What are the general traditional arguments for the resurrection?
Universal wisdom proves the Resurrection
God is absolutely free in His acts; He does whatever He wills and no one
can call Him to ac-count for what He does. However, He is the All-Wise and acts
with absolute purposiveness and wisdom. He never exerts Himself in vain and
never does a thing that is futile or pointless.
When a man looks at himself and ponders over his nature, and his physical
and spiritual identity and structure, when he studies his body with all its
parts down to the cells, he will see that he has been created for certain important
purposes and there is not even a single useless atom in his structure. Like
man, the normo-universe, the universe, which is the macro-human being, manifests
great purposes and innumerable instances of wisdom in all its parts. There is
not a meaningless and useless thing the size of even a gnat’s wing.
Man has a unique place among creation. Whatever is in the universe, God has
placed some aspect of it in man’s creation. With his mental and spiritual faculties
he represents angelic and other spiritual worlds like the world of symbols or
immaterial forms. What is more, by virtue of his inborn capacity to learn and
the free will with which he is endowed, he has the potential to excel even an-gels.
With his physical or biological being, he represents plants and animals. Although
contained in time and place, with his spiritual faculties and other powers like
imagination, he goes beyond time and space. Despite man’s matchlessness and
indescribable worth among creatures, some human beings die at birth and some
quite young. In addition, man longs for eternity and desires an eternal life,
some of his senses or feelings are satisfied with nothing but eternity. If he
were left free to choose between eternal life with severe hardships and eternal
non-existence after a short luxurious life, most probably he would prefer eternal
life with hardships. He would even prefer eternal existence in Hell to eternal
non-existence. God, Who is the All-Merciful and All-Wise, did not condemn man
to eternal non-existence. Nor did He give him the desire for eternity so that
he would suffer the anguish of a heart-felt desire impossible to satisfy. So
Divine Wisdom requires the existence of an eternal world where man will live
eternally.
The world does not suffice for the right judgment of man’s worth
The world does not suffice for the right judgment of man’s worth. Although,
physically, he is a small body, through his mental and spiritual faculties he
embraces the whole of the universe. His acts do not relate only to the visible
world and cannot be restricted by time and space. He has so universal a nature
that even the acts of the first man has effects on the life and character of
the last man, on the whole of existence. To restrict man, as materialists do,
to a physical entity and to a very short part of time and a limited part of
space, is the worst of insolence to man and inappreciation of him. The scales
of this world cannot weigh the intellectual and spiritual value of the Prophets
and their achievements, nor can they weigh the measure of the destruction caused
by world-notorious individuals like Pharaoh, Nero, Hitler, Stalin and the like.
The scales of this world cannot weigh the true value of a sincere belief and
moral qualities. With what can you reward a martyr who has sacrificed himself,
his world, for God’s sake, for the sake of others or for the sake of some universal
human values like justice and truthfulness. With what can you reward a believing
scientist who has dedicated himself to the service of humanity and made an invention
from which the whole of mankind will benefit until the Last Day? It is only
the scales of the other world, scales which can weigh even an atom’s weight
of good and an atom’s weight of evil, that can do so.
The necessity of man’s deeds being weighed alone would require an infinitely
just and precise balance to be set up
We set up a just balance for the Day of Resurrection. Thus,
no soul will be treated un-justly. Even though it be the weight of one mustard
seed, We shall bring it forth to be weighed; and Our reckoning will suffice.
(21:47)
Supposing there were nothing to require the Resurrection, the necessity of
man’s deeds being weighed alone would require an infinitely just and sensitive
balance to be set up.
Most of the misguided and unjust depart this world unpunished, and most
of the guided and oppressed depart unrewarded. Such affairs are, certainly,
deferred to a supreme tribunal, an ultimate contentment
God is not obliged to do anything. He does whatever He wishes and acts however
he wills. Nevertheless, starting from the undeniable fact that whatever He does,
He does it for certain purposes, we can conclude that His universal Wisdom requires
the Resurrection. Is it conceivable that the Majestic Being, Who manifests the
Sovereignty of His being Lord in the order, purposiveness, justice and balance
prevalent throughout the universe, from atoms to galaxies, would not show His
favor to those believers who seek the protection of His being their Lord and
Sovereign, who believe in His Wisdom and Justice and act in conformity with
them through worship? Again, is it conceivable that He would not chastise those
impudent ones who, denying His Wisdom and Justice, turn against Him in rebellious
insolence? Since, in this impermanent world, scarcely a thousandth part of His
Wisdom and Justice are established with respect to man, it is certain that they
are deferred. For most of the misguided depart this world unpunished, and most
of the guided depart unrewarded. Such affairs are, certainly, deferred to a
supreme tribunal, an ultimate contentment.
