-- "The Butterfly Effect" --

"Say: "Only God knows the future" [ The Holy Qur'an 10:20]

Man's Yearning to Unravel The Secrets of Tomorrow

Who does not want to know the future? Is it not one of our impossible dreams to obtain advance information about tomorrow? Events developing in time have such a complicated structure that small things can make all the difference.

For example, a small mutation in one (or couple of) gene(s) leads to cancer, which can be a devastating disease. Today, we cannot make long-term predictions; we do not know when the next earthquake is going to take place or how stock market prices will continue to rise and fall.

Life is full of these unknown and unpredictable events.

The Chaos Theory ( The Butterfly Effect)

In modeling atmospheric convection in the 1960s, a meteorologist and mathematician at MIT, Edward Lorenz, came up with a mathematical model showing that small perturbations in input parameters result in huge deviations in output, the “Butterfly Effect.”

In other words, in theory, a butterfly flapping its wings in China could bring about a storm in New York City. This is another way to express sensitive dependence on initial conditions. Getting up two minutes late, one may end up missing the bus, which in turn costs one the job interview. As a result of pushing the brake pedal one second earlier a person’s life can be saved.

Such slight changes in daily actions are actually signs of how tiny changes are relevant with our lives and how sensitive the future is to the present. Such dependence is called 'Nonlinearity' and many scientific problems, such as the well-known Navier-Stokes equations, have been awaiting a solution because of this complexity.

In contrast to a Deterministic Approach, which is based on the idea that the knowledge of the past enables one to make future predictions, a Nonlinear (or chaotic) approach claims that the future is not that straightforward.

Under the light of Islam - The immaculate wisdom of the Holy Quran through the magnificent and exulted knowledge of Allah (swt) is replete with evidence, scientific facts and logical assertions that support the Chaos Theory and undermines the Deterministic Approach by refuting the ideas it advocates.

As Muslims, we know that God Almighty is the knower of the seen and the unseen and knowledge of the future solely rests with him. No matter how much knowledge we possess about the past in terms of human history, environmental factors affecting change, ecological and atmospheric fluctuations or even social trends - none of it can distinctively ensure an accurate comprehension of the future where mere predictions would help us alter the state of our present lives or the dynamics regulating it.

“Say: None in the heavens and the earth knows the Unseen except God Almighty, nor can they perceive when they shall be resurrected” [The Holy Qur'an 27:65]

“And with Him are the keys of the Unseen (all that is hidden), none knows them but He. And He knows whatever there is in the land and in the sea; not a leaf falls, but He knows it. There is not a grain in the darkness of the earth nor anything fresh or dry, but is written in a Clear Record” [The Holy Qur'an 6:59]

God transcends Time and Space, whereas the Human Being is bound by them

"Know that God is Transcendent, Praiseworthy!" [ The Holy Qur'an 2:267 ]

Now, In contrast to what we used to believe, chaos does not mean complete disorder. Some complicated long-term events may have a hidden order. Being bound by time prevents us from knowing the future. Hence, It is in this sense, that time can be said to be another dimension, so that together with the other three, our living environment is formed.

To be able to control or observe time-dependent events, the individual of this four-dimensional space may need to move outside of time. To understand this idea better we may analyze the well-known Butterfly example.

In Figure 1, the behaviors of three different variables are shown on the horizontal time axis, where they are very irregular, complicated and chaotic. However, In Figure 2 when the same motions are transformed into another space where time is hidden, what we see is an interesting order between these three variables.

Figure 1

Figure 2

Chaos and Spiritual Life

The human being’s spiritual life is also extremely sensitive to small changes. We are continuously exposed to our personal desires and Satan’s whispers. One small sin is an invitation to worse ones which eventually accumulate and trouble the soul.

Similarly, every good deed, no matter how small, has the potential to become a ticket to paradise. It nerely depends upon the situation in which it was performed and the level of sincerity in our heart. Giving water to a thirsty dog is not an extraordinary act, but in the particular case mentioned in a hadith of the Prophet Muhammad (saws), this sincere act was significant enough to purify a very sinful person, while another went to hell because of letting a cat starve.

In another tradition, the Prophet (saws) said:

“When a person first commits a sin, it falls as a black dot in (the clean slate of) his heart. If he refrains, repents, and seeks forgiveness, it is however erased. However, if on the other hand, he were to persist in sin, the dot will gradually expand until it covers the entire heart.”

