CULTURE OF ISLAM

96 Evidence of GOD Part 2

Script of Talk Broadcast on Radio Sri Lanka - FM 97.4
Imtiaz Muhsin 28-Sep-12

The main objective of these talks (and therefore the scripts of these talks), is to stimulate thinking. Sensible, rational and logical thinking. So, my message, think, think & think! Be sensible, be rational and be logical.

96 Evidence of GOD Part 2

Please Note
1. I have had the great privilege, (since Aug 2010), of presenting talks on the weekly Radio Program Culture of Islam [Every Friday 8 to 8.30 pm, Radio Sri Lanka - FM 97.4] 2. Since these are Radio Talks, I refer to, or address the audience as listeners 3. I am well aware that the audience to these talks would consist of people belonging to a variety of faiths. So as to make people of all faiths feel included, I very often use words and names that are common to all religions. 4. For these reasons, I use the name GOD, as well as Abraham, Moses, Jesus etc as well as the names Allah, Ibrahim (Alaihis Salaam), Moosa (Alaihis Salaam), Easa (Alaihis Salaam) etc 5. Muslims by habit usually say Sallallahu Alaihiwasallam, when the name of Prophet Muhammad is mentioned, and Alaihis Salaam' when the name of a Prophet is mentioned. However, in these series of talks I have reduced the use of these prayers & sayings to the bare minimum. 6. Muslims, also by habit, use a number of Arabic prayers or sayings, such as Alhamdulillah, Insha Allah and so on. Again, I have reduced the use of these prayers or sayings to the bare minimum. 7. Sometimes I have to write Arabic words in the English script. I have devised my own way of writing Arabic in English, as follows;

th TH

s Ss SW

DHL DHZ

H h

Gh GH

Information on these talks along with all download links can be found on my on my Blog (http://imtiazm.wordpress.com/) The dates or the schedules of these talks can be viewed on the Facebook Page (http://www.facebook.com/ImtiazMuhsin786) The Scripts of these talks can be downloaded from www.ScribD.com (www.ScribD.com Author Imtiaz Muhsin) The audio files of these talks can be downloaded from YouTube (YouTube Channel Imtiaz Muhsin) The YouTube Link to this talk is at http://youtu.be/k1ClDCncEjA

All Praise and Thanks is due to Allah and Allah alone Alhamdulillah!

96 Evidence of GOD Part 2

96. Evidence for GOD Part 2

Dear Friends, Assalamu Alaikum, This is the second talk in the series titled Evidence for GOD Islam is a very GOD centric religion. The core teachings of this religion, teaches us to recognize GOD and then to work out the purpose of our creation, the purpose of the creation of the Universe, the purposes of life and death, points out to us signs that we are accountable for our actions, that there is going to be a day when we would be shown the deeds we accumalated during our life on earth and that after this day of accountability we would live for ever and for ever either in a place of reward which we call heaven, or place of punishment, which we call Hell. Now during our life time we go through many moods. It is possible that we may face different moods even during one day. We have moods of happiness, moods of sadness even we may say moods of misery. In these moods we generally fell that those who give us happiness should be rewarded whilst those who are the causes of our misery should be punished. Every one of us or a large majority of us would want our parents to be rewarded for the love and attention they hepaed on us and the comfort they provided us not just material comforts but more imortantly the emotional comfort. Similarly everyone of us or a large majority of us have some people in mind, whom we think are deserving of the worst types of punishents it could be some person we move around with, it may be our business competitor, or it could even be someone we have never met. History shows us the lives of many personages who we recognize as those who brought about misery to thousands of people, even misery to populations. Now these ideas or thoughts of Heaven and Hell, of a day of accounting or Judgment Day as we call it, or of a life after death or even a religious purpose for our life on Earth does not just automatically come. This thinking or this perception or this belief has to be built and for it to be built we have to seriously go through and study the evidence that points towards these beliefs. Just being informed of these pointers or just looking at these pointers is not going to convince us. These pointers or this evidence is preached to us at every Mosque, I am sure in every Church and every Synagogue. Probably some part of this evidence is also pointed out by those who deliver sermons in Temples and in Kovils. But then, we speak of these as though we are speaking of some myths. Our actions do not reflect the convictions we claim or the convictions we need. We respect and revere those personages who deliver these messages or preach these sermons to us, but somehow we do not take their messsage too seriously. The pressures and stresses of facing day to day life are so heavy that very often we go against these preachings because we want to meet our goals in life we just do not have time or the urge to discipline ourselves so that we limit our selves to the parameters of these preachings.

