فَكَانَ قَابَ قَوْسَيْنِ أَوْ أَدْنَى

An-Najm; The Star
فَكَانَ قَابَ قَوْسَيْنِ أَوْ أَدْنَى (53:9
53:9 And was at a distance of but two bow-lengths or (even) nearer;

I am intrigued by this verse of the Quran, describing the Mi'raj of the Prophet saw, when he came to meet his Lord, the Great, at sidratul muntaha.
Why was bow-lengths used as a unit of measure?
What is the significance?
and then "aw adna"? or less?

and then
53:18
لَقَدْ رَأَى مِنْ آيَاتِ رَبِّهِ الْكُبْرَى
53:18: truly did he see some of the most profound of his Sustainer’s symbols.

Scholars of Quranic exergesis say that greatest symbol is non-other than the vision of the Visage of God.

That is why Imam Nawawi in his Al-adzkar interprets this verse as
" ra'a rabbahu bi 'ainai raasihi'
"he saw his Lord with the eyes of his head"

and then there is this Hadith Qudsi where God said
"do not curse time, for I am Time"

All these discussions intermingle the concept of time, distance, speed and space.
i can't help but to ask about quantum physics and see what i can gather.
i just got a gimpse, but it's nonetheless fascinating, in every sense of the word.
On earth, a metre ruler has that length we know as 1metre, but that is true only because earth is moving very slowly as compared to speed of light, suppose if we were to move at the speed of light, then the ruler, according to our perception will cease to exist, coz the light that reflects off the ruler is travelling at your speed and can never catch up with you. in other words, distance is not absolute, it depends on speed.
and in quantum physics, it has been proven also that a particular object can be present at multile places in a single moment. sounds very much like the karamah of awliyaullah, the saints of God whose miraces include being spotted in many places at one time.

i have the feeling, that somehow or another, these hidden divine secrets will be revealed through modern day science.
when einstein puts forth the formula E=mc^2, it is like a step closer to understanding the connection between the Prophet, who is constantly described as a Light, and all his miracles. even a verse in the quran so powerfully hint at the concept of c^2, when it says
"nuurun 'alaa nuur" Light UPON Light.

now the question is, who can legitimately answer these questions? the scholars of the external sciences? even in the islamic world, so many people just go for the knowledge of paper, degree etc, they only study the external form of Islam such as how to perform prayers etc etc and at the same time reject the legitimacy of spiritual masters.

what the saints have been talking about for so long, is now coming to light thanks to modern day science which reveals even more about the nature of Light than ever possible. we are still in the beginning stages, so much things in modern physics are still just theoretical. soon, for God will show them the signs until it becomes obvious to them - surah baqarah.

the sad thing is, as i was discussing with one of our ikhwan, even among students of tasawwuf, they find tariqah so obscure, so underground, and some are even stereotyped against it. even when scholars such as ust tm fouzy and ust hasbi keep on emhasising the need to find a mursyid, mot would just say " oh, there is such and such a mursyid out there" and that is it, they stop there and don't go finding one. of course these mursyids won't publicly reveal themselves, even their representatives don't do that. how many people view ust hasbi as just an islamic degree holder? while in fact he is a representative of a tariqah, not many know that.

may Allah guide us all.
Allahummahdinaa ila tariqil mustaqeem, amin