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THE
MEANING OF EXISTENCE
There
are two ways to explain how a seed
germinates under earth, then grows into
a human being; either each of the
innumerable particles operative in the
process of growth individually knows its
place, functions and environment, and
its relations with all the other
particles, cells and larger wholes
within the organism, or one who has that
vast knowledge employs them in the
growth process, as indeed in the
formation of all living or non-living
entities.
The
following simple scientific experiment,
reported in Discovery, 20 August
1993, will help in understanding this
significant argument:
There
is no ‘trial and error’ in nature
Overbeck
and his co-workers at the Baylor
College of Medicine in Houston
were trying to practice some gene
therapy techniques by seeing if
they could convert albino mice
into coloured ones. The researcher
injected a gene essential to the
production of the pigment melanin
into the single-cell embryo of an
albino mouse. Later they bred that
mouse’s offspring, half of which
carried the gene on one chromosome
of a chromosome pair. Classic
Mendelian genetics told them that
roughly a quarter of the
grandchildren should carry the
gene on both chromosomes -should
be ‘homozygous’, in the
language of genetics-and should
therefore be colored.
But
the mice never got a chance to
acquire color. ‘The first thing
we noticed,’ says Overbeck, ‘was
that we were losing about 25% of
the grandchildren within a week
after they were born.’ The
explanation:
The
melanin-related gene that his
group injected into the albino
mouse embryo had inserted itself
into a completely unrelated gene.
An unfamiliar stretch of DNA in
the middle of a gene wrecks that
gene’s ability to get its
message read. So in the mice, it
seems whatever protein the gene
coded for went unproduced,
whatever function the protein had
went undone, and the stomach,
heart, liver, and spleen all wound
up in the wrong place. Somehow,
too, the kidneys and pancreas were
damaged, and that damage is
apparently what killed the mice.
Overbeck
and his colleagues have already
located the gene on a particular
mouse chromosome and are now
trying to pin down its structure.
That will tell them something
about the structure of the protein
the gene encodes, how the protein
works, and when and where it is
produced as the gene gets ‘expressed’,
or turned on, ‘Is the gene
expressed everywhere, or just on
the left side of the embryo or
just on the right side?’
Overbeck wonders, ‘And when does
it get expressed?’
These
questions will take Overbeck far
from the gene-transfer experiment.
‘We think there are at least
100,000 genes,’ he points out,
‘so the chances of this
happening were literally one in
100,000.’
It
will take many thousands of tests
therefore, and cost the lives of many
thousands of mice, for this type of
experiment to be carried out with
success. However, there is no such trial
and error in nature, and any seed under
earth, unless some impediment like lack
of enough moisture intervenes,
germinates and ultimately becomes a
tree. Likewise, an embryo in the mother’s
womb grows into a living, conscious
being equipped with intellectual and
spiritual faculties.
The
human body is a miracle of symmetry, as
well as of asymmetry.
The
human body is a miracle of symmetry, as
well as of asymmetry. Scientists know
how an embryo develops in the womb to
form this symmetry and asymmetry, but
they are completely ignorant of how the
particles-the particles that reach the
embryo through the mother and function
as building blocks in the formation of
the body-can distinguish between right
and left, how they are able to determine
the place of each organ, how each goes
and inserts itself in the exact place of
a certain organ, and how they understand
the extremely complicated relations
among cells and organs, and their
requirements. This is so complicated a
process that if a single particle which
should be placed in, for example, the
pupil of the right eye, were to go to
the ear, it could lead to malfunction or
even death. Another point relevant here
is that all animate beings are made from
the same elements coming from earth, air
and water, and similar to one another
with respect to the members and organs
of their bodies, yet they are almost
completely different from one another
with respect to bodily features, visage,
character, desires and ambitions. This
uniqueness of the individual is so
reliable that one can be identified
absolutely by one’s finger prints.
There
are only two alternatives to explain
creation: either each particle or atom
possesses almost infinite knowledge,
will and power or One Who has such
knowledge, power and will creates and
administers the whole existence
How
do we explain this? There are the two
alternatives we mentioned at the
beginning: either each particle
possesses almost infinite knowledge,
will and power or One Who has such
knowledge, power and will creates and
administers each particle. However far
back we go in an attempt to ascribe this
to cause and effect and heredity, these
two alternatives remain valid.
This
argument, frequently emphasized in the
writings of Said Nursi, lost its appeal
when I objected: ‘Everything takes
place according to a certain program and
the principle of cause and effect. Why,
then, need a particle possess the
knowledge of its place and functions,
its relations with all other particles
with which it must combine and
co-operate?’ However, it soon dawned
upon me that I was trying to find an
explanation for existence from within
existence, seeking the Creator in that
which was created.
Materialistic
science, whether biology or physics,
reflects upon existence from within it
and is dazzled, tangled by the apparent
self-organization in the universe.
