Although Christians say that “Allâhu ta’âlâ
knows things,” on various occasions they impute ignorance to Him. For instance,
the Holy Bible, which they claim to have remained intact and which is being
read in churches today, reads as follows in the first chapter of Genesis, in
the Old Testament: “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.”
“And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of
the deep. ...” “And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.” “And
God saw the light, that it was good: ...” (Gen: 1-1 to 4) “God created heaven
and earth. He saw that they were good and beautiful. ... Then He created that,
and saw it was beautiful, good, and then that, and then that... .” (paraphrased
from Gen: 1-6 to 31)
[O Christians!] Be reasonable, Supposing a
civil engineer wanted to build a house; would he begin the construction before
making a project and seeing whether it would be lovely enough? Of course, he
would not. [Today also, before the construction of a building begins, an
architect designs a plan so that the building will be comely and
well-proportioned. In this plan he lays down the measurements of all the
contents of the building. And the building is constructed according to this
plan. Could a well-shaped building be made by piling up cement, stones, sand
and bricks in a haphazard way? Has anyone attempted to make a house without a
plan?] Is the knowledge that Allâhu ta’âlâ has even shorter [may Allâhu ta’âlâ
protect us from saying so] than that of an engineer, a powerless born slave of
His?
It is stated as follows about Allâhu ta’âlâ in
the fifth and later verses of the sixth chapter of Genesis, in the Old
Testament: “And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, ...”
“And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him
at his heart.” “And the LORD said, I will destroy man whom I have created from
the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the
fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them.” (Gen: 6-5, 6, 7)
Moreover, it is written in the seventh and eighth chapters of
Genesis that Allâhu ta’âlâ commanded Nűh
‘alaihis-salâm’ to make a ship and live on this ship with his followers, that
He annihilated all human beings and all the living except those who boarded the
ship, that a flood inundated everywhere, it rained for forty days and forty
nights and then the flood subsided, and that Allâhu ta’âlâ remembered Nűh
‘alaihis-salâm’ hundred and fifty days later. (Gen: 7-1 to 24; and 8-1)
It stands to reason that if an imbecile did
something of vital importance he would not forget it for forty years. How could
it ever be possible for Allâhu ta’âlâ, Creator of all ’âlems, to have forgotten
Nűh ‘alaihis-salâm’ and those who were with him? Ignorance that Christians
impute to Allâhu ta’âlâ is beyond limits of measurement.
According to Muslims’ belief and the teachings
of the ’Ulamâ of Kelâm, all things that have happened and will happen are every
moment within the knowledge of Allâhu ta’âlâ. Allâhu ta’âlâ knows everything,
no matter whether it is existent or nonexistent, possible to exist or
impossible. There is not a tiniest mote outside the knowledge of Allâhu ta’âlâ.
Muslims have proved this fact with very many mental proofs.
Deeds of Allâhu ta’âlâ are Muhkam (Thorough,
above reproach). They are far from defects or imperfection. There are numerous
uses and hikmats in everything He creates. The Person whose Deeds are
unchangeable and perfect is certainly the Creator of the universe. When a
person sees the orderly systems in heavens and on earth, creation of heavens
from nothing, qualities and peculiarities in substances, so many kinds of
fruits, vegetables, plants, metals, and innumerable genera of animals, he will
realize that the Deeds of Allâhu ta’âlâ are unchangeable and perfect. Upon
meditating over the fact that all these things have been created with certain
calculations and rules, the human mind will be stupefied. Allâhu ta’âlâ has
created many a thing which the human mind falls short of comprehending in this
universe.
[From his early childhood, man begins to make
enquiries about where the things he sees around him have come from. As the
child grows, he gradually realizes what a tremendous work of art this earth is
on which he is living, and the more he realizes the greater his bewilderment.
By the time he enters upon higher education and begins to learn about the
subtleties in all these things and creatures around him, his bewilderment turns
into admiration. What a stupendous miracle it is that only owing to the
gravitation of the earth men are living on a fire-cored, round
-361-
(somewhat low on both poles) globe travelling by itself with a
great speed in an orbit in space. What a great power it is that makes all these
mountains, rocks, seas, living creatures, plants around us, improves them and
gives them innumerable peculiarities. While some animals walk on the earth,
some of them fly in the sky, and others live in water. The sun, sending its lights
unto us, provides the highest heat we could conceive of, which causes
development of plants and effects chemical changes in some of them, which
results in the formation of such substances as flour, sugar, and many others.
On the other hand, our earthly globe is, as we know, only a tiny particle in
the universe. The solar system, which consists of planets evolving round the
sun and of which our globe is a member, is only one of the very many universal
systems whose number is beyond our knowledge. Let us give a small example to
explain the power and energy in the universe: The latest gigantic source of
energy is the atomic bomb, which men have obtained by splitting (heavy) atomic
nuclei. Yet when the energy released by great earthquakes is compared with the
energy of an atomic bomb, which men consider to be “the greatest source of
energy,” it will be seen that the former type of energy is equal to tens of
thousands of atomic energy.
