The Secret Beyond Matter

All of man's sensory faculties-sight, hearing, smell, taste and touch-function in the same way. Stimuli (lights, sounds, smells, tastes, textures) from objects that we assume to exist in the external world are carried through nerves to the sensory centers in the brain. All these stimuli that reach the brain consist of electric signals. For example, during the process of vision, light rays (or photons) radiating from sources in the exterior world reach the retina at the back of the eye and, through a series of processes, are transformed into electric signals. These signals are transferred along nerves to the brain's vision center. There, a colorful, bright and three-dimensional world is perceived within the space of a few cubic centimeters.


The same system applies to other senses as well. Cells on the surface of the tongue transform chemical traces into electric signals that become tastes. Odors are transformed into electric signals by cells in the epithelium of the nose. Special sensors lodged beneath the skin transform impulses of touch (such as the sensations of hardness or softness) into electric signals, and a special mechanism in the ear does the same with sound. All these signals are sent to appropriate centers in the brain, where they are perceived.


To clarify the point, assume that you're drinking a cup of coffee. The hard, hot surface of the glass you're holding is transformed into electric signals by special receptors under your skin and sent to the brain. Simultaneously, the smell of the coffee, its taste, and dark brown color are all electric signals that reach the brain through the relevant sensory nerves. Likewise, the clink you hear when the glass touches the table is perceived by the ear and transmitted to the brain as an electric signal. All these perceptions are interpreted in the brain's relevant centers, which work harmoniously with one another. As a cumulative result of these impulses, you sense that you are drinking a cup of coffee. In fact, everything takes place in the sensory centers in the brain, but you imagine that you have direct experience of the concrete counterparts of all your perceptions.


Yet you are mistaken in this because you have no evidence to think that you have direct experience of the external originals of the bodies you perceive in your brain.


No doubt, this reality requires profound reflection. You may to date have imagined that you have direct experience of the originals of everything you see around you. However, as science shows, it is impossible to step outside your senses to reach the originals of entities outside you.

This subject, summarized in brief here, is one of the most significant facts you can be aware of in your life.
What Lies Outside Us?


What we have seen so far is that we live permanently inside our own heads and perceive nothing but what is shown by our senses. Let us now take this one stage further: Do we need an external world in order to see and hear?


No, in order to perceive, no external world is necessary. Given the right kind of stimulation to the brain, sensations of touch, sight, and sounds, can be recreated in the brain.


The only world we know is the one that is designed, recorded, and made vivid there-in short, the one created and existing within our minds. Perceptions we observe in our brain may sometimes be coming from an artificial source.


We can illustrate this with an example:


First, imagine that by artificial means, your brain can survive apart from your body. And suppose a computer able to produce all kinds of electrical signals. Let us artificially produce electrical signals of the data relating to a given environment-including its sights, sounds and aromas. Finally, let's have electrical cables connect this computer to your brain's sensory centers and transmit the recorded signals. Perceiving these signals, your brain (in other words, "you") will see and experience the environment they represent.


This computer can also send to your brain electrical signals related to your own image. For example, if we send the electrical correlates of all senses such as hearing, sight and touch that you experience while sitting at a desk, you will assume that you're a businessman in his office. This imaginary world will endure as long as the computer keeps sending stimuli. Never will it become possible for you to understand that you consist of nothing but your brain. This is because all that's needed to form a world within your brain is the availability of stimulations to the relevant centers. It is perfectly possible for these stimulations (and hence, perceptions) to originate from some artificial source.


Along these lines, the distinguished philosopher Bertrand Russell wrote:


As to the sense of touch when we press the table with our fingers, that is an electric disturbance on the electrons and protons of our fingertips, produced, according to modern physics, by the proximity of the electrons and protons in the table. If the same disturbance in our finger-tips arose in any other way, we should have the sensations, in spite of there being no table.


It's very easy indeed to be deceived into deeming perceptions without any material correlates as real. Often we experience this illusion in dreams, wherein we experience events and see people, objects and settings that seem completely genuine. But they're all merely perceptions. There's no basic difference between these dreams and the "real world"; both sets of perceptions are experienced in the brain.



Is Our Brain Distinct from the Outside World?



If we cannot experience the original of the outside world, but only the perceptions displayed to us, what about the brain which we think does the seeing and hearing? Isn't it composed of atoms and molecules like everything else?


Like everything else what we refer to as matter, the brain, too, is merely a perception for us because, after all, it is a piece of tissue that we perceive through our senses. This being so, what is it, if not the brain, that perceives everything-that sees, hears, touches, smells and tastes?


