What is Life
They say that a fool lives to eat and a wise man
eats to live. But then the question remains: for what purpose does the wise man
live? Living is not an end by itself. There has to be a purpose for man to live
for. So what is this purpose?
Where from? Where to? And Why?
Any ignorance, however great, could be forgiven
except for man to be ignorant about the secret of his existence, his aim in life
and what will be his outcome after death. Some thinkers express these questions
in simple words: where from? Where to? And why? Meaning: where did I come from?
Where am I going? And why am I here?
Those who only believe in the material world and
who do not believe in a Creator- the atheists- only believe in sensory data.
They say that this universe and everything in it came by itself. All its order
is simply due to blind coincidence. They say that man is simply like an animal
or a plant and that he will exist for a short period and then end like any other
animal or plant.
An Arab Poet, Elya Abu Madhi (a born-Christian),
not long ago expressed his uncertainty about the purpose of life in his Arabic
poem Al-Talasim, meaning “puzzles,” which I have translated into
English. He says in his poem:
I came not knowing from where, but I came.
And I saw a pathway in front of me, so I walked.
And I will remain walking, whether I want this or not.
How did I come? How did I see my pathway?
I do not know!
Am I new or am I old in this existence?
Am I free and unrestrained, or do I walk in chains?
Do I lead myself in my life, or am I being led?
I wish I know, but…
I do not know!
And my path, oh what is my path? Is it long or is it short?
Am I ascending in it, or am I going down and sinking?
Am I the one who is walking on the road,
or is it the road that is moving?
Or are we both standing, but it is the time that is running?
I do not know!
Before I became a full human, do you see
if I were nothing, impossible? Or do you see that I was something?
Is there an answer to this puzzle, or will it remain eternal?
I do not know ... and why do I not know??
I do not know!
And I saw a pathway in front of me, so I walked.
And I will remain walking, whether I want this or not.
How did I come? How did I see my pathway?
I do not know!
Am I new or am I old in this existence?
Am I free and unrestrained, or do I walk in chains?
Do I lead myself in my life, or am I being led?
I wish I know, but…
I do not know!
And my path, oh what is my path? Is it long or is it short?
Am I ascending in it, or am I going down and sinking?
Am I the one who is walking on the road,
or is it the road that is moving?
Or are we both standing, but it is the time that is running?
I do not know!
Before I became a full human, do you see
if I were nothing, impossible? Or do you see that I was something?
Is there an answer to this puzzle, or will it remain eternal?
I do not know ... and why do I not know??
I do not know!
This feeling of doubt and confusion about the
presence of a Creator and whether He sent messengers and prophets to guide
mankind must be quite painful because it deprives the Atheist and the Agnostic
of tranquility, security and peace of mind. The unbelievers do not have
credible answers to the purpose of one’s existence. And thus they say that man
lives for himself and for the pleasures of this life. So what happens when life
turns sour? What happens when one goes through hardships? It is no coincidence
then that the largest number of suicides takes place amongst Atheists, Agnostics
and people who do not know their purpose in life. Do you know which country has
the largest number of suicides? It’s Japan. In the year ending March 2000, there
were 33,000 suicides in Japan. That is 91 suicides per day or 1 suicide every 15
minutes! This despite Japan being the second largest economy in the world
wherein people do not have to worry about providing a roof over their heads or
about food or medical care.
What if you find a Watch in the Sand?
To the Atheist and the Agnostic the Muslim says: “Suppose you find a watch in the middle of a desert. What would you
conclude? Would you think that someone dropped this watch? Or would you suppose
that the watch came by itself? Of course no sane person would say that the watch
just happened to emerge from the sand. All the intricate working parts could not
simply develop from the metals that lay buried in the earth. The watch must have
a manufacturer. If a watch tells accurate time we expect the manufacturer must
be intelligent. Blind chance cannot produce a working watch.
But what else tells accurate time? Consider the
sunrise and sunset. Their timings are so strictly regulated that scientists can
publish in advance the sunrise and sunset times in your daily newspapers. But
who regulates the timings of sunrise and sunset? If a watch cannot work without
an intelligent maker, how can the sun appear to rise and set with such clockwork
regularity? Could this occur by itself?
Consider also that we benefit from the sun only
because it remains at a safe distance from the earth, a distance that averages
93 million miles. If it got much closer, the earth would burn up. And if it got
too far away, the earth would turn into an icy planet making human life here
impossible. Who decided in advance that this was the right distance? Could it
just happen by chance? Without the sun, plants would not grow. Then animals and
humans would starve. Did the sun just decide to be there for us?
