Warning: The Secret Beyond Matter Is Not Wahdatul Wujood

The topic called “The Real Essence of Matter” has been criticized by some people. Having misunderstood the essence of the subject, these people claim that what is explained as the secret beyond matter is identical to the teaching of Wahdatul Wujood. Let us state, before all else, that the author of this book is a believer strictly abiding by the doctrine of Ahlus Sunnah and does not defend the view of Wahdatul Wujood.

However, it should also be remembered that Wahdatul Wujood was defended by some leading Islamic scholars including Muhyiddin Ibn al-‘Arabi. It is true that numerous significant Islamic scholars who described the concept of Wahdatul Wujood in the past did so by considering some subjects found in these books. Still, what is explained in these books is not the same as Wahdatul Wujood.

Some of those who defended the view of Wahdatul Wujood were engrossed by some erroneous opinions and made some claims contrary to the Qur’an and the doctrine of Ahlus Sunnah. They, for example, completely rejected the creation of Allah. When the subject of the secret beyond matter is told, however, there is definitely no such claim. This section explains that all beings are created by Allah, and that the originals of these beings are seen by Him whereas people merely see the images of these beings formed in their brains.

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 the copies that appear in their brains. This is a scientific fact taught at all schools primarily in medicine. The same applies to the article you are reading now; you can not see nor touch the real nature of it. The light coming from the original article is converted by some cells in your eyes into electrical signals, which are then conveyed to the sight center in the back of your brain. This is where the view of this article is created. In other words, you are not reading an article which is before your eyes through your eyes; in fact, this article is created in the sight center in the back of your brain. The article you are reading right now is a “copy of the article” within your brain. The original article is seen by Allah.

In conclusion, 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.

his fact is expressed in our book Idealism The Philosophy of the Matrix and the True Nature of Matter as follows:

There Is Matter Outside of Us, But We Cannot Reach It

… [S]aying that matter is an illusion does not mean it does not exist. Quiet the contrary: whether we perceive the physical world or not, it does exist. But we see it as a copy in our brain or, in other words, as an interpretation of our senses. For us, therefore, the physical world of matter is an illusion.

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)

Introduction

What kind of world do you live in?

A world of solid ground with people and trees, oceans with clouds above it and, higher still, the enormous emptiness of space?

Are you one of the billions of people in that world?

If you answer "yes" to those questions, then you are mistaken!

If you were able to answer "yes" to them, then that means that throughout the course of your life you have probably ignored a most important truth.

The fact is, you do not live in the kind of world described above at all. In your world, there is no distance of even a few meters, let alone of billions of kilometers or galaxies light years away. Actually you live in a very small enclosed space—in a tiny, locked room at the top of a giant tower. You have never left that room. You have never stepped outside it or been anywhere else. All you have seen are different shapes, people and spaces reflected on the walls of that room. You have heard only the sounds emitted from loudspeakers concealed in there. In fact, in that little room at the top of the tower, there is nobody else but you. You are entirely alone!

The "tower" we are speaking of is your body, and the little room atop it (in other words, your world) is your brain.

Your brain is a locked room which you can never step out of, because everything you imagine to be the original matter in reality consists of perceptions you experience in the visual or hearing centers of your brain. You can never get past those perceptions and experience directly the "real matter," in other words the original matter that exists outside your brains. You can watch the electrical signals arriving at the brain’s visual center, but you can never see those signals’ true source. You literally watch the cinema screen on the walls of your "room," but can never directly experience the originals of those images.

We shall be setting out that truth in this book. What we explain here will, in all likelihood, contradict a great many ideas and concepts that you’ve become familiar with so far. Yet it is a concrete fact based on scientific proof. Therefore, it’s impossible to reject this truth when one thinks about it in a reasoned and logical manner, instead of sticking to familiar preconceptions.

Never forget that ignoring the truth or refusing to think about it gains a person nothing. If anyone says, "No, I live on a planet in an enormous universe, not in a closed room," then he needs to prove the fact. If he cannot do so, then blind belief in any such idea will only lead to his remaining deceived.

The Tiny World Inside The Skull

People can be deceived by very convincing images, to the point that they may assume that these images are "real."

The first motion picture show in history is an interesting illustration of this. In Paris in 1895, two French inventors, Auguste and Louis Lumière, beamed onto a screen the image of a train approaching a station. Even though the train was only two-dimensional, and appeared in flickering black and white, yet most of the audience in the hall fled in panic, because they believed the train was about to crush them!

At the first motion picture, shown in 1895, the audience fled in panic thinking that the train on the screen was real.

As this example shows, one’s perception of any image as "real" is closely related to that image’s technical quality. Today, however, even more realistic cinematic effects can be achieved thanks to special glasses that form holograms (images perceived as three-dimensional). People wearing such glasses suppose that the virtual world appearing before their eyes is real, and react accordingly. Yet all the while, they still realize that this image is entirely a virtual one.

Special glasses produce three-dimensional images that can make the perceiver think they are real.

