As presented by Claude for Zia H. Shah MD

Abstract

The Glorious Quran does more than allow Al-Ghazali’s occasionalism. Read together, its verses on Allah’s continuous creation, His all-encompassing knowledge, His power over all things and His sovereignty over the human heart supply the theology that occasionalism needs. Quantum mechanics supplies the possible science, because physical law leaves the fate of each individual photon undetermined. This article draws on Zia H. Shah’s writing in the Occasionalism category of The Glorious Quran and Science (thequran.love). It opens with the double-slit mystery and the leading interpretations of quantum mechanics. It then centres on one homely fact: when sunlight strikes a swimming pool, physics gives only probabilities for whether a given photon reflects from the surface or refracts and shows the floor. Next it sets out Al-Ghazali’s Seventeenth Discussion, its Ash’ari background, and Shah’s “Inshallah universe.” The core is a thematic anthology of verses, each quoted in Arabic with an English translation. A thematic epilogue closes the article.

TL;DR

• The science: Quantum mechanics predicts only the probability that a photon reflects or refracts at a water surface. In Richard Feynman’s words from QED, “We cannot predict which of the two cases will occur.” On the Copenhagen reading, nothing physical decides the individual outcome. This is the “causal gap” that Zia H. Shah identifies as the possible science of occasionalism.
• The theology: Al-Ghazali’s Seventeenth Discussion argues that observation shows only that burning happens with fire, not by it. Shah reads this as “the metaphysics of Inshallah.” The Quran supplies its theological foundation: Allah knows every leaf (6:59), every mustard seed (31:16) and every heart (3:29, 64:4, 67:13–14); He has power over all things; and His will encompasses ours (76:30, 81:29).
• The honest bottom line: Quantum physics does not prove occasionalism. Deterministic interpretations such as Many-Worlds and Bohmian mechanics remain viable, and Shah himself concedes that determinism and occasionalism cannot be told apart by experiment. What quantum physics does is remove the Laplacean objection, so that a Quran-grounded occasionalism is at least as rationally defensible as materialism.

Part I: The Double-Slit Mystery and the Photon at the Swimming Pool

Wave–particle duality

Richard Feynman described the double-slit experiment as a phenomenon “impossible, absolutely impossible, to explain in any classical way,” one which “has in it the heart of quantum mechanics.” nih Send light through two narrow slits and you get bands of light and dark. These interference fringes are the signature of waves. Now dim the source until photons arrive one at a time. Each one lands at a single point, like a particle. Yet as thousands accumulate, the wave-like pattern builds up dot by dot. Sir Geoffrey Taylor showed this with very faint light as early as 1909, and modern laboratories record the build-up photon by photon. arxiv Block one slit, or detect which slit each photon passed through, and the fringes vanish. harvard The theory tells us the probability of where each photon will land, and nothing more.

The photon at the water surface

Zia H. Shah has made this mystery concrete with an image anyone can check beside a swimming pool. In his March 2026 essay “Where Divine Will Meets Quantum Indeterminacy,” he writes that “every moment, at every water surface on Earth, one of the most philosophically momentous events in nature occurs without fanfare: a photon of light strikes the boundary between air and water, and no law of physics determines whether it will be reflected back or refracted through.” thequran

Look at a pool on a sunny day. Some light reflects from the surface, and you see the shimmer and the sky. Some light refracts into the water, strikes the tiles and returns to your eye, and you see the bottom of the pool. Each photon does one or the other. The Fresnel equations, and quantum electrodynamics beneath them, predict precisely what fraction will reflect. About the individual photon, physics is silent. thequran

Feynman made this the opening lesson of QED: The Strange Theory of Light and Matter (1985), using glass. Of every 100 photons that strike a single glass surface, about 4 reflect and 96 pass through. springerphysicsforums “We cannot predict which of the two cases will occur. We can only calculate the probability.” thequran He added: “I am not going to explain how the photons actually ‘decide’ whether to bounce back or go through; that is not known. (Probably the question has no meaning.)” arxiv

This is the precise point Shah wants made: the known laws of physics do not decide whether a given photon in a beam of light will refract at the surface of the water and show the bottom of the swimming pool, or reflect and show the surface of the water. Physics gives only probabilities. The laws fix “the range of possibilities and their probabilities.” For the believer, the individual outcome is where the will of Allah is at work. thequran

Nor is this simple ignorance waiting to be cured. The 2022 Nobel Prize in Physics went to Alain Aspect, John F. Clauser and Anton Zeilinger “for experiments with entangled photons, establishing the violation of Bell inequalities and pioneering quantum information science.” nobelprize Those experiments, together with Bell’s theorem, rule out local hidden variables that might secretly pre-program each photon’s choice. nobelprize +2

The interpretations of quantum mechanics

Physicists agree on the mathematics and the predictions. They disagree deeply about what these mean. Shah observes that the interpretations are, “in some sense… like religion, each believer is happy in his or her theology.” thequran

The Copenhagen Interpretation. This view is associated with Niels Bohr and Werner Heisenberg in the mid-1920s. not-wiki As the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy notes, the two never fully agreed, and Heisenberg coined the label only in 1955. stanford Copenhagen holds that quantum mechanics is intrinsically indeterministic. philosophy Systems generally lack definite properties until they are measured, and the theory predicts only probabilities, not-wiki through Max Born’s rule. quantumphysicsauthority On this view the photon’s fate is genuinely undetermined by any prior physical state.

Karen Harding’s 1993 paper “Causality Then and Now: Al Ghazali and Quantum Theory” (American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences, vol. 10, no. 2) drew the famous parallel: “In both cases, and contrary to common sense, objects are viewed as having no inherent properties and no independent existence. In order for an object to exist, it must be brought into being either by God (al-Ghazali) or by an observer (the Copenhagen Interpretation).” Wikipediathequran She added that a lead ball falls because the probability of falling is overwhelmingly high, yet a “miraculous” deviation remains possible in principle. handwiki

The Many-Worlds Interpretation. Hugh Everett III proposed this view in his 1957 Princeton dissertation, and Bryce DeWitt later popularized it. Many-Worlds denies that the wavefunction ever collapses. fandom Every possible outcome occurs, each in its own branch of a universal wavefunction that evolves deterministically. The photon both reflects and refracts, in different worlds. thequran As Lev Vaidman’s Stanford Encyclopedia entry puts it, the other worlds make it “possible to remove randomness and action at a distance from quantum theory.” stanford

Shah’s May 2025 essay “Many Worlds Interpretation And al-Ghazali’s Occasionalism” treats Many-Worlds as an imaginative device rather than a doctrine he adopts. The multiverse, he writes, “realizes all the possibilities that al-Ghazali imagines God could choose from at each occasion.” thequran +2 Both pictures break the idea of a single, necessary chain of causes.