The rays of the sun would be dangerous for us had
it not been for the protective ozone layer in our atmosphere. The atmosphere
around the earth keeps the harmful ultraviolet rays from reaching us. Who was it
that placed this shield around us?
We need to experience sunrise. We need the sun’s
energy and its light to see our way during the day. But we also need sunset. We
need a break from the heat, we need the cool of night and we need the lights to
go out so we may sleep. Who regulated this process to provide what we need?
Moreover, if we had only the warmth of the sun
and the protection of the atmosphere we would want something more - beauty. Our
clothes provide warmth and protection, yet we design them to also look
beautiful. Knowing our need for beauty, the designer of sunrise and sunset also
made the view of them to be simply breathtaking.
The creator who gave us light, energy, protection
and beauty deserves our thanks. Yet some people insist that he does not exist.
What would they think if they found a watch in the desert? An accurate, working
watch? A beautifully designed watch? Would they not conclude that there does
exist a watchmaker? An intelligent watchmaker? One who appreciates beauty? Such
is God who made us.”
Did people always believe in a Creator?
It is a fact that throughout history and
throughout the world, man had been found to worship and to believe in a Creator.
Specialists in Anthropology, Civilizations and History are unanimous on this.
This led one of the great historians to say: “History shows that there had
been cities without palaces, without factories and without fortresses, but there
has never been cities without houses of worship.” Since time immemorial,
man believed that he was not created simply for this life, for this short
period, and he knew that he would ultimately depart to another resting-place. We
see this evidence with the early Egyptians, thousands of years ago, when they
mummified their dead and built great pyramids (as graves) and even placed the
treasures of the dead in their graves in addition to drinks and mummified food!
From the earliest recorded history, mankind had been unanimous, with very few
exceptions, that there is a Creator and that there is life after death. However,
they differed about the essence of this Creator, how to worship Him and the
description of the life after death. For example, Hindus believe in
reincarnation and that after death one’s soul would then go into a human body or
an animal, depending on whether one did good or bad in his life, and that this
process would continue without end until the soul reaches perfection and unites
into one with its Creator. People of other religions like Jews, Christians and
Muslims also believe in life after death, but not in reincarnation like the
Hindus. All three - Jews, Christians and Muslims - however have different views
about what happens to the soul after one’s death.
The fact that all nations and communities
throughout history believed in a Creator (with the exception of insignificant
few) made the mission of all prophets in all ages concentrate on guiding their
people away from the worship of creations to the worship of the one and only
Creator God, i.e. rather than having to prove His existence.
Why did People turn away from God?
The situation now in the world is different
because there are now a very large number of people who do not believe in a
Creator or in life after death - for example two surveys in the Czech Republic
in 2000 found in one only 13% believe in life after death and in the other only
17% believe in God. A major reason for this in the last century was the
so-called theory of evolution by Darwin (other reasons include the impact of
totalitarian communism rule on people’s faith.) The theory of evolution says
that man evolved from the ape, rather than being created by a Creator. Although
this theory has no academic or scientific substance, it gained favor with so
many people because it appealed to the doubts they had about the God that they
were told to believe in. This is not surprising. If you give an educated person
a description of a Creator that is illogical and unreasonable and then ask that
person to believe in Him as his God, he would refuse. This unfortunately is the
situation right now, especially in the west. The Christian Doctrines advocate
the trinity, that God manifests Himself in three distinct and equal persons, and
that God came down to earth in the form of a man (that is Jesus) and that He was
crucified and died as a vicarious sacrifice for the so-called sin of man. So the
Christians believe that Jesus was God in human form, God-incarnate. But how can
the Creator die?
Some of the most important doctrines of
Christianity - the doctrines of the Trinity, the Divinity of Jesus, the
Divine-Sonship
of Jesus, the Original Sin and the Atonement are neither rational nor in
conformity with the teachings of Jesus. These dogmas took shape long
after
Jesus, as a result of old pagan influence. For example we find in
Hinduism, the “Triad” (the trinity): there is Brahma, the creator god,
Vishnu, the
preserver god, and Shiva, the god of destruction. Modern Hindus take
Krishna the
son of Divachi, the virgin, as Vishnu incarnate. Krishna is the savior
who as a
sacrifice for their sin, had to suffer. He was crucified, died and then
was
raised from death. In Buddhism we find the Buddhist gods: Guatama (the
holy
spirit), Maya (the virgin mother) and Buddha, the son (who was conceived
when
Maya was filled by the holy spirit) and who is the savior who died and
was
raised from death. It may be interesting to mention that the 25th of
December is
not the birthday of Jesus. It is the birthday of Krishna in Hinduism,
and of
Nimrod, the divine son (a Babylonian god), and of Mithra, the god of
light (one
of the gods of the Greeks and the Romans)!
