Page 732 - Atlas of Creation Volume 3

Akbar (The greatest Sheikh) due to his superior knowledge, likens the world to our dreams by quoting a
saying of the Prophet Muhammad (may God bless him and grant him peace):

The Prophet Muhammad [may God bless him and grant him peace] said that "people are asleep and wake up
when they die." This is to say that the objects seen in the world when alive are similar to those seen when asleep
while dreaming, meaning that they exist in the imagination. 16

In a verse of Qur’an, people are told to say on doomsday when they are resurrected from the dead:

They will say, "Alas for us! Who has raised us from our sleeping-place? This is what the All-Merciful
promised us. The Messengers were telling the truth." (Surah Ya Sin: 52)
As the verse demonstrates, people wake up on doomsday as if waking from a dream. Like someone

woken from the middle of a dream in deep sleep, such people will similarly ask who has woken them up.
As the verse points out, the world around us is like a dream and everybody will be woken up from this
dream, and will begin to see images of the afterlife, which is the real life.

Worlds that are produced superficially

Modern technology presents many important examples of how sensory experience can be simulated

with a high degree of realism, without the help of any external or material world. In particular, the technol-
ogy called "virtual reality", which has developed considerably in recent years, gives us some insight on the
subject.
Simply put, virtual reality involves showing animated three-dimensional images gen-

erated on a computer so as to construct "a real world" with the help of some equipment.
This technology, which is used in many different fields for different aims, is called
"artificial reality" or "virtual world" or a "virtual atmosphere". The most impor-
tant characteristic of virtual reality is that a person who uses a special device be-

lieves that what he sees is real, and moreover he is captivated by that image. For
that reason, recently, the word "immersive" is also used to describe virtual reality,
with "immersive" meaning to involve deeply. (i.e. Immersive Virtual Reality)
The tools used to create a virtual world are a helmet (which houses a

screen that provides an image) and a pair of electronic gloves (which provide
a feeling of touch). A device in the helmet checks the movements and angle of
the head in order to provide an image on the screen which is consistent with the
head's angle and position. Sometimes, stereo pictures are reflected on the walls and

floor of a room-size cell. People who wander through the room can see themselves
through stereo glasses in different places, such as at the side of a waterfall, on the sum-
mit of a mountain, or sunbathing on the deck of a ship in the middle of the sea. The hel-
mets create 3D pictures with a realistic sense of depth and space. The pictures are

provided in proportion to human sizes and the sense of touch is provided by other equip-
ment, such as gloves. Thus, a person who uses this equipment can touch the objects that he sees
in the virtual world and can pick them up and move them. The sounds one hears in such places
are also convincing, coming from any direction with different depths and volumes. In some

applications, the very same virtual at-
mosphere can be presented to a few peo-
ple in very different places in the world.
Three people from different countries

(even different continents) can see them-
selves with the others getting on board a
powerboat.
The system used in the devices that

create the virtual world is essentially the

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