Harold stayed at a good hotel near the beach. He woke up very early on the first morning and decided to go out for a walk along the beach before breakfast. Out on the beach, he watched the beautiful sunrise out to sea. As he walked on, he noticed many starfish on the beach – they must have been carried there by the tide the previous night and had got stranded. He felt sorry for them because they could not survive long out of the water. Thinking that there was nothing he could do about the plight of the starfish, he went on with his walk.

Then, the professor saw a young man in the distance. He too was walking along the beach but, every now and then, the young man seemed to stop walking and go through a series of odd movements. Perhaps he is doing some sort of morning exercise, Harold thought. Curious, he walked towards the young man and noted that his movements consisted of bending down, straightening up and flinging his arm out toward the sea. Now, the professor was of the opinion that the young man was engaged in a ritual that entailed picking up something from the beach and throwing it into the sea. From his clothes the young man seemed to be from the rural areas, he definitely was not a city dweller.

Harold approached the young man and asked him what he was doing.

‘I am throwing starfish into the sea,’ was the simple reply. ‘As you know, they can’t survive for very long out of the sea.’

‘But there are hundreds of them all along the shore,’ said the professor. ‘And throwing them one by one doesn’t really achieve anything. Do you think it makes any difference?’

The young man bent down and picked up another starfish. He threw it into the sea, looked at the professor and said: ‘It made a difference to that starfish.’

Harold was touched and impressed. He felt rather ashamed that, for all his learning and academic achievement, he was not as conscious of responsibility to the environment – as this simple young man was.

So he too bent down, picked up a starfish and tossed it back into the sea. Every morning for the rest of his holiday, the professor joined the young man on the beach. And together they threw starfish into the sea, trying to make as much difference as they could.

Daylighting is becoming more popular in commercial buildings and manufacturing facilities in the United States. After Thomas Edison invented the electric light, most architects changed their building plans and designed for more and more artificial lighting. As a result, only a very small percentage of the light used in major buildings and facilities came directly from the sun. Recently, the Europeans have realized the importance of daylighting and begun to use a reasonable percentage of sunlight in their buildings. The Rocky Mountain Institute, Snow-mass, Colorado, has investigated the benefits of daylighting and reported that daylighting increased productivity and reduced absenteeism by 15 percent. Also, sunlight reduces the heating and cooling bill.

In 1993, Wal-Mart Stores Inc. opened a prototype store in Lawrence, Kansas, with nine special skylights designed by Andersen Corp., Bayport, Minnesota. The architectural firm of Leo A. Daly, Omaha, Nebraska, opened an office building in 1983 with l5ft high window walls and a glazed roof. About 50% of its electricity bill for lighting was saved as a result (Reno Gazette-Journal, November 27, 1995). Daylighting is an inexpensive way of lighting interiors since the sun is a ‘free’ light source which can be further exploited by installing skylights on the roof. On an overcast day, the light entering through a 2 sq. ft skylight area is equivalent to three 100-watt light bulbs.

There are two additional reasons for installing skylights. First, the cooling load of a building can be reduced by using daylight. The reason for this is that whereas about 80% of the power of an electric light is converted to heat, sunlight has a far lower heat content and therefore requires far less air-conditioning. Second, just at the time when there is the heaviest demand for electricity (and other utilities) from manufacturing facilities, namely during the summer, sunlight is at its most plentiful and available: in short, skylights can significantly reduce peak load stresses and costs.

An illumination level of 50 footcandles (540 Lux) at the work site is the design standard in industrial facilities. A large portion of this illumination level comes from electric lights of fluorescent and incandescent lamps. Almost 5% of electricity consumption in the US is used up to provide adequate illumination in commercial and industrial buildings.

In production facilities generally, there is a lack of awareness about the energy conservation potential of skylights. Some manufacturers are so unaware about the cost savings that can be achieved by daylighting that they do not have skylights in their production areas, and leave lamps on in work areas throughout daylight hours. In other places which do have them, skylights have been neglected to the extent that they are so dirty they block the incoming sunlight.

Since heating and cooling load are increased with increased skylight surface area, there is a limitation associated with this measure. Some authorities have suggested that the optimum skylight surface area should be reckoned at between 2 and 4% of roof surface area. However, since the measure depends upon local climate conditions, the range should be allowed to vary between 2 and 10%. In many potential sites, heating only (and not cooling) is the principal consideration. Generally, therefore, building designers with heating costs in mind tend to prefer 2% for cold climates and 10% for warm climates.

Heating load and costs will increase when skylights are installed. However, the increase in heating cost is considerably smaller than the saving from reduced lighting cost. The average unit cost of electricity is three times greater than that of natural gas (typically preferred for heating). In any case, heat loss from the skylights can be minimized by double glazing them. In view of the favourable financial balance and the productivity improvements to be expected from daylight working, the benefits from installing skylights generally offset any negative consequences of doing so.

The amount of savings in electric lighting consumption and costs depends on climate and operating periods. The payback period for installing skylights ranges from one to five years. They can be an expensive roof aperture, but it is relevant to note that the lifetime of a skylight is more than twenty years. The skylights need to be cleaned at least once annually, which means that service and maintenance costs are negligible. Skylights are most cost- effective in uninsulated ceilings in climates, like that of southern California, which have no heating season. In such climates, the workplace roof is typically covered with corrugated metal sheets making skylights both easy and cheap to install: corrugated fibreglass sheets can be cut and fitted in place of the metal sheets wherever the skylights are required.

References 

• MURDOCH, B. J. (1985) Illumination Engineering: From Edison’s Lamp to the Laser, Macmillan Publishing Company, New York.
• NUTFER, D. W., BRITTON A. J. and HEFFINGTON W. M. (1993) ‘Conserve Energy to Cut Operating Costs’, Chemical Engineering, September, pp.126-37.
• PIERSON, J. (1995) ‘Natural light gets warm welcome’, Reno Gazette-Journal, November 27, pp.2ff. 

Danilevsky’s view that the transference of civilizations from one country to another is impossible has received a general welcome from sociologists. Bediuzzaman Said Nursi expressed another excellent view that since Islam is the last religion which encompasses all the truths contained by the previous Divinely revealed religions, one who gives up Islam is like the butter spoilt, while one who gives up either of the other religions is like the milk spoilt, as those religions were already corrupted. As is known, the butter spoilt cannot be eaten, where as the milk spoilt can be. The youth of Muslim countries are victims of both the useless efforts to import Western civilization into their countries and the rejection of Islam on a large scale, while the youth of the West suffer from the corruption and denunciation of Christianity and from suffocating materialism.

Some of our intellectuals have preferred to weep in the face of the pitiful condition of the young. Pained to witness the collapse of a once glorious state, some sighed; 

I have become like the owl which laments over ruins,

When I have seen this once paradise-like land in it’s autumn.

If I lived in the time of roses I’d become the nightingale to celebrate it;

O Lord! I wish you had sent me to the world earlier!

However, lamenting without doing anything practical will be of no use. In order to solve the problems of the young, what must be done first is to diagnose those problems well. What is the origin of those problems? Are the young responsible for them? Why are those problems so grave today, graver than in any other period of history? Did the young come to the world as they are, or were they not, rather, brought up and educated in our homes and schools? Are the problems which we see as originating from the young really their problems or are we ourselves responsible for them?

Man comes to the world like a raw metal to be wrought, without knowing anything about life. When an animal comes to the world, it comes equipped with all it will need during its life. Some of them learn and are adapted to the conditions of life in a few minutes or hours. A sparrow or a bee acquires in so short a time as twenty days all the faculties it needs to be fully active and mature; a human by contrast needs about twenty years. This means that the main life tasks of an animal and a human are quite different. Man’s basic duty in life is to find the true way in thinking and believing and, by using his outer and inner faculties like the five external senses and the intellect, the heart and feelings, to attain physical, intellectual, spiritual and moral perfection. Unless this can be done, it is inevitable that we must face many problems in life. We should not forget that all problems originate in man and end in him.

In order to diagnose the problems of the young, we must discover the character of man and know it very well. As long as man remains unknown, the problems concerning him will remain unsolved. To know man requires being able to answer the vital questions every individual asks himself: ‘Who am I? Where do I come from? Who has sent me to this world and why? What is the purpose for my life? What does death ask of me? What is my final destination in life? Unless man can find convincing answers to such questions, answers which will make him at peace man can neither find true happiness nor will it be possible to solve his problems.

The first school where man receives the necessary education in order to be perfected and find the answers to the questions above is the home. Both for the raising of a healthy generation and the continuation of a healthy social system or structure, the home is of vital importance. However important a good school is for the education of man, the responsibility of home cannot be restricted to the period before school, rather, it continues throughout a whole life. A man receives the first impressions in his family. Those impressions cannot be easily deleted in later phases of life, rather, they are of a kind to show their effect throughout life. Further, the control of the family over the child exerted in the garden, among other children and toys, is to be continued at school among friends, among books and in the places he visits. The function of the parents in bringing up their children is like the duty of a shepherd to his flock: as a shepherd may be regarded as having done his duty so long as he finds good pastures for his flock, prevents them from grazing in fields belonging to others and protects them against dangers, so also the parents must keep their children within lawful courses, shape them in good manners and virtues prepare them for the future phases of their lives and educate them to be useful members of the society: and enable them to seek eternal happiness in the eternal world.

