Article: "Seven Reasons Why A Scientist Believes in God"

------------------------------------------------

Extracted from the desk of Ustaz Zhulkeflee:

This article of Mr. A. Cressy Morrison, former President of the New York Academy of Sciences, first appeared in the "Reader's Digest" (January 1948); then on recommendation of Professor C. A. Coulson, F.R.S., Professor of Mathematics at Oxford University, was republished in the Reader's Digest (November 1960). (Adapted from: "God of Islam. By Seyyid Saeed Akhta Rizvi"). It shows how the science compels the scientists to admit the essential creed of a Supreme Creator.

------------------------------------------------

Mr. A. Cressy Morrison, former President of New York Academy of Sciences, wrote:

“We are still in the dawn of the scientific age and every increase of light reveals more brightly the handiwork of an intelligent Creator. In the 90 years since Darwin we have made stupendous discoveries; with a spirit of scientific humility and of faith grounded in knowledge we are approaching even nearer to an awareness of God.For myself, I count seven reasons for my faith" :

[1] First: By unwavering mathematical law we can prove that our universe was designed and executed by a great engineering Intelligence.Suppose you put ten coins, marked from one to ten, into your pocket and give them a good shuffle. Now try to take them out in sequence from one to ten, putting back the coin each time and shaking them all again. Mathematically we know that your chance of first drawing number one is one in ten; of drawing one and two in succession, one in 100; of drawing one, two and three in succession, one in a thousand, and so on; your chance of drawing them all, from one to number ten in succession, would reach the unbelievable figure of one chance in ten thousand million.

By the same reasoning, so many exacting conditions are necessary for life on earth that they could not possibly exist in proper relationship by chance. The earth rotates on its axis at one thousand miles an hour; if it turned at one hundred miles an hour, our days and nights would be ten times as long as now, and the hot sun would then burn up our vegetation during each long day while in the long night any surviving, sprout would freeze.Again, the sun, source of our life, has a surface temperature of 12,000 degrees Fahrenheit, and our earth is just far enough away so that this "eternal fire" warms us just enough and not too much! If the sun gave off only one-half its present radiation, we would freeze, and if it gave half as much more, we would roast.The slant of the earth, tilted at an angle of 23 degrees, gives us our seasons; if it had not been so tilted, vapours from the ocean would move north and south, piling up for us continents of ice. If our moon was, say, only 50 thousand miles away instead of its actual distance our tides would be so enormous that twice a day all continents would be submerged; even the mountains would soon be eroded away. If the crust of the earth had been only ten feet thicker, there would be no oxygen without which animal life must die. Had the ocean been a few feet deeper, carbon dioxide and oxygen would have been absorbed and no vegetable life could exist. Or if our atmosphere had been thinner, some of the meteors, now burned in space by the million every day, would be striking all parts of the earth, starting fires everywhere.Because of these, and host of other examples, there is not one chance in millions that life on our planet is an accident!

[2] Second: The resourcefulness of life to accomplish its purpose is a manifestation of all-pervading Intelligence. What life itself is, no man has fathomed. It has neither weight nor dimensions, but it does have force; a growing root will crack a rock. Life has conquered water, land and air, mastering the elements, compelling them to dissolve and reform their combinations.Life, the sculptor, shapes all living things; an artist, it designs every leaf of every tree, and colours every flower. Life is a musician and has each bird to sing its love songs, the insects to call each other in the music of their multitudinous sounds. Life is a sublime chemist, giving taste to fruits and spices, and perfume to the rose changing water and carbonic acid into sugar and wood and, in so doing, releasing oxygen that animal may have the breath of life.Behold an almost invisible drop of protoplasm, transparent and jelly-like, capable of motion, drawing energy from the sun. This single cell, this transparent mist like droplet, holds within itself the germ of life, and has the power to distribute this life to every living thing, great and small. The powers of this droplet are greater than our vegetation and animals and people, for all life came from it. Nature did not create life; fire-blistered rocks and a salt less sea could not meet the necessary requirements."Who, then, has put it here?"

