The Universe Is an Open Book Who Reads It with the Heart

Reflections on the Signs of God in the Horizons and Within the Self Have you ever opened a book and found your name written in it That moment when you see the word you or to you on a page you feel as if the book is speaking to you personally as if the writer was thinking about you when those lines were written The universe in which we live this vast universe with its heavens and earth sun and moon stars and seas mountains and rivers plants and animals is an open book It does not contain words written in ink but it contains signs indications and meanings that speak to those who reflect guide those who search and remind those who forget And in this great book your name is written as well The universe speaks to you personally reminding you of the truth about yourself and inviting you to know your Creator Let us begin a short journey through this open book First signs in the horizons when the universe speaks the language of unity Look at the sky on a clear night what do you see Countless stars each in its place moving in its orbit not colliding with others not moving ahead of its path and not falling behind Who taught these stars this order who set their paths who preserved them from collision and loss Then look at the sun that rises every morning imagine if one day it rose from the west or if it delayed for several hours or suddenly stopped What would happen to life on earth Then look at the night and the day as they alternate without weariness and without delay If night were endless life would die from cold and darkness If day were endless the earth would burn from the heat of the sun This wonderful order this amazing balance and this astonishing harmony among millions of cosmic elements cannot be a coincidence Chance does not create order and chaos does not produce balance This universe bears witness to the oneness of its Creator If there were multiple gods each with an independent will their wills would conflict their laws would collide and the entire universe would collapse (AllŒh has not taken any son, nor has there ever been with Him any deity.

[If there had been], then each deity would have taken what it created, and some of them would have [sought to] overcome others. Exalted is AllŒh above what they describe [concerning Him].

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And God also says Had there been within them [i.e., the heavens and earth] gods besides AllŒh, they both would have been ruined. So exalted is AllŒh, Lord of the Throne, above what they describe (AL‑ANBIYĀ’ :22)

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The universe is an open book and on its first page is written There is no god except Allah Second signs within the self when the truth about the human being is revealed Now do not look at the sky look at your hand the hand with which you hold your phone right now Reflect on it for a moment Within this small hand there are bones joints nerves and blood vessels all working together with astonishing precision You can hold something heavy with it and you can pick up something extremely delicate with it You can feel heat cold texture and pain Who designed this hand with such precision who placed within it all these abilities Then look at your heart that small organ that beats one hundred thousand times every day without you asking it without you even noticing it pumping blood to every cell in your body If this heart stopped for one moment what would happen If you were responsible for organizing your own heartbeat controlling its number and distributing blood throughout your body how many minutes would you last before making a mistake Then look at your mind this extraordinary organ containing eighty six billion neurons communicating with each other at incredible speed storing your memories organizing your thoughts controlling your movements and allowing you to feel joy sorrow and pain Who created this mind who placed these abilities within it who made it work with such precision and efficiency (And in yourselves.

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Then will you not see?

Meaning within yourselves are signs pointing to the existence and wisdom of the Creator will you not see them and reflect upon them Your body O human being is another open book its pages are your organs its words are your abilities and its meaning is that you are a purposeful creation made with care and loved by your Creator Third when humans challenge their Creator a small question that reveals great ignorance In the midst of these astonishing signs some people stand and ask Why is there pain in the world Why is there evil Why do we die Sometimes these questions lead them to doubt the existence of the Creator or even accuse Him of injustice Yet this question despite its depth reveals something important about the human soul Human beings judging the universe Pause for a moment and think about this We humans live in this vast universe yet we dare to judge it saying this is right this is wrong this is justice this is injustice this is good this is evil But who gave us the authority to judge the universe Where did we get the standards of good and evil justice and injustice Are we the creators of the universe so that we judge it Are we more knowledgeable than the Creator about wisdom Are we greater than the Creator so that we criticize Him The universe existed billions of years before us we are only a passing moment within its long existence When we judge the universe we unknowingly place ourselves in the position of a god judging the creation of the Creator as if we know better than Him what should be And even more astonishing when we complain about pain evil and death we forget that these very things give life its meaning Without pain we would not know the value of comfort Without sadness we would not understand joy Without illness we would not appreciate health Without death life would lose its taste This world was never promised to be paradise God did not promise us paradise in this life He promised us a life that contains good and evil pleasure and pain health and illness life and death Then He promised us a meeting with Him after that where believers will live in a paradise without pain or sorrow and where the wrongdoers will receive their just recompense (And this worldly life is not but diversion and amusement.