96 Evidence of GOD Part 2

Now as Muslims we read the Holy Quran, which contains the many Aayaths or the many Signs or we could even say the many pointers that is evidence for GOD as well as evidence for the many or the infinite attributes of GOD and evidence for life after death as well as the Day of Judgment as well as Heaven and Hell. These Aayaths are not just statements that require us to dogmatically believe in these phenomena, but the Quran itself requires us to logically and rationally work out the messages behind this evidence and to reach rational conclusions. Last week, I began this series of talks on Evidence of GOD, and my argument was tht we should read the Aayaths of the Quran, meditate deeply on its meanings and then to rationally study the evidence put forward by these Aayaths. I described how a Judge would examine evidence produced in a Murder Case and how this evidence would be studied before the Judge reaches his conclusions. My point of bringing up this example was to show how we too should study the evidence that is provided by the Aayaths so that we could be rationally conviced on the truth of what the Aayaths are telling us. In a Murder Case that is being tried in Court, there would be a murdered body, a weapon used for the murder, a site for the crime, fingerprints, witnesses, many of the witnesses would be of various forms, some of them would have been present at the scene of the crime, others could be for example the Manager from the Bank that handled the victims or the suspects bank account, or the Doctor who gives expert advice on the conditon of the victim or the accused and so on. The evidence would be collected by both the Prsecution as well as the Defense. The evidence would be presented to the Judge and this would be inspected or gone through in Court in the presence of the accused, their relatives, their well wishers, as well as relatives of the victim, the team of prosecuting Lawyers as well as the team of Lawyers for Defense would be present as well as Media personnel and members of the Public. There may also be a Jury. Everyone present and watching would be forming their own opinions. Finally the Judge delivers his verdict either guilty or not guilty. Now we could ask the question, how can the judge give a verdict? He was not present at the scene of the murder. He does not know the Victim nor the accused nor did he know anyting abuot the affairs and events that led to this death. How can he reach a conclusion? All of us would know the answer to that question. The Judge studies all the evidence presented to him. He discerns a pattern. He detects a motive. He realizes the stresses and pressures, the greeds and the emotions that the victim and the accused have been undergoing. So even though he ws not present at the scen of the crime he is able to detect the pattern that the evidence points at and with an unbiased view he can reach a fair verdict which by law requires that he should be satisfied beyond all reasonable doubts. Now, I cannot see GOD, I cannot hear GOD nor can I touch Him or feel Him. So I ask, what is the evidence for GOD? Through Science we have learned that there are many physical substances or energies that we just cannot see or hear or feel. Our senses have limitations. We thus use some meters which detect these substances or energies. We all can come up with many examples. X-ray, or Radio Waves, or even the waves that are detected by our Mobile Phones.

96 Evidence of GOD Part 2

Now our argument is that OK we cannot see GOD or hear GOD or feel God, so tell us about some expreiments we can do in the laboratory that detects GOD for us may be through some some GOD-meter!! Does that not sound quite insulting. God is way way above all that. So then how do we detect GOD through viewing, observing, listening, discussing, meditating on the many phenomena in this Universe and as well as in ourselves and discerning not just a simple sequence or a pattern but by being able to work out the design. If there is design there has to be a designer. Design cannot just fall in to place. For example an automobile is obviously designed. By its design we can tell whether it is a Lorry or a Van or a Bulldozer or a Formula 1 Racing Car and so on. It is in the design. In the workings of the automobile there are many features that have obviously been designed. For example the Carburrettor it has to have been designed it just cannot accidently be there. Every element that makes up the Carburrettor has been meticulously designed. That is very obviousl to all of us. Now similarly through the Holy Quran, God is inviting us to examine his Aayaath or His Signs recognize the design and then we could decipher or read in to the purpose or the many series of purposes tht each of these Aayths are pointing out to us. Before I read to you some of these Aayaths, I would like to highlight three important points. Point 1 Over History our perception of many things have changed. Infact it is now very difficult for us to even imagine how people used to view things before certain important discoveries. These groundbreaking discoveries, when announced usually create a lot of confusion and some of those who made these discoveries have had to undergo humiliation and seclusion. It is then amazing to find that in a few words the Quran has been pointing out to these phenomena. One such example or rather 3 such examples were what I spoke a few weeks ago on the now Universally accpeted theory of the Big Bang, followed by the theory that the Unvierse is expanding all the time and then the third theory that the Universe would roll back, a phenomena that is being described as the Big Crunch Aayaths in the Holy Quran describe these phenomena concisely and beautifully. Point 2 GOD has infinite attributes, each and every one of these attributes are infinite in scope, thus each and every sentence or phrase or even word in the Holy Quran is infinite in depth both in meaning as well as in siginificance. Point 3 we are looking for evidence for GOD the evidence for GOD is not just clues the entire Universe and everything in the Universe are clues, what we have to look for or look at is design or pattern or arrangement and then realize that this just cannot be simple coincidence, we would realize that there is great depth of purpose and great design. Now let me read to you just 2 Aayaths from the Holy Quran I read Aayaths Nos 190 & 191 from Surah Aal E Imraan

