The Roots of Religion
Lesson 7: The Creatures Eternal need for Allah
Examine the following examples, and then you will realize the extent to which the creatures of this world show the presence of a Creator.
How do those who construct airplanes act together to produce a plane? These specialized engineers assemble the metal sections in a specific manner according to exact equations so that the plane may fly, carrying passengers and cargo. Of course, the work of the construction engineers is the assembly with their own hands of the basic materials according to their plans, in such a way that when their work is finished their activity ends. As for the metal sections, the engines, the lights, the seats, etc., which are made by the engineers, these do not depend upon them once their work is finished.
If we want to build a house and we are in possession of all the raw materials, is that sufficient? Surely, we need a builder and his workmen not in order to produce the raw materials but so as to put them together according to their craft. It is clear that we do not need the workmen for producing the materials used in the building, but that we need them only in so far as the use of these materials is concerned in this way a house can be built from these materials.
A person who has never seen the Eiffel Tower can nevertheless construct it in his imagination in no time at all, merely from having heard about it. He can even construct it higher than it is, and imagine people climbing it.
The existence of the Tower in the imagination is, as suggested in the previous two examples, the work of the one who has imagined it. The basic materials of the plan and the house were not produced by their constructors, but all the materials for the imagined Tower were made by the one who imagined it, not obtained from some place or another. That is why their size is not dependent on the quantity of raw material available, and it can be made larger according to the wish of the one who imagines it. We can see that imaginary forms derive their existence from ourselves. They remain in our minds as long as we want them to, and when we forget about them they become nothing again, and have no further existence in our imagination.
From this last example we can conclude that anything whose existence depends on the existence of something else cannot be independent, and at every moment has need of the other.
Now we can understand the condition of the created things of this world, which have come into existence from nothing and are the creation of God. Are these, at every moment, in need of their creator? Some people may think that the created things of this world, after their creation, do not stand in need of their creator for their continued existence. However this is a completely erroneous concept. Because the things in the world are the effects and creations of God and are identical with the imagined forms, which we ourselves can construct in imaginations, in that at every moment they need the One who created them in order to continue existing.
The better to understand this, imagine in your mind a human figure, speaking, walking and working according to his will. Does this figure have any independence? Clearly his existence is due to you, for if you cease to want him to exist, he will be annihilated and returned to nothingness.
This is the condition of the entire universe of creation, which is completely from God, created by Him, and in no way independent. It is always in need of God. Also, if God ceased to will its existence, it would return to nothingness.
Allah has said in the Holy Qur’an:
“O men, you are the ones that have need of Allah, He is the All sufficient. The All laudable. If He will, He can put you away and bring a new creation.” (S. 35: V.15-16)
This is a subject to which Islam directs the attention of its followers. For example, it is instructed that in prayer (salat) when one rises one should say bi hawli'l-lahi wa quwwatihi aqumu wa aq'ud - “With the power of Allah I do stand up and sit down.'
In truth, if we realize that we have no independence from God, and that it is only He Who has created us thinking and willing creatures to strive in the way of happiness, and that it is only He Whose all-embracing Love encompasses us. Therefore we prostrate before Him and say subhana rabbi al-a'la wa bi hamdah – Glory be to my Supreme Lord and Praise be to Him.”
Questions
Is an airplane independent of its manufacturer?
What will happen if the manufacturer abandons the airplane?
Will it cease to exist due to abandonment?
How would one make such a finely built device to cease existing?
What is the difference between a real and a make belief object?
When a make belief object cease to exist?
What is the similarity between a make belief object and things that the Creator has made?
Why do the creatures need the creator all the time?
What is the proof to show that creatures do not need the creator?
What is the proof to show that creatures do need the creator all the time?
According to the verse of the holy Qur’an who is self-sufficient and who is not so?
According the above verse whom has the power to replace one nation by another?