The religion revealed to the prophets of various
nations was the same, but in the course of time it had been misinterpreted and
become mixed up with superstitions and degenerated into magical practices and
meaningless rituals. The concept of God, the very core of religion, had become
debased by (a) the anthropomorphic tendency of making God into a being with a
human shape, needs and human deficiencies, (b) the association of other persons
with the one and only God in His Godhead (as in Hinduism and Christianity), (c)
by the deification of the angels (e.g., the Devas in Hinduism, the Yazatas in
Zoroastrianism and, perhaps also, the Holy Spirit in Christianity), (d) by
making the Prophets into Avatars or incarnations of God (e.g., Jesus Christ in
Christianity, the Buddha in Mahayana Buddhism, and Krishna and Rama in
Hinduism), and (e) by the personification of the attributes of God into separate
Divine Persons (e.g., the Christian Trinity of the Father, the Son and Holy
Ghost, the Hindu Timurtri of Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva, and the Amesha Spentas of
Zoroastrianism).
Due to major religions distorting the oneness and
essence of God, pupils in the West are now being taught in schools to accept, as
fact, Darwin’s theory of evo1ution. As a result, more and more students of
school and university age are now Atheists. They even ridicule those who believe
in God saying: “they are either stupid or lack confidence and so need
something to give them security!”
I was recently attending a lecture in a Western
country given by a Muslim to a group of retired men and women - more than 65
years of age. The lecturer in the beginning asked the group: which of you
believe in God? They all raised their hands except two men. Then the lecturer
asked: which of you do not believe in God? The remaining two elderly men then
raised their hands. However, one of them paused and immediately interrupted the
lecturer. He said: “Tell me what do you mean by God so that I can answer
you!” After the session, I said to the lecturer: this man is intelligent
because at first he said he did not believe in God, most probably because of the
Christian concept of God, but then he was willing to have an open mind and
rethink his position based on the concept of God that could be presented by the
Muslim.
Why are we created?
Those who believe in the Creator can answer the
questions: where from? And where to? They know that they have come into
existence by being created by the Creator and they also know that there is an
eternal life after death. But what about the answer to the third question, that
is: why have we been created? If we had been created by the Creator, shouldn’t
we expect that He would tell us the purpose of our creation? Shouldn’t He tell
us on what basis He is going to judge us on the Day of Judgment?
What is the Islamic view?
Muslims say they know the answers because they
have the Quran. But people of other religions also have their own scriptures, so
what is so special about the Quran? The Quran is basically a book of divine
guidance in areas that cannot be covered by the human senses or intellect, such
as faith, acts of worship, a moral code and a code that governs the transactions
between people. These are the four basic foundations of religion, an area in
which man always needs divine guidance. Muslims contend that the Quran is the
last revealed scripture by Allah (Allah is the proper name of God and is not
used to denote any other being. Therefore, I shall use the name Allah in
preference to the word God). The Quran is the recorded words of Allah Himself
dictated verbatim to the Prophet Muhammad
in installments, verse by verse or a group
of verses, through the angel Gabriel over a period of 23 years between 610 and
633 AD. It is divided into 114 units, each called a surah. Muhammad
received
revelation of the Quranic surahs as and when Allah chose to bestow on him new
revelation. At times several surahs, particularly the longer ones, were being
revealed to him concurrently. Muhammad
used to have a group of scribes entrusted
with committing immediately whatever was revealed to him to writing. Those
scribes used parchment, pottery, date palm leaves, flat stones, tree bark, wood,
dried animal skins and even the shoulder blades of sheep or camels to write on;
and the revealed verses were memorized by heart as the mere recitation of the Quran
is in itself an act of worship, and as Muslims used these verses in their judgments
and in their daily five prayers. In this manner, the verses of the Quran
were preserved in the hearts of Muslims, as well as written down, during the
lifetime of the Prophet. Muhammad
was instructed by angel Gabriel where to place
every new passage in the surahs. The surahs were named by divine decree, and
Muhammad
recited the whole of the Quran in front of Gabriel more than once in
the last year of his life. Similarly, the arrangement of the surahs in a
specific order was given by the Prophet Muhammad
who indicated it mostly by reading
the surahs, particularly in prayer, in a specific order. No revealed book has
ever enjoyed the authenticity of the Quran or had the cherishing, reverence,
surveillance and care of its followers as the Quran. The whole Quran has been
memorized by a large number of Muslims in the lifetime of Muhammad .
