islam: the numinous science
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n the Name of Allah, The Merciful, The Compassionate
Islam: The Sacred Science
The basis of Islam - the Sacred Science - is Allah and thus the Unity of Acausal and Causal . Because
f this, the Sacred (Numinous) Science of Islam (that is, Islamic Science) in both its philosophy and
ts methodology (its practice, and its application as technology) is fundamentally different from
modern Western Science with its limited causal-only perspective.
The purpose of these texts are to explain the basis and fundamentals of Islamic Science and how itiffers from modern causal Science.
The Basis of Islamic Science
Concerning Angels, Jinn and Paradise
Allah, Islamic Science and the Nature of the Acausal
Quote from The Basis of Islamic Science:
" Islamic science itself may be defined as the quest to know and understand, through
reason, observation, and experimentation, the realms of both causal and acausal, and toseek to apprehend the Unity which lies beyond both ...
For too long the so-called 'superiority' of causal-only Western science has gone
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unchallenged, particularly among the Muslim world. Indeed, many modernist Muslims
- seeing how modern causal science and technology have changed the Western world
and brought power and wealth - have often uncritically accepted this causal science and
sought to find confirmation of the truths of Islam in modern scientific discoveries and
modern scientific ideas. Thus, for instance, the many books and articles about how the
Quran has been 'confirmed' by modern science. This is both dangerous and wrong.
Dangerous, because it is a de facto acceptance of causal science with its limited
humanist perspective and ever-changing theories; and wrong because the truth of Islamis above and beyond the limited causal perspective which underlies this modern causal
science. Islam is beyond this causal science because the truth of Islam is the truth of the
acausal, the truth of Being itself, the truth of Unity, of the One, which causal science
does not concern itself with. "
Editorial Note (2009 CE):
These articles dealing withIslam: The Numinous Science were all written by Myatt in the two years
mmediately following his conversion to Islam, that is, from late 1998 to early 2000 CE.
However, Myatt later (in 2004 CE) admitted that these articles contain, from a Muslim perspective,
many errors and many omissions, which errors and omissions arose due to his lack of detailed
nowledge concerning Al-Islam. He also stated that he would, after sufficient years of learning, andtudy of classical Islamic texts, revise or otherwise rewrite these particular articles, something he has
et to do.
Myatt subsequently withdrew all these articles about Islamic science, pending rewrites.
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In the Name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful
The Basis of Islamic Science
ntroduction: The Nature of Islam
slam, correctly understood, is the sacred science: a rational apprehension of all that is. As such,
slam explains in a reasoned, rational, way not only our own place, as human beings, on Earth and in
he general cosmic scheme of things, but also the real nature of the cosmos: of what Western sciencend philosophy has called "the external world". The real nature of the cosmos, according to the sacred
cience of Islam, is that we apprehend it - or rather can apprehend it - as both causal and acausal.
Both Western science, and Western philosophy, have hitherto ignored the acausal aspect, an aspect
which Islamic science seeks to apprehend through reason and experiment.
For Islam, all that exists, has existed or will exist is a creation of Allah, and as such the search, the
uest, for knowledge, for truth, is sacred: an act of worship, a duty which expresses the nature of our
wn humanity.
The crux to understanding the sacred - the numinous - nature of Islam is the knowledge, the truth, that
here is only the Unity, the Oneness, of Allah and His Creation which Unity is the reality behind the
ppearance of causal and acausal. To seek to know and understand both casual and acausal is to seek
o know Allah and His creations.
The Nature of Science
cience is generally regarded and generally understood to be the rational pursuit of knowledge by
mpirical means - that is, through observation, experiment and the use of reason, or logic. Genuine
cientific theories are only a rational explanation of what has been observed, in an experiment or via
he senses, or what has been assumed to exist on the basis of observation, experiment or logical
easoning.
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All reasoning, however, has to be based upon some fundamental assumptions, or some fundamental
eliefs. These beliefs or assumptions, which underlie science by the nature of knowledge itself and by
he nature of the pursuit of knowledge, concern the fundamental reality - the nature of what we call
eality' (or existence) itself.
o far in the history of human thought, there have been two very different answers given to the nature
f Reality. The first, though not the most ancient, is what we may call the humanist answer, and this
nderlies what has become to be called modern science. This answer is based upon the assumption
hat Reality is defined by us, as human beings and it really is a deification of the human individual: of
uman beings as Masters of the Earth, and masters of their own Destiny. The assumption here is that
what is called the natural orphysical world - observed, known or understood by our senses - is the
undamental reality. Thus, the science based upon this humanist - this atheistic - answer is the
etached science so evident in the modern world: knowledge "pursued for the sake of knowledge" by
cientists whose standards, practical and ethical, derive from humanity itself - from the deification of
he individual.
The second, and perhaps the most ancient, answer may be called the Islamic, although it should more
orrectly be called the Muslim answer, for reasons which will become clear. This answer is based
pon the belief that there is a hierarchy of realities, of which the observable and thus physical reality,
f which we are part, is but one and perhaps the lowest one.
A glimpse of this Muslim answer occurs in the works of Aristotle. For Aristotle, the physical world
f, for example, Nature is a wonderful, often beautiful, "striving-to-become" - a striving-to-become
mmortal'. That is, it strives for more order. Thus Aristotle said that the pursuit of understanding byhe use of reason can and often does fill us, as human beings, with awe and joy - it inspires us, and
aises us, as mortals, to a higher level. In contrast to this, Plato, for example, viewed the world and
Nature as imperfect and often ugly. In the simplistic sense, Aristotle looked upward, toward what is
mmortal and infinite, while Plato looked outward from a human perspective toward an abstract,
etached and almost lifeless 'perfection' or ideal which he believed formed reality itself.