Other interpretations, briefly.

• Bohmian (pilot-wave) mechanics restores determinism through a nonlocal pilot wave. Shah finds its radical interconnectedness reminiscent of a cosmos held in one hand. thequran
• Objective-collapse theories, such as GRW, add a physical collapse mechanism.
• QBism and relational views treat the quantum state as an agent’s information, or as relative to an observer.
• Superdeterminism closes Bell’s loophole by correlating the experimenters’ choices with what they measure. thequran

So quantum mechanics does not settle what decides the photon. What it does settle is that the Laplacean clockwork is gone: local physical information no longer fixes every individual outcome. thequran

The thesis

In Shah’s framing: quantum physics provides the possible science needed for occasionalism, and numerous verses of the Glorious Quran provide the theology and the attributes of Allah underpinning occasionalism. There are three possible answers to “what decides the photon?”: brute chance, hidden order, or divine will. Shah notes that occasionalism predicts no departure from quantum statistics. God “governs the photon without disturbing the physics.” Natural law describes the overall habit of divine action, and each individual event is a divine act. thequran

Part II: Al-Ghazali’s Occasionalism and Its Ash’ari Background

The Ash’ari inheritance

Abu Hamid Muhammad al-Ghazali (1058–1111) studied under al-Juwayni, and Nizam al-Mulk appointed him to the Nizamiyya college in Baghdad. Wikipediathequran From Ash’ari kalam he inherited a picture of the world as atoms (jawahir) and accidents (a’rad). thequran As the tenth-century Ash’ari theologian al-Baqillani put it, accidents cannot endure for two moments of time. Every entity therefore persists only because God constantly re-creates it; this is the doctrine of “continuous re-creation.” encyclopediathequran The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy summarizes it: “in each moment God assigns the accidents to bodies in which they inhere. When one moment ends, God creates new accidents.” stanford Shah illustrates the idea with a falling apple: “at each instant of its descent, God creates the apple slightly lower than before, producing the appearance of continuous motion.” thequran

The Seventeenth Discussion of the Tahafut

In Tahafut al-Falasifa (The Incoherence of the Philosophers, c. 1095), Al-Ghazali challenged Ibn Sina and the Aristotelian philosophers. Wikipedia The Seventeenth Discussion opens with the sentence that defines occasionalism:

“The connection between what is habitually believed to be a cause and what is habitually believed to be an effect is not necessary, according to us. But with any two things, where ‘this’ is not ‘that’ and ‘that’ is not ‘this,’ and where neither the affirmation of the one entails the affirmation of the other nor the negation of the one entails negation of the other, it is not a necessity of the existence of the one that the other should exist.” thequran

When fire touches cotton, the cotton burns. But in the Stanford Encyclopedia‘s rendering, “Observation (mushahada) points towards a concomitant occurrence (al-husul ‘indahu) but not to a combined occurrence (al-husul bihi).” stanford We see burning with the fire, not by it. stanford “Fire, which is an inanimate thing, has no action.” thequran The true agent of the combustion “is God — either through the mediation of the angels or without mediation.” stanford

Cotton burns reliably because God follows a custom (‘ada). stanford The regularity is real and can be studied, but it is a covenant rather than a mechanism. God can also suspend it, as when He made the fire cool and safe for Abraham (21:69). thequran +2

Frank Griffel, Lenn Goodman and the Stanford Encyclopedia stress that the Seventeenth Discussion is subtler than a flat occasionalism. thequran Al-Ghazali presents both occasionalism and a God-dependent secondary causality as possible; what he denies is only that the connection is necessary. stanfordWikipedia Shah’s June 2026 “Comprehensive Synthesis” relays this debate, which sets Marmura and Abrahamov against Griffel and Richard Frank. thequran Shah himself generally reads Al-Ghazali in the strong occasionalist sense. thequran

How Zia H. Shah connects Al-Ghazali to the Quran and to quantum indeterminacy

Shah has built his project since early 2025 across roughly three dozen essays. thequran It rests on four moves.

First, occasionalism as “the metaphysics of Inshallah.” In “From the Expression Inshallah to Al Ghazali’s Occasionalism” (March 7, 2025), Shah argues that the phrase in sha’ Allah crystallizes the doctrine: “absolutely nothing, from a spark igniting cotton to a man waking up tomorrow, is beyond or outside the immediate will of Allah.” thequran

Second, occasionalism as a consequence of Quranic omniscience and omnipotence. In “Does Al-Ghazali’s Occasionalism Naturally Follow From the Quranic Omniscience and Omnipotence of God?” (March 2, 2025), he argues that if any created thing had causal power of its own, thequran “God’s power over that event would not be total, nor His knowledge of it meaningfully active.” thequran As he concludes in a May 7, 2025 essay: “Al-Ghazali’s occasionalism is nothing other than the philosophical articulation of this Quranic faith: La ilaha illa’Llah — there is no deity, and no cause, except God.” thequran

Third, the laws of nature as sunnat Allah. In “Al Ghazali’s Occasionalism and Laws of Nature” (August 8, 2025), he writes that occasionalism “does not outright deny the laws of nature or the validity of scientific inquiry—but rather relocates their grounding.” thequran Engineers can trust steel precisely because God’s custom is faithful. thequran

Fourth, quantum physics as a modern “causal gap.” This runs from “Why Each Photon of Light is An Exhibit that Al Ghazali May Have the Last Laugh” (March 12, 2025) through his essays on entanglement and tunnelling. Shah reads these quantum phenomena as revealing “a universe where causality is not material, local, or necessary.” thequranthequran For him the photon’s fate is, “for the devout Muslim… not a random quantum event but God’s will expressed in the language of nature — and for the thoughtful agnostic… a genuine causal gap in the physical description of the world, a gap that makes occasionalism at least as rationally defensible as pure materialism.” thequranthequran

Shah is careful about the limits of this argument. He states that “quantum mechanics does not and cannot prove” God’s action. thequran He also says that determinism and occasionalism “describe the same universe… No experiment can distinguish them,” thequran and that “the only difference between them is God.” thequran His later essays add that occasionalism should not be “made hostage to one interpretation.” Deterministic pilot waves and branching worlds would require Allah’s sustaining concurrence just as much. thequran

On human freedom, Shah follows the Ash’ari doctrine of kasb (acquisition). God creates the act; the human “acquires” it through intention and remains accountable. The model verse is 8:17, “You did not throw when you threw, but Allah threw.” thequran In Shah’s words, this “does not deny that humans act; it denies that humans are ultimate agents.” thequran

Part III: The Quranic Theology of Occasionalism — A Thematic Anthology

What follows gathers three sets of verses: the central verses, the verses you supplied, and further verses Shah has quoted in his earlier articles on occasionalism.

