Holography is a photographic process that uses laser-coherent light of the same wave-length to produce three-dimensional images in space. A hologram - which might be compared to a photographic slide from which we project a picture - is a record of an interference pattern of two halves of a laser beam. After a beam of light is split by a partially silvered mirror, half of it (called the reference beam) is directed to the emulsion of the hologram; the other half (called a working beam) is reflected to the film from the object being photographed. Information from these two beams, required for reproducing a three dimensional image, is "enfolded" in the hologram in such a way that it is distributed throughout. As a result, when the hologram is illuminated by the laser, the complete three-dimensional image can be "unfolded" from any fraction of the hologram. We can cut the hologram into many pieces and each part will still be capable of reproducing an image of the whole."
Can you now see the implications of the Umm al-kitab? Imagine the revelation as Divine Light. Can you see how the Umm al-Kitab could convey the essence of the entire revelation? It is, of course, just the opening to the Divine Secret, but it is also the one surah that every single Muslim, world-wide - regardless of age, gender, culture, intelligence, economic status, health and well-being, sectarian orientation - knows how to recite. Alhamdulillah!
Now, this is the one single phenomenon which ties the entire Ummah together. Perhaps you have even considered the relationship between Umm and Ummah. This experience of reciting al-Fatiha is what binds us as a faith of over one billion followers. So, this is my starting point in developing a Psychology of Islam.
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