Short answer
No. The world is real, and Islam says it was made for a purpose. The Qur'an says God (﷾) created the heavens and the earth in truth, and not for idle sport (14:19; 44:38-39). In the Guru Granth Sahib, which Sikhs honour as their living Guru, maya is not the world itself. It is the pull of the world that makes a person forget God (Ang 921). Advaita, one Hindu school, goes further and calls the world unreal in the highest sense. Islam agrees that the world can deceive. It calls this life "goods and chattels of deception" (57:20). But the world is a test of who is best in deed (67:2). So use it, and do not be ruled by it. Because the world is real, every deed in it is real, and so is the account.
Full explanation
Maya in the Guru Granth Sahib: the pull that makes us forget
Sikhism (Sikhs also say Sikhi) was founded by Guru Nanak (Sikhs say Guru Nanak Dev Ji). Its scripture is the Guru Granth Sahib, which Sikhs honour as their living Guru. An Ang is a page of its standard 1,430-page edition. Guru Amar Das, the third Guru, says what maya is in his hymn the Anand (Ang 921). Maya is what makes a person forget God (﷾) and grow attached to worldly things. In the same verse he says that those who love God (﷾) find Him even in the midst of maya. Macauliffe, whose 1909 translation is quoted, adds in a note: even as a family man, without leaving the world. So in the Guru Granth Sahib maya is a pull on the heart. It is not a claim that the world is not there. This matters, because the Qur'an gives a very similar warning.
“Maya is that influence by which God is forgotten, worldly love produced, and man becometh attached to secular things. Saith Nanak, they who love God through the Guru's favour, find Him even in the midst of mammon.”
The worlds are called true, and the world is called false
The Guru Granth Sahib says both, and Guru Nanak says both in one hymn, the Asa ki Var. At Ang 463 he praises God (﷾): true are His regions, His worlds and His creation. At Ang 468 he calls kings, their subjects and the whole world false. That verse gives its own reasons. These things waste away and become dust. The whole world passes away. And man loves what is false and forgets the Creator. Guru Tegh Bahadur, the ninth Guru, says the world is like a dream or a play, with nothing real in it but God (Ang 1427). He compares it to a wall of sand (Ang 1429). Sikh commentary does not read these lines as saying that the world is not there. Professor Sahib Singh was a Sikh scholar whose Punjabi commentary on the whole scripture is widely used. On Ang 463 he writes that some creeds think the world is nothing, and that Guru Nanak says it is no illusion: it truly exists, though each thing in it perishes. He explains "real" at Ang 1427 as lasting for ever, and "false" at Ang 1429 as perishable. At Ang 468 he explains the word as deception, like a conjurer's show that makes people forget their Maker. So in the Guru Granth Sahib the world is God's (﷾) true work. It is called false because it passes, and because it deceives those who cling to it. This matters, because the Qur'an says both of these things too.
“True are Thy regions and true Thy universes; True Thy worlds and true Thy creation”
“False are kings, false their subjects, false the whole world; False are mansions, false palaces, false those who dwell therein; False is gold; false silver; false he who weareth them; False the body; false raiment; false peerless beauty; False husbands; false wives; they waste away and become dust. Man who is false loveth what is false, and forgetteth the Creator. With whom contract friendship? The whole world passeth away. False is sweetness; false honey; in falsehood shiploads are drowned. Nanak humbly asserteth—except Thee, O God, everything is thoroughly false.”
“Know that the world is like a dream or a play; There is nothing real in it, Nanak, but God.”
“Know, my friend, that the structure of the world is all unstable; Saith Nanak, like a wall of sand it is not permanent.”
In his note on the salok "True are Thy regions", Professor Sahib Singh says that sach means real, that which truly exists. People of some creeds, he writes, think that the world is in reality nothing. Guru Nanak says in this salok that the whole order of regions and universes is not an illusion: it is the truly existing expanse of a God who exists. Taken as a whole it is His unshakeable arrangement, but the separate things in it, such as the bodies of living beings, are perishable.
Professor Sahib Singh explains saacho ("real") at Ang 1427 as lasting for ever, staying with a person for ever. He explains jhooth at Ang 1429 as perishable. At Ang 468 he explains koor as deception or illusion (chhal, bharam): the whole world is like a conjurer's show. The person caught in it falls in love with it and so forgets the One who made him, and forgets that the whole world is perishable.
