No matter how fast or how far a person runs, the horizon will always be beyond them. This being the case, the real distance and depth of the horizon is inside a person, it is in their mind and perception…

A race I will always remember

Not too long ago, when I was still a little boy, I found myself running from my father’s village to my mother’s, and from my mother’s to another and to another, in the hope of catching up with something that was neither a ball, some other toy, nor a bird, but rather the point, the line where the sky seemed to touch the earth. We call it the “horizon.” That line, that “place,” first presented itself to me hiding right behind the trees to the left of my father’s house. I started out that day walking rather leisurely because the distance between me and the horizon seemed so short. When I observed that the sky had moved, or rather seemed to have moved further away, I hastened my steps. Then I noticed that the sky moved further and further away. Well, being determined to reach the place where the sky certainly touched the ground, I kept walking faster and faster until I found myself running.

I ran for quite a while until I realized that “there”, where the sky and the earth met, was still further away, that it would take me more time and effort than I had thought. I went back—I had to go back—to my father’s village, back to my usual village life because I saw that perhaps much more was involved, that maybe much more effort was called for in order to achieve what I desired, namely, to get to the point where I could touch the sky, where I could climb the sky. I went back to the ordinary, the normal life and experience of the village and of my people. But I did not tell anyone, I did not discuss the experience with anyone, even though I did not stop and could not stop thinking about it. I thought to myself that perhaps a week, a month, maybe a year would suffice for me to reach the place where the sky and the earth embraced. I was absolutely certain that right there in front of me, over there, not too far away, the sky touched the ground. And I thought that perhaps all I needed to do was keep walking, keep running, and keep racing forward, without stopping, without interruptions, without distractions in order to get to where the sky kissed the ground.

Today, thirty-five years later, I have realized that I was not wrong. I was right. The sky did touch the ground. It touches the ground all the time. You may ask “but where and how?” The sky touches the ground in our perception. Look across from your window into the distance. What do you see? Or, go outside and look in the distance. What do you see? The sky is right there, over there, touching the ground, the road, the houses, the trees, the mountains, the sea, and remaining there. But keep in mind that this is all happening in our perception. In perception, things are the way they appear, the way they seem. No rigorous, critical thinking is involved. And this happens so many times, and in fact is happening now; it happens every time that we are not thinking deeply, with attention and effort. It happens every time we fail to allow other perspectives, other possibilities and other possible interpretations to emerge.

The sky touches the earth, embraces and kisses the ground, right there in a fixed position, as long as you do not move. Once you move, it moves. And when you run after it, it too runs, not towards you though, but rather away from you. If you stand still, it stands still. If you stay where you are, it remains where it is. If you move even an inch, it will move. It will never allow you to catch up with it, to touch it; it will never allow you to possess it, to tame it; it will never allow you to take possession of it. And yet, it is always there, “putting everything into perspective.” By that I mean the horizon enables us to see, for without horizon one cannot see much of anything. Think about it! Everything presents itself in horizon. Everything dwells in the horizon, everything is within the confines of the horizon, and depends more or less on this phenomenon. And if I may borrow an expression from Saint Paul’s speech at the Areopagus (Acts 17:28) and be at liberty to use it as I see fit in this context (just as some scholars say he himself was at liberty to do with the same expression from the writing of Epimenides of Knossos (6th Century B.C.)), one can say that “that in which we live and move and have our being” is the horizon.

Standing still, remaining in one fixed position is not in the nature of the horizon. Its every stop (or what appears to be its end, its boundary) is temporary and transitory, like a pilgrim’s stop on a journey whose destination is still far away. It keeps moving, and it invites us to keep moving too, keep working, keep meeting people, keep exploring, keep digging, keep sowing, keep cultivating, keep harvesting, keep looking, keep reading, keep writing, keep thinking, keep talking, keep wondering.