• The Arabic follows the Uthmani script as given on quran.com and corpus.quran.com.
• The English is Dr. Mustafa Khattab’s The Clear Quran unless another translator is named.
• Where a commonly quoted line is only the closing clause of a verse, the full verse is given.

Theme 1: Allah’s Continuous Creation and Sustaining of the Universe (Quran 57:1–6)

Shah’s “The Opening of Surah Al Hadid and Al Ghazali’s Occasionalism” (June 28, 2026) treats these six verses as a complete map of occasionalism. The passage moves from the heavens and the earth down to what is hidden in the heart. thequran

57:1 سَبَّحَ لِلَّهِ مَا فِى ٱلسَّمَـٰوَٰتِ وَٱلْأَرْضِ ۖ وَهُوَ ٱلْعَزِيزُ ٱلْحَكِيمُ thequran “Whatever is in the heavens and the earth glorifies Allah, for He is the Almighty, All-Wise.” quran

57:2 لَهُۥ مُلْكُ ٱلسَّمَـٰوَٰتِ وَٱلْأَرْضِ ۖ يُحْىِۦ وَيُمِيتُ ۖ وَهُوَ عَلَىٰ كُلِّ شَىْءٍ قَدِيرٌ “To Him belongs the kingdom of the heavens and the earth. He gives life and causes death. And He is Most Capable of everything.” quran

57:3 هُوَ ٱلْأَوَّلُ وَٱلْـَٔاخِرُ وَٱلظَّـٰهِرُ وَٱلْبَاطِنُ ۖ وَهُوَ بِكُلِّ شَىْءٍ عَلِيمٌ “He is the First and the Last, the Most High and Most Near, and He has ˹perfect˺ knowledge of all things.” quran

57:4 هُوَ ٱلَّذِى خَلَقَ ٱلسَّمَـٰوَٰتِ وَٱلْأَرْضَ فِى سِتَّةِ أَيَّامٍ ثُمَّ ٱسْتَوَىٰ عَلَى ٱلْعَرْشِ ۚ يَعْلَمُ مَا يَلِجُ فِى ٱلْأَرْضِ وَمَا يَخْرُجُ مِنْهَا وَمَا يَنزِلُ مِنَ ٱلسَّمَآءِ وَمَا يَعْرُجُ فِيهَا ۖ وَهُوَ مَعَكُمْ أَيْنَ مَا كُنتُمْ ۚ وَٱللَّهُ بِمَا تَعْمَلُونَ بَصِيرٌ “He is the One Who created the heavens and the earth in six Days, then established Himself on the Throne. He knows whatever goes into the earth and whatever comes out of it, and whatever descends from the sky and whatever ascends into it. And He is with you wherever you are. For Allah is All-Seeing of what you do.” quran

57:5 لَّهُۥ مُلْكُ ٱلسَّمَـٰوَٰتِ وَٱلْأَرْضِ ۚ وَإِلَى ٱللَّهِ تُرْجَعُ ٱلْأُمُورُ “To Him belongs the kingdom of the heavens and the earth. And to Allah all matters are returned.” quran

57:6 يُولِجُ ٱلَّيْلَ فِى ٱلنَّهَارِ وَيُولِجُ ٱلنَّهَارَ فِى ٱلَّيْلِ ۚ وَهُوَ عَلِيمٌۢ بِذَاتِ ٱلصُّدُورِ “He merges the night into day and the day into night. And He knows best what is ˹hidden˺ in the heart.” quran

Connection to occasionalism and quantum indeterminacy. Every clause speaks of ongoing divine activity. He gives life and causes death; He knows what enters and leaves the earth; He merges night into day. The four Names of 57:3 place Allah before every cause and after every effect, manifest in every phenomenon and hidden behind every appearance. thequran Read alongside continuous re-creation, the passage describes a cosmos that is an ongoing act, not a finished artifact. “Whatever ascends into” the sky includes every photon reflected from every pool. “Whatever goes into the earth” includes every photon that refracts into the water. Physics gives the ratio. Verse 57:4 claims each event as known, and on the occasionalist reading, as willed.

Shah repeatedly pairs this passage with further verses on divine sustaining:

35:41 إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ يُمْسِكُ ٱلسَّمَـٰوَٰتِ وَٱلْأَرْضَ أَن تَزُولَا ۚ وَلَئِن زَالَتَآ إِنْ أَمْسَكَهُمَا مِنْ أَحَدٍ مِّنۢ بَعْدِهِۦٓ ۚ إِنَّهُۥ كَانَ حَلِيمًا غَفُورًا “Indeed, God holds the heavens and the earth, lest they cease. And if they should vanish, no one could hold them back after Him.” This is the translation as quoted in Shah’s “The Glorious Quran Endorses Al Ghazali’s Occasionalism” (March 26, 2025). His comment: “The universe’s stability is not intrinsic but a continuous act of God’s will.” thequran

2:255 (Ayat al-Kursi) ٱللَّهُ لَآ إِلَـٰهَ إِلَّا هُوَ ٱلْحَىُّ ٱلْقَيُّومُ ۚ لَا تَأْخُذُهُۥ سِنَةٌ وَلَا نَوْمٌ ۚ لَّهُۥ مَا فِى ٱلسَّمَـٰوَٰتِ وَمَا فِى ٱلْأَرْضِ ۗ مَن ذَا ٱلَّذِى يَشْفَعُ عِندَهُۥٓ إِلَّا بِإِذْنِهِۦ ۚ يَعْلَمُ مَا بَيْنَ أَيْدِيهِمْ وَمَا خَلْفَهُمْ ۖ وَلَا يُحِيطُونَ بِشَىْءٍ مِّنْ عِلْمِهِۦٓ إِلَّا بِمَا شَآءَ ۚ وَسِعَ كُرْسِيُّهُ ٱلسَّمَـٰوَٰتِ وَٱلْأَرْضَ ۖ وَلَا يَـُٔودُهُۥ حِفْظُهُمَا ۚ وَهُوَ ٱلْعَلِىُّ ٱلْعَظِيمُ “Allah! There is no deity save Him, the Alive, the Eternal. Neither slumber nor sleep overtaketh Him… His throne includeth the heavens and the earth, and He is never weary of preserving them. He is the Sublime, the Tremendous.” (Pickthall). thequran Shah maps the Name al-Qayyum onto frame-by-frame creation: as “a programmer must refresh every pixel to maintain the virtual world, God recreates every atom at each discrete moment.” thequran