For a man to receive a good education at home, a healthy family life should be established and preserved. For this reason, marriage should not be seen as something to enter into for mere pleasure. One should marry to form a healthy family life and thereby contribute to the permanence of one’s nation in particular and the human population in general, and to restrain one’s carnal desires. Since the first condition of peace, happiness and security at home is mutual accord between the spouses, the accord in thinking, morals and belief, the couples who have decided to marry should know each other very well and consider, rather than wealth and physical charm, the purity of feelings, chastity, morality, and being virtuous. The condition of the children who grow up in a house where the parents repel each other like the particles charged with the same sort of electricity, is truly heart-rending. Discord between the parents causes the children to grow up unable to get on well with others.

There are many families founded on sound logic and reasoning in reliance upon God. They function like a good school during a whole life and secure the future of their nation by means of the ‘students’ they educate. For this reason, the nations which have succeeded in making homes into schools and schools into homes have guaranteed the peace and happiness of future generations. A building deserves to be called a ‘home’ only if its inhabitants have the necessary human values. 

Man comes to the world like a raw metal to be wrought, without knowing anything about life. When an animal comes to the world, it comes equipped with all it will need during its life. Some of them learn and are adapted to the conditions of life in a few minutes or hours. A sparrow or a bee acquires in so short a time as twenty days all the faculties it needs to be fully active and mature; a human by contrast needs about twenty years. This means that the main life tasks of an animal and a human are quite different. Man’s basic duty in life is to find the true way in thinking and believing and, by using his outer and inner faculties like the five external senses and the intellect, the heart and feelings, to attain physical, intellectual, spiritual and moral perfection.In the family, the elders should behave toward those younger than them with compassion and the younger ones should show respect for their elders. Especially the parents should love and respect each other and treat their children with compassion and due consideration of their feelings. Without compassion, which envelops the universe warmly and resonates in man as a melody of creation, it is impossible to raise the children to true humanity. The parents should also treat their children justly and should not discriminate between them. They should not bring up their children jealous of one another. They should never shake their children’s trust and confidence in them.

The parents should not neglect to give their children good, meaningful names, say greetings to them when they come in and go out of the house, assign to their children certain things like particular rooms, beds and so on, follow their games and work with sincerity, frequently ask about their health and problems, share their joys and sorrows, and sometimes embrace and kiss them. Although they should make their children feel that they are aware of the wrong they do and sometimes punish them lightly, the children should also feel that the breeze of forgiveness and tolerance blows in their home.

School

After home, the school is so vital a part of the making of human beings that it may be considered as a laboratory in which an elixir is offered which can prevent or heal the ills of life, and teachers are the masters by whose skills and wisdom the elixir is prepared and administered.

The school is a place of learning where everything related to this life and the next can be learnt. It can shed light on vital ideas and events and enable its students to understand their natural and human environment. It can also quickly open the way to unveiling the meaning of things and events, which leads man to wholeness of thought and contemplation. In essence the school is a kind of place of worship whose ‘holy men’ are teachers.

Good schools worthy of the name are pavilions of angels, which develop feelings of virtue in their pupils and lead them to achieve nobility of mind and spirit. As to the others, however soundly built they may appear they are in fact ruins – they instil false ideas into their pupils turning out monsters. Such schools are nests of snakes, and we should be consumed with shame that they are called places of learning.

As it is in the school that life, flowing outside in so many different directions, acquires a stable character and identity so too it is in the school that a child is cast in his or her true mould and attains to the mysteries of personality. Just as a wide, full river gains force as it flows in a narrow channel, so too, the flowing of life in undirected ways is channelled into unity by means of the school. In like manner, a fruit is a manifestation of unity growing out of the fruit-tree’s diversity.

School is thought to be relevant only in a particular phase of life. However, it is much more than that. It is essentially the ‘theatre’ in which all the scattered things of the universe are displayed together. It provides its pupils with the possibilities of continuous reading and speaks even when it is silent. Because of that, although it seems to occupy one phase of life, actually the school dominates all times and events. Every pupil re-enacts during the rest of life what he or she has learnt at school and derives continuous influence therefrom. What is learned or acquired at school may either be imagination and aspirations, or specific skills and realities. But what is of importance here is that everything acquired must, in some mysterious way be the key to closed doors, and a guidance to the ways to virtue.

Information rightly acquired at school and fully internalized by the self, is a means by which the individual rises beyond the clouds of this gross world of matter and reaches to the borders of eternity. Information not fully internalized by the self is no more than a burden loaded upon the pupil’s back. It is a burden of responsibility on its owner, and a devil which confuses the mind. That kind of information which has been memorized but not fully digested does not provide light to the mind and elevation to the spirit, but remains simply a nuisance to the self.

The best sort of knowledge to be acquired in the school must be such that it enables pupils to connect happenings in the outer world to their inner experience. The teacher must be a guide who can give insight into what is experienced. No doubt the best guide (and one that continually repeats its lessons) is life itself. Nevertheless, those who do not know how to take a lesson directly from life need some intermediaries. These intermediaries are the teachers- it is they who provide the link between life and the self, and interpret the manifestations of life’s happenings.

The mass media can communicate information to human beings, but they can never teach real life. Teachers are irreplaceable in this respect. It is the teachers alone who find a way to the heart of the pupil and leave indelible imprints upon his or her mind. Teachers who reflect deeply upon, and impart the truths will be able to provide good examples for their pupils and teach them the aims of the sciences. They will test the information they are going to pass on to their pupils through the refinement of their own minds, not by such Western methods as are today thought to provide facile answers to everything.

The students of the Prophet Jesus, upon him be peace, learnt from him how to risk their lives for the sake of their cause and were able to endure being thrown into the mouths of lions: they knew that their master had persisted with his teachings even in the face of death threats. Those who put their hopes on, and gave their hearts to, the Prophet Muhammad, the greatest exemplar of humanity, upon him be peace and blessings, realized that suffering for the sake of truth resulted in peace and salvation. His students observed their master wish peace and felicity for his enemies even when he had been severely injured by them.

A good lesson is what is taught at the school by the real teacher. This lesson not only provides the pupil with something, but it also elevates him or her into the presence of the unknown. The pupil thus acquires a penetrating vision into the reality of things and sees each event as a sign of the unseen worlds.

At such a school one is tired of neither learning nor teaching, because the pupils, through the increasing zeal of their teacher, sometimes rise to the stars. Sometimes their consciousness overflows the boundaries of ordinary life, brimming with wonder at what they have thought or felt or experienced.

The real teacher seizes the landmarks of events and happenings and tries to identify the truth in everything, expounding it by using every possibility.

Rousseau’s teacher was conscience; Kant’s was conscience together with reason… In the school of the Mawlana and Yunus, the teacher was the Prophet Muhammad, upon him be peace and blessings. The Qur’an is the recitation, its words are Divine lessons – they are not ordinary words but mysterious ones surpassing all others, and they manifest the highest unity in multiplicity.

The good school is the holy place where the light of the Qur’an will be focused, and the teacher is the magic master of this mysterious laboratory. The only true master is one who will save us from centuries-old pains, and, by the strength of his wisdom, remove the darkness covering our horizon.

Therefore, the products existing in nature should be far more sophisticated than ours. Investigating any species of plant or animal whether it be a microscopic or a giant creature, we reach the following conclusions: They have been specially designed to adopt their environment. They own the precise and perfect skills, organs and defence mechanisms, needed for their survival. They are so perfect that none of our engineering skills are enough to produce anything even approaching the quality of these organisms. We need also to mention that products in nature are alive, a concept which has not yet been precisely understood or described despite all our advances in technology and science. Examples supporting the above argument are innumerable, covering all branches of science. I will present only a few for illustration purposes. Fish flow in a medium of liquid. They are exposed to two components of pressure while swimming, the static pressure and the dynamic pressure. The static pressure is directly related to the weight of the water above them and does not vary while swimming at constant depths. However, this is not the case with dynamic pressure. It increases or decreases depending on the velocity of the liquid flow around the body. Researchers have found that the eyes of fish are precisely located on the body so that the dynamic pressure is always zero. This means that vision is not distorted while the fish are swimming at varying speeds. The heart of the fish is located at a point where the dynamic pressure is most negative. This enables the functioning of the heart to be much easier at high swimming speeds. The mouth is placed at the very front of the body where the total pressure is highest. This high pressure makes it easier to take water for oxygen during fast swimming. Consider another example, the octopus, which is one of the more primary creatures in the so-called evolution process.