God decrees: “Did you reckon that We only created you in vain, and that
to Us you would not be returned? So, exalted is God (from exerting Himself in
what is vain), the Sovereign, the Truth. There is no god but He, Lord of the
Noble Throne.”
It is clear that the One Who administers this world does so in accordance
with an infinite wisdom. Do you need convincing? The proof lies in the way that
the use and benefit in all things is manifested. Have you not seen how many
wise purposes are served by every limb and bone and vein in man, by every cell
of his brain, and every particle of every cell in his body? Indeed, the purposes
are as numerous as the fruits of a tree, which confirms that all is arranged
in accordance with infinite wisdom. A further proof is the absolute orderliness
in the fashioning of all things. In short, there are universal purposes for
man’s earthly existence. As is declared in the Qur’an,
Did you reckon that We only created you in vain,
and that to Us you would not be returned? So, exalted is God (from exerting
Himself in what is vain), the Sovereign, the Truth. There is no god but He;
Lord of the Noble Throne (23:115–16), man has not been created for mere
play or sport. The grave, eternal non-existence, is not the goal of his life.
He has been created for another, eternal life where all his acts will have prepared
for him a very large, eternal world full of either eternal beauties and blessings
or evils and wickedness.
Divine Mercy and Munificence require the Resurrection
We see in the world that the more needy and helpless a creature is, the better
it is nourished. For example, during the first stages of life, a human being
is nourished in the best way and with no effort before and immediately after
his birth. As he becomes an adult aware of his personal strength and will-power,
he begins to meet his needs with great difficulties in order to make his living.
Similarly, animals like wolves and foxes, which rely on their power and cunning,
are barely nourished despite much effort and toil, while fruit-worms live on
the best of food and quite easily. Plants, a kind of creatures unable to move,
take their food ready without any effort. All these examples, together with
many others, clearly show that there is One absolutely Merciful and Munificent,
Who has rule over the whole of creatures and sustain or maintain them.
For human beings in particular, it is impossible to gratify all of their
desires and appetites in this limited life. Such qualities as youth, beauty,
and strength, upon which a man sets his heart, desert him without even saying
farewell and leave behind great sorrows, causing him to grieve. Their full satisfaction
will in the Hereafter.
God is eternal, so are His Mercy and Munificence. An Eternal One manifests
Himself eternally and requires the existence of eternal beings. His eternal
Mercy and Munificence demand eternal manifestation and therefore eternal beings
on whom He will confer His bounties eternally. How-ever, the present, material
world is subject to perishing: the death of millions of living creatures every
day, the extinction of numerous lives, is indicative of this world’s final,
overall death. In addition, the material world cannot receive the manifestations
of Divine Names and Attributes in all their comprehensiveness. Also, living
beings have to exert much effort and struggle through many hard-ships and difficulties
in order to maintain themselves. For human beings in particular, it is impossible
to gratify all of their desires and appetites. Such qualities as youth, beauty,
and strength, upon which a man sets his heart, desert him without even saying
farewell and leave behind great sorrows, causing him to grieve. Also, in order
to obtain, say, a cluster of grapes, he has to exert certain effort. Again,
it would clearly be a pain, even an insult and mockery, to stop nourishing eternally
after those who need nourishment have tasted it. For a blessing to be really
a blessing, it must be constant. Without an eternal life, in which man will
be able to gratify all his desires eternally, all the bounties and blessings
God Almighty confers on man in this world will change into pains and sorrows.
There-fore, after its overall destruction, God will change the world into an
eternal one which is able to receive the manifestations of His Mercy and Munificence
without any obstruction, in which man can satisfy all his desires eternally.
Divine Pity and Caring require the Resurrection
It is through the Divine Pity and Caring that wounds and wounded hearts
and feelings are healed. Without this Pity and Caring, you could not stop a
wound bleeding. Again, it is this Pity and Caring Which make a patient
recover, stop the pangs of separation, and change pains and sorrows into joy
and pleasure. The same Pity and Caring come to the aid of men and animals in
all stages of their lives, especially before and after their birth. In their
embryonic stage, the wombs of their mothers become well-protected homes for them, where they
are nourished directly through their wombs without having to do anything themselves,
and after their birth, the Divine Pity and Caring send them the best of food
in the form of breast-milk impossible to substitute with anything else. Besides,
all the feelings of pity and caring shared by all fathers and mothers are a
single manifestation of the Divine Pity and Caring.
