Everything besides GOD is beset by duality, finitude, and ambivalence. The only true absolute is the Absolute Himself, and He Alone is truly One. Our universe is made with truth, but shadowed by falsehood. Neither all right nor all wrong, neither totally existent nor completely non-existent, it subsists by GOD’s concession of a grace period – for an appointed term.
مَا خَلَقَ اللَّهُ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالأَرْضَ وَمَا بَيْنَهُمَا إِلاَّ بِالْحَقِّ وَأَجَلٍ مُسَمًّى
Between the bipolar heavens and the earth there appears a middle ground, that which is between them, which is neither entirely one nor the other. This zone of ambiguity is where we literally find ourselves. Not quite angelic, not utterly satanic, this human realm of ours maintains every duality, resolves every contradiction, and embraces every opposite. It is in this in-between domain, this barzakh, that faith is at its most creative, and also where it is most imperative. Here differences of origin and disparities of fact are brought together in new forms of unity. This place, our home ‘where the heart is’, happens to be where love is most essential. And here, at the heart of creation, embedded in finite time and limited space, is where AL-LAH proclaims Himself to be the Gracious, the Compassionate.
“Verily AL-LAH does not attend to your physiques or your appearances, but pays attention to your hearts.” (Sahihu Muslim, Book 45, Hadith 41)
إِنَّ اللَّهَ لاَ يَنْظُرُ إِلَى أَجْسَادِكُمْ وَلاَ إِلَى صُوَرِكُمْ وَلَكِنْ يَنْظُرُ إِلَى قُلُوبِكُمْ
Caught between the uplifting clarity of heaven and the firm solidity of earth, and drawn to both, hearts are naturally unstable and unpredictable.
TheMessenger of AL-LAH (may GOD bless him and give him peace) said, “The heart is like the feather that the desert winds blow about.” (Sunanub-ni Majah, Book 1, Hadith 93)
قَالَ قَالَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ ـ صلى الله عليه وسلم ـ مَثَلُ الْقَلْبِ مَثَلُ الرِّيشَةِ تُقَلِّبُهَا الرِّيَاحُ بِفَلاَةٍ
Even so, Truth is not excluded from this domain, one that modern scientists might refer to as chaotic. Truth is eternal, and yet is reconciled somehow with a predetermined time limit, an appointed term. Time offends against the timeless Truth of the Divine, and yet is pardoned and given space, without which this cosmos could not be born (or borne). The enheartened character of the universe is a vital condition of its being, its inner nature and constitution, and not just an after-thought or an appendix to the supposedly essential facts of physical science. Rather the facts are dependent on a continuous act of Love, holding back the collapse of this beautiful and amazing absurdity that we have learned to consider normal. Love makes time and space for the work of Truth.
Why, then, do so many today consider the idea of God to be a cruel joke, and the universe to be not only heartless but meaningless? They ask, ‘How can a Loving, Omnipotent Creator permit the crimes and suffering that make us doubt that He even exists? How can we explain the reality of evil?’
The GOD You Already Know 