From Entropy to Eternity: Reflections on Time, Matter, and the Soul

(Part I of the Reflections Series)

How modern science and Qur’anic insight together reveal layers of creation and timelessness.

(Part I of the Reflections Series)

A reflection by Dr. Nisar Khan (PhD, Immunology), exploring the harmony between scientific law and divine design — how entropy, time, and the soul together reveal the journey from creation to eternity.

Introduction

We live in a universe governed by motion, decay, and renewal — a vast symphony unfolding through time. Modern science describes this as entropy, the gradual drift from order to disorder. Yet, beneath this physical law lies a deeper story: a divine rhythm connecting matter, soul, and destiny.

These reflections explore how entropy, time, and creation interlace — from the birth of a cell to the motion of galaxies, from human sleep to resurrection — revealing that all of existence, seen and unseen, ultimately submits to Allah جل ﷻ جلاله.

Motion, Cycles, and Structure in Creation

Have you noticed a pattern when you look closely at the world? From the tiniest particles to the vast cosmos, motion, cycles, and structure repeat. Nothing stands alone — everything revolves around a center.

At the atomic level, electrons circle the nucleus. Atoms combine into molecules, molecules build cells, cells build organs, and organs form the human body. On the celestial scale, the Moon circles the Earth, the Earth circles the Sun, and the Sun moves around the center of the Milky Way. Even pilgrims performing Ṭawāf around the Kaaba join this same rhythm of circular motion and submission.

This repeated pattern — orbit, circle, return — reminds us that everything is bound and dependent. Ultimately, that binding center is Allah ﷻ.

The Miracle of Controlled Matter and Human Birth

Human birth shows how matter can be precisely controlled. From a single fertilised cell, a complete human being develops at the right time and place. Matter organizes with extraordinary precision to build tissues, organs, and complex systems. At a destined moment the soul is breathed into the form, linking matter with spirit.

This union of matter and soul makes humans unique: we are creatures bound to time and decay, yet connected to realms that transcend time.

Orbits, Circles, and the Rhythm of the Cosmos

Circular motion is the cosmic language. Electrons orbit nuclei; planets orbit stars; stars orbit galactic centers. Even galaxies travel within clusters and superclusters. Circles express balance, continuity, and submission to a center. Ṭawāf — the act of circling the Kaaba — is a human echo of that cosmic pattern.

Direction, however, is relative. What looks counterclockwise from one vantage looks clockwise from another. This simple fact already warns us that our perceptions are limited by point of view.

The Meaning of Seven: Reflections on Ṭawāf and Saʿī

In the rites of Ḥajj and ʿUmrah, two rituals are especially striking: circling the Kaaba (ṭawāf) seven times, and running between Ṣafā and Marwah seven times. These are acts of devotion commanded by Allah ﷻ, and their true reasons belong to Him alone. Yet, reflecting on them in the light of both revelation and science can reveal layers of meaning that enrich our understanding.

Seven in Qur’ān and Creation: The Qur’ān repeatedly uses seven as a number of completeness and sacred order:

• Seven heavens: “It is He who created for you all of that which is on the earth. Then He directed Himself to the heaven, and made them seven heavens, and He is Knowing of all things.” (Q 2:29)

• Seven earths/layers: “Allah ﷻ is He who created seven heavens and of the earth, the like of them.” (Q 65:12)

• Seven doors of Hell: (Q 15:44)

• Seven oft-repeated verses (al-Fātiḥah): (Q 15:87)

The recurrence of seven in these verses suggests completion within creation. Just as the seven heavens encompass the fullness of cosmic order, so seven rounds in worship may embody the believer’s submission within that order.

Ṭawāf: Cosmic Resonance in Seven Circuits: When pilgrims circle the Kaaba seven times, they echo the very rhythms of creation.

• On the atomic scale, electrons orbit the nucleus in quantised energy levels, often described in seven principal shells.

• On the celestial scale, ancient astronomers recognized seven “wanderers” (Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn) before telescopes revealed more. These seven guided human reckoning of time and navigation.

