From: irfan@ece.wisc.edu (Irfan Alan)
Newsgroups: soc.religion.islam
Subject: THE SCIENCE, TRUTH AND REAL CIVILIZATION - PART 2
Date: 16 Nov 1992 00:08 PDT
Organization: California Institute of Technology
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IN THE NAME OF ALLAH; THE MOST GRACIOUS AND THE MOST MERCIFUL

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THE SCIENCE,  THE TRUTH, AND REAL  CIVILIZATION, PART 2
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PART 2 of a Lecture Presenting the Islamic Point of View 
in a Dialogue with Christians.

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THE CREATION AS A SIGN TO THE ONENESS OF THE CREATOR 

Some examples directly from the All-wise Qur'an. Earth
Example:

Allah says in Qur'an: "Have We not made the earth a cradle.  And
the mountains as pegs, and created you as pairs?" (Qur'an
78:6-8) "Then contemplate (O man!) the signs of Allah's
Mercy!How He gives life to the earth after its death: verily the
Same (Power) will give life to the men who are dead: for He has
power over all things." (Qur'an 30:50)

Lets consider the first creation of the earth.  At first the
earth was all fluid.  Then rock was created from that fluid. 
Then the soil was created from rock.  If that matter had
remained fluid, it would not have been habitable.  	If after
becoming rock, the fluid were to become as hard as iron, it
would not have been useful either.  So what gave the earth its
current state is surely the wisdom of an All-Wise Maker, Who
sees the needs of the earth's inhabitants.  

Then mountains were made out of layers of soil.  Mountains
function as pegs, as supports, and serves many purposes.  The
earthquakes arising from the internal upheavals breathe through
the mountains, and would not cause the earth to be shaken out of
its motion.  The mountains also preserve the earth from the
invasion of the sea.  Each is a storehouse for the vital
necessities of living beings.  They purify the air from noxious
gases so allowing living beings to breathe.  They accumulate and
hold water reserves, and are sources for the minerals necessary
for living creatures.

Thus, this situation clearly testifies to the necessary
existence of an All-Powerful, an All-Wise and Compassionate
Creator.  One thing serving innumerable purposes surely is not
the fruit of mere chance. 

MILK AND BEE EXAMPLE

Allah says in Qur'an:

"And  verily in cattle (too) , Will you find an instructive
Sign. From what is within their bodies, Between excretions and blood, 
We produce, for your drink, Milk, pure and agreeable, to those
who drink it.

And from the fruit of the date palm and the vine;  You get out
wholesome drink, and food:

Behold, in this, Also is a Sign For those who are wise.

And your lord inspired the Bee to build her cells in hills, on
trees, and in men's habitations;.."  (Qur'an )

In the Spring, more than 300 thousand plants and animals are
renewed and reassembled from a dead, dissolved state.  In this
process of recombination of beings there is an utmost
distinguishing and differentiating amid the utmost degree of
intermingling and confusion.  For example, the distinguishing of
the shoots; growth of seeds and roots without confusing them in
any way; the selective channelling of the substances entering
the body of the trees in a mixture state, and their
transportation to the leaves, flowers, and fruits;
differentiation and filtration of the nutritious substances
entering the digestion systems of animals and human, and their
preparation for cell consumption.  

All these wonderful works witness to the necessary existence,
absolute Power, and Oneness of the Absolutely Wise, Absolutely
Knowing Creator. Nature

A reflection on these verses will illustrate that the blind and
stray, disorderly and unconscious, aimless, aggressive and
anarchic forces, nature and causality, cannot have anything to
do with this most positive -yet -complex- balance, this most
skillful art, this most wise and intended scheme.  They cannot
even stretch out their hands toward it.  All it falls to them is
to only be EMPLOYED as passive objects in obedience to Allah's
Commands and Laws.  Stray chance, dumb nature, blind force,
unconscious causality and the elements that are scattered in
every direction without restriction... None of these can have
any part in the most balanced, wise, artful, life-giving,
purposeful, orderly and firm works of the Creator.  They are
USED, rather, by the command, will, and power of the Glorious
Maker of all works as apparent veils to His power in this
manifest world.  Nature or causes do not have the power to
create their effects.

The imaginary and insubstantial thing Naturalists call nature,
if it has an external reality, can at the very most be a work of
art; it cannot be the Maker of the art.  It is an embroidery,
and cannot be the Embroiderer.  It is a set of decrees; it
cannot be the Issuer of the decrees.  It is a body of the laws
of creation, and cannot be the Lawgiver.  It is just a created
screen to the dignity of Allah, and cannot be the Creator.
Qur'an gives Human a way to real happiness.

By showing that the creation only belongs to Almighty Allah, and
declaring with a testimony as great as the universe itself, and
saying "There is no god but Allah", the Miraculous Qur'an also
gives a joyful announcement to the human spirit.  The Qur'an
shows to the human spirit, who is subject to countless needs and
is prey to the pressure of his harsh world, a recourse, a source
of help.  This opens for the human the door of a treasury of
mercy that will guarantee all its needs.  And he finds a point
of support and strength that indicates to the human spirit its
Creator and Owner, and makes known and causes it to recognize
his Compassionate Creator whose Power is absolute.  The Qur'an
tells him, "Allah is One.  Do not wear yourself out having
recourse to other things; do not demean yourself and feel
indebted to other forces, do not flatter them and fawn on them
and humiliate yourself; do not fear them and tremble before
every hardship; because the Ruler of the universe is One, the
key to all happiness is with Him, the reins of all things are in
His Power, He is the only one who will remove any sorrow or
hardship from you.  It is only Him who has the Power to answer
your needs and His treasury is endless" 

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To be continued In$a Allah.
Your Br. Irfan in Islam.