Aristotle expressed some of the essentials of the Muslim answer: (i) that the cosmos (or Reality)
xists independently of us and our consciousness, and thus independent of our senses; (ii) that our
imited understanding of this 'external world' depends for the most part upon our senses - that is, onwhat we can see, hear or touch; (iii) that logical argument, or reason, is the means to knowledge and
nderstanding of and about this 'external world'; (iv) that the cosmos is, of itself, a reasoned order
ubject to rational laws; (v) that the cosmos itself is infinite and eternal and of a higher order than us;
vi) that any speculation about the origin of the cosmos is meaningless because it is eternal; (vii) that
y us apprehending and thus coming to know and understand the cosmos through reason can lead us
o apprehend what is immortal and beyond us: that is, the infinite and eternal, the First Cause, or
Prime Mover which is the origin of everything.
slamic Science
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The complete Muslim answer - hinted at by this brief Aristotelian glimpse - is that all being and all
eings, including ourselves, relate to, were created from and are thus dependant upon the higher
Being which is Allah (or 'God') and that Allah, the God, is Reality itself.
This belief in Allah, as Seyyed Hossein Nasr has explained(1)
, forms the foundation of Islamic
cience. For Islamic science, knowledge is a way to Allah - to 'God'. Science is but a means whereby
we can come to know and understand the Signs of Allah - those things, those beings, includingurselves, which are part of the infinite cosmos, created by Allah, the Eternal, the Infinite. Thus, we
o upward (to borrow the terms of the modern philosopher Heidegger) from being to Being itself. As
we do, we are awed, and humbled, and become aware of our own place in Allah's creation.
Perhaps the best way to explain the difference between these two answers to the nature of Reality is
n terms of Time. The modern, humanist, and atheistic answer insists that Time is causal,
eterministic, and that this causal time is an expression of how physical reality 'works'. Hence the
ependence of modern sciences like Physics on abstract ideas like motion and Space-Time. For it is
his atheistic causal answer - with its restrictive view of the cosmos - which has formed the basis ofhe type of science which has come to dominate the West.
n complete contrast, the Muslim belief is that there is not only our lower, physical and thus causal
Time, but another higher or 'acausal' Time(2)
. This acausal Time is the Time of Being itself. This is
he metaphysical reality which Heidegger strove to express, albeit obscurely, beginning with his work
Being and Time', although he studiously avoided using the word 'God'.
What the two views amount to may be described by reference to ourselves. The Muslim view orelief seeks to place and define us, as individuals, in relation to Reality - in relation to Existence, to
Being; that is, in relation to Allah and the whole cosmos. Thus, it provides us with a cosmic
erspective. In contrast, the atheistic and modern view seeks to define Reality itself, and thus the
osmos, in terms of the individual - in terms of the feelings, the senses, the ideas which an individual
an think. Hence, Western philosophy does argue and has argued that Reality is only knowable in
erms of ourselves.
t is, however, the quest for knowledge - and thus science itself - which leads us, or which can lead
s, to an apprehension of Reality, of Being itself, and thus to an understanding and acceptance ofslam, of Allah. For, this defining - this thinking - of ourselves in relation to Being, in relation to
Allah, is the essence of Islam: an acceptance of the Reality which is and thus a submission to the
Being which is the essence behind the outward causal appearance of Reality.
Thus, the Physics of modern science describes only the aspect of Reality governed by, or seemingly
etermined by, causal Time, completely ignoring - and indeed rejecting the very notion of - the
causal Time which Islamic science insists does exist, beyond and above the lower physical world.
slamic science itself may be defined as the quest to know and understand, through reason,bservation, and experimentation, the realms of both causal and acausal, and to seek to apprehend the
Unity which lies beyond both.
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There thus exists the quite exciting and tremendous challenge of scientists understanding the reality
f this acausal Time and developing an entirely new Physics based upon this understanding of the
causal described as it can be in terms of acausal Space and acausal energy.
Furthermore, by understanding the difference between present science and Islamic science in terms of
his division of Time we at once counter and dispel the criticism of many modern philosophers and
cientists who by deifying the individual - and often modern science itself - scorn the very idea of
God', the very notion of an Infinite, Eternal Creator whose proper name is Allah.
For too long the so-called 'superiority' of the causal-only Western science has gone unchallenged,
articularly among the Muslim world. Indeed, many modernist Muslims - seeing how modern causal
cience and technology have changed the Western world and brought power and wealth - have often
ncritically accepted this causal science and sought to find confirmation of the truths of Islam in
modern scientific discoveries and modern scientific ideas. Thus, for instance, the many books and
rticles about how the Quran has been 'confirmed' by modern science. This is both dangerous andwrong. Dangerous, because it is a de facto acceptance of causal science with its limited humanist
erspective and ever-changing theories; and wrong because the truth of Islam is above and beyond
he limited causal perspective which underlies this modern causal science. Islam is beyond this causal
cience because the truth of Islam is the truth of the acausal, the truth of Being itself, the truth of
Unity, of the One, which causal science does not concern itself with.
t is correct to say that the Islamic perspective - the perspective of the Unity beyond both causal and
causal - represents true science: a quest for knowledge based upon reason, experimentation,
bservation whose fundamental assumption is of a reality beyond that immediately accessible to ourhysical senses. What has become to be called modern (or Western) science, in contrast, has limited
tself to only the causal aspect of reality - and then to only that part which is immediately accessible
o our senses. Because of this, Islamic science is both more profound and more human, for it
ffectively and rationally explains our own place in the cosmic scheme of things and thus enables us
o understand our very humanity.
The Islamic Scientist
The basis of Islamic Science is Allah. Because of this, Islamic Science, in both its philosophy and its
methodology (its practice and its application as technology) is fundamentally different from modern
ausal Science.
