الحمد لله نحمده ونستعينه ونستغفره، ونعوذ بالله من شرور أنفسنا، ومن سيئات أعمالنا 

وأشهد أن لا إله إلا الله وحده لا شريك له، وأشهد أن سيدنا محمدًا عبده ورسوله.

Before I talk about the subject that I was asked to discuss which is the double slits  experiment, let me take advantage of having our middle and high school students here and clarify couple of important points related to the Quran.

The Quran contains about 6200 verses and out of these verses there are only 200 verses that address prohibitions and laws and out of these there is only 9 that focuses on the penal system.

But the Quran include more than 1000 verses discuss physical sciences.  This clearly illustrates the important of the different branches of natural sciences to understanding the Quran.  Therefore, you find that in the golden age of Islam the great scientists were also great theologians. 

As example Ja’far as-Sadiq (جَعْفَرُ بْنُ مُحَمَّدٍ ٱلصَّادِقُ‎‎; 702–765 CE) who developed the Ja’fari school of Fiqh and he is considered the sixth Shia Imam but he is also considered as a major figure in the Hanafi and Maliki schools of Sunni jurisprudence.  He wrote in the subjects of chemistry, mathematics, philosophy, astronomy, anatomy, and others.

It is interesting t know that Ja’far as-Sadiq was the chemistry teacher of Jābir ibn Hayyān who is known as the father of chemistry.  Jābir ibn Hayyān said: “My master Ja’far as-Sadiq taught me about evaporation, distillation and crystallization and everything I learned in alchemy was from him.” 

Another example is Ibn Rush (Averroes) who wrote over 80 books on mathematics, medicine, astronomy, physics, celestial mechanics, logic, geography, philosophy, and psychology, in addition to writing on theology, Sharia, and Islamic jurisprudence.   In fact one the best books on comparative Fiqh was written by Ibn Rushd, its title is “Distinguished Jurist’s Primer” ( بداية المجتهد و نهاية المقتصد). 

I am saying this because I want to emphasize to our youth that their study of physics, chemistry, biology, mathematics, history and so on are very important in truly knowing Allah.  This is why scholars say that Allah revealed two books.  A read book and perspective visual book (كتاب الله المقروء و كتاب الله المنظور).  The read book is the Quran and the visual book is the universe.  You will never fully know the power and wisdom of Allah by reading the Quran only, but you will see the reality of the power and wisdom of Allah by studying his creations and this requires excelling in the study of natural sciences. 

This point is affirmed by the great Muslim scientist and scholar Ibn al-Haytham (بن الهيثم) whose name is Latinized as “Alhazen” who is recognized in the west as the father of modern scientific methodology. Ibn al-Haytham wrote: “I constantly sought knowledge and truth, and it became my belief that for gaining access to the glory and closeness to Allah, there is no better way than that of searching for truth and knowledge.”

Now, let me go to the topic I was asked to discuss.   Allah informs us in the Quran that everything in the universe sings His praise and prostrated to His glory but we just lack the knowledge to understand them.   As example, Allah says in Surat Al-Isra

تُسَبِّحُ لَهُ ٱلسَّمَـٰوَٲتُ ٱلسَّبۡعُ وَٱلۡأَرۡضُ وَمَن فِيہِنَّ‌ۚ وَإِن مِّن شَىۡءٍ إِلَّا يُسَبِّحُ بِحَمۡدِهِۦ وَلَـٰكِن لَّا تَفۡقَهُونَ تَسۡبِيحَهُمۡ‌ۗ إِنَّهُ ۥ كَانَ حَلِيمًا غَفُورً۬ا (٤٤)

The seven heavens and the earth and all whosoever is in them praise Him, and there is not a thing but hymns His praise; but you do not understand their praise. Truly, He is Ever Forbearing, Oft-Forgiving (Al-Isra 17:44) 

Similarly, Allah says in Surat Al-Noor:

أَلَمۡ تَرَ أَنَّ ٱللَّهَ يُسَبِّحُ لَهُ ۥ مَن فِى ٱلسَّمَـٰوَٲتِ وَٱلۡأَرۡضِ وَٱلطَّيۡرُ صَـٰٓفَّـٰتٍ۬‌ۖ كُلٌّ۬ قَدۡ عَلِمَ صَلَاتَهُ ۥ وَتَسۡبِيحَهُ ۥ‌ۗ وَٱللَّهُ عَلِيمُۢ بِمَا يَفۡعَلُونَ (٤١)

“Have you not seen that Allah is praised by whosoever is in the heavens and the earth, and the birds with wings out-spread in their flight? Everyone knows his prayer and his way of praise; and Allah is Aware of what they do (Al-Noor 24:41)

These verses and others like them tell us that every particle in the universe has conscious to know Allah and thus do Tasbeeh to Him.  If we believe in this, we must treat everything in the universe with respect because they have feelings. 

