The Secret in Each Atom

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ 

The following is adapted from a swuhbah from Shaykh Muhammad Nazhim Adil al-Haqqani (q.s.) on the 24^th January 2010. 

Every Creation of Allah (s.w.t.) is alive, and glorifies Him.  Every atom is Created by Allah (s.w.t.), and each atom has a separate existence, a life of its own.  Scientists use the latest technology to try and create atoms of new man-made elements, but these atoms are unable to exist in a stable manner, and they disintegrate.  We cannot give “life”, cannot give existence to even one atom, without Allah’s (s.w.t.) Permission.  All of mankind cannot give life to even one atom, yet Allah (s.w.t.) Gives stability to trillions and trillions and trillions of atoms. 

Our faculty of understanding is severely limited.  We can only fathom something, within the limits of our mind, within the boundaries of intelligence that we are endued with.  For example, the phrase from “pre-eternity to eternity” is used fairly often, but we really do not understand what it means in reality.  What was it like, before Creation was Created, before time was Created, in a time where time itself, did not exist?  And what about eternity?  What is the concept of time then, when it goes on forever?  We cannot really grasp the reality of this fully.  We are weak. 

Allah (s.w.t.) Says in a hadits qudsi, “Kuntu kanzan maghfiyan,” which means, “I am that One, I was a Secret Treasure.”  The translated words do not carry the same weight as the Arabic words, and the Arabic words themselves portray Allah (s.w.t.) in a way that our mind can never understand.  Even to translate the first Arabic word into English - “I Am” - it cannot capture the essence of what Allah (s.w.t.) Means when He says, “I Am.”  An Ocean of words cannot explain what Allah (s.w.t.) Means by that statement.  For when Allah (s.w.t.) Said those words, Creation did not exist to hear it, and He Said, “I Am Here.  I Am your Lord.  I Am Here.”  He then Said, “I was a Hidden Treasure.”  What do our minds understand from the word “Treasure”?  We cannot even come close to picture and understand what sort of Treasure Allah (s.w.t.) Is.  Even if all the treasure in the entire universe was gathered, it is not an apt description of what Allah (s.w.t.) is Saying, and even if the entire universe itself were a treasure, every atom of it, it still cannot describe the Treasure Mentioned by Allah (s.w.t.).  And even if we tried to describe the Treasure from pre-eternity to eternity, we could never explain what is meant by Allah (s.w.t.) Being a Hidden Treasure. 

Even an atom is a treasure in itself.  It contains vast power.  No one has ever seen or touched or burnt an atom.  Yet, an atom is more powerful that all of Creation.  When we learnt to harness just a little bit of the atom’s hidden power, he created the atomic bomb.  And the power of that entire explosion hinges on the power contained in just one atom in the bomb.  We have never seen, never touched, never burnt an atom, yet an atom contains enough energy to burn the whole world 100 times over.  Just imagine the power that is hidden by Allah (s.w.t.), in each atom.  If we cannot see or understand the hidden power in an atom, we are definitely unable to understand the Creator of the atom, the “Hidden Treasure”, Himself.  It is impossible to know the Condition of Allah (s.w.t.) so we should never ask that question.  The human mind is unable to approach the understanding of Allah’s (s.w.t.) Existence. 

Hidden within each atom, is an ocean of knowledge, some of it known to us, other parts, unknown.  And each atom, just like humans, has a personality of its own.  Since we are unable to completely understand even one atom’s unique personality, we are unable to understand every atom’s personality.  And we are unable to understand the One who Created all these atoms with their unique personalities.  It is impossible to do so.  We does not even understand our own selves, our own nature, completely, so how can we truly know about Allah’s (s.w.t.) Nature?  A human being has difficulty even re-assembling a dismantled clock, how are we to really understand Allah’s (s.w.t.) Existence? 

Sayyidina ‘Ali ibn Abu Thalib (k.w.), a vastly knowledgeable Companion, was once asked, “How is the Condition of Allah?” to which he replied, “Allah is He Who Created the meaning of the “How” in your question, hence it is impossible to understand Him, so leave such a question.” 

In conclusion, we must know that He has an Existence that is completely different from the existence of the rest of the Creation.  He is the Creator.  He never resembles the Creation.  As long as you know and believe this, you are going to be Granted more and more Heavenly Lights, and more Knowledge will be Granted to us. 

سُوۡرَةُ الإخلاص

وَلَمۡ يَكُن لَّهُ ۥ ڪُفُوًا أَحَدٌ (٤) 

And there is none like unto Him. (Surah al-Ikhlasw:4) 

سُوۡرَةُ الشّوریٰ

... لَيۡسَ كَمِثۡلِهِۦ شَىۡءٌ۬‌ۖ ... (١١) 

… there is nothing whatever like unto Him ... (Surah ash-Shura’:11)