At this point, we face the obvious fact: that man, a being of consciousness who can see, feel, think and exercise reason, is much more than a mere assemblage of atoms and molecules. What defines a human being is the "soul" granted to him by Allah. Otherwise, it would be highly unreasonable to attribute his consciousness and other faculties to a three-pound piece of flesh, which is nothing but an illusion:


He Who has created all things in the best possible way. He commenced the creation of man from clay; then produced his seed from an extract of base fluid; then formed him and breathed His Spirit into him and gave you hearing, sight and hearts. What little thanks you show! (Surat as-Sajda, 7-9


The Being Nearest to Us Is Allah



Since a human being is not merely a lump of matter but a "soul," then who makes that soul feel the sum of perceptions which we call the external world? Who continues to create all these perceptions, ceaselessly?
The answer is obvious. Allah, Who breathed into man His spirit, is the Creator of all things. He is also the real source of all perceptions. The existence of anything is possible only through Allah's creation. Allah informs us that He creates continuously and that whenever He stops creating, everything will disappear:


Allah keeps a firm hold on the heavens and the Earth, preventing them from vanishing away. And if they vanished no one could then keep hold of them. Certainly He is Most Forbearing, Ever-Forgiving. (Surah Fatir, 41)


People may be reluctant to accept this fact due to years of indoctrination. But the truth is clear, no matter how much they may ignore or be unwilling to hear it. All the perceptions shown a person draw their life from Allah's creation. Moreover, not just the outside world but also everything a person imagines he is "doing himself" take place through the will of Allah. It is impossible for anyone to perform any action or to have any free will independently of Allah. This is noted in the Qur'an in these verses:


… Allah created both you and what you do? (Surat as-Saffat, 96)


… and you did not throw, when you threw; it was Allah Who threw… (Surat an-Anfal, 17)


Faced with such facts, one must conclude that the only absolute being is Allah. To express that truth, great Islamic scholars like Imam Rabbani have said that the only absolute being is Allah; and that all the rest, except Him, are shadow entities. Allah encompasses everything in the heavens and the Earth:


What! Are they in doubt about the meeting with their Lord? What! Does He not encompass all things! (Surah Fussilat, 54)


Both East and West belong to Allah, so wherever you turn, the Face of Allah is there. Allah is All-Encompassing, All-Knowing. (Surat al-Baqara, 115)


What is in the heavens and in the Earth belongs to Allah. Allah encompasses all things. (Surat an-Nisa', 126)


… We said to you, "Surely your Lord encompasses the people with His knowledge"… (Surat al-Isra', 60)


… His Footstool encompasses the heavens and the Earth and their preservation does not tire Him. He is the Most High, the Magnificent. (Surat al-Baqara, 255)


Allah's knowledge and ability surrounds us from the front and back, from right and left-that is to say, He encompasses us completely. He observes us everywhere, at every moment. He holds absolute control over us, from inside and outside. He, the Owner of infinite might, is closer to us than our own jugular veins and hearts.


… We are nearer to him than his jugular vein. (Surah Qaf, 16)


… Know that Allah intervenes between a man and his heart and that you will be gathered to Him. (Surat an-Anfal, 24)


Unbelievers thus fall into a major error here and imagine that the world, of which they can never have direct experience, is the only absolute entity. In mocking religion and believers, in denying the signs of Allah, in being "engrossed in mockery," as one verse puts it, and in imagining that they can remain concealed, Allah in fact completely surrounds them. This is one of the greatest facts that unbelievers are unaware of. Moreover, the life of this world to which they are so greedily devoted also slips through their hands in the face of this reality…


Everything You Possess Is Intrinsically Illusory



It is clear, scientific, and logical that we are not in direct contact with the "external world," only with a copy of it that Allah perpetually presents to our soul. Nevertheless, people are unwilling to think of this.


If you consider this issue sincerely and boldly, you'll soon realize that your house, the furniture in it, your car, your office, jewels, your bank account, wardrobe, spouse, children, your colleagues-in fact, all else that you possess-resides in your mind. Everything around you that you see, hear, or smell-in short, perceive with your five senses- is a part of this "replica world," including the voice of your favorite singer, the hardness of the chair you sit on, a perfume whose smell you like, the sun that warms you, a flower's beautiful colors, a bird flying past your window, a speedboat moving swiftly on the water, your fertile garden, the computer you use at your job, your hi-fi with the most advanced technology in the world...


