The CharacteristicsOf
God
It is now established that God is the cause of existence of the universe, hence it cannot be said that He is limited in a space or time. His characteristics can be envisaged through His work. It is seen that there is a good order and purpose in the world, hence He is wise. There are great forces in theuniverse,
therefore He is powerful, etc.
Evil is a word which has a relative meaning. God'sacts,
and His work are perfect in every respect. They contain all the factors of mercy and benevolence.
Evil is a deficiency which cannot be attributed to God. If someone gives ten pounds, then takes one pound back he is still generous and good.
God is one. If it is assumed that there are many then they should have either the same will or different wills. If they have the same will, then there is no meaning in saying they are many. If it is assumed that they have differ-ent
wills, then they are either equal or differ-ent
.
When they are equal, then the limit of theirbehaviour
is the same, and consequently they have the same will. When they havediffer
-ent
powers, then the strongest will overcome the weakest.
God is just. Injustice is a weakness which cannot be attributed to the Creator, who is perfect in every respect.
1. Islamism and Prophecy
The word "Islam" has two concepts. The first concept could berealised
linguistically. The Arabic word "isldm
" means "submitting willingly." It refers to the submission to God in general, and in this sense it includes all the religions and looking at it from a still broader view it includes all non-willing objects.
The second concept is a formal definition which refers to Islam as a community and any person who declares "There is no God but Allah and Muhammad is the messenger of Allah," is a Muslim.
Islam fits man's nature and is in harmony with his needs and hopes. Human experience shows that it is harmful to behave against one's nature. For example, not getting married and wronging others.
Religion calls this state "sin." It is an empirical experience that being in harmony with natural laws (God's laws) is a good thing, for instance being truthful, trust- worthy, kind righteous, etc. Religion calls this state "good."
Prophecy is necessary for thefollowingreasons
:
i
) Man is distinguished from animals by his mental capacity and freedom of choice. The mental capacity is high but limited. Hisques
tions
range from the origin of the universe to the life after death. He searches for the best means of securing his present and future life.
Furthermore, he puts his knowledge under test and examines its origin and value. He even questions his own perception. Then it can be seen that there is a big scope for debate and difference on any subject! Philosophers who have a deep insight into matters differ about basic concepts! !
All kinds of contradictoryi
deas
are
found co-existing in the world of phi- losophy
. There is a universe, says realism. Ideal- ism claims that there is no real universe atall,
it is all a matter of imagination to Berkley and David Hume! Marx claims that our perception is a mere reflection of our environment.
Immanuel Kant and Descartes said there is some basic instinctive knowledge. Hence thisconfu
-sion
must be ended in some way.
Therefore, sending prophets is inevitable to rescue humanity from being lost in doubts. It is necessary to show them the way of life in conforming to God's laws; these laws are pre-sented
by the Godly religions throughout his-tory
.
ii) The high standard ofbehaviour
and moral conduct which the prophets used to display before experiencing revelation. As an example of a typical prophet the case ofProph
-et
Muhammad (p.b.u.h.a.h.p
) is outstanding. The following points are infavour
of theProphethood
of Muhammad (p.b.u.h.a.h.p
.).
a. He was known as truthful and trust- worthy before he claimedProphethood
. His moral character was unique and beyond any question or doubt.
b. He never doubted his message. 'Where were many attempts to divert him from his course by offering him bribes of money, women, followers, etc., but he was never shaken or moved by these offers. He lived for twenty- three years after hisProphethood
,,
conforming to his ideals in every respect.
c. He was an illiterate person. The Qur'an is the miracle that God has given him to con-vince
people of his message andProphethood
. The fine literature, the magnificent social, eco-nomic
, political and spiritual systems presented in the Qur'an are well perfected and defined.
There are more than 750 verses in the Qur'an which state facts most of which could never have been known to people at the Prophet's time.
d. He knew the year of his death. He also prophesied many things which were fulfilled.
e. He waited for two years after he had received the first few chapters of the Qur'an.
During this period he did not receive any revelation. This historical fact strongly supports that the Qur'an is God's revelation.
2. LifeAfter
Death
The following points support the existence of a life after death.
a. The investigation of modern psychology in the field of clairvoyance, precognition (proph
-ecy
),psychokinesis
(effect of mind on matter
) and extrasensory perception have shown that man does not consist of this material body only, but there is something behind and beyond it: psychologists call it the "mind" (which is different from the physical brain). Religion calls it the "soul." It is only a matter ofter
-minology
.
b. Para-psychology works together with spiritualism in modern psychical investigations. The following are some scientists who did some research in this field.