We hear, not infrequently, the expression, “on the horizon/in the horizon.” What does it mean? It means in view, in the possible future, in sight. That which is in or on the horizon appears close, and seems to be approaching; it is as if it’s right there among the things that one hopes to do soon, as something squarely within one’s reach, among the things that one’s abilities can handle. What is in the horizon, then, is something that appears “present” and seems quite achievable.

What is a horizon? And what does it do?

A horizon is inseparable from a living, perceiving human being who is in the open or in the frontier of the open. There are no horizons in closed spaces, closed places. The distance between a living human being and the line where the sky and the earth meet is very wide. It is infinite. It is far, far away. You can only measure it with your eyes, your mind and your soul. You can figure out how long it is only to the extent that your eyes, your mind and your soul can go. An application of any other measuring device will only frustrate you because the moment you start going after it to measure it, it will recede. But the truth is that what you are actually seeing of the horizon is only a small part of it. The bigger part is on the other side of the horizon. Every horizon has at least two parts: a front and a back. The front of the horizon consists of the part you are seeing, and its back consists of the part hidden from you because of the hills and mountains, the earth, the road, the trees, the sea. In fact, the line where the sky seems to touch the earth is really only a perceived curve or a perceived point of contact, but the horizon really goes far and farther away, without end: it stretches into infinity.

All the things we are seeing are in fact standing in the way of the horizon. Similarly, all the things we are thinking right now, all our thoughts and ideas, everything that is presently on our minds can be an obstacle to a deeper and fuller understanding and appreciation of the horizon. We have to let go of all of these things in order to begin to have an idea of the depth and richness of the horizon.

For now, let us focus on the part of the horizon that is visible to us. It is a world, the world that we live in or would like to live in. Normally, it consists of people, people of different religions and/or of no religion at all, people of different languages and cultures, different experiences, different states and walks of life, different situations and aspirations, people driven by different desires, values and visions, people of very deep opinions, inspirations, beliefs and deep convictions other than our own, people heading in a thousand and one directions. This world, this visible side of the horizon also includes animals of many different types and habitats, which eat different kinds of food and have different spans of life. It also includes many different trees, bushes and flowers, and different types of grasses, etc. Mountains and hills and valleys too, rivers and big oceans, streams and creeks, are all part of this side of the horizon. Small and big houses, low and high buildings, shelters and palaces, mud houses and ghettoes are all part of this side of the horizon that we are seeing. But we do not actually see everything that we know is out there, that is all around us, that is over there in front of us…

How do we even know that there is anything out there, that other people are out there? A long walk, travels, meeting people, doing business with people, education, etc. confirm that there are other people out there, other lifestyles, other ways of thinking, other ways of doing things, other attractions, other things that people consider as very precious and worth dying for. We read about these things, have actually met and seen them with our own eyes, have lived with people of different orientations and values, have had some great opportunities to exchange ideas with them. But neither our reading and studying nor our investigative and explorative eyes can exhaust the visible side of the horizon because even the visible side has its own invisible aspects and invisible faces. Let us take for example persons, situations and objects.

From time to time, a person whom I have known for many years, not only surprises me, but also seems to be a surprise to herself/himself whenever s/he says something or does something I could never have thought or imagined her or him doing. And people of this nature are not uncommon.

How about situations? They are similar. Even the most familiar situations often have aspects that are new and different, which we can see if and when we look with more attention and care. And the moment we become used to these, even newer different aspects of the same situation emerge. The same goes for things such as books, clocks, chairs, doors, and so on. A book often presents us with information that we did not see the first time we read it. And if you read it again, you will again see something you missed the second time you read it. If you wish, you can read it again and again, and you will see something new every time. The book will never fail to make you see something new and/or think something new.