This is the reality, because the world is created only to test man. All through our limited lives, we are tested with perceptions whose original sources we can never reach, which are intentionally presented as appealing and attractive. This fact is mentioned in the Qur'an:


Fair in the eyes of men is the love of things they covet: Women and sons; Heaped-up hoards of gold and silver; horses branded [for blood and excellence]; and [wealth of] cattle and well-tilled land. Such are the possessions of this world's life; but in nearness to Allah is the best of the goals [to return to]. (Surah Al 'Imran, 14)


Most people cast away religion for the lure of property, heaped-up wealth, hoards of gold and silver, jewels, bank accounts, credit cards, designer clothes, late-model cars-in short, all the forms of prosperity they either possess or strive to. They concentrate on this world only, forgetting the Hereafter. They are deceived by the fair and alluring face of the world, and fail to keep up prayer, give charity to the poor, and perform worship that will make them prosper in the Hereafter. They make excuses, saying, "I have things to do," "I have ideals," "I have responsibilities," "I haven't enough time," "I have tasks to complete," "I will do them in the future." They devote their entire lives to trying to prosper in this world only. As mentioned earlier, in the verse, "They know but the outer [things] in the life of this world: but of the End of things they are heedless." (Surat ar-Rum, 7), this misconception is described.


The reality dealt with in this chapter is very important, for it renders meaningless all lusts and boundaries. Verifying this fact makes it clear that everything people toil to possess, their wealth amassed with greed, their children they boast of, their spouses they consider to be closest to them, their friends, their bodies, their superior rank which they hold, the schools they have attended, the holidays they celebrate-all are nothing but mere shadows. Therefore, all the efforts they expended and the time they spent certainly proves unavailing.


Some people unwittingly make fools of themselves when they boast of their wealth and properties, or of their yachts, helicopters, factories, holdings, manors and lands as if they can ever have direct contact with their original possessions. Those well-to-do who cruise ostentatiously up and down in their yachts, show off with their cars, keep hinting at their wealth, seek to make a great success with others through their clothes, build their lives on such desires and rivalries, suppose that they rank higher than everyone else. In what kind of state would they find themselves, once they realize that they are boasting of nothing but images in their own minds?


In many of their dreams, they in fact find themselves possessed of grand houses, fast cars, precious jewels, rolls of banknotes, and loads of gold and silver. In their dreams, too, they enjoy a high rank, own factories with thousands of workers, possess the power to rule over thousands, and wear clothes that command everyone's admiration. But just as boasting about one's possessions in a dream often subjects one to ridicule, he is sure to be equally ridiculed in this world for boasting of images he relates to. After all, what he sees in his dreams and what he relates to in this world are both merely images in his mind. This, of course, calls for profound reflection. As the verse tells us, those who realize this truth will be the ultimate beneficiaries:


Clear insights have come to you from your Lord. Whoever sees clearly, does so to his own benefit. Whoever is blind, it is to his own detriment… (Surat al-An'am, 104)


Similarly, when people realize the reality, the way they react to the worldly events they experience should make them feel ashamed. Those who fight fiercely with each other, swindle, take bribes, commit forgery, lie, covetously withhold their money; who do wrong to others, who curse and beat them, who are full of passion for office and high rank, who envy and try to show off, who exalt themselves above all others-all will feel disgrace when they realize that they have committed all of these deeds in a world of illusions.


Since Allah creates the entire universe and reveals it to every human being individually, the Ultimate Owner of all possessions in the world is Allah alone. This fact is revealed in the Qur'an:


But to Allah belong all things in the heavens and on Earth: And He it is that Encompasses all things. (Surat an-Nisa', 126)


It is hugely foolish to cast away religious morality for the sake of passions whose original objects one can never reach, and thus lose eternal life. Allah describes their position:


… What they achieved here will come to nothing. What they did will prove to be null and void. (Surah Hud, 16)


As revealed in this verse, all these people's desires and passions have proved hollow, and all they thought they possessed has slipped through their hands in the face of this truth, has benefited them nothing and proved irrelevant.


At this point, it's important to grasp that the truth we are considering does not mean that all the possessions, wealth, children, spouses, rank and position one possesses and longs for will vanish someday, and so are meaningless. Rather, it predicates that in fact, people have no direct contact with any of their possessions. They are merely perceptions they watch from within their brains, composed of images that Allah shows to test them. As you see, there's a big difference between those two propositions.