Yet what about the status of the images that we call "the real world"? Might these, too, be similar to holograms that deceive us with their technical quality?

In order to find the answer to these questions, first and foremost we need to reconsider what we know about "sight" and the visual process in general.

There is No Light Outside

Among those rays invisible to the naked eye are the X-rays used in medical diagnosis.

An ignited gas fire emits infrared radiation, as well as light.

In the light of the latest findings, scientists have arrived at a most interesting conclusion: In fact, our world is pitch black. Light is now known to be an entirely subjective concept; in other words, it is simply a perception formed in people's brains. In fact, there is no light in the outside world. Neither lamps, nor car headlights, nor even the Sun, which we regard as our greatest and most powerful source of light, emit any light at all.

All that the Sun and other "sources of light" do is emit photons, different kinds of electromagnetic particles of various wavelengths. These particles spread throughout the universe in the manner that their structures allow. Some of these reach our Earth, where again they produce the kinds of effects determined by their structures; and which change, depending on the particle’s volume, weight, speed and frequency.

For instance, many radioactive particles enter our bodies and pass through them. These can be stopped only by lead shields. Some of these particles are so heavy and energy-charged that usually they shatter any molecule they may encounter and continue on their way, with little deviation. This phenomenon underlies the way in which radiation gives rise to cancer. X-ray machines make use of X-rays—a weaker form of radiation—and turn the effect of electromagnetic radio waves into "visible light," that is, into a form visible to our eyes.

Since radio waves contain no particles, they do people no harm at the moment of impact. These waves cannot be perceived by any of our senses, though the radios in our homes translate these into sound waves that our ears can perceive. The crackling noise heard in the absence of any broadcast on our household radios is actually the sound of the cosmic background radiation—energy left over from the "Big Bang," the explosion by which the universe was created. The word "sound" here refers to the perception that forms in our brains after our radios have transformed these waves into vibrations in the air that our ears can hear.

Radio waves cannot be perceived by any of our senses. Yet the radio sets in our homes convert them into sound waves at a volume that our ears can hear easily.

Photons, the source of the perception we refer to as "light," are much lighter particles that usually bounce back from the first molecule they encounter. In doing so, they do almost no damage to the place they strike. Due to their frequencies—the speed at which they vibrate—ultra-violet rays are charged with greater energy and can penetrate more deeply into our skin, sometimes damaging the cells’ genetic codes. This is why excessive exposure to the Sun’s rays can lead to skin cancer.

Our eyes can perceive only those light rays falling on the spectrum between ultraviolet and infrared.

Those photons known as infra-red because of their frequencies leave some of their energy behind, increasing the speed of vibration of the atoms there—in other words, the heat on the surface they strike. For this reason, infra-red rays are also called as heat rays. A burning coal stove or an electric heater give off large amounts of infra-red radiation, which is "seen" or rather, perceived, by our bodies as heat.

Some photons’ frequencies lie between those of ultra-violet and infra-red rays. When these fall on the retinal layer at the back of our eyes, the cells there turn them into electrical signals. We then perceive these photons, which are actually particles, as "light." If the cells in our eyes perceived photons as "heat," then what we refer to as light, color and darkness would not exist. When we looked at object, we would perceive it as merely "hot" or "cold."

It Is Not the Eye That Sees

We provide this technical information about various forms of radiation simply to explain that they don’t give rise to the effect known as "light." These radioactive particles strike, bounce, and give rise to physical and chemical effects that sometimes cause damage. Yet the effects they cause can never be referred to as light.

The only reason we describe some of these particles as "light rays" is that they’re perceived by our eyes. Photons falling on our eyes’ retinal layer are turned into electrical impulses by the receptor cells there. The optical nerves carry this electrical current to the visual center at the rear of the brain. This center interprets the current and gives rise to images.

When we investigate this system, we arrive at a most interesting conclusion: In fact, our eyes have no ability to "see" at all. The eye is merely an intermediate organ that converts photons into electrical signals. It has no ability to understand and interpret. It is not the eye which regards at the bright world all around us. No sensations of light or color are formed in the eye.

In order to better understand this concept, let’s consider the technical definition of sight in slightly more detail.

In fact, our eyes have no property of "sight." The eye is merely an intermediary unit whose retina transforms the photons reaching it into electrical signals.

We give the name of a color to photons at various frequencies of vibration. Depending on those photons’ intensity of vibration, we refer to the visible effects they produce as red, blue or yellow. When all frequencies are combined together, the result is white. Snow appears white, because it reflects all the frequencies in sunlight, the combination of which produces white. Leaves are green, because they only reflect only those photons at a frequency that gives the sensation of green, while absorbing all the others. Glass is transparent, just like the air, because photons pass through them both and reach us encountering hardly any obstacles—such as clouds or flyspecks. A piece of black cloth reflects no color because it absorbs practically all the photons that strike it. In other words, no photons reach our eyes from it, and we perceive it as only a dark or black shape. A mirror copies an image because its smooth reflective surface absorbs almost none of the photons striking it, but bounces them back. They follow a parallel course to one another, undergoing almost no deformation.