Can a chair or a door do something similar? That is, can a chair or a door make you see something new or think something new every time you encounter them? Let us see. A chair, unlike a book, seems to have no generative power. It seems mute and sterile. But can a chair speak and make us think? The answer is yes, it can speak and make us think. No one would disagree that the chair of Pontius Pilate, the chair of a Court Judge, the chair of Saint Peter, and so forth do have a powerful message. Although these chairs I have cited are special, every chair can say something to us and really make us think. For example, chairs for children and for adults make us think different thoughts, which by the way, make us give children appropriate chairs and to adults what is suitable for them. If we did not think differently of these chairs, chances are we would give adults the chairs meant for children and vice-versa, or give the same kind of chairs to everybody, children and adults alike, seriously compromising comfort. And some chairs would even fall apart (that is, if children’s chairs are given to heavy people like me to sit on).

Doors too make us think. For example, the Door of No Return in Goree Island in Dakar, Senegal, and the Door of Hope in Johannesburg, South Africa, makes every visitor think. But again, although these specific references are special, every door, including those that may seem unimposing and insignificant, can really make us think. Every door has a message.

The bottom line is that even the most visible side of the horizon can have aspects that may not be totally obvious and immediately accessible. Therefore, the visible, that which seems completely clear can still make us think because it often has layers, folds, dimensions, messages that lie beneath its surface. There are always other meanings, other messages behind the obvious. And the moment we finish harvesting one message, the moment we finish reading one meaning, the horizon presents us another one, and yet another, and so on and so forth. Inexhaustible indeed, this horizon can constantly give new meaning, hope, color, shape, style, texture, depth, taste and strength to our lives for endless joy and delight, even under very difficult circumstances. Why? Because the horizon has power to liberate us from the present, the immediate, the obvious. As it draws back, so to speak, that is, when we attempt to respond to its invitation into the open, when we dare to go after it, go with it into the deep, when we allow ourselves to move with it and flow with it, then it can open new doors, generate new ideas, launch new beginnings, reveal inroads, illuminate new bridges, disclose exits, uncover new faces, make terrains of other possibilities visible, make cooperation and collaboration possible, make teamwork possible, bring along other solutions, other fertile soils. With the horizon, there are no closed doors, no human being is a finished project, no done deal, no finished once-and-for-all discussions, no insurmountable barriers. The horizon’s open field stretches into infinity.

All of this is but an invitation to read between the lines, i.e., “to resist simplistic interpretations that dogmatically ascribe fixed significations to [things]” (G. Weiss, Refiguring the Ordinary, Indiana University, Bloomington, 2008, p.58).

It is about the need to go on researching other possible meanings and interpretations of a text, to go on searching for other possible answers to certain problems, to appreciate the expanding limits, and to devote more time and energy to the lifelong project of exploration of self and of the world (and of God) (see P. Okogie’s “Horizon: the birthing world” in the Journal of Horizons of Horizons, Vol. 1, no. 1, Duquesne University, Pittsburgh, 2012, p.10).

Rev. Dr. Okogie is Assistant Professor of Philosophy and Bioethics, University of Saint Anselm, Rome, Italy.

Considered from various angles, the contemporary era is not one to be proud of; doomed peoples of the past would no doubt be embarrassed if they were to witness many of the atrocities we no longer feel moved watching on the news on a daily basis. As the Lead Article asserts, “Communities and diverse groups within communities live with apparently endless anger, hatred, and detestation, pursuing plans of murder and complete destruction that would never previously have been held possible.” In the face of such vices, the noble prophets always acted with compassion and strived to soften the hearts of those who challenged their message. In fact, compassion is the “essence of all existence,” and despite the gloomy skies of our time, rays of a bright sun are visible on the horizon: “Hopefully, we are not distant from the coming days in which we shall be roused to a feeling of compassion in our hearts, by the grace of God.”

Thomas Petriano observes the same horizon, and he seeks a closer tie between two great religions of the world while speculating on the compassionate example of their prophets: “It is not hard to imagine Jesus and Muhammad as friends, linked by their love of God and their vision of a world characterized by justice, compassion, and equality” (may peace be with them).