The difference is evident in the two types of Scientist. There is the modern scientist, who upholds and
who practices causal science, and there is the true Islamic Scientist that is, someone who upholds and
ractices Islamic science. (At present, there are also Muslims who uphold and practice modern
cience). A true Islamic scientist is, by definition, a Muslim: a person who accepts the reality of Allahwho accepts that there is an Infinite, Eternal Being who created this world of ours, and all life on it,
ncluding ourselves.
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Furthermore, being a Muslim, the Islamic scientist accepts that they, as individuals in their own lives,
must strive to obey the will of Allah. That is, they accept that they have certain responsibilities and
ertain duties: to their own human nature, to their fellow Muslims and fellow human beings, and to
Allah Himself. In all that they do, they are guided by Islam.
Thus, they would strive to live in an Islamic way, in the ethical way Islam has prescribed, using the
eason and the will which they possess by virtue of being human. As scientists, they would strive to
nderstand life and the cosmos itself. As Muslims, they would see this understanding as a path up
oward Allah - as a means to know and understand the Signs of Allah, and use the understanding they
cquire to better themselves, and their fellow Muslims. In their striving, both scientific and personal,
hey would not overstep the bounds prescribed by the ethics of Islam, for to do so would be wrong -
ontrary to the will of Allah.
All this arises because for Islam there is no fundamental division between 'science' and 'religion' - for
hey are the same, part of the unity which is the very cosmos itself. Thus, there is no conflict, for the
Muslim scientist, between their deen (Way of Life - often wrongly translated as "faith") and theircience: they are forms of the same thing, the Way of Life which is Al-Islam.
n the simple sense, the science of the Islamic scientist has a purpose, an intent, beyond the
ratification of the individual (through reward, prestige or influence) and beyond the mere curiosity
f the individual. The purpose is to bring the scientist nearer to Allah - to make the scientist a better
Muslim - andto aid other Muslims in particular and humanity in general. In particular, Islamic
cience is fundamentally ethical because of its Islamic foundations.
For a Muslim, scientist or not, the ethical pursuit of knowledge is itself an act of worship, and anffirmation of our humanity - of our Allah-given faculty of reason.
n contrast, the archetypal causal scientist generally pursues knowledge either for its own sake (out of
uriosity) or for some professional reward, with causal science having no ethical foundations
whatsoever (with the sole exception of Medicine, which owes its ethics to a combination of ancient
Greek philosophy and the influence of Islam, for it was the early Islamic civilization that preserved
Greek medical learning and greatly extended it
(3)
).
What ethical standards as now exist in modern science have been recently and rather uncomfortably
grafted on' often as a result of political concerns, such as environmentalism or 'animal rights'.
Muslim Being
Central to Islamic science is the Islamic belief that all beings in the cosmos are Muslim. That is, they
ll obey the will of their Creator, Allah - for it is in their nature, their very being, to do so(4)
.
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Thus, a planet, such as the Earth is exactly what Allah has commanded it to be: by its very being it
beys the will, the laws, of Allah. So does a creature, such as a bird, which lives on the Earth. Thus
oes the cosmos itself work in accordance with the will of Allah, its creator, and thus is it possible for
s, as human beings endowed with reason, to discover the being of the creations of Allah and how
hey 'fit in' with the other beings which exist and which Allah has created. In imprecise terms -
ecause all beings are Muslim, we can, through pursuing knowledge, discover the physical 'laws'
which 'govern' the cosmos.
However, all beings in the physical world are both causal and acausal. That is, they exist in both the
ausal realm and the acausal realm, and a causal being and an acausal being. Their causal being is
heir physical existence, their 'outward' appearance or form which can be observed and quantified.
Their acausal being is their innerMuslim nature. By apprehending this Muslim nature we can
nderstand and know them as they truly are and thus understand and come to know their Creator,
Allah. Thus, from a knowledge of beings we are led to Being - to Allah.
Every being by its very nature therefore is a Sign of Allah - and every being, because it is Muslim,hus praises Allah.
t is this Muslim, acausal, aspect of every being which modern science ignores but which Islamic
cience is founded upon. To truly know things, we have to know both the causal, or physical, nature
f things with the causal laws involved, and also the acausal, or Muslim, nature of things, with the
causal laws involved. Only Islamic science provides this complete knowledge - for the Unity, the
One, with which Islam deals and explains and is a guide to, is the unity of causal and acausal.
Our Human Nature
We, as human beings, are different from the other beings which we know on this Earth - for we have
een endowed by Allah, the Creator, with both reason and free will. Thus, while we are born Muslim,
s we grow and develop we can choose whether or not to obey the will of Allah. Indeed we have been
reated, on Earth, in order for us to make this choice. Our purpose is, like other beings, to obey the
will of Allah, our Creator - to consciously acknowledge our true Muslim nature. If we do this, and
ive as Muslims by following the way of Islam, we can transcend after death to those realms which
re beyond the phenomenal world with its limited causal time - we can proceed to the realms of
causal being, which Islam accepts as a fundamental reality.
f however we choose not to be Muslim - not to obey the will of Allah by not living in an Islamic way
then we will have destroyed our chance to transcend to the acausal realm, the realm of 'Heaven', of
Paradise, of an eternal existence.
Of course, causal science totally rejects the idea of such an existence after death, saying it is
nprovable. And it is unprovable in terms of the limited causal science that has become dominant inhe West, based as it is on purely causal time. But the very nature of beings - the very Signs which
hese beings are - points beyond this limited causal perspective to acausal being itself.
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Do you not see how all beings that are in the heavens and on the Earth bow down in worship to
Allah - the sun, the moon, the stars; the hills, the trees, the animals and even a great number among
mankind?" (The Quran: Sura 22; Ayat 18)(5)
The Revelation of Allah and Acausal Time
Muslims believe that the Quran is the very word of Allah, revealed to the prophet Muhammad. Most
modern scientists would express scepticism about this. Firstly, they would say that this is only a
elief, an article of faith, and as such has no 'scientific' basis - where of course by science they mean
heir own limited science with its limited causal perspective. Secondly, they would ask how 'God' -
ven if He exists - could communicate with a mortal, or even why He would bother. Thirdly, they
would want some better 'confirmation' or proof - why did not 'God' write clear prophecies about the
uture, or describe in detail some piece of advanced technology that we might construct?