In short, the concepts of "light," "white," "green" or "transparent" refer to perceptions in the brain, and are purely relative descriptions. The truth is that in the outside world there is no light or color. There are only forms of radiation which we perceive in that form. The interpretation belongs solely to us. Even if the arriving photons are turned into electrical signals and the visual center in the eye possesses the same properties, an error or structural difference which might occur in the eye will lead to the same object being perceived in very different ways. That is why color-blind people perceive and interpret certain colors differently from normal people.

In short, the photon movements which we interpret as light or color are nothing more than physical phenomena that transpire in the pitch blackness of the brain. Our bodies—including our eyes, and the whole material world that we perceive as a bright, three-dimensional vision that some people claim represents an absolute reality—all exist within that same darkness.

The Three-Stage Wall between You and the Outside World

Close inspection of these scientific facts reveals a most important fact: Never can we establish actual, direct contact with the outside world.

For example, when we sit watch television, we can never actually see the screen. All that reaches us is the photons emerging from the picture tube. These are not light, but only wave particles. Similarly, we "see" objects in the room by the photons they reflect, much like a tennis ball bounces off a wall and back toward us. In other words, even at this stage, we are already divorced from the television’s image itself.

When its photons reach our eyes and strike their retina, they are turned into electrical energy by the enzymes there. This constitutes yet another phase between the television and ourselves.

When nerves carry this electrical energy to the visual center in our brain, it changes form once again, taking the form we refer to as "images." This is the third stage. Just one single step is enough to break the connection between the television’s screen and ourselves, yet we are actually dealing with three.

To give an analogy, this is like playing the game of Telephone, also known as Chinese Whispers, with three different people in three interconnected rooms. Did the first person really say the sentence that is whispered into your ear, or did the second or third person change it around somehow? Did the third person make it up all by himself? You can’t ever be sure. You cannot even be sure what the first and second players really said at all.

Any image reaches our brains in three stages, similar to the children’s game of Chinese Whispers or Telephone. The last person can never be sure whether the words whispered into his ear are the same as those spoken by the first.

To make this point even clearer, we can cite yet another example. Imagine that for the past year, you have been locked away in a closed chamber underground. Your only link to the outside world is a closed-circuit television screen. When you turn the set on, you read the following message:

The images you are about to see on this screen are being screened live from cameras on the African continent. Images from these cameras are transmitted live to satellites, and from there, to receivers above this room, from where they are forwarded to this room.

Is that message true or not? You can never be sure, because every stage of the transmission can possibly have originated as from an artificial source. Actually, the cameras—which are claimed to be broadcasting live from Africa—could be showing a video cassette shot years ago. This pre-recorded image could be what’s reaching you by satellite. Furthermore, there may be no cameras or satellites at all, and you may be being shown a video cassette from the room next door. You cannot be sure what you have perceived, without personally traveling to Africa. Yet since you are unable to leave the room, it is impossible for you to go see the "original" African scenery for yourself.

Despite these doubts, however, whatever you experienced of the outside world before entering this room—plus your knowledge that you’ll eventually be leaving it—may let you to form an opinion that what you see on the screen is true, a reality that exists somewhere "out there." Yet what if you had lived in that room since the day you were born? What if you can never leave? What if, for your entire life, you see the "outside world" only on that screen? If so, you’d have no proof that “you interact directly with the originals” of what you view on your TV screen. Because all that was truly there were images on your screen.

Watching a television screen, we cannot know whether the image we think we’re viewing live, from a far-off location, is really a pre-recorded tape broadcast to us from the room next door.

Facts such as these in the realm of sight, apply also to the senses of hearing, touch, taste and smell. All of these impressions we perceive in closed chambers in our brains (the centers of hearing, touch, taste and smell). Never can we make direct contact with their originals in the outside world. The sounds we listen to on the radio originate inside the hearing center in our brains. There is actually no sound outside, merely physical movements in the air that we refer to as "sound waves." After going through various processes in the inner ear, these physical movements come to as us electrical signals. Do the electrical signals we perceive as sound correspond to anything outside, or not? We can never know. Returning again to the example of the closed chamber, the audio aired to us of lions roaring in the African jungles could really be sounds created artificially in a studio right next to our chamber.

Our Body and Our Dreams

So far, in order to achieve a sounder grasp of this concept, we have always referred to other objects. We can never perceive the "original" of a television broadcast, nor listen to the "original" of a radio talk show. All images, sounds, smells and tastes form in the relevant centers in our brains. We live not in the world outside, but in a world inside ourselves.

One factor that makes this concept difficult to grasp is that people are deceived on the subject of their own bodies. The arms and legs they see when they look down and the perceptions of touch from all over the skin lead them to perceive the world in a wholly mistaken way. Due to the sense impressions they receive, they make the assumption that they are actually living in an "outside world."

However, the fact is that, like other objects, we can only interact with our body’s perception in the brain. All the information regarding your body—in other words, the visual images of it and all the other perceptions which reach your brain, are perceptions in the relevant centers inside your skull.