• The Kaaba itself is a symbolic axis mundi — the central point around which Muslims align their prayers, much like planets and stars align in orbits around their centers of gravity.

Thus, in ṭawāf, the believer is not performing an isolated ritual but synchronizing body and soul with the cosmic principle of orbit and return. The seven circuits express completion of submission — just as the universe completes its cycles under Allah’s ﷻ command.

Direction itself is relative: what is counterclockwise from one vantage is clockwise from another. In ṭawāf, pilgrims move counterclockwise, which aligns with the direction of planetary orbits (as seen from above the North Pole) and even with the circulation of electrons around nuclei. This highlights not that one direction is superior, but that submission transcends human constructs of “clockwise” and “counterclockwise.” The Kaaba, as the center, defines orientation; Allah ﷻ defines meaning.

Saʿī: The Human Journey in Seven Struggles: The seven circuits between Ṣafā and Marwah recall the story of Hājra (Hagar), who ran desperately in search of water for her son Prophet Ismāʿīl until the well of Zamzam was revealed. Her perseverance — not one, two, or three times, but seven — became immortalized as ritual.

Here, seven symbolizes the completion of human effort. Just as in science seven often represents a full cycle (seven days in a week, seven energy shells in atoms, seven visible celestial bodies), in saʿī it represents the full measure of human striving before divine relief. Hājra exhausted every attempt, and only then did Allah’s ﷻ mercy manifest in Zamzam.

From a systems biology perspective, this is striking: living systems persist by cycles of search, feedback, adaptation, and renewal. Saʿī embodies that very principle. Human beings must exert themselves fully — body and will — but the outcome rests in Allah’s ﷻ mercy.

Seven, Entropy, and the Arc of Existence: Why seven, not six or eight? From a symbolic perspective:

• Six is the number of creation stages: “He created the heavens and the earth in six days.” (Q 7:54). Creation is ongoing at six, but not yet sealed.

• Seven completes the cycle of created order — full, balanced, enclosed.

• Eight often points to what is beyond creation, the eternal realm: “And the angels will be on its sides, and eight will, that Day, bear the Throne of your Lord above them.” (Q 69:17).

Thus, seven represents the full arc of dunyā — the ordered creation bound by time and entropy. Eight belongs to eternity, the ākhirah. By performing seven circuits, believers acknowledge their place within the created order, and by stopping at seven, they recognize that eternity lies beyond their reach until Allah grants it.

Submission in Cycles: Both ṭawāf and saʿī, then, represent the interplay of cosmic order and human struggle.

• In ṭawāf, the believer mirrors the cosmic cycles of orbit, surrendering to the divine center.

• In saʿī, the believer mirrors the cycles of human striving, acknowledging weakness and reliance on divine relief.

Together, the two rituals embody the fullness of existence: submission + struggle, orbit + striving, order + mercy. Seven rounds in each seal the act as complete within the boundaries of creation.

Reflection: Science shows us seven as a recurring pattern in atoms, planets, and biological cycles. The Qur’ān teaches seven as a sign of completeness in creation. In worship, seven becomes a living act: circling the Kaaba and running between Ṣafā and Marwah connect the believer to both the cosmic order and the human story. In this way, rituals are not arbitrary — they are doorways into seeing that all of creation, from the smallest to the largest, is submitting to Allah ﷻ.

Entropy and the Arrow of Time

Entropy is the scientific concept that describes how ordered systems tend toward disorder. It explains why heat flows from hot to cold, why bodies age, why an egg that breaks does not reassemble itself, and why stars burn out. Entropy gives the arrow of time: a one-way flow from past to future.

But entropy is a property of the material layer — the dunyā. In realms beyond ordinary matter, decay and time as we experience them lose their meaning:

• Angels (created from light) do not age.

• Jinn (created from smokeless fire) occupy a different order of existence.

• The Ākhirah is beyond both entropy and time altogether.

If entropy and time are valid only in this layer, some apparent paradoxes (like cosmic distances or instantaneous spiritual journeys) may be explained by layer-dependent laws: our “billion light-years” measurements are shaped by the rules of this realm; other layers are governed by different rules.