For thousands of centuries, the octopus has been using the conservation of momentum principle. The octopus takes in water and propels it through a narrow pipe in a direction opposite to its line of movement. This jet propulsion principle has been effectively used in man-made motors only in this century. It should be evident then that these sophisticated designs and techniques cannot be generated by those animals themselves, still less randomly produced by the trial and error of blind (unguided) natural forces. The physical laws and the perfectly adapted designs must originate from the same source, the Supreme ‘Engineer’. This explanation is the most rational and logical. Other explanations, which attempt to attribute design and engineering skills to plants and animals or to blind and deaf nature, make no sense at all. Another example is the development of the embryo. From the manufacturing point of view, this development can only be explained by the term miracle. In engineering practice, the size of each part in a product is predetermined and manufactured separately. Those parts are then assembled together to form the final product. Let us call this type of manufacturing static manufacturing, since the sizes of the parts remain the same during assembling. In the case of an embryo, the sizes of organs are changing with time while a continuous assembling takes place under those conditions. New organs are created inside, without any interference from outside, developing in size over time, yet holding the assembly in a perfect condition at each interval of time. This process is an example of dynamic manufacturing which is, to put it bluntly, quite impossible for us to achieve. In usual manufacturing, the size of a part is smaller than the raw bulk of material from which it is produced, and some of the material is wasted. In some cases, moulds are used to achieve the desired shapes. In the creation of an embryo, however, there are no moulds at all, no spare parts thrown away, no wastage.

These manufacturing techniques are by far beyond the limits of humanity. Note that we have not yet mentioned the events that take place at the micro level inside the cells. Even a general glance at the global events shows us how extraordinary the development of an embryo is. A final example will be given from the mechanics of materials. For birds to be able to fly, they must balance minimum weight with maximum strength. Their bones can be considered as hollow pipes. Calculations reveal that the ratio of the inner radius of the bones to the outer radius is selected in the optimum way precisely so that, with minimum weight, maximum strength is achieved. We have not mentioned the macro creation process (cosmos, galaxies, solar systems etc.) since these topics are more related to pure sciences such as physics, astronomy, chemistry, biology etc. An understanding of creation, even then not comprehensive, requires knowledge of these pure sciences together with knowledge of engineering and design. The Creator of the earth and cosmos describes Himself as ‘the Best of Creators’ (Mu’minun, 23.14). The reader may consider what we have said here as a tiny effort towards understanding this verse. 

Among all living beings, it is also man who needs the longest period of care and upbringing. Although most modern legal systems have set the age of discretion at 18 years, it may be said that, with rare exceptions, a person does not reach the age of discretion much before 30 years. Almost everyone, even a genius, needs to consult with others before taking important decisions. Besides, everyone is susceptible to making errors and therefore in need of correction. This is because man is a fallible social being compelled to live together with his fellow-men and co-operate with them. The first school where he receives education and learns social manners is his family.

Especially in infancy, man is in dire need of love and affection. For man to grow into a resolute, well-educated, well-mannered and loving, useful member of society, and a strong, sound, healthy individual, the warmth of a family environment is of the greatest importance. In this environment, the mother has a special place. It is the mother who nourishes the infant with her milk. Probably more than her milk, the love, care and affection of the mother for the baby have great significance for the development of sound human personality and character. 

A baby has the deepest need for its mothers direct care and close attention especially in the symbiotic penod. Even in the most professionally-run nurseries the baby cannot find a substitute for the affection, love and interest its mother can show it. Whereas the baby is embraced by a halo of care and love in the family and attracts the direct attention of its mother, in nurseries it has to share the care of a stranger, however professional or efficient a carer he or she may be, with at least ten or fifteen other infants. Whereas it is embraced, caressed, kissed and played with many times in the family, and is in the lap of love, in a public nursery it is abruptly deprived of almost all of these things in an alien environment.

The first twelve months of the relationship between mother and baby is called the symbiotic period during which the baby feels a deep attachment to its mother. Indeed, in the first six months or so, the baby cannot distinguish its mother as a being separate from itself. It begins to do so only after this period. During this first year of life, the love of the mother forms the foundation of the baby’s spiritual personality and develops in it the feeling of self-confidence. The mother’s love is also an important factor in the development of the baby’s intelligence and in enabling the baby to grow as a social being. Long or short term separation of the mother from the baby gives rise to depressive anxiety.

Dr R. Spitz, a modern psychiatrist, defined two syndromes in children who have grown up without sufficient maternal love. One of these syndromes, called anaclitic depression, arises from short-term separation of the baby from its mother after the first six months. This usually occurs when the baby is placed in a public nursery. The baby thus separated from its mother reacts initially with long, loud cries. If one approaches it when it stops crying, it begins to cry again. After this initial reaction it stops crying and an expression of exhaustion and sulkiness appears on its face. Dr. Spitz called this the period of protest: the baby begins to eat less and lose weight and its physical development ceases. Vomiting and diarrhae may accompany these symptoms.

The period of protest, usually two or three weeks, is followed by a period of depression when the baby is sulky and mournful. After two months, these emotional reactions become less frequent. The baby now becomes uninterested in its environment and in those who approach it. In short, it introverts.

The meaning of these phases of response is easily understood. The baby first of all reacts against separation from its mother with long, loud cries to call her back. After that, it grieves. Then, when it is no longer hopeful of reunion with its mother, it suffers depression and becomes introverted.

If the separation does not exceed three months, the baby can recover and restore to its former state. But if the separation continues beyond three months, the baby does not recover fully and develops a long-term separation depression.

This kind of depression arises in infants separated in very early life and brought up in public nurseries or hospitals for long periods. It is characterized by insufficient bodily, spiritual and intellectual development and growing up as a dissociable being.

A baby has the deepest need for its mother’s direct care and close attention especially in the symbiotic period. Even in the most professionally-run nurseries the baby cannot find a substitute for the affection, love and interest its mother can show it. Whereas the baby is embraced by a halo of care and love in the family and attracts the direct attention of its mother, in nurseries it has to share the care of a stranger, however professional or efficient a carer he or she may be, with at least ten or fifteen other infants. Whereas it is embraced, caressed, kissed and played with many times in the family, and is in the lap of love, in a public nursery it is abruptly deprived of almost all of these things in an alien environment.

Children separated from their families in the early years of their lives and left in public nurseries suffer difficulties in adapting to new environments and circumstances in later life, and give late responses to different stimulants. They develop tics and other involuntary movements such as swinging their legs while sitting, leaning against something, hitting the head against a wall, pulling their hair, playing with their ear- lobes, and shaking the head. Such behaviour in an infant left without its mother is in part an attempt to compensate for the loneliness and deprivation it feels. In addition, some sort of mental retardation may be observed in them. Studies have shown that, even in properly and sufficiently nourished children, rates of susceptibility to illness and death are higher. Compared to their equals in age, they are usually less in height and weight. Although thirsty for love, they respond with indifference or suspicion when they are shown love and nearness.

Some of the children deprived in this way grow up destitute of self-confidence; some become timid, reserved and passive, others become aggressive. They display signs of ill-breeding such as petty theft and truancy. Some of them are disposed to criminal behaviour and violence. They may also commit suicide or attempt it. Studies done on criminals and the mentally ill have shown that most of them spent their childhood separated from their families, deprived of love.

Character weakness and personality defects which arise as a result of long-term separation from the mother are, unfortunately, long-lasting. The younger a baby is when placed in a nursery and the longer it remains there, the more undesirable the effects are.

In sum: the love and care a mother shows her baby is so important for the growth, education and character of the child, that nothing can compensate for the lack of it. The symptoms observed in children growing up separated from their families also appear in adopted children. These children cannot adapt easily to the new family and can never have the same feeling towards their adoptive mothers as they have towards their own mothers. The state of children in divorced families or ‘broken homes’ is more pathetic still.

It descended upon thee from out of the regions above,

That exalted, ineffable, glorious, heavenly Dove.

‘Twas concealed from the eyes of all those who its nature would ken,

Yet it wears not a veil, and is ever apparent to men.

Unwilling it sought thee and joined thee, and yet, though it grieve,

It is like to be still more unwilling thy body to leave.

It resisted and struggled, and would not be tamed in haste,

Yet it joined thee, and slowly grew used to this desolate waste,

Till, forgotten at length, as I ween, were haunts and its troth

In the heavenly gardens and groves, which to leave it was loath.

Until, when it entered the D of its downward Descent,

And to earth, to the C of its centre, unwillingly went,

The eye (I) of infirmity smote it, and lo, it was hurled

Midst the sign-posts and ruined abodes of this desolate world.

It weeps, when it thinks of home and the peace it possessed,

With tears welling forth from its eyes without pausing or rest,

And with plaintive mourning it broodeth like one bereft

O’er such trace of home as the fourfold winds have left.