Hurisa Guvercin illustrates another portrayal of compassion in her piece where she discusses an Islamic perspective on people with disabilities. It is very refreshing to find such examples from human history giving us a good reason to be proud of our past.

Roberto Colella expounds on an age-long debate on science vs. faith, and he asks, “Is it possible for a scientist to believe?” His is an interesting contribution that increases our hopes for a world where faith and science can coexist, not as contradicting phenomena, but as two inevitable components of the same truth.

Jinn are conscious beings charged with Divine obligations.

The word jinn literally means something hidden or veiled from sight. As mentioned earlier (The Fountain No. 15), jinn are a species or kind of beings that cannot be seen with the naked eye, nor can we see them with telescopes or microscopes. In the Qur’an, there is a short chapter called Jinn, which tells us that a band of jinn listened to the Prophet Muhammad, upon him be peace and blessings, and some of them believed in his message and some did not:

Say: ‘It has been revealed to me that a company of the jinn gave ear, and they said: “We have heard a wonderful Qur’an, which guides to righteousness, so we believe in it and we shall not join (in belief and worship) any (gods) with our Lord. And (we believe) that He-exalted be the glory of our Lord-has taken neither wife nor son… Among us there are righteous folk and among us there are far from that. We are sects having different rules, (al-Jinn, 72. 1-2, 11)

From this we understand that like mankind, jinn are also conscious beings charged with Divine obligations. Recent discoveries in biology made it clear that God created beings particular to each realm in the universe. Jinn might have been created while the earth was a body of some sort of fire. They preceded mankind in creation and were responsible for cultivating and improving the world. Although God later superseded them with mankind, He did not exempt the jinn from religious obligations.

Jinn are created from smokeless fire

As we mentioned before, the Qur’an states that jinn are created from smokeless fire (al-Rahman, 55.15). In another verse, it clarifies that the fire from which jinn are created is scorching and penetrating as deep as the inner part of the body (al-Hijr, 15.27). We are not certain whether the Qur’an means energy or something like X-rays by smokeless, penetrating and scorching fire.

Jinn, like angels, are not bound by the constraints of time and space within which we move.

Like angels, jinn move extremely fast; they are not bound by the constraints of time and space within which we normally move. However, since the spirit is more active and faster than jinn, a man who lives at the level of the spirit’s life, who can go beyond the limits of matter and the confines of time and space within which normal people live, can excel the jinn in speed and activity. For example, as we read in the Qur’an, when the Prophet Solomon asked those around him who could bring the throne of the Queen of the Yemen, one of the jinn answered that he could bring it before he finished the meeting and stood up from his seat. However, a man who had special knowledge from God replied; ‘I can bring it to you in a time shorter than the twinkling of an eye,’ and he did so (al-Naml, 27.38-40).

Compared to men, jinn, like angels, can do more difficult things.

Nothing is difficult for God Almighty; it is equally easy for Him to create the whole of the universe and a tiny particle. He has provided men, jinn and angels with power and strength appropriate for the function or duties of each. As He uses angels in the supervision of the movements of celestial bodies, He has allowed man to rule on the earth, dominate over matter and build civilizations and produce technology.

Power and strength are not limited to the physical world, nor are they proportional to bodily size. We observe that immaterial things are much more powerful than huge physical bodies. For example, memory is much more spacious and comprehensive than a large room. We can touch with our hands a very near object, but our eyes can travel long distances in an instant while our imagination can go beyond time and space all at once. Winds can pull out trees and demolish huge buildings. A young, thin shoot of a plant can split rocks and appear in sun-light. The power of energy, whose existence we can know through the effect it produces, is known to every body. All this shows that the power of something is not proportional to its physical structure, rather the immaterial world is dominant over the physical world, and immaterial entities are much more powerful than material ones.