And indeed, the home of the Hereafter – that is the [eternal] life, if only they knew).

Meaning the real life the life of eternity and true joy is the hereafter not this temporary world Fourth when a human being returns to the natural disposition a journey from questions to certainty The natural disposition is the inner compass that God placed within every human being It makes a person incline toward truth recognize goodness and ask about the Creator even if they were never raised with religion Every child is born upon this natural disposition They do not know atheism or polytheism they naturally incline toward belief in the Creator goodness and beauty But environment parents society and media may change this disposition distort it or cover it When a person begins the journey of searching for truth they are not truly searching for something new They are simply returning to their original nature removing the dust from their heart remembering what they always knew deep inside This return begins with a question Is there a Creator of this universe Then it develops into deeper questions What does this Creator want from me How should I truly worship Him What happens after death Islam does not come with strange answers to these questions It simply reminds you of what your natural disposition already knows awakening what was asleep within you and illuminating the path you were searching for (So direct your face [i.

e., self] toward the religion, inclining to truth. [Adhere to] the fi‹rah[1] of AllŒh upon which He has created [all] people. No change should there be in the creation of AllŒh.[2] That is the correct religion, but most of the people do not know).

Fifth when the believer asks why did God create evil If God created everything did He also create evil If He created evil does that mean He is evil and how could He create evil then punish us for it In nature existence is built upon opposites We know light through darkness We know sweetness through bitterness We know heat through cold We know beauty through ugliness And we know goodness through evil Evil in the world is not evidence that its Creator is evil Rather it is evidence that life is a place of testing not a place of final reward In a place of testing we need both good and evil We need good so that we may be grateful And we need hardship so that we may be patient As for the place of reward the hereafter there God will separate good from evil He will place the righteous believers in a paradise with no evil and no pain And the unjust wrongdoers in a fire with no goodness and no comfort (Every soul will taste death.

And We test you with evil and with good as trial; and to Us you will be returned).

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(So whoever does an atom's weight[1] of good will see it, And whoever does an atom's weight of evil will see it )(AZ-ZALZALAH:7,8)

Sixth when the heart responds a journey from certainty to prostration When the signs in the horizons unite with the signs within the self and when the heart becomes quiet and satisfied with the answers something extraordinary happens The soul prostrates before its Creator Not only a prostration of the body but a prostration of the spirit a complete surrender and willing submission At that moment a human being realizes that they are not lost in this universe They are intended they are known and they are loved by their Creator (And I did not create the jinn and mankind except to worship Me.)(ADH-DHĀRIYĀT:56)

Worship is the purpose and the entire universe bears witness to this purpose The stars glorify Him the mountains glorify Him the birds glorify Him in fact everything in the universe glorifies God though we do not understand their glorification (The seven heavens and the earth and whatever is in them exalt Him.

And there is not a thing except that it exalts [AllŒh] by His praise, but you do not understand their [way of] exalting.

Seventh a message to you the reader Now after this short journey through the open book of the universe what will you do Will you pass by these signs quickly and return to the noise of daily life Or will you sit quietly for a moment reflect think deeply and ask yourself honestly Can all this order truly be meaningless Can all this precision truly be a coincidence Can I with this complexity and awareness simply be a random accident in the universe Or is there a wise knowing powerful Creator who created all this with purpose and created me to know Him worship Him obey Him and then reward me in the hereafter The universe is an open book And God invites you to read it And you alone choose whether to read or to spend your life blind to the signs of your Lord (Indeed, those who disbelieve [i.

e., reject the message] after their belief and then increase in disbelief – never will their [claimed] repentance be accepted, and they are the ones astray).

Signs for people of understanding those whose minds reflect think conclude and believe Will you be among them

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