Page 885 - Atlas of Creation Volume 1

Harun Yahya

Another interpretation of the above verse is that God constantly maintains the images of the material
universe that people see. (God knows best.) If God did not wish to show the image of the world to our minds,
the entire universe would cease to exist for us, and we could never reach it.
That we can never directly contact the material universe also answers the question of "Where is God?"

that preoccupies a great many people.
As mentioned at the start, many cannot comprehend God's power and so, imagine Him as present some-
where in the heavens and not really intervening in worldly affairs. (God is certainly beyond that.) This logic
is based on the assumptions that the universe is an assembly of matter and God is "outside" this material

world.
However, just as we can never reach the material universe, neither can we have full knowledge of its true
essence. All we know is the existence of the Creator Who brought all these things into being—in other words,
God. To express that truth, great Islamic scholars like Imam Rabbani have said that the only absolute being is

God; and that all the rest, except Him, are shadow entities.
That is because the world we see is entirely in our minds, and to directly experience its counterpart in the
external world is totally impossible.
That being so, it would be wrong to imagine that God is "outside" of a material universe that we can

never attain.
God is surely "everywhere" and encompasses all. This reality is explained in the Qur'an as follows:
... His Footstool encompasses the heavens and the earth and their preservation does not tire Him. He is the
Most High, the Magnificent. (Surat al-Baqara: 255)

What! Are they in doubt about the meeting with their Lord? What! Does He not encompass all things?
(Surah Fussilat: 54)
The fact that God is not bound with space and that He encompasses everything roundabout is stated in

another verse as follows:
Both East and West belong to God, so wherever you turn, the Face of God is there. God is All-
Encompassing, All-Knowing. (Surat al-Baqara: 115)

Material beings cannot see God; but God sees the matter He created in all its forms. In the Qur'an, this
fact is stated thus: "No vision can grasp Him, but His grasp is over all vision." (Surat al-An'am: 103)That is,
we cannot perceive God's existence with our eyes, but God has thoroughly encompassed our inside and out-
side, our vision and thoughts. We cannot utter any word except with His knowledge, nor can we even draw

breath.
In the course of our lives, while we watch perceptions we assume to be the "external world," the closest
being to us is God Himself. The secret of the following verse in the Qur'an is concealed in this reality: "It was

We Who created man, and We know what dark suggestions his soul makes to him: for We are nearer to
him than (his) jugular vein." (Surah Qaf: 16) When a person thinks that his body is made up of "matter," he
cannot comprehend this important fact. If he takes his brain to be himself, then what he accepts as the "out-
side world" will begin at about 20 to 30 centimetres away. But when he conceives that everything he thinks of
as matter is only perceptions in his mind, any notions such as outside or inside, far or near lose all their

meaning. God has encompassed him and He is infinitely close to him.
God informs men that He is "infinitely close" to them with the verse "If My servants ask you about Me,
I am near…" (Surat al-Baqara: 186). Another verse relates the same fact: "Surely your Lord encompasses the

people." (Surat al-Isra: 60)
Man is misled if he thinks that the being closest to him is himself. God, in truth, is even closer to us than
ourselves. He has called our attention to this point in the verse "Why is it not then that when it (soul) comes
up to the throat, and you at that time look on, We are nearer to him than you, but you see not." (Surat al-
Waqi'a: 83-85) People, however, remain unaware of this phenomenal fact because they cannot see it with

their eyes, as revealed in the verse.
On the other hand, it is impossible for man—who is nothing but a shadow being, as Imam Rabbani put
it,— to have any power independent of God. The verse "But God has created you and your handwork!"

Adnan Oktar 883