55:29 يَسْـَٔلُهُۥ مَن فِى ٱلسَّمَـٰوَٰتِ وَٱلْأَرْضِ ۚ كُلَّ يَوْمٍ هُوَ فِى شَأْنٍ “All that are in the heavens and the earth entreat Him. Every day He exerciseth (universal) power.” (Pickthall). thequran Shah pairs it with Al-Ghazali’s line from The Alchemy of Happiness: “The world is a perishable thing, renewed at every moment by God’s grace.” thequran

36:82 إِنَّمَآ أَمْرُهُۥٓ إِذَآ أَرَادَ شَيْـًٔا أَن يَقُولَ لَهُۥ كُن فَيَكُونُ “His command, when He wills a thing, is only to say to it, ‘Be!’—and it is.” Shah comments: “Creation is an immediate act of God’s will, not a chain of causes.” thequran

39:62 ٱللَّهُ خَـٰلِقُ كُلِّ شَىْءٍ ۖ وَهُوَ عَلَىٰ كُلِّ شَىْءٍ وَكِيلٌ “Allah is Creator of all things, and He is Guardian over all things.” (Pickthall) thequran

6:95 إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ فَالِقُ ٱلْحَبِّ وَٱلنَّوَىٰ ۖ يُخْرِجُ ٱلْحَىَّ مِنَ ٱلْمَيِّتِ وَمُخْرِجُ ٱلْمَيِّتِ مِنَ ٱلْحَىِّ ۚ ذَٰلِكُمُ ٱللَّهُ ۖ فَأَنَّىٰ تُؤْفَكُونَ “Indeed, it is Allah who causes [the seed] grain and the date seed to sprout. He brings the living out of the dead and brings the dead out of the living. That is Allah; so how are you deluded?” thequran

6:96 فَالِقُ ٱلْإِصْبَاحِ وَجَعَلَ ٱلَّيْلَ سَكَنًا وَٱلشَّمْسَ وَٱلْقَمَرَ حُسْبَانًا ۚ ذَٰلِكَ تَقْدِيرُ ٱلْعَزِيزِ ٱلْعَلِيمِ “He is the cleaver of daybreak and has made the night for rest and the sun and moon for calculation. That is the determination of the Exalted in Might, the Knowing.” thequran

67:19 أَوَلَمْ يَرَوْا۟ إِلَى ٱلطَّيْرِ فَوْقَهُمْ صَـٰٓفَّـٰتٍ وَيَقْبِضْنَ ۚ مَا يُمْسِكُهُنَّ إِلَّا ٱلرَّحْمَـٰنُ ۚ إِنَّهُۥ بِكُلِّ شَىْءٍۭ بَصِيرٌ “Do they not see the birds above them with wings outspread and [sometimes] folded in? None holds them aloft except the Most Merciful. Indeed, He is, of all things, Seeing.” thequran

30:50 (opening) فَٱنظُرْ إِلَىٰٓ ءَاثَـٰرِ رَحْمَتِ ٱللَّهِ كَيْفَ يُحْىِ ٱلْأَرْضَ بَعْدَ مَوْتِهَآ “Observe the effects of God’s mercy—how He gives life to the earth after its death.” thequran

67:1–2 تَبَـٰرَكَ ٱلَّذِى بِيَدِهِ ٱلْمُلْكُ وَهُوَ عَلَىٰ كُلِّ شَىْءٍ قَدِيرٌ ۝ ٱلَّذِى خَلَقَ ٱلْمَوْتَ وَٱلْحَيَوٰةَ لِيَبْلُوَكُمْ أَيُّكُمْ أَحْسَنُ عَمَلًا ۚ وَهُوَ ٱلْعَزِيزُ ٱلْغَفُورُ “Blessed is He in whose hand is the dominion, and He is over all things competent — He who created death and life to test you as to which of you is best in deed. And He is the Exalted in Might, the Forgiving.” thequranthequran

Theme 2: Allah’s Omniscience of Every Leaf, Grain, and Particle (Quran 6:59, 31:16)

6:59 وَعِندَهُۥ مَفَاتِحُ ٱلْغَيْبِ لَا يَعْلَمُهَآ إِلَّا هُوَ ۚ وَيَعْلَمُ مَا فِى ٱلْبَرِّ وَٱلْبَحْرِ ۚ وَمَا تَسْقُطُ مِن وَرَقَةٍ إِلَّا يَعْلَمُهَا وَلَا حَبَّةٍ فِى ظُلُمَـٰتِ ٱلْأَرْضِ وَلَا رَطْبٍ وَلَا يَابِسٍ إِلَّا فِى كِتَـٰبٍ مُّبِينٍ thequran “And with Him are the keys of the unseen; none knows them except Him. And He knows what is on the land and in the sea. Not a leaf falls but that He knows it. And no grain is there within the darknesses of the earth and no moist or dry [thing] but that it is [written] in a clear record.”

31:16 يَـٰبُنَىَّ إِنَّهَآ إِن تَكُ مِثْقَالَ حَبَّةٍ مِّنْ خَرْدَلٍ فَتَكُن فِى صَخْرَةٍ أَوْ فِى ٱلسَّمَـٰوَٰتِ أَوْ فِى ٱلْأَرْضِ يَأْتِ بِهَا ٱللَّهُ ۚ إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ لَطِيفٌ خَبِيرٌ “˹Luqman added,˺ ‘O my dear son! ˹Even˺ if a deed were the weight of a mustard seed—be it ˹hidden˺ in a rock or in the heavens or the earth—Allah will bring it forth. Surely Allah is Most Subtle, All-Aware.’” quran

10:61 (cited by Shah for the “atom’s weight”) وَمَا تَكُونُ فِى شَأْنٍ وَمَا تَتْلُوا۟ مِنْهُ مِن قُرْءَانٍ وَلَا تَعْمَلُونَ مِنْ عَمَلٍ إِلَّا كُنَّا عَلَيْكُمْ شُهُودًا إِذْ تُفِيضُونَ فِيهِ ۚ وَمَا يَعْزُبُ عَن رَّبِّكَ مِن مِّثْقَالِ ذَرَّةٍ فِى ٱلْأَرْضِ وَلَا فِى ٱلسَّمَآءِ وَلَآ أَصْغَرَ مِن ذَٰلِكَ وَلَآ أَكْبَرَ إِلَّا فِى كِتَـٰبٍ مُّبِينٍ “…And not an atom’s weight in the earth or in the sky escapeth your Lord, nor what is less than that or greater than that, but it is (written) in a clear Book.” (Pickthall) thequran

