(Courtesy Freepik: ultra-detailed-nebula-abstract-wallpaper-4)
REVISED 17 Oct 2024
(Analytical and Analogical Argument)
In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.
Peace and Blessings be upon His Beloved Messenger, Muhammad,
who said: “I was a Light in front of Allah, two thousand years before Adam
was created. That Light (Nur) was glorifying Allah, and the Angels were glorifying Allah by imitating it. When Allah created Adam,He deposited that Light (Nur) into His clay.”
PREFACE
The Laws of Physics treat matter and anti-matter equally, yet on observation we find the stars and galaxies made out of matter with anti-matter scarcely present. This raises many questions. How did this mass universe come into being. In 1927, a Belgium priest and cosmologist named Georges Lemaître said that the expansion of the observable universe began with the explosion of a single particle at a definite point in time. He established the BIG Bang Theory.
Georges Lemaître was a COSMOLOGIST not a scientist. He combined his religious beliefs with scientific assumption to produce a rationalised concept to establish the beginning of universe from a single “primeval atom”. This single particular disintegrated in an explosion which continues to expand to this day. Quantum Theory relies on this perception of Georges Lemaître.
I am not going into every Scientific Assumption because it is a fruitless exercise. Whatever human evidence that does exists, based on assumptions and theories cannot go beyond tangible evidence. However, when one compares all this so-called evidence with religious knowledge, notably Islam, one will witness the similarities. The only difference here is that it begins with God in Islam, who is Infinite and beyond scientific assumption.
Ibnu ‘Arabi has proven to a great extent the existence of creation based on the presence of God through His Names and Attributes. When you view perceptions on creation based on the Qur’an and Ahadith (plural for Hadith), you will realise how mind-boggling it is in the context of its acceptance, just as it also is with scientific assumptions and theories.
The inability to reflect and consider the prime mover behind creation to be an ‘Infinite Being’ from a scientific perspective is quite clear, and the inability of modern-day science to prove anything either is simply because every so-called assumption gives rise to another ‘intellectual assumption’ based on another theory. No matter on how much theoretical progress we have made, we will never be able to ‘transcend the heights’ to heaven or to hell. We may land on Mars or view Plato, but will it really prove anything? It only proves that we can move or travel within a specific area confined to this universe. We need to look at Islamic Cosmology to get an insight into how vast this creation is with God as its pivotal figure. By viewing this information, we may be able to develop scientific assumptions and theories.
This issue is similar to the conclusions derived over environmental destruction. In Islam, every environmental disaster is a retribution (azab) from God. It’s the consequence of irresponsible human activity, whereas in science, we would attribute them to ‘Mother Nature’, which is illogical and ridiculous. The culprit is mankind, not the earth. In 1851, Chief Seattle of the Suquamish Indians is reported to have said: “The earth does not belong to man, man belongs to the earth. All things are connected like the blood that unites one family. Man did not weave the web of life; he is merely a strand in it. Whatever he does to the web, he does to himself. The earth is sacred and men and animals are but one part of it. Treat the earth with respect so that it lasts for centuries to come and is a place of wonder and beauty for our children.” [https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/845732-the-earth-does-not-belong-to-man-man-belongs-to].
GOD
Every religion there is a cloud or clouds with deities. Zhi Nü, in Chinese mythology, was a heavenly weaving maiden who used clouds to spin seamless robes of brocade for her father, the Jade Emperor (Yudi). Granted permission to visit the earth, Zhi Nü fell in love with Niu Lang, the cowherd, and was married to him.[https://www.britannica.com/topic/Zhi-Nu]
In later Buddhist texts the cloud gods are identified as Nanda and Upananda Devaputras or Nagas, the serpents. The lotus flowers flowing down from the jars held by the gods symbolises the shower. https://www.wisdomlib.org/definition/cloud-god
Concerning the ‘cloud’, the Companions of Prophet Muhammad (s.a.w.) asked him: “Where was our Lord before He created the heaven and the earth?” The Prophet (s.a.w.) replied, “He was above the (white) clouds. No air was under Him or above Him and He created His Throne and then He ascended it.” [Mokhtar Stork (2024). God’s Light (Nur) Determines Your Faith. pp. 172.].