The answer of Islamic science to such questions is contained in the nature of acausal being itself, and
o understand, or apprehend, the acausal is to understand how this Revelation can be in the way that it
was. The mistake of causal science and causal modern philosophy is to try and apply the causal
erspective, with its causal laws, to what is not-causal - to what is acausal - and to fundamentally
eparate 'science' from what causal science and philosophy regards as 'religion'. Beings do not have
his division - they are a unity, in themselves, by their nature: a unity of causal and acausal. To
nderstand the Revelation of the Quran we must understand or seek to understand Being - to
nderstand the 'nature' of Allah. To do this, we must understand, we must apprehend, the acausal.
The reality is that Allah is everywhere - "He is closer to you than your jugular vein" as it says in the
Quran (50; 16). We, as beings, already exist in the acausal - we are already and at every moment of
ur lives in the presence of Allah - although most of us are unaware of it, living as we do only in the
ausal time of moments, of ego, of desires. Every un-Islamic thing we do takes us further away from
he acausal, from Allah. Every Islamic thing we do - every time we obey our Muslim nature and the
will of Allah - we strengthen the acausal within ourselves and prepare for the moment when we shall
eave the temporary temporal world of causal time forever.
Appendix - The Nature of the Acausal
t might be helpful to briefly try and explain the nature of the acausal itself. At present, this is
ifficult, since true Islamic science is still in its infancy.
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However, it is to be hoped (Insha Allah) that scientists, both Muslim and non-Muslim, given an
nderstanding of the basis and importance of Islamic science, will turn away from causal science
with its limited causal perspective, and henceforward study and advance Islamic science itself. For
slamic science - the science of the unity of causal and acausal, of beings and Being - needs to be
irmly established as a separate subject in its own right, and indeed as the one true Science which can
ead us to true understanding and knowledge.
Causal Time and Space:
First, it is necessary to try and describe the causal 'world' of matter, motion and causal time: that is
he phenomenal world of Physics.
The traditional, and Western, description of causal, or ordinary, matter and its movement or change
nvolves the use of aframe of reference, or geometrical co-ordinate system, whether this be anbsolute one, as posited by Newton, or a relative one, as posited by modern Physics. Space is defined
y this frame of reference - for space, in the physical sense, is said to exist between two objects, or
oints, which are themselves described by fixed co-ordinates of a frame of reference. Space is simply
extension'. In this simple sense, causal time is the duration between the movement of an object,
measured from some starting point in a frame of reference, to the measured end of that movement in
he same frame of reference.
The notions of 'force' and 'energy' are used to describe changes which an object or objects can
ndergo, and such changes are dependant on the mass, velocity (or movement), rate of change of
elocity and the distance of movement of the object or the other object(s) which affect or cause an
bject to so change. Force, and energy, are basically expressions of the changes of causal matter over
ausal time.
Modern physics assumes these things - force, space and time - exist, of themselves. That is, that
pace exists and that a particular force, for example the gravitational force due to a massive object,
xists in the space around that massive object - or may even be some function of this abstract Space
tself.
Whatever the reality of such concepts in actual, cosmic, terms, they have hitherto proved useful in
escribing the motion and behaviour of observed and observable physical matter, as they have
rovided a basic understanding of the known physical cosmos.
n the overall, cosmic sense, the Physics of causal matter, and the laws which form the basis of this
Physics, should be considered to be a special, or limiting, case of the 'Muslim' or unitary cosmos
escribed by the laws and processes and concepts of acausal matter and acausal time. That is, the
aws, process and concepts of acausal matter and acausal time should also describe, as a limiting case,he laws, processes and concepts of known physical matter.
Furthermore, it should be noted that the modern theories of quantum mechanics and 'chaos' are just as
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much bound to causal concepts of Time and Space as the older theories such as that of Newton.
imilarly, abstract mathematical models such as those of n-dimensional non-Euclidean geometry are
lso based upon the causal when applied to actual physical concepts: they always imply some sort of
metric', some notion of causal Space. The thinking, the perception, the models and theories which
esult are still causal - still seeking to describe the cosmos in terms of a causal time and a concept of
pace which is inherently causal. This is so because the very concept of Space, however described in
urrent philosophical, physical or mathematical terms, is always defined through causality. Only
when Time itself is defined as being both causal and acausal can Space itself be properly defined,with their being causal Space and acausal Space.
Acausal Matter and Acausal Time and Space:
t should be understood that there are two different types of 'acausal matter' (or acausal being) which
xist. There is: (1) pure acausal matter (or more correctly pure acausal energy) which exists purely inhe realm (or 'universe' or 'dimensions') of the acausal; and (2) that acausal matter (or acausal being)
which by its nature, its very being, exists in both the acausal and the causal. An example of this
econd type is ourselves - for we by our nature have both a causal being (a physical body) and an
causal being, that is, a 'soul'(6)
. An example of the first type would an acausal being - such as an
Angel'.
Acausal matter of the second type - which exists partly in the causal - may be definedas ordinary,
ausal, matter plus an extra "acausal something" - rather like a charged particle is ordinary matter
lus the extra "causal something" of electrical charge. For the present, and for convenience, we mayall this extra "acausal something", acausal charge.
The basic properties of acausal matter are:
1) An acausal object, or mass, can change without any external force acting upon it - that is, the
hange is implicit in that acausal matter, by virtue of its inherent acausal charge.
2) The rate of change of an acausal object, or mass, is proportional to its acausal charge.
3) The change of an acausal object can continue until all its acausal charge has been dissipated.
4) Acausal charge is always conserved.
5) An acausal object, or mass, is acted upon by all other acausal matter in the cosmos.
