We have all seen flames of fire, and we recognise what they are, but when we see these flames soaring up do we ever stop to ask what in fact they are? Today we know that flames are composed of gases combined with oxygen from the air, but, previously some chemists had thought that there was some invisible substance in charcoal and oil which, when there is ignition, is released in the form of flames, and to this substance they gave such names as "sulphur".

This idea gathered many supporters, and many scientists subscribed to it, calling this Georg Ernst Stahl1 said that phlogiston was a substance which escaped invisible substance "phlogiston". and which was the basis and essence of fire; that it was hidden inside inflammable materials; and that at the time of burning it was released in the form of flames. He said that the reason that wood, charcoal and oil burn He and other readily is that there is more phlogiston in them, but that in metals there is less of it. followers of this idea believed that in the combustion of iron, phlogiston was released and what remained took the form of rust.

They also said that when sulphur was burnt, phlogiston was released, and a colourless gas Rouelle2, a great chemist and the tutor of Lavoisier, also remained which was sulphur without phlogiston. Lavoisier, the French scientist, one of the founders of accepted this theory, and tried very hard to prove it. modern chemistry, researched into what his teacher, Rouelle, and other scientists had said, spending much In 1772, he time thinking about their theory, until he realised that the belief in phlogiston was groundless.

effected the combustion of a piece of lead by focusing the rays of the sun on to it by means of magnifying lenses. He observed that its weight increased. He deduced that some part of the air had become combined with the metal and had added to its weight; if phlogiston had been there, the weight of the lead would have In support of his view he asserted decreased.

Thus, he claimed, the phlogiston theory should be abandoned. that if the "burnt" lead were heated it would return that part of the air which it had taken, and would again In 1776 he performed another experiment in which he put a crucible of mercury over a become lead. heater and left it for 12 days.

It was not long before a light red film was observed on the surface of the mercury. He found that the air in contact with the mercury could not support life. He deduced that a part of the air inside the crucible had reacted with the mercury, forming a light red film.

In order to confirm this, he separated the light red film and heated it.He observed that a gas was released from it, and that this gas supported life.

He came to the conclusion that there is nothing which is given off from mercury when it is heated, but rather that there is a gas in the air which combines with the mercury to form mercurous oxide Lavoisier then asserted that there was no evidence for the existence of phlogiston, and that in (HgO). chemical reactions the total weight of all substances entering into the reaction equals the total weight of all In other words, "Rien ne se pera, et rien ne se crea." (Nothing the substances resulting from that reaction. In this way the theory of phlogiston lost its supporters.

We know perishes, and nothing is created). today that when something catches fire it is because it enters into combination with oxygen, and not because an invisible substance comes out of the combustion in the form of flames.

Anyhow,the history of phlogiston and the theory of Lavoisier shows us clearly that when Lavoisier said "Nothing perishes and nothing is created" he meant that in a chemical reaction nothing disappears and nothing is added, and he was not referring to the Unfortunately, some people, origin of the creation of the world, which is a philosophical problem. imagining that Lavoisier had wanted to answer a philosophical question, asserted that the event of creation was not compatible with Lavoisier's theory, because he has said that nothing is created and nothing is lost. How, they asked, could something be created from nothing? However, by referring to the history of the two theories, it becomes clear that Lavoisier was referring only to chemical reactions which take place in the present world, and he meant that this world is such that within its bounds nothing extra can be added and nothing can disappear.

And the problem of whether the world was created or whether it is eternal is a The point is that when we philosophical problem about which Lavoisier's theory remains totally silent. learn about scientific theories and ideas, we must look deeply into what has been said, and be careful to examine them with specialists in each matter so that the truth may become clear, because it is possible that Moreover, we must not submit inattention to these matters may result in a weakening of our beliefs. to a theory without careful examination of it, so that we imagine it to be an indubitably ascertained fact.

There have been many theories which have been supported through the ages by various scholars, but which were refuted later and all traces effaced. An example of this is the theory of phlogiston, whose history we have just related. Even the theory of Lavoisier has lost its orginal form (the principle of the conservation of matter), and has become the principle of the conservation of matter and energy.

For example, if 8 grammes of oxygen are made to react with 1 gramme of hydrogen, Lavoisier's theory would predict that 9 grammes of water would be formed, but we now understand, through more exact calculations that a small part of the substance is ‏ converted into energy, and that the amount of water formed is a little less than 9 grammes.

Examine the following examples, and then you will realise the extent to which the creatures of this world show the presence of a Creator.

1- How do those who construct aeroplanes act together to produce a plane? These specialised engineers assemble the metal sections in a specific manner according to exact equations so that the plane may fly, carrying passengers and cargo. Of course, the work of the construction of engineers is the assembly with their own hands of the basic materials according to their plans, in such a way that when their work is finished their activity ends.

