Theism
Perception of an abstract entity will not be an easy task to deal with for those who are captured by the material world, and have got used to it, those whose understanding and thinking have never gone beyond it. The first step in order to get aware of Him [God] is to consider Him free from creatures’ characteristics and specifications, especially those belonged to physical ones: time, place, and motion for example.
Basically, considering and appointing a given place to a given creature necessitate its being physical; since God is not an object to corporal characteristics; consequently, it comes out that we will not have a true understanding of God, unless we consider Him omnipresent. And that, although He has neither place, nor time, He has circumambience on all places and times.
Regarding the above saying, we prefer to cite to the Holy Quran and read some of its related verses:
1)” The East and the West belong to God, wherever you turn to, there is the Face of God; He is All-Wise, All-Knowing (the Cow: 115):و لله المشرق و المغرب فاينما تولوا فثم وجه الله ان الله واسع عليم"
2) “And that is Him who in the heavens is God, and in the earth is God; He is All-Wise, All- Knowing (the Ornament: 84):, و هو الذی فی السماء اله و فی الارض اله و هو الحکیم العلیم"
3) “He is with you wherever you are, and He sees what you do (Iron: 4): و هو معکم اینما کنتم و الله بما تعملون بصیر"
4) “There will no secret conspire between three men, unless God is the Fourth of them, neither five men, but He is the sixth of them, and neither fewer or more, but He s among them wherever they may be (the Disputer: 7): ما یکون من نجوی ثلاثه الا هو رابعهم و لا خوسه الا هو سادسهم و لا ادنی من ذلک و لا اکثر الا هو معهم اینما کنتم"
5)”We indeed created man; and we know what his soul whisper within him, and we are nearer to him than his jugular vein (Qaf: 16): و لقد خلقنا الانسان و نعلم ما توسوس به نفسه و نحن اقرب الیه من حبل الورید)
6) “H e is the first and the last, and outward and inward, He has knowledge of everything (Iron: 3): هو الاول و الاخر و الظاهر و الباطن و هو بکل شی علیم"
7) “And that hour you are watching. And we are nigh to him than you, but you do not see Us(the Terror: 84-85): و انتم حینئذ تنظرون و نحن اقرب الیه منکم و لکن لا تبصرون"
Wherever I Turn to, I Face His Face
When Prophet Muhammad ordered his followers to change their Kiblah (the place toward which Muslims perform their prayers from any place they are at) from Jerusalem to Mecca [Kaaba], the Jews started to take advantage from this event, and established the mentioned change as a reason for Prophet Muhammad’s unsteadiness on his principles through installing doubts on Muslims’ minds. Regarding what happened, the first mentioned verse was revealed,” The East and the West belong to God; and wherever you turn your face to is the face of God; He is All-Knowing and All-Wise(the Cow: 115)
He is every where, knows every thing, and, therefore, any direction you turn to He is there. But, concerning Kiblah we should say it is because of unity and concentration, and not due to God’s residence there and that He has a given place and direction since He is so great that He is present in every where while He has no special place.
In the above verse, the East and the West are not two geographical directions, they are metaphors implying all the world; hence, when it is said that Imam al-Ali’s enemies tried to deny his knowledge and so did his followers because of the tyrannical condition of the time, but his excellence spread all the world, we metaphorically say,” His knowledge covered the East and the West”.
By the way, the discussed statement is a clear proof of God’s being omnipresent, as such a characteristic is due to either having a lot of so expanded components that they occupy every where, or having no components at all; the former is unlikely about God since the Quran indicates that God himself is no given place, not a part of Him. About God’s omnipresence we should say that it means being beyond time and place, that is for such being all times and places are equal and the same level, and that expressions like farness and nearness have no meaning for him.
Beside the above statements, it should be noted that the expression “the Face of God” in the Quran means God’s holy nature; and since face is the noblest part of one’s body and all senses are applied on it, it is the metonymy for God’s nature; however, some of the commentators interpreted it as God’s satisfaction or Kiblah; none of which seems true.
Every Where he is with You
The third verse clearly states, ” He is with you, wherever you are:
و هو معكم اينما كنتم" , and since God is with you, “ He sees what you do: و الله بما تعملون بصير" . This expression clearly obviously indicates God’s omnipresence, or in the other words, his being beyond time and places; therefore, He has domination over every thing. Some of the commentators- as we see in Rouh al-Maani, for example- claimed that the verse should be reworded (and explained), and its figurative meaning be under attention; therefore, it means God’ knowledge is with us, not Himself. They ignored that knowledge of God is an intuitive one, and not similar to ours- the knowledge learned through picturing appearance of objects in the mind while in the intuitive one all the creatures are present with Him, and His entity by its presence in every place dominates all of them. Some of the commentators indicated that any possible being gains its existence from the Necessary Being; accordingly, God is more approximate to the created entity than any other being. In Tafsir al-Mizan it is stated that such with-ness is due to God’ covering over possible beings, and the expression,” Wherever you are [in the mentioned verse]” indicates the stated fact, other wise, God has an equal relation and connection with all times, places, and positions. However, those who could not have a true understanding of God’s existential domination over all beings, consider the figurative meaning of the verse- saying that such with-ness occurs through His knowledge, power, and authority- while the true interpretation is God’s existential domination which accords with logical proofs and form of the verse.
Nearness of God to Us
In the fifth mentioned verse we observe the same meaning, of course through a new expression,” Indeed, we created man; and we know what his soul whisper within him , and we are nearer to him than the jugular vein( Qaf: 16): و لقد خلقنا الانسان و نعلم ما توسوس به نفسه و نحن اقرب الیه من حبل الورید" . The word حبل (Habl) in Arabic means a thick rope and ورید (Varid) means vessel, but most of the commentators interpreted Habl Varid to the two Jugular veins, and some others explain it as the main vessel connected to heart. It is a matter of sure that the Holy Quran used Habl with Varid, so it dose not mean any narrow, small vessel of body. Both the two mentioned interpretations have been stated in commentators and etymologists’ words. Regarding the verse,” be aware that God stands between a man and his heart و اعلموا ان الله یحول بین المرء و قلبه" , and the above statements, the true and the proper meaning comes out to be the major vessel of the heart as both verses metaphorically express God’s nearness to His servants; if we consider heart as the center of one’s being; hence, there will be nothing nearer to it than its main vessel. God says,” That He is even nearer than it to man”. Besides, at the beginning f the verse, we read that God is well aware of what man’s soul whispers within him [whisper= tempt] which such knowledge is related to heart and not to neck.
Any way, the verse perfectly pictures God’ omnipresence as says He is nearer to man than his the main vessel of the heart. Therefore, He is every where, even within us. Certainly, such existence is omnipresence and beyond place because a single thing can not be every where with all its entity, unless it is a composite and any of its components are/will be placed in one place. In the sixth and the last verse, this message is expressed concerning those who are at the edge of departure from this world, and says,” And that hour you are watching. And we are nearer to him than you, but you do not see Us( the Terror: 84-85): و انتم حینئذ تنظرون و نحن "اقرب الیه منکم و لکن لا تبصرون [ We are well aware of how the moribund is feeling. We know if s/he is glad of becoming free from the prison of body and flying to the Paradise, or is sad and upset due to the coming divine punishment- as the penalties for his/her sins- but none of you could see these affairs, and, therefore, is not aware of that.
