MAN, WORLD, UNIVERSE AND ISLAM

by AHMED HULUSI
www.ahmedhulusi.org

Do we know anything about the world, which exists, beyond our physical viewpoint? In this day and age, everybody asked this question will naturally give the following answer:
“Of course, I live on Earth!” Well, this is actually the answer given to the question: “Where do you live now?”
If you tell someone that he is an alien from outer space then the reply will be: “No, how can this happen? I am from a planet known as Earth.” So, is this Earth not in space? Are we not living on a planet called Earth, which is travelling through space?
Well, if we consider this realistically, we are in fact only a tiny speck in space. Because we have for so many centuries been inclined to accept everything in a conditioned manner, we think that we live in a world which is fixed at some point, around which the sun orbits, and that the whole of the universe is rotating about our planet Earth. As a result of this assumption, we accept ourselves as being life forms living on this Earth, and the Earth as the centre of the universe.
The most up-to-date modern science of our time still hasn't succeeded in making us aware that there are many other realities beyond our knowledge, which have to be learned in the meantime. We keep on telling ourselves that we are a species born and raised on the planet Earth. Yes, but even though each of us has lived and spent our time here on this Earth, how could the world we live in be best explained? Under what criteria will the definition of our world be made? What sort of world is it and where can it be found in the universe?

Again, let me ask you a different question this time: How old are you? Some of you will say I am 30 and some of you will say I am 50. Now, the question is, are you really 30 or 50 years old? What I mean to say is, what dictates that your age is 30 or 50?
As we already know, the world that we live in at present is only one of many other planets in this solar system of ours, which rotates around the sun. We are approximately 150 million kilometres away from the sun, continuously turning around this giant hot star. The sun which we see every day in the sky, standing out there in the sky like a giant copper tray or a massive saucepan is approximately one million 303 thousand times bigger than our world in terms of its mass.
Now, at this point, let's try to concentrate: We are always telling ourselves that our lives on Earth have been in the process of continuation ever since we were created. Furthermore, our definition of a one-year period is the amount of time it takes our Earth to complete one full revolution around the sun. According to us, this is the unit of measure, which is represented by one year. We also tell ourselves that our age has reached 30, because the Earth has gone around the sun 30 times in succession. In other words: since the day we were born, the Earth has completed exactly 30 revolutions around the sun. As can be seen very clearly from this example, this is the way in which we have produced our own definition of time. Meanwhile, we are still unable to come to terms with a very important factor, which needs to be understood, either by deliberately ignoring it or by pretending that we don't want to know anything about it at all. Or perhaps we are totally unaware of this fact.

Because in our world of limited understanding, there is no such concept or point of view. Yes, in reality, all of us, regardless of whom we are, are living in our own world of perception and resemble very closely indeed a shell, covered over and submerged, so that our contact with the outside world has been completely lost. As a result of this, we can just about manage to communicate with the others around us through using our limited understanding but also get trapped into the values that these people have predetermined for us.
Being stuck into our own world of perception, we know absolutely nothing about what is happening out there, which means that our interpretation of what is actually happening around us is a complete mystery to us and is something that we don’t notice, and therefore we are not able to realize many of the facts of our lives.

NATIONALISM AND ISLAM

Messenger of Allah (saws) said, "He is not one of us who calls for 'asabiyyah, (nationalism) or who fights for 'asabiyyah or who dies for 'asabiyyah." And in another hadith, the Messenger of Allah (saws) referring to nationalism, racism, and patriotism said "Leave it, it is rotten". [Muslim and Bukhari]

Explanation of Hadith:
On one occasion during the time of the Prophet (sal Allahu alaihi wa sallam), a party of Jews conspired to bring about disunity in the ranks of the Muslims after seeing the Aus and Khazraj harmonious with each other within Islam. A youth from among them was sent to incite remembrance of the battle of Bu'ath, where the Aus had been victorious over the Khazraj. He recited poetry to stir their feelings, remind them of their past differences, and bring about division between them. As a result there was a call to arms. When the news reached the Messenger of Allah (sal Allahu alaihi wa sallam) he said, "O Muslims, remember Allah, remember Allah. Will you act as pagans while I am present among you, after Allah has guided you to Islam, and honoured you thereby and made a clean break with paganism; delivered you thereby from disbelief; and made you friends thereby?" When they heard this they wept and embraced each other. [The Roots of Nationalism In The Muslim World]