[3] Third: Animal wisdom speaks irresistibly of a good Creator who infused instinct into otherwise helpless little creatures.The young salmon spends years at sea, then comes back to his own river, and travels up the very side of the river into which flows the tributary where he was born. What brings him back so precisely? If you transfer him to another tributary he will know at once that he is off his course and he will fight his way down and back to the main stream and then turn up against the current to finish his destiny more accurately.

Even more difficult to solve is the mystery of eels. These amazing creatures migrate at maturity from all ponds and rivers everywhere those from Europe across thousands of miles of ocean - all bound for the same abysmal deeps near Bermuda. There they breed and die. The little ones, with no apparent means of knowing anything except that they are in a wilderness of water, nevertheless find their way back not only to the very shore from which their parent came but thence to the rivers, lakes or little ponds -- so that each body of water is always populated with eels. No American eel has ever been caught in Europe, no European eel in African waters. Nature has even delayed the maturity of the European eel by a year or more to make up for it's longer journey.Where does the directing impulse originate?

A wasp will overpower a grasshopper, dig a hole in the earth, sting the grasshopper in exactly the right place so that he does not die but becomes unconscious and lives on as a form of preserved meat. Then the wasp will lay her eggs handily so that her children when they hatch can nibble without killing the insect on which they feed; to them dead meat would be fatal. The mother then flies away and dies; she never sees her young. Surely the wasp must have done all this right the first time and every time, or else there would be no wasp. Such mysterious techniques cannot be explained by adoption; they were bestowed.

[4] Fourth: Man has something more than animal instinct - the power of reason.No other animal has ever left a record of its ability to count ten or even to understand the meaning of ten. Where instinct is like a single note of a flute, beautiful but limited, the human brain contains all the notes of all the instruments in the orchestra. No need to belabour this fourth point; thanks to the human reason we can contemplate the possibility that we are what we are only because we have received a spark of Universal Intelligence.

[5] Fifth: Provision for all living is revealed in phenomena which we know today but which Darwin did not know - such as the wonders of genes. So unspeakably tiny are these genes that, if all of them responsible for all living people in the world could be put in one place, there would be less than a thimbleful. Yet these ultra-microscopic genes and their companions, the chromosomes, inhabit every living cell and are the absolute keys to all human, animal and vegetable characteristics. A thimble is a small place in which to put all the individual characteristics of two thousand million human beings. However, the facts are beyond question. Well then, how do genes lock up all the normal heredity of a multitude of ancestors and preserve the psychology of each in such an infinitely small space? Here evolution really begins - at the cell, the entity, which holds and carries genes. How a few million atoms, locked up as an ultra-microscopic gene, can absolutely rule all on earth is an example of profound cunning and provision that could emanate only from a Creative Intelligence - no other hypothesis will serve.

[6] Sixth: By the economy of nature, we are forced to realise that only infinite wisdom could have foreseen and prepared with such astute husbandry.Many years ago a species of cactus was planted in Australia as a protective fence. Having no insect enemies in Australia the cactus soon began a prodigious growth; the alarming abundance persisted until the plants covered an area as long and wide as England, crowding inhabitants out of the towns and. villages, and destroying their farms. Seeking a defence, the entomologists scoured the world; finally they turned up an insect which exclusively feeds on cactus, and would eat nothing else. It would breed freely too; and it had no enemies in Australia. So animal soon conquered vegetable and today the cactus pest has retreated, and with it all but a small protective residue of the insects, enough to hold the cactus in check forever.Such checks and balances have been universally provided. Why have not fast-breeding insects dominated the earth? Because they have no lungs such as man possesses; they breathe through tubes. But when insects grow large, their tubes do not grow in ratio to the increasing size of the body. Hence there has never been an insect of great size; this limitation on growth has held them all in check.If this physical check had not been provided, man could not exist. Imagine meeting a hornet as big as a lion!