We can understand this better by considering dreams. When dreaming, you see yourself in entirely imaginary worlds. Objects and people you see around you have no reality. The earth you walk on, the sky overhead, the houses, trees, cars and everything else are all totally imaginary. They have no material originals. They are all located within your brain or, rather, within your mind, and nowhere else.

On further reflection, the same thing applies to our bodies. When you look down in a dream, just as you do now, you perceive a body with hands and arms, one that walks, breathes and experiences sensations of touch. This body you see in your dream could be very different to the one you actually possess. You might dream of yourself as a three-armed, four-legged monster. You may feel sensations of touch from all three arms. In another dream, you might see yourself as a winged, flying creature, and you might feel these wings flapping in a most convincing manner. All of these bodies which can be experienced while dreaming are merely virtual–illusions in your mind. But you perceive them as if they lay outside your brain.

This example demonstrates that even if you perceive your bodies in a most realistic manner, it doesn’t follow that you actually possess any such body in the physical sense. In the absence of any such physical body, still we experience physical and bodily perceptions that exist entirely in our minds.

What, then, is the difference between dreaming and real life? True, dreams are less continuous, less logically consistent and ordered, than the perceptions we refer to as real life. Technically speaking, however, there is no difference between dreaming and "real life," because both arise by means of the stimulation of the sense centers within the brain.

If we dream that we’re flying, that does not imply that we can actually fly. Yet while the dream lasts, we remain convinced that we enjoy this ability.

In the foregoing pages, we examined what occurs in such regions as the visual and the hearing centers of the brain to produce what we refer to as "real life." An encyclopedia describes how dreaming is actually experienced in exactly the same way:

When we dream of ourselves as a winged creature, we believe it’s utterly so.

Dreaming, like all mental processes, is a product of the brain and its activity. Whether a person is awake or asleep, the brain continuously gives off electrical waves. Scientists measure these waves with an instrument called an electroencephalograph. At most times during sleep, the brain waves are large and slow. But at certain times, they become smaller and faster. During periods of fast brain waves, the eyes move rapidly as though the sleeper were watching a series of events. This stage of sleep, called REM (Rapid Eye Movement) sleep, is when most dreams occur. If awakened during REM sleep, the person is likely to recall details of the dream…

During REM sleep, the pathways that carry nerve impulses from the brain to the muscles are blocked. Therefore, the body cannot move during dreams. Also, the cerebral cortex—the part of the brain involved in higher mental functions—is much more active during REM sleep than during non-dreaming sleep. The cortex is stimulated by neurons (nerve cells) that carry impulses from the part of the brain called the brain stem.1

In other words, a dream is nothing more than the totality of all perceptions arising from the interpretation of the impulses reaching the relevant parts of the brain.

Notice that what we refer to as "real life" occurs in exactly the same way. Electrical impulses reach the relevant sections of our brain. There they are interpreted, whereupon we perceive the totality of these perceptions as "the real world."

This leads us to a crucial question: What is the source of all these perceptions? Habit leads us to believe that we always interact with the originals of outside world. The fact is, there is matter in the outside world, but we can never experience the original of this matter.

The better to understand this concept, let us continue thinking about dreaming. Ask a dreamer this: "What is the source of all the perceptions you are experiencing?" In all probability, that half-awake person will reply, "Objects in the outside world. My eyes and ears perceive them." Yet in this example, there is no outside world, nor any physical body to perceive it. Everything that dreaming people experience consists merely of signals perceived by the relevant centers in their brains.

Everything we see, hear, touch, taste and smell consists of signals perceived by the relevant centers in the brain. Then how can we be sure that we experience the original outside world?

Anyone who claims to be sure about this is simultaneously claiming that he is "the little man at the top of the tower."

Why is this so? We shall see why in the next chapter.

The Little Man at The Top of The Tower

Let’s summarize briefly what we discussed in the previous chapter: We can never have a direct knowledge of the originals of what we see, hear, touch and refer to as "matter." Actually we interact with the perceptions that we experience in our brains. We can never step outside our brains to get in touch with the originals of what we see, hear, touch and so, and never can check how their originals are. There is no technical difference between dreaming and real life; we perceive both inside our brains. The wide world that we imagine to be so very enormous is actually a totality of perceptions transmitted into our brains. Gigantic galaxies, which we imagine to be billions of miles away, are actually simply perceptions in our brains’ visual center. They are not "out in space" at all, but right inside us.

Many, if not almost all, people are unaware of this momentous truth. Yet even if others are unaware of it, that’s no excuse for us to be—because we also see the "others" in question as images in our brains. We experience these images, and are responsible for understanding what we see. Even if everyone we hear around us tells us, "This world is real, not a perception," that still changes nothing. In a dream, you may hear thousands of people shouting with one voice, "This world is real, not a perception". Yet that dream will soon come to an end. All those people will suddenly disappear. Beyond being perceptions, none of them ever existed in the first place.