Man is mostly unaware of what a tremendous
factory, an immaculate laboratory his body is. In fact, respiration alone is a
terrific chemical event. The oxygen inhaled from the air is burned in the body
and then exhaled in the form of carbon dioxide.
The alimentary (digestive) system, on the
other hand, is a colossal factory. Nutritives received through the mouth are
decomposed and assimilated in the stomach and bowels, the salutary essence
extracted is transfused into the blood by way of the intestines, and waste
matter is discharged. This fantastic event is automatically accomplished with
super precision, and thus the body functions like a factory.]
Neither paper nor pens would suffice to write
the details of these events. This fact is more obvious than the sun to
scientists such as astronomers, anatomists, zoologists and botanists. [And the
Creator of all these phenomena is ALLÂHU TA’ÂLÂ, who is the owner of very great
power, who never changes and who is eternal.]
Especially the Awliyâ-i-kirâm, that is, people
who have attained to high grades in the world of souls, see very clearly how
perfectly systematic the Deeds of Allâhu ta’âlâ are. And perfect, systematic
deeds, in their turn, signify that their owner is highly
-362-
knowledgeable. For instance, when a person sees a beautiful
handwriting, he will infer that the person who wrote it is learned and skilled
in calligraphy. As a matter of fact, the hundred and sixty-fourth âyat of
Baqara sűra purports, “Certainly, creation of heavens, [garnished
with stars], and earth, [embroidered with mountains, seas,
plants]; nights and
days following one another; ships travelling on the sea and carrying to people
what they need; rains which Allâhu ta’âlâ pours from heaven and thus
resuscitates the plants after the earth has dried up; all sorts of animals
which He spreads over the earth; winds which He makes blow from all directions;
clouds which float between heaven and earth with the command of Allâhu ta’âlâ;
all (these things) bear evidences and lessons concerning the power and
greatness of Allâhu ta’âlâ for those who have reason, wisdom and discernment.” The fifty-third âyat of Fussilat sűra purports, “We shall show them [Meccans] our âyats [the sun, moon, stars, trees, winds,
rains, formation of a baby’s limbs in its mother’s womb, which signify our
greatness] both in the âfâq [in heavens and on
earth] and in their
very nafs [the exquisite qualities and dissimilitudes
in their creations]. At last it shall be evident to them that what He [Qur’ân al-kerîm and
Rasűlullah] said, is true.”
The expression ‘âyats in the âfâq’ in this
âyat-i-kerîma is used to mean the worldly signs which denote the power of
Allâhu ta’âlâ, such as heavens, stars, night and day, rays of the sun,
darkness, shades, water, fire, earth, air. And what is meant by the ‘âyats
[signs] in the enfus’ is those which are inside man, such as formation of
child’s limbs in mother’s womb, [accomplishment of tremendous phenomena in an
automatical and exceedingly fantastic manner, such as taking the oxygen from
the air, burning it in the body, and expelling it in the form of carbon dioxide,
taking substances of nutrition and drinks through the mouth, decomposing and
digesting them, extracting their essence useful to body in the intestines and
transferring it into blood, discharging their useless parts, functioning of the
heart, the kidneys’ filtering harmful matter from blood, ... etc.]. The hikmat
of expressing the âfâqî (objective) and enfusî (subjective) proofs in these
âyat-i-kerîmas is to make them know, [have îmân in, and worship] Allâhu ta’âlâ,
who is far from being opposite from or identical with His born slaves, who
knows everything, who is the owner of hikmat, and who is Almighty. In short,
these immaculate and orderly Deeds signify that Allâhu ta’âlâ, their Owner and
the Creator of all these phenomena, has perfect knowledge and
-363-
power. The ’Ulamâ of Kelâm have proved this by various evidences.
For instance:
1 — Allâhu ta’âlâ is abstract. That is, He is
not substantial [or material. He is not an element. He is not an alloy or a
compound. He is not numerable. He cannot be measured. He cannot be calculated.
No change occurs in Him. He is not dependent upon space. He is not at or in a
place. He is not dependent upon time. He does not have an antecedent, a
consequence, front, back, top, bottom, right, left. Therefore, the human thought,
the human knowledge, the human mind cannot comprehend anything concerning Him].
And He, who is abstract, knows everything.
2 — Allâhu ta’âlâ, whose Person is sublime,
knows His own Person. A creator who has this capacity knows others as well.
Man’s knowing means his mentally visualizing the essences of really existent
objects in a manner free of their material beings. There is nothing unknown to
Allâhu ta’âlâ. He knows the true essence of His Person. It is a known fact that
he who knows himself will know others, too.
Allâhu ta’âlâ has created everything except
Himself with or without a means. Knowing the creatures necessitates knowing the
existence of a creator.
-364-