Connection to occasionalism and quantum indeterminacy. The falling leaf of 6:59 is the Quran’s own “photon at the water surface.” Science treats such an event statistically, as the outcome of countless micro-events that no physicist could track; the Quran claims each one individually for divine knowledge. Shah links 6:59 directly to the doctrine: “God alone knows and controls the unseen, rendering creation entirely dependent on His knowledge.” thequran The phrase “nor what is less than that” in 10:61 extends divine knowledge below the smallest unit its first hearers could name. Luqman’s mustard seed adds a decisive verb, ya’ti biha Allah, “Allah will bring it forth,” which pairs knowledge with agency. The Name that closes 31:16, al-Latif (the Most Subtle), also closes 67:14 and 6:103. quran +2 It names the One whose action works beneath the threshold of every instrument.

Theme 3: Allah’s Knowledge of Every Secret, Thought, and Hidden Intention in the Heart

3:29 قُلْ إِن تُخْفُوا۟ مَا فِى صُدُورِكُمْ أَوْ تُبْدُوهُ يَعْلَمْهُ ٱللَّهُ ۗ وَيَعْلَمُ مَا فِى ٱلسَّمَـٰوَٰتِ وَمَا فِى ٱلْأَرْضِ ۗ وَٱللَّهُ عَلَىٰ كُلِّ شَىْءٍ قَدِيرٌ “Say, ˹O Prophet,˺ ‘Whether you conceal what is in your hearts or reveal it, it is known to Allah. For He knows whatever is in the heavens and whatever is on the earth. And Allah is Most Capable of everything.’” quran

64:4 يَعْلَمُ مَا فِى ٱلسَّمَـٰوَٰتِ وَٱلْأَرْضِ وَيَعْلَمُ مَا تُسِرُّونَ وَمَا تُعْلِنُونَ ۚ وَٱللَّهُ عَلِيمٌۢ بِذَاتِ ٱلصُّدُورِ “He knows whatever is in the heavens and the earth. And He knows whatever you conceal and whatever you reveal. For Allah knows best what is ˹hidden˺ in the heart.” quran

67:13 وَأَسِرُّوا۟ قَوْلَكُمْ أَوِ ٱجْهَرُوا۟ بِهِۦٓ ۖ إِنَّهُۥ عَلِيمٌۢ بِذَاتِ ٱلصُّدُورِ “Whether you speak secretly or openly—He surely knows best what is ˹hidden˺ in the heart.” quran

67:14 أَلَا يَعْلَمُ مَنْ خَلَقَ وَهُوَ ٱللَّطِيفُ ٱلْخَبِيرُ “Should He not know, — He that created? and He is the One that understands the finest mysteries (and) is well-acquainted (with them).” (Yusuf Ali). Khattab: “How could He not know His Own creation? For He ˹alone˺ is the Most Subtle, All-Aware.” quran

11:5 أَلَآ إِنَّهُمْ يَثْنُونَ صُدُورَهُمْ لِيَسْتَخْفُوا۟ مِنْهُ ۚ أَلَا حِينَ يَسْتَغْشُونَ ثِيَابَهُمْ يَعْلَمُ مَا يُسِرُّونَ وَمَا يُعْلِنُونَ ۚ إِنَّهُۥ عَلِيمٌۢ بِذَاتِ ٱلصُّدُورِ “Indeed, they fold up their breasts [in enmity] that they may hide themselves from Him. Unquestionably, even when they cover themselves in their clothing, He knows what they conceal and what they declare. Indeed, He is Knowing of that within the breasts.” quran

5:7 (the commonly quoted line is the closing clause; the full verse concerns the covenant) وَٱذْكُرُوا۟ نِعْمَةَ ٱللَّهِ عَلَيْكُمْ وَمِيثَـٰقَهُ ٱلَّذِى وَاثَقَكُم بِهِۦٓ إِذْ قُلْتُمْ سَمِعْنَا وَأَطَعْنَا ۖ وَٱتَّقُوا۟ ٱللَّهَ ۚ إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ عَلِيمٌۢ بِذَاتِ ٱلصُّدُورِ “Remember Allah’s favour upon you and the covenant He made with you when you said, ‘We hear and obey.’ And be mindful of Allah. Surely Allah knows best what is ˹hidden˺ in the heart.” quran

50:16 وَلَقَدْ خَلَقْنَا ٱلْإِنسَـٰنَ وَنَعْلَمُ مَا تُوَسْوِسُ بِهِۦ نَفْسُهُۥ ۖ وَنَحْنُ أَقْرَبُ إِلَيْهِ مِنْ حَبْلِ ٱلْوَرِيدِ thequran “And We have already created man and know what his soul whispers to him, and We are closer to him than [his] jugular vein.” quran

Connection to occasionalism and quantum indeterminacy. The refrain ‘alimun bi-dhat al-sudur, “Knower of what is within the breasts,” recurs in 64:4, 67:13, 11:5, 5:7 and 57:6, binding this theme to the Al-Hadid passage. Verse 67:14 states the occasionalist argument in a single line: Should He not know — He that created? If Allah creates each mental state at each moment, His knowledge of it is a maker’s knowledge, not observation from outside.

Shah extends occasionalism to consciousness through 50:16 and 8:24. He proposes that the brain is better understood as a receiver than as the generator of the mind, thequran and he presents this as a metaphysical model, not as established neuroscience. thequran On this view “closer than the jugular vein” describes what is real, not merely a figure of speech. Allah is nearer to each thought than the neurons that register it, because He gives it existence.

Theme 4: Allah’s All-Encompassing Knowledge (Al-‘Alim)

6:101 بَدِيعُ ٱلسَّمَـٰوَٰتِ وَٱلْأَرْضِ ۖ أَنَّىٰ يَكُونُ لَهُۥ وَلَدٌ وَلَمْ تَكُن لَّهُۥ صَـٰحِبَةٌ ۖ وَخَلَقَ كُلَّ شَىْءٍ ۖ وَهُوَ بِكُلِّ شَىْءٍ عَلِيمٌ “˹He is˺ the Originator of the heavens and earth. How could He have children when He has no mate? He created all things and has ˹perfect˺ knowledge of everything.” quran

Your selection for this theme also includes 3:29, 64:4 and 50:16 (Theme 3), 57:4 (Theme 1) and 6:59 (Theme 2), all quoted in full above.

