As it may be seen clearly, it is a scientific and logical fact that the
"external world" has no materialistic reality and that it is a collection of
images perpetually presented to our soul by Allah. Nevertheless, people usually do not
include, or rather do not want to include, everything in the concept of the "external
world".
If you think on this issue sincerely and boldly, you come to realise
that your house, your furniture in it, your car-perhaps recently bought, your office, your
jewels, your bank account, your wardrobe, your spouse, your children, your colleagues, and
all else that you possess are in fact included in this imaginary external world projected
to you.
This is the reality, because the world is only a collection of images
created to test man. People are tested all through their limited lives with perceptions
bearing no reality. These perceptions are intentionally presented as appealing and
attractive. This fact is mentioned in the Qur’an:
Fair in the eyes of men is the love of things they covet:
Women and sons; Heaped-up hoards of gold and silver; horses branded (for blood and
excellence); and (wealth of) cattle and well-tilled land. Such are the possessions of this
world's life; but in nearness to Allah is the best of the goals (to return to). (Surat
Aal-e Imran, 14)
Most people cast their religion away for the spell of property, wealth
and all forms of prosperity they either possess or strive to possess and they concentrate
only on this world while forgetting the hereafter. In the verse, "They know but the
outer (things) in the life of this world: but of the End of things they are
heedless." (Surat ar-Room, 7), this misconception is described.
The fact we describe in this chapter, namely the fact that everything
is an image, is very important for its implication that it renders all the lusts and
boundaries meaningless.
The verification of this fact makes it clear that everything people
possess and toil to possess is nothing but mere illusion. Therefore, all the efforts put,
the time spent, and the greed felt prove to be in unavailing.
This is why some people unwittingly ridicule themselves when they boast
of their wealth and properties or of their "yachts, helicopters, factories, and
holdings" as if they ever really existed. Those well-to-do people who ostentatiously
saunter up and down in their yachts, show off with their cars, and keep thinking that they
are successful because of all this, should actually think what kind of a state they would
find themselves in once they realise that their success is nothing but an illusion. In
fact, these scenes are many times seen in dreams as well. Just as boasting about
one’s possessions in one’s dream causes a person to be ridiculed, he is sure to
be equally ridiculed for boasting of images he sees in this world. After all, both what he
sees in his dreams and what he relates to in this world are mere images in his mind.
Similarly the way people react to the events they experience in the
world is to make them feel ashamed when they realise the reality. Those who fiercely fight
with each other and those who rave furiously are going to feel ashamed when they realise
that they have done all of these things within a dream. In the same manner, those who
cheat on people, who covetously withhold their money, who do wrong to people, who are full
of passion for office and rank, who practice envy, and all others should think how
degraded they will be when they realise that they have committed all of these deeds in a
dream.
It is a great foolishness to cast religion away at the cost of
imaginary passions and thus lose the eternal life which is meant to be an everlasting
deprivation.
Since it is Allah Who creates all these images, the Ultimate Owner of
everything is Allah alone. This fact is stressed in the Qur’an:
But to Allah belong all things in the heavens and on earth:
And He it is that encompasseth all things. (Surat an-Nisa, 126)
At this stage, one point should be well grasped: it is not said here
that the fact you face predicates that "all the possessions you have with which you
are being stingy will vanish sooner or later, and therefore they do not have any
meaning". It is rather said that "all the possessions you seem to have in fact
do not exist at all, but they are merely a dream and composed of images shown to you by
Allah to test you". As you see, there is a big difference between the two statements.
Although one does not want to acknowledge this fact right away and
would rather deceive himself by assuming everything he has truly exists, he is finally to
die and in the hereafter everything is to become clear when he is recreated. On that day
"sharp is one’s sight" (Surah Qaf, 22) and he is apt to see everything much
more clearly. However, if he has spent his life chasing after imaginary aims, he is going
to wish he had never lived his life and say "Ah! Would that (Death) had made an end
of me! Of no profit to me has been my wealth! My power has perished from me!" (Surat
al-Haqqaa, 27-29)
What a wise man should do, on the other hand, is to try to understand
the greatest reality of the universe here on this world, while he still has time.
Otherwise, he is to spend all his life running after dreams and face a grievous penalty in
the end. In the Qur’an, the final state of those people who run after illusions (or
mirages) on this world and forget their Creator, is stated as follows;
But the Unbelievers,- their deeds are like a mirage in sandy deserts,
which the man parched with thirst mistakes for water; until when he comes up to it, he
finds it to be nothing: But he finds Allah (ever) with him, and Allah will pay him his
account: and Allah is swift in taking account. (Surat an-Noor, 39)