Scientists' views

Scientists and scholars of different fields around the world may have different views in regard to the belief of God; how can we decide who is right and who is wrong?! There is a profound and meaningful statement from the Amir-Ol-Mo'menin (PBUH) which is a guiding response to such questions:

Recognize the Truth (Haq), subsequently you will realize its adherents.

(Nahj-Ol-Balaaghah)

Therefore the first thing that we have to do, is to find the Truth, then anyone whose opinions are in closer conformity with the Truth, he may be close to the Right Path and whomever whose views are far from the Truth -no matter how famous he may be- he surely may not be considered an adherent of the Truth.

We have defined many standards in our lives for things we use; but have we defined a reliable standard for the belief in God?! Obviously, the only God-defined standard for the belief in God, is the Word of God Himself. There are many historical reasons which prove that unfortunately, both the Old and New Testaments have been distorted and the original Torah, the words of other previous Prophets (PBUT) and Gospel have not been preserved (refer to the article "...Jesus... Mohammad… (PBUT)", in this Site). In addition to the historical proofs, the existing contrasts and unbelievable concepts within these scriptures, are other reasons which prove that the Bible has been distorted. for instance, in the Book of Genesis, a wrestling match between God and the Prophet Ya'qoob -Jacob- (PBUH) is described in which God is the loser and as the result, God is forced to bless Jacob with Prophethood!!! It also narrates a story about the same Prophet and his mother, who lied to his father, the Prophet Es-haaq (PBUH) who had weak eyesight in his old age, and forced his father to choose him as the succeeding Prophet in place of his older brother!!! Elsewhere it talks about the Prophet Noah (PBUH) -an Olol Azm Prophet- (May Allah forgive us for repeating these) getting drunk and naked!!! In the Book of Laviticus, it is stated that a man is not allowed to marry two sisters at the same time and this act is Haraam and therefore a sin, and children born of such act are considered as illegitimate and may not be considered in the congregation of God for ten generations; but the Bible also indicates that Ya'qoob (PBUH) married two sisters -his two cousins- at the same time and the Prophet Moses (PBUH) was the 2nd & 3rd descendant of this act; i.e. according to Bible, Moses was the result of a sin and therefore, not allowed to enter the congregation of God, let alone, being a major Prophet!!! The story of Prophet Loot (PBUH) and the pregnancy of his two daughters from him is just too much and adding to that, is that according to this distorted Bible -the Gospel of Mathew- the Prophet Jesus (PBUH) was a descendant of that sin!!! These have been only a few of such distorted claims in the Bible... . This is truly heart-breaking! How can anyone with a sound mind, choose this distorted Bible as a standard for the belief of God?! As Qur'an indicates, if any word is from other than God, there will be many contradictions in it (Qur’an, Surah Nesa’, verse82); May Allah hasten the Appearance of Mahdi (PBUH) -alongwith the second coming of Jesus (PBUH)-who will bring with him the original undistorted Torah and Gospel.

The Prophets (PBUT) of God are infallible, they are the representatives of Allah; only the best and the purest can represent the Almighty; Qur'an introduces them as the chosen best (Surah Saad, verse 47).

Truly Qur'an is the only undistorted Word of Allah and the true standard for the belief of God (please also see the articles "True love", "How has Qur'an been protected from distortions?", "Ghadir, heart of qur'an",... in this Site).

A scientist may appear to be a successful person in a certain field, but his Fetrat may be buried under dark dusts of arrogance, lust, obstinacy ,sins and...; therefore his views regarding God has no significance whatsoever. We also have to keep in mind that the field that he is an expert in, may change with the progress of knowledge and many things that he was sure about may prove to be wrong too, for instance in the field of medicine, some day Aspirin was thought to be helpful for fever, later it was proven to be even fatal for a feverish child!

On the other hand, we may hear views of scientists who have clearer Fetrat -while they may not even be Muslims- and we may find that their views -due to their cleaner Fetrat- are closer to the Truth (Haq). Let us read together certain such opinions:

The renowned psychologist of our time, Carl Jung, writes about the stipulated and original instincts of the human soul.

“It is an undisputed fact that some of the thoughts are found in every place and in every era. These are not transferred from one place to another. These have not reached from heart to heart. These thoughts are not the inventions of man. But it is found in every individual instinctively. Or rather it can be said that it imposes itself on the human conscience. It is not Platonic philosophy, but a psychological fact.”

