SCIENCE OPENS NEW HORIZONS
Discover the Creator through Creation
THE Quran refers to the Divine plan in these words (41: 53): We shall show them Our signs in the universe and within themselves, until it becomes clear to them that this is the Truth. Is it not enough that your Lord is the witness of all things?
The signs of God whose emergence was predicted in this verse of the Quran came into full expression in the 19th and 20th centuries. One aspect of the modern scientific revolution is that it has fully brought to life these signs of God. The modern scientific revolution has provided a commonly accepted intellectual ground between those who engage in dawah work (dayees or preachers) and their addressees (madus or addressees), through which dawah (missionary) work can be engaged in a more effective way
.Some 3000 years ago, the Prophet Moses started his prophetic mission
in Egypt. He promulgated the message of the unity of God (tawhid) to
Pharaoh, who was then the ruler of Egypt. But Pharaoh mocked this
message. The Quran (28: 38) tells us:
Pharaoh said, “O nobles, I know of no god for you other than
myself. So, Haman, burn me bricks of clay, and build me a high
tower, so that I may have a look at the God of Moses, though I
consider him to be one of the liars.”
Something similar to this happened closer to our own times. Nikita Khrushchev (d. 1971) was one of the top leaders of the former Soviet Union. In 1957, the Soviet Union sent its first satellite into space. It was called Sputnik. The satellite entered space, travelled around, taking many pictures, and then returned to Earth. After this, Khrushchev, mocking religion, declared that their spacecraft had travelled in space but no God was to be seen there, nor any Paradise.
To rebut such claims, earlier no solid scientific basis was available. But now the situation is completely altered, with great advances in science. According to modern researches, only around four per cent of the vast universe is observable for man. The remaining 96% of the universe is beyond our observation. Much of this 96% is thought to consist of dark matter and dark energy, which are poorly understood, if at all.
This modern scientific finding is a great basis for the votary of Truth in presenting a rationale for belief in the existence of the Creator God. On the basis of this finding, one can say that man, given his present abilities, can arrive only at indirect knowledge about God and Paradise. Man simply cannot obtain direct observational evidence on these matters.
Science has opened up new doors of Godrealization. What is science? Science is concerned with the study of nature, and nature is another name for the creation of God. So, science can be said to be the discipline that studies the creation of God, the Maker of all things. In this study, man does not see the Creator directly. Rather, studying and contemplating on the creation of the Creator, he learns more about the Creator.
Science has opened up new doors of God-realization. Science is concerned with the study of nature, and nature is another name for the creation of God. So, science can be said to be the discipline that studies the creation of God, the Maker of all things.
Before the emergence of modern science, man’s knowledge of nature was limited. In other words, man knew relatively little about the creations of God. In such a situation, his understanding of the greatness of God was limited. Modern scientific revolution marked a watershed in this regard. It enabled man to study the creation of God in much greater detail. Scientists developed many instruments for this purpose. By uncovering many of the signs of God scattered about in the universe, they opened up new opportunities for a higher level of realization of the power and glory of God.
In this regard, it is pertinent to note that in Muslim literary history there have been many writers who penned numerous books on the glories of the Prophet of Islam. But there have been hardly any who wrote on the glories of God. For the glories of the Prophet, an impressive historical record was available. But the issue of the glories of God was a different one. It is not possible for us to see God physically and estimate His greatness directly. There is only one way to get some sort of idea of God’s greatness, and that is, to discern God’s greatness in and through God’s creation. That is to say, one can get an idea of the greatness of the non-observable Creator through His observable creations. Before the advent of modern science, man did not have a detailed knowledge of the creations of God. On account of the limited intellectual framework in this period, belief in God remained largely a mysterious sort of belief, not a belief that was deeply rooted in consciousness of God’s greatness and glory.
By studying the amazing creations of God, modern science has provided man new grounds for fortifying his faith in God and for deepening one’s appreciation of God’s greatness and glory
By studying the amazing creations of God, modern science has provided man new grounds for fortifying his faith in God and for deepening one’s appreciation of God’s greatness and glory. Thus, modern scientific revolution can be said to be a support to Islam. It is favourable to Islam, not a challenge to it. Through modern scientific research, new facts about nature were brought to light, which proved to be a great support for the claims of Islam. These discoveries opened the doors to higher levels of realization about God. Along with this, they made available a new and more effective possibility for inviting people to the Truth. That is, the work of dawah, inviting people to God, could now be done on the basis of the accepted scientific knowledge and intellectual principles of the madus themselves.
God is watching over His servants, those who say, "Our Lord, we believe in You; forgive us our sins, and save us from the torment of the Fire'- and who are patient, steadfast, self-controlled, truthful, devout, and charitable, and who pray for God's forgiveness at daybreak. THE QURAN 3: 15-17