CREATING CREATION IN DARKNESS
Novelist, Walker Percy in his book. “Lost in the Cosmos: The Last Self-Help Ship, published in 1983, states that “We know more about Crab Nebula in Taurus, which is 6,000 light-years away, than we know about ourselves.” We are looking out there in space for another earth-like planet when we have everything on earth and refuse to save it! [Mokhtar Stork (2024). God’s Light (Nur) Determines Your Faith. pp. 27].
When you view the Big Bang Theory, it states that it began from a ‘primeval atom’. This single particular disintegrated in an explosion which continues to expand to this day. Out of a state of ‘nothingness’ (darkness in Islam), creation came into existence.
In a Hadith, we find Prophet Muhmmad (s.a.w.) saying that God “created creation in darkness, then He cast His light (nur) upon it.” The Hadith even states more than that. It mentions that “whoever is touched by that light is guided, and whoever is not, he goes astray.” [Mokhtar Stork (2024). God’s Light (Nur) Determines Your Faith. pp. 48].
God is the pivotal point of creation. It begins with Him and ends with Him. Only He exists and there is none comparable to Him. In Surah Hadid 57:3-5 we find the following: “He is the First (Awal) and the Last (Akhir), the Apparent (Zahir) and the Hidden (Batin), and He is, of all things, Knowing.”
That ‘primeval atom’ mentioned by Georges Lemaître is God’s Light (Nur): His spark of Light (Nur) cast in darkness to bring about creation. There is a saying which states that He (God) desired to be known thus He created creation. Creation is a manifestation of His Divine Names and Attributes.
According to William Chittick, based on Ibnu Arabi, the Islamic philosophy, creation is God’s imaging. He was a hidden treasure and desired to be known, thus He created Creation. The Companions of the Prophet (s.a.w.) asked him: “Ya Rasulullah, where was God before.” He replied, “He was in a cloud,” (Bukhari). Every religion or mythical belief has a cloud and it took me some time to find out what this ‘cloud’ was. [Mokhtar Stork (2024). God’s Light Determines Your Faith.].
We are all miniature preordained, predestined, pre-programmed capsules. The day God breath His Spirit into Adam, He became a part of Adam. God is ‘within’ us and ‘a part’ of us. Adam was created in His image and as such we represent His Names and Attributes. God is in everything. He is everywhere. Nothing exists but Him. We as such, exist by His Will. We are nothing. Therefore, to avoid one’s Qada’ and Qadar (Destiny, Preordainment etc.), one needs to turn to Him. The Prophet (s.a.w.) in response to this said, “Do good.”
Our perception of life has always been at the mundane level. It seldom reaches spiritual reality. If it did so, our perception of life would be one of servitude and submission to God. Unfortunately, it has been egoistic and self-centred, thus causing us undue hardship and suffering. We are in fact fulfilling destiny as it has been preprogrammed or preordained. In a certain context, you could call it the MATRIX of our existence.
Having said this, one needs to keep in mind DOOMSDAY. In a cosmic sense as well as in a Qur’anic sense, “nothing remains except his Face”. This is a clear indication that decline and decadence will become the rule of the day. Injustice will be viewed as justice. The truth will be viewed as falsehood. Upholding these values in a decadent society will become a declining effort because the results will be more devastating. However, the truth has to be upheld and the cost paid for it in terms of servitude and submission and not based on emotions, revenge, hatred etc.
It essential to transcend this mundane
existence so that one can visualise the ‘reality of existence’ as it exists
with God. Evidence of this can be viewed at the Battle of Badr. The Qur’an
clearly points out that “it was not you (O Muhammad) who slew them, it was
I.” Existence is about submission and servitude to God. Its not about turning ourselves into gods. No matter how far we may progress with scientific assumptions and theories, we will and can never go beyond our created state. [Mokhtar Stork, 27 April, 2024; redone on 17 Oct, 2024].
The Islamic Cosmological Approach To God and Creation (An Analogical Argument) © 2024 by Mokhtar Stork is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 
UPDATE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HyxPjGoSQ7Y on IBNU ARABI'S SHOCKING DISCOVERY ABOUT TIME PORTALS IN SPACE