Materialistic
science, whether biology or physics,
reflects upon existence from within it
and is dazzled, tangled by the apparent
self-organization in the universe. It is
true that everything appears to happen
according to certain principles and the
law of cause and effect. Empirically
based and having adopted the method of
doing tests in laboratories, modern
science attempts to discover the Creator
in laboratories. This means regarding
the Creator as of the same kind as the
created-finite and material-which
implies for the scientist a rank over
the Creator. If the scientist is not
seeking to deify himself over creation,
what is the rationale, the sense, of
looking for the Creator among the
created?
As
everybody knows, science advances on the
feet of theories. That being so, would
it not be legitimate to approach, at
least for once, existence and the act of
coming into existence from the
perspective of the existence of God?
In
the past, Muslim theologians argued the
necessity of God from the
unacceptability of an unending chain of
causes. Everything in the universe is
finite, transient, it begins and ends.
Also, anything that begins and ends
needs a cause or originator to bring it
into existence since nothing can
originate itself. (Even man, despite
being the most conscious and powerful of
creatures, has no part in his coming
into existence, in the time and place of
his birth, in determining his family,
his race, his bodily features, nor has
he much control over the workings of his
body.) In short, as every existent needs
an originator and the chain of
originators cannot regress for ever,
there must be an absolute originator,
self-originating, self-existent,
self-subsistent. This is God, without
beginning and end, eternal.
Even
if the existence of the universe is
attributed to some entity other than
God-to evolution or causality or nature
or matter or coincidences and
necessity-no one can deny that
everything displays, though its coming
into existence, its subsistence and
death, an all-comprehensive knowledge,
and an absolute power and determination.
As we saw in the experiment referred to
above, a single misplaced or misdirected
gene, may suffice to ruin or prevent
life. The interconnectedness of
everything, from galaxies to atoms, is a
reality into which every new entity
enters and wherein it must know its
unique place and function. And is there
not a further demonstration of the
existence and free operation of an
all-comprehensive knowledge, and
absolute power and will, that particles
made up of the same bio-chemical
constituents should be able to produce
through the subtlest adjustments in
their pattern of mutual relationships,
entities and organisms which are unique?
Is it satisfactory to explain this as
heredity or coincidence, seeing that all
such explanations again rest upon the
same all-encompassing knowledge,
absolute power and will?
We
must not be misled by the apparent fact
that everything happens according to a
certain program or plan or process of
causes
We
must not be misled by the apparent fact
that everything happens according to a
certain program or plan or process of
causes. This process of causes is a veil
spread over the flux of the universe,
the ever-moving stream of events. The
‘laws of nature’ which may be
inferred from this process of causes
have a nominal, not a real and concrete,
existence. Unless we attribute to nature
the attributes we would normally
attribute to the Creator of nature, we
must accept that it is, in essence and
reality, a printing mechanism, not a
printer, a design, not a designer, a
passive recipient, not an agent, an
order, not an orderer, a collection of
nominal laws, not a power. The same
argument holds if, in place of ‘nature’,
we choose the terms ‘matter’ or (the
preference of French biologist Jacques
Monod) ‘coincidence and necessity’.
One
of the points which entangles, and
brings down, materialist scientific
explanations is ‘eternity’. In order
to perceive eternity, science must first
acknowledge the inevitable limitations
of its being a product of human reason.
Man is a part of existence or creation,
and therefore a finite being, and it is
impossible for a finite being to
comprehend the Infinite:
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The
Infinite cannot be of the same kind
as the finite.
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Man
is enveloped by time and space which
are two of the dimensions of
existence, that is, they are not
there before, but there together
with creation. So, unless one goes
beyond the limits of time and space,
it is impossible for one to
comprehend eternity. This can be
attained, not by, in the terminology
of Kant, the theoretical reason, but
by the practical reason, by
spiritual experience or
enlightenment, or by one’s inner
conscience.
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God
is not dependent on time. Possessing
absolute Will, He is not compelled
to do or not do anything. He created
the universe.
The
universe is like a book each sentence,
each word and each letter of which is
interrelated with every other
The
universe is like a book each sentence,
each word and each letter of which is
interrelated with every other. By
manifesting His Names, God gets this
book to ‘speak’, to be listened to
or read by man. The original or
essential meaning of this book
originates in the Knowledge of God. In
other words, before coming into material
existence, the universe existed in the
Knowledge of God. Through manifestation
of Will and Power in the sphere of
Knowledge, the meanings in the Knowledge
appeared as the letters, words and
sentences of the book of the universe.
The universe which God fastened to the
‘string’ of time is the result of
Divine manifestation of Will and Power
in the sphere of His knowledge. For an
existent being, coming into existence
means transference from the sphere of
Knowledge to the sphere of Power. By
dying, it is transferred to the sphere
of Knowledge again, but after it has
acquired a new state proper for a new,
eternal life in the other, eternal
world. This can be made more
understandable through the following
analogy, which was explained before in
this book:
The
meaning of a book exists in the mind of
its author before he writes it. Even
though he does not write it, the article
or the book has an ‘essential’
existence in the form of meaning. In
order to make this meaning visible in
the material world, the author should
‘mould’ it into letters. Readers can
know the author through the book. The
book’s being there to be read
indicates its having an author with the
ability to write it. Likewise, the
universe points to all the Names of God,
including the All-Powerful, the
All-Knowing and the Possessor of Will.
