# tay al-ard tayy al-arḍ (arabic: طيّ الأرض romanised: folding up of the earth or "covering long distances in the twinkling of an eye") is the name for thaumaturgical teleportation in the mystical form of islam and islamic philosophy. the concept has been expressed as "traversing the earth without moving" some have termed it "moving by the earth being displaced under one's feet." it is a concept widely familiar to the shī‘īs and sufis each group having a different interpretation of it # definitions and discussion the dictionary of dehkhoda defines tay al-ard as "a type of keramat in which instead of moving toward a destination by taking a step forward the earth turns toward the traverser rapidly no matter how far the destination be" some claim that according to these verses it is the non-prophet asif ibn al-birkhia who transports the throne of queen sheba almost instantaneously. according to them a hadith by imam ja'far al-sadiq also confirms that solomon transports the throne by tay al-ard in specific a precise definition of tai al-ardh has been offered by allama qadhi one of the masters of allameh tabatabaei "the ceasing and termination of matter in the initial location and its appearance and re-creation in its final location (destination)" other explanations offered are also mystical in nature. a hadith by imam muhammad al-baqir eg is narrated in which ey attributes the aforementioned esoteric knowledge of asif ibn barakhia to the asma ullah or the "names of god" another widely discussed topic in islamic philosophy and mysticism and even kabbalah being allegedly esoteric knowledge by nature it is not known exactly how it takes place but theories and explanations abound. the most prevalent theory has to do with the concept of consciousness and will (اراده.) the person wills to be someplace and ey is then simply there an instant later. this view can perhaps be understood from the perspective of western philosophical idealism where esse est percipi: if space does not have an objective reality and reality itself is thought of as observer-based and a subjective entity then ideas such as moving in space without physically moving are no longer uncharted possibilities in addition the jinn are believed to possess this knowledge of transportation however in a limited amount as is evident again from the aforementioned quranic verses # history famous sheikhs imams and prominent figures in islam such as abusaeid abolkheir or rumi or al-khidr were believed to possess keramat and writings from medieval islam are full of stories and reports of certain individuals possessing this trait. for example idries shah and robert graves mention the case where senior members of the azimia order were "reputed to appear like many of the ancient sheikhs at different places at one and the same time." many other examples can be found in attar's tadhkirat al-awliya (biographies of the saints) or the works of ibn arabi as well as other similar chronicles. however no one for sure has known the number and identity of all those who possess such knowledge since according to hujviri those who hold such knowledge "do not know one another and are not aware of the other's state of excellence and are hidden from themselves and from mankind" one of the most discussed phenomena of this supposedly esoteric knowledge is the event of traveling without actually moving (طی الارض.) islamic texts and records (from the mystics) are full of such accounts from various eras. for example bayazid bastami has many such accounts colored with mystical flavors surrounding ir life. in one account ey was asked "they say you walk on water?" "a piece of wood can do that too-" ey replied. "they say you travel to mecca at night and return by dawn?" ey was asked. "but a bird at flight can do that too" was ir answer. "so what is the meaning of being human?" ey was asked. "a human is ey who does not fasten ir heart to anything but god" came ir reply. in all such and similar accounts a certain individual of unusually high rank (a sheikh pir or imam) is seen to have the ability to travel long distances in almost instantaneous amounts of time # views ## sunni view belief in the possibility of such charismata karamat by saints (sufi shaykhs) is a part of classical orthodox sunni doctrine as for example listed in the creed of imam tahawi (aqidah tahawiyyah) and all other orthodox sunni treatises on religious doctrine and has been accepted as such since the earliest times of islam tay al-ard is one term used for this concept by the sufi shaykhs (sufism being the spiritual aspect of sunni islam.) some sufis call the concept tay al-makan ("folding of space") the word makan ("location") being used as a synonym for the word ardh ("earth".) both words are arabic in origin and both words are part of the persian lexicon as well # see also **+** alchemy **+** astronomy in islam **+** bilocation **+** islamic astrology **+** karamat **+** kefitzat haderech **+** quantum mind **+** teleportation **+** shia islam **+** traveling without moving in dune // republic of bob