[7] Seventh: The fact that man can conceive the idea of God is in itself a unique proof.The conception of god rises from a divine faculty of man, not shared with the rest of our world - the faculty we call imagination. By its power, man and man alone can find the evidence of things unseen. The vista that power opens up is unbounded; indeed, as man is perfected imagination becomes a spiritual reality. He may discern in all the evidence of design and purpose the great truth that heaven is wherever and whatever is; that God is everywhere and in everything, but nowhere so close as in our hearts.It is scientifically as well as imaginatively true; in the words of the psalmist: 'The heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament shows His handiwork.' ”

--------------- End of article --------------------

إِنَّ فِى خَلۡقِ ٱلسَّمَـٰوَٲتِ وَٱلۡأَرۡضِ وَٱخۡتِلَـٰفِ ٱلَّيۡلِ وَٱلنَّہَارِ

لَأَيَـٰتٍ۬ لِّأُوْلِى ٱلۡأَلۡبَـٰبِ

ٱلَّذِينَ يَذۡكُرُونَ ٱللَّهَ قِيَـٰمً۬ا وَقُعُودً۬ا وَعَلَىٰ جُنُوبِهِمۡ

وَيَتَفَڪَّرُونَ فِى خَلۡقِ ٱلسَّمَـٰوَٲتِ وَٱلۡأَرۡضِ

رَبَّنَا مَا خَلَقۡتَ هَـٰذَا بَـٰطِلاً۬ سُبۡحَـٰنَكَ فَقِنَا عَذَابَ ٱلنَّارِ

Behold! in the creation of the heavens and the earth, and the alternation of Night and Day,― there are indeed Signs for men of understanding.―

Men who celebrate the praises of Allah standing, sitting, and lying down on their sides, and contemplate the (wonders of) creation in the heavens and the earth, (with the thought): "Our Lord! not for naught hast Thou created (all) this! Glory to Thee! Give us salvation from the penalty of the Fire.

(Qur'an: Aali 'Imraan: 3: 190-191)

إِنَّمَا يَخۡشَى ٱللَّهَ مِنۡ عِبَادِهِ ٱلۡعُلَمَـٰٓؤُاْۗ إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ عَزِيزٌ غَفُورٌ

"The erudite among His bondmen fear Allah alone. Lo! Allah is Mighty, Forgiving."

(Qur'an: Fatir: 53: 28)

---------------------------------------

1. “MUQADDIMAH” - ISLAM: TAUHID, EDUCATION AND WAY OF LIFE. (part II).

....... to continue

CONCEPT OF EDUCATION

Islam as “Ad-Deen” i.e. a complete way of life, encompass a total system and does not recognize any form of separation or dichotomy between what is secular and what is religious; between the material and the spiritual; between the intellectual and moral. It stresses the need to moulding of a complete man and provides the balanced system based upon the concept of Tauhiid, unifying every aspect of his life under the concept of attesting to the Oneness of Allah. Therefore especially with regard to education, Islam's philosophy is unique and unsurpassed. Whereas in the past experience of the other religions where intellectual progress was only possible by 'secularism', Islam's success as the torch bearer of knowledge and civilization was because of the adherence ,of the Muslims to this total system of life. The main reason for the decline of the Muslims was when they begin to separate the wholesome teachings of Islam as a complete way and adopt the secularist thinking.

To do justice, it actually requires a much lengthier discourse on the subject specifically, but allow me to briefly summarise the approach of education just from the earlier mentioned three aspects that are necessary in Tauhiid - to show that stemming from this concept, Islam's philosophy of education is rooted.

(see also my * ADDENDUM to the Education of a Muslim – to be posted later)

Iiman (Faith/Conviction)

'iiman', which is usually translated as faith does not mean blind acceptance without a corresponding intellectual discernment. Islam stresses very much upon man's proper use of the gift of reason. But it does not encourage a purely intellectual acquisition devoid of any spiritual fulfillment or conviction. Rather, from the knowledge of certainty based on the revelation (Tauqifiiyah), we are required to confirm them with our faculties especially that of intellectual reasoning and by observing the signs and wonders of the whole creation until it develops into conviction. It is a gradual process of reinforcing ones awareness and belief and the Muslims are required to strive to strengthen this by acquiring all other knowledge. Thus the main subject which becomes necessary in the education of every Muslim is 'Usuulud-deen'- the basis of the Deen (theology), and the other important knowledge which becomes relevant, complementary and important are for example Astronomy, Geology, Anthropology, Biology, Natural Sciences ... etc. which would enhance conviction in Muslims of the Truth of his creed.

