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“The seven heavens and the earth and whatever is in them exalt Him.”
(Isra, 17:44)
A work lets you know its artist
Although you have not seen the architect Sinan in person, you know that he is a great architect. This is because Selimiye and Suleymaniye mosques, with their amazing domes, huge columns, great arts, perfect mastership and engineering, tell us about Sinan the architect. An orange tree that is about to bear its fruit, a daisy that adorns our garden and smiles at us, they both let us know Allah – their Master and Artist.
Let’s open our eyes and observe the environment to draw a lesson. Let’s pay attention to the trees, flowers, butterflies, animals and plants around us. All of them are made from four main elements: air, water, earth, fire. Although none of these four elements has life, beings which have life come into existence from them. Although none of these elements have knowledge and wisdom, you observe a great technology and engineering from them. Although these four elements do not have any artistic ability, there is a unique art and beauty in flowers, fruits and birds.
Now look how far the gap is between the ignorance of these elements and the knowledge and technology of these works, between the poverty of these elements and the wealth and value of these works, between the lifelessness of these elements and the life of these works; it is like the distance from the earth to the heavens. And you see that the Divine Names of Allah like Al-Jameel (the Owner of eternal beauty), Al-Hayy (the Owner of eternal life), Al-Sani’ (the Maker Who creates with art) manifest themselves in the gap between ignorance and knowledge, poverty and wealth and lifelessness and life. These Divine Names manifest on the flowers, fruits and animals which are created in every spring. They let us know about the Owner of these beautiful Names, Allah (subhanahu wa ta’ala).
The perfect and miraculous nature in the creation of the living beings reveal the weakness of the causes
When you examine the creation of any kinds of plants and animals, you see that they exist through very different matters that come together with precise measurements. These matters are taken with a precise measure in different amounts, processed with high technology and given shape with a wonderful art. In this way, living beings appear.
If the creation of these beings you see are not attributed to Allah, and if they are attributed to causes and their creation is tried to be explained in that way, the following would be necessary:
Causes and elements would have to work like a master and an engineer in order that the organs like eyes and wings – which are the wonders of technology and design – are formed in the body of a tiny being like a fly. It would be necessary that different substances come together in a total togetherness and harmony with a high technology and by protecting a delicate balance. This is so impossible that anyone knows such a thing cannot happen.
Yes, there are stages like choosing the elements, combining them, processing them with technology and art like making embroidery, and placing all of these into the neural system and body of the fly in the formation of the eyes and wings of the fly. In order that all these stages occur with the influence of causes, those material causes must have extraordinary intelligence, knowledge and experience. Moreover, those causes have to communicate with each other and be organized like an expert engineer; and this is impossible.
In addition, let’s state this: the apparent influence of the material causes like air, water, heat, pressure is of course on the outer part of the living beings where they contact physically. However, you see that on the inside of the living beings – where the causes cannot reach and contact physically – it is more artistic and perfect than on the outer side. For instance, writing the program of the apple tree and placing its factory into the seed of the apple cannot be explained with the influence of any causes. This is because the hand of the outer causes does reach to the seed at the heart of that apple.
Now that the causes cannot do that, is it happening by itself?
Imagine an egg. This egg – which you could eat 21 days ago – becomes a chick miraculously. Let’s now examine the miracle that an egg becomes a chick in three weeks – which happened right in front of us. You see that the atoms form the chick with planned and conscious movements. If this action of movements is attributed to the atoms themselves, these atoms have to form the skeleton of the chick like a civil engineer. They have to build the neural system like a electrical engineer. They have to form the locomotor and muscular system like a mechanical engineer, the system of wings like an aircraft engineer and the enzyme and digestive system like a chemical engineer. Moreover, they have to make all of these systems compatible with one another. And if this is not attributed to Allah – Who conducts all of the atoms and makes them obey His command – you have to accept every atom as a civil engineer, an electronics engineer, a mechanical engineer, an aircraft engineer and etc. And this is impossible. It would be just like you accept every brick of Sulaimaniya Mosque as an architect like the architect Sinan!
Unique and orderly transformations like an egg being a chick, a seed being a tree, the turn of day and night and of the seasons, the creation of a human being from a worthless drop of water clearly show the Divine power. Every one of these miraculous results has such peculiar laws, such original systems and technology and such orderly movements that they show manifestations of an intention, a command, free will and wisdom. There is such a unique and original technology and art in a bee making honey, a spider spinning a web, the flying of a fly, the eyes of a hawk and so on that it is impossible to explain this with evolution or any other nonsense.
If you imagine the universe like a book, the created beings are the words of that book and the Divine Names manifested on these words are the meanings and essences of them.