The world does not lastIt wastes away, like a wall of sand.
The world deceives those who cling to itThey love it and forget the Creator.
The world is not thereGod's (﷾) worlds are true.
Like a lotus in the water
The Guru Granth Sahib does not ask people to leave the world. In the Sidh Gosht, Guru Nanak's talk with yogis who had left it, he gives the picture below (Ang 938). A lotus stays dry in the water, and a water bird swims in the stream. In the same way, a person who keeps God's (﷾) Name in mind lives in the world and is not stained by it. On this point the Guru Granth Sahib and the Qur'an stand close, as later sections show.
“As a lotus in the water remaineth dry, as also a water fowl in the stream, So by meditating on the Word and repeating God's name, shalt thou be unaffected by the world.”
Advaita: unreal in the highest sense
Many people who say "the world is maya" mean something stronger. It comes from Advaita Vedanta, the Hindu school of non-dualism. Its best-known teacher, Shankara, lived about the eighth century. His school speaks of two levels of truth. In everyday experience (vyavahara) the world is there. Shankara argued against those who denied outside things, and he held that duties and their results stand at this level. In the highest truth only Brahman, the one reality, is. For one who sees that all has its Self in Brahman, he wrote, the world "with its actions, agents, and results of actions is non-existent". He knew the objection: if the many things are not real, commands and prohibitions lose their point. He answered that the world counts as true until that knowledge comes, "just as the phantoms of a dream are considered to be true until the sleeper wakes". So Advaita does not say that the chair in front of you is not there. It says that in the end the world, the deeds done in it and their results are not real. Other Hindu teachers, such as Ramanuja in the eleventh and twelfth centuries, reject this teaching. The page "Is the soul the same as God?" sets out their debate.
“The non-existence of external things cannot be maintained because we are conscious of external things. In every act of perception we are conscious of some external thing corresponding to the idea, whether it be a post or a wall or a piece of cloth or a jar, and that of which we are conscious cannot but exist.”
“Scriptural passages also (such as, 'When the Self only is all this, how should he see another?' Bri. Up. II, 4, 13) declare that for him who sees that everything has its Self in Brahman the whole phenomenal world with its actions, agents, and results of actions is non-existent. Nor can it be said that this non-existence of the phenomenal world is declared (by Scripture) to be limited to certain states; for the passage 'Thou art that' shows that the general fact of Brahman being the Self of all is not limited by any particular state. Moreover, Scripture, showing by the instance of the thief (Kh. VI, 16) that the false-minded is bound while the true-minded is released, declares thereby that unity is the one true existence while manifoldness is evolved out of wrong knowledge.”
“Moreover, all the texts embodying injunctions and prohibitions will lose their purport if the distinction on which their validity depends does not really exist. And further, the entire body of doctrine which refers to final release will collapse, if the distinction of teacher and pupil on which it depends is not real. And if the doctrine of release is untrue, how can we maintain the truth of the absolute unity of the Self, which forms an item of that doctrine? These objections, we reply, do not damage our position because the entire complex of phenomenal existence is considered as true as long as the knowledge of Brahman being the Self of all has not arisen; just as the phantoms of a dream are considered to be true until the sleeper wakes. For as long as a person has not reached the true knowledge of the unity of the Self, so long it does not enter his mind that the world of effects with its means and objects of right knowledge and its results of actions is untrue; he rather, in consequence of his ignorance, looks on mere effects (such as body, offspring, wealth, &c.) as forming part of and belonging to his Self, forgetful of Brahman being in reality the Self of all. Hence, as long as true knowledge does not present itself, there is no reason why the ordinary course of secular and religious activity should not hold on undisturbed.”
One word, two claims
So the word maya carries two different claims. The first, in the Guru Granth Sahib, is a warning about the heart: the world passes, and its pull draws a person away from God (﷾). The second, in Advaita, is a claim about what exists in the end: in the highest truth the world, with its deeds and their results, is not real. Islam accepts the warning. It rejects the second claim. The sections below show why, from the Qur'an.