Wave–Particle Duality: A Reminder of Hidden Layers

Modern physics shows that light — and even matter at its smallest scales — behaves sometimes like a particle and sometimes like a wave. Which behaviour appears depends on how we observe it. This wave–particle duality tells us the material world is not as fixed as it looks. At its foundation, reality shifts between forms; what seems solid to one experiment may be diffuse in another.

The Qurʾān teaches that the dunyā is a passing stage, and that creation has both a seen side (shahāda) and an unseen side (ghayb). Wave–particle duality is a modern echo of that ancient insight: the visible and invisible are two aspects of the same creation.

Reality Beyond Our Senses

Do other creatures perceive more of reality than we do? Certainly. Bees see ultraviolet light we cannot; bats navigate with echolocation; snakes sense heat we cannot. Humans sample only a thin slice of the electromagnetic and acoustic spectrum. This is empirical evidence that senses shape reality: what is “real” depends on the perceiver.

The Qurʾān speaks repeatedly of al-ghayb, the unseen. That unseen includes angels, jinn, the soul, Barzakh, and the Ākhirah — layers of being that are real though hidden from most human senses. Science and nature remind us: our sensory window is limited; trust in revelation teaches us there is much more than what our eyes and instruments now register.

Parallel Dimensions and Time Beyond Entropy

Contemporary physics also speculates about higher dimensions. String theory proposes that the smallest building blocks of reality are not point-like particles but tiny vibrating strings, while brane theory imagines our universe as one “membrane” among many, floating in higher-dimensional space. These scientific ideas remain tentative, but they suggest that reality might be far deeper and more layered than naive materialism allows.

The Qurʾān already affirms multiple layers of creation. It even speaks of the heavens being expanded:

“And the heaven We constructed with might, and indeed, We are [its] expander.” (Qur’an 51:47).

It challenges the assemblies of jinn and humankind:

“O company of jinn and mankind, if you are able to pass beyond the regions of the heavens and the earth, then pass. You will not pass except by authority.” (Qur’an 55:33).

And it reminds us of the Divine creative command:

“His command is only when He intends a thing that He says to it, ‘Be,’ and it is.” (Qur’an 2:117).

These verses do not map directly onto any single scientific theory, but they indicate that creation has levels beyond our current instruments, and that time and space in those levels may behave very differently — indeed, may not bind what is not meant to be bound.

Modern science speculates about parallel dimensions and time portals. While still theoretical, the Qurʾān already tells us that beyond our perception are realms of angels, jinn, souls, and the eternal Ākhirah. These are not bound by entropy, and so their relationship to time is entirely different from ours.

In our world, the arrow of time arises from entropy: things decay, age, and move irreversibly forward. But in realms beyond matter, time may not exist in the same way — or at all. The Prophet ﷺ experienced this truth in his journey of Isrāʾ and Miʿrāj, traveling beyond time and space in a single night. Such events remind us that what we call “parallel dimensions” or “time portals” are, in truth, signs that creation has many unseen layers.

Thus, entropy explains our dunyā, but the unseen (ghayb) and the eternal (Ākhirah) are realities far beyond our physics.

Modern science speculates about parallel dimensions and time portals. While these are theoretical, the Quran already tells us that beyond our perception are realms of angels, jinn, souls, and the eternal Ākhirah. These are not bound by entropy, and so their relationship to time is different from ours.

The arrow of time in our world comes from entropy — things decay, age, and move irreversibly forward. But in realms beyond matter, time may not exist in the same way, or at all. The Prophet ﷺ experienced Isrāʾ and Miʿrāj, a journey beyond time and space, in a single night. Such events remind us that what we call “parallel dimensions” or “time portals” are, in truth, signs that creation has many unseen layers.

Thus, entropy explains our dunyā, but the unseen (ghayb) and the eternal (Ākhirah) are realities far beyond our physics.

