Religion And Human Nature (1/2)

Everyone is born upright by nature. Pure nature leads to Allah, the One and Only true God. In fact, human nature awakes to Almighty Allah's existence very early in life, even earlier than we may think. We generally think that only an older person ponders over Allah's existence and Oneness. But if we observe the life of a little child, we notice that in a certain stage of his life he asks his parents endless questions about the things he sees around him in the universe.

Who made the heaven? Why is the sky blue? Where does the sun go at night? Why doesn't it appear to us at night? Where does light go when the dark comes? Why do stars glitter? Where does the earth end? Why does one flower have smell while another doesn't? Where did I come from? Where was I before I came? etc. What do all these questions mean and indicate?

They indicate that nature in this child has begun to awake and recognize the Creator of the earth and heavens through His tangible and seen creation. There are several effects that touch man's senses and awaken him to the fact of Allah's existence, Oneness and peerlessness. The universe, so vast and wide, would certainly awaken man to that plain fact. Those great dimensions in the skies and the earth... those countless, immense, celestial bodies... Who has created them? The earth, though too tiny compared with other celestial bodies, contains mountains, plains, oceans, seas and rivers that would take the whole life of man to learn about a small part of them. How, then, about the solar system of which our earth is only a part? How about the milky way of which our solar system is considered a small part? And other celestial masses which contain millions and millions of galaxies like ours? And millions and millions of stars in comparison with which the large sun is considered to be too small?

With all its bulkiness, the universe is marvelously accurate. Night and day follow each other so precisely that we adjust our watches to them. In fact, the whole universe is so exact in its astronomical revolution that clocks in observatories, which are the most accurate clocks we have and to which clocks in broadcasting stations are adjusted, are themselves adjusted to the extremely accurate astronomical revolution which is never disturbed in the course of time unless, of course, Allah willed it otherwise.

Every being, animate and inanimate, enjoys such miraculous accuracy. Have you seen the extremely minute living cell that can be seen only under the microscope? Yet it grows, splits and performs highly wonderful tasks which make man helpless and humble towards the omnipotence of Allah! Who, other than Allah, has infused it with the secret of life and guided it to such surprising activity?

A germ cannot be seen with the unaided eye. A minute kind called 'virus' cannot be seen even under the ordinary microscope. Yet, you know from your studies in science that it might cause the most deadly disease unless man immunized himself against it by means of medicines and serums. The multicellular being, man at the top, was originally one impregnated cell which went on splitting and growing till it became an integral being. What power, other than that of Allah, has given it life and activity? Most surprising in that splitting process is the fact that those cells appear similar in their beginning, then orders are given to them to specialize and take certain forms - one cell moves to a certain place and becomes an ear or part of an ear; another cell goes to another position and becomes an eye or part of it; a third becomes one of the brain cells; a fourth turns into bones... etc. What order did those invisible cells receive and obey in such extraordinary exactitude? It is the order of the Creator. He orders them and they obey Him, and move and form in accordance with His Divine Will.

Have you observed a multi - coloured fragrant beautiful flower? Who has bestowed it with that fragrance and how have these colours combined in it? Suppose you tried to perfume a flower so that it would diffuse fragrance from morning to evening, and to paint it in all colours so that it would not lose colour so long as it exists. How hard would it be for you, and how far would your attempt be successful? If all people on earth busied themselves with such a task with all flowers growing on earth or in the sea, could they perform it? And even if they could, what time and effort would be left for other activities?

Yet millions of flowers on earth grow scented, coloured and pleasant. Allah has created all without the least effort or distraction from directing the immense universe, for He (Glory be to Him!) only says to a thing: "Be! And it is". For Him, it is so easy.

The phenomena of death and life also attract man's attention to the miraculous Divine Power that gives life and death. What is life in reality? It is a marvellous secret which no one can explain. All that man has so far attempted is the interpretation of some phenomena of life such as movement, growth and physiology. As for life itself - what is it? How does it exist in living things? How does it direct them to fulfil their functions? All this is a vague mystery incomprehensible to man. Man, especially biologists, has employed all his scientific knowledge to create one cell of billions of living cells with which the divine creation abounds, but all was in vain.

(Continued)