This understanding is supported by a hadeath that has been reported by Imam Bukhari and narrated by Jabir ibn Abdullah (جابر رضي الله عن) who said:

وعن جابر بن عبد الله رضي الله عنه قال: كان جذع يقوم إليه النبي صلى الله عليه وسلم، يعني في الخطبة. فلما وضع المنبر، سمعنا للجذع مثل صوت العشار حتى نزل النبي، صلى الله عليه وسلم، فوضع يده عليه فسكن”. ((رواه البخاري))

There was a trunk of a date-palm tree upon which the Prophet (PBUH) used to recline while delivering Khutbah. When a pulpit [Minbar] was placed in the Masjid, we heard the trunk crying out like a pregnant she-camel. the Prophet (PBUH) came down from the pulpit and put his hand on the trunk and it became quiet.

In another narration, it says that the Prophet (PBUH) stopped the khutbah, descended from the minbar and began to stroke the trunk of the palm tree and then he hugged it and told the companions who were gathered round the tree:

‘By Allah in whose hands rest my soul if I had not hugged it, it would have remained sobbing like this until the Day of Judgement.

Is there proof that all matters have conscious and they know what is happening around them?

In about the year 1800, an interesting experiment was conducted by Thomas Young and it became to be known by the “Double Slits Experiment” (1773–1829). Thomas’s experiment involved using a coherent light source, such as a laser beam, to illuminate a plate containing two parallel slits, and observed the light passing through the two slits on a screen behind the plate.  

He noted that instead of having two bands corresponding the two slits, the light passing through the two slits interfered producing a diffraction (interference) pattern of bright and dark bands on the screen.  No big deal because at that time, scientists considered that light are waves and thus the diffraction pattern occurs.   But later scientists discovered that light is formed by a stream of particles called photons.

Later scientists did the experiment by shooting stream of electrons, hydrogen atoms (mainly proton) and even Bucky Ball (60 carbon atoms) and the results were the same as the light. The particles showed the diffraction pattern. 

Scientists decided to run the the experiments by shooting individual particles instead of a stream of particles and the results were the same diffraction pattern. 

In order to understand how individual particles form diffraction pattern, scientist used particle detector, but the pattern of the particles changed, instead of a diffraction pattern, the particles formed two strips.  When they stopped the detector, the particles formed a diffraction pattern. 

This raised the question regarding influence of the observer on the particle pattern.

Then scientist did something interesting and they observed something even more weird, they turned the detector on but did not record the data and they noted that the particles formed the diffraction pattern but when they started recording the particles formed the two-strip pattern.   This suggested that the particles are not influenced by the detector but also by the recording. 

The perplexing question is: how the particles knew whether they are observed or not and whether they are recorded or not. 

Note that when the particles are being observed/recorded, they move in straight lines forming two strips behind the two slits, but when they are not recorded they behave in haphazard matter. 

No one yet has been able to come with solid scientific answer to this question, So, this question remains to be answered by anyone of our youth and if he/she did, they are most likely to join this group of scientists (Noel prize Winners in Physics).

But until now, there is no physical explanation for this behavior except to consider that particles have conscious and awareness when someone is observing and recording their motion. 

Eugene P Wagner who is one of the leading physicits of the 20th century and the 1963 Nobel Prize winner in Physics reached this conclusion that everything in the universe has conscious, as he said:   

“It will remain remarkable, in what ever way our future concepts may develop, that the very study of the external world led to the scientific conclusion that the content of the consciousness is the ultimate universal reality.”

This affirms Allah’s revelation to us that everything in the universe is fully aware of Him and in a state of continuous Tasbeeh.  The question is: are we fully aware of Allah and are frequent in His Tasbeeh.

This also may explain why Allah has observers and recorders over all what we do to ensure that every atom in out body stays in the straight path in full obedience to Allah.  But, it is we, whom Allah has subjugated everything in this world to us, are the ones who force them to deviate from the straight path and that is where distress and chaos happen to our body and to our environment.

The wonder of creation is that the whole universe sings the praise of Allah and prostrates to Him. Peace in the universe can only occur if man has the wisdom to join these creations in their submissiveness to Allah.

We pray to Allah to give us the wisdom and guide us to maintain harmony with the rest of creations by being in total awareness of Allah and in state of continuous Tasbeeh and glorification of Him.  