6) Each acausal object in the physical cosmos attracts or repels every other acausal object in the
hysical cosmos with a magnitude which is proportional to the product of the acausal charges of
hose objects, and inversely proportional to the distance between them as measured in causal space.
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Acausal time is implicit in acausal matter, because causal space, as such, does not exist for
causal matter - that is, such acausal matter cannot be described by a frame of reference in causal
pace. Separation, in the sense of physical, causal, space measured by moments of causal time or a
uration of causal time, does not exist for acausal matter because such a separation implies causal
ime itself. Hence the principle that an acausal object or mass is acted upon by all other matter in the
osmos because all such matter can be considered to be 'joined together' - to be part of an indivisible
whole, a unity. In the abstract and illustrative sense, we could say that all acausal matter exists in the
hysical world described by causal space and causal time as well as existing simultaneously in a
ifferent continuum described by acausal space and acausal time, with this 'acausal space' incapable
f being described in terms of conventional physical space, either Euclidean or non-Euclidean. This
acausal space' and this 'acausal time' are manifested by, and described by, acausal charge itself - that
s, by the extra property which acausal matter possesses because it is acausal.
The properties of acausal matter, enumerated above, form the basis for the new Physics which
escribes acausal matter and its changes, and it is no coincidence that many of them express, for
causal charge, what the ordinary Physics expresses for ordinary matter and electric charge.
Furthermore, these basic properties of acausal matter enable us to really begin to understand, for the
irst time, the real nature of the cosmos, as they can show us the way toward developing a truly
nitary, or Muslim, technology and an unitary or Muslim medicine capable of replacing the rather
ifeless, primitive and often damaging medicine of the present which relies on traumatic surgery and
ften debilitating pharmaceutical compounds.
Detecting Acausal Charges:
The acausal charges should, if they exist - that is, if the suppositions above are correct - be capable of
eing physically detected. That is, they should be capable of being observed, by us, and should be
apable of being measured quantitatively using some measuring device devised for such a purpose.
Following such detection and measurement, observations of the behaviour of such acausal charges
ould be made. Such observations would then form the basis for theories describing the nature and
he laws of such charges. The result would then be the construction of organic machines and
quipment, following the invention of basic "machines" to generate, or produce, moving acausal
harges.
A useful comparison to aid the understanding of such a process of discovery, measurement and
heory, exists in the history of electricity. Static electricity was known for many centuries, but not
nderstood until the concept of positive and negative charges was postulated. Later, instruments such
s the gold-leaf electroscope were invented for detecting and measuring such charges. Other
nstruments, such as frictional machines and the Leyden jar, were invented for producing andccumulating, or storing, electric charges, and producing small 'galvanic currents' or electricity. Then
he experimental scientist Faraday showed that 'galvanic currents', magnetism and static charges were
ll related, and produced what we now call an electro-magnetic generator to produce electricity. From
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uch simple experimental beginnings, our world has been transformed by machines and equipment
sing electricity, and by the electronics which has developed from electricity.
t is may well be that acausal charges cannot be detected by equipment based on electricity - for
lectricity is purely a causal phenomena, describable in terms of causal Physics. To detect acausal
harge and thus some acausal change, something acausal may have to be used. How this may be
one, I personally have no idea.
However, to establish the new "unitary science" - and to develop the fundamental laws of the Physics
f this new Islamic science - practical experiments need to be conducted and observations made. It is
uch practical experiments - at first to detect and measure the basic acausal charge - which may well
e the next step forward.
1) Science and Civilization in Islam (Islamic Texts Society, Cambridge, 1388 AH/1968 AD)
2) Acausal: that is, a-causal, meaning 'beyond and above the causal'. The nature of this acausal is
iscussed in the Appendix.
3) Through the School of Medicine at Jundishapur, and particularly the Bayt-ul-Hikma (the House of
Wisdom) in Baghdad.
4) Islam means "submission to the will of Allah" and a Muslim is a being which submits to the will
f Allah. To be precise, all beings are created in a state of natural purity - that is,fitrah. As human
eings, endowed with consciousness, reason and the ability to change ourselves by an act of will, we
re also born with this pure being. But as we grow, develope, become influenced by our
urroundings and other human beings, then make choices and so exercise our free will, this purity of
eing is mostly lost - and is only regained if and when we, as rational beings, consciously decide to
mbrace Islam, or , if we are born into a Muslim family, consciously re-affirm our submission to
Allah.
Thus, while we may for the sake of simplicity talk and write of beings, including human beings,
eing "born Muslim", it is technically correct to say/write "born/created in a pure state of fitrah".
5) A 'Sura' is a division of the Quran, usually translated as Chapter; 'Ayat' - rather than 'verse' - is the
erm used in the Quran to describe the divisions of a Sura, and means 'a sign'.
6) See Concerning Angels, Jinn and Paradise.
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n the Name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful
Concerning Angels, Jinn and Paradise
ntroduction
slam - and thus Islamic Science - affirms the existence of other beings in realms of existence other
han our known physical world. Thus, all Muslims believe in the actual existence of beings such asAngels and the Jinn, as they believe that the physical world which we exist in is not the only reality:
or there are other realities beyond this, one of which is Paradise.
These beliefs stem from the Holy Quran which all Muslims accept as the very word of God, of Allah,
evealed as it was to the Prophet Muhammad by the Angel Jibreel.
Muslims maintain these beliefs despite the rise and domination of Western science with its scepticism
f, and often open contempt and hostility for, such things. Indeed, Western society by its very
materialistic and secular nature is scornful of what are regarded as spiritual beliefs, which many
Western people in their arrogance believe are "unenlightened" and "out-dated" in this so-called
modern world'.