This material world is also unable to receive all the manifestations of
the Divine Pity and Caring
The Divine Pity and Caring encompass the whole universe, but we encounter
in the world numerous wounds and wounded feelings unhealed and numerous cases
of incurable illness. Innumerable living beings suffer hunger and thirst and
poverty. As in the case with the Divine Mercy and Munificence, the material
world is also unable to receive all the manifestations of the Divine Pity and
Caring. Especially the incapacity of men to receive those manifestations, in
addition to the injustices of many and their misuses of their inborn abilities,
intervenes between beings and the manifestations of the Divine Pity and Caring.
Above all, death is the fate of all living beings; nothing else other than belief
in another, eternal world can stop the sorrows it arouses in hearts.
The Messenger said: “God is much more compassionate than a mother. He does
not throw His servants into Hell [unless the servants absolutely deserve it].”
God’s Messenger, upon him be peace and blessings, was once sitting in the
Mosque, when some prisoners of war were brought to him. A woman who was looking
for something in a great anxiety drew the Messenger’s attention to herself.
Which boy the woman saw, she took him to her breast and then left him. She must
have been looking for her son. At last she found him and embraced him, pressing
him to her breast and caressing him with a great affection. This caused the
Messenger to burst into tears and pointing to the woman, he asked his Companions
around him:
– Do you see that woman? Does she throw that child in her arms into Hell?
– No!, the Companions answered, and the Messenger, upon him be peace and
blessings, added:
– God is much more compassionate than that woman. He does not throw His
servants into Hell [unless the servants absolutely deserve it].1
The other world is the world where the Divine Pity and Caring will be manifested
fully with-out any intervention and without allowing any sorrows and pains.
Divine Justice and Honor require the Resurrection
God’s Names and Attributes are all absolute and eternal. As He is absolutely
and eternally Merciful, Relenting and Forgiving, so He is, again, absolutely
and eternally Mighty, Just and Dignified. Although
His Mercy embraces all things (7:156) and,
as is stated in a hadith, exceeds His wrath, some people commit such great crimes
and sins (like unbelief and associating partners with God) that their due can
only be eternal punishment. Besides, despite the Divine declaration that
who-ever kills a human being unjustly, it is as
if he killed all mankind (5:32), especially in a world like today’s where
might is right is the rule, thousands of innocent people are killed almost every
day and many others are wronged and deprived of their basic human rights, and,
worse, a great many of the most abominable sins and injustices go unpunished.
When death comes, it does not discriminate between the oppressed and oppressors,
the innocent and criminals, and between the sinless and sinful. This means that,
as is the case in this world where little crimes are judged in small courts
while great ones are referred to supreme tribunals, such great crimes and sins
as unbelief and associating partners with God and murder and oppression, are
postponed to a day when God will judge them with His absolute Justice.
A day will certainly come when those who gave God the thanks due to Him will
be welcomed with, Eat and drink to your hearts content
because of what you did in days gone by (69:24) and
Peace be upon you! You have done well. Enter here
to dwell forever (39:73), to a place where God has prepared for them
things no eyes ever saw, no ears ever heard, and no mind ever conceived,2 while
the others who tainted the world with the blood they shed and the sins and crimes
they committed, will be thrown into Hell with the shout
Enter (through) the gates of Hell to dwell therein
for-ever: what an evil abode for the arrogant! (39:72).
Divine Grace and Generosity require the Resurrection
A saint asks Harun al-Rashid, one of the ‘Abbasid caliphs:
– If you desperately needed a glass of water, would you abandon your kingdom
in return for it?
– Yes, I would, Harun answers.
– If you could not discharge it from your body, would you again give up
kingdom in order to be able to discharge it?
– Yes, I would, Harun answers again.
The saint concludes:
– Then, all of your wealth and kingdom consist in a glass of water.
Whatever we need, we are provided with it, for almost nothing. The more
necessary for life a thing is, the more abundant it is in nature and cheaper.