These Names are indicative of the
Attributes of Knowledge, Power and Will,
which, in turn, demonstrate the One Who
has them.
God
has many other Names or Attributes and
therefore many kinds of manifestations.
As the manifestations of, primarily, His
Will and Power in Knowledge brought the
universe into existence and still
originate new lives incessantly, so His
manifestation of Speech in the same
Knowledge gave visible existence to the
Qur’an, the last and the most perfect
form of the Divine Scriptures. The
present, revealed form of the Qur’an
is, in one way, a counterpart of the
universe in letters. In the same way as
a magnificent building and the booklet
describing it indicate the architect who
produced them, the Qur’an and the
universe, being two different forms or
kinds of Divine manifestation, are signs
of the Creator. The Qur’an came from
the Divine Attribute of Speech, while
the universe originated from the Divine
Attributes of Will and Power. Both have
their sources in the same Knowledge, the
Knowledge of God. For this reason, any
science-whether biology or physics or
chemistry or astronomy or
psychology-which studies the universe or
man can never be contradictory with the
religion of Islam. If there is a
contradiction, it is either in the mind
or intention or quality of the scientist
or in a mispresentation of Islam.
The
first revelation in the Qur’an and its
relevance with the meaning of existence
The
first revelation to the Prophet, upon
him be peace and blessings, was:
Read:
In and with the Name of Your Lord
Who created, created man of an
embryo suspended. Read: And your
Lord is the most Munificent, Who
taught by the Pen, taught man that
he knew not.
(al-’Alaq, 96.1-3)
It
is quite significant that the first
command of God to His Messenger, the
unlettered Prophet, was ‘read’, when
there was not yet the Book to read. This
means that there is another book or,
rather, there are two books,
counterparts to the Book which was to be
revealed. These two books are the
universe and man. A believer should
approach the study of universe and man
without prejudice. It is also
significant that the verses of the Qur’an
and the phenomena in the universe and in
man-material and psychological-are both
called ‘signs’. The imperative ‘read!’
is followed, not by a direct object or
an adverbial, but by ‘in and with the
Name of your Lord Who created’. This
signifies:
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‘Reading’
the universe-studying it-has
principles of its own, like, for
example, observation and experiment.
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The
word translated as Lord is Rabb,
among whose meanings are ‘educator,
upbringer, giver of a certain nature’.
God created the universe and man on
a certain pattern, and gave each
entity a particular nature. Man’s
nature includes free will, every
other entity acts according to the
primordial nature assigned to it.
This is what modern science refers
to in the words ‘nature’ and the
‘laws of nature’. What man is
commanded to do is to discover these
‘laws’.
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Every
act of man, including his scientific
studies, should be done in the name
of God, and therefore be an act of
worship. That is the only limit
which the Qur’an or Islam has put
on science. Any act so performed
cannot be against God’s
Commandments. For example, in the
pursuit of scientific knowledge as
worship, no one could harm mankind,
nor put that knowledge in the form
of a deadly weapon in the hands of
an irresponsible minority. If done
only in the name of God, by people
conscious of always being supervised
by God and who will be called to
account before a Supreme Tribunal
for all their actions in the world,
science could change the world into
a garden of Eden.
In
sum: The meaning of existence is from
the existence of God. That is what gives
their true meaning to all things, all
events, all efforts to live and acquire
knowledge. Consider that the smallest
thing like an apple costs the whole
universe, seeing that for its formation
the sun, earth and water must
co-operate, something that the whole
world population working together could
not provide. Whether for the universe as
a whole or a simple life within it, a
great expenditure has been made in
creation. In spite of this, many living
things die at birth, and many others
after a few moments of life. The average
life span of man, who is the ‘cream’
of creation, to whom much of the
existence has been subjugated, is about
60 years. You may, therefore, ask why
such a vast expenditure is made for so
short a life-span. If there is not an
eternal life in an eternal world, will
life and every existent thing have been
pointless, in vain? However, God has not
created anything for vanity. Every
existent is infinitely meaningful,
displaying an infinite knowledge, will
and power. Each is directed to a
particular aim. Each, whether its term
is short or long, is a ‘sign’
pointing to God and is directly related
to Him.
Without
that relation of itself to God, every
entity would mean nothing-zero; and the
universe would be a huge zero. If God is
not recognized, if the meaning His
existence and creativity provide for
existence is not understood, the zeros
would be, each one, a sort of ‘black
hole’ absorbing all the Divine
manifestations and beauties. It is
belief which removes the dark veil from
creation and manifests the meaning it
carries. Through belief, each of the ‘black
holes’ changes-according to the degree
of its refinement-into a shining sun,
moon or star which manifests the
meaning, aim and beauty it has been
given by its Creator.
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