However, the purpose of this article is to show that: (1) Muslims have been right and are right to
elieve these things; and (2) that these Islamic beliefs are both rational andscientific, with the
slamic apprehension of the Cosmos being much nearer to the reality than the rather blinkered,
imited apprehension of Western science. In essence, the Islamic apprehension is not 'spiritual' or
eligious at all - it is simply the apprehension of things as those things actually are. This truthful,omplete, apprehension is the apprehension of the Unity of the Cosmos - an apprehension of The
One. Scientifically, it is the apprehension of the causal and the acausal(1)
.
The rational pursuit of scientific knowledge leads to one inescapable and rational conclusion, and one
nescapable human feeling. The rational conclusion is that there is something wonderful, some
wonderful order, about the Cosmos; the inescapable human feeling is that of awe. In brief, there is an
pprehension of God, the Creator - or more correctly, ofthe God, Allah.
According to the Holy Quran [Sura 1; 2], Allah is the Lord, the Sustainer and the Creator of the
Alamin - the Lord, the Sustainer, the Creator, of all the worlds: the world of mankind, the world of
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he Jinn, the world of the Angels, and all the other worlds where beings exist.
Allah created, or rather moulded, mankind from dust (or 'clay' or 'earth') into which He breathed life.
Allah created the Angels from light, and the Jinns from fire.
The world of mankind is the physical world we know: this planet, with its variety of life; the sun, the
thers planets of our solar system, and the physical universe itself. This is the world - the plane ofxistence - of the causal; of causal being, that is, of 'Space and Time', as understood by modern
Physics. We may call this the causal universe.
The Angels and the Jinn do not have physical attributes in this causal universe: in this temporal,
hysical world, which is why of course we cannot 'see' them with our physical eyes, and why we
annot 'hear' them with our physical ears. Rather, these beings - for beings they are, created by Allah
exist in that unity, that oneness, which is the Cosmos: that totality which is both acausal and causal.
For the Cosmos, properly defined contains both acausal existence and causal existence.
n a sense, Angels and Jinn may be considered as primarily acausal beings - beings who exist in the
ealm of the acausal universe and who consist, or are made of, 'acausal matter'. Acausal matter is
uite different from the causal matter we are familiar with, just as acausal time is totally different
rom causal time(2)
.
We human beings, by virtue of our nature, our being, also partly exist in the acausal - that is, we are
more than just physical matter: more than just a collection of physical elements arranged in a certainway and which exist in causal space and causal time. This acausal aspect of our being may be said to
e our 'soul'. When our physical body dies, the acausal aspect of our being - since it is by its very
ature acausal, existing as it does in the acausal universe - does not die. For 'death' is by its nature
nly the ending of what was causal. The acausal existence that awaits for us, after the ending of our
ausal existence depends on what we do, or do not do, in this life - it depends on whether we increase/
trengthen the acausal within us or weaken it. If we increase/strengthen the acausal, then we go to
what has been termed Paradise; if we weaken the acausal within us, then we do not go to Paradise -
we go to somewhere else, often termed Hell.
All this is very rational, and very logical. There is nothing mystical or even 'religious' about it. It is
lso scientific, given the basic assumption about the nature of reality itself - that there is a Unity, a
Oneness, which can be apprehended, by us, through understanding the causal and the acausal.
The way we can increase/strengthen the acausal within ourselves is to live in an Islamic way - that is,
ccording to the will of Allah, as revealed in the Holy Quran. Any other way of life simply weakens
ur soul, our acausal being.
To rationally understand and scientifically accept that the Islamic way is the right way, the way to
Paradise - to an eternal acausal existence - we must understand the nature of Prophecy and Revelation
tself.
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Prophets, Angels and Revelation
Prophets, such as the last Prophet Muhammad, are ordinary mortals chosen by Allah to guide human
eings. To enable them to undertake this mission of guidance, certain truths are revealedto them,
sually by the Angel Jibreel, one of the many Angels whom Allah has given certain duties to. The
Angel Jibreel is said to have 'spoken' to some of these Prophets, and occasionally to have become
hysically manifest.
The Holy Quran mentions twenty-five prophets, but says many more were sent to guide human
eings. The proper role of a Prophet is to establish a particular way of life - the way which leads to
Paradise, to Eternal Life. For Paradise is the goal, the aim, of human life itself and according to the
Holy Quran our human, causal, existence is a test - we have to show and prove that we are worthy of
n eternal acausal existence in Paradise. Thus, Allah has given us free will and the power of reason -
he ability to find and accept or reject what is good.
Properly understood, the revelation of a Prophet is a revealing of what already exists - a 'dis-
overing' (in the sense of Heidegger). Such a dis-covering uncovers Being itself - that is, what is
eyond the causal. What is beyond the causal, is not only the acausal but the Unity of causal and
causal.
To understand the true nature of Prophethood, we must begin to think in acausal terms. That is, we
must comprehend what the acausal itself is, and how the acausal universe manifests itself in theausal universe. Thus, we can comprehend how acausal matter and acausal beings, manifest or can
manifest in the causal.
We are surrounded by the acausal - we just do not notice it because for most of our lives we live in
ausal time and causal space and even think and apprehend the world, and ourselves, in purely causal
erms, through our physical senses. Thus, we are aware of the passing of 'time' - causal time - as we
re aware of other living beings on this planet. The acausal is simply a higher 'plane of reality' which
eally is acausal - that is, not dependant on causal time. There is no past, present and future as we
nderstand these things. Thus, there is no causal change. No duration; no separate moments, only a
eal timeless 'eternity'. Most importantly, there is no causal space. For causal space - the space of a
hysical geometry - does not exist in the acausal universe: in the acausal 'dimensions'. That is, there
s no finite, measurable distance which acausal beings or acausal matter/acausal energy must travel or
move through, just as these acausal beings and this acausal matter are not 'material' in our physical
ense. Because of this, physical concepts such as 'speed' (properly, velocity) are irrelevant - for
elocity is a measure of the causal time taken to travel a certain distance in causal space. Thus, space
nd time themselves (that is, causal space and causal time) would not be barriers for acausal beings.
n the same way, causal or physical matter/physical energy might be able to be changed in amultitude of ways by such acausal beings.