Whatever we need, we are provided with it, for almost nothing. The more necessary
for life a thing is, the more abundant it is in nature and cheaper. What we
need the most is air, which is for nothing. Then comes water and it is almost
for nothing. God sends it out of His infinite Mercy. We have no part in or contribution
to its formation. Afterwards, we direly need heat and light, and the sun sends
them for nothing again. As for the other bounties we are blessed with, they
are extremely cheap. (Poor man! He is blind to all these miraculous acts of
God and demands to see a miracle in order to believe in God!) Whatever we do
to procure them, is only exerting a little effort. However, if all these bounties
or blessings were not going to be given to us eternally and in a much better
fashion, fear of death would change them into poison whenever we take a morsel
or a sip or a molecule of them.
Thanks to God’s being eternal with all His Names and Attributes, He will
provide us eternally and without asking us to make any effort with ever better
forms of all the bounties He bestows on us here in this world, and thus does
not change His blessings into pains because of fear of death, and makes death
into a changing of worlds, a discharge from worldly duties, an invitation to
the eternal abode He has prepared for us, and a passport to go to that abode.
Divine Beauty requires the Resurrection
Listen to the singing of birds on a spring morning, or the murmur of a brook
flowing through green fields or deep valleys. Look on the beauty of spectacular
green plains and trees in blossom and watch the sunrise or sunset and the full
moon on a cloudless, clear night. All these spectacles together with many others
which God presents to our senses, are only a single gleam of God’s absolute
and eternal Beauty manifested through many veils. By observing such manifestations
of His Beauty, through which He wants to make Him known to us, we go into raptures.
True blessing is that which is eternal. That is why God, the Eternally Beautiful
One, shows us in the world only the shadows of His Beauty in order to arouse
in us a desire for Its eternal and perfect manifestations.
Any blessings which are not eternal leave unbearable pains in our hearts
through their disappearance. If spring which has passed would not come back
again next year, we would sigh over it until we die. So, true blessing is that
which is eternal. That is why God, the Eternally Beautiful One, shows us in
the world only the shadows of His Beauty in order to arouse in us a desire for
Its eternal and perfect manifestations. What is more, He will allow us some
form of seeing Him in Paradise in a manner free from any qualitative and quantitative
measures or dimensions.
On that day there will be shining faces, gazing upon their Lord.
(75:22–3)
The harmonious mutual relation between things and man is indicative of the
Resurrection
There is a basic relation between man and the outer world. When man comes
into the world, he finds himself enveloped by an amiable environment. He is
born equipped with senses and there are things in the outer world to be
sensed by him. Also, he has feelings like compassion, pity and caring, and
love, and there are many things in the world to be loved, cared for and
pitied. He feels hungry and thirsty, and he feels cold and heat.
Fortunately, he finds the things with which he will satisfy his hunger and thirst and with which he will warm
and cool himself either already prepared be-fore or in a form he can obtain
with a slight effort.
As an example, let us take an apple. With its color and beauty, it appeals
to our eyes and our sense of beauty. With its taste, it addresses itself to
our sense of taste. With the vitamins it has, it nourishes our bodies. Despite
our need of its nutriments, if it were something ugly and tasteless, we would
be disgusted with it and so deprived of its nourishment.
All this, together with many other ‘natural’ facts, clearly shows that there
is One Who has both created man and prepared the environment for him, and that
One Who has infinite Knowledge and Power. He knows man with all his needs, capacities,
and qualities, as He knows ‘nature’ down to its minutest building blocks which
are atoms or particles or quarks.
As another example, reproduction depends on mutual love and attraction between
sexes. If God, the One Who has both created man and prepared the environment
for him, had not placed in the male and female love for and attraction towards
each other, and if He had not given them the wage of reproduction in advance
as sexual pleasure, and again if He had not ingrained in them a great love and
caring for their offspring, mankind would not have reproduced and would have
be-come an extinct race, consisting of only the first male and female.
Death puts an end to all pleasures and makes everything as if it had never
been. Then, were it not for the Resurrection, this life would be reduced to
a meaningless plaything, leaving behind sufferings and pains.
Death puts an end to all pleasures and makes everything as if it had never
been. Then, were it not for the Resurrection, this life would be reduced to
a meaningless plaything, leaving behind sufferings and pains. However, this
world is a shadowy miniature of the other, eternal one. The bounties God bestows
on us here are only examples of their eternal and much better forms in the eternal
world. God grants them to us to urge us to act in order to deserve them. The
Qur’an declares:
Give glad tidings to those who believe and do good deeds. For
them there will be Gar-dens beneath which rivers flow. Every time they are served
with the fruits therein, they will say, ‘This is what was given to us aforetime!’