Thick nets detain it, and strong is the cage whereby

It is held from seeking the lofty and spacious sky.

Until, when the hour of its homeward flight draws near,

And ‘tis time for it to return to its ampler sphere,

It carols with joy, for the veil is raised, and it spies

Such things as cannot be witnessed by waking eyes.

On a lofty height doth it warble its songs of praise

(For even the lowliest being doth knowledge raise).

And so it returneth, aware of all hidden things

In the universe, while no stain to its garment clings.

Now why from its perch on high was it cast like this

To the lowest Nadir’s gloomy and drear abyss?

Was it God who cast it forth for some purpose wise,

Concealed from the keenest seeker’s inquiring eyes?

Then is its descent a discipline wise but stern,

That the things that it hath not heard it thus may learn.

So ‘tis she whom Fate doth plunder, while her star

Setteth at length in a place from its rising far,

Like a gleam of lightning which over the meadows shone,

And, as though it ne’er had been, in a moment is gone.

(Translated by E. G. Browne, A Literary History of Persia (London 1906), vol. 2, pp. 110- 11.)

The Creator’s being One means or requires His being absolutely independent. God made man as the exhibition of the manifestation of all His Names and attributes, and His being independent is manifested on man as the desire of freedom. Therefore, in the worldly life, which the Prophet, upon him be peace and blessings, described as a few minutes’ halt in the shade of a tree during a long journey, and Ibn Sina likened to a flash of lightning on the grass, man’s primary concern is freedom.

We have witnessed that many atheist communists-who regard life as only this worldly and ascribe all human motivation to economic factors-have sacrificed their lives for the sake of an illusory communist society. It has always seemed to me unreasonable that one who does not accept meta-economic values and does not believe in an eternal life, sacrifices his life which must be his only aim, for the ‘economic relations’ which are the means of living that life. So, there must be some other motives behind such a person’s sacrificing his life. Man can manage without ‘bread’, but he cannot manage without freedom, nor can he easily give up his inborn nobility as a human being. Since he is noble in creation, he pursues guidance, but sometimes the ‘stone’ of misguidance falls on his head. In consequence of his ego, man can become trapped in a vicious circle, his inborn dignity and freedom, his nobler aspirations to justice and equality, being exploited by certain centres of power or leaders of communist movements.

The ontological nature of man

The universe, an integral, composite entity all of whose parts are interrelated, interlinked with one another, may be likened to a tree. Particularly in oriental traditions, it has been so likened and some Muslim sages have even written books on it under the title of ‘the Tree of Creation’.

As everybody knows, a tree is grown from its seed or stone. The whole future life of the free, the program of its life, is pre-recorded, compacted in the seed. The laws, such as the law of germination and the law of growth, which the Creator has established for the seed to germinate in propitious land and climate and grow into a free, have the same meaning for the tree as his spirit has for a man. With the sowing of the seed in earth, the life of the tree proceeds through certain stages to yield its fruit and, having begun in a seed, ultimately ends in another seed which is almost identical with the original one and includes the whole past life of that tree. 

Sometimes he has felt himself to be like a stone cast down aimlessly on the desert of the world, seen the world as devoid of intellect, the heavens devoid of feelings, and the whole of existence as meaningless, and regarded suicide as having the same meaning as sacrifice. Consider this: In order for a book to come into being, it must first exist in meaning in the mind of its author. If that author does not put that meaning in his mind into words on a page, it does not mean that the book does not really exist. By putting the meaning in his mind into words on a page, the author ‘materializes’ that meaning so that it takes a form visible to others. What we intend to conclude from this is that the origin, the real existence, of something is not its material, visible form. Rather, it is the meaning, which is invisible and whose existence is not material and does not need matter to subsist which constitutes the essence of existence or creation. Thus, the real existence of the universe, which we have preferred to call the tree of creation, is in its primordial form in the Knowledge of Cod as a meaning. It is by the action of the Divine Power on the premordial forms of things in the Knowledge of God, in accordance with the measures of the Divine Destiny, that things come into existence in different worlds, one surrounding the other like concentric circles. Like things reflected in different forms and dimensions in different mirrors facing each other, all things or beings have different forms of existence in those worlds according to the particular conditions of each. Muslim sages call some of those worlds the high empyrean world, where God Almighty manifests His Names almost without veil and therefore things exist in almost pure forms, the world of unconditioned existence, the world of symbols or ideas, the visible, material world, the intermediate world between this and the next, and the other or eternal world. In the material world, things or beings exist in a hierarchy formed by elements, plants, animals, certain unseen creatures like jinn, and human beings.

Any work points to the one who does it. A book shows its writer. Similarly, all creatures which come into existence by the manifestations of the Divine Names-they exist because there is One Who eternally exists and makes them exist; they have relative powers of seeing and hearing because there is One Who absolutely sees and hears and makes them see and hear; they have relative powers of acting and speaking because there is One Who never rests, nor sleeps, nor dozes, and Who has the absolute power of speech; they may have certain knowledge because there is One Who is the All-Knowing and enables them to learn; they have relative power to do some things because there is One Who is the All-Powerful and gives them power- function as signs to demonstrate the Almighty Creator or signposts to lead to Him and make Him known. So, this naturally requires that there should be one equipped with certain faculties like intellect, consciousness and heart, who will recognize God and serve as a most comprehensive mirror to reflect Him. There are other creatures like angels who have a certain knowledge of God, but since they are devoid of free will, they cannot be such comprehensive mirrors as to reflect God with all His Names and attributes. Also, they are not so perfect as to be able to acquire perfect knowledge of things and use them as steps to reach God. For this reason, the Divine wisdom in the creation of the universe required that a being that would manifest all of the Divine Names and attributes, primarily including Knowledge and Will, should appear in the realm of existence as the furthest and most perfect fruit of the tree of creation. This being is man.

The existential reality is almost the same and identical in the whole of the universe as macro-cosmos, in man as normo-cosmos and in an atom as micro- cosmos. Whatever God has included in the universe, He has compacted it in man’s nature. So, being a specimen of creation, as Muslim sages tend to describe him, man, with his pure spiritual aspect, corresponds to angels, with his memory and power of conception, to the Supreme Guarded Tablet where all things and events are pre-recorded and preserved both before and after they appear in the universe, with his bodily composition, to the main elements in nature, with his evil-commanding self, to devils, and with his power, lusts and certain negative feelings and qualities requiring to be disciplined (like vindictiveness, cunning, deception, greed, rapaciousness, etc.) to certain animals each of which is distinguished with one of these qualities.

Thus, man mainly has two aspects: one angelic, pure and spiritual; the other, turned to elements, plants and animals, as he is the ‘child of the world’. He has been equipped with lusts to maintain his worldly life-lusts for the opposite sex, offspring, money, earning, and the comforts of life; with wrath or the power of anger to protect himself and his values; and with intellect. Besides, he is, by nature, fallible, forgetful, neglectful, fond of disputing, obstinate, selfish, and jealous, etc. Since man is distinguished from other conscious beings like angels by his being endowed with free will, these powers, faculties and negative-seeming feelings of his have not been restricted in creation. However, in order to attain happiness as a social being, both in his individual and social life, in the world and in the Hereafter, and climb the steps of elevation to higher and higher ranks of humanity, he should either restrict them according to certain precepts or channel them into virtues. For example, obstinacy can be channelled into steadfastness in right and truth, and jealousy into a feeling of competition in doing good things. Humanity lies in man’s struggling against the negative aspects of his nature and restricting them or channelling them into virtues, and in his acquiring distinction with his good qualities, thus becoming a useful member of society. The Last Prophet of God, upon him be peace and blessings, said: 1 have been sent to perfect the standards and beauties of good morals.

Man in the course of falling

Many writers and thinkers in the West assert that Christianity (of course, in its corrupted form, not its original form as preached by the Prophet Jesus, upon him be peace) stood against natural knowledge and learning. By condemning man’s desire to learn as a veil separating him from knowledge and love of God, by assigning the ‘heavenly’ value and quality of the earth to churches and monasteries, by denying man free will before God’s absolute Will, and by the doctrines of original sin and atonement, it caused man to stand aloof from learning, separated him from nature, prevented him from acquiring authentic belief based on investigation, and regarded him as fallen and sinful by birth. Additionally, after its acceptance as the formal religion of the Roman Empire by Constantine and finally being almost identical with the Roman type of government after the agreement of the Pope and Emperor Charlemagne the Great, Christianity came to be seen as a religion approving injustices for the sake of the continuance of a worldly, unjust power disguised as a sacred, theocratic one.

The Renaissance movements in the West developed against the world-view of Christianity and its views of man, life, things and art. Likewise, the Reformation movements aimed to reform the Catholic Church. While Catholicism regarded man as a desperate, wretched one sinful by birth, Protestanism did not grant to him any will-power to reform himself. Rather, it held that man is sinful by birth and, whatever he does, he cannot be saved through his actions. Instead, whoever God pre-ordained to be saved, only he can be saved, and what demonstrates that one was pre-ordained to be saved is that he works unceasingly. Thus, man was confined within the vicious circle of working, earning and consuming or working to consume and consuming to work.

