English PDF - Ahmadiyya Gazette Canada

Some of the needs of the meanestworm that crawls on the earth,are being provided by a planetwhich is travelling billions ofmiles away from the earth. Let thecontemplation of this circle of thewant and its satisfaction teach usthat this universe has a Creator,Who has not omitted to foresee oursmallest want and has providedthe means of satisfaction of everyyearning and every true desire.Another question which issometimes asked is, if God is aBeneficent Creator, why has Hecreated things like wild and savageanimals, worms and reptiles, pains,troubles, ailments, and pestilences,etc. Islām offers an explanation ofthis also. For instance, the HolyQur’ān says:‘All praise is dueto God Whohas created theheavens and theearth and hasmade the lightand darkness, andyet those who deny thetruth associate others withHim.’ (Al-An‘am, 6:2)ُْ ک‏ َ ذَ‏ َThat is to say, all things that aretroublesome and are called thechildren of darkness, for instance,reptiles, wild beasts, poisons,plagues, etc., are also the creationof God, and their creation doesnot offend against the attribute ofMercy but on the contrary provesthe Mercy of God. If their truenature is considered, they add tothe praise and glory of God and donot in any way detract from it. Yetthose who are ignorant of the natureof these things regard their creationas derogatory to God and associateothers with Him, believing thatthese things must have been createdby some other being. See howbeautifully Islām has unveiled thetruth and has explained the objectof creating those things whichappear at first sight to be harmful.It teaches that they have all beencreated for a useful purpose andthat man ought to praise God fortheir creation. Considered in thislight the whole position is reversed.Arsenic, strychnia and morphia aredeadly poisons, yet how frequentlyare they used to relieve humandistress and to combat disease? Domore men die of these poisons, orare more men saved through them?Millions of men are every yearsaved from the clutches of death bythe use of these poisons. How canذَ‏ َ ُit then be said that these things areharmful or even useless? The sameis the case with snakes, scorpionsand other reptiles. Much attentionhas not yet been devoted to thesecreatures, but further research isbound to disclose the fact that theirexistence is of great value from thescientific and medical points ofview. Besides, as it appears fromthe Holy Qur’ān, the creation ofthese insects, reptiles, etc., was apreliminary to the creation of man,and they had a large share in thepurification of the atmosphere ofthe earth. These insects and animalswere in fact the first links in thecreation of man. Not, however,in the sense in which evolution isgenerally understood in these days,but as indicating and representingthe different stages of developmentthrough which the earth has passed.Again He says:‘One of His bounties is thecreation of the heavens andthe earth, and of all livingthings between them, and Hecan do away with them whenHe pleases, and whateverbefalls you is the consequenceof your own actions; andGod suppresses many evilconsequences of your errors.’(Al-Shūra, 42:30,31)In other words God has created thesun, the moon and the stars andthe heavens and the earthand all that is betweenthem to serve man,َbut if he fails to takeَْadvantage of them َّ َ or misuses anyof them and thussuffers loss or injury,it is his own fault. Inmany cases, God avertsthe evil consequences of man’serrors, and the evils suffered byhim are not, therefore, due to God’saction but to man’s contravention ofthe laws of nature which had beendevised for his benefit. Disease isalso due to the action of the activeand the impressible faculties withwhich man has been endowed. Allman’s progress is due to the actionand reaction of these faculties andif these faculties did not exist, manwould not be what he is. Undera general law of nature, maninfluences all things around himand is in his turn influenced by allof them. Whenever in this processof influencing or being influenced12 The Islāmic Conception of Godَْ ‏ل َُا ‏ل ‏مُ‏ ا ‏لْ‏ ‏مَدْ‏ ‏لیْ‏ ا ‏ل ‏ْذَ‏ یْرا ‏لل ذُ‏یْما ‏ل یْمُ‏ ا ‏لْ‏ُذَ‏ ذُوْرُ‏ ا ‏ل‏ شَّ‏ ‏لُوْ‏ را ‏لْ‏ا ‏لَْ‏ ‏َیُّ‏ ا ‏ل یْری یُ‏یْ‏ ‏ط ا لْمُیْ‏ا ‏ل ‏ْحَ‏ ذُ‏ یْ‏ا ‏ْحَسَ‏ ‏ل ذُ‏ذَ‏ ُذَ‏