As for the metal sections, the engines, the lights, the seats, etc., which are made by the engineers, these do not depend

2- If we want to build a house and we are in possession of all upon them once their work is finished. the raw materials, is that sufficient? Surely, we need a builder and his workmen, not in order to produce the raw materials, but so as to put them together according to their craft.

It is clear that we do not need the workmen for producing the materials used in the building, but that we need them only in so far as the use of

3- A person who these materials is concerned. In this way a house can be built from these materials. has never seen the Eiffel Tower can nevertheless construct it in his imagination in no time at all, merely from The having heard about it. He can even construct it higher than it is, and imagine people climbing it.

existence of the Tower in the imagination is, contrary to the previous two examples, the work of the one who has imagined it. The basic materials of the plane and the house were not produced by their constructors, but all the materials for the imagined Tower were made by the one who imagined it, not obtained from some place or another.

That is why their size is not dependent on the quantity of raw material available, and it can be made larger according to the wish of the one who imagines it. We can see that imaginary forms derive their existence from ourselves.

They remain in our minds as long as we want them to, and when we forget about From this last them they become nothing again, and have no further existence in our imagination. example we can conclude that anything whose existence depends on the existence of something else can not be Now we can understand the condition of the independent, and at every moment has need of the other.

created things of this world which have come into existance from nothing and are the creation of God. Are these, at every moment, in need of their creator? Some people may think that the created things of this world, after their creation, do not stand in need of their creator for their continued existence.

However, this is a completely erroneous concept, because the things in the world are the effects and creations of God and are identical with the imagined forms which we ourselves can construct in our imaginations, in that at every The better to understand moment they need the One who created them in order to continue existing. this, imagine in your mind a human figure, speaking, walking and working according to his will. Does this figure have any independence?

Clearly his existence is due to you, for if you cease to want him to exist, he will This is the condition of the entire universe of creation be annihilated and returned to nothingness. which is completely from God, created by Him, and in no way independent.

It is always in need of God. Also, Allah has said in the Holy if God ceased to will its existence, it would return to nothingness. Qur'an:

يا ايها الناس انتم الفقرا الي الله و الله هو الغني الحميد ان يشا يذهبكم و يات بخلق جديد.(سوره فاطر آيه 15-16)

O men, you are the ones that have need of Allah; He is the All-sufficient, the All-laudable. If He will, He can put you away and bring a new creation(XXXV:15-16)

This is a subject to which Islam directs the attention of its followers. For example, it is instructed that in prayer (salat) when one rises one should say bi hawli'l-lahi wa quwwatihi aqumu wa aq`ud - "With the power In truth, if we realise that we have no independence from God, andof Allah do I stand up and sit down." that it is only He Who has created us thinking and willing creatures to strive in the way of happiness, and that it is only He Whose all-embracing love encompasses us, therefore we prostrate before Him and say subhana rabbi al-'a`la wa bihamdeh- "Glory be to my Supreme Lord and praise be to Him."

The world we see with our eyes is a material world composed of atoms. Every object has a special place and special properties, which vary from situation to situation and according to their orientation. Distance plays a role in the action of these properties and the nearer the cause is to the effect the stronger the effect is; the further away it is, the weaker the effect, until a distance is reached where the cause has no action at all.

To elucidate this point we shall give one or two examples.

1- The power of a magnet is not the same at all distances: the nearer the metal is to the magnet, the stronger the power of attraction. If a nail is placed at a distance of two centimetres from a magnet, the attraction will be stronger than if it is placed at a distance of ten centimetres.

2- The heat of the sun on the surface of the planet Venus is not the same as it is on the surface of the Earth. Since Venus is nearer to the sun, it receives more heat and is therefore hotter than the Earth.

3- The light of a lamp may reach a hundred metres, but within this distance the intensity is not uniform. The nearer to the lamp we are, the greater the intensity of its light.

4- The voice of a public speaker may reach fifty metres, but, like the light, it is not uniform within this distance. The nearer to him we are, the louder his voice. The further away we are, the more difficult it is to hear.

5- If a leader wishes to exert his influence without using agents or modern methods of communication, he cannot succeed, because his own efforts have an effect in a certain place and cannot influence those who are far from him. On the other hand, by using modern methods he can exert his influence on all people. Of course, this depends not only on his own activity, but also on the power of his supporters, and, in the same way, his power varies in relation to the distance he is from his supporters.

These examples show that all things which are situated in a certain place do not have an equal effect at all distances, the nearer we are to the centre of something, the greater its effect will be, and vice versa.

