Magnificence Everywhere (1/15)
Introduction
For a moment, think about the things you do when you wake up in the morning. You open your eyes, breathe, straighten up, stand up and walk, eat and put on your clothes. You talk to your loved ones and hear what they say to you. Then, you go out or look outside through the window and see the deep blue sky. You might even hear the singing of birds flying outside the window. Watching a leaf falling down, you notice ripe apples on the tree. You feel the warmth of the sun and the wind on your face. There are people in the street, walking or trying to go somewhere in their cars. In short, another ordinary day has begun for you. What you see and hear are all ordinary things, so you don't feel it necessary to think consciously about them.
Now, try thinking another way. Assume that you have lived in one room since you were born. This room is completely bare without even a small window through which you could see outside. It is furnished with only a few pieces of plain furniture for your basic needs. Suppose that, in this room where you lead your life, you are provided with just a few kinds of food and drink necessary for you to survive. Let's assume that there is no communications equipment in the room, such as a telephone, radio or television, which would enable you to receive information from the outside. Therefore, you will be ignorant of all but a handful of things.
Then imagine that you are taken out of this room where you have lived all your life and you see the outside world for the first time. In such a situation, what would you think of the world?
The broadness of the vista reaching your eyes, the existence of light, the warmth of the sun striking your face, the deep blue color of the sky and the pure white clouds-all of this will certainly dazzle you.
Twinkling stars appearing in the sky at night; mountains reaching to the sky in all their magnificence; rivers, beautiful to all mankind; lakes and seas; the heavy rain which brings life to the Earth; green trees, colorful violets, daisies, carnations, lilacs and roses, with their pleasant aromas; oranges, watermelons, plums and peaches, each of them providing a distinctive taste; cats, dogs, rabbits and gazelles, which arouse our feelings of compassion; butterflies with their dazzling colors and aesthetic appeal; birds and undersea creatures…
When you see all these things, you become dazzled and wonder who has put such wondrous phenomena together. Seeing the color of the fruits and breathing in their scents, you wonder who has dyed them so alluringly and given them such pleasant perfumes. Tasting a melon or taking a bite out of an apple, you observe how exquisite and varied their flavors are and wonder how this sugary substance is placed within an object wrapped in such a firm skin. Seeing the fruits' seeds arranged in a definite order, you want to know who has fashioned their design.
Every new thing you see and every piece of information you learn arouses new excitement in you. You try to learn the reason and origin of everything. You learn that melons need their seeds in order to reproduce, birds have to have their feathers for flight, light is emitted from the sun, and oxygen and water are needed for the survival of all living things. You learn the importance of the existence of the seas and the oceans, the fact that all sorts of information about plants is encoded in their seeds, as well as many other fascinating details. Every piece of information you learn enables you to comprehend this magnificence even more.
In addition, when you become aware that what you've begun to learn constitutes only a tiny portion of the characteristics of the living things which exist on Earth, that in fact everything works interdependently, that there are creatures you cannot see and voices you cannot hear, and that magnificent systems in the universe exist, your astonishment will grow even further.
As you learn these detailed pieces of information one-by-one, your mind will pose the same questions repeatedly: How have all these magnificent living things come into existence? How have I myself come into being? Since everything has a purpose, then why am I here?
When you emerge from the room you've spent so many years in, since you will discover a varied and magnificent vista of creation upon the Earth, you will ponder and look for answers to your questions. Every answer to your questions will contain this statement: "Certainly, there is a Being making all these things." As you are not hobbled by an indolent mind and do not observe your surroundings from behind a curtain of habit, you will surely come to the conclusion that everything has been created by a Creator. Indeed, what man needs to do is exactly this: look at things not from habit, but through asking questions…
Just as there is a designer who made the steel bridges we cross every day, there is a designer who designed our bones whose strength has been compared to steel. No one can claim that raw iron and coal can be mixed with each other to form steel by chance, and again that steel can be combined with cement to build bridges in the same way. Everyone knows that the judgment of a man claiming such things is to be doubted.
However, in spite of this fact, there are people who dare to claim that all living things on Earth, the sky, the stars and in short, everything, has come into existence by chance. But it is evident to an intelligent person who stops and contemplates such things that these claims of random emergence are utterly irrational.