Life’s Beginning: Information Beyond Time

At fertilisation, a single cell contains all the information for a human being. In hours, it begins dividing and orchestrating a symphony of development that compresses billions of years of evolutionary history into nine months.

Modern biology shows that the so-called “junk” genome is a vast regulatory network. It contains enhancers, silencers, long non-coding RNAs, three-dimensional chromatin architecture and epigenetic marks that control timing, growth, and fine-tuning. The protein-coding genes are essential, but the regulatory genome is what sequences and times the program.

When sperm and egg meet, the combined genome — and its regulatory architecture — triggers a cascade: transcription factors, signalling pathways, chromatin remodelling and spatial patterning all act in sequence. The embryo builds remarkable order from matter, locally decreasing entropy while increasing entropy in the environment (using maternal energy supplies, dissipating heat). Life is thus an island of order permitted by the broader thermodynamic bookkeeping.

From a metaphysical angle, this rapid unlocking of deep biological information hints at a deeper truth: time and history can be encoded in information such that a tiny cell, at the right instant, carries the compressed history of life and releases it. The Qurʾānic phrase Kun fayakūn — “Be, and it is” — resonates with this phenomenon. Creation can be staged, instantaneous, and ordered by Divine command in ways that transcend ordinary temporal intuitions.

“His command is only when He intends a thing that He says to it, ‘Be,’ and it is.” (Qur’an 2:117).

The embryo is a living reflection of this: a compressed history of creation unfolding in moments.

Life’s First Instant: Compression of Time and the Miracle of Birth

When sperm and egg fuse, something astonishing happens in less than a second. The DNA of both gametes, which was tightly packed, suddenly becomes wide open and accessible. Not just the ~36,000 protein-coding genes, but also the vast non-coding regions — the so-called “junk DNA,” now recognized as regulatory information — are activated. This single moment is the transition where billions of years of evolutionary refinement, written into the genome, are instantly unlocked.

In that fraction of a second, the entire blueprint for a human life is prepared: the chromatin is reprogrammed, gene expression begins, and a single cell becomes the progenitor of all tissues, organs, and systems. It is as if the “history” of humanity, which unfolded in deep time over millions of years, is compressed into a blink — ready for replay in the development of a new individual.

From a biological perspective, this is breathtaking enough. But from a metaphysical perspective, it is even more profound. That instant shows that time is not absolute. Information can carry history, and under the right conditions, unlock it faster than our linear minds can grasp. What evolution stretched across ages, the zygote replays in moments.

 The Qurʾān hints at this deeper reality through the command:

“His command is only when He intends a thing that He says to it, ‘Be,’ and it is.”(Qur’an 2:117).

This command applies not only to creation at large, but also to the first instant of every human life — the moment when matter becomes ready to receive a soul.

Mitochondrial DNA and Maternal Lineage: Modern genetics reveals that mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) — the small genome inside the cellular powerhouses — is inherited only from the mother. The father’s sperm contributes virtually no mitochondria. This means that every human carries an unbroken maternal line, traceable back through all mothers. Scientists even speak of “mitochondrial Eve,” a matrilineal ancestor of humanity.

Recognition on Judgment Day by the Mother: Some narrations mention that on the Day of Judgment people may be recognized by their mother’s name. While not the strongest in terms of authenticity, the symbolism is powerful: identity through the mother reflects mercy, nurture, and continuity. The biological fact of maternal inheritance through mitochondria becomes a metaphor for spiritual recognition through the mother. What sustains us in this life — both physically and emotionally — becomes part of how we are known in the next.

Adam, Hawwa, and Human Lineage: The Qur’ān teaches that Prophet Ḥawwāʾ (Eve) was created from Prophet Ādam (Adam), and from them all humanity spread. Our nuclear DNA connects us to both parents — Ādam and Ḥawwā together. But our mitochondrial DNA traces the maternal branch, through mothers, back to the beginning. In this sense, humanity’s story is written in two directions: paternal and maternal, seed and womb, Ādam and Ḥawwā. Both are needed, and both are honored.