Appearance of angels and jinn in the visible world in different forms

As we indicated earlier, it is possible for angels and jinn to take on form and appear in the visible world in the shape of any being. We do observe, in the material world, a movement from the visible to the invisible. For example, the evaporation of water and its disappearance in the atmosphere; the transformation of solid matter into fluid or gas (steam); or, in nuclear fission, the transformation of matter into energy. Likewise, we also observe in the world a movement, in the other direction, namely from the invisible to the visible. Gases become fluid, evaporated water is transformed into drops of rain or snow or even hail, and energy into matter. Similarly, intangible thoughts and meanings in our minds can appear in the tangible form of letters and words in essays and books.

In an analogous way, invisible beings like angels, jinn and other spirit entities are clothed in some material substance such as air or ether and then become visible. According to Imam Shibli, if God wills, He allows them to take on a form when they utter any of God’s Names which functions like a key or visa enabling them to take on form, and they become visible in the world. If they attempt to take on a visible form without God’s permission in reliance on their own abilities, they are torn into pieces and perish.’

We read in the Qur’an (Maryam, 19.17) that the spirit God sent to Mary, and whom Muslim scholars have concluded was the Archangel Gabriel, appeared before her as a human being. When Gabriel came to the Prophet Muhammad, upon him be peace and blessings, with Revelation or God’s Messages, he rarely appeared in his original form but usually came in the form of either a warrior or a traveller or a Companion called Dihya. For example, he came in the form of a warrior on horseback following the end of the Battle of the Trench and told the Prophet upon him be peace: ‘O Messenger of God! You have taken off your mail-coat but we, the angels, have not yet done so. God orders you to march upon Banu Qurayza.’ Once he came in the form of a traveller dressed in white and, in order to instruct the Companions in religion, asked the Prophet questions like What is belief? What is Islam? What is Ihsan (excellence or perfection of virtue), and When is Doomsday?

Like angels and jinn, Satan (who belongs to the jinn) can also appear in different forms. It is narrated that before the Battle of Badr he appeared to the leaders of the Quraysh in the form of on old man from Najd and gave them some advice. Likewise, a Companion who was keeping guard of war spoils caught him trying to harm the spoils. He entreated the Companion to release him, which he did. However, when this took place the third time, the Companion attempted to take him to God’s Messenger, but Satan appealed: ‘Release me, and I will tell you that by which you can be secure against me.’ The Companion asked what that was. Satan replied that it was the Verse of the Throne (the verse 255 of sura al-Baqara). When informed of the event, God’s Messenger, upon him be peace and blessings, commented: ‘That wicked one is a liar, but on that occasion he told the truth.’

In the chapter of the Qur’an called al-Ahqaf, it is related that a party of jinn listened to God’s Messenger reciting the Qur’an and, when they returned to their people, said: ‘Our people! Surely we listened to a Book which has been revealed after Moses and affirms what precedes it, and which guides to right and to the Straight Path’ (46.30). The sura continues with their impressions of or remarks on what they listened to. There are also Traditions which tell us that the Messenger, upon him be peace and blessings, recited to them from the Qur’an and preached to them his Message.

Jinn can also appear in the forms of different animals like snakes, scorpions, cattle, donkeys and birds. When our Prophet, upon him be peace and blessings, took the oath of allegiance from them in the valley of Batn al-Nakhla, he wanted them to appear to his Umma either in their own form or in other agreeable forms, not in the forms of harmful animals like dogs and scorpions. He also warned his Umma, saying: ‘When you see any vermin in your house, say to it three times: “For God’s sake, leave here!” For it may be from your jinn friends. If it does not leave, it is not from jinn. Then you are permitted to kill it, if it is harmful.’ The jinn who gave allegiance to God’s Messenger promised him: ‘If your Umma recite basmala (the formula In the Name of God, the All-Merciful, the All-Compassionate) before anything they do and cover all their dishes, we will touch neither their food nor their drink.’ We do not know how they eat of our foods or drink of our beverages. Another Tradition says: ‘[When you have relieved yourselves] do not clean yourselves with bones and dried pieces of dung, for they are among the foods of your jinn brothers.’