“Maya is that influence by which God is forgotten, worldly love produced, and man becometh attached to secular things. Saith Nanak, they who love God through the Guru's favour, find Him even in the midst of mammon.”
“False are kings, false their subjects, false the whole world; False are mansions, false palaces, false those who dwell therein; False is gold; false silver; false he who weareth them; False the body; false raiment; false peerless beauty; False husbands; false wives; they waste away and become dust. Man who is false loveth what is false, and forgetteth the Creator. With whom contract friendship? The whole world passeth away. False is sweetness; false honey; in falsehood shiploads are drowned. Nanak humbly asserteth—except Thee, O God, everything is thoroughly false.”
“Scriptural passages also (such as, 'When the Self only is all this, how should he see another?' Bri. Up. II, 4, 13) declare that for him who sees that everything has its Self in Brahman the whole phenomenal world with its actions, agents, and results of actions is non-existent. Nor can it be said that this non-existence of the phenomenal world is declared (by Scripture) to be limited to certain states; for the passage 'Thou art that' shows that the general fact of Brahman being the Self of all is not limited by any particular state. Moreover, Scripture, showing by the instance of the thief (Kh. VI, 16) that the false-minded is bound while the true-minded is released, declares thereby that unity is the one true existence while manifoldness is evolved out of wrong knowledge.”
| Question | Guru Granth Sahib | Advaita (Shankara) | The Qur'an |
|---|---|---|---|
| Is the world real? | Yes: God's (﷾) worlds are true. Called false because they pass and deceive. | In everyday experience, yes. In the highest truth, no. | Yes: created in truth, for just ends. |
| What is the danger? | Maya: the pull by which God (﷾) is forgotten. | Wrong knowledge: taking the many things as real in the end. | Taking this passing life as the goal. |
| What is the answer? | Love God (﷾) in the world, like a lotus in water. | Knowing that Brahman is the Self of all. | Use the world as God (﷾) allows, and answer for every deed. |
Made in truth, for just ends
The Qur'an says plainly that the world is real. God (﷾) created the heavens and the earth in truth (14:19). He did not create them in idle sport, but for just ends (44:38-39). People of understanding look at creation and say, "Our Lord! not for naught Hast Thou created (all) this!" (3:191). In Islam the world is not God, and it is not a dream within Him. It is His creation, and nothing whatever is like Him (42:11). So the world is not something to see through. It is a sign to read, pointing to its Maker.
“Seest thou not that Allah created the heavens and the earth in Truth? If He so will, He can remove you and put (in your place) a new creation?”
“We created not the heavens, the earth, and all between them, merely in (idle) sport: We created them not except for just ends: but most of them do not understand.”
“Behold! in the creation of the heavens and the earth, and the alternation of night and day,- there are indeed Signs for men of understanding,- Men who celebrate the praises of Allah, standing, sitting, and lying down on their sides, and contemplate the (wonders of) creation in the heavens and the earth, (With the thought): "Our Lord! not for naught Hast Thou created (all) this! Glory to Thee! Give us salvation from the penalty of the Fire.”
“(He is) the Creator of the heavens and the earth: He has made for you pairs from among yourselves, and pairs among cattle: by this means does He multiply you: there is nothing whatever like unto Him, and He is the One that hears and sees (all things).”
A test, set on purpose
The Qur'an also says what the world is for. God (﷾) created death and life to try which of us is best in deed (67:2). He made what is on earth "a glittering show", in order to test people (18:7). Ibn Kathir, the fourteenth-century commentator, explains that God (﷾) made this world a passing home with a passing beauty: a place of trial, not a place to settle. So the pull that the Guru Granth Sahib calls maya has a place in the Qur'an too. The world's shine is real, and it was put there for a reason: to show what each person will choose. This matters because a test is only fair if the choices are real.
“He Who created Death and Life, that He may try which of you is best in deed: and He is the Exalted in Might, Oft-Forgiving;-”
“That which is on earth we have made but as a glittering show for the earth, in order that We may test them - as to which of them are best in conduct.”
Ibn Kathir says that Allah made this world a temporary abode, adorned with a beauty that passes, and made it a place of trial, not a place of settlement.