We can at present but dimly comprehend the nature of acausal beings - beings perhaps composed of
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ure acausal energy, and certainly unbounded by causal time and causal space. Angels are one means
whereby the will - the laws - of Allah, of the Unity, the Oneness, are communicated and made known
o human beings. That is, they are a manifestation of Allah in the causal universe: how Allah Himself
works' or achieves His aim, His will. The very nature of these angelic beings, as mentioned in the
Holy Quran, is to do this. For example, they act as messengers of Allah to human beings: to guide
umans toward the Good, to record their deeds [ Sura 82; 10-12] and so on.
n terms of such concepts, a revelation may be considered to be a manifestation of a particular type of
causal being - an Angel - to a specific human being at a specific time and place. The nature of such
n acausal being may well be that it can control or change causal matter and thus assume or take on
ausal form (such as human appearance), or use such a created causal form as an instrument to
hannel acausal energy and thus acausal information. This information concerns the nature of The
One, the nature of the acausal itself, and the way for us, as human beings, to open the Gates of
Paradise - to enter into an acausal existence. This information may be transmitted in a form which our
enses can understand - that is, in words, or visions, or both. The acausal being could appear either in
ts acausal form, or assume a more 'earthly', causal form. In either case, the Prophet - the human
eing - would be confronted with something from, or of, the acausal - something transcendent and
robably very powerful and overwhelming.
Why would such a manifestation be done? Why would that particular person be 'chosen' to receive
uch a revelation, such a visitation by an acausal being?Because it is the will of Allah. This may
eem a simple statement - and seem just to be an unsupported theological statement at that - but it
xpresses the fundamental truth of Reality itself: the fundamental truth about the Unity of causal andcausal. This simple statement is really an explanation of how the acausal 'works' or manifests in the
ausal, and how both the causal and the acausal as but aspects of the Unity, the One, which is beyond
ach of them separately. To really understand this statement, we must thinkacausally, and
onceptualize the acausal in acausal terms - not in causal terms. We must then conceptualize the
Unity beyond: we must come to know Allah, and the will of Allah.
The Will of Allah
The acausal works through and because of the will of Allah: in a sense we can understand the acausal
s the very will of Allah. That is, the term 'the will of Allah' can be understood as the acausal itself -
s the acausal universe, as the laws of the acausal, as well as the matter, the beings, which exist and
ave their very being in the acausal. In simple terms, the acausal is but a manifestation of the Being
which is Allah. And this Supreme Being - Allah - is beyond both the acausal and causal, and cannot
e conceptualized, or conceived of, in our purely causal terms, and certainly not in silly
anthropomorphic' terms.
Being creates beings - both causal and acausal. As causal beings, we humans possess a soul, an
causal aspect; we are partly acausal beings, or rather have the potential of becoming an acausal
eing inherent in us. To transcend back toward the Unity, to become acausal beings, we must
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ranscend to the acausal. To do this - which it is the very nature of our own being to do, our very
urpose - we must come to know the acausal, and the way to the acausal. Our knowing is our
pprehension of acausal beings such as Angels and our apprehension of the Unity, The One: of Allah.
Our apprehension is ofthe will of Allah - of what we are; how we came to be what we are; the
otential for acausal existence that is latent within us. By doing the will of Allah, by following the
will of Allah, we are being true to our real nature, our very being. By going against the will of Allah,
we are rejecting our true nature - rejecting our very purpose.
This is essential truth which is related in the Holy Quran. This is the essential message of
Muhammad - for his message is a valid apprehension of Reality: of what we actually are, and what
he Cosmos itself is. As such, it is and must be a revelation from Allah.
Reason, the quest for knowledge (for the Signs of Unity, of The One; the Signs of Allah), our
pprehension of the Cosmos, of the Unity of causal and acausal, all lead to this conclusion. There is
o need for 'miracles' which contradict the natural physical order; there is no need for a blind faith.
The evidence is there - in our reason, in our quest, in our knowledge, in our understanding, in ourature, in our apprehension, in our very being; in the Signs themselves.
Of course, viewed in the conventional, Western way, through the limitation of causal apprehension,
ll this seems rather 'odd' to say the least. But to really understand and accept the acausal, and thus
he Unity, The One, behind the causal and the acausal - to understand, accept and thus know Allah -
we must go beyond the limitations of causal apprehension and understand how the acausal itself
unctions, how it 'works'.
As outlined above, true acausal apprehension begins with Allah, and it returns to Allah, The One. As
or the science - the basic physics - of this acausal, the acausal universe, by its nature, is very
ifferent from the causal universe. It is the purpose of Islamic science to investigate, through rational
nd experimental means, the acausal realm - the realm of acausal matter and thus of acausal beings.
Having done this, we can form a better, more scientific, understanding of the essentially undivided
Unity of causal and acausal which is the Cosmos.
Evidence Revealed
Most people will accept that all that is written above about acausal beings, Paradise and so on,
ollows naturally - logically - from the assumption about causal and acausal apprehension. However
ome or many of these people would ask what real 'evidence' do we have for the existence of Angels,
f Jinn, of Paradise? What 'evidence' do we have that Muhammad was the Prophet of Allah, and thus
evealed the way to Paradise? By 'evidence' here, of course, they really mean scientific evidence - or
ather, evidence based on the causal Western science most of us are familiar with.
uch questions, in such terms, show a basic misunderstanding of the nature of Reality, of the Cosmos
tself. In fact, they reveal the limited, biased thinking that has come to dominate the non-Islamic
world.
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Causal, Western, science cannot provide any such evidence because it is a strictly causal and thus
imited science. Thus there can be no causal evidence of Angels, because these beings by their nature
xist in the acausal universe - they consist of acausal matter. They are thus outside the boundaries of
ausal time and causal space.