If you want to list to study this experiment further, you can consult several youtube videos:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-MNSLsjjdo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ORLN_KwAgs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M4_0obIwQ_U

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A9tKncAdlHQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nRSBaq3vAeY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DfPeprQ7oGc

Allah also teaches us that He assigned observers to record everything we do

سَوَآءٌ۬ مِّنكُم مَّنۡ أَسَرَّ ٱلۡقَوۡلَ وَمَن جَهَرَ بِهِۦ وَمَنۡ هُوَ مُسۡتَخۡفِۭ بِٱلَّيۡلِ وَسَارِبُۢ بِٱلنَّہَارِ (١٠) لَهُ ۥ مُعَقِّبَـٰتٌ۬ مِّنۢ بَيۡنِ يَدَيۡهِ وَمِنۡ خَلۡفِهِۦ يَحۡفَظُونَهُ ۥ مِنۡ أَمۡرِ ٱللَّهِ‌ۗ (الرّعد(

It is the same (to Him) whether any of you conceal his speech or declare it openly, whether he hides by night or goes forth freely by day. (10) For him (each person), there are angels in succession, before and behind him. They guard him by the Command of Allah.” [Al-Ra’ad 13:10-11]

وَهُوَ ٱلۡقَاهِرُ فَوۡقَ عِبَادِهِۦ‌ۖ وَيُرۡسِلُ عَلَيۡكُمۡ حَفَظَةً حَتَّىٰٓ إِذَا جَآءَ أَحَدَكُمُ ٱلۡمَوۡتُ تَوَفَّتۡهُ رُسُلُنَا وَهُمۡ لَا يُفَرِّطُونَ (٦١)

“He is the Irresistible, Supreme over His slaves, and He sends guardians (angels guarding and writing all deeds) over you, until when death approaches one of you, Our Messengers take his soul, and they never neglect their duty” (Al-An’am 6:61)

كَلَّا بَلۡ تُكَذِّبُونَ بِٱلدِّينِ (٩) وَإِنَّ عَلَيۡكُمۡ لَحَـٰفِظِينَ (١٠) كِرَامً۬ا كَـٰتِبِينَ (١١) يَعۡلَمُونَ مَا تَفۡعَلُونَ (الانفِطار(

“Nay! But you deny the Judgement. (9) There are over you guardians, (10) Honorable and recording (your deeds).,” (Al-Infitar 62:9-12) 

Quantum physics

لَمۡ تَرَ أَنَّ ٱللَّهَ يَسۡجُدُ لَهُ ۥ مَن فِى ٱلسَّمَـٰوَٲتِ وَمَن فِى ٱلۡأَرۡضِ وَٱلشَّمۡسُ وَٱلۡقَمَرُ وَٱلنُّجُومُ وَٱلۡجِبَالُ وَٱلشَّجَرُ وَٱلدَّوَآبُّ وَڪَثِيرٌ۬ مِّنَ ٱلنَّاسِ‌ۖ وَكَثِيرٌ حَقَّ عَلَيۡهِ ٱلۡعَذَابُ‌ۗ وَمَن يُہِنِ ٱللَّهُ فَمَا لَهُ ۥ مِن مُّكۡرِمٍ‌ۚ إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ يَفۡعَلُ مَا يَشَآءُ ۩

 Have you not seen that whoever is in the heavens and whoever is on the earth, and the sun, and the moon, and the stars, and the mountains, and the trees, and the all beasts treading the earth and many of mankind willingly prostrate themselves to Allah? (Al-Hajj 22:18)

There other narration to the same account but they are all similar.   

وفي رواية: فلما كان يوم الجمعة قعد النبي، صلى الله عليه وسلم على المنبر، فصاحت النخلة التى كان يخطب عندها حتى كادت أن تنشق. وفي رواية: فصاحت صياح الصبي، فنزل النبي صلى الله عليه وسلم ، حتى أخذها فضمها إليه، فجعلت تئن أنين الصبي الذي يسكت حتى استقرت ، قال: “بكت على ما كانت تسمع من الذكر” ((رواه البخاري))

Another narration is: The Prophet ﷺ used to stand by a tree or a date-palm on Friday (to give the Khutbah). Then an Ansari woman or man said, “O Messenger of Allah! Shall we make a pulpit for you?” He replied, “If you wish.” So they made a pulpit for him and when it was Jumah, the Prophet ﷺ sat on the pulpit [to deliver the Khutbah] and the trunk of the date- palm on which he used to recline cried out as if it would split asunder. 

Another narration is: It cried like a child and the Prophet ﷺ descended (from the pulpit) and embraced it while it continued moaning like a child being quietened. The Prophet ﷺ said, “It was crying for (missing) what it used to hear of Dhikr near it.”

Quotes

“It will remain remarkable, in what ever way our future concepts may develop, that the very study of the external world led to the scientific conclusion that the content of the consciousness is the unltimate universtal reality.”  (Eugene P Wagner, one of the leading physicits of the 20th century and the 1963 Nobel Prize winner in Physics  for his contributions to the theory of the atomic nucleus and the elementary particles, particularly through the discovery and application of fundamental symmetry principles. Born in 1902 and died in 1995).

“Science cannot solve the ultimate mystry of nature because, in the last analysis, we ourselves are a part of the mystry that we are trying to solve.”’ (Max Planck, German theoretical physicist whose work on quantum theory won him the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1858.  Born in 1858 and died in 1947.)