It may be said that in the West following the Renaissance Huxley’s Brave New World has been steadily becoming more and more of a reality and less a satirical fantasy. In this world human beings are produced, classified and conditioned in tubes according to the functions they will serve in society as Alfa, Beta, Gama, Delta and Epsilon types. The old world where traditional values and feelings such as fatherhood, motherhood, kinship, love, sacrifice, altruism and chastity were still prevalent has been replaced by this new one. Having freed man from religion, morality thought, art, production sufficient for a moderate life, and sharing and mutual helping, the new world has reduced the individual and community to the functions of consumption, entertainment and stability. But the proper dignity of man is to carry the trust laid upon him which comprises the human ego and the risks and promises of freedom-a burden so heavy that man’s reason, free will and power are scarcely able to bear it.

As Alexis Carrel puts it, in the modern world as established by engineers under the guidance of scientists, man lives in metropolises where he has set up factories, opened offices, founded schools and invented various kinds of devices for amusement. The house where he lives and the office where he works are no longer dark and dingy. The devices of heating and lighting keep the temperature at the desired level and all kinds of measures have been taken against changes in weather. He is no longer oppressed by either freezing storms or suffocating heat. He no longer has the trouble of using his feet while going to work or returning home. Distances have diminished and, due to the gigantic advances in transportation and communication, the world has become like a big village. Wide highways, comfortable houses, air- conditioning devices, washing machines, fridges, electrical and electronic appliances of all kinds, modern baths, luxurious cars, computers and tele-communicative devices incite modern man to sing songs of victory-the victory won against the traditional values and nature!

Man has done all this and he can achieve many other things. But he has not been able to solve the mysteries of his ego, to know the meaning of being human, and he has not been able to perceive that he is a part of the natural environment to which he is related with unbreakable ties. As Mefisto says in Goethe’s Faust, when he attempts to recognize any living being, what he does first is to drive away its spirit. In order to meet ever-increasing needs, natural sciences-which Muhammad Iqbal described as a flock of vultures, crowding round the flesh of nature and after each picking a part of it, flying off- have developed greatly but man has not fully grasped that he is as unable as ever to make even a blade of grass, a gnat’s wing, a single living cell. Sometimes he has felt himself to be like a stone cast down aimlessly on the desert of the world, seen the world as devoid of intellect, the heavens devoid of feelings, and the whole of existence as meaningless, and regarded suicide as having the same meaning as sacrifice. He has supposed that he would be able to overcome the threats and worries of life by co-existing with his fellow-men and co-operating with them but his selfishness and materialism have not allowed him to do so with sincerity. He has submitted his ego, which he has deified before God in rejection of Him, to worldly enjoyments, his freedom to his endless desires and the manipulations of a cheating minority who try to continue their dominion by ‘finger-counting’-that is, attempting to find the truth in quantity and therefore the dominion of quantity over the truth and quality-a dominion which they have established over the majority by making use of certain possibilities such as coming to the world earlier, cunning, deception and the power of wealth. He has also submitted his honour and dignity to consumption, luxuries and cynicism. This is natural for a being who has broken with God and his primordial nature. Such people are described in the Qur’an as more astray than domestic animals, that is, they are more unable than domestic animals to find the true path they should follow and therefore need to be guided. It is not a coincidence that man is described in the West as an animal: a responsible animal, a symbolizing animal, a rebellious animal, a social animal, a hypocritical animal, an imagining animal, and so on.

In the delusion of thinking to discover himself by rejecting servanthood to God (as Erich Fromm explains), to be himself and attain his true freedom, man has not been able to escape the realities and requirements of his inborn disposition and be freed from the need and emotions of worship. As Erich Fromm also points out, modern man has numerous fetishes, he has more deities or idols than the primitive man. Causality, ‘nature’, means to attain something, desires, ambitions, power-seeking and lusts are modern man’s deities. Fetishism, totemism, ritualism, self-dedication to a party or state and idolizing certain men are some aspects of his modern religion. The Prophets of revealed religions have been replaced in his religion by politicians, ‘stars’ of football and music, stage and cinema, and those who ‘set’ fashions. Although modern man supposes that he himself determines his way (of life and thinking), he is little more than a robot programmed by the mass-media and an oppressing minority which own them. Banks, cinemas, universities, night clubs, stadiums and factories are the temples of modern man’s religion.

There are walls between men today; man is the wolf of man. The relations between men are no longer human, they are of the kind that each sees the other as a tool to use or an enemy to remove from the earth or a rival to defeat. Market laws direct the relations between men. In the capitalist’s view, man is only a machine, a means of production, an object to exploit. Modern man sells himself like selling merchandise. The manual worker sells his labour, the businessman, the doctor, the official, their skills. The answers given to the questions ‘What is your occupation?’, ‘How much do you earn?’, determine one’s social standing and value. One’s respect for oneself consists in what others think of one. Not being liked by anyone at all means being non-existent.

The traditional man who lived together with his family, brothers and near relatives, has been replaced by modern man who, as Erich Fromm states, in order to overcome his weakness and helplessness, seeks refuge in trade unions or the power of monopolist capital or the shade of weapons or other such things. Multinational companies continually gnaw away at humanity just so as to earn more and more, and man lost in supermarkets is seen in the crowds of metropolises as less than even the simplest things, reduced to nothingness among skyscrapers. The sounds coming from TV, radio, cassette player, do not allow him to speak, and advertisements addressing his desires and passions both stimulate consumption and determine his taste and choice.

Neither contemporary arts, nor modern socio-political systems, nor philosophies such as existentialism and structuralism, nor class consciousness, nor superior-race theories, nor new-world-order theses and fantasies, nor man’s tendency toward destruction, can satisfy modern man who plays the role of a Faust who studied not theology but modern sciences. In such an atmosphere as this, neither Satan-worshipping dealt with in best-sellers, nor false beliefs and practices such as necromancy, ‘transcendental’ meditation and reincarnation, sorcery and fortunetelling and so-called mystical movements, nor false occult sciences with which innumerable Europeans and Americans are preoccupied, can replace the true religion and give to modern man who, by losing his true human identity freedom and personality, has fallen to the lowest of the low, the possibility of ascending to the heaven of true humanity. 

Imaginations as sweet as the joy felt at religious festivals!

And yet the first step taken into the world is also the first step

those who have come to the world take toward the Last Abode.

At the same time as a bitter wind blows in the neighbouring house,

the fragrance of spring is felt in the maternity hospital.

It is inevitable for one who has come to this world

to travel on to the eternal world, to the grief of those around him.

The mind fails into a void as wide and deep as skies,

Lightning strikes feelings deep in his heart, and man

finds himself dragged toward a place unknown.

He shivers with what he hears and is driven to frenzy.

As he advances in pains left from his life

far away from the shores where he once lived,

as he blindly limps through the pits in his soul,

he finds himself dragged into a dark Inlet.

Finally that deep sleep comes to an end,

And it is seen that life is but an illusion.

Dreams end. Day begins to dawn in the real world.

One shivers as if the Last Trumpet’s been blown.

He moves on, looking first ahead and then back;

his old world destroyed, the new as yet unknown.

Death lifts up, one after the other, the veils

before the other world rising as silently as the full moon.

The spirit is surprised, man is startled in fear.

Throngs of men are dragged with no obstacles before them.

You think them like leaves scattered around,

Like leaves blowing in a strong, powerful wind.

They hasten forward with eyes fixed on a point,

where time is no more, no sounds of clocks heard.

There is no returning back, even if they want to.

A different ground, different skies, and signs of the final truth.

by which they fly to the clime where angels fly.

With hearts at rest, with spirits having reached their aspirations,

They hear God’s compliments distinctly, word by word.

The faces of the believers are bright with flashes of joy.

They overflow with emotions while walking illumined roads.

The merriment of union is heard from a few steps ahead.

Voices rise in the company of the melodies of houris.

Flowers shimmer all around like narcissi,

and hearts beat with a different sound.

Eyes shining brightly pour forth smiles.

If it were possible, a heart would stop for happiness.

Souls go to their ease in the highest realm of Paradise,

where colours, patterns and harmonies charm the eyes.

Sometimes beauties excelling those of Paradise are sensed,

and angels visit that festival on their mounts…

All praise be to the Lord of the Worlds, and peace and blessings be upon the master of the Messengers, and upon all his family arid Companions. Let all witnesses and all the witnessed witness that I bear witness that there is no god but God, Whose necessary existence and perfect attributes, and also Whose Oneness, Unity, Singularity and being the Eternally Besought-of-All, are decisively established by the following arguments:

Now give ear to the explanation of these languages:

1. As a whole and with all its parts, the universe displays an evident order and an extraordinary solidarity among all its individual parts. This order and solidarity point to the necessary existence of Him in Whose hand of power the universe is and bears witness in the tongue of this universal order to the fact that God, there is no god but He.

