8-Belief and Islam - Hakikat Kitabevi

Further, in these nuclear fissions one element turns into
another; and some mass of matter ceases to exist and turns
into energy, and this change has even been formulated by the
Jewish physicist Einstein (d. 1375 A.H. (1955)]. So, like
compounds, elements change and may turn from one into
another.
Every substance, living or lifeless, changes, that is, the old
one disappears and a new one comes into being. Every living
being, plant or animal that exists today used to be nonexistent,
and there were other living beings. And in the future, none of
the present living beings will remain, and some other living
beings will come into existence. So is the case with all lifeless
beings. All living and lifeless beings, for example, the element
iron and the compounds stone and bone, and all particles
always change, that is, the old ones disappear, and others
come into being. When the peculiarities of the substance that
comes into being and those of the substance that disappears
are alike, man, being unable to notice this change, supposes
that the substance is always existent. An example of this is
seen in a movie, where a different picture comes in front of the
eye at certain short intervals, yet, being unable to notice this,
the watchers suppose that the same picture moves on the
screen. When a piece of paper burns and becomes ashes, we
say that the paper disappeared and ashes came into being,
because we notice this change. When ice melts, we say that ice
disappeared and water came into being.
It is written at the beginning of the book Sharh al-Aqâ’id,
“Because all beings signify Allâhu ta’âlâ’s existence, all
creatures are called the ’âlam. Also, each class of beings of the
same kind is called an ’âlam, for example, the ’âlam of human
beings, the ’âlam of angels, the ’âlam of animals, the ’âlam of
the lifeless. Or each object is called an ’âlam.”
It is writen on the 441st page of the book Sharh al-
Mawâqif, [1] “The ’âlam is hâdith, i.e. everything is a creature. In
other words, it came into being later while it had been
nonexistent. [And we have explained above that creatures
always come into being from one another.] Both matter and
peculiarities of substances are hâdith. On this subject, there
[1] Sayyid Sherif Alî Jurjânî, the author of the book Sharh-i mawâqif
passed away in Shiraz in 816 [1413 A.D.].
- 86 -