The Absurdity of Chance
The people who invent and support theories of chance are products of a materialist and evolutionist mentality. Claiming that the universe has no beginning or end and that it is not the creation of a creator, these people state that billions of galaxies, consisting of billions of stars, and all the celestial bodies, planets, stars and perfect systems which enable them to maintain their existence, that all these emerged as the result of uncontrolled chance happenings. In a similar manner, they claim that, in spite of the magnificent order in the universe, living creatures also came into being by chance.
In light of this information, it appears that they consider "chance" to be a creative power. However, considering a being other than Allah to be a creative power is nothing but idolatry. In other words, evolutionists have an idol which is called "chance." This will be evident to anyone who takes a look at Darwinist works.
Examples of livings beings that evolutionists believe the "idol of chance" created are countless. For example, evolutionists believe that the very first cell that was the origin of all living things was the work of this idol. According to this belief, one day as a result of thunderbolts, rain and various other natural phenomena, a bunch of atoms came together without any previous plan in order to form amino acids. Then these amino acids combined to form proteins, the basis for the cells of all living creatures. This process was implemented by means of the power of chance. Then, in this way, the proteins immediately formed the first living cell, again by chance. However, the job of "chance" wasn't over yet.
According to the evolutionist sophistries, the "idol of chance" was, by itself, also the impetus behind the emergence of millions of species on Earth. It first brought a fish into being and then, thinking a single type of fish would not be sufficient, it formed hundreds of thousands of fish species. Since hundreds of thousands of fish species were not enough, it brought other sea creatures alongside them into being and created an environment of breathtaking magnificence under the sea. Then, this very "idol of chance" thought that undersea life was not enough, so it prepared certain structural changes in the body of a fish which would enable it to live on land. By means of random, gradual changes, the fins of the fish happened to be transformed into feet, and the gills happened to become lungs so the fish could breathe in the air. Yet, still they had not reached the diversity of the species we see today, so "chance" allegedly continued to work its magic…
As we will come to see in many examples, living things can survive only if their organs are complete and fully developed. Dysfunction of some organs can cause a creature to die within a couple of minutes or a couple of days at the most. However, according to the evolutionists' assertions, this "idol of chance" has pondered, designed and formed all the details of living things in a very conscious, careful, flawless and perfect manner for millions of years.
As we can see from these examples, for evolutionists, "chance" is the sort of idol that can make whatever it wants, form anything it wishes immediately, and transform one animal into another. In addition to doing all this, it can arrange the colors, appearance and taste of all living and non-living things in the most aesthetic way possible.
The "idol of chance" seasonally allocates vitamins to fruits and makes them juicy and nourishing. It makes sure that their odors and tastes are similar everywhere. It also possesses the knowledge of how to put all the information a plant will ever need inside a tiny seed.
Buraya kadar yapılan karşılaştırmaların ve kitap boyunca verilen örneklerin tümü Allah'ın evrende kusursuzca yarattığı çeşitlilikten sadece birkaç örnektir. Bu örneklerin her biri kendi içinde çok detaylı bilgiler içermektedir. Örneğin, bu kitapta kelebeklerin birkaç genel özelliğinden bahsedilmektedir, ancak sadece kelebeğin gözü üzerine yazılmış ve her biri sayfalar dolusu olan kitaplar vardır. Bundan başka çok çeşitli sayıda kelebek türleri, bu türlerin her birinin kendilerine has özellikleri vardır. İnsan vücudunun bu kitapta çok genel olarak ele alınan birkaç özelliği vardır ancak sadece kemikler ile ilgili ciltler dolusu kitap ve araştırma bulunmaktadır. İnsan gözünün tek bir siniri, böceklerin kanatları, hatta bu kanadı oluşturan maddenin içeriği üzerine yazılmış sayfalar dolusu kitaplar vardır.
What we have mentioned so far constitutes a general rationale for the assertions of the materialist and evolutionist mentality. Certainly, it is an evident fact for any person with wisdom and conscience that all these examples cannot be realized by "chance," which is the only reason offered by evolutionists. Now think about this: can coincidences come together and form motorways or establish transportation companies and make sure that they operate smoothly? Undoubtedly, it is impossible for such things to occur by chance. Just as it is not possible for a transportation company to be established by chance, it is also not possible for a circulatory system in the body to come into being by chance either. In the same manner as a group of people manufactured all the steel parts of the Eiffel Tower one-by-one, cut them into specific sizes, designed the tower, assembled the parts in accordance with the blueprint and made them strong, there is a Power Who created the bones of human beings. These bones, all having the required sizes, were placed in the most appropriate locations, in compliance with the design of the human body, and a strong skeleton was created through the joining of these bones. This is a power that is above everything in nature, encompassing everything. It cannot be compared to anything. The owner of this power is Allah, Who is the Creator of the heavens and the Earth and everything in between.