96 Evidence of GOD Part 2

[003:190] Behold! in the creation of the heavens and the earth, and the alternation of night and day, there are indeed Signs for men of understanding,[003:191] Men who do ZIKR of Allah, whilst they are standing, sitting, and lying down, and they do FIKR on the (wonders of) creation in the heavens and the earth, (With the thought):

In this Aayath GOD is drawing our attention to 4 things. What are they? 1. The Heavens above or the Universe surrounding us and the Earth the Samaawaathi and the Ardhli 2. The phenomena of the alternation of the Night and the Day Wakhthilaafil Laili Wan Nahaari And God also draws our attention to a certain group or a certain category of people. Who are these people? GOD refers to them as the Ulul Albaab or people of understanding or wise people. And what do these Ulul Albaab do? They do two things; 1. The do the ZIKR of Allah whilst standing, whilst being seated and even whilst lying down in other words does this not indicate that the Ulul Albaab do the ZIKR of Allah or the ZIKR of GOD all the time? 2. The do FIKR of the creation of the Universe and of Earth. So in other words they do ZIKR of the Creator and FIKR of the creation. Now English translators use a number of words when they translate the word ZIKR and it changes with context. The words used are remember, ponder, contemplate, meditate, advise, admonish, warn, learn lessons, and so on. To me Zikr is a deep thinking, learning and teaching process, that is how I think of it as. Now let us study these Aayath of Allah or the Signs of GOD and build up evidence tht display or demonstrate amazing design design that would be sufficient proof to any Judge or Jury or Lawyers or the Media or discerning public that GOD is infact a reality and is present. We should say This is GOD, and the next step try to work out the purpose of this amazing creations nd the purpose of our lives on Earth. So what were the 4 factors or the interplay of the 4 factors; 1. The Universe and Earth 2. The alternation of the Night and Day

96 Evidence of GOD Part 2

1. The Universe and Earths place in the Universe 1a. The Motion Earth is a Planet and is continuously circumbulating or going around the Sun. It is not the only Planet, but is the third in a series of 9 Planets. Whilst circumbulating the Sun, a movement known as the revolution, it is also revolving on an axis the speed of revolution os over 1000 mph and the speed at which the Earth is revolving around the sun is over 66,000 mph. Timing is meticulous and we base our calendar and our clocks on the precise movements of the Earth inrelation to the Sun. Is this fact alone not evidence of amazing, precise, mighty design? 1b. The balancing of the gravitational forces The Earth is pulled by the Sun, a force that we refer to as Gravity, but due to the speed of its rotation and revolution and the other pulls of gravity from the other Planets and other celestial bodies the Earth maintains its path. It is indeed a delicate balance. The forces coming in to play are the gravity from the sun and this is being balanced by the speed at which the Earth is zooming around the Sun as well as the other minor gravitational forces generated by the other Planets. This balance is also described in another Aayath in the Quran; (16:79) Did they not look at the birds how they are controlled in the atmosphere of the sky? No one holds them but Allah. Surely, in that there are signs for a people who believe.

Is this fact also not evidence of amazing, precise, mighty design? 1c. The other celestial bodies in the Universe. Our Sun is not a lonely Sun in this massive Universe. Our Planets are not the only Planets in the Universe. Our Solar system is not the only Solar System. We belong to or are placed in a Galaxy tht we call the Millky Way. Our Sun is a small star. The Milky way contains over 100 Billion Stars, over 100 Billion solar systems and 100s of Billions of Planets. And our Galaxy, the Milky Way is not the only Galaxy in the Universe, it is estimated that there are again over 100 Billion Galaxies in the Universe all of this playig a part in this massive gigantic system we call the Universe. Is this fact also not evidence of amazing, precise, mighty design?