2. In the universe everything is so exactly measured and proportioned that it announces that God, there is no god but He Who has set this measure and made all things in admirable proportions and exactly commensurate with one another.

3. The harmony and precise arrangement in the ‘house’ of the universe, and the regularity of its working show that it is impossible for numerous different hands to interfere in it, and announces in the language of this harmony, arrangement and regularity that God, there is no god but He.

4. The art and design exhibited in this ‘house’ of the universe point to the fact that the one who has designed and decorated the house is also its owner, and testifies in the language of this art and design that God, there is no god but He.

5. The perfection of the art which the Pen of Destiny displays in everything according to the capacity of each shows that the Pen is one and announces that God, there is no god but He.

6. The mutual relationship between all things in the universe and faultless artistry displayed in each demonstrate that the one who has inscribed the page of the sky with stars and suns is he who inscribes the pages of the honeybee and ant with their cells. In the language of all creatures in it the universe bears witness that God, there is no god but He.

7. We observe in the universe that even the inanimate objects, no matter how distant they are from one another, come to the aid of one another for wise purposes. For example, [vaporizing waters come down onto the earth to ‘revive’ it, and] corn and fruits become the sustenance of human cells. In the language of this mutual assistance the universe bears witness that God, there is no god but He.

8. As between the sun arid the planets, which are its ‘fruits’, there is a solidarity among different, distant objects in the universe. This solidarity shows that whatever is in the universe is under the command and disposition of only one being and in the language of this solidarity, the universe testifies that God, there is no god but He.

9. The resemblance among certain things, among the stars of the heavens, for example, is another language in which the universe proclaims that God, there is no god but He.

10. The proportion among certain other things, as, for example, among the flowers of the earth, demonstrates that whatever is in the universe belongs to the same Owner and is under the disposition of the same power. In the language of this proportion, the universe testifies that God, there is no god but He.

11. Every living thing in the universe receives the manifestations of numerous Names. [For example, the Names the Creator, the Shaper, the All-Seeing, the All-Hearing, the Arranger, the Provider, the Sustainer, the All-Healing and many other Names manifest on the same being.] Like the seven colours in the light of the sun, these Names have each its own beauty and imprints but they work to the same effect in each individual thing, including even cells. This shows that the One Who has these Names is the one and same being. That is, the All-Living Creator of something is also its Shaper, Provider and Sustainer, and the One Who provides something is the creator of the sources of provision, and its Creator is He Who has dominion over every thing. This reality opens a window on the necessary existence and Unity of the One called by the Names mentioned, and in the language of every living thing the universe testifies that God, there is no god but He.

12. The connection among all things, the connection between, for example, the eyes of the honeybee and ant and the sun and the solar system, shows that both are the designs of a single designer and in the language of this connection the universe bears witness that God, there is no god but He.

13. The indispensable relation among the parts of each thing and things themselves, down to that between the least and the largest, like that between the eyes of an ant or honeybee and the sun, demonstrates that everything is the work of a single maker. In the language of this relation the universe testifies that God, there is no god but He.

14. The ‘brotherhood’ between the gravitation among the minutest particles and atoms of an individual thing and the general gravitation between stars and suns is indicative of the fact that both are the ‘inscriptions’ of a single pen, the texture of a single weaver, the rays from a single ‘sun’. This shows the necessity of Divine existence and Unity and in this language the universe bears witness that God, there is no god but He.

15. All the minutest particles or atoms in compounds and then compounds within one another are placed each in its exact position and according to such delicate calculations that, for example, any atom or particle in an eye is interrelated with the other atoms in the eye and all the systems and cells of the body. This necessarily demonstrates that the creator of the eye with all its atoms and the body and the eye of the world-the sun- and their positioner is the creator of all compounds in the universe. Thus, in the language of all the minutest particles and their positions and tasks, the universe bears witness that God, there is no god but He.

16. The comprehensive disposition of the power of a species and the wide distribution of certain species like angels and fish indicate that the creator of a single individual being is also the creator of the species. The pen which draws the lines of, say, Jack’s face and thus identifies or individualizes him, has to be able to see all the faces together at the same time before it so that it could determine the distinguishing features of each. Otherwise individualization would be impossible and confusions would appear. This requires that the creator of an individual should be the creator of the family and species. The universe testifies in this language that God, there is no god but He.

17. Those with defective view and reasoning may regard it as impossible for a single being to have created all things and therefore are misguided into denying the existence and Oneness of the Creator. Whereas the attribution of things to nature or to themselves or to material causes or to such notions as chance and necessity makes the existence of things infinitely improbable or impossible.

The creation of many things by a single one is much easier than the creation of a single thing by many ‘creators’. The interference of many ‘blind’ hands in the production of a thing is of no more use than increasing ‘blindness’. If, for example, a honeybee is not attributed to the power of a necessarily existent being, then whatever is in the heavens and on the earth should have participated in its existence. If the existence of a minute particle or a single hair is attributed to other than a necessarily existent being, to material causes, for example, it would be as difficult as the existence of mountains. The organization and direction of a company by a single commander is much easier than its direction by the soldiers themselves or many commanders. Also, everyone judges the shower of water sprinkled [on the flowers in a garden] to be shooting from a sprinkler. All the lines ending on the circumference of a circle originates from a single centre. Each of such results can easily be obtained with a few acts of a single being.

18. The apparent material causes, like bread and milk for satisfaction of hunger, are simple, limited in time and place and quantity subject to disappearance or death, changeable, have no consciousness and will, and most of them are subject to ‘laws’ which have only nominal, not material, existence and which are perceived only after the effects are brought about. When compared to their causes, the effects are extremely extraordinary and display splendid artistry For example, the formation of cells and their relations with one another and the whole of the body are so complex and extraordinary that they require much more knowledge, much greater skills, much more comprehensive will and much vaster power than are disposed by the whole population of the world. Therefore, they can be explained with neither the food given nor the working of the unconscious and ignorant body.

Also, with what can the human memory be explained? It is like a copy of a person’s life which the Hand of Power reproduces and gives to his hand so that he may remember all his deeds at the time of reckoning and be convinced that there is a permanent life behind the disturbances of this life. The All-Knowing One arranges things and events in it without any confusion despite their utmost intricacy and confusion. Again, human faculties like reflection, reasoning, thinking and speech and their operation can never be attributed to or explained by some systems and organs and their movements. [As is known, although created from and nourished by the same elements and formed of the same constituents, human beings are infinitely different in features, characters, desires, capacities, likes and dislikes, speech, etc.] Therefore, both these faculties or powers and the systems and organs can only be the work of one with an infinite power, knowledge and will and the real agent in the universe can only be a creator with a boundless power.

19. The wonderful works of a universal, perfect art and the utmost care shown in these works require a limitless power; not only these works but also each part of them demands this power.

This points to the fact that this universe has an All Powerful Creator, there are no limits to the manifestations to His Power. Since It is infinite, It is absolutely independent of having partners and It does not need them at all.Partnership with something infinite is inconceivable, as it means limiting It. Divinity does not accept limitation and, since being limited means being contained in time and space and defective in the capacities and qualities which divine being must necessarily have, any limited being cannot, obviously, be God. Also, absolute independence and freedom are essential to divinity. Besides, there is no room, no space and no need for partnership, and there are neither evidences nor signs for the existence of a partner. By contrast, through its parts and as a whole and in the language of all the events in it, the universe displays the stamp of Unity and shows that the agent ruling over it is One.

20. Although some of the Divine Names like the All- Knowing encompass all things, the Divine Names manifested in the universe co-ordinate in the creation, life and working of all its parts down to the minutest particles, and, like the seven colours in the light of the sun, work to the same effect. [For example, although the Names and attributes manifested on a man, like Knowledge, Will and Power and the All-Seeing, the All-Hearing, the All- Shaping, the Provider, the Sustainer, etc. have their own manifestations and produce effects particular to themselves, the result they ultimately produce is an integral entity.] This evidently demonstrates that the Being called by these Names is one, and in the language of the co-ordination and solidarity among the Names manifested in it, the universe testifies that God, there is no god but He.

21. A universal wisdom is apparent in the whole of the universe, both as a whole and in parts. This wisdom, which includes a purpose, consciousness, will and preference, points to the necessary existence of an All-Wise One, as it is impossible for an act to be without a doer and thing done or a part of it cannot be the doer.

22. The purposeful and gracious, all-encompassing favouring apparent throughout the universe necessarily testifies to the necessary existence of an All-Munificent Creator, as any favouring cannot be without a favourer.