If you look closely, you see that the bodies and organs of living beings are similar to the domed structures with regards to existence. The characteristic of the domed structures is that they can come to exist when all the bricks are in the right place at the right time. For this reason, it is impossible that a domed structure comes to exist by some bricks overlapping each other. This is called Irreducible Complexity in science.
According to Prof Michael J. Behe irreducible complexity is a single system composed of several well-matched, interacting parts that contribute to the basic function. An irreducible complex system cannot be produced directly (that is, by continuously improving the initial function, which continues to work by the same mechanism) by slight, successive modifications of a precursor system. Its evolution is impossible. This irreducible complex system has to exist at one time and functioning as a whole. The human eye is an example for this.
The human eye functions thanks to the harmonious working of about forty tissues. The eyelids which protect it from outer effects, special glands that moisturize it, the lens that ensures taking refracted light into it, the small muscles that focus this lens, the iris that adjusts the quantity of light that comes into the eye, the antibacterial eye fluid or retina layer are some of those forty parts. The crucial thing is that every part of the eye is at the right place, the right size and the right function.
If just one of these parts does not exist or does not function, the human becomes blind. This feature of the eye is called irreducible complexity. That is, you cannot reduce the eye to a simpler form. Just one deficiency results in blindness. This is a clear example called intelligent design in science which shows the existence of a creator and the impossibility of evolution and coincidence and causes.
The universe declares that it is managed from one centre
When you look at this world, you will realize that all the beings in the universe assist one another and help each other do their duties like the gears of a perfect machine. While acting with solidarity, helping each other, meeting the needs of one another and relying upon each other, they behave so harmoniously that they cannot separate just as the organs of human cannot separate.
For instance, the one who lets us eat an apple as sustenance is the one who created the apple tree. Whoever created the apple tree is the one who makes the coming of spring; because that apple is produced at the factory of spring, so to speak. Whoever brings spring is of course the one who structured the Solar System. This is because the coming of spring happens through the orderly movements of the Solar System. This cooperation, solidarity, coming to each other’s aid clearly shows us that this universe is administered from one centre.
Yes, there is a scientific law proven by experience: If there is a unity, harmony and organization in a being, it is of course made by one hand. Especially if this being has a life that is equipped with a perfect technology, a delicate measure, a complicated, unique system and senses, it is clearly seen that it is not made by different hands but by one hand that has power and wisdom.
Laws do not have physical power
One of our lecturers at the university gave us the following example to explain the aim of science:
In the past, when telescopes were not so developed, there were seven planets known in the Solar System. Having examined the orbits, size and speed of the sun and seven planets, a scientist said that the system could not stay in balance in this way and there must be an eighth planet of this size and that far from the sun. Scientific researches and more developed telescopes later indeed confirmed the argument of this scientist.
The balance of the Solar System is explained with two physical law.
First: the law of gravity between the masses. Two masses attract one another. Accordingly, the Earth and the Sun attract each other. The Earth must sink into the Sun according to this law. However another law prevents this.
Second: centrifugal force. Just as you swing to the opposite direction when you turn a bend on a road, the Earth swings to the opposite direction of the Sun into outer space.
Since these two forces balance each other the Earth stays in its orbit. However, the impact of these two forces is not only between the Earth and the Sun. All the planets in the system affect each other in this manner. The balance of the system depends on the planets being on the right orbit, having proper size and mass and necessary speed. Otherwise the system cannot stay in balance and the end of the world will come.
The question is “now that the balance of the Solar System is explained with these two physical law, is it also these two laws which built the system?” Is it these two laws that made those planets, placed them into their orbits and organized them? Or is there a creator who made these two laws with free will, then regulated the size, speed and orbits of the Earth, the Sun, the Moon and other planets?
Of course there is a creator who makes all the laws, who is the ruler of the entire universe, and that is Allah (subhanahu ta’ala).
Why Allah laid down the causes as conditions?
You know that the factory of a work is more artful and perfect than the work itself. As explained above, you certainly realized that a chick or a tree cannot exist through causes, by itself or with the influence of natural laws. A seed, which is the factory of the tree and more artful and perfect than the tree, cannot be explained with causes or existence by itself or natural laws.
The reason for the existence of the causes is to declare the oneness of Allah Almighty and that the entire universe is in His possession. As it was said earlier, whoever gave us an apple is the one who made the tree which is the factory of the apple. Whoever created the tree is the one who brings spring for the tree to bear fruit. The one who created spring has of course organized the Solar System. This sequence of causes shows us that someone who cannot create the universe cannot create an apple.
Yes, if you had a table sent from the heavens like the table of Prophet ‘Isa (Jesus) (alaihissalam), you would immediately recognize Allah as our Lord. However, this sequence of causes shows the people of discernment that the one who lets us eat an apple is the Lord of me and the worlds. When you look from this aspect, the miracle of the creation of an apple is not less miraculous than the table sent to Prophet ‘Isa (alaihissalam).