Cloning vs. Divine Creation: Cloning today is the scientific attempt to replicate life by inserting nuclear DNA into an enucleated egg cell. The result is a copy of the donor genome, but still dependent on the maternal cytoplasm, mitochondria, and womb. Cloning is therefore not creation, but only copying within creation. It cannot bypass the framework of existing life.

By contrast, the miraculous birth of Prophet ʿĪsā ﷺ without a father is not cloning but a direct Divine act. Allah suspended the ordinary pathways, creating a body and soul by His command alone.

“His command is only when He intends a thing that He says to it, ‘Be,’ and it is.” (Qur’an 2:117).

The difference is fundamental: cloning manipulates what already exists, but Allah ﷻ creates from nothing, with perfect originality.

Ordinary and Extraordinary Together

Thus, the ordinary and extraordinary stand side by side:

• In ordinary birth, billions of years of encoded history are compressed into less than a second at fertilisation.

• In Prophet ʿĪsā’s miraculous birth, Allah showed that He can bypass even those laws and bring forth life directly by His word.

Both point to the same truth: the laws of biology, evolution, and time are signs — not absolutes. They are instruments of order in this layer of reality, but beyond them stands the One who creates with perfect precision, whether through long processes or in an instant.

Pathways of Life: A Comparison

Layers of Order and the Purpose of Creation

If we set entropy as a spectrum from order → disorder, and ask where different beings sit, a clear pattern emerges:

• Angels (nur): pure order, no decay, perpetual obedience.

• Jinn (smokeless fire): intermediate — able to choose, mortal but existing in a subtler realm.

• Humans and the material world (dunyā): highest exposure to disorder and entropy, but given free will.

Why were humans created after angels? Revelation provides the answer: testing and meaningful choice. Angels obey without freedom; humans are tested — their obedience is chosen amid struggle, and that chosen obedience is morally meaningful.

Entropy teaches us that the material world moves from order to disorder. If we reflect in layers, angels represent the highest order — pure obedience, free of entropy. Jinn stand in the middle — mortal, with freedom and hidden existence. Humans in the dunyā live in the most disorderly layer — bound by matter, decay, and time. In this way, our world is the most entropic. Yet it is here, in the realm of decay, that true obedience is tested. Angels obey without choice, but humans obey through struggle, and this is what gives meaning to life.

Modern physics offers an interesting parallel. String theory suggests that all particles are actually vibrations of tiny strings, and brane theory imagines our universe as one “membrane” among many, floating in higher-dimensional space. While speculative, these ideas remind us that creation itself may be layered and multidimensional — far beyond what we see. Revelation already confirms this: the angels, the jinn, the Barzakh, and the Ākhirah are all realities beyond our physics. Science, at its limits, seems to echo what the Qurʾān calls ʿālam al-ghayb — the unseen world.

The vast universe itself reinforces this truth. Its immense distances are beyond our reach in this world, but they are not meaningless. They point to the greatness of Allah’s creation, humbling us, and reminding us that we are small in the cosmic scale. The Qurʾān challenges: “O assembly of jinn and men, if you can pass beyond the regions of the heavens and the earth, then pass. You will not pass except with authority (power)” (55:33). Without divine permission, our travel is limited. But in the eternal realm, where entropy and time do not bind us, even distance itself may lose meaning. Therefore, the modern physics’ strings and branes suggest layered structure; revelation assigns moral and existential roles to those layers. Together they form a coherent reflection: creation is structured, layered, and purposeful.

Human Journey Through Layers

Life in Dunyā is inevitably bound by entropy: everything ages, decays, and ends. But the human journey is not limited to matter. Spiritually, this journey can be seen as:

Birth (entropy) → Aging (entropy) → Death → Barzakh (waiting realm) → Resurrection → Ākhirah (eternal life)

• Humans are bound by matter, free will, and decay.

• Jinn live invisibly, also mortal though of different substance.

• Angels serve perfectly without decay or choice.

• Ākhirah is timeless, eternal, and free of entropy.

This journey shows how our temporary existence prepares us for a higher, eternal one.