إِنَّ فِى خَلۡقِ ٱلسَّمَـٰوَٲتِ وَٱلۡأَرۡضِ وَٱخۡتِلَـٰفِ ٱلَّيۡلِ وَٱلنَّہَارِ لَأَيَـٰتٍ۬

لِّأُوْلِى ٱلۡأَلۡبَـٰبِ

ٱلَّذِينَ يَذۡكُرُونَ ٱللَّهَ قِيَـٰمً۬ا وَقُعُودً۬ا وَعَلَىٰ جُنُوبِهِمۡ وَيَتَفَڪَّرُونَ

فِى خَلۡقِ ٱلسَّمَـٰوَٲتِ وَٱلۡأَرۡضِ

رَبَّنَا مَا خَلَقۡتَ هَـٰذَا بَـٰطِلاً۬ سُبۡحَـٰنَكَ فَقِنَا عَذَابَ ٱلنَّار

“Behold! in the creation of the heavens and the earth, and the alternation of Night and Day,― there are indeed Signs for men of understanding.―

Men who celebrate the praises of Allah standing, sitting, and lying down on their sides, and contemplate the (wonders of) creation in the heavens and the earth, (with the thought): "Our Lord! not for naught hast Thou created (all) this! Glory to Thee! Give us salvation from the penalty of the Fire.”

(Qur’an: Surah aa-li ‘Imran: 3: 190-191)

‘Amal (Correct Practices)

From an Hadith, we learnt from the Prophet Muhammad s.a.w. about the nature of iiman, thus :

"iiman is to be convinced in your heart (mind), and to express it in words and to manifest it in practice ('amal)"

(Reported by Muslim)

For man, ultimately, to function as he was created to function is the most sensible. The Creator, Who had prescribed the Way for man, enjoins him to adopt the path of Submission and Obedience (al-Islam). Thus, in a Muslim, iiman must correspond and be manifested with 'amal. Practice, for a Muslim is for a specific purpose - that of serving our Maker. Stemming from the concept of Unity of God, we see this vast creation as one whole in which man has been accorded with a special position and with it the responsibility as Allah's vicegerent on earth. This 'Amanah (Trust) is to be carried out in the best possible manner, guided by the whole teachings left behind by Allah's Final Messenger Muhammad s.a.w. Thus we see the growth of an outstanding world civilization spearheaded by the Muslims when they held fast to this concept that has benefitted all mankind. Alas, the world today is faced with so much turmoil because this Trust is betrayed. Man who does not adhere to the concept of Tauhiid, is experimenting with other ways with disastrous result - whereas the panacea for them is still to be found in the pristine teachings of Islam.

ظَهَرَ ٱلۡفَسَادُ فِى ٱلۡبَرِّ وَٱلۡبَحۡرِ بِمَا كَسَبَتۡ أَيۡدِى ٱلنَّاسِ لِيُذِيقَهُم

بَعۡضَ ٱلَّذِى عَمِلُواْ لَعَلَّهُمۡ يَرۡجِعُونَ

قُلۡ سِيرُواْ فِى ٱلۡأَرۡضِ فَٱنظُرُواْ كَيۡفَ كَانَ عَـٰقِبَةُ ٱلَّذِينَ

مِن قَبۡلُ‌ۚ كَانَ أَڪۡثَرُهُم مُّشۡرِكِينَ فَأَقِمۡ وَجۡهَكَ لِلدِّينِ

ٱلۡقَيِّمِ مِن قَبۡلِ أَن يَأۡتِىَ يَوۡمٌ۬ لَّا مَرَدَّ لَهُ ۥ مِنَ ٱللَّهِ‌ۖ يَوۡمَٮِٕذٍ۬

يَصَّدَّعُونَ مَن كَفَرَ فَعَلَيۡهِ كُفۡرُهُ ۥ‌ۖ وَمَنۡ عَمِلَ صَـٰلِحً۬ا

فَلِأَنفُسِہِمۡ يَمۡهَدُونَ لِيَجۡزِىَ ٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُواْ وَعَمِلُواْ

ٱلصَّـٰلِحَـٰتِ مِن فَضۡلِهِۦۤ‌ۚ إِنَّهُ ۥ لَا يُحِبُّ ٱلۡكَـٰفِرِينَ

“Mischief has appeared on land and sea because of (the meed) that the hands of men have earned that (Allah) may give them a taste of some of their deeds: in order that they may turn back (from Evil).

