Page 224 - Matter: The Other Name for Illusion

strengthens all our efforts to gain God's good pleasure, and increases our
determination many times over.

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O Objection: "Is it really true that God is everywhere? Does His
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s sovereignty not lie in the heavens?" "
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R Reply: Some people believe in the existence of themselves, matter, and
the world they see around them. They think of God as an illusion that
somehow surrounds this existing matter. (God is surely beyond that) Or, since
they cannot see God with their own eyes, they say "God must be somewhere
we cannot see, in space, or somewhere far away in the sky." (God is surely
beyond that) These are all enormous mistakes.
God is everywhere, not just in the heavens. As the only thing that truly
exists, God permeates all the universe, all people, and all places and He
manifests Himself in the entire universe. Wherever you turn, the face of God is
there. According to the accounts related, our Prophet (may God bless him and
grant him peace) told a person who says that God is in the heavens that he's
telling the truth. However, this account does in no way conflict with the fact
that He is everywhere. Since if one person on earth at one point on your
location holds his hands up and prays to God and assumes that He is in the
heavens and if another person at the South Pole turns to God in the same way
and yet another person at the North Pole also holds his hands up, and another
in Japan, another in America and yet another on the equator all turn to Him
holding their hands up to heaven, then it's impossible to talk about any fixed
direction. In the same way if the djinns, angels, satans at different points of the
universe and the space pray towards the heavens, then a fixed heaven or
direction would be out of the question to discuss and it would cover the entire
universe. Wherever you turn, the manifestation of God is there. As we have
seen in earlier sections, it has been revealed in several verses of the Koran that
God is everywhere, closer to us than our own bodies, and that wherever we
turn we see the face of God. For instance, He says "... His Footstool
encompasses the heavens and the earth..." (Surat al-Baqara: 255) Another
verse stresses that there is no doubt that the Lord encircles all that people do:
"... But my Lord encompasses everything that you do! " (Surah Hud: 92)
As is revealed in the Koran, God is not solely in the heavens. God is
everywhere. This truth has been given us by means of the Koran.
222 MATTER: THE OTHER NAME FOR ILLUSION