Part 2
Is Allah just or merciful?
Other fields apart, it is impossible to bring justice and mercy together in the field of trial in a law-court. In order to show mercy to the offender, justice will have to be ignored and in order to uphold justice, mercy will have to be sacrificed.
It is said that Allah is just and merciful. How is it possible? Is He just in one case and merciful in another?
Does anything happen without the permission of Allah?
It is said that nothing happens without the permission of Allah. Not even the leaf of a tree can tremble without his consent. Indeed, if something can happen against His will or without His consent His omnipotence will be called in question. But if everything happens according to His will what is the fault or sin of the offender?
What about the eon prior to the era of creation?
According to religious doctrine the Almighty God has a fancy for creating animals and their world all on a sudden. He commanded, ‘Let there be’ and instantly, ’there was’. Everything came into being-the world, the animals and birds, trees and herbs, insects and worms and man and woman. It took only six days to accomplish the entire creation of the whole universe. But why did the almighty God suddenly become active after an immeasurable period of inactivity is a mystery never explained by the priests.
The period between the time of creation of the world along with the living beings and the present time is divided into several ages. According to Hindu scriptures there are four ages called the Age of ‘Satya’ lasting for 1,728,000 years, the Age of ‘Dwapar’ lasting for 864,000 years and, finally, the Age of ‘Kali’, - the Age of sins lasting for 432,000 years. The total duration of these four Ages adds up to 4,320,000 years. But the age of ‘Kali’ will take about 427,000 years from now to come to an end. It means that above four ages in total amount 3,893,000 years, which is shorter than the latest geological time of Pleistocene (Glacial) epoch. This epoch is now nearly five million years old.
According to the Holly Bible life and the world were created in 4004 B.C. and the present year is 1972 A.D***. This makes the present age of the world 5976 years, say, 6000 years (which is ludicrously small).***
Astronomers like Kepler are of the opinion that our sun was created 5,000,000,000 years ago and our Galaxy was created another 5,000,000,000 years before that. Some scientists think that our earth is 4,000,000,000 years old.
The geological study of the formation of earth’s layers has led the scientists to divide this geological time into several eras, the earliest of which is called the Precambrian era (Proterozoic and Archeozoic) comprising the entire period prior to five hundred million years preceding today. During this geological era there was no sign of any kind of creature or life in the earth which was a burning sphere in the process of cooling off and becoming a mass solid and liquid matter involved with an atmosphere of zonal climate and local weather. Then came the Paleozoic era of geological history characterized by the development of invertebrates and the appearance of reptiles, amphibians and seed bearing plants. This era is 310,000,000 years old, which was followed by the 120,000,000-year-old Mesozoic era of the dinosaurs and evergreen trees. This has been followed by the 70,000,000 years old Cenozoic era which is continuing as the most recent era in geological history characterized notably by rapid evolution of the mammals including all lower animals and Homo-sapiens (the human race) in the last fifty thousand years. This is in accordance with the scientific evolutionary theory propounded by the biologists.
Opinions regarding the duration of the different aeons discussed above vary from six thousand years to one billion years. Be that as it may, counting of eras, whether religious or scientific, starts with the creation. So we can call these eras taken together the ’era of creation’. It is in this era of creation that the activities of the Almighty God are seen- activities like conducting the movements of the heavenly spheres and supervising the maintenance of provisions for the created beings of this world.
God is limitless and so is time. But the eras are of limited duration. Time exists concurrently with God. There can be no comparison of thousands or millions of years with ‘infinite time’. There was certainly an immeasurable period of time when there was no creation at all. We can call that period of time ’timeless eon’ or ‘uncreated eon’. What was the Almighty God busy doing during that timeless uncreated eon?
Is God merciful?
‘Mercy’ / ‘Kindness’ is a noble quality. One who has this quality is called ‘Kind’. Man can be kind but not merciful because however much he may have the quality he may never achieve fulfillment in it. But God is full of mercy for which reason He is called ‘The Merciful’.