They shall be given in perfect semblance. And there will be pure spouses for
them, and they will abide there for ever. (2:25)
Also, all joys, beauties, acts of rewarding, and instances of happiness in
this world point to their perfect and eternal forms in Paradise, while pains,
punishments, and instances of ugliness and unhappiness are a sign of their likes
in Hell. Actually, God will build the other world out of the bulk of the material
of this one, which He will have made suited to that purpose through the great
upheavals of Doomsday. Thus, the interrelation between things in the world and
between this one and the other decisively points to the Resurrection.
Recording and preservation in the world point to the Resurrection
Nothing disappears altogether from the world. While every word and act of
man can be re-corded on tapes and preserved, why should we not be able to grasp
that God records the words and deeds of mankind in some way not, as yet, known
to us? Advances in sciences and technology pro-vide every day some new evidence
for the existence and Unity of God and affirm, together with the Divine origin
of the Qur’an, the truth of Islamic tenets of belief. This is, in fact, what
the Qur’an declared centuries ago:
We shall show them Our signs in the outer world and within themselves
until it will be manifest to them that (the Qur’an) is the truth. Does not your
Lord suffice, since He is witness over all things? (41:53)
If one is sincere in searching for the truth and has the ‘power of sight’
to see the truth as it is, if one is not blinded to the truth by prejudices,
ignorance and worldly aims and desires, every new advance in sciences manifests
the truth of the Qur’an. We see in the universe that God enfolds every-thing
in such small things as seeds. A man is enfolded in a sperm or in his chromosomes
numbering 46. If he had 44 or 48 chromosomes, not 46, he would change into a
completely different being. Similarly, when he has disappeared into earth after
death, again, the most essential part of him, which has the meaning for his
existence as a seed has for a plant, does not disappear, and God will re-build
him during the Resurrection on that part. God preserves everything and does
not allow it to disappear for ever. For example, when a plant withers away in
autumn or winter, it continues to live in innumerable memories, as it goes on
living through its seeds to be back again in life in next spring.
Just as God preserves things in their seeds, so also He preserves sounds,
voices and appearances and sights on ‘tapes’ or other devices to display them
in another world.
Just as God preserves things in their seeds, so also He preserves sounds,
voices and appearances and sights on ‘tapes’ or other devices to display them
in another world. Who knows that the day may come when these sounds and sights
are discovered while we are still in this world?
I remember once I read of an experiment carried out by a scientist to find
out a killer. The suspected persons were brought one by one under the tree where
the crime was committed. The tree, which showed nothing unusual until the killer
was brought under it, then began to. Somehow, voice, manner, posture or attitude,
whatever the killer had displayed during the crime had been recorded on the
tree. Thus, God, Who preserves a man in a sperm, a plant in its seeds, and a
hen in an egg, and makes it manifest that He records everything on invisible
tapes by enabling man to record and pre-serve sounds and images, will not leave
man, whom He has made the noblest and perfect pattern of existence, to his own
devices, or leave his record to disappear; rather, He will bring him to back
to life again in a different, eternal world.
Divine Power proves the Resurrection
Consider an atom in a molecule. How it is made up and how it maintains its
relations with the other atoms is an astounding miracle. Likewise, the solar
system comprising the sun and the planets resemble an atom: to create atoms
and regulate their movements is not easier by any means than creating the solar
system and establishing the relations between the planets themselves and between
them and the sun. Similarly, a cell is like an autonomous government: it has
departments of its own, each of which is interrelated with the others and operates
under the rule of a center. It has also a ministry of finance which manages
its income and expenditure. It is as if each of the cells which com-prise a
man’s body, numbering 60 million million, had the intellectual capacity of the
most intelligent member of mankind. Besides, there are very close and substantial
relations between the cells of a man, all of which operate under the rule of
a single center, which is the brain.
For the Divine Power nothing is difficult, to create and administer the
whole universe is equally as easy for It as to create and administer a single
atom.