17:85 (closing clause; cited by Shah on the limits of human knowledge) وَمَآ أُوتِيتُم مِّنَ ٱلْعِلْمِ إِلَّا قَلِيلًا “And of knowledge, you ˹O humanity˺ have been given but little.” thequran

35:28 (clause cited by Shah) إِنَّمَا يَخْشَى ٱللَّهَ مِنْ عِبَادِهِ ٱلْعُلَمَـٰٓؤُا۟ “Only those of His servants who have knowledge truly fear Allah.” thequran

Connection to occasionalism and quantum indeterminacy. Verse 6:101 joins “He created all things” with “He has knowledge of everything,” two clauses that occasionalism treats as one fact. The philosophers Al-Ghazali opposed held that God knows particulars only “in a universal way.” Al-Ghazali counted this among the positions that amount to unbelief, Wikipedia and the Quranic Al-‘Alim does know each particular. Shah’s commentary on 59:22 draws out the lesson of 17:85: “no matter how far human knowledge advances, it only scratches the surface of reality’s vast ocean.” thequran Where our best theory can say only “4 percent,” Al-‘Alim knows which photon. Verse 35:28 turns the scientist’s encounter with that limit into reverence.

Theme 5: Allah’s Power Over All Things (wa-huwa ‘ala kulli shay’in qadir)

2:20 يَكَادُ ٱلْبَرْقُ يَخْطَفُ أَبْصَـٰرَهُمْ ۖ كُلَّمَآ أَضَآءَ لَهُم مَّشَوْا۟ فِيهِ وَإِذَآ أَظْلَمَ عَلَيْهِمْ قَامُوا۟ ۚ وَلَوْ شَآءَ ٱللَّهُ لَذَهَبَ بِسَمْعِهِمْ وَأَبْصَـٰرِهِمْ ۚ إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ عَلَىٰ كُلِّ شَىْءٍ قَدِيرٌ “The lightning almost snatches away their sight. Every time it lights [the way] for them, they walk therein; but when darkness comes over them, they stand [still]. And if Allah had willed, He could have taken away their hearing and their sight. Indeed, Allah is over all things competent.” (Sahih International) quran

3:189 وَلِلَّهِ مُلْكُ ٱلسَّمَـٰوَٰتِ وَٱلْأَرْضِ ۗ وَٱللَّهُ عَلَىٰ كُلِّ شَىْءٍ قَدِيرٌ “To Allah ˹alone˺ belongs the kingdom of the heavens and the earth. And Allah is Most Capable of everything.” quran

5:120 لِلَّهِ مُلْكُ ٱلسَّمَـٰوَٰتِ وَٱلْأَرْضِ وَمَا فِيهِنَّ ۚ وَهُوَ عَلَىٰ كُلِّ شَىْءٍ قَدِيرٌۢ “To Allah belongs the dominion of the heavens and the earth and whatever is within them. And He is over all things competent.” (Sahih International)

6:17 وَإِن يَمْسَسْكَ ٱللَّهُ بِضُرٍّ فَلَا كَاشِفَ لَهُۥٓ إِلَّا هُوَ ۖ وَإِن يَمْسَسْكَ بِخَيْرٍ فَهُوَ عَلَىٰ كُلِّ شَىْءٍ قَدِيرٌ academyofislam “And if Allah should touch you with adversity, there is no remover of it except Him. And if He touches you with good — then He is over all things competent.” (Sahih International)

24:45 وَٱللَّهُ خَلَقَ كُلَّ دَآبَّةٍ مِّن مَّآءٍ ۖ فَمِنْهُم مَّن يَمْشِى عَلَىٰ بَطْنِهِۦ وَمِنْهُم مَّن يَمْشِى عَلَىٰ رِجْلَيْنِ وَمِنْهُم مَّن يَمْشِى عَلَىٰٓ أَرْبَعٍ ۚ يَخْلُقُ ٱللَّهُ مَا يَشَآءُ ۚ إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ عَلَىٰ كُلِّ شَىْءٍ قَدِيرٌ “And Allah has created from water every living creature. Some of them crawl on their bellies, some walk on two legs, and some walk on four. Allah creates whatever He wills. Surely Allah is Most Capable of everything.” quran

57:2–3 — quoted in full under Theme 1.

64:1 يُسَبِّحُ لِلَّهِ مَا فِى ٱلسَّمَـٰوَٰتِ وَمَا فِى ٱلْأَرْضِ ۖ لَهُ ٱلْمُلْكُ وَلَهُ ٱلْحَمْدُ ۖ وَهُوَ عَلَىٰ كُلِّ شَىْءٍ قَدِيرٌ “Whatever is in the heavens and whatever is on the earth is exalting Allah. To Him belongs dominion, and to Him belongs [all] praise, and He is over all things competent.” (Sahih International). Shah comments: “All creation submits to God’s will, reflecting their contingent nature and His absolute lordship.” thequran

8:17 (Shah’s primary proof-text, from the Battle of Badr) فَلَمْ تَقْتُلُوهُمْ وَلَـٰكِنَّ ٱللَّهَ قَتَلَهُمْ ۚ وَمَا رَمَيْتَ إِذْ رَمَيْتَ وَلَـٰكِنَّ ٱللَّهَ رَمَىٰ “And you did not kill them, but it was Allah who killed them. And you did not throw when you threw, but it was Allah who threw.” thequranthequran

21:69 قُلْنَا يَـٰنَارُ كُونِى بَرْدًا وَسَلَـٰمًا عَلَىٰٓ إِبْرَٰهِيمَ “We said, ‘O fire, be coolness and safety upon Abraham.’”