If someone gives food to a hungry man but robs a traveler of his belongings, saves a drawing man and kills another; or gives home to a homeless man and sets another’s home in fire, can he be called merciful? The answer perhaps will be no. But in spite of similar activities God is entitled to the epithets of ‘The most Merciful, the most Beneficent’, let us now discuss the matter a bit.
In the animal world those who devour and those who are devoured are very much in existence. When a strong animal feeds on a weak animal God is undoubtedly ‘merciful’ to the former. But is he merciful to the devoured animal as well? When a snake gets hold of a frog and swallows it slowly, He is certainly merciful to the snake. But is He not merciless towards the frog? On the other hand, if He shows mercy to the frog will not the snake die from hunger? Instead of making some animals food to some others couldn’t God make lifeless materials like clay and metals fit to be clean? If he couldn’t, how come earthworms feed on the soil?
If saving the life of creature is a merciful act and killing a creature is a merciless act, then in the matter of devouring and being devoured God is more merciless than merciful. However, none but He himself knows how many times more merciless than merciful He is. Who knows how many fishes, chickens, goats etc. He gets killed in order to save the life of one man? Who knows how many anchovies he gets killed to save the lives of halibut, a mackerel and a heron? Why has god so much mercy for the consumers of fish and meat? Why has he so little mercy for the weak, unfortunate, helpless victims? Don’t they look upon Him as “The Merciful”? Has He no mercy for them?
It is said that man is God’s choice creature. For this reason He is more kind to man than to any other creature. But why does his kindness vary from man to man? God has kindly given life to man and He has also given the feelings of hunger and thrust, happiness and sorrow, to all men in equal measure. Yet why isn’t there equidistribution of God’s kindness in respect of man’s livelihood? Some people live in a magnificent palace while some other live under a tree. Some have four square meals a day, of choice dishes whereas others hanker after stale rice soaked in water with a sprinkling of salt and a burnt red pepper. Why is this so? There are those who make new records in athletic contests and win medals in wrestling and boxing, but there are also blind and cripple who, sitting on a pavement, are tramped on by others. Why is this partiality in the distribution of God’s mercy? Furthermore, is there anything called destiny? If there is, why does nobody have the good fortune of enjoying permanent peace? Who controls man’s destiny?
To save the life of someone is unquestionably an act of mercy but to kill someone is not a merciful act. On the contrary, it is a sign of being merciless. In the world, birth rate is more or less equal to death rate. Therefore, God is equally merciful and merciless in the matter of birth and death. In other words, the quantity of God’s mercy in this respect is equal to the quantity of his merciless.
In the context of the above discussion some people may think that God is neither merciful nor merciless. He is an invisible, ineffable entity. If it were not so will He not be responsible for infant death and unnatural death as well as for natural disasters like tornado, flood, pestilence and earthquake which cause large scale loss of lives?
Why keep a diary of vices and virtues?
Religious priests tell us that there are two angels sitting on the two shoulders of every man to write down his vices and virtues. They also say that Allah will deliver His Last Judgment on man on the basis of the reports of the angels. We are told that Allah is omniscient and omnipotent. In that case, does He not see for Himself man’s vices and virtues? Or, even if He sees and even if the number of people be very large and length of period very long has He not the power to remember them till the Judgment day?
Are the tortures in the grave justifiable?
It is said that Allah is the sole judge of vice and virtue. Everybody will die and wait till the Day of Judgment when at the end of a fair trial the sinners will be sent to hell while the virtuous will be sent to heaven. But it is also said that immediately after the burial of dead, angel Mankir and angel Nakir will begin their interrogation and start punishing those who will fail to give satisfactory answers. So the question is, why is it so? If Allah is to judge people’s vices and virtues and if sinners are to suffer the miseries of hell and the virtuous expect equal treatment from chief Justice Allah until the trial is held? If it is said that the tortures suffered by the sinners in the graves are the punishment inflicted on them by Allah inconsequence of their sins, what need is there for staging a nock trail on the Judgement day?