After Muhammad’s
departure, the first Caliph, Abu
Bakr, asked one of the original scribes, Zaid ibn Thabit, to be in charge of
collecting the original writings of the Quranic revelations and writing down the
whole Quran. Zaid produced a whole copy of the Quran written on pages of
leather. It was arranged in the order we have today. This was done in the first
two years after the Prophet’s death, since Abu Bakr ruled for less than two
years. This copy was then entrusted with the second Caliph, Omar, and finally
with the third Caliph, Othman. During the reign of Othman, the Arabs came to
know the paper industry from China and Othman called on Zaid to head a committee
of four Quranic scholars who would take on the task of making seven copies.
Those seven copies (written 14 years after Muhammad’s
death) were distributed to
the various centers of the Muslim state to be the reference copy in each center.
At least three of those original copies of the Quran are still intact, one in
Tashkent, one in Istanbul, and one in Cairo. They do not differ in one letter
from the millions of copies of the Quran that are in the hands of people today.
This authentication of the last revelation is in itself miraculous. The Quran is
the oldest book within the hands of humanity that has been kept intact in
exactly the same language of revelation word for word and letter for letter.
That is why the Quran is unique, because it is the word of the Creator in its
purest divinity.
Muslims believe in the authentic original
revelations given to Prophets Moses, David and Jesus, but none of these original
revelations is found intact, and none is found in the original language of
revelation, and here the Quran stands unique in its divine purity. Again the Quran
is different from any human writings because it is neither prose nor poetry. It
came to the Arabs when they were at their peak in eloquence and challenged them
to produce one single chapter of it, or similar to it, or to produce ten similar
chapters or even a book like it. This challenge still exists today and no
challenger is forthcoming. The early scholars of the Quran thought that its
miraculous nature was due mainly to its style and beautiful expression. The
beauty of expression is really unique and cannot be paralleled by human
writings. That is why the early commentators of the Quran concentrated on its
eloquence and style. Yet being the word of the Creator, any area that has been
covered in the Quran must be unique. If you look at jurisprudence the Quran is
unique, in the area of worship, the Quran instructs people how to worship Allah.
The concepts of Divinity, prophet hood, and morality are all unique in the Quran.
If we look at the narration of history of previous nations, one after the other,
and how they received the divine message, their reaction towards it and what
their reward or punishment was, at a time when there was no form of regular
documentation whatsoever. The Quran talks about these successive nations without
a single mistake, and modern archaeological discoveries are a testimony to this.
Is the Quran credible?
Besides religious guidance, the Quran contains
hundreds of verses that speak of the universe, its components and phenomena such
as the Earth, the sun, the moon, the stars, mountains, wind, running water,
plants, embryological animals, and the successive stages of development of the
human being. More than 1,000 verses relating to cosmic facts or cosmic phenomena
can be counted in the Quran. During the early days of the Quran, scientific
knowledge of the universe was limited and it was not easy to elaborate on the
verses relating to the universe or its phenomena except within the limitations
of the time. However, we now know about the laws of the universe much more than
before and that is why reviewing the 1,000 or more verses relating to the
cosmos, man and his surroundings can be one of the most obvious miraculous
aspects of the Quran. This is because of the precedence of the Quran, which was
revealed more than 14 Centuries ago, with many of the scientific facts, at a
time when people had no knowledge whatsoever of such facts. The Quran has
addressed so many of these facts in a language that is more precise, accurate
and concise than scientists have ever been able to do. Nothing in the Quran
contradicts any established scientific facts. These cannot be all covered in a
short article and hence I have chosen only five verses that can testify to the
miraculous nature of the Quran from a scientific point of view:
1) The creation of the universe
is explained by
astrophysicists in a widely accepted phenomenon, popularly known as the
“Big Bang.” It is supported by observational and experimental data
gathered by astronomers and astrophysicists for decades. According to
the “Big Bang,” the whole universe was initially one big mass (Primary
Nebula). Then there was a “Big Bang” (Secondary Separation), which
resulted in the formation of Galaxies. These then divided to form stars,
planets, the sun, the moon, etc. The origin of the universe was unique
and the
probability of it occurring by “chance” is zero. The Quran contains
the following verse, regarding the origin of the universe:
Have those who
disbelieved not considered that the heavens and the earth were (once) a joined
entity, then We separated them and made from water every living thing? Then will
they not believe?
(Quran, 21:30)
The striking congruence between the Quranic
verse and the “Big Bang” is inescapable! How could a book, which first
appeared in the deserts of Arabia 1400 years ago, contain this profound
scientific truth?
2) In 1925 an American astronomer by the name of
Edwin Hubble provided observational evidence that all galaxies are receding from
one another, which implies that the universe is expanding. The expansion of the
universe is now an established scientific fact. This is what the Quran says
regarding the formation of the universe:
And the heaven We constructed
with strength, and indeed, We are [its] expander.