All the comparisons made so far and the examples given throughout this book constitute only a small part of the diversity of Allah's perfect artistry in creation. For example, only a couple of the general traits of butterflies are mentioned, whereas entire pages of books covering just the eyes of butterflies have been written. In addition, there are many different species of butterfly, each one having a unique set of traits. In this book, only a few characteristics of the human body are dealt with in a general way, but voluminous books and research papers on the subject of bones alone are available. There are books filled with pages devoted to the cornea of the human eye, the wings of an insect, and even to the substance of these wings
All this provides concrete evidence for the existence of Allah. Allah encompasses all things in His knowledge and anybody who understands this will immediately see the magnificence present in creation. Every man will comprehend the greatness of Allah, according to the degree of his own wisdom and conscience. Also, the most important duty of a person who has begun to comprehend the might and endless artistry of Allah is to turn towards the real Creator of the beauties he sees and to lead such a life as to gain the approval of Allah only. In the Qur'an, Allah informs us of His might as follows:
That is Allah, your Lord. There is no god but Him, the Creator of everything. So worship Him. He is responsible for everything. (Surat al-An'am: 102)
Intelligent Design - in Other Words,
Creation In Order to Create, Allah Has No Need to Plan
It's important to properly understand the word "design." If Allah has created a flawless design that does not mean that He first conceived a plan and then followed it. Allah, the Lord of the Earth and the heavens, needs no "designs" in order to bring anything into existence. Allah is exalted above all such deficiencies. Both His planning and His creation take place at the same instant.
Whenever Allah wills a thing to come about, it is enough for Him just to say, "Be!" As verses of the Qur'an tell us: His command when He desires a thing is just to say to it, "Be!" and it is. (Surah Ya Sin: 82)
[Allah is] the Originator of the heavens and Earth. When He decides on something, He just says to it, "Be!" and it is. (Surat al-Baqara: 117)
From Non-Being to Being: The Big Bang
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| O, göklerin ve yerin yaratıcısıdır...
(Şura Suresi, 11) |
Did you know that everything you see around you, your own body, the house you live in, the armchair you're sitting in, your mother and father, the trees, birds, soil and fruit, in short, all living things and inanimate matter you can ever imagine, gained life through the coming together of atoms caused by the "Big Bang"? Were you aware of the fact that, after this explosion, perfect order in the universe came to exist? What, then, is the "Big Bang"?
Over the last century, a host of experiments, observations and calculations carried out using advanced technology have revealed beyond any doubt that the universe had a beginning. Scientists have determined that the universe is in a constant state of expansion. And they have concluded that, since the universe expands, if it could travel backwards in time, the universe must have begun this expansion from a single point. Indeed, the conclusion that science has reached today is that the universe originated from the explosion of this single point. This explosion is called the "Big Bang."
Creation of a perfect order after a "Big Bang" is not a phenomenon that can be seen as an ordinary event at all. Consider the fact that thousands of kinds of explosions often occur on Earth, but no order develops as a result of them. All of them rather lead to devastating, damaging, destructive results. For example, if atom or hydrogen bombs, volcanic eruptions, natural gas explosions, and the explosions occurring in the sun are looked at, we can see that their effects are always harmful. A constructive or positive result is never gained as the result of an explosion. However, according to the scientific data attained by means of modern technology, the millennia-distant "Big Bang" led to a transition from non-being to being, in fact to a very orderly and harmonious existence.
Now, let us think over an example as follows: Under the ground, a dynamite explosion occurs and, after this explosion, the most magnificent palace the world has ever seen, with ornate and beautiful windows, doors and furniture, suddenly appears. Does it seem reasonable to argue, "This came into existence by chance"? Could such a thing spring into being on its own? Certainly not!
The universe which came into being after the "Big Bang" is such a magnificent, meticulously planned and marvelous system that it certainly cannot be compared to a mere earthly palace. In this situation, it would be utterly senseless to claim that the universe came into being on its own. The universe instantaneously came into being from non-being. This shows us the existence of a Creator Who created matter from nothingness and Who keeps every moment of it under His control. He is the All-Wise and the All-Mighty. This Creator is Allah, the Most Strong.