Sir Oliver Lodge (Winner of Rumford medal of the R.S., President of the Physical Society of London, and of the British Association for Advancement of Science).
He stated that: "Speaking for myself with full and cautious responsibility I have to state that as an outcome of myinvestiga
-tion
into psychical matters, 1 have at length and quite gradually become convinced, after more than thirty years of study, not only that persist-ent
existence is a fact, but that occasional communication across the chasm - with dif-ficulty
and under definite conditions - is possible.
The evidence has thoroughly convinced me (i
) of human survival, (ii) of the possibility underfavourable
circumstances, ofcommunica
-tion
between the dead and living, (iii) that death is only an episode in continuous existence. I also think it fairly established that some kind of help, guidance or inspiration reaches us at times across what is sometimes called `the gulf or through what is often called `the veil.' "
Professor Hart (in his book "The Enigma of Survival") who was quoting Lodge said: "The hypothesis of continued existence in another set of condition,
and of a possiblecommunica
-tion
across the boundary is not a gratuitous one made for the sake of comfort andconsola
-tion
or because of a dislike to the idea ofextinc
-tion
; it is a hypothesis which has been gradually forced upon the author - as upon many other persons - by the stringent coercion of definite experience; the foundation of atomic theory is to him no stronger. The evidence iscumula
-tive
and has broken the back of all legitimate and reasonablescepticism
."
Sir William Crookes (Inventor of the Crookes tube in electric-ity
, President of the R.S., of Chemical Society, of The Institute of Electrical Engineering and of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, discoverer of Thallium, etc.).
He began in 1869 a scientific investigation of psychical phenomena which led him to the conclusion "that invisible and intelligent beings
exist who say that they are the spirits of dead persons." He made the following statement in his presidential address before the BritishAsso
-ciation
in 1898: "Thirty years have passed since I published an account of experiments tending to show that outside our scientific knowledge there exists a force exercised by intelligencedeffering
from the ordinary intelligence common to mortals. I have nothing toretract,
I adhere to my already published statement. Indeed I might add much thereto."
Sir William Barrett (F.R.S. Professor of experimental physics in the Royal School of Science in Ireland). He is another scientist who spent decades inphysi
cal research.
He commented on someexperi
-ments
where an automatic writer produced messages purporting to come from people who had died. He says: "Certainly, for our own part, we believe there is some active intelligence at work behind, and apart from the automatist, an intelligence which is more like the deceased person, it professes to be, than that of any other we can imagine. It is an attempt atintelli
- gent co-operation between certain disembodied minds and our own."
There are many other scientists who believe in the above-mentioned results. For example Professor Rhine, a biologist and plantpsycholo
gist, and SirAlister
Hardy, present professor of zoology in the University of Oxford.
In his book "The Living Stream," (1962) he supports very strongly these results and states that there is a new movement in modern biology which is aiming at what he calls "natural theology."Even an opponent to religion like.
Russel
declar
-ed
in "Why I am not a Christian" that he does not doubt the scientific manner in which psychical researches were carried out.
Harnell
Hart, professor of Sociology in the University of Kentucky, said in his book, "The Enigma of Survival": "That somethingcorre
sponding
to `the astral world' emerges logically from combination of clear dreams andtelep
-athy
isrecognised
in the writing of at least two distinguished philosophers - C. J.Ducass
, of Brown University, Providence R.I., U.S.A., and H. H. Price, of Oxford University, England (1956) (P.238):
"The existence of some sort ofAstral
world appears to be a logical necessity.Vivid .
dreams
do, of course, occur, and telepathy is a scientifically established phenomenon. Hence, there is no reason to reject as inherentlyincredi
-ble
the numerous accounts of shared dreams.
Eminent philosophers both in America and England have pointed out the rationality of conceiving the life beyond death in terms of telepathy and shared experience." (P.245). Many people suffer and they are not com-pensated
for in this world.
Many others domis
- chief and commit crimes but they have not been punished while living on this earth. It has been already stated that God is just because He is perfect. Then, it may be asked, "is
it justice to let good people suffer withoutcompensa
-tion
?" The natural answer is that there is a life after death where people will receive reward or punishment for what they have done.
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Author: Abdul Husain Muhammad
