Page 105 - Matter: The Other Name for Illusion

The great Islamic scholar Muhyiddin Ibn al-'Arabi explains that the deeds
we do belong to God:
As for the spirits, the source of the actions that derive from them is not
found in their entities. It is God alone who puts spirits and objects into
action continuously. … Spirit and matters are not comprised of chosen
beings and determined facts. They are comprised of divine acts; various
manifestations of the almighty being. In the same way, things that are said
to be finite or infinite are nothing but a single entity seen from two
different points. 35

As Muhyiddin Ibn al-'Arabi explains, it is God Who creates every deed
and makes the soul of the doer believe that it is he himself who is performing
it. God creates this sense so realistically in every soul that someone who throws
a stone, for example, really thinks that he is throwing it himself. However, a
person who is a shadow being cannot perform the act of throwing, but God

makes him feel as if he is performing the act. As a result of the wonderful
perfection in God's creation, a person senses this feeling intensely and actually
thinks that he is holding the stone, drawing back his arm to exert strength for
speed and throwing it.
Human beings live at every moment dependent on God and, whether
they know it or not, or whether they accept it or not, they are subject to God.
God reveals this in this verse:

Everyone in heaven and earth prostrates to God willingly or
unwillingly, as do their shadows in the morning and the evening. (Surat
ar-Ra'd: 15)

Whoever you know, who lives or has lived in this world, in the present or
in the past, wherever he may be, whatever he may possess, or no matter how
stubborn a denier he may be, this reality does not change for him or for

anyone. Every human being is subject to God's will, every person is a shadow
being created from the breath of God's Spirit. Anyone who knows this finds it
impossible to accept praise for his wealth, knowledge, title or reputation; nor
can he accept adulation for his place or position in society or success in his
profession. Those who are still arrogant despite this are in fact completely
powerless. After God has revealed that the person who thinks he has thrown
the stone has not really thrown it, but that it was God Himself who threw it, it

is unfathomable ignorance for anyone to think that he deserves credit for any

Why Is The Truth About Matter Such An Important Subject? 103