23. The extensive mercy encompassing the whole of the universe, which contains wisdom, favouring, benevolence, munificence, kindness, gratifying, love and recognition, indicates the necessary existence of an All-Merciful, All-Compassionate One, as any quality cannot be the one qualified by it and the earth and heavens can have been ‘clothed’ by none other than that All-Merciful One.

24. The satisfaction of infinitely diverse needs of living creatures from the universal provision, which contains wisdom, favouring, mercy, protection, engagement [to provide them], intention, love and recognition, evidently points to the necessary existence of a Compassionate Provider.

25. The life and vigour widespread throughout the universe, which contain wisdom, favouring, mercy provision, delicate artistry, elegant design, firmness, and care, and which are brought about by the manifestations of a purpose, consciousness, knowledge and will, indicate the necessary existence of an All-Powerful, Self-Subsistent, All-Sustaining One, Who gives life and takes it.

26. The grace observed throughout the universe making everything graceful indicates the necessary existence of the One to Whom grace is essential.

27. The innocent beauty on the cheeks of the universe signifies the necessary existence of the One with an absolute beauty.

28. The true love felt by the universe deeply in the heart is a sign of the True Beloved One.

29. The attraction and ecstasy felt by the universe demonstrate most profoundly the centre of attraction towards which everything is attracted.

30. What we hear from all perfected people who describe their observations to us is that the whole of the creation is but a shadow of the light of the Single Being of Unity.

The five truths mentioned so far from the article 26, necessarily point to the fact that the universe has a Lord, necessarily existent and qualified by the attributes of majesty, beauty and perfection. In the language of these five truths, the universe testifies that God, there is no god but He.

31. Besides the species as a whole, we see each member of the species specifically disposed for certain benefits and purposes. This evidently points to the necessary existence of an all-wise disposer or agent, as an act cannot be without its doer nor can the thing done or a part of it be the doer of it.

32. Continuous changes are observed in the lives of plants and animals for certain benefits, which indicates the necessary existence of a master who directs them.

33. Again, continuous purposeful transformations are observed in the lives of plants and animals, either of each member of them or their species as a whole. This also points to the necessary existence of a wise master.

34. The alternation of day and night in the sphere of the earth for many purposes and benefits is another sign of the necessary existence of an agent who does whatever he wills.

35. Since an act of ordering cannot be without an orderer and the thing ordered and he order itself cannot be the doer of this act which requires consciousness, the order and arrangement made throughout the universe to make each thing attain its particular level of perfection, and to make the creation as a whole attain to its final point of perfection, testify to the necessary existence of an all-powerful one, self-subsistent and sustaining. Is it possible that a nightingale has clothed itself in its elegant, ornamented body? Is it conceivable that the earth itself has woven its so richly decorated dress?

Like the colours in the light of the sun or concentric circles, these five acts of disposing, changing, transforming, alternating, and ordering obviously show that this urn- verse has a master who disposes it, who is wise, efficient, powerful, self-subsistent and sustaining, one who does whatever he wills and is possessed of attributes of perfection. In the language of these acts, as if by five mouths, the universe announces that God, there is no god but He.

36. The universe has a beginning; whether as a whole or in parts, it came into existence within time. While there were probabilities of infinite number as to how and of what properties it might be, it took its present form, which is one of perfect order, harmony and balance. This obviously demonstrates the necessary existence of one with free choice, one who is all-knowing, all-wise and all-powerful.

37. Everything in the universe, whether big or small or a whole or a part, is in endless needs with respect to sustenance and survival, and if it is a conscious living being, it has also spiritual and intellectual needs. Despite the inability of each to satisfy even the most insignificant of its needs, the needs of everything are gratified just on time and from whence it did not reckon. This necessarily points to the existence of a lord, sustaining, providing, munificent, merciful and compassionate.

38. Everything in the universe, big or small, a whole or a part, is in infinite destitution and unable to procure the necessities of its life. However, everything is provided in exact measures with whatever it needs to survive. This necessarily indicates the existence of one compassionate, munificent, giving freely, all-loving and all-aware [of even the least needs of the least creature].

39. Despite their essential and extreme poverty and helplessness, things like trees and the earth, while appearing utterly dead and dried up in winter, display signs of absolute riches and power in spring. This indicates the necessary existence of one absolutely powerful, in relation to whose power the minutest particles and the largest suns are equal.

40. The dried, unconscious earth becomes the source of infinite provision for living creatures all of a sudden, at just the time when they need provision. This points to the necessary existence of one absolutely rich. The sun and trees are only some ‘cells’ of His treasures of mercy and water and light are only two ‘streams’ originating in His ocean of compassion.

41. Everything in the universe is essentially dead. The ‘lights’ of life which all living creatures disseminate demonstrate the necessary existence of one all-living and self-subsistent, one who gives life and takes it.

42. Nothing in the universe has consciousness of its own. [Consider a human embryo, while a lump of flesh and bones, how it enters a stage of development in which it will acquire life and consciousness. It would be ridiculous to claim that it is the embryo itself or nature or certain biological laws with nominal existence only, which are all ignorant, unconscious and powerless, that equip the embryo with life and consciousness.] Together with the powers of seeing and hearing, the encompassing consciousness which conscious living beings display shows the necessary existence of one all-knowing and all-aware of everything.

43. The continuous, orderly changes and decay which everything, especially every living thing suffers, point to the necessary existence of one making changes but himself permanent and not changing.

44. We observe that those living, conscious beings who perform their duties of worship get the precisely weighed reward of worship and, attaining higher spiritual ranks, can get in some sort of touch with the inhabitants of invisible realms. The imprints of their worship are to be discerned in their lives, their manners and even on their faces. This indicates the necessary existence of one who alone deserves worship.

45. The glorifications of the universe, whether in words or in acts, point to the necessary existence of one whom whatever is in the heavens and on earth glorifies. The testimony of ‘natural disposition’ or actions is irrefutable. Therefore, how can the testimony of all beings through their dispositions, functions, lives and physical compositions to the necessary existence of him whom whatever is in the heavens and on earth glorifies, be refuted?

46. The prayers and supplications that living creatures do [verbally or actually or in the language of neediness and helplessness] are answered or accepted and usually yield desired results. This indicates the necessary existence of one who answers the supplication of the helpless when they supplicate to him.

47. The afflicted seek refuge consciously or unconsciously in their ‘unknown’ protector or their Creator. This testifies to the necessary existence of the refuge of the afflicted and fearful, the helper of those who seek help.

48. Perfected people who penetrate the inner reality of existence and are based on their intuitions, spiritual experiences and observations, are all agreed that whatever exists contained in time and space is but a shadow of the lights of the ‘eternal sun’ and testifies to its necessary existence.

49. [Despite their lifelessness, ignorance and unconsciousness, inanimate objects, especially atoms and particles smaller than atoms serve such comprehensive, conscious and universal purposes that] it is as obvious as if seen with the naked eye that the comprehensive movements or acts exhibited by them as the result of the manifestations of the Names on them originate from the rank of the necessary existence and unity not from the rank of contingency. This bears witness to the necessary existence of a holy one who employs all things and is called by the Names manifested on them.

50. [Those who refuse to admit the existence of a Divine Being as the sole creator of all things, have all differed in explaining the origin of existence and life.] Only those who have acknowledged the truth of the Divine proclamations such as Flee to God and Assuredly in the remembrance of God do hearts find peace and tranquility, and Unto God all things are brought back, have been able to find relief from the difficulties, bewilderment and insoluble problems arising from attributing existence to itself or to nature or to material causes. It is only by attributing existence to His Power that all difficulties and problems are easily solved, and that minds and hearts find peace. There is no creative agent other than God.

51. In the universe everything is measured in exact proportions. [Also, most simply, as almost everyone has had some glimpses or clues of the future in dreams, a universal Destiny, which pre-determined everything, prevails in the whole of the universe, a fact which negates chance completely. Again, all seeds or fruit stones including the fully-grown state of plants or trees also point to that universal Destiny.] Because of the all-inclusive Destiny, every thing is perfectly ordered and serves pre-determined and evident purposes in accordance with which it has been given form and characteristics and endowed with necessary capacities. If you need an example, look at your body with all its lines and your hands with all their fingers. They tell you that they have been built and shaped according to the purposes they must serve and therefore signify the Destiny which has determined those purposes and their structure. According to the plan of Destiny, the Power puts into ‘writing’ the meanings established and kept by Divine Knowledge. The Destiny which has preplanned all things and the Destiny which records the life- histories of all things indicate the necessary existence of him the pen of whose destiny and decree have drawn the outlines of all things.

52. The comprehensive capacities with which man is endowed suggest that man is the fruit of the tree of creation and therefore the most perfect of creation. On account of one aspect of his nature, he is inclined or turned to non-existence, which is the dark face of the world. However, man’s comprehensive capacity to offer worship implies that he has not been created to go into eternal non-existence. Rather, he must turn himself from darkness to light, from non-existence or eternal extinction to existence, from ephemerality to permanence, from the created to the Creator. Worship is like a chain connecting the beginning to the end in creation. The ‘natural’ disposition of man thus bears witness to the necessary existence of him who has created the universe with whatever is in it to make himself known, who has created men and jinn so that they should worship him.