Goods that deceive
The Qur'an's warning is close to the Gurus'. It calls the life of this world play and amusement, pomp, boasting, and rivalry in riches and children. It compares that life to the growth that rain brings. It delights the tillers, then it withers, turns yellow and crumbles away (57:20). In two places it calls this life "goods and chattels of deception" (57:20; 3:185). It warns: "Let not then this present life deceive you" (35:5). This does not clash with a creation made in truth. The heavens and the earth were not made in sport (21:16). The play is in how people live when this life is all they want. The verse that calls this life deception also names the real success: to be saved from the Fire and admitted to the Garden, with the full recompense paid on the Day of Judgment (3:185). Ibn Kathir explains that the verse shows how short and small this life is beside the Hereafter. He quotes the early commentator Qatadah: life is a delight that soon fades, so take obedience to Allah (﷾) from it while you can. So the deception is not that the world is absent. It is that the world passes, and people still take it as their goal. A Sikh or Hindu reader will see the likeness with maya here, and the likeness is real.
“Know ye (all), that the life of this world is but play and amusement, pomp and mutual boasting and multiplying, (in rivalry) among yourselves, riches and children. Here is a similitude: How rain and the growth which it brings forth, delight (the hearts of) the tillers; soon it withers; thou wilt see it grow yellow; then it becomes dry and crumbles away. But in the Hereafter is a Penalty severe (for the devotees of wrong). And Forgiveness from Allah and (His) Good Pleasure (for the devotees of Allah). And what is the life of this world, but goods and chattels of deception?”
“Every soul shall have a taste of death: And only on the Day of Judgment shall you be paid your full recompense. Only he who is saved far from the Fire and admitted to the Garden will have attained the object (of Life): For the life of this world is but goods and chattels of deception.”
“O men! Certainly the promise of Allah is true. Let not then this present life deceive you, nor let the Chief Deceiver deceive you about Allah.”
“Not for (idle) sport did We create the heavens and the earth and all that is between!”
On the words that the life of this world is only the enjoyment of deception, Ibn Kathir says they show how small this life is: it is short, little and finite, and the Hereafter is better and more lasting (87:16-17). He quotes the early commentator Qatadah: life is a delight that will soon fade from its people, so take obedience to Allah from this delight if you can.
Use it, and do not be ruled by it
Islam does not ask anyone to leave the world. The Qur'an asks who has forbidden the beautiful gifts of Allah (﷾) and the good things He provides (7:32). It also gives the advice a rich man's people gave him: seek the Hereafter with what God (﷾) has given you, do not forget your portion in this world, and do good (28:77). The Prophet (ﷺ) told Ibn Umar to be in this world as if he were a stranger or a traveller (Sahih al-Bukhari 6416). A traveller uses the road, eats and rests. He does not settle there, and he does not forget where he is going. So Islam's cure is neither to deny the world nor to run from it. It is to use it as God (﷾) allows, on the way home.
“Say: Who hath forbidden the beautiful (gifts) of Allah, which He hath produced for His servants, and the things, clean and pure, (which He hath provided) for sustenance? Say: They are, in the life of this world, for those who believe, (and) purely for them on the Day of Judgment. Thus do We explain the signs in detail for those who understand.”
“"But seek, with the (wealth) which Allah has bestowed on thee, the Home of the Hereafter, nor forget thy portion in this world: but do thou good, as Allah has been good to thee, and seek not (occasions for) mischief in the land: for Allah loves not those who do mischief."”
Ibn Umar reports that the Prophet (ﷺ) took hold of his shoulder and said: be in this world as if you were a stranger or a traveller. Ibn Umar used to add his own advice: do not expect the morning when evening comes, and take from your health for your sickness and from your life for your death.
| Way | Guru Granth Sahib | The Qur'an |
|---|---|---|
| Leave the world behind | ||
| Let the world rule the heart | ||
| Live in the world, with the heart on God (﷾) |
- Taught
- Not taught
Why it matters: real deeds and a real account
If the world were in the end a dream, our deeds would in the end be dream deeds. Shankara's teaching accepts this. In the highest truth the actions and their results are not there, and the dream counts as true only until the sleeper wakes. The Qur'an turns the picture round. On the Day of Judgment a person is told that he was heedless, and that now his veil is removed and his sight is sharp (50:22). What he sees then is not that his deeds were nothing. He finds all that he did placed before him, in a record that leaves out nothing small or great (18:49). Every atom's weight of good and of evil will be seen (99:7-8). The Qur'an asks whether people thought they were created in jest, and would not be brought back for account (23:115). So a real world means that kindness counts, wrong counts, and every choice is worth making well.