Although someone might not want to acknowledge this fact right away and would prefer to deceive himself by assuming that all his possessions really exist, he must finally to die. When he is resurrected in the Hereafter, everything will become clear, and "sight will be sharp" (Surah Qaf, 22). On that day, he is apt to see everything much more clearly. If he has spent his life chasing after imaginary aims, however, he will wish he had never lived, and say, as revealed in the verse, "Ah! Would that [death] had made an end of me! Of no profit to me has been my wealth! My power has perished from me!" (Surat al-Haqqa, 27-29). On the other hand, a wise man should try to understand the great reality of the universe here on this world, while he still has time. Otherwise, he will spend all his life running after dreams and face a grievous penalty in the end. In the Qur'an, the final state of those people who run after illusions (or mirages) on this world and forget our Creator is stated as follows:


But the unbelievers, their deeds are like a mirage in sandy deserts, which the man parched with thirst mistakes for water; until when he comes up to it, he finds it to be nothing: But he finds Allah [ever] with him, and Allah will pay him his account: and Allah is swift in taking account. (Surat an-Nur, 39)


Unbelievers Have Fallen into the Biggest Trap in History


Modern science has proven that we cannot have direct experience of the original of matter, and put this forward in a clear, straightforward, forceful way. Unbelievers see that the material world, which they blindly believe in and rely on, lies beyond a perceptual boundary they can never cross. In the face of this fact, they can do nothing. Throughout human history, unbelieving mentality has always existed. Being assured of themselves and their philosophy, unbelievers revolted against Allah Who created them. They maintained that matter is eternal, that none of it could possibly have had a Creator. While denying Allah out of their arrogance, they took refuge in matter alone, with which they held themselves to be in direct contact. So confident were they of this philosophy that they believed that no arguments could ever disprove it.


However, this book's facts regarding the real nature of matter surprised these people. What we've related here destroyed the very basis of their philosophy and left no grounds for further discussion. Matter, on which they based all their thoughts, lives, arrogance, and denial, suddenly vanished.


One of the attributes of Allah is His plotting against the unbelievers. This is stated in the verse; "They plot and plan, and Allah too plans; but the best of planners is Allah" (Surat al-Anfal, 30).


Allah entrapped unbelievers by making them assume that the world is an absolute existence and in so doing, humiliated them in a way never seen before. Unbelievers deemed their possessions, status, rank, the society they belong to, the whole world to be absolute. Moreover, by relying on these, they grew arrogant against Allah. By being boastful, they revolted against Him and added to their unbelief. While so doing, they relied on a total conviction in the absoluteness of matter. Yet so lacking are they in understanding that they fail to realize that Allah compasses them round about. Allah announces the state to which the unbelievers are led as a result of their thick-headedness:


Or do they intend a plot [against you]? But those who defy Allah are themselves involved in a Plot! (Surat at-Tur, 42)


Theirs is most probably the biggest intellectual defeat in history. While growing arrogant of their own accord, mocking the religion and believers, unbelievers have been tricked and suffered a serious defeat in their war against Allah by bringing up something monstrous against Him. The verse "Thus have We placed leaders in every town, its wicked men, to plot [and burrow] therein: but they only plot against their own souls, and they perceive it not" (Surat al-An'am, 123) announces how unconscious these people who revolt against our Creator are, and how they will end up.


Fain would they deceive Allah and those who believe, but they only deceive themselves, and realize [it] not! (Surat al-Baqara, 9)


While trying to plot, unbelievers do not realize the very important fact that everything they experience is really experienced in their brains, and all the plots they devise are simply formed in their brains, just like every other act they perform. Their folly has let them forget that they are all alone with Allah and, hence, are trapped in their own devious plans.


In all ages, the unbelievers have faced a reality that shattered the basis of their devious plans. With the verse "...feeble indeed is the cunning of satan" (Surat an-Nisa', 76), Allah has stated that these plots were doomed to end with failure the day they were hatched, and gave the good tidings to believers with the verse "...not the least harm will their cunning do to you" (Surah Al 'Imran, 120).


In another verse Allah states: "But the unbelievers, their deeds are like a mirage in sandy deserts, which the man parched with thirst mistakes for water; until when he comes up to it, he finds it to be nothing:?But he finds Allah [ever] with him…" (Surat an-Nur, 39). Unbelieving mentality, too, offers a mirage for the rebellious and those who engage in mocking the religion; when they have recourse to it, they find its philosophy to be nothing but deceptive. Allah has deceived them with such a mirage, and beguiled them into perceiving matter as an absolute. All those eminent professors, astronomers, biologists, physicists and all others, regardless of their rank and post, are simply deceived and humiliated because they took matter as their deity. Assuming matter, whose essence they can never reach, to be absolute, they based their philosophy and ideology on it, grew involved in serious discussions, adopting a scornful discourse. They deemed themselves wise enough to argue about the truth of the universe and, more seriously to interpret Allah with their limited intelligence. Allah explains their situation in the following verse:


And [the unbelievers] plotted and planned, and Allah too planned, and the best of planners is Allah. (Surah Al 'Imran, 54)


One may possibly escape from some plots in the world; but Allah's plan against the unbelievers is so firm that there is no avoiding it. No matter what they do or to whom they appeal, never can they find any helper other than Allah. As Allah informs in the Qur'an, "they shall not find for them other than Allah a patron or a help" (Surat an-Nisa', 173).