Connection to occasionalism and quantum indeterminacy. The refrain inna Allaha ‘ala kulli shay’in qadir is the scriptural heart of occasionalism. Shah’s July 2026 study of the Names Al-Qadir, Al-Qadeer and Al-Muqtadir argues that “the repeated declarations that God is ‘powerful over all things,’ together with verses assigning creation, preservation, causation and outcomes directly to Him, provide a powerful cumulative case for Ghazalian occasionalism.” thequran

The setting of 2:20 is lightning, light, sight and darkness, which is the domain of photons, and vision itself is held within the condition of divine will. Al-Ghazali argued that necessary causation would limit God’s freedom; thequran here that argument is expressed as worship. If fire burned by its own necessity, Allah would not be qadir over that burning. The cool fire of Abraham (21:69) is the limiting case. And as Harding noted, even physics no longer forbids nature its improbable surprises. handwiki

Theme 6: Allah as Knower of the Unseen and the Seen (‘Alim al-Ghayb wa’l-Shahadah)

59:22 هُوَ ٱللَّهُ ٱلَّذِى لَآ إِلَـٰهَ إِلَّا هُوَ ۖ عَـٰلِمُ ٱلْغَيْبِ وَٱلشَّهَـٰدَةِ ۖ هُوَ ٱلرَّحْمَـٰنُ ٱلرَّحِيمُ “He is Allah—there is no god ˹worthy of worship˺ except Him: Knower of the seen and unseen. He is the Most Compassionate, Most Merciful.” quran

32:6 ذَٰلِكَ عَـٰلِمُ ٱلْغَيْبِ وَٱلشَّهَـٰدَةِ ٱلْعَزِيزُ ٱلرَّحِيمُ “That is the Knower of the unseen and the witnessed, the Exalted in Might, the Merciful.” (Sahih International) surahquran

13:9 عَـٰلِمُ ٱلْغَيْبِ وَٱلشَّهَـٰدَةِ ٱلْكَبِيرُ ٱلْمُتَعَالِ “˹He is the˺ Knower of the seen and the unseen—the All-Great, Most Exalted.” quran

62:8 قُلْ إِنَّ ٱلْمَوْتَ ٱلَّذِى تَفِرُّونَ مِنْهُ فَإِنَّهُۥ مُلَـٰقِيكُمْ ۖ ثُمَّ تُرَدُّونَ إِلَىٰ عَـٰلِمِ ٱلْغَيْبِ وَٱلشَّهَـٰدَةِ فَيُنَبِّئُكُم بِمَا كُنتُمْ تَعْمَلُونَ “Say, ‘The death you are running away from will inevitably come to you. Then you will be returned to the Knower of the seen and unseen, and He will inform you of what you used to do.’” quran

72:26–27 عَـٰلِمُ ٱلْغَيْبِ فَلَا يُظْهِرُ عَلَىٰ غَيْبِهِۦٓ أَحَدًا ۝ إِلَّا مَنِ ٱرْتَضَىٰ مِن رَّسُولٍ فَإِنَّهُۥ يَسْلُكُ مِنۢ بَيْنِ يَدَيْهِ وَمِنْ خَلْفِهِۦ رَصَدًا “[He is] Knower of the unseen, and He does not disclose His [knowledge of the] unseen to anyone surahquran — except whom He has approved of messengers, and indeed, He sends before each messenger and behind him observers.” (Sahih International)

6:59 — quoted in full under Theme 2: “And with Him are the keys of the unseen; none knows them except Him.”

6:103 (the epigraph of Shah’s photon essay) لَّا تُدْرِكُهُ ٱلْأَبْصَـٰرُ وَهُوَ يُدْرِكُ ٱلْأَبْصَـٰرَ ۖ وَهُوَ ٱللَّطِيفُ ٱلْخَبِيرُ “Eyes cannot reach Him but He reaches the eyes. And He is the incomprehensible, the All-Aware.” (Shah’s rendering) thequran

Connection to occasionalism and quantum indeterminacy. In “Allah, the Knower of the Unseen and the Seen (Quran 59:22)” (October 2025), Shah writes that this attribute affirms “His perfect knowledge of all that is hidden (ghayb) and all that is manifest (shahada).” It follows that “everything in the universe, from the tiniest particle to the farthest star, is known completely to God.” thequran

The pair maps strikingly onto the quantum situation. The shahadah is the measured outcome: the photon seen reflected from the pool. The ghayb is what physics cannot reach: whatever, if anything, decides that outcome. Shah’s 6:103 essay makes the point about knowledge explicit. A God who transcends all empirical detection “would, by definition, be indistinguishable from the absence of God to any purely empirical methodology.” thequran That is why experiment can neither refute nor prove occasionalism.

The “keys of the unseen” remain with Allah alone (6:59). He discloses of it only what He wills, and only to messengers He has approved (72:26–27). And every person returns to the Knower of the seen and unseen, to be told what he did (62:8).

Theme 7: Allah Intervening Between a Man and His Heart (Quran 8:24)

8:24 يَـٰٓأَيُّهَا ٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوا۟ ٱسْتَجِيبُوا۟ لِلَّهِ وَلِلرَّسُولِ إِذَا دَعَاكُمْ لِمَا يُحْيِيكُمْ ۖ وَٱعْلَمُوٓا۟ أَنَّ ٱللَّهَ يَحُولُ بَيْنَ ٱلْمَرْءِ وَقَلْبِهِۦ وَأَنَّهُۥٓ إِلَيْهِ تُحْشَرُونَ “O believers! Respond to Allah and His Messenger when he calls you to that which gives you life. And know that Allah stands between a person and their heart, and that to Him you will all be gathered.” Sahih International renders the middle clause: “…And know that Allah intervenes between a man and his heart…” quran

Connection to occasionalism and quantum indeterminacy. Shah’s May 2025 essay “Al Ghazali’s Occasionalism And God’s Control Even On Human Intimate Thoughts: Quran 8:24” argues that the verse strongly supports “the doctrine that nothing, not even your thinking process, is outside of God’s immediate control.” He places it within Surah Al-Anfal’s account of Badr, “a Qur’anic theme that strongly boosts occasionalism: victory in battle was caused by God, not by arms (8:17); rain fell to strengthen the Muslims’ hearts (8:11); angels were sent to fight (8:9).” thequran Ibn Kathir cites the hadith that “every heart is between two of the Fingers of the Most Merciful,” and the prayer, “O Turner of hearts, keep my heart firm on Your religion.” thequran

Yet the verse opens with a command, respond!, which presupposes a real capacity to respond. Shah’s July 2026 commentary “The Inshallah Universe and the Boundaries of the Will” draws on Maulana Muhammad Ali’s reading that “the Divine intervention is the cutting off of those desires” for one who keeps refusing. The window of choice is God’s to open and close. thequran The verse holds together both halves of kasb: Allah is nearer to the heart than its own impulses, and the human remains the one who answers.

Theme 8: Human Will Subordinate to Divine Will (Quran 81:29, 76:30)

76:30 وَمَا تَشَآءُونَ إِلَّآ أَن يَشَآءَ ٱللَّهُ ۚ إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ كَانَ عَلِيمًا حَكِيمًا “And you do not will except that Allah wills. Indeed, Allah is ever Knowing and Wise.” (Sahih International) thequran

81:29 وَمَا تَشَآءُونَ إِلَّآ أَن يَشَآءَ ٱللَّهُ رَبُّ ٱلْعَـٰلَمِينَ “And you do not will except that Allah wills — Lord of the worlds.” (Sahih International) thequran

Shah insists that these verses be read together with their companions in the same surahs:

76:3 إِنَّا هَدَيْنَـٰهُ ٱلسَّبِيلَ إِمَّا شَاكِرًا وَإِمَّا كَفُورًا “Indeed, We guided him to the way, be he grateful or be he ungrateful.”