(Quran, 51:47)
Stephen
Hawking, in his book A Brief History of Time, says: “The
discovery that the universe is expanding is one of the great intellectual
revolutions of the 20th century.” The Quran mentioned the expansion of the
universe before man even learnt to build a telescope!
3) Scientists say that before the
galaxies in the
universe were formed, celestial matter was initially in the form of
gaseous
matter. In short, huge gaseous matter or clouds were present before the
formation of the galaxies. To describe initial celestial matter, the
word “smoke” is more appropriate than gas. The following Quranic verse
refers to this state of the universe by the word dukhan which means smoke:
Then
He turned to the heaven when it was smoke...
(Quran, 41:11)
Again, this fact is a corollary to the “Big
Bang” and was not known to mankind during the time of the Prophet Muhammad .
What then, could have been the source of this knowledge?
4) It was thought that the sense of feeling and
pain was only dependent on the brain. Recent discoveries prove that there are
pain receptors present in the skin without which a person would not be able to
feel pain. When a doctor examines a patient suffering from burn injuries, he
verifies the degree of burns by a pinprick. If the patient feels pain, the
doctor is happy, because it indicates that the burns are superficial and the
pain receptors are intact. On the other hand if the patient does not feel any
pain, it indicates that it is a deep burn and the pain receptors have been
destroyed. The Quran gives an indication of the existence of pain receptors in
the following verse:
Indeed, those who disbelieve in Our verses (i.e.
signs, proofs) - We will drive them into a Fire. Every time their skins are
roasted through We will replace them with other skins so they may taste the
punishment. Indeed, Allah is ever Exalted in Might and Wise. But those who
believe and do righteous deeds - We will admit them to gardens beneath which
rivers flow, wherein they abide forever.
(Quran, 4:56-57)
Prof. Tagatat
Tejasen, Chairman of the Dept. of Anatomy at Chiang Mai University in Thailand,
had spent a great amount of time on research of pain receptors. Initially he
could not believe that the Quran mentioned this scientific fact 1400 years ago.
He later verified the translation of this particular Quranic verse. Prof.
Tejasen was so impressed by the scientific accuracy of the Quranic verse, that
at a medical Conference in 1985 he proclaimed in public the Shahadah (Islamic
Declaration of Faith), i.e. he embraced Islam.
5) The source of iron (Fe); we read in the Quran:
Indeed, We have sent down iron in which there is great (military) might
and benefits for the people.
(Quran, 57:25)
It has recently been proven that
all iron, not only in our planet but also in the entire solar system, was
obtained from outer space. This is because the temperature of the sun cannot
generate iron. The sun has a surface temperature of 6000 degrees Celsius and a
central temperature of about 20 million degrees Celsius. There exists much
hotter stars, which are known as novae, or super novae where temperatures can
reach 100s of billions of degrees Celsius and it is in these stars that iron is
formed. When the percentage of iron reaches a certain proportion of the mass of
the star it explodes and these exploded-particles travel in space until they are
captured by the gravitational fields of other heavenly bodies. This is how our
solar system all obtained its iron and it is an established fact today that all
the iron in our solar system was not generated or created within the system but
has come to it from outer space.
One wonders why the Quran comments on matters
like these, things that were not known to anyone at the time of revelation or
even for centuries afterwards, unless Allah knows in His eternal knowledge that
the time will come when man will then immediately realize that the Quran is the
word of Allah and that Muhammad
is His last messenger. Allah says in the Quran:
We shall show them Our signs in the horizons and within themselves until
it becomes clear to them that it is the truth.
(Quran, 41:53)
Prof. Tejasen accepted Islam on the strength of
just one scientific “sign” mentioned in the Quran. Some people may
require ten signs while some may require hundred signs to be convinced about the
Divine origin of the Quran. Some would be unwilling to accept the Truth even
after being shown a thousand signs. The Quran condemns such a closed mentality:
Deaf, dumb and blind- so they will not return [to the right path].
(Quran, 2:18). Also:
The example of those who disbelieve is like that of the one
who shouts at what hears nothing but calls and cries [i.e. cattle or sheep] -
deaf, dumb and blind, so they do not understand.
(Quran, 2:171). And:
Then do they not reflect upon the Quran, or are there locks upon [their]
hearts?
(Quran, 47:24).
What is the Purpose of Life?
So what does the Creator, Allah, tell us about
our purpose in life? Allah states in the Quran that He created man to be His Khalefah, His trustee on earth (Quran 2:30).
Mankind’s basic trust, our
responsibility, is to believe in and worship Allah:
And I did not create
the Jinn and mankind except to worship Me…
(Quran, 51:56-58)
Very simple!