Say: "Travel through the earth and see what was the End of those before (you): most of them worshipped others besides Allah."

But set thou thy face to the right Religion, before there come from Allah the Day which there is no chance of averting: on that Day shall men be divided (in two).

Those who reject Faith will suffer from that rejection: and those who work righteousness will spread their couch (of repose) for themselves (in heaven):

That He may reward those who believe and work righteous deeds, out of His Bounty: for He loves not those who reject Faith.”

(Qur’an: Surah Rum: 30: 45)

Thus in ‘Amal, the important subject is the knowledge of the "Shari'ah" (literally means “the Way”) - which encompasses personal duties of Muslims; matters of family law; aspects pertaining to economic and social transactions; law for the establishment of order in society; distribution and utilization of wealth; administration of justice and government; international law .. etc. The other knowledge, which is complementary thus then becomes relevant and necessary, such as accountancy, medical sciences, environmental and physical sciences .... etc. which are required to fulfill the aim of “Shari’ah” – bringing benefits to mankind and removing every harm – in the most efficient manner possible, in accordance with our capabilities.

Ihsan (Best conduct/excellence)

As stated earlier, the Tauhiidal approach in education is towards the moulding of a complete man. Basically Islam stresses the potential goodness in the nature of man - "created in the best of mould." It also stresses the need for man to aspire towards perfection, if not he will be debased to become the lowest of the low. Thus having a certain conviction and establishing good upon the face of this world itself would be superfluous if the disposition (akhlaq) of man is not at the same time elevated. The western world today (and to a certain extent, imitated by the Eastern people too) is a paradox in that although the western 'modern' man has the technology towards conquering the outer space, he has not been able to conquer his passion and beastly desires. So much material advancement has been made and yet their world is faced with moral decay. Western man is covered with so much material comfort and yet his inner self is in turmoil, lacking that inner peace and tranquility. All of which indicate the shortcomings of their approach in education. Alas, these shortcomings too are being copied by the under-developed or developing countries in the East - unable to differentiate what are beneficial (admittedly there are many that the West can offer especially science & technology), and what are not beneficial (especially those decadent culture & sub-culture) that came with the transfer of technology.

Thus the aspect of Ihsan which is the third component of Tauhiid is primarily concern with the refinement of the disposition of man, dealing with the attitude and inner awareness of man. The Prophet Muhammad s.a.w. has stated :

"Al-Ihsan (righteousness and best conduct) is that you serve (worship) Allah as though you are seeing Him. Even though if you don't see Him you are convinced that He sees you"

(Hadith reported by Bukhary & Muslim)

Thus the branch of knowledge prescribed in the concept of education in Islam is "aI- 'ilmul-Akhlaq" -the science of the Disposition of man (more than mere Ethics)-, based upon the perfect model in the Holy Prophet Muhammad s.a.w.

لَّقَدۡ كَانَ لَكُمۡ فِى رَسُولِ ٱللَّهِ أُسۡوَةٌ حَسَنَةٌ۬ لِّمَن كَانَ

يَرۡجُواْ ٱللَّهَ وَٱلۡيَوۡمَ ٱلۡأَخِرَ وَذَكَرَ ٱللَّهَ كَثِيرً۬

"Ye have indeed in the Messenger of Allah a beautiful pattern (of conduct) for anyone whose hope is in Allah and the Final Day, and who engages much in the praise of Allah."

(Qur’an: Surah al-Ahzab: 40:21)

وَإِنَّكَ لَعَلَىٰ خُلُقٍ عَظِيمٍ۬

"And thou (O Muhammad! standest) on an exalted standard of character."

