What Is Life? (4/4)

The Knowledge of Allah and that of mankind

What did Sulaiman (peace be upon him) say to his supporters from jinn and mankind when he wanted to bring the throne of Balqis (the Queen of Sheba) after she had left her kingdom on her way to meet him? He said as the Noble Qur’an relates to us (what means):

“Which of you can bring me her throne before they come to me surrendering themselves in obedience?” (Surah An-Naml, 27: 38)

Species have rivaled with one another to bring forward the throne of Balqis to Sulaiman (peace be upon him). Man kept silent; because he is made of clay, neither have agility nor speedy movement. The ordinary jinn also kept silent, but the one who spoke was a stalwart of the jinn, so what did he say? The Noble Qur’an relates that incident through the verse saying (what means):

“An Ifrit (strong) from the jinn said: ‘I will bring it to you before you rise from your place (council).’” (Surah An-Naml, 27: 39)

In other words, before Sulaiman (peace be upon him) leave his council, but for how long would the council of Sulaiman (peace be upon him) last? Perhaps for one, two or three hours, what matters, is that before Sulaiman (peace be upon him) rise from his place he would find the throne before him. But what did the one with whom was knowledge of the Scripture say? He said as the Noble Qur’an relates (what means):

“I will bring it to you within the twinkling of an eye!” (Surah An-Naml, 27: 40)

And before finishing his sentence the throne of Balqis was before Sulaiman (peace be upon him)!!

It follows then that there exists of knowledge what makes man capable of bringing a thing from one place to another within a few seconds. But such knowledge is not attainable except to those specially favored by Almighty Allah with its mastery. In order for him to bring the throne within seconds, he must have called it or issued an order whereby it moved from the palace of Balqis in Yemen to the council of Sulaiman (peace be upon him) in Syria!

This urges us to believe in all what Allah, praise be to Him, has told us about the things unseen to us. We should neither deny their existence nor their life just because we do not perceive them, why? Because we definitely have hundreds of things, which we could not see or perceive their existence and afterwards we perceived such existence. Consequently, it is an established fact in the universe.

There is also an unperceived life within our bodies. The organs of the body: the hand, the foot, the tongue, the skin and all the organs of our bodies have a life, which we believe to be derived from us. In other words, we order them and they obey. You order the foot to walk to the Masjid and it obeys, and you order it to walk to a bar and it obeys. The hand also may help a cripple in crossing the road or you may use it in oppressing, killing and assaulting people. The tongue also, you utter the truth and it obeys you and you utter falsehood and it obeys you as well.

Seemingly, you are mastering those organs, which do as you wish, but actually they have a life of their own. They are glorifiers of Allah and believers in Him. They also have a language with which they talk. They are subjugated to you only in the life of this world. But when they come to an end, you would have no control over them. In the Hereafter, they would neither obey nor submit to your will, but they would bear testimony against you and curse you if you have subjugated them in what may incur the Wrath of Allah. Recite the Qur’anic Statement of The Truth, all praise and glory be to Him (which means):

“Till, when they reach it (Hell-fire), their hearing (ears) and their eyes, and their skins will testify against them as to what they used to do. And they will say to their skins, ‘Why do you testify against us?’ They will say: ‘Allah has caused us to speak, as He causes all things to speak.’” (Surah Fussilat, 41: 20-21)

Whoever has performed the enjoined duty of Hajj would wonder at the vigor that overwhelms the pilgrims. In spite of the hardships and the fact that they do not get enough sleep you find them highly active, whereas at their homeland they lack such vivacity though they have much rest.

This happens because the body organs desire neither sleep nor rest, but always want to be engaged in the Remembrance and Worship of Allah, simply because during the performance of the Hajj rituals man is engaged with nothing except the Remembrance of Allah. Those organs wish that they do not miss His Remembrance by going to sleep so as to remain a glorifier of Allah, whereas, the organs of a sinning disbeliever force him to go to sleep so as to rest from his wrongdoing.

Some people may wonder how could those deaf organs speak? We reply by quoting the noble Qur’anic verse, which says (what means):

“Allah has caused us to speak, as He causes all things to speak.” (Surah Fussilat, 41: 21)

It follows that all what is termed a ‘thing’ in this worldly life has a language whereby Allah makes it speaks, for the entire universe celebrates the Glory of Allah, praise be to Him. If you wonder that your skin, hands, feet and tongue would bear testimony against you and would have a language and a power of discrimination, we say that Allah, all praise and glory be to Him, has called our attention to such reality. We find that the organs of the one body perfectly know one another through a special language or code. So, if you lost, for instance, a part of your skin and wanted to graft it with the skin of another human, the body would reject it, whereas if you got hurt or lost a number of cellular tissues as a result of a wound or a burn, your whole body would work so powerfully to weave new tissues same as your old tissues to compensate what you have lost.

Accordingly, everybody knows its organs quite well and repels the foreign cells. This means that Allah, all praise and glory be to Him, has taught it how to distinguish between its own cells and that of other bodies.

All what is in the universe is alive

Briefly, we summarize what we have detailed by saying that everything in this universe is alive and everything enjoys a (form of) life that suits its mission. Neither the inanimate beings, nor the plants, nor the animals are dead but we simply do not perceive their lives. Furthermore, the inanimate beings sense, feel and cry. When a son of Adam (man) dies, two places mourn his death: the place where he used to prostrate himself (in worship) and the place where his deeds ascend to heaven. Allah, all praise and glory be to Him, has set forth in the Noble Qur’an examples of the knowledge acquired by other species as well as their lives. For the ant knew that the man coming forward was the Prophet Sulaiman (peace be upon him) and that he might tramp on them with his army.

Life exists in all the species of the universe. It exists in what we see before us solid and motionless as mountain rocks, sand particles besides the other species of the universe that we know nothing about their lives. We have also shown the evidence that these species have a role to play in the universe.

We have also clarified that existence is one thing and its perception is another, as life is not limited to mankind alone but it extends to comprise all the species of the universe.

But is this the life that Allah, praise be to Him, wishes for us, merely a worldly life? Or is there another life beyond this worldly life which the Lord of Majesty, all praise and glory be to Him, has indeed meant for us.