“Scriptural passages also (such as, 'When the Self only is all this, how should he see another?' Bri. Up. II, 4, 13) declare that for him who sees that everything has its Self in Brahman the whole phenomenal world with its actions, agents, and results of actions is non-existent. Nor can it be said that this non-existence of the phenomenal world is declared (by Scripture) to be limited to certain states; for the passage 'Thou art that' shows that the general fact of Brahman being the Self of all is not limited by any particular state. Moreover, Scripture, showing by the instance of the thief (Kh. VI, 16) that the false-minded is bound while the true-minded is released, declares thereby that unity is the one true existence while manifoldness is evolved out of wrong knowledge.”
“Moreover, all the texts embodying injunctions and prohibitions will lose their purport if the distinction on which their validity depends does not really exist. And further, the entire body of doctrine which refers to final release will collapse, if the distinction of teacher and pupil on which it depends is not real. And if the doctrine of release is untrue, how can we maintain the truth of the absolute unity of the Self, which forms an item of that doctrine? These objections, we reply, do not damage our position because the entire complex of phenomenal existence is considered as true as long as the knowledge of Brahman being the Self of all has not arisen; just as the phantoms of a dream are considered to be true until the sleeper wakes. For as long as a person has not reached the true knowledge of the unity of the Self, so long it does not enter his mind that the world of effects with its means and objects of right knowledge and its results of actions is untrue; he rather, in consequence of his ignorance, looks on mere effects (such as body, offspring, wealth, &c.) as forming part of and belonging to his Self, forgetful of Brahman being in reality the Self of all. Hence, as long as true knowledge does not present itself, there is no reason why the ordinary course of secular and religious activity should not hold on undisturbed.”
“(It will be said:) "Thou wast heedless of this; now have We removed thy veil, and sharp is thy sight this Day!"”
“And the Book (of Deeds) will be placed (before you); and thou wilt see the sinful in great terror because of what is (recorded) therein; they will say, "Ah! woe to us! what a Book is this! It leaves out nothing small or great, but takes account thereof!" They will find all that they did, placed before them: And not one will thy Lord treat with injustice.”
“Then shall anyone who has done an atom's weight of good, see it! And anyone who has done an atom's weight of evil, shall see it.”
“"Did ye then think that We had created you in jest, and that ye would not be brought back to Us (for account)?"”
The world is real
created in truth, for just ends.
So the test is real
to try which of us is best in deed.
So every deed is real
an atom's weight of good or evil will be seen.
So the account is real
the record leaves out nothing small or great.
An invitation to weigh the Qur'an
The Gurus' warning about maya and the Qur'an's warning about deception meet on one point. Do not let the world steal your heart from God (﷾). The Qur'an then says why the world exists, how to use it, and what follows it: one life, and then one Day of account. The page "Do Sikhs believe in one life or many?" sets the two accounts of what follows side by side. The Qur'an does not ask to be taken on trust. It says that had it come from anyone but God (﷾), much discrepancy would be found in it (4:82). It also says that Muhammad (ﷺ) was sent to all people as Allah's (﷾) Messenger (7:158). Read the Qur'an in a translation you trust, and weigh what it says about the world, your deeds and your return.
“Do they not consider the Qur'an (with care)? Had it been from other Than Allah, they would surely have found therein Much discrepancy.”
“Say: "O men! I am sent unto you all, as the Messenger of Allah, to Whom belongeth the dominion of the heavens and the earth: there is no god but He: it is He That giveth both life and death. So believe in Allah and His Messenger, the Unlettered Prophet, who believeth in Allah and His words: follow him that (so) ye may be guided."”
Perspectives
Sikh: maya, the pull that makes us forget the Creator
Sikhs hold that maya is attachment to the world, which turns the heart from God (﷾). The world is God's (﷾) true work. It is called false because it passes like a dream and deceives those who cling to it. The cure is to love God (﷾) through the Guru's grace and to live in the world like a lotus in water.