Reason, the nature of Reality itself, the quest for knowledge unhindered by limited concepts such asausal time, has led us to the apprehension of the acausal. All these things have led us to know and
nderstand 'the Signs of Allah' - the reality of the One, of the Unity, behind the outward appearance
f the causal. All these things have led us from causal being to Being itself: all these things have
evealed to us the true Muslim nature of all beings(3)
.
This apprehension of the acausal - the understanding and knowledge of Allah - is the evidence that
we need to begin our quest, and when we start this quest we are led to the further rational explanation
utlined here, which itself forms the basis for Islamic science.
t is the purpose of Islamic science to investigate, through rational and experimental means, the
causal realm - the realm of acausal matter and thus of acausal beings. Having done this, we can form
better, more scientific, understanding of the essentially undivided Unity of causal and acausal
which is the Cosmos.
t must be stressed that true Islamic science has only just begun. We are at the very beginning of our
eal scientific quest for knowledge of the Cosmos. At present, we have only the fundamental concepts
we need. To go further, we must investigate acausal matter itself, and establish physical laws toescribe the acausal universe.
. See The Basis of Islamic Science where the causal and acausal are explained. The acceptance,
nderstanding and apprehension of the Unity of acausal and causal is the basis of Islamic science, and
t is the lack of understanding and apprehension of the acausal - and thus the limiting of Western
cience to the causal - which makes Western science inferior to Islamic science.
. A brief description of some of the properties of acausal matter is given in Appendix to The Basis of
slamic Science.
. See 'Muslim Being' in The Basis of Islamic Science.
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n the Name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful
Allah, Islamic Science and the Nature of the Acausal
While Islamic Science is based upon the affirmation that there are realms beyond the causal, spatial
ne known to and observed via our physical senses, and while these realms have been described [ see
slamic Science ] in terms of the acausal, and the union of causal and acausal, it is important to
nderstand that Allah, the Supreme Being, is beyond not only the causal and acausal, but also the
nity of acausal and causal. That is, Allah is notthis unity of causal and acausal.
While an understanding and apprehension of the acausal is important for Islamic Science - and a way
o Allah - Allah is not manifest in this acausal, and its beings, as He is not manifest in the causal and
ts beings, such as ourselves. Allah is beyond every-thing and every being, whether the thing is
ausal, acausal, or both causal and acausal, and whether the being is causal, acausal or both causal
nd acausal. There is no-thing, and no-being which can be likened to Allah.
Allah cannot be conceptualized by us: not in causal terms; not in acausal terms; and not in terms of
ny combination or union of causal and acausal. Allah is separate from all of His creation - from the
ealm of the causal, from the realms of the acausal, and from those realms where there is a joining of,
r a manifestation of, both causal and acausal.
slamic Science is a way up, from the causal world of our mortal lives, and its limited causal, spatial,
erspective, toward the acausal; toward those other realms of existence which we cannot directly
xperience through our physical senses, and which are a-causal and which cannot be defined in terms
f causal Space.
slamic Science is essentially a quest to know and understand, through reasoning and the
xperimental methods of science, the realms of both causal and acausal. The beings and "the things"
f both of these realms are Signs; a means whereby we can come to appreciate and know Allah
hrough His creations. This acceptance of, and quest to apprehend and understand, both causal and
causal is the distinguishing feature of Islamic Science, for modern Science (the science of the
modern Western world) is purely causal and reductionist, seeking as it does to apprehend and
nderstand all existence in terms of spatial-temporal cause and effect, and so reducing existence, and
ll beings and all things, to mechanistic reactions between such notions as "matter", "force" and
energy". In contrast to modern causal science, Islamic Science seeks to apprehend the essentialelatedness of all existence. That is, it seeks to place all things, all beings - all that exists - in relation
o Allah, understanding as Islamic Science does that all existence is ultimately a Unity and created
rom, and dependent upon, a Higher Being who is separate from, and not influenced in any way by,
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uch created existence and Who, moreover, is still creating being and beings from non-being: Who
hus still determines, and will always determine, existence itself.
Modern science accepts as a fundamental principle that the natural world - the very cosmos itself -
works by itself without any "outside"/higher or creative intervention. That is, that it follows natural,
nchanging, physical laws. Life itself is thus the product of certain chance physical happenings over
ertain long periods of time, just as our own consciousness, our own powers of reason, resulted from
long process of change caused by gradual adaptation to our physical environment.
nitially, some modern scientists accepted that there may well have been some "Creator" for the
osmos - who only created the initial "matter", or "energy", with this "matter" or "energy" then
nfolding in a natural way to produce the cosmos as it is today, without there being any further
ntervention by this "Creator". However, this notion of some initial "Creator" is rejected by many, if
ot most, modern scientists today, even though some modern scientists and philosophers now claimhat this initial "Creator" is the very cosmos, and that the evolution of the cosmos, is the evolution,
he life, of this "Creator".
According to Islamic Science, the acausal while currently unknown to physical science, is not
nknowable - it can be studied, known and understood not only through reason but also directly
hrough observation and experiment. For this to be done, the observation and experiments must be
ased upon acausal methods. That is, the acausal cannot be studied using causal means - throughhysical experiments based upon causal time and the concept of causal Space, and through the type
f reductionist cause-and-effect reasoning inherent in modern causal science.
Acausal reasoning involves concepts such as that of acausal "force" where the change of some
causal "matter" occurs not due to an external "force" but because the change is already inherent in
hat acausal "matter". [ For further details see the Appendix of The Basis of Islamic Science ]
t is the development of such concepts, and the acausal reasoning necessary to understand them, and
hen the performance of physical experiments based upon the conclusions of such reasoning, that will
nable us for the first time to apprehend and understand the nature of the acausal itself.