Real life, too, will also come to an end one day—with death. Everything we see (including those who have told us "this is the original of the world") will vanish, to be replaced by an entirely new reality—that is, the world of the Hereafter. Allah reveals this fact in the Qur'an, as He describes the predicament of those who make the shadowy entities and goals in this world their whole purpose in living—or else look for assistance from these things, thus turning them into idols:

… [W]hen Our messengers come to them to take them in death, saying, "Where are those you called upon besides Allah?" they will say, "They have forsaken us," testifying against themselves that they were unbelievers. (Surat al-A‘raf: 37)

Kicking of a stone does not prove that one is dealing with the original stone that exists outside. The stone one has experience of is merely a perception in the brain. We can experience the same perception when dreaming.

Those who object to the facts set out here are materialists, ones who falsely believe that matter is the absolute reality and that the human mind is only another form of matter. Generally speaking, materialists are unwilling to think about and discuss the obvious truth explained here, that we can never make direct contact with matter. Often they become quite frustrated with the idea. Back in the eighteenth century, materialists were incensed when the British philosopher and clergyman George Berkeley systematically explained that what we know about matter is actually a set of perceptions in our minds. The materialist thinker Samuel Johnson, who lived at the same time, kicked a stone and shouted out that by doing so, he had "refuted" Berkeley. However, Johnson’s primitive reaction and the similar assertions made by other, later materialists—merely show how far they are from grasping the truth of the matter. Neither kicking stones nor punching walls constitutes any proof of that they interact directly with the originals of stones and walls. Everything we do and feel at that moment is a set of perceptions inside our brains. Someone who kicks the stone or punches a wall is in fact kicking or punching the perception of the stone or the wall inside his brain. Indeed, they can kick a stone just as realistically in a dream, but everyone will certainly agree that the stone is no more than a perception in the brain.

Materialists’ resistance on this issue is generally based on their failure to understand it. They’ve forced themselves into a dogmatic belief in matter’s absolute existence and strongly avoid ever questioning it. Here, we are pondering and revealing a truth they are unwilling to consider: that if they accept they have direct contact with the original matter, then they also must regard themselves as "the little man at the top of the tower."

The Tower and the Closed Chamber at Its Summit

The image of the tower, which constitutes the title of this book, is just a metaphor we’ve used to help clarify the subject.

Its meaning is this: If you maintain that you directly interact with the originals of the world and of your body, which exist outside your brain, then you must accept the existence of a giant body that carries all these images inside his skull. In that case, inasmuch as you perceive everything in your brain, you are a tiny person locked into a tiny room, atop a giant tower.

arrive at this conclusion? Let us consider, stage by stage:

One has experience of merely the perception and image of everything one believes he possesses formed in the brain. And one can never know their original forms in the outside.

1) Look around you at this moment, and you’ll see a large number of objects: furniture, walls, houses, people, cars, sky—and in addition to all these, your own body. All of these objects, including your own body, reside in the same place.

2) Where is that? Recall the explanations in the preceding pages, and you’ll realize that this "place" is nowhere but in the visual center within your brain. In other words, the entire world you deal with, including your own body, is in an area of just a few cubic centimeters behind your brain, in your skull. At this very moment, you’re looking at this book in that area in your brain. The hands that you see, and feel, as you turn these pages are also inside the visual and touch centers in your brain. All the organs in your body are located in the same place. The chair you sit in as you read and the room which houses that chair, are all there too.

3) Therefore, do you believe that you see your original material body other than this perception inside your skull? If you do believe that you see such a body, then you should realize that you have never been able to perceive it. Neither do you possess any information about what it might be like. All you can do is assume what it looks like.

4) If you believe that you see the original of your body, you must then accept the existence of a giant outside the body you see at this moment. Since you and everything you see—your room and all the objects outside—are in the visual center in that giant’s skull. Therefore, its physical body must also be enormous. Below the area where you are at the moment, there must lie shoulders, arms, a trunk, legs and feet (if the giant is, in fact, a two-armed, two-legged person like yourself).

5) That being the case, you must be a miniature human being living in a giant’s skull. To put this another way, imagine that you are imprisoned in a locked chamber at the top of a giant tower, never able to leave that room and merely watching a screen placed in front of you. In this analogy, the tower is your body, of which you maintain that you see the original, while the body that you perceive is only the little man imprisoned at the top of that tower.

If you claim that you have a body whose exterior you perceive from the outside, then you must accept that you live imprisoned at the top of a giant tower; that you can never leave that room, but only watch the screen in front of you.

You can never see this giant tower (i.e. the body of which you imagine that you directly see the original), because you are locked into a tiny room at its very top. You can never leave that room all through your life. You can watch only the images reflected on the walls of that room. Some objects in those images (stars, for instance) may seem to be millions of miles away. Yet the fact is, you still remain in that tiny room.

In order to better understand this subject, take the example of the animated fantasy cartoons often shown on television. In some of these cartoon films, a giant robot is controlled by someone sitting at the command center in the machine’s head. For example, in the well-known film Voltran, giant robots are directed by a man sitting at the command center in the head section. The robot acts in accordance with that person’s commands. The commander is a tiny man sitting inside a mechanical man the size of a skyscraper.