Sleep: The Daily Glimpse Beyond Entropy

The Qur’an directly tells us that sleep is a form of minor death, a temporary withdrawal of the soul:

“Allah ﷻ takes the souls at the time of their death, and those that do not die during their sleep. Then He keeps those for which He has decreed death and releases the others for an appointed term.”(Qur’an 39:42)

This verse explains that in sleep, the soul is partially detached from the body — taken into another state — and then returned upon waking.

In that sense, sleep may bring the human soul closer to the true, non-entropic realm — what we have called the timeless layer — the dimension beyond decay and time’s arrow.

The Scientific Frame: In the waking state, consciousness is bound to neural activity, metabolic energy, and entropy — the brain consuming energy and generating waste heat. During sleep, much of this activity slows down, energy is conserved, and internal order is restored: the body repairs, synapses reset, and memories consolidate.

Physiologically, sleep is therefore anti-entropic — it pushes back against disorder. Spiritually, it mirrors a partial detachment from entropy itself. One could say: while awake, we live fully within the arrow of time; while asleep, we rest briefly outside its full grip.

The Veil and the Dream: In Islamic thought, dreams can act as a meeting point between worlds. The Prophet ﷺ said that true dreams (ru’yā ṣāliḥah) are one part of forty-six parts of Prophethood (Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī). Such dreams can carry signs, glimpses, or symbolic knowledge from the unseen.

This suggests that during sleep, the veil (ḥijāb) between dunyā and barzakh-like perception may thin, allowing the soul to perceive realities not filtered through the physical senses.

So, while asleep, one may indeed come closer to ḥaqīqah — the true reality — than when fully awake, though only as much as Allah ﷻ permits.

The Meaning of Sleep: In this light, sleep is not only a biological necessity but also a spiritual reminder.When awake, our consciousness is tied to entropy, time, and sensory limitation — the framework of the dunyā. But when asleep, the soul partially detaches, entering a state less bound by those constraints.

As the Qur’an says, Allah ﷻ “takes the souls,” and in that suspended moment some may glimpse the unseen through dreams. Perhaps in sleep we come nearer to true reality than while awake — for the soul briefly touches the realm where time and decay do not rule.

The Miʿrāj: Journey Beyond Entropy and Time

The Miʿrāj of Prophet Muhammad ﷺ (his Night Journey and Ascension) demonstrates what happens when the constraints of matter, entropy, and worldly time are lifted.

In a single night, he ﷺ:

1.     Traveled from Makkah to Jerusalem (Isrāʾ). A physical journey across distance, yet achieved instantly.

2.     Ascended through the seven heavens (Miʿrāj).

• First Heaven: Meeting Prophet Ādam ﷺ → symbolizes the beginning of human entropy.

• Second Heaven: Prophet ʿĪsā ﷺ and Prophet Yaḥyā ﷺ → link to spiritual renewal.

• Third Heaven: Prophet Yūsuf ﷺ → beauty beyond material decay.

• Fourth Heaven: Prophet Idrīs ﷺ → elevated beyond time.

• Fifth Heaven: Prophet Hārūn ﷺ → leadership in faith.

• Sixth Heaven: Prophet Mūsā ﷺ → human struggle with law and mortality.

• o    Seventh Heaven: Prophet Ibrāhīm ﷺ near al-Bayt al-Maʿmūr (the heavenly Kaaba) → where angels perform eternal ṭawāf.

3.     Reached Sidrat al-Muntahā (the Lote Tree of the Utmost Boundary), the boundary where worldly laws no longer apply.

4.     Was brought into the Divine Presence — beyond time, space, and entropy altogether.

The Miʿrāj shows that once freed from entropy and time, distance itself collapses—allowing instantaneous travel and eternal vision.

The Vast Universe and Human Limits

The immensity of the cosmos humbles us. Its distances are vast beyond practical human travel. Scripture challenges human pride:

“O company of jinn and mankind, if you are able to pass beyond the regions of the heavens and the earth, then pass. You will not pass except by authority.” (Qur’an 55:33).