76:29 إِنَّ هَـٰذِهِۦ تَذْكِرَةٌ ۖ فَمَن شَآءَ ٱتَّخَذَ إِلَىٰ رَبِّهِۦ سَبِيلًا “Lo! this is an Admonishment, that whosoever will may choose a way unto his Lord.” (Pickthall) thequran

81:28 لِمَن شَآءَ مِنكُمْ أَن يَسْتَقِيمَ “Unto whomsoever of you willeth to walk straight.” (Pickthall) thequran

18:23–24 (the Inshallah verses) وَلَا تَقُولَنَّ لِشَا۟ىْءٍ إِنِّى فَاعِلٌ ذَٰلِكَ غَدًا ۝ إِلَّآ أَن يَشَآءَ ٱللَّهُ “And never say of anything, ‘Indeed, I will do that tomorrow,’ except [when adding], ‘If Allah wills.’”

Connection to occasionalism and quantum indeterminacy. Shah’s “Inshallah Universe and the Boundaries of the Will” concludes that these verses “articulate a ‘free will bounded by divine will’… they name the condition of a choice the Qur’an has already affirmed as real and accountable — a position best called constrained libertarianism or theistic compatibilism.” thequran

The occasion of revelation for 81:29, as reported by al-Wahidi, is telling. When 81:28 was revealed, Abu Jahl retorted, “It is up to us; if we wish we go straight.” The next verse corrected not the reality of the choice but the boast of autonomy. Maulana Muhammad Ali’s footnote, which Shah highlights, reconciles the two: “man’s choice would have no effect, if it did not please Allah… If Allah had not pleased to reveal the Reminder, man’s choice would have been nowhere.” thequran

Quantum physics dissolves the Laplacean picture in which every thought is fixed by a mechanical past. thequran But randomness is not freedom. thequran It is the divine will, Knowing and Wise, that gives each act of human willing its existence and its effect. Every “Inshallah” (18:23–24) is a confession of 76:30 and 81:29 in miniature.

Theme 9: Allah as Sustainer of Water and Natural Regularities (Quran 67:30)

67:30 قُلْ أَرَءَيْتُمْ إِنْ أَصْبَحَ مَآؤُكُمْ غَوْرًا فَمَن يَأْتِيكُم بِمَآءٍ مَّعِينٍۭ “Say, ‘Consider this: if your water were to sink ˹into the earth˺, then who ˹else˺ could bring you flowing water?’” quranreflect

56:68–70 (the parallel passage Shah cites) أَفَرَءَيْتُمُ ٱلْمَآءَ ٱلَّذِى تَشْرَبُونَ ۝ ءَأَنتُمْ أَنزَلْتُمُوهُ مِنَ ٱلْمُزْنِ أَمْ نَحْنُ ٱلْمُنزِلُونَ ۝ لَوْ نَشَآءُ جَعَلْنَـٰهُ أُجَاجًا فَلَوْلَا تَشْكُرُونَ “Have you seen the water that you drink? Is it you who brought it down from the clouds, or is it We who bring it down? If We willed, We could make it bitter, so why are you not grateful?” thequran

Connection to occasionalism and quantum indeterminacy. Shah first wrote on this verse in 2022, in “The holy Quran and the Water Stores of Our Planet,” noting that Mars probably lost its oceans after its magnetic shield failed. thequran His September 2026 commentary “The Water That Could Sink Away” draws out the metaphysics: “The water in the well is not there by necessity. It is there by permission… the occasionalist insight is that the water’s staying is every bit as much a divine act as its hypothetical sinking would be.” The question “who could bring you flowing water?” has the same answer as an unasked one: “who brings you the water you already have?” thequran Al-Qurtubi notes that ghawr is a verbal noun used “for hyperbole,” and Ibn Kathir explains that sunken water “would not be reachable with iron axes nor strong arms.” surahquranthequran

It is fitting that the anthology ends with water, because it began with water. The pool’s surface reflects some photons and admits others, according to a ratio physics can compute and a decision physics cannot. Surah Al-Mulk opens with dominion (67:1) and closes with a glass of water. thequran

Thematic Epilogue: The Universe as a Verb of Dependence

Stand at the edge of a swimming pool at noon. The sunlight falling on the water is a river of photons beyond counting, and each one meets the surface as if for the first time. Some return from the surface and show you the sky. Others pass into the water, strike the tiles, and show you the floor. Physics, at its most precise, tells you the ratio. It does not tell you the decision. In the most ordinary scene of a summer afternoon, you are looking at the frontier where science, by its own confession, falls silent.

The Quran does not fall silent there. It says that not a leaf falls but He knows it (6:59). It says that a mustard seed hidden in a rock will be brought forth by the Most Subtle (31:16), and that He knows whatever descends from the sky and whatever ascends into it, and is with you wherever you are (57:4). The One who holds the heavens and the earth lest they cease (35:41) is every day upon a new work (55:29), and His command to a thing is only “Be!” (36:82). Al-Ghazali read these verses and concluded that fire does not burn by its own nature. The link between what we call cause and effect is a custom of the Merciful, faithful but free. Nine centuries later, the photon at the water’s surface gives his conclusion a laboratory in every backyard.

The theology runs inward, too. The same Lord who knows the photon knows “what is hidden in the heart” (57:6, 64:4, 67:13). He knows what the soul whispers, and is closer than the jugular vein (50:16). He stands between a person and his heart (8:24), and yet He calls that person to respond. We will, but only as He wills (76:30, 81:29). So the believer says in sha’ Allah before every plan, not as a shrug but as an act of metaphysical honesty.

And the theology runs back to water. “If your water were to sink into the earth, who could bring you flowing water?” (67:30). The well that is full this morning is full because it is being filled. The pool that shimmers is shimmering because, photon by photon, it is being given. In Zia H. Shah’s phrase, this is an Inshallah universe: a cosmos whose regularities are real enough for science, engineering and medicine, yet whose every moment is a gift rather than a possession. Quantum physics does not prove this. It does something perhaps more fitting for a Book that calls its verses ayat, signs. It leaves the door open, at the smallest scale of nature, for the reader to see in every reflection and every refraction the will of the One who is “the First and the Last, the Most High and Most Near, and He has ˹perfect˺ knowledge of all things” (57:3).