If you believe that you interact with the original of the body you see and feel at this moment, then you have to accept this system. To put it another way, you must accept that you are a little man sitting in a room at the top of a tower, or atop a giant robot.

Consider that the body that you see and experience at this moment is approximately 5 feet, nine inches—or 1.80 meters—tall. Then, in comparative terms, you have to accept that the original body outside your brain, which you believe you have direct contact with, is giant-sized. If the body is a tower and the "I" perceiving it is a person in a cell at the top of that tower, then that tower must be hundreds of feet tall. If you have a 5' 9" image of the body you refer to as "me," then the body outside, which you accept that you have direct contact with, must be hundreds of feet high.

Yet another example can make this clearer. Someone who claims that he is seeing the original car which is outside his brain, although he actually sees its perception in his mind, needs to think as follows:

The image of the car forms in a person’s brain. The visual center is no more than a few cubic centimeters in size. If the image of a car several feet in length fits into that area, then that visual center must be the size of a car, at least.

If you claim that you are seeing the original of a wide valley, then the visual center in your brain must be an area many square miles in size.

And if that center is a few meters in size, then the human brain must be of proportionally huge dimensions.

If the human brain occupies such an immense space, then in proportion to his brain, a person’s body must be several miles in size.

Here we are referring only to someone who glimpses a car. Consider a person seeing a valley several miles long. If he claims that he sees the original valley, then his visual center must, in the same way, occupy an area of at least several square miles. If so, then the person’ brain, internal organs, arms and legs must all be proportionate—and of colossal dimensions.

Since such possibilities are out of the question, isn’t it quite illogical to claim that a car several meters long, or a valley of several square kilometers, actually exist outside and that the percipient is actually dealing with them in their original forms?

Erroneous Belief in the Tower

The "little man in the tower" is no invention of ours, but the logical outcome of the train of thought maintained by materialism. Any materialist, who insists on the delusion of absolute existence of matter, maintaining that we enjoy direct knowledge of the original matter in the outside world, is in that exact position. He is claiming that outside the body he sees and feels, there is yet another body carrying around that first body and its surrounding area.

Considering materialist claims, one is forced to make the clearly nonsensical claim that there is a giant person who carries the entire universe in his brain and who has no idea where he is going!

Detailed consideration reveals how nonsensical is the picture drawn by this materialist claim.

In fact, materialists are describing a monstrosity that would frighten even themselves. Let us describe this frightening picture more closely: The materialist is describing a giant carrying the whole universe in a tiny region in his head, looking at it from close up. Since the Sun, Moon, stars and all other sources of light are in his head, our giant must inevitably be in darkness. In comparison with our own scale, this giant’s arms and legs are hundreds of feet long. In other words, the materialist arrives at the conclusion that there must be a giant human being, who carries the entire universe in his head, and goes nobody knows where, all in pitch darkness.

however, belief in the "giant human being" theory is only a requirement of materialist philosophy. That is because there is no other need to believe that we interact with the original of the body which we see and touch. Why should we believe in such knowledge? Why accept the existence of such a giant as real in the absence of any evidence, when nobody has ever found any trace of such a thing?

Apart from a blind acceptance of materialist philosophy, there’s no reason to believe in the existence of such an imaginary material person.

Matter Created in the Sphere of Perceptions and Imagination

We’re now led to a most important truth: Since the only world we can deal with is one of perceptions, all these perceptions must be created and displayed to us by a Creator possessed of infinite knowledge, wisdom and power. That Creator is Almighty Allah—the Lord of all the Worlds, in the words of the Qur’an.

A clearer expression of this important truth is this: Allah has created from nothing all that exists. Yet as Islamic scholars have written, all entities are created in the sphere of "perceptions and imagination." Since Allah has breathed into man His Spirit, man perceives part of these perceptions and gives them such names as "the world," "the universe," "matter" and "objects." In any case, it is Allah Who taught man these names. All of these perceptions, created by Allah, submit to Him unconditionally and act in accordance with His will. No entity is created independent of Allah. Only Allah is real. Everything else is an illusion at the level of perceptions.

Imam Rabbani, regarded as one of the greatest scholars in the history of Islam, explains this in his Letters:

Only Allah existed, and there was none but Him.

When He willed that His hidden perfection should appear, He made each of His names a sign so that His perfection would be manifested in that appearance.

Nothing but non-being is suitable to be the place of appearance for being and its subjects. Because the sign and mirror of everything is its opposite and contrary. And the opposite and contrary of being is non-being alone.

Accordingly, the Glorious Allah with His perfect might determined in the realm of non-being a sign for each of His names. And He created that sign in the sphere of perceptions and imagination at the time He willed and in the way He willed … The permanence of the world is not at the exterior level, but at the level of perception and imagination … Even at the exterior level, nothing has absolute existence apart from the being and attributes of Almighty Allah...2

In another letter, Imam Rabbani again emphasizes that the entire material world was created only in the sphere of perceptions and imagination:

Above, I used the sentence, "Allah's creation is in the sphere of perceptions and imagination." This means that Allah's creation is in a sphere where objects have no permanence or existence apart from perceptions and imagination.3

On close inspection, Imam Rabbani is stressing that the world we see, and all beings "in the sphere of imagination," were created at the level of perceptions. Outside that, all there is, is the Being of Allah.

