Page 780 - Atlas of Creation Volume 3

In this picture the people do not see the car and those in the car do not see them. For this particular moment they are un-
aware of one another. But someone who looks at this picture from a distance and from a different place will easily see every-
thing on both sides at the same moment. The same thing happens in human life.
We have the concepts of the past and the future and, because we are bound to time, we are able to see our future only as
time passes. But since God is not bound to time and space, He sees our past, our future and our present in one single mo-
ment, with complete vitality and clarity. For example, the sudden stop that this driver will make when he sees the people on
the road is known and seen beforehand in the sight of God.

without making any move. Instead, he gets up, takes a glass and drinks the water. Actually, he drinks a pre-
determined amount of water from a predetermined glass. But as he does this, he senses that he is acting ac-
cording to his own desire and will. He senses this throughout his life in everything that he does. The

difference between a person who submits himself to God and to the destiny created by God, and someone
who cannot grasp this reality is this: the person who submits himself to God knows that everything he does
is according to the will of God despite the sense that he has done it himself. The other person mistakenly as-
sumes that he has done everything with his own intelligence and power.

For example, when a person who has submitted himself to God learns that he has contracted a disease,
knows that the disease is in his destiny and he trusts in God. He thinks that because God has put it in his
destiny, it will certainly bring him great good. But he does not wait without taking any measures thinking
that if he is destined to get better he will get better. On the contrary, he takes all possible precautions; he

goes to a doctor, pays attention to his diet and takes medicine. But he does not forget that the effectiveness
of the doctor, the treatment, the medicine, as well as whether or not he will get better are all in his destiny.
He knows that all this is in God's memory and was present there even before he came into the world. In the
Qur’an, God reveals that everything that human beings experience is written beforehand in a book:

Nothing occurs, either in the earth or in yourselves, without its being in a Book before We make it happen.
That is something easy for God. That is so that you will not be grieved about the things that may have es-

caped you or exult about the things that come to you. God does not love any vain or boastful man. (Surat al-
Hadid: 22-23)
For this reason, anyone who believes in destiny will not be troubled or despair about things that hap-
pen to him. On the contrary, he will have the utmost trust and confidence in his submission to God. God has

determined in advance everything that happens to a person; He has commanded that we not be sorry for
the things that happen to us, and be self-satisfied by the blessings that we receive. The difficulties that

778 Atlas of Creation Vol. 3