The Concept of Greatness in Space
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| Şüphesiz Allah, gökleri ve yeri zeval bulurlar diye (her an kudreti altında) tutuyor. Andolsun, eğer zeval bulacak olurlarsa, kendisinden sonra artık kimse onları tutamaz. Doğrusu O, Halim'dir, bağışlayandır.
(Fatır Suresi, 41) |
In the universe, countless systems operate. Allah keeps all these systems under His control even while we are not aware of it, for example, while we are reading, walking or sleeping. Allah created the universe along with its countless details to make people comprehend His boundless might. In the Qur'an, Allah addresses people and explains the reason for the creation of order in the universe as, "So that you might know that Allah has power over all things and that Allah encompasses all things in His knowledge." (Surat at-Talaq: 12) This order contains so many details that man cannot possibly know where to begin to think about it.
For example, everybody knows that the universe is quite vast. However, when we begin to think of what kind of vastness this is in a real sense, we come across concepts that are a breed apart from what we can normally comprehend. The diameter of the sun is 103 times greater than that of the Earth. Let's explain this with a comparison. If we compare the Earth to a marble, then the sun is a sphere that is two times larger then a football. The interesting thing here is the distance between them. In order to set up a model that mirrors the actual scale, we need to put a distance spanning approximately 280 meters (920 feet) between the marble-sized Earth and the football-sized sun. And as for the stars existing beyond our own solar system, they need to be placed entire kilometers away.
With this comparison, you might imagine that the solar system is a quite large place. However, when we compare it to the Milky Way Galaxy where it is situated, it is dwarfed in comparison. For, in the Milky Way Galaxy, there are about 250 billion stars like our own sun, and most of them are much more massive.
Our sun is located on one of the arms of this spiral-shaped galaxy. The interesting thing, however, is that the Milky Way Galaxy is a very "small" place too, when we consider the overall context of outer space. For there are other galaxies in space too-according to some estimates, as many as 300 billion altogether…
Even these few examples we have supplied about the dimensions and vast distances between the universe's celestial bodies will suffice to show the incomparability of Allah's artistry in creation, the fact that He has no partner in creation, and that He is All-Powerful. Allah calls on people to think over these facts as follows:
Are you stronger in structure or is heaven? He built it. He raised its vault high and made it level. (Surat an-Nazi'at: 27-28)
The Solar System's Perfect Order
When you go outside, the sunlight strikes your face without bothering you, and you owe this to the perfect order existing within the solar system. The sun, which conveys a pleasant warmth and light for our benefit, is only, in fact, like a deep pit consisting of red gas clouds. It is made up of whirlpools of giant flames which gush from the boiling surface to millions of kilometers away, and of giant tornados rising to the surface from the bottom. These could be fatal to mankind. Yet, the atmosphere and the magnetic field of the Earth filter all the deadly harmful rays of the sun before they reach us. It is this perfect order in the solar system that makes the Earth a livable planet.
When we look at the structure of the solar system, we find a very delicate balance. What protects the planets of the solar system from splitting off from the system and being hurled into the freezing cold of outer space is the balance between the gravity of the sun and the centrifugal force of the planets. The sun attracts all the planets through the great force of gravity it exerts, while they continuously counter this attraction by means of their centrifugal force owing to their moving in their orbits. But if these planets rotated at a slightly slower speed, they would be attracted by the sun so strongly that they would plunge into the solar giant and be swallowed in a huge explosion. The opposite of this is also possible. If the planets rotated at a greater speed, this time the gravitational force of the sun wouldn't be enough to hold them and the planets would be hurled into the void of outer space. However, a very delicate balance has been established, and the system continues to exist because it maintains this balance.
In the meantime, it is important to note that the above-mentioned balance is established for each planet separately because each planet's distance from the sun is unique. In addition, their masses are different. For this reason, for each one of them, a different rotation speed has been established so that they can avoid both colliding with the sun and being hurled off into outer space.
This example constitutes only minor evidence for the magnificent balance in the solar system. Anyone who possesses reason can understand that the balance which puts giant planets and the entire solar system into order, and which moreover keeps this order for day after day and century after century, cannot have come into existence by chance. It is evident that this order has been delicately calculated. Allah, the All-Powerful, shows us, with the perfect details He has created in the universe, that everything is under His control. Astronomers such as Kepler and Galileo, scientists who worked to uncover the extraordinarily sensitive balance in the solar system, stated many times that this system indicated a very obvious design and constituted evidence for the sovereignty of Allah over the entire universe. Allah creates and holds everything with His boundless knowledge; He is All-Powerful.