These are only a few examples to understand the Creator’s Power, for which
nothing is difficult, for which to create and administer the whole universe
is equally as easy as to create and administer a single atom. If the whole of
mankind, who are the most knowledgeable and conscious species of creation, were
to come together to create a single atom, they could not do so. So, if that
Being, the absolutely Powerful One, has promised that He will destroy the universe
and re-build it again in a different form, He is most certainly capable of doing
it and He will do it. For one who does not keep one’s word does not do so either
because he is a liar or because he is unable. However, God Al-mighty is absolutely
able to do anything He wills and promises and He does not lie at all. He is
absolutely free from any defect. So, He will keep His word and re-create the
world after its overall destruction.
The Day of Final Decision and Judgment is a fixed time, a day
when the Trumpet is blown, and you come in multitudes, and the heaven is opened
and becomes as gates. (78:17–9)
Instances of death and revival in the world indicate the Resurrection
An overall death and revival is repeated every year in the world. In winter,
a white ‘shroud’ covers the earth whose yearly life-cycle has already terminated
in autumn. Nature has already turned pale with ever fewer traces of life. The
shell has fallen in and, ultimately, trees have become lifeless like hard bones.
Grass has rotted away, flowers withered, migrating birds left and insects and
reptiles disappeared.
However, winter-time is not eternal, it is followed by a general revival
over the whole of the earth. When the weather gets warm, trees begin to bud
and, wearing their finery, present themselves to the Eternal Witness. The soil
swells and grass and flowers start to burst in on us everywhere. Seeds that
fell into earth in the previous autumn have germinated and, having annihilated
them-selves, have set out to grow into new forms of life. Migrating birds come
back and earth swarms with countless insects and reptiles. In short, with all
its splendor and finery, nature appears before us.
Consider how the event of photosynthesis takes place in trees: the leaves
of the trees are lungs and they have the power when in the sunlight to separate
carbon dioxide into carbon and oxygen. In other words, the oxygen is given off
and the carbon retained and combined with the hydrogen of the water brought
up by the plant from its roots. By magical chemistry, out of these elements
God makes sugar, cellulose and numerous other chemicals, fruits and flowers
[all in different smell, taste, color and shape according to the kind of plant
or tree]. The same carbon dioxide and water contribute to the growth of innumerable
kinds of fruit, each of which has a different taste, distinctively its own.
However simple a process this seems, if the whole of mankind came together to
produce a single fruit, an apple or a cherry, for example, they would not be
able to do so.
Respiration costs a tree a high expenditure of energy. However, through the
same respiration, it has many times more income and deposits it, for it has
a long night before it during which the direction of its respiration reverses.
During the night, a tree takes in oxygen and sends out carbon dioxide.
Consider what deliberate results the actions of an unconscious tree produce.
Then ponder if it is really conceivable that something completely ignorant and
unconscious of even its own existence and which enjoys no power of choice, is
able to do such comprehensive things as require an all-comprehensive knowledge,
power and choice.
Consider what deliberate results the actions of an unconscious tree produce.
Then ponder if it is really conceivable that something completely ignorant and
unconscious of even its own existence and which enjoys no power of choice, is
able to do such comprehensive things as require an all-comprehensive knowledge,
power and choice. So, the Power which attaches such significant purposes to
a tree and makes it the means of many deliberate results, will certainly not
abandon to its own devices the fruit of the tree of creation, namely man, and
will not condemn him to eternal annihilation. God has created man for lots of
deliberate purposes and, without allowing him to remain eternally mixed into
earth, will bring him back to life in an eternal world. Just as He preserves
a fruit in memories and through its seeds, just as He returns the like of it
next summer after He has promoted it to a higher level of life in an animal
or human body, so too He will promote man to a higher level of life in another
world following the total destruction of this world.
God created the world while there was nothing of the world, and He creates
man while there is nothing of him in the world
God created the world while there was nothing of the world, and He creates
man while there is nothing of him in the world. He brings together the building-blocks
of his body from earth, air and water and makes them into a conscious, intelligent
being. Is there any doubt that a machine-maker who made a new machine can put
and re-set in their former positions the pieces of that machine after he has
broken it into pieces? Or is it inconceivable that a commander cannot gather
through a trumpet-call the army he has dispersed for rest? Similarly, during
the reconstruction of the world after its total collapse, God Almighty will
gather the atoms of man which have mixed into earth and grant them a higher,
eternal form of life:
Say: ‘Travel in the land and see how He originated creation,
then God brings forth the later growth. Assuredly, God is able to do all things.’