The purpose for man’s creation is to worship the Creator. The essence of Allah’s
message through all of the prophets also was:
O mankind, worship Allah,
you have no deity other than Him.
(Quran, 7:59,65,73,85; Also 11:50,61,84;
and 23:23,32). Allah further states that He made this life in order to test man
so that every person may be recompensed after death for what he has earned:
[He] who created death and life to test you [as to] which of you is best
in deed - and He is the Exalted in Might, the Forgiving.
(Quran, 67:2)
But in order to worship Him, we have to know Him
well otherwise we may form a distorted concept of Him and then go astray. In the
Quran Allah tells mankind what He is and what He is not. For example, in
response to a question about Allah that was posed to the Prophet Muhammad , Allah
instructs Muhammad
to give the following reply:
Say (O Muhammad): He
is Allah [Who is] One, Allah, the Eternal Refuge. He neither begets nor is born,
nor is there to Him any equivalent.
(Quran, 112)
It is clear from this that
Muhammad
is not the author of the Quran otherwise he would not have shown that
someone is dictating to him what to say.
Also, Allah has to tell us how He wants to be
worshipped, which He does in the Quran. He also tells us in the Quran that all
Prophets came with the same identical message to their people - that is to
believe in Allah and to worship Him. He also tells us in the Quran that all the
people of other religions have deviated from the original teachings of their
prophets. This is due to two reasons. The first is that earlier scriptures were
not preserved simply because of the absence or scarcity of writing paper and so
the teachings were transmitted orally and with time became distorted. The second
reason is because the clergy of various religions introduced doctrines that were
never there (e.g., the Christian trinity creed was introduced only after the
council of Nicea in 325 AD and the Council of Constantinople in 386 AD). Because
of the changes that crept into earlier religions, Allah tells us that He sent the Prophet Muhammad
as the last and final prophet and guidance to mankind with a
scripture that He promised would be preserved forever. Allah provides a test to
prove that the Quran is from Him. Allah says:
Then do they not reflect
upon the Quran? (i.e. its meanings and its objective) If it had been from [any]
other than Allah, they would have found within it much contradiction.
(Quran, 4:82)
The Quran is available for scrutiny and investigation by any person to try
to find even one error or contradiction in it. In fact this test must be applied
to any other scripture that claims it is the word of God.
Is there any “blind faith” in Islam?
Islam is not a religion of “blind
faith” but is a religion that strongly calls on man to use his logic,
reasoning and intellect. Allah in the Quran stresses the importance for people
to think, to reason and to use their mind and intellect. The word “mind” or “reasoning” is mentioned 49 times in the Quran (in
Arabic Ta’qiloon 24 times, Ya’qiloon 22 times, and
A’qal, Na’qil and Ya’qil one
time each). Also Allah refers to “people of understanding” 16 times in
the Quran (in Arabic Ulu Al-AlBab or Uli Al-Albab). Allah also refers to
“those of intelligence” two times in Chapter 20 by the Arabic term Uli
Al-Nuha. Allah also refers in many chapters in the Quran to the mind by the
Arabic word Al-Fuad. Also in many verses in the Quran, Allah uses the term heart
(in Arabic Al-Qalb) in place of the word Al-Fuad (mind) to mean the same thing.
In one place in Chapter 89 verses 53 & 54, Allah refers to the mind by the
Arabic word Al-Hijr. The Quran also, in tens of verses, strongly calls and
emphasizes the need to “contemplate” and to “give thought”
(in Arabic Fikr or Tafakkor). Also in tens of verses, the Quran draws attention
to the importance for man to “remember” and to “recall” (in
Arabic Tazakkor). The significance of the two being: to “give thought”
is to increase or acquire new knowledge, whereas to “remember” is to
recall and remind oneself of relevant knowledge and events that may have been
forgotten, but which are important for one’s faith.
Allah praises people who use their mind:
Indeed, in the creation of the heavens and the earth and the alternation
of the night and the day are signs for those of understanding - Who remember
Allah while standing or sitting or [lying] on their sides and give thought to
the creation of the heavens and the earth, [saying], “Our Lord, You did not
create this aimlessly; exalted are You [above such a thing]; then protect us
from the punishment of the Fire.”
(Quran, 3:190-191)
About the Quran, Allah
Says:
[This is] a blessed Book which We have revealed to you, [O
Muhammad], that they (i.e. people) might reflect upon its verses and that those
of understanding would be reminded.
(Quran, 38:29)
In the Quran, the words that can be formed from
the term “know” or “knowledge” (root 'elm in Arabic) is to
be found 865 times. In one verse Allah says:
Are those who know equal to
those who do not know? Only they will remember [who are] people of
understanding.