(Qur’an: Surah al-Qalam: 68: 4)

Thus as can be seen, the system of education founded upon the concept of Tauhiid is the most profound, most excellent to produce the best of mankind. It is complete and balanced for it is based upon Divine Guidance and modeled after the Messenger of Allah, and that period in the history of mankind which produced that Unique Qur'anic generation- the "Khay-ra-Ummah" (best community).

صِبۡغَةَ ٱللَّهِ‌ۖ وَمَنۡ أَحۡسَنُ مِنَ ٱللَّهِ صِبۡغَةً۬‌ۖ وَنَحۡنُ لَهُ ۥ عَـٰبِدُونَ

“Say: Our life takes its) colour from Allah! And who could give a better colour (to life) than Allah? And it is He (alone ) Whom we worship.”

(Qur’an: Surah al-Baqarah: 2: 138)

WAY OF LIFE

As Muslims, our way of life is one i.e. “al-Islam”. We all belong to that single Universal Brotherhood of Islam, consisting of different and varied people united and bound by “al-Tauhiid”. It is that way of life which has been perfected and completed - based upon the Guidance of the Quran and the life example of Allah's Final Messenger Muhammad s.a.w. The sources of its teachings which are still available with us, enshrined in AI-Qur'an (Dustuu-runa - our constitution) and As-Sunnah (Oudwaa-tuna - our examplary model). What is now required of us is to strive to live it. For we, as people who have Faith in the Oneness of Allah, must heed His commandment:

يَـٰٓأَيُّهَا ٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُواْ ٱدۡخُلُواْ فِى ٱلسِّلۡمِ ڪَآفَّةً۬

وَلَا تَتَّبِعُواْ خُطُوَٲتِ ٱلشَّيۡطَـٰنِ‌ۚ إِنَّهُ ۥ لَڪُمۡ عَدُوٌّ۬ مُّبِينٌ۬

فَإِن زَلَلۡتُم مِّنۢ بَعۡدِ مَا جَآءَتۡڪُمُ ٱلۡبَيِّنَـٰتُ فَٱعۡلَمُوٓاْ

أَنَّ ٱللَّهَ عَزِيزٌ حَڪِيمٌ

"O ye who believe! enter into Islam whole-heartedly; and follow not the footsteps of the Evil One; for he is to you an avowed enemy.

If ye backslide after the clear (signs) have come to you, then know that Allah is Exalted in Power, Wise. "

(Qur’an: Surah al-Baqarah: 2: 208-209)

We are to always remember that this vast dominion of our existence belongs to Allah s.w.t., and that life is a test. To strive in Allah's Way is the only path to success as people who attest, that there is no god except Allah and Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah.

تَبَـٰرَكَ ٱلَّذِى بِيَدِهِ ٱلۡمُلۡكُ وَهُوَ عَلَىٰ كُلِّ شَىۡءٍ۬ قَدِيرٌ

ٱلَّذِى خَلَقَ ٱلۡمَوۡتَ وَٱلۡحَيَوٰةَ لِيَبۡلُوَكُمۡ أَيُّكُمۡ أَحۡسَنُ عَمَلاً۬‌ۚ

وَهُوَ ٱلۡعَزِيزُ ٱلۡغَفُورُ

“Blessed be He (Allah) in Whose hands is Dominion: and He over all things Hath Power―

He Who created Death and Life, that He may try which of you is best in deed: and He is the Exalted in Might, Oft-Forgiving―”

(Qur’an : Surah al-Mulk: 67: 1-2)

WaAllaahu a'lam

MAY ALLAH GUIDES US ALL UPON THE RIGHT AND TRUE PATH, AND SUSTAINS US IN HIS MERCY AND EXALTS US UNTO THE COMPANY OF THOSE WHO ARE CLOSEST TO HIM.

WA-BIL-LA-HI TAU-FIQ-WAL HIDAA-YA WAS-SALAA-MU-'ALAYKUM-WARAH-MA-TULLAA-HI-WA-BARAKAA-TUH

***********************************************
Text prepared by : Ustaz Zhulkeflee Hj Ismail,

for "Konvensyiun Pelajar Islam 2
(1409H / 1988)" - (Al-Qur’an Centre, Singapore)
***********************************************

---------------------------------------------------