Without divine authority we cannot simply traverse all cosmic distances. Yet in the Ākhirah — the timeless realm beyond entropy — such distances may lose meaning.

Circles and Submission to the Center

From electrons circling nuclei to planets circling stars, from pilgrims circling the Kaaba to angels circling the Arsh, circling is universal. It is a sign: everything points to and submits around a center — Allah ﷻ.

Angels, Jinn, and the Layers of Reality

Creation can be understood as concentric layers, each less constrained than the one below:

Angels (Malaikah):

• Created from light (nur), angels exist beyond decay and entropy.

• They have no free will and obey Allah ﷻ perfectly.

• They move and orbit in harmony, circling the Arsh (Throne) of Allah ﷻ in endless devotion.

• Just as humans circle the Kaaba, angels revolve around the Arsh — a symbol of submission at a higher, timeless level.

Jinn:

• Made from smokeless fire, jinn inhabit a hidden, energetic layer.

• They have free will, can obey or disobey, and exist parallel to the material world.

• Their perception of time is different, more fluid, but they too die and will face resurrection.

• Jinn form a bridge between the material world of humans and the immaterial world of angels.

Humans:

• Bound by matter and entropy, yet connected to the unseen through the soul.

• Birth is a demonstration of controlled matter and divine orchestration.

• Every heartbeat, thought, and action mirrors the cosmic order: rhythm, orbit, and submission.

Layers of Creation: A Comparison

The Bigger Picture: Layers of Creation

Creation unfolds in layers, from matter to eternity:

Each layer is connected to the next, forming a continuum:

matter → energy → light → eternity.

Human birth, life, and the soul are central in linking the material with the unseen.

Summary

• Angels: Timeless beings created from light, pure order, beyond entropy, always obedient to Allah ﷻ.

• Jinn: Created from smokeless fire, mortal with free will, bridging the material and unseen realms.

• Humans: Created from matter, bound by entropy and decay, yet carrying the soul; their obedience is meaningful because chosen within struggle.

• Wave–Particle Duality: A reminder that even the smallest building blocks of matter defy fixed categories, pointing to unseen layers.

• Parallel Dimensions & Time: String and brane ideas hint at higher realms; revelation affirms angels, jinn, Barzakh, and Ākhirah beyond physical law.

• Sleep: A state between worlds — biologically restorative and spiritually a glimpse beyond entropy, where the soul experiences temporary detachment.

• Layers of Order: Angels = pure order; Jinn = intermediate; Humans = the entropic realm — a spectrum that explains the purpose of free will and testing.

• Life’s Beginning: The genome is an information archive; fertilisation unleashes a compressed history of form and function — a biological “instant” that points toward creative ordering beyond mere chance.

• Maternal inheritance, cloning, and miraculous birth: All show that biological laws are signs — not absolutes — and that Allah ﷻ creates both through process and in an instant.

• Vast Universe: Its immensity humbles us; space does not ultimately limit Divine action or the eternity of the Ākhirah.

• All Signs: Cycles, entropy, duality, unseen layers, string/brane hints, and cosmic vastness point toward Ākhirah — the eternal, true reality, where only Allah’s ﷻ truth remains. Seven as a number of completion in creation appears in atoms, heavens, and rituals (ṭawāf and saʿī), reminding us that all cycles of submission are sealed under Allah’s ﷻ command.

Final Reflection

Everything—atoms, planets, and even souls—moves in cycles and submits to a greater order. Electrons circle nuclei, the Earth circles the Sun, and our very lives circle through stages. Entropy and the arrow of time, explained by the Second Law of Thermodynamics (the law of decay and irreversibility), shape our worldly experience: things age, break down, and move forward in one direction. Yet these are not ultimate truths, for beyond matter, decay and time do not exist. Our acts of worship, such as the seven circuits of ṭawāf and saʿī, are not random rituals but echoes of cosmic order and human struggle — cycles of submission completed within the created world, pointing us to the eternal. Even in biology, life’s first instant compresses billions of years of history into a blink, and the miraculous birth of Prophet ʿĪsā ﷺ reminds us that Allah ﷻ can bypass natural laws entirely. Science allows us to glimpse patterns of order, but they are never ultimate.

