same time, He created us with common values. Yes, we all have eyes, ears, fingers, and even fingerprints but they are also all different from each other. Similarly, our faiths have the same values, like Abraham, Moses, Jesus, and Mary. The discussion of Abraham, Jesus, and Mary in Christianity and Islam makes my faith stronger and deeper.

In addition, I have learned many things about the life of Mary. I am inspired by her trust in God. It is not important how bad the situation you are in or what people say about you. Just trust God. Just do what He wants. Just accept what He gives you. Do not say a word. Be silent and trust God. He knows and gives the best for you. In Turkey, she is known as “Mother Mary.” Now, I can understand why this is so… Thank you my dear friends and thank you Fethullah Gulen for your ideas which encourage us to come together.

Another dimension of awareness of Mary

by Clare

As present as Mary has been these many years in my life, the depth of my awareness and love for her has grown even more deeply during these weeks of our inter-faith study of her. As a Christian I am particularly blessed by exposure to aspects of Mary’s life found in the Qur’an but generally absent in the Gospels. They have opened up for me another dimension of Mary’s great heart and soul. I think of Mary as a key to true peace among people. When she is revealed in the heart, the heart grows to love her, but also feels it is loved and welcomed unconditionally by her. In the Catholic tradition one of her titles is, “Our Lady of all the Nations.” Through the “virgin point” in her heart and soul, which she never abandoned, I am led into further depths of knowing and loving Jesus, and through her universal motherhood and love of all people, I am led into further depths of knowing and loving my sisters and brothers of all faiths.

My feelings towards Mary

by Hulya T.

My feelings towards Mary began when I watched a movie about her during my pregnancy. Later, I started reciting Sura Mary from the Qur’an and also read the translation of it many times. When I was in difficulty, I remembered her. I thought how she coped with so much trouble. How brave she was, how self-confident she was. How powerful her faith was. In our meetings, a different window opened for me. I learnt the perspective of different faiths of Mary. I learnt their respect towards her. The more I learnt, the more I loved. Most importantly, I saw the whole picture. Actually, the similarities between our faiths are much greater than the differences. These sentences are just an example of what I feel. Last but not least, I would like to thank my dear friends.

Conclusion

Relating to one another and learning from one another in a spirit of trust and love is the most precious gift. As Rumi, the beloved Sufi mystic of the thirteenth century expressed, “There was a dawn I remembered when my soul heard something from your soul.” This “dawn remembered” is nothing less than our common oneness in God’s “heart.” What appears to our mind at times as irreconcilable differences may be transformed and integrated into a greater perspective when we open it to God’s grace. This is what we experienced in our study of Mary.

In the Catholic tradition, it is believed by many that Mary has been appearing to visionaries in Medjugje, Bosnia since 1981. Her continual message to the world has been to “Pray, Pray, Pray.” During the early years of apparitions, it was recorded that her message also included admonition to respect the beliefs of all people. “God is One and Indivisible,” she said and cautioned against the dreadful divisions being created in the world. Around this same time, Mary made special mention of a holy and humble woman named Pasha and asked that we try to become more like her. It was discovered that Pasha was a Muslim woman who lived in the nearby city of Sarajevo. [7] Mary’s message that day reveals a profound wisdom and all-inclusive love for us to ponder. In the context of apparitions considered to be “Catholic,” the Blessed Virgin Mary admonished her children to be more like a holy Muslim woman.

The Qur’an states that no one knows the true meaning of the Book (i.e. the Qur’an, the Torah and the Gospels) except God and those of true understanding, (Sura 3:7) and that He will one day make clear our misunderstandings. “Whatever you differ on, the final judgment about it is with God. Such is God, my Lord: in Him I put my trust, and to Him I turn in devotion” (Sura 42:10). These words reassure us that God Himself will bring into clarity what is now dimly understood, as the apostle Paul also states in his letter to the Corinthians, “Now we see through a mirror dimly, but then we shall see face to face (1Cor. 13:12ff).

Mary has given us a great gift on this journey. We praise and thank her for it. There is still a great distance yet to go. In trust we wait for God to show us more.

A former member of a Catholic Contemplative Order, Clare Julian is a licensed clinical social worker who currently lives and works in SLC. She has a deep passion for the potential of healing through inter-spiritual dialogue and friendship, and has been greatly blessed by both. Meryem Tuz is a dialogue activist in USA. She graduated from Middle East Technical University, Ankara, Turkey, with a major in chemistry.

Notes

1. “St. Mary” directed by Shahriar Bahrani, 2007.

2. Catholic nuns of the fourteenth and seventeenth centuries who received divine revelation of Mary’s life.

3. Catherine Emmerich. The Life of the Blessed Virgin Mary; p. 197.

4. Mary Agreda. Mystical City of God, p. 231.

5. Emmerich, pp. 195–197.

6. See B’nei Baruch Kabbalah, kabbalahlearningcenter.info.

7. Mary Craig. 1988. Spark from Heaven: Mystery of the Madonna.