Page 766 - Atlas of Creation Volume 2

This verse is describing how the material universe is maintained under the might of God. God crea-
ted the universe, the Earth, mountains, and all living and non-living things, and maintains all these
under His power at every moment. God manifests His name al-Khaliq in this material universe. God is
al-Khaliq, in other words, the Creator of all things, the Creator from nothing. This shows that there is a

material universe, outside our brains, consisting of entities created by God. However, as a miracle and
manifestation of the superior nature of His creation and His omniscience, God shows us this material
universe in the form of an “illusion,” “shadow,” or “image.” As a consequence of the perfection in His
creation, human beings can never reach the world outside their brains. Only God knows this real mate-

rial universe.
Another interpretation of the above verse is that God constantly maintains the images of the mate-
rial universe that people see. (God knows best.) If God wished not to show us the image of the world in
our minds, the entire universe would disappear for us, and we could never again make contact with it.

Faced with such facts, one must conclude that the only absolute being is God, Who encompasses eve-
rything in the heavens and the Earth:

What! Are they in doubt about the meeting with their Lord? What! Does He not encompass all things!
(Qur'an, 41: 54)

Both East and West belong to God, so wherever you turn, the Face of God is there. God is All-Encompassing,
All-Knowing. (Qur'an, 2: 115)

What is in the heavens and in the Earth belongs to God. God encompasses all things. (Qur'an, 4: 126)

When We said to you, "Surely your Lord encompasses the people with His knowledge"… (Qur'an, 17: 60)

… His Footstool encompasses the heavens and the Earth and their preservation does not tire Him. He is the
Most High, the Magnificent. (Qur'an, 2: 255)

God's knowledge and ability surrounds us from the front and back, from right and left-that is to say,
He encompasses us completely. He observes us everywhere, at every moment. He holds absolute control

over us, from inside and outside. He, the Owner of infinite might, is closer to us than our own jugular
veins.

Conclusion

It is of the utmost importance to understand correctly the secret beyond matter explained in this
chapter. Mountains, plains, flowers, people, seas-briefly everything we see and everything that God
informs us in the Qur'an that exists and that He created out of nothing is created and does indeed exist.
However, people cannot see, feel or hear the real nature of these beings through their sense organs. What

they see and feel are only their copies that appear in their brains. This is a scientific fact taught at all
schools of medicine. The same applies to the book you are reading now; you can not see nor touch the
real nature of it. The light coming from the original book is converted by some cells in your eyes into
electrical signals, which are then conveyed to the visual center in the back of your brain. This is where

the view of this book is created. In other words, you are not reading a book which is before your eyes
through your eyes; in fact, this book is created in the visual center in the back of your brain. The book
you are reading right now is a “copy of the book” within your brain. The original book is seen by God.
It should be remembered, however, that the fact that the matter is an illusion formed in our brains

does not “reject” the matter, but provides us information about the real nature of the matter: that no per-
son can have connection with its original. Moreover, the matter outside is seen not just by us, but by
other beings too. The angels God delegated to be watchers witness this world as well:

And the two recording angels are recording, sitting on the right and on the left. He does not utter a single
word, without a watcher by him, pen in hand! (Qur'an, 50: 17-18)

764 Atlas of Creation Vol. 2