Modern physics gives us another sign: wave–particle duality. Even light and matter are not what they seem. Sometimes they appear as particles, sometimes as waves, and their form depends on perspective. If the smallest building blocks of creation can defy our categories, how much more limited is our perception of the soul, the unseen, and the eternal world? Life’s beginning shows us how advanced information can be encoded and released rapidly at fertilisation, compressing evolutionary history into developmental time. All these scientific truths echo the Qurʾānic teaching that Allah ﷻ creates by command — Kun fayakūn — and that the visible is only part of a deeper whole.

Science also speculates about parallel dimensions. String theory suggests that particles are tiny vibrating strings, while brane theory imagines our universe as one membrane among many, floating in higher-dimensional space. These ideas remain theoretical, but they resonate with the Qurʾānic teaching that creation has layers beyond human reach: angels, jinn, Barzakh, and finally the Ākhirah. Our physics begins to glimpse what revelation already affirms — that reality is deeper than what we see.

If we reflect in layers, angels represent the highest order — pure obedience, free of entropy. Jinn stand in the middle — mortal, with freedom and hidden existence. Humans in the dunyā live in the most disorderly layer — bound by matter, decay, and time. In this way, our world is the most entropic. Yet it is here, in the realm of decay, that true obedience is tested. Angels obey without choice, but humans obey through struggle, and this is what gives meaning to life.

The vast universe itself reminds us of this truth. Its immense distances are beyond our reach in this world, but they are not meaningless. They point to the greatness of Allah’s ﷻ creation, humbling us, and reminding us that we are small in the cosmic scale. The Qurʾān challenges: “O assembly of jinn and men, if you can pass beyond the regions of the heavens and the earth, then pass. You will not pass except with authority (power)” (55:33). Without divine permission, our travel is limited. But in the eternal realm, where entropy and time do not bind us, even distance itself may lose meaning. The vast universe humbles us; the Prophet’s Isrāʾ and Miʿrāj remind us the bonds of space and time are not ultimate limitations when Divine will moves beyond them.

Conceptual Flow Map: Matter (entropy / Second Law, decay) → Birth (soul infused) → Sleep (reversible detachment) → Death (final detachment) → Barzakh (timeless waiting) → Resurrection → Ākhirah (Eternal realm, no entropy, timeless)

Cycles of motion, the arrow of time, the dual nature of light, the layered orders of creation, and even the hints from modern physics all point to one truth: all existence submits to Allah ﷻ. Science allows us to glimpse reflections of that order; revelation gives us the map and the moral purpose. The final and full reality is known only to Allah ﷻ alone.

Beyond Entropy: The Human Witness

All creation moves, decays, and renews — yet within this motion, the human being stands as both observer and participant. We measure time, study entropy, and map the universe, but each discovery only deepens our awareness that we are part of the very system we try to explain.

The Qur’an reminds us that this world is lahwun wa laʿib — a transient play — and that the next life is the true and lasting abode. Every atom’s orbit, every birth and death, every dream and awakening whispers the same truth: that existence is not random but purposeful.

Science reveals patterns; revelation reveals meaning. Between them lies the human soul — able to reason, yet yearning to believe. The arrow of time may lead us toward entropy, but faith points us toward eternity.

In the end, our task is not to conquer the laws of nature but to recognize in them the signs of Allah جل جلاله ﷻ. For beyond all matter and measure, He is the One who commands “Be,” and it is.

The mind reflects; the heart submits. The journey that began in motion ends in stillness — the stillness of knowing that all creation, from the smallest particle to the farthest star, is already in perpetual remembrance of its Lord.

Author: 

Nisar Khan, PhD (Immunology)Biomedical Scientist, Systems Biology Researcher & Drug Developer

These reflections are personal thoughts as a scientist and believer. They do not claim to represent ultimate truth — only Allah ﷻ knows the reality of His creation.