(Quran, 39:9). Also:
And so those who were given
knowledge may know that It (i.e. the Quran) is the truth from your Lord and
[therefore] believe in it, and their hearts humbly submit to it. And indeed is
Allah the Guide of those who have believed to a straight path.
(Quran,
22:54).
On the other hand, the Quran strongly rejects
certain mentalities that are driven by myths, illusions, absurdities, ignorance,
blind imitation of others, assumption (conjecture), prejudice, whims and
desires. In fact, Allah in the Quran confirms that most people on earth have
gone astray because they follow assumption, conjecture and ignorance. Allah
says:
And if you obey most of those upon the earth, they will mislead you
from the way of Allah. They follow not except assumption, and they are not but
falsifying (out of ignorance, conjecture and assumption).
(Quran, 6:116)
Is there Life after Death?
All the prophets of God called their people to
worship God and to believe in life after death. They laid so much emphasis on
the belief in life after death that even a slight doubt in it meant denying God
and made all other beliefs meaningless. The very fact that all the prophets of
God have dealt with this metaphysical question of life after death so
confidently and so uniformly - the gap between their ages in some cases, being
thousands of years - goes to prove that the source of their knowledge of life
after death as proclaimed by them all, was the same, i.e. divine revelation. We
also know that these prophets of God were greatly opposed by their people,
mainly on the issue of life after death, as their people thought it impossible.
But in spite of opposition, the Prophets won many sincere followers.
The question arises: what made those followers
forsake the established beliefs, traditions and customs of their forefathers,
notwithstanding the risk of being totally alienated from their own community?
The simple answer is: they made use of their faculties of mind and heart and
realized the truth.
Did they realize the truth through perceptual
consciousness? They couldn’t, as perceptual experience of life after death is
impossible. God has given Man besides perceptual consciousness, rational,
aesthetic and moral consciousness too. It is this consciousness that guides man
regarding realities that cannot be verified through sensory data. That is why
all the prophets of God while calling people to believe in God and life after
death, appeal to the aesthetic, moral and rational consciousness of man.
The Quran very clearly says that the disbelievers
have no sound basis for their denial of life after death. It is based on pure
conjecture:
And they say,
“There is not but our worldly life; we die
and live (i.e. some people die and others live, replacing them) and nothing
destroys us except time.” And they have of that no knowledge; they are only
assuming. And when Our verses are recited to them as clear evidences, their
argument is only that they say, “Bring [back] our forefathers, if you
should be truthful.” Say, “Allah causes you to live, then causes you
to die; then He will assemble you for the Day of Resurrection, about which there
is no doubt.” But most of the people do not know.
(Quran, 45:24-26)
The explanation that the Quran gives about the
necessity of life after death is what the moral consciousness of man demands.
Actually, if there is no life after death, the very belief in God becomes
meaningless or even if one believes in God, it would be an unjust and
indifferent God, having once created man and now not being concerned with his
fate. Surely, God is just. He will punish the tyrants, whose crimes are beyond
count - having tortured and killed hundreds or thousands of innocent people,
created great corruption in society, enslaved numerous persons to serve their
whims, etc. Because man has a very short life span in this world and because
numerous individuals are affected by one’s actions, adequate punishments and
rewards are not possible in this life. Could the good and the righteous be
equated with the wicked and evil? Moral, aesthetic and rational faculties of man
reject this logic and endorse the possibility of the life after death. Allah
confirms this truth in the Quran:
Then did you think that We created you
uselessly and that to Us you would not be returned?
(Quran, 23:115).
Also:
And We did not create the heaven and the earth and that between them
aimlessly. That is the assumption of those who disbelieve, so woe to those who
disbelieve from the Fire. Or should We treat those who believe and do righteous
deeds like corrupters in the land? Or should We treat those who fear Allah like
the wicked?
(Quran, 38:27-28). Also:
Or do those who commit evils think
We will make them like those who have believed and done righteous deeds - [the
evildoers being] equal in their life and their death? Evil is that which they
judge [i.e. assume]. And Allah created the heavens and earth in truth and so
that every soul may be recompensed for what it has earned, and they will not be
wronged.
(Quran, 45:21-22). Also:
And We did not create the heavens and
the earth and that between them in play. We did not create them except in truth,
but most of them do not know. Indeed, the Day of Judgment is the appointed time
for them all.
(Quran, 44:38-40). The Quran emphatically states that the Day
of Judgment must come and that Allah will decide the fate of each soul
according to his or her record of deeds:
But those who disbelieve say,
“The Hour
(i.e. the Day of
Judgment) will not come to us.” Say, “Yes, by my Lord, it will surely come to you. [Allah is] the Knower of the
unseen.” Not absent from Him is an atom’s weight within the heavens or
within the earth or [what is] smaller than that or greater, except that it is in
a clear register - That He may reward those who believe and do righteous deeds.
