The Belief that God is the Sole Creator and Sustainer of all Creation (1/2)
Jamaal al-Din M. Zarabozo
There is one thing that definitively stands out when one reads the Quran: Allah instructs humankind to ponder over the creation with all its subtleties and magnificence. At no time do the teachings of the Quran shy away from reflection and rational thought. Indeed, these foundations of knowledge have been invoked over and over in the Quran as a path that will lead to only one conclusion: That there is no way that this creation as one can witness and appreciate it today could have possibly come into being except through the intent and creation of a great, divine and masterful creator.[1]
In fact, in one verse, Allah has given a powerful argument that was convincing to humankind for hundreds of years: “Were they created by nothing, or were they themselves the creators? Or did they create the heavens and the earth? Nay, but they have no firm Belief” (Surah At-Tur, 52:35-36).
This has been clear to many, many people: They obviously did not come here by means of nothing nor did they create themselves. Hence, they are the result of the act of a Creator—a Creator who is in himself self-subsistent and not himself a created being.
Although this belief is innate and clear, doubts and misconceptions repeatedly come to humans from all sorts of different sources.[2] In different eras, different forms of confusion may come to people. Today many people are confused over the question of creationism and evolution. In fact, some even argue that “creationism” is not sound science while “evolution” is.
Currently, a popular explanation for the existence of the cosmos is the big bang theory. In fact, the Microsoft Encarta refers to it as the “currently accepted explanation of the beginning of the universe.” It is quite good of them to refer to it in that manner because “science” keeps changing its “facts” and explanations. It is exactly as Allah has described in the above-quoted verse, “Nay, but they have no firm belief” (Surah At-Tur, 52:36). Those who have turned away from God have to admit that they do not truly know what they believe and tomorrow their belief may be completely different from what it is today because, in reality, it is not built upon something firm.
It seems though that the dispute between the big bang theory and creationism is more hype than it is substance. The big bang theory, as the Encarta explains, “proposes that the universe was once extremely compact, dense, and hot. Some original event, a cosmic explosion called the big bang, occurred about 10 billion to 20 billion years ago, and the universe has since been expanding and cooling.”
But this begs the question of who created the matter that was involved in that big-bang?[3] If that matter still requires a creator, is there any proof that the same creator did not create new types of creatures later in this cosmos?
Of course, there is a much bigger problem in relation to the big bang theory: How could such a random explosion lead to the consistency, excellence and beauty that one sees in this universe? What, for example, was the beauty and organized cosmos that was set into motion after Nagasaki and Hiroshima were bombed?
Amazingly, atheists and materialists still refuse to see what is obvious to their very souls and make statements that are ludicrous to say the least. For example, the famed atheist Huxley once actually stated, “If six monkeys sat at typewriters and banged on the keys for billions of years, it is not unlikely that in the last pages they wrote we would find one of the sonnets of Shakespeare. This is the case with the universe that exists now. It came about as the result of random forces which played with matter for billions of years.” [4] Waheed Uddeen Khan, using “materialistic” kind of reasoning has replied to such a statement quite well: “Mathematics, which has given us the concept of probability, itself states that it is mathematically impossible for this universe to have come into existence by accident.”[5]
(Continued)
[1] The classic saying even among the Bedouin Arabs was, “Camel dung indicates the presence of a camel and footsteps indicate that someone has walked.” It is said of one of the early Islamic scholars, Abu Hanifah, that a group of the people who had entertained some doubts about God came to him to discuss the unity of the Creator and the Lord. He said to them, “Before we enter into a discussion on this question, tell me what you think of a boat in the Euphrates which goes to shore, loads itself with food and other things, then returns, anchors and unloads all by itself without anyone sailing or controlling it?” They said, “That is impossible; it could never happen.” Thereupon he said to them, “If that is impossible with respect to a ship, how is it possible for this whole world with all its vastness to move by itself?” This story has also been narrated from people other than Abu Hanifah. Cf., Commentary on the Creed of at-Tahawi, p. 9. Umar al-Ashqar provides another example: “A few years ago, the sands in the Rub’ al-Khaali’ desert (the Empty Quarter) were blown away by a windstorm to reveal the ruins of a city that had been covered by the sands. Scientists began to examine the contents of the city to try to determine the period in which it had been built. Nobody among the archaeologists or others even suggested that this city could have appeared as a result of the natural actions of the wind, rain, heat and cold, and not by the actions of man. If anyone had suggested such a thing, people would have regarded him as crazy and would have taken pity on him.” Umar al-Ashqar, Belief in Allah in the Light of the Quran and Sunnah (Riyadh: International Islamic Publishing House, 2000), p. 125.
[2] It would be politically incorrect today to call these “ungodly,” “evil” or “Satanic” sources. However, in the end, this conclusion will be unavoidable as these forces are attempting to take humans away from what is right and true to some other forms of belief.
[3] Note that even if there is some evidence of a cosmic big bang many years ago, this step as a possible act done by God in the process of forming this cosmos does not necessarily contradict Islamic beliefs. The exact manner in all steps and details by which God created the different parts of this cosmos is not known and, at best, one can only put forth theories.
[4] Quoted by al-Ashqar, Belief in Allah, p. 131.
[5] Quoted by al-Ashqar, Belief in Allah, p. 131.