Hence, we see that this is the state of 'sealing the hearts' that God Almighty warns us of in the Holy Qur’an:

"Nay the sins they have accumulated have covered their hearts like a seal” [The Holy Qur'an 83:14 ]

Therefore, a sin penetrating the heart, will blacken and darken it until it extinguishes the light of belief. Within each sin is a path leading to unbelief. Unless that sin is swiftly obliterated by seeking God’s pardon through sincere repentance, it will grow from a worm into a snake that sucks the heart's blood in the form of a satanic parasite.

Likewise, initial tiny scruples can grow exponentially and destroy hope in the heart in an unexpected way. This is where one's faith in God Almighty begins to waver and sooner or later it will fade away, thus pushing the individual into a deep dark abyss of ignorance who's dungeons are hard to crawl out from.

The universe in perfect order

Just the way our spiritual existences orchestrate and regulate our mortal / physical selves in a system encompassed by the constraints of time and space, similarly the whole Universe, it's solar systems, stars, nebulae, planets and billions of galaxies can be compared to the human being.

The universe is regulated with an immaculate level of perfection, it is synchronized with the laws of physics that do not deviate even a fraction - all due to God Almighty's command and divine will. Even a small derailment of these physical laws for a mere millisecond, will consequentially result in the complete destruction and total annihilation of the whole Universe in the blink of an eye, thus reinforcing the fact that small changes give rise to colossal effects within a system.

"Allah is He Who raised the heavens without any pillars that you see, and He is firm in power and He made the sun and the moon subservient (to you); each one pursues its course to an appointed time; He regulates the affair, making clear the signs that you may be certain of meeting your Lord!" [ The Holy Qur'an 13:2 ]

The orbiting of the planets, the creation of new stars and forming nebulae, the vast and incomprehensibly diverse billions of galaxies in all their glory and therein contained millions of solar systems - all are in constant motion and state of regulation.

"He is the One who has created night and daylight, and the sun and the moon; each floats along (perfectly) in an orbit" [ The Holy Qur'an 21:33 ]

"And it is We who have constructed the heaven (Universe) with might, and verily, it is We who are steadily expanding it" [ The Holy Qur'an 51:47 ]

Therefore, keeping in mind the Universe's perfect orchestration on every level in every possible way as willed by God Almighty, we can establish that the physical existence of the human body and the spiritual being existing within; also requires a solid and concise regulatory process which would allow the soul to exist within its physical bounds in a state of tranquility, rather than suffocation and restlessness.

As human beings we've been given the gift of "Free Will", which means that unlike the billions of galaxies and countless planets bowing before God's command within our Universe, the human being in contrast has the ability to make it's own decisions and thus has at its disposal the buttons to its own system of regulation / orchestration.

Hence, choosing the right path through an instance of free-will that concurrently submits to the will of God Almighty, will result in a clean state of the heart free from sin and safe from the snowball effect of negative consequence.

Similarly, choosing the wrong path through an instance of free-will that concurrently submits not to the will of God Almighty, but to the will of one's "Nafs"; will result in a contaminated state of the heart where a small blackened patch brought on by sin, will eventually spread enough to suffocate the heart, trouble the soul and extinguish the light of faith within one's mortal being.

Cosmogeny without order = Chaos

Conclusion:

In conclusion we realize that from the human being's and the Universe's perspective, each time-dependent event can have very complicated consequences! However, every consequence always bears God’s signature and His divine order.

He is the knower of the seen and the unseen, the possessor of infinite knowledge and sublime majesty.

“They said, 'Why hasn't a miracle come down to him from his Lord?’ Say, ‘Only God knows the future.’ Therefore, wait, and I will wait along with you” [ The Holy Qur'an 10:20 ].

It may not be possible to see tomorrow, but we should be aware that each small change we make affects our future. The companions of the Holy Prophet (saws) lived in such a way that they were always carefully watching their hearts to take immediate action on small deeds or scruples.

For every event or option we face, the decision is up to us! For example whether we smoke or not, whether we lie or not, whether we get up early or not and so on. These sets of small decisions play an integral role in terms of the future we do not know nor can we ever perceive.

Actions followed by their consequences, whether they are small or not, have such a profound impact on our mortal existences that they can make or break our tomorrow, be it in terms of this worldly life or the hereafter.

Even reading this article was one of these small things you had the choice to do or not to do!

May Allah (swt) enable all of us to reflect upon such seemingly insignificant aspects of our lives that we forget to ponder upon everyday in the midst of our heedlessness and may the smallest most minute of our thoughts, actions and resulting consequences resonate along the same 'wavelength' and 'frequency' as the will of God Almighty, for that is what will protect us from complete chaos both in this World and the Hereafter, Ameen!

- Ali Ash