Realizing this truth is doubtless the worst possible thing for the unbelievers. That matter in which they place such faith, is separated from them by an impenetrable frontier is, in their own words, tantamount to "death before dying" in this world.


This leaves them all alone with Allah. With the verse, "Leave Me alone, [to deal] with the [creature] whom I created [bare and] alone!" (Surat al-Muddaththir, 11),

 Allah has called our attention to the fact that each human being is, in truth, all alone in His presence. This remarkable fact is repeated in many other verses:


And behold! You come to Us bare and alone as We created you for the first time: you have left behind you all [the favors] which We bestowed on you... (Surat al-An'am, 94


And each one of them will come unto Him on the Day of Resurrection, alone. (Surah Maryam, 95)


This, in another sense, is what the fact stated in the verses comes to mean: Those who take matter as their deity, refuse the religion and are engrossed in mockery of Allah's signs have come from Allah and either returned or about to return to Him. They have submitted themselves to Allah, whether they want to or not. Now, just like everyone else, they wait for the Day of Judgment, when each one of them will be called to account, however unwilling they may be to understand it.


The Importance of This Subject


It is of the utmost importance to understand correctly the secret beyond matter explained in this chapter. Mountains, plains, flowers, people, seas-briefly everything we see and everything that Allah informs us in the Qur'an that exists and that He created out of nothing is created and does indeed exist. However, people cannot see, feel or hear the real nature of these beings through their sense organs. What they see and feel are only their copies that appear in their brains. This is a scientific fact taught at all schools of medicine. The same applies to the book you are reading now; you cannot see nor touch the real nature of it. The light coming from the original book is converted by some cells in your eyes into electrical signals, which are then conveyed to the visual center in the back of your brain. This is where the view of this book is created. In other words, you are not reading a book which is before your eyes through your eyes; in fact, this book is created in the visual center in the back of your brain. The book you are reading right now is a "copy of the book" within your brain. The original book is seen by Allah.


It should be remembered, however, that the fact that the matter is an illusion formed in our brains does not "reject" the matter, but provides us information about the real nature of the matter: that no person can have connection with its original. Moreover, the matter outside is seen not just by us, but by other beings too. The angels Allah delegated to be watchers witness this world as well:


And the two recording angels are recording, sitting on the right and on the left. He does not utter a single word, without a watcher by him, pen in hand! (Surah Qaf, 17-18)


Most importantly, Allah sees everything. He created this world with all its details and sees it in all its states. As He informs us in the Qur'an:


… Heed Allah and know that Allah sees what you do. (Surat al-Baqara, 233)
Say: "Allah is a sufficient witness between me and you. He is certainly aware of and sees His servants." (Surat al-Isra', 96)
It must not be forgotten that Allah keeps the records of everything in the book called Lawh Mahfuz (Preserved Tablet). Even if we don't see all things, they are in the Lawh Mahfuz. Allah reveals that He keeps everything's record in the "Mother of the Book" called Lawh Mahfuz with the following verses:


It is in the Source Book with Us, high-exalted, full of wisdom. (Surat az-Zukhruf, 4)


… We possess an all-preserving Book. (Surah Qaf, 4)


Certainly there is no hidden thing in either heaven or Earth which is not in a Clear Book. (Surat an-Naml, 75)


Conclusion




Unbelievers should be aware of one further truth: While they mock the believers or try to harm them, they are in fact submitted to the destiny that Allah has predetermined for them. Every mocking word they utter, every unpleasant act they commit, every unbelieving thought that crosses their minds, and every plan they make is a part of this destiny. Although the unbelievers do not know it, they are Allah's servants and, by following His instructions, provide an important service. While they mock people who live according to the Qur'an's morality, the believers show patience and, because of their loyalty to Allah, earn an honorable place in the eternal beauty of Allah's Paradise.


Unbelievers bring themselves down by believing that they actually interact the world, the original of which they can never reach. But one day they will awaken, as if from a dream, and suddenly realize that their life was like the blink of an eye. Moreover, they will regret having spent it in unbelief. On the Day of Judgment, all of their mocking words, glances, and acts will be held against them. Indeed, even their own organs will be made to testify against them:


[O]n the Day when their tongues, hands, and feet will testify against them about what they were doing. On that Day, Allah will pay them in full what is due to them, and they will know that Allah is the Clear Truth. (Surat an-Nur, 24-25)