Can He not make the sinners suffer hellish pain and the virtuous enjoy heavenly pleasure by sending them directly to hell and heaven respectively as soon as they die?
The description of the torture in the grave clearly indicates that it takes place under the ground and not on the surface of the earth. Now it is often found that many people die in unexpected accidents and the unburied dead bodies lie scattered here and there to be eaten by foxes, dogs, crows and vultures. Are they put to the torture, too? If so, how?
Semitic races and followers of Judaism, Christianity and Islam bury their dead but people of other nation dispose of the dead in different ways like floating them in the river or the sea, putting them out in the open field or on the top of a mountain or by cremating them. How are these dead bodies put to the torture in the grave? If they are exempted for not being in the grave what is the benefit of burring the dead?
What is the nature of the world beyond death?
The life believed to follow death implies that there must be a world beyond death. But the claim regarding the afterlife is strong and clear whereas the description of the world hereafter is complicated and hazy. A man’s life in this world is very short, hardly sixty, seventy or one hundred years. He spends this short span of life in exploring and investigating natural objects and phenomena to quench his thirst for knowledge. He is even experimenting with and making use of nuclear power by splitting up the molecules of matter. But he has only superficial idea of the next world in which he will live an eternal life.
A geographical account of the eternal world is found in the description of the spiritual tours made by religious preceptors. According to their description the eternal world is deviled into three areas, namely, the wide plains of ‘Hashar’, Heaven and Hell. They are interconnected because starting from the plains of ‘Hashar’ one can reach hell and by crossing the straight and narrow bridge ‘Pulsirat’ one can step into heaven. A miniature image can be formed with a few places in this world. The Arabian Sea can be imagined as a molten fire (hell). There is a bridge over it from Mobay to Aden. Now if the subcontinent of India be the plains of ‘Hashar’ the kingdom of Saudi Arabia is heaven. Isn’t it the position like that?
Be that as it may, there are clear indications in the description of the physical features of ‘Hashar’ that the eternal world is governed by a solar system. It is said that in the plains of ‘Hashar’ the scorching heat a cool and soothing breeze will blow in heaven. It appears from this account that this parade ground and hell will be the torrid zone of that world and heaven will be situated in the temperate zone.
We do not know the boundaries of the ‘Hashar’ nor do we know how much larger or smaller the area of the eternal world is compared to this world but heaven and hell must be finite since there are eight heavens and seven hells. That which can be numbered is bound to be limited for the simple reason that however large a heaven or hell may be in area, a new one cannot come into existence unless the previous one is demarcated. Therefore, when the boundaries of any one of them have been determined it is certain that rest of them have also been delimited. Now the question is, will there be any country outside the range of heaven, hell and plains of ‘Hashar’? If there be any, will it have inhabitants?
It is said that the sun will be there in the eternal world to give heat. Will it not give light as well? If it does will day and night appear there alternatively? How will this occur? Will the sun move? Or will the other world move round the sun like this world? Or will there be eternal daylight?
Why does Allah take the trouble of persuading aberrant people through religious instructors instead of changing them Himself?
Allah is omnipotent. He can, if he so desires, make the impossible things to possible. If the purpose of the creation of man is that man will pray to Him and worship Him, can he not make all men serve His purpose***? If He can why does he take trouble of mending men with the help of fellow men? Does it not interfere with His main purpose?*** No man preached Hazrat Ibrahim, Musa, Isa and Muhammad (peace be upon them). But why did He not reform the Kafirs like Namrud, Saddad, Feraun and Abu Zahel? Did he deliberately refrain from reforming them? Or did he fail to do so?
Is predestination unchangeable?
