Page 190 - Matter: The Other Name for Illusion

on one plane and appearance on another… 46

As a result, as we can see from Imam Rabbani's clear exposition, matter is
not an absolute entity and we have only a very limited knowledge of it. All we
can see is the image presented to us in our minds. It is God, the Lord of all the
Worlds, who creates this image and presents it to us.
The great Islamic scholar Muhyiddin Ibn al-'Arabi also believes that the
only thing that has definitive existence is God, Who has created the whole
universe only on the perceptual level. He is known as "The Greatest Master"

(Shaykh al-Akbar) on account of the depth of his knowledge, and in his work
The Essence of Wisdom (Fusûs al-Hikam), he reveals that the universe is but a
shadow existence consisting of what is manifested by God:
I say that you must know that apart from God, all that exists, or
everything in the universe, stands in the same relation to God as a shadow
to a man. That being the case, everything apart from God is but His
shadow… There is no doubt that the shadow exists in perception. 47

As Muhyiddin Ibn al-'Arabi's words demonstrate, man is something that
possesses the soul God has breathed into him, a manifestation of God. God is
all that really exists, whereas man is a dream. This is a most important truth,
and we would be making a grave error to believe the opposite.
Alongside Imam Rabbani, Mawlana Jami also expresses this astonishing
truth, that he came by from signs in the Koran and by using his own powers of
reason, in the words; "Whatever exists in the universe is but a perception. It

is like a reflection in a mirror, or a shadow".
As we have seen, great Islamic thinkers have made this truth perfectly
clear, and for this reason it is not credible to claim that it conflicts with the
Koran and the Sunnah, or that it is rejected by the world of Islam. What is
more, it must not be forgotten that it is a scientifically proven fact, which
nobody can deny, that we see all that we do in our brains. Because this was not
scientifically known in past times, it is quite natural that some Islamic scholars
should not have referred to it. Furthermore, the fact that we cannot have direct
experience of the original matter has been described in a perverted way by

some circles, who have tried to do away with the rules and laws of religion in
this way. On account of these twisted and dishonest views, some Islamic
scholars have issued warnings against these dangers. However, these
comments have deviated from the truth. They should not be compared with

188 MATTER: THE OTHER NAME FOR ILLUSION