53. In creation there are the stations of contingency, multiplication and being effected. [That is, whatever is created is contingent, its existence is not necessary and absolute; it is not unique or peerless, and it is something acted upon.] This certainly requires that there must be one whose existence is absolutely necessary, who is himself unique, peerless and unitary, and who is active.

54. We observe in the universe that all things are in continuous movement each toward its particular point of perfection, and when they reach perfection, they stop moving and acquire stability and steadiness. Perfection requires stability and constancy. The existence of existence is by perfection and the perfection of perfection is by constancy. [That is, a thing exists truly only after attaining perfection and the true perfection of a thing lies in its continuing to be perfect.] So, the One Who is necessarily existent is absolutely perfect and all the perfections shared by contingent beings are but a shadow of the manifestations of the lights of His perfection. This testifies that surely God is the Absolutely Perfect One both in His Divine Essence and His attributes and acts.

55. The interior of something is much more subtle and displays much greater artistry than its exterior. This points to the fact that its Maker is not distant from it. Also, the maintenance of the exact balance and proportions between it and other things indicates that its Maker is not contained in it. When we view a thing in respect of itself, its very being, we conclude that its Maker is all-knowing and all-wise. When we view it with respect to its relations with other things, we judge that its Maker is all-hearing and all-seeing, One Who sees all things from above and fashions them and regulates their relationships for certain purposes. This truth indicates the necessary existence of the Maker Who is not contained in the universe, nor distant or excluded from it. [By His Essence or Divine Being, He is not contained either in time or space, but through the manifestations of His Names and attributes, He is everywhere, nearer to everything than itself, as the sun places itself in the pupils of your eyes and penetrates your body through its light and heat.] He is the Most Inward of the inward, as He is the Most Above of the above. He sees one thing at the same time as He sees all things.

From Mathnawi al-Nuriya by Said Nursi

Since natural sciences have chosen for themselves as their field of study only the visible world and adopted a sensory and experimental approach in their studies, and since they tend to accept as scientific only the conclusions they have drawn through these methods, the modern scientific world-view does not, in practice differ much from materialism. That is, although there may be scientists who believe in God and the existence of immaterial entities like spirit, the modem scientific approach is by nature materialistic. For that reason, scientific materialism is not less harmful than materialistic philosophy, rather, it may be said that scientific materialism is more dangerous that the other. For philosophical ideas can be set to one side as no more than theories which hardly affect one’s everyday decisions or direct one’s life. By contrast, people have in effect no choice but to think and believe and act in line with scientific conclusions. Also, scientific materialism has a considerable effect on the way one shapes one’s life. A person who does not find it worthwhile to give any consideration to belief in a Day of Reckoning, in a Supreme Being Who sees whatever he does, hears whatever he speaks and is aware of whatever he thinks, and Who will call him to account for all his deeds in the world, will not heed any rule other than secular laws and will design his life only according to the requirements of a short, transient life. Further, if being scientific is taken to mean denying or at least doubting the existence of anything metaphysical, and if people unquestioningly accept that the only objective knowledge is what sciences discover, whereas whatever people may know of the spiritual dimension of existence is sheer superstition, then people will be left with no alternative other than to live as materialists. So, scientific materialism and the practical materialism it produces are responsible, besides the birth of philosophical materialism and communism, for the world-wide crisis observable in the erosion of morals and spiritual values, the increase in crimes and drug-addiction and in injustices committed against weak peoples of the world and ruhtless colonialism continuing in disguised forms, and other modem social and political diseases.

Scientific materialism, though it does not theoretically deny the existence of truths outside the visible world, holds that anything immaterial cannot be known, not that it is not known to us. You can discuss with a materialist in philosophy about the existence of God or anything outside the material dimension of existence. But since scientific materialism argues that anything except material things cannot be known, it causes one not to think about immaterial truths. So, it is scientific materialism which gave rise to agnosticism-the belief that nothing can be known about God or of anything except material things. It is also scientific materialism which, because it tends to explain immaterial truths in material terms and therefore reduces quality to quantity and the spiritual to the physical-as is most clearly observed in psychology, psychiatry and psychoanalysis-is responsible for the rise of most modern false beliefs and ‘mystical’ practices.

The practical materialism, to which scientific materialism gave birth, prevails in the lives of all the world’s people, whether they be Muslims, Christians, Jews or atheists. For most people mean economic development, the betterment of worldly life, when development is talked about, and give precedence to worldly life in their considerations. And since material wealth and resources cause rivalry and competition in the relations among peoples and countries, not a single day passes without clashes on the face of the earth, on a large or small scale.

Even if we leave out the human values, lofty truths and ideals, and spiritual happiness, which have all been sacrificed for the sake of material development, modern civilization based on scientific materialism has caused mankind much harm. The products of science are usually exploited in favour of the great world powers to consolidate their dominion over the world. Besides, the developments in genetics, biology, physics and chemistry are threatening the very life of humanity on the earth. Modern civilization is founded upon five negative principles:

1. It is founded and rests upon power: power tends to oppression.
2. It aims at the realization of individual self-interest: pursuit of their self-interests causes people to rush madly upon things in order to possess them and gives rise to pitiless rivalry and competition.
3. Its understanding or philosophy of the nature of life is struggle: struggle causes internal and external conflicts.
4. It unifies the mass of its people on the basis of racial separatism, fed by swallowing up the resources and territories of ‘others’: and racism leads to terrible collisions between peoples.
5. The service it offers to people is satisfaction of the novel caprices or desires it arouses in them; (whether the satisfaction is real or not) this service brutalizes people.

Modern materialistic civilization stimulates consumption and therefore gives rise to new, artificial needs and increases them day by day. Through the power of propaganda and advertisements to exploit some disapprovable human tendencies such as ‘keeping up with the Jones’, it can impose its demands upon people. As a result of the way of life it necessarily leads to-producing to consume and consuming to produce-it destroys the nervous balance of man and causes extraordinary increases in mental and spiritual illnesses. In such a way of life there is left room for neither spiritual profoundity nor true intellectual activity. For intellect is put under the command of pragmatism and earning more and more.

It is highly questionable whether scientific and economic developments have brought happiness to man, whether the developments in tele-communication and transportation have provided for man what he needs. It is highly questionable whether modern man has been able to find true satisfaction and solve all his problems. Do his needs not increase day by day’? While people in the past needed a few things to lead a happy life, does not modern make man feel the need of some new things every passing day’? To satisfy each new need requires more effort and production which, in turn, stimulates more consumption. This leads people to regard life as a course or process of struggle and gives rise to a cruel rivalry and competition. So it follows that because might is right in such a world only the powerful have the ‘right’ to survive. You may understand from this what lies behind such Western philosophical attitudes or so-called scientific theories as Darwinian evolution and natural selection, historicism and the like.

Another disaster materialistic science has brought upon man is the destruction of nature and environmental pollution. What a pity it is that nature, this magnificent book, this charming exhibition, which God, the Infinitely Merciful One, has created and presented to us to observe and study and to be exhilarated by is no longer given any more care than is given to a heap of junk or rubbish. Worse than that, it is more and more becoming a wasteland and like a dunghill. Today, air, that magnificent conductor of Divine commands, is a suffocating smoke and a perilous whirlpool’. Water that source of life and other Divine bounties, is either a hazardous flood or forms desolate expanses of pitch. And earth, that treasure of Divine grace and munificence, is a wilderness no longer safely productive and whose ecological balance has been ruined.

We do not belittle, nor condemn, scientific studies and accomplishments. On the contrary, we welcome them enthusiastically as the signs and confirmation of man’s being made superior to angels. As is related in the Qur’an, God created man as one who would rule on the earth in conscious, deliberate conformity with God’s commands. Since he has been honoured with free will and is not compelled to do anything, in order to fulfil his function in creation, God has distinguished him with the knowledge of things and thereby made him superior even to angels. So we welcome scientific developments and discoveries as the result of this superiority. However, in order for scientific studies to be directed for the true benefit of man, they must be pursued within the guidance of immaterial, metaphysical, God-given rules. They must aim at founding a civilization which should have the following five essentials:

1. It should rest upon right, not upon power; right requires justice and balance.
2. It should aim to encourage people to virtue, which is a spur to mutual affection and love.
3. It’s understanding or philosophy of the nature of life should be not struggle but mutual help, which leads to unity and solidarity.
4. It should unify people on the basis of a common belief, shared values and norms, which can lead to internal peace and brotherhood.
5. It should guide people to truth. Therefore, besides encouraging them to scientific progress, it should elevate them, through moral perfection, to higher ranks of humanity.

This civilization is that which the Qur’an proposes to mankind and urges them to found.