Although man is ignorant of the future yet he goes on doing his worldly duties because he believes in results of his work. Society and state are founded on the works of the people and they continue to exist because there is reward for work. The State and society teach people that if they work they will be rewarded. BUT RELIGION TEACHES THE OPPOSITE. Religion says, “Go on working. You will get your foreordained fortune as written on your forehead by destiny”. Well, in this case man works on right but the reward of his work remains in the custody of the Creator as something already destined. Man does not know if he will get the expected reward for this work. It is possible to work with a skeptical mind regarding the outcome because man can expect that there is a chance of his getting reward. But religion says whether may be your actions, your reward is fixed and foreordained- you will get exactly that, neither more, nor less. Now if this case, that is, if what is lotted cannot be blotted, what good is it working? Especially if the results of human actions are predestined by God, why should man be responsible for his actions whether ‘honest’ or ‘dishonest’.
Suppose a man is destined to be condemned to Hell. Now will he not commit sins and crimes like burglary, robbery and murder commensurate with the punishment he will get? If he does, whose desire is at work here? His own desire or God’s desire? On the other hand, if his actions are pious rather than sinful will his predestined damnation turn into salvation? If it does not, is the significance of preaching merely temporal? And if one’s destiny is subject to revision, depending on one’s actions, why did not the omniscient God make the first list faultless on the basis of his fore-knowledge of this possible change in one’s actions? Does God himself accept the exchangeability of pre destination? If He does not, why he writes it? And if He does, how can He enjoy independent power once he prepared the scroll of destiny? Is the present duty of God confined only to implementing the schemes of this scroll by making people work as listed herein? Has the creator of this universe no emergency duty? Is there no call for Him to take prompt action?
Why is there fixed time for prayers?
It is found that in almost all religions there are certain fixed hours for certain prayers. But it is not understood why the Lord of the universe should withhold His acceptance if a person says his/her prayers before or after the fixed hours? Islam enjoins saying one’s prayers five times a day at particular hours and there are certain hours when prayers are forbidden.
The diurnal motion of the earth causes difference in the local time of the countries situated in different longitudes as a result of which there is a prayer time at every moment of the day and night in some places or other. Yet it is forbidden to say one’s prayers at sunrise, at 12 noon and at sunset. What is its significance? The sun rises at different hours at different places – earlier in eastern countries and later in the western countries. So when prayers are forbidden here it is not forbidden elsewhere at that particular moment. For instance, when the sun rises at Barishal, it is yet to rise in Calcutta and it had already risen in Chittagong a few minutes ago. Thus, when prayers are forbidden at Barishal, it is not forbidden in Calcutta or Chittagong. In that case, is there any sense in forbidding prayers at particular hours?
The same question applies to prescribed hours for prayers. Since every moment is a prayer time in some place or other what is the point in fixing certain hours for certain prayers?
There was a time when was supposed to be flat and stationary which would make the hour of clock at any given moment identical in all the countries or places of the world with no variation in local time. Probably this notion led to the prescribed prayer–schedule. But now it has been proved that the earth is a moving sphere. Let us now discuss the problems arising out of the erroneous notion.
Suppose after saying his afternoon prayer “Zohar” at half past one, a man started for Holly Mecca by plane from Chittagong flying at a speed of 3000 miles per hour. On reaching there he found that it was yet to be noon. Will he have to say the “Zohar” prayer once again when the appointed time for it comes?
If a plane flies west at a speed 1041.67 miles per hour, the sun will appear to be at rest as if it stood motionless at one place and the passengers will have no idea of the time of day – morning, noon or evening – by looking at the sun. In this circumstance, how will the passengers take care of their prayers and fasting?
It is only in the equatorial region of the earth that at certain times of the year the day and night are of equal or nearly equal duration. But the further north and south we travel from this region, the longer are the days or nights depending on the season of the year. In some countries near the arctic region days become so long in summer that soon after dusk the sun rises again with no night between evening and dawn. How will one say one’s Esha prayer there?
In the arctic region about six months of continuous daytime is followed by a night lasting for six months. Since we get only one day and one night there it may be possible to say one’s prayers five times a year but how can one fast there for thirty days from dawn to dusk?