Those will have forgiveness and noble provision. But those who strive against
Our verses [seeking] to cause failure (i.e. to undermine their credibility) -
for them will be a painful punishment of foul nature.
(Quran, 34:3-5)
The Day of Resurrection will be the Day when God’s attributes of Justice and Mercy will be in full manifestation. God will
shower His mercy on those who suffered for His sake in the worldly life,
believing that an eternal bliss was awaiting them. But those who abused the
bounties of God, caring nothing for the life to come, will be in the most
miserable state. Drawing a comparison between them, the Quran says:
Then
is he whom We have promised a good promise which he will meet [i.e. obtain]
like he for whom We provided enjoyment of worldly life [but] then he is, on the
Day of Resurrection, among those presented [for punishment in Hell]?
(Quran, 28:61)
The belief in life after death not only
guarantees success in the Hereafter but also makes this world full of peace and
happiness by making individuals most responsible and dutiful in their
activities:
Every soul will taste death. And We test you with evil and
with good as trial; and to Us you will be returned.
(Quran, 21:35)
Why should one read the Quran?
No person can afford to be ignorant of the Quran,
for it is the constitution revealed by Allah to regulate and govern human life.
It speaks with the perfect knowledge of the Creator about His creation. It
exposes the truth and invites man to the way of truth. It contains important
information about human destiny and that of the individual. It educates and
raises men to the highest moral, intellectual and social level when they strive
to comprehend it and apply its teachings to life.
Moreover, it is the actual words of Allah - not
created, but revealed by Him through the angel Gabriel to a human messenger,
Muhammad , for the benefit of humanity. It is an eternal miracle given to the
final prophet, Muhammad , as proof of his prophet hood and a challenge to all
succeeding generations. It is of unique and inimitable quality. Revealed
fourteen centuries ago, it remains today completely intact and unaltered in its
original Arabic form.
What does one discover when he understands the
meanings of the Quran? The answers to this question can be classified in four
main categories:
1) That he can know his Creator as He has
described Himself
2) That he can know the purpose of life on this
earth and what is expected of every person during this life
3) That he becomes aware of the consequences of
his attitudes and his behavior
4) How he should relate to all things - to Allah
by worship and obedience, to his fellow man by justice to all, and to the
universe in general by putting those things under his control to good use.
This divine message was revealed to confirm and
renew the relationship between man and his Creator and to reinstate the sincere
and correct worship of the one true God, Allah, who says:
Then let them
respond to Me and believe in Me that they may be [rightly] guided.
(Quran, 2:186)
Why Islam?
Islam is not a new religion; it is not a
different religion. It is in essence the same religion that Allah (or
“God”) sent to all mankind through all His prophets at different times
in history - the religion that had unfortunately been changed through
human
adulterations, theology and philosophy. That is why the Prophet
Muhammad
came as the
last and final prophet and messenger of Allah. He needed to come to remove all
the riddles and confusion in the lives of people. He corrected matters of
diversion in belief that were introduced by confusing human philosophy and
theology. He restored the pure monotheistic belief of our Creator and brought
the most perfect and most noble understanding of Allah (or “God”).
The purpose of life is to know Allah, to believe
in Him and to worship Him according to how He wants to be worshipped, this
includes that we live our lives according to His commands. In the Quran, Allah
tells us that since the messages of all prophets before the Prophet Muhammad
have
been distorted, none of these objectives could be achieved correctly except
through His last and final message, and therefore He will judge people on the
Day of Judgment based on whether they believed and followed Islam. Allah says:
Indeed, the religion in the sight of Allah is Islam.
(Quran, 3:19)
In
the same chapter Allah declares:
And whoever desires other than Islam as
religion - never will it be accepted from him, and he, in the Hereafter, will be
among the losers (in the Hellfire).
(Quran, 3:85)
Muslims believe that the present life is a trial
in preparation for the next realm of existence. Muslims know that man was not
created merely for this worldly life; rather this world was created for man.
So, if a fool lives to eat and a wise man eats to
live, then a believer lives to worship Allah.
How Does Someone Become a Muslim?
To become a Muslim a person simply needs to say
the Shahadah (Declaration of Faith) with sincere conviction: “Ash-hadu
al-la elaha illa-Allah wa ash-hadu anna Muhammadan rasulu Allah” one
becomes a Muslim. This saying means, “I testify that there is no deity
[worthy of worship] except Allah, and I testify that Muhammad is the messenger
of Allah.”