… All of you will return to Allah and He will inform you about what you were doing.
(Surat al-Ma’ida: 105)

… They know an outward aspect of the life of this world but are heedless of the Hereafter.
(Surat ar-Rum: 6-7)

As we have seen, the technical facts we’ve arrived at by means of modern physics and physiology were noted hundreds of years ago by Islamic scholars. They confirm one truth: that matter is an illusion. What truly exists is Allah, Who created matter from nothing.

Materialism: A Hypothetical View of the Life of This World That Is Regarded as Real

Once it is understood, the truth explained here will entirely change people's views of the world.

The great majority lives unaware of this great secret. They imagine that everything they see with their eyes, hold in their hands and refer to as "matter" has an absolute, objective existence. People falling into this error hold one of two viewpoints:

1) Materialism: Some who hold that matter exists absolutely falsely maintain that apart from matter, nothing exists. The name of this superstitious belief is materialism in philosophical terms. Its adherents ignorantly deny the clear existence of Allah, as well as the existence of the soul and life after death.

2) Semi-materialism: Others who believe in the absolute existence of matter believe in a dimension of existence beyond matter, although they still think that matter has an "absolute" existence and that the other dimension of being is only relative. This error lies beneath such widespread concepts as "metaphysics" and "the supernatural." People who maintain such beliefs think that matter exists absolutely and that Allah is somewhat like radio waves (Allah is surely beyond what they ascribe to Him). Superstitious beliefs such as Allah being "in the sky" or somewhere else in the universe are outgrowths of the identical error.

Both these utterly mistaken viewpoints stem from a failure to comprehend the true nature of the world. As Allah reveals in the Qur’an:

… He [Allah] grants victory to whoever He wills. He is the Almighty, the Most Merciful. That is Allah's promise. Allah does not break His promise. But most people do not know it. They know an outward aspect of the life of this world, but are heedless of the Hereafter. ( Surat ar-Rum: 5-7)

In these verses, the word "outward" is a translation of the Arabic zahir. The concept of zahir refers to external appearance. In contrast, there is also the concept of batin, meaning the essence of things which is not externally visible, or their internal aspect, or inward meaning.

Unbelievers know only the external appearance of the world, which is why they cannot grasp the existence of Allah and His dominion over all that exists. Some who deny Allah are materialists, others—semi-materialists—believe in His existence, but are unable to comprehend His might. In the Qur’an Allah refers in detail to those who believe in His existence, but cannot comprehend His infinite might and dominion over all, for which reason they ascribe various partners to Him.

On the other hand, anyone who understands that we can only have the knowledge of original matter in the outside world as a perception in our minds is saved from all these errors and understands the batin aspect of the life of this world.

One important aspect of this is the disappearance of the concept of place.

Eliminating the Concept of Location

The only knowledge we have of everything we think of as material—our own bodies, the objects around us, the ground we walk on, the Sun, stars, and planets—is their perception in our brains, just like our dreams. Therefore, we cannot have direct knowledge of the original forms of these materials.

Anyone who comprehends this truth is saved from the mistakes that most people fall into. Heading the list of these errors is the question, "Where is Allah?" which stems from a belief in the concept of space. Most people imagine that Allah is in outer space, up in the sky, or resides in some other part of the universe (Allah is surely beyond that).

This ignorant belief is described in the Qur’an, in the story of Pharaoh, who claimed in a most ignorant way that he himself was the Lord of Egypt (Allah is surely beyond that), and maintained that Allah was in the sky. Allah reveals this in the verses:

Pharaoh said, "Haman, build me a tower so that perhaps I may gain means of access, access to the heavens, so that I can look on Moses’ Allah…" (Surah Ghafir: 36-37)

However, Allah is everywhere and encompasses all places. This truth is also explained in the Qur’an:

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)

As the sole absolute being, Allah enfolds the whole universe, all people and places, the heavens and everywhere. He is manifested in the whole universe. According to the hadith, our Prophet (saas) said that someone who said that Allah was in the sky was telling the truth. But this account in no way conflicts with the fact that Allah is everywhere. That is because if someone at your location on Earth raises his hands and prays to Allah and thinks that Allah is in the sky, while someone at the South Pole turns to Allah in the same way, while someone else at the North Pole raises his hands and yet another individual in Japan, or America or Ecuador raises his hands to the sky in the same way and turns to Allah, then it is impossible to speak of any fixed direction. In the same way, if djinn, angels and demons at various points in space and the universe also pray toward the skies, it will again be impossible to speak of any fixed direction, and the situation will be one that covers the entire universe. Wherever you turn, the manifestation of Allah is there.