(29:20)
Look at the prints of God’s mercy (in creation): how He gives
life to the earth after its death. He surely is the reviver of the dead (in
the same way), and He is able to do all things. (30:50)
A great care is shown in, and many purposes are attached to, even the most
insignificant-seeming things in the world
A great care is shown in, and many purposes are attached to, even the most
insignificant-seeming things in the world. For example, cellulose is the structural
tissue that forms the chief part of all plants and trees. Through its elasticity,
it enables plants to bend and protects them from breaking. It has an important
place in the paper industry.
The digestion of cellulose is very difficult. Only the enzymes secreted by
ruminant animals can dissolve cellulose. However, cellulose is advisable for
an easy excretion, it accelerates the working of bowels and prevents constipation.
Animals are like factories that change substances with cellulose into useful
matter. The excrement of animals is used as manure. Innumerable bacteria in
the soil consume the excrement, thus both increasing the soil in productivity
and cleaning the earth of bad-smelling things.
But for the bacteria in earth, it would be impossible to survive in the
world
But for the bacteria in earth, it would be impossible to survive in the world.
To cite a single example, if the flies born in a single spring-time did not
disappear in earth, they would form a thick cover over the whole of the earth.
Through the manifestation of His Name the All-Purifying, God Almighty employs
bacteria to clean the earth. Have you ever considered why forests are so clean
al-though many animals die in them every day? They are so because carnivorous
animals and bacteria eat up dead animals and clean the earth of them. To conclude,
do you think that God, Who employs the most insignificant-seeming creatures
to serve many great purposes, allows man to rot away in earth, thus reducing
his existence to utter futility?
Again, a wound healed shows the vigor of the body. A fruit reminds of the
tree on which it has grown. Footprints point to the one who has passed by. A
leakage of water indicates a source of water. Similarly, the feeling of eternity
in man and his desire for it are signs of One Who is eternal and of the eternal
world.
This world with whatever is in it can never satisfy man. He overflows with
subtle, refined feelings and aspires to lofty ideals, which cannot possible
have originated in matter and the material world. These are the reflections
in man of the infinite, immaterial dimensions of existence.
Philosophers, especially the Muslim ones, call the universe macro-human,
while describing man as normo or micro-cosmos. Like man, the universe is a whole
entity all the parts of which are interrelated with one another. Who knows that
there is not an angel deputed to represent the universe, one serving as its
spirit. Like man, the universe also suffers injuries and, as Einstein puts it,
new bodies are formed in its remote corners. Just as man has an appointed time
of death, so does the universe.
As we increase in knowledge about existence, paradoxically, we also increase
in ignorance about it.
We have little knowledge about existence. As we increase in knowledge about
it, paradoxically, we also increase in ignorance about it. Existence is in a
continuous flux and we do little other than observing it. The Prophet Muhammad,
God’s Last Messenger, upon him be peace and blessings, used to pray: O God,
show me the reality of things!
There is nothing purposeless in the ‘palace’ of the universe and precise
ecological balance
There is nothing purposeless in the ‘palace’ of the universe. Its ecological
system is so complex and the parts comprising it are so interrelated to one
another that the lack or removal of one of them can result in the destruction
of the universe. In order to express this reality, God’s Messenger, upon him
be peace and blessings, declared: If dogs were
not a community like you. I would order their killing.3 If the bacteria
within trees were killed, we would not be able to obtain fruits from trees.
Every species, even every thing, has an important place of its own in the structure
of the universe. Such a magnificent universe cannot be purposeless. It works
to a moving time-line. As seconds point to minutes, minutes to hours, and hours
to the end of the present day and the coming of the next one, and days point
to weeks, weeks to months, months to years and years to the end of a whole life-span,
existence has its own days in its every sphere and dimension, and the life-span
appointed for it will one day come to an end. Also, time proceeds in cycles.
For example, a scientist has established that corn is abundantly produced in
every seven years, and fish come in abundance in every fourteen years. The Qur’an
points to this fact in sura Yusuf. The life of existence as a whole has
certain terms or cycles. The worldly life is a cycle or term, the life of the
grave is another cycle, and the afterlife is the last cycle which has many cycles
or terms of its own. The Qur’an calls each of them a day. This is so because
a day is the shortest unit of time-cycles. It corresponds to the whole life
of existence in that daytime reminds of the worldly life with its divisions
of dawn, morning, noon, afternoon, and evening corresponding to one’s birth
and babyhood, childhood, youth, old age and death respectively, and that night
resembles the intermediate life of the grave and the next morning, the Resurrection.
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