96 Evidence of GOD Part 2

1d. The distance from the Sun. The Earth is at a distance from the Sun that along with other atmospheric arraangents provides a human friendly ground temperature if the Earth were to shift position, then either the Earth would just become a Frozen Planet or burnt up dry up environment. Is this fact also not evidence of amazing, precise, mighty design? 2. The Axis of Rotation of theEarth is at an angle of 231/2 Degrees. 2a. Weather at the Poles Due to this arrangement or this design, for there are seasons where Sunlight or even Sun-warmth does not strike either the North Pole or the South Pole, thus providing a 4 month dayless winter alternating with a 4 month nightless Summer. 2b. It is due to this unique arrangement that the Earth enjoys a variety of seasons. We have the tropical climes, contrasting with the Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter Seasons in regions approaching the Poles. We also have the phenomena of long nights and short days in Winter and Long Days and short nights in summer culminating in the 4 Month winter or 4 Month summer in the Polar Regions. Is this fact also not evidence of amazing, precise, mighty design? 3. The efect of moving Sunlight on Earth. Due to the wonderful design of the Universe and the Earth and the alternation of the Night and Day we find that the the rays of the Sun strike theEarth at different angles at different times of the day. At Dawn the rays of the Sun stream across the Earth and its direction could be described as almost horizontal and moving from East to West. And then at Sunset we could se that the rays of the Sun stream across the Earth, this time too its direction could be described as almost horizontal but now moving from the West to the East. At Noon or there abouts we could say that the rays of the Sun are streaming down at almost a vertical direction. Now due to the tilt of the Earth and the change in tilt over the months, we also find that in the mornings the rays of the Sun approaching from a East Southerly and also an East Northerly direction, whilst in the evenings the rays of the Sun would be streaming in from a West Southerly or a West Northerly direction according to the Seasons. In this manner Sunlight is able to creep in to almost every surface area of the Earth even into smallest of crags and crevices in Caves or cavities in the trunks of trees. There are certain organisms that live in trunks of trees and they need direct sunlight only for a few minutes every year and the Sun provides it. There is a time in the year where Sunlight would shine into this hole in the Trunk of a tree far away in a remote unheard of forest and the organism in the trunk of that tree begins another phase of its planned designed life. Is this fact also not evidence of amazing, precise, mighty design? 3b. The weather Due to this design of the creation of Universe and Earth and the design of the alternation of Night and Day, we have a variety of weather patterns. An important weather change is the schange of seasons which I explained as directly due to the regular changing tilt of the Earth.

96 Evidence of GOD Part 2

The other changes in weather is again due to the interplay of the warmth from the Sun, the effect the warmth has on the Earth,water and air. These are the ingredients or the forces that shape weather. Briefly described sun warmth from the Sun heats water in Oceans or Lakes or rivers of even draws out Water from Plants thus the evaporating water creates air currents. Similarly, the Earth the rocks etc get warmed by the rays of the Sun and again generate warm air currents. The differences in the rate at which warm air is rising across water and across air creates the air currents that in turn generates changes in the weather. Even though weather keeps on changing we can discern a pattern for a region. Mountains to add a new dimension to the flow of these air currents and thst is why we sometimes see 2 different climates on the 2 different sides of the Mountain. Many other factors designed in to the Earth provides powerful ingredients that drive weather the weather patterns. Is this fact also not evidence of amazing, precise, mighty design? Finally I would like to briefly describe the part insects play in keeping the food cycle going by the simple process of pollination. Due to weather patterns- especially in Spring and Summer, the effects of the Sun rays, gives rise to beautiful Flowers. Insects such Bees and Butterflies are atrcted by the colors on the Petals of these Flowers and the smell of the Nectar within the Flowers and when the go in to get the Nectar the Flowers get Pollinated. This is a very important cog in the food producing process on Earth. The insects re programmed to recognize certain Flowers they instinctively recognize the Flowers that are suitable to them, and all this is driven by the design of the Universe and the Earth and the design of the altenation of the Night and the Day. Are not all these facts, that allof us can easily observe or do research on, evidence of amazing, precise, mighty design? Let me read that Aayath again; [003:190] Behold! in the creation of the heavens and the earth, and the alternation of night and day, there are indeed Signs for men of understanding,[003:191] Men who do ZIKR of Allah, whilst they are standing, sitting, and lying down, and they do FIKR on the (wonders of) creation in the heavens and the earth, (With the thought):

96 Evidence of GOD Part 2

In this Aayath, GOD is drawing our attention to 4 things. What are they? 1. The Heavens above or the Universe surrounding us and the Earth the Samaawaathi and the Ardhli 2. The phenomena of the alternation of the Night and the Day Wakhthilaafil Laili Wan Nahaari Is this not evidence for GOD? May Allah Taaalah guide us all and accept us all! Assalamu Alaikum
Imtiaz Muhsin Colombo Sri Lanka crescent786@hotmail.com

You Tube Channel - HaneefanMusliman

The YouTube Link to this talk is at http://youtu.be/k1ClDCncEjA

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96 Evidence of GOD Part 2