Maya is that by which God (﷾) is forgotten. Those who love Him through the Guru's favour find Him even in the midst of it (Ang 921).
Rebuttal
Islam agrees about the danger: this life's goods deceive, so do not let it deceive you (57:20; 35:5). The Qur'an also says plainly what God (﷾) asks in the world. Enjoy His good gifts, do good with what He gave, and know that each deed will be seen (7:32; 28:77; 99:7-8).
The Guru Granth Sahib calls the whole world false (Ang 468). It says the world is like a dream or a play, with nothing real in it but God (﷾) (Ang 1427).
Rebuttal
The same hymn calls God's (﷾) worlds true (Ang 463), and Professor Sahib Singh's commentary reads "false" as perishable and deceiving, not as absent. The Qur'an says the same two things: the creation was made in truth (14:19), and this life is goods of deception that wither (57:20). It adds that every deed done here will be seen (99:7-8).
Live like a lotus in the water: in the world, and untouched by it (Ang 938).
Rebuttal
Islam agrees with the aim. The Prophet (ﷺ) told Ibn Umar to be in this world as a stranger or a traveller (Sahih al-Bukhari 6416). The Qur'an adds what the world is for: a test of who is best in deed, with its glitter set there on purpose (67:2; 18:7).
The Guru Granth Sahib already warns against maya and teaches people to live in the world with the heart on God (﷾). Islam adds nothing to this.
Rebuttal
On the warning the two stand close, and this page says so. They part on what follows the world. The Guru Granth Sahib speaks of many births (Ang 433). The Qur'an teaches one life, then a Day when each person finds all that he did (18:49). A shared warning cannot settle which account is God's (﷾) word. The Qur'an asks to be tested (4:82).
Advaita Vedanta: unreal in the highest sense
Shankara's school speaks of two levels of truth. In everyday experience the world, its duties and their results stand. In the highest truth only Brahman is real, and the world counts as true only until knowledge comes, as a dream seems true until one wakes.
For one who sees that all has its Self in Brahman, the world with its actions, agents and results of actions is non-existent.
Rebuttal
This is Shankara's reading, and other Hindu teachers reject it from the same scriptures. Ramanuja argues against it at length. Madhva, in the thirteenth century, puts the words "the world is false" in the mouths of the proud. The Qur'an says God (﷾) created the heavens and the earth in truth (14:19), and that nothing whatever is like Him (42:11). So the creation is real, and it is not its Maker.
Advaita does not deny the everyday world. It stands, with its duties, until knowledge comes, just as a dream seems true until the sleeper wakes.
Rebuttal
Granted, and this page says so. But the question is what is true in the end. Shankara states the objection himself: commands and prohibitions lose their point if the distinctions are not real. On his answer they hold only until one wakes. In the Qur'an the waking comes on the Day, when the veil is removed and each person finds all that he did (50:22; 18:49). Waking shows that the deeds were real.
Shankara says the Lord's activity may be mere sport, without reference to any purpose (Brahma Sutra 2.1.33).
Rebuttal
Islam agrees that God (﷾) needs nothing (35:15). Yet the Qur'an says in plain words: "Not for (idle) sport did We create the heavens and the earth" (21:16). It names the purpose: to try which of you is best in deed (67:2).
The Islamic perspective
The world is real, created in truth and for just ends. It is a test of who is best in deed, and its goods deceive those who make it their goal. Use it as God (﷾) allows, because every deed done in it will be seen. Muslims ask every reader to weigh the Qur'an and the last Prophet (ﷺ).
Allah (﷾) created the heavens and the earth in truth, not in idle sport but for just ends.
Death and life were created to try which of us is best in deed, and what is on earth was made a glittering show to test people.
The life of this world is goods and chattels of deception, so do not let it deceive you.
Seek the Hereafter with what God (﷾) has given, without forgetting your portion of this world. His good things are not forbidden.
Every atom's weight of good and of evil will be seen, and the record leaves out nothing small or great.
The Qur'an asks to be examined, and Muhammad (ﷺ) was sent to all people as Allah's (﷾) Messenger.