A008
Surah: 013 - Ayah: 008
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13:8
Whether it is time or place, body or soul, everything is in a limited quantity with God (13:8). By this, however, the beginningless and endless nature of the concept of creation does not cease nor is it even affected, in fact, this helps to understand it. And that is that, God according to His law of power and nature, creates everything from its opposite. For instance, the time of day and night is limited, but God, turning it around in the form of a circle, creates months, years and Infinite time. Thus, although everything is in a limited quantity and in a limited circle, but there is-no beginning and no end of the repetition and revolving of the survival and annihilation of things. And this is in the light of the Qur'anic wisdom (21:33; 36:40).
According to God everything is in a quantity (13:8), thus for return also, there is a specific quantity of knowledge, ibadat and good deeds. Therefore, until a mumin acquires that quantity, the command of “Be” cannot be applicable to him. If it is applied to him after fulfilling the conditions, then according to the Qur`an, he becomes an amr (thing) among the umur (pl. of amr). That is, a creature that is brought into existence from the word “Be”, through ibda and it is only such creatures (umur) who return to God (2:117; 3:109).
Miqdar (Quantity, measure)
It is said in verse (13:8): "And everything with Him is in a measure." That is, there can be many universes, but they cannot be infinite, because the wisdom is in being in a measure, which means that things are not beyond the domain of the recognition of man.
Further, it is mentioned in the Qur'an in verse (13:8): “And everything with Him is in a quantity”. This signifies that although today due to lack of knowledge some things seem to be infinite to human beings, when they will reach the heights of spirituality and will begin to see them through the Divine light and observe them with the eye of certainty (aynu’l-yaqeen) the real state will be revealed to them, which is that things in their entirety – spiritual as well as material – are confined within a specific quantity (13:8). This includes the life of the universe as well as practical knowledge, which is based on this external world (11:107). This is the explanation of the annihilation of everything and the cessation of the duration of the age of space, i.e. the time span of the survival of the world.
Divine law has created everything in a desired limited quantity from its opposite. Then, by their alternation, He has continued the succession of cycles, so that the existence of the Creator of the world may be established through the proof of the possibility of creating everything from its opposite. Thus, this physical world is created in a confined spherical shape. That is, its spread and quantity are not infinite, rather they are finite, as is evident from this Qur'anic verse: “And everything with Him is in a quantity” (13:8). Thus it is evident that everything from among space, time, sensibles and intelligibles, is in a fixed quantity. By quantity is meant the quantity of time and space in which the distance, weight and units of a thing are discussed.
Dharr (in Arabic) is a collective noun which means small ants and tiny particles scattered in the air. The term alam-i dharr or the world of particles is coined from the word dharr. By these ants or particles are meant the particles of soul. The world of particles continues to work for the salik, from the time he starts to experience the inner resurrection. This is a great revolution of spiritual science.
Since these particles are the essence of the universe and the extract of the existents, therefore, they represent not one, but every thing. Therefore, one of their names is "everything (kullu shay')". Thus, wherever in the Wise Qur'an the word "everything" is mentioned, this compendium of the universe which is in the form of the world of particles, is mentioned. "Everything" is also applicable to the Sacred Sanctuary, which is the rank of the unity of things, as mentioned in verse (13:8): "And everything with Him is in a (fixed) measure." That is, even though the worlds may be more than one, but in the personal world there is only one world of particles and one Sacred Sanctuary.
“And everything with Him is in a measure”(13:8).This is the misbah (Chiragh-I Rawshan) which, in the form of the sun of intellect, always rises and sets at the rank of azal .Now we must answer an important question what is the relation of Chiragh-I Rawshan to the death of a mu’min? Is spiritual salvation only by lighting the Chiragh, or is there some other secret? Many points of wisdom and ma’rifat . One of them is that although physically a mu’min dies, spiritually he never dies. He leaves the physical body and what wears the paradisiacal attire of the subtle body. Previously he was dark, but now he becomes bright and transforms from immobile into mobile, from finite into infinite and from low into high.
This verse has been referred 7 times.