Since Allah is everywhere, He is closer to us than anything else. This fact eliminates the perception of "distance," by which most people are again deceived. Generally, people refer to entities they see close to themselves as being "nearby." Asked, "What’s the nearest object you see?" they reply, "My clothes," "My watch," "My glasses," or else, "My own body." The fact is, Allah is closer than any of these things. This is revealed thus in one verse of the Qur’an:

We created man and We know what his own self whispers to him. We are nearer to him than his jugular vein. (Surah Qaf: 16)

Anyone who comprehends this truth understands that Allah is his only friend, protector, and helper. In this way, the secret of the prayer in Surat al-Fatiha, the first Surah, is revealed "You alone we worship. You alone we ask for help." In the same way, the believer understands that everything in the world happens by the will of Allah, functioning according to the destiny He has set out for it, and can never step outside His will. This is the understanding of the secret revealed in the verse below:

Everyone in the heavens and earth belongs to Him. All are submissive to Him. (Surat ar-Rum: 26)

Realizing that space is only a perception removes all misunderstandings and doubts as to how life in the Hereafter will be lived. Most who do not believe in the Hereafter or who doubt its existence cannot understand how the universe, which they imagine to be fixed and unalterable, will come to an end, to be replaced by a brand new world containing Heaven and Hell. The fact is, the very universe that they imagine to be fixed and unalterable consists of the totality of perceptions revealed by Allah to their souls. For Allah, it is a simple matter to remove one of a person’s perceptions and give another in its stead. In the same way that you can have a dream, but find yourself in an entirely different world on awakening (the world you imagine to be "real"), so in the same way you will make the transition from the life of this world to the Hereafter. The universe you imagine to be fixed and unalterable, but which really exists only through Allah’s creation at every moment, will disappear in a great tumult, following which Heaven and Hell will be created.

Everyone who understands that matter is an illusion, that space is a perception in our minds, and that he lives in a world created by Allah in the sphere of imagination and perceptions, will be vouchsafed many more secrets. Unlike most other people, he will be saved from the confusion of struggling to understand "causes" (the events and entities created by Allah). He will resort only to active prayer, which is the only true cause. He will know that in truth, both good and evil come from Allah, and will pray to—and seek help from—Him in all matters. He will not be consumed by desire for goods and property because he knows that he can only make contact with the perceptions of the material possessions that people so magnify in their own eyes—for instance, grand houses, luxury cars, expensive clothes and social and political prestige—inside his mind. He will attach no value to them, knowing that Allah has created these splendid-looking adornments as tests. He gives them and takes them away, from whomsoever He wishes.

Anyone who understands that matter and space are illusions is freed from fearing any entity other than Allah. Everything he sees is a perception created by Allah, and no one can do anything to him without Allah’s willing it. Allah is the only being worthy of fear. Anyone who understands that will have attained the superior moral values of the prophets, as described in the following verse:

[Allah praises] those who convey Allah’s Message and fear Him, fearing no one except Allah… (Surat al-Ahzab: 39)

… The life of this world is just the enjoyment of delusion.
(Surah Al ‘Imran: 185)

Relations of Cause and Effect Determined by Allah

One who understands that matter and space are illusions grasps yet another important secret unknown to most people: The cause-and-effect relationships that apply in this world are not the result of the physical properties of matter or interactions between people. Since matter is only a perception, it can have no physical effects. Every physical effect is created separately as a perception. A stone, for instance, does not break a window; the images of the throwing of the stone and the breaking of the window are created separately. The lifting force of water that keeps a ship afloat or the aerodynamic lift that keeps a plane aloft are created as illusions. All such "forces" actually belong to Allah. Allah reveals this truth in the Qur’an as follows:

Have they not looked at the birds above them, with wings outspread and folded back? Nothing holds them up but the All-Merciful. He sees all things. (Surat al-Mulk: 19)

Do you not see that Allah has made everything on the earth subservient to you and the ships running upon the sea by His command? He holds back the heaven, preventing it from falling to the earth—except by His permission. Allah is All-Compassionate to mankind, Most Merciful. (Surat al-Hajj: 65)

Also, a believer who grasps this secret will develop meaningful relationships with others unlike the superficial cause-and-effect type of relationships that most people accept. Because Allah has created all people and their destinies, the various cause-and-effect relationships among people take the form determined by Him. In one verse, for instance, Allah reveals this secret:

You who believe! You are only responsible for yourselves. The misguided cannot harm you as long as you are guided. All of you will return to Allah, and He will inform you about what you were doing. (Surat al-Ma’ida: 105)

If Muslims attain the true path, then those who deviate from it can never harm them. This is Allah's law, although it applies only to believers who comprehend His might and believe in Him, as is due. In another verse, Allah reveals another law:

Anyone who acts rightly, male or female, being a believer, We will give them a good life and We will recompense them according to the best of what they did. (Surat an-Nahl: 97)

For believers, many secrets like this make the world a very different place. For unbelievers, life in this world is a place of suffering, full of troubles, fears, doubts and tension. But for believers, it becomes a foretaste of Paradise.