The same scientist writes on religious beliefs and its instinctive aspect; thus:

“It is undeniable that religion is the oldest and the most common aspect of human soul. On this basis, all those psychologies which are related to the soul of man cannot overlook this fact that religion is not an invention of society or history. In fact, it is an important individual problem.”

Perhaps, for this reason he named the second chapter of his book “Psychology and Religion”. He writes about his selection. “Our discussion is regarding those specific facts which inspire the human soul for virtual search of religion.”

Another expert psychologist, T. Dukeneten, writes about search of other aspects of human soul:

“Even today, such thoughts are prevalent that thinkers from different schools of thoughts are approving and accepting it. And those thoughts are religious emotion, which form a part of primary elements in the human soul. These emotions are so strong and firm and clear that we cannot exchange with any other fact.” ^{[Religeous feeling or 4th dimension of human soul]}

In modern times, the contemporary thinkers are striving to draw the attention towards the religious sentiments and are carrying a scientific movement for its permanence. Apart from the intellectual and evidential aspects of religion, there is another dimension to the religion and that is purely instinctive and non-intellectual, which is spearheading its influence in the Western world. But beyond instinct and intelligence, there are also such elements and factors which are found in the soul of every man subconsciously, before any deliberation or mediation. The speciality of the present times is the discovery of “space”, the fourth dimension of the physical sciences, different from the other three dimensions: length, breadth and depth, but encompasses these dimensions.

Similarly, in today’s world, the fourth concept of 'Divine Recognition’ has gained prominence, while surpassing the former three concepts of ‘Beauty, Goodness, Truthfulness’. This fourth concept is the same fourth dimension of human soul. Certainly it is different from the former three concepts, but probably it may be the cause of existence of these three concepts.

The world famous intellectual and author L. Downey writes in his celebrated book “The Destiny of Man”:

“The spirit of religion exists in us and it existed even before the existence of religion. The mission of Prophets and religions was to guide and propagate it. This mystical aspiration is the basic characteristic of man. This aspiration is found in the depth of our hearts and it awaits the birth of a capable man, so that like chemical processes, he can convert it into real mysticism and true faith.”

If you pay utmost attention to these statements, you will find that it is similar to the beliefs of Muslims, who believe that the recognition of God is instilled into the instincts of every human, and that the tasks of Prophets (PBUT) in this regard were only reminding and awakening the sleeping Fetrat of humankind; also the belief that a tragedy or alike may cause awakening.

A famous American psychologist, C. Hadley writes his findings about the truth of faith:

“Man desperately feels the need for religion when he doubts about his strength and defence against hardships and calamities. Or when he comes across such incidents and circumstances, by which he becomes certain that he is not the master of his destiny. Until then, man will keep on thinking that his life is in harmony with external and internal world. And those day-to-day problems which can be ignored by paying more attention to this world are mental problems.”

Precisely speaking, we observe that renowned non-Muslim psychologists have confirmed to the Muslim belief that ‘Divine Recognition' in man is instinctive. And they have proved it that belief in Omnipotent and Omniscient God is in the depth of human conscience.

John Ravort writes in his book “Religion in Experiences and Incidents of Human Life”:

“We will not find the cultural life of any nation in whose culture the religion is not found in one way or another. The roots of religion are so deep-rooted in the history that even in the darkest era of history; we will find the existence of religion. Those dark ages of history where the man has not yet reached.”

The famous historian and an expert on civilizational culture, Will Durrant, says that:

“Even the most die-hard skeptical historians submit to the dignity of religion because they know that religion was rampant in every era and everywhere.”

The same historian while replying to the question as to whether “Religion is a fabrication of some people” writes that:

“Priests have not invented religion. As a politician gains from the instinctive inclination, similarly priests also take advantage from such sentiments of people for their own material benefits. But it does not mean that religious faith is the invention of Churches and Synagogues, rather it is the product of human instinct.”

Truly if such scientists try to maintain their sincerety and avoid prejudice... ,they have no reason to reject Islam; this is why Qur'an indicates that the only true religion is Islam (Qur’an, Surah Ale-Emran, verse 19); because if the other religions were not distorted, they all had introduced Islam as submission to Allah and prophesied the coming of Mohammad (PBUH&HP) as the final and the most perfect Prophet with the most complete version of Islam; and therefore, no religion will be accepted except Islam (Qur’an, Surah Ale-Emran, verse 85).

May Allah hasten the Appearance of Mahdi (PBUH) -the final Successor of the final Prophet- who will make manifest the Truth (Haq) and the true Islam... .