Some people may possibly think that like the sun and other material things, God has a place, and that He has a seat from which He exerts His influence over His Creation.

However, this is not the case, because His influence on Creation, which is His work, is the same in every place, from the depths of the oceans to the furthest parts of the universe. There is no place to which His influence does not reach in sufficiency.

This influence is not such as has a centre, such that the further we go from it the weaker it becomes, until we reach a point where there is no trace of his influence and chaos reigns. For if God had a place like other material things, His influence would vary throughout the universe.

Therefore we can deduce from this that the Creator of this world has no location and no centre. Indeed, God is the Creator of "place" and it is God cannot be comparedimpossible that the Creator should be dependent on what He has created. with an inventor, because, as we explained previously, an inventor is not a creator. His only genius is that he understands the properties of things and is successful in bringing together certain elements to make something which, in some cases, he is himself in need of. But God, Who is the Creator of all Creation, is not in need of what He has created.

Now, since we have seen that God has no place, it is clear that he has no body either, because a body needs a place, and there can be no body which has no place. Since God has no body, he cannot be seen,because our eyes can see only bodies.

Since God is the Creator of nourishment and other necessi- ties of life and all existents, we God, therfore, is the entire Truth Who is inmust agree that he has no need of any of these things. need of nothing.

Unlike human beings, He does not need shelter, nourishment, and the other necessities of life, rather all people and things are in need of Him.

Maybe you will now ask: "If God has no body, Tooccupies no space and cannot be seen, then what is He and how can we say that He exists?" understand this, take the following example. We can say that electricity is neither solid, nor liquid, nor gas. These negations do not deny the existence of electricity, and it could never be true to say that because electricity is none of these things, therefore it does not exist.

We have to admit that electricity is a fact which is not describable by any of the afore-mentioned conditions. Now, when we say that God, the Self-Sufficient, has neither body, nor place, nor can He be seen, nor is He in need of anything, we mean that none of these imperfections can be found in the perfect, unlimited Being of God, Who is the source of all existence. Here there can only be Perfection and Self-Sufficiency.

These properties distinguish His Being from other beings, and this is the God in Whom we must believe. Intelligence and human nature can accept such a God. No wise and honest person can deny His Existence.

If we compare this with the belief that God is on a level with man, having a body, children and In fact, weother such attributes and appendages, then we can see the supremacy and glory of Islam. might say that many materialists reject God be- cause the true God (i.e. Allah as He is understood through Islam) has not been made known to them, and what they have considered is not the real God.

Mighty and powerful bulldozers which are used in building, and which have various important uses, bear witness to the knowledge of their designer and maker. We must agree that the inventor was very well acquainted with the laws of mechanics, the various alloys of metals and the formulae of physics. All that is made by man reflects the intelligence and knowledge of its maker.

The better and more efficient the product, the wider and more complete the knowledge of its maker. Something beyond The grandeur and mystery of Creation cannot be compared to a bulldozer or other man-madecompare: artifacts.

The infinite details seen in the beings and objects of the universe indicate the unlimited knowledge of God. Let us examine the following:

1- Newton said that a study of the components of the ear and the eye would lead us to understand that the maker of the ear was thoroughly acquainted with the laws of acoustics, and that the maker of the eye was thoroughly acquainted with the laws of light and vision, a study of the heavenly bodies, he said, would lead

2- The physiology of the bat is full of amazingus to understand the Truth which governs the universe. things. In order to be able to find its way in the dark without flying into obstacles, the animal sends out ultrasonic waves in front of itself rather like radar. If there is an obstacle in the way, the sound waves reach

3- Although insects are veryit and are reflected back, and thus the bat can steer clear of the obstacle. small, they are very delicate and wonderful in their structure. For example, some of them, instead of eyes with one lens, have compound eyes made up of individual visual units called ommatids, every one of which The number of ommatids varies between insects.has three parts: a cornea, a lens and a retina. Glow-worms have about 2,500, but in others there can be between 10,000, and 28,000. Because insects cannot rotate their heads, they can be permitted, by these compound eyes, to see things which happen The above examples show that the Creator of the world undertook Hisbeside them or behind them.

Creation in His Perfect Wisdom and Infinite knowledge. Now we must ask if God knows all the things after He has created them. And the answer is, yes, of course He does. God knows about things, whatever their place and whenever they happen.

He is aware of the shining of the furthest star in the highest heaven, of the tempestuousness of the foaming blue waves breaking on the furthest shores of the ocean, of the most mysterious hollows of the most remote valleys in the folds of the mountains, of the rustling of even one leaf in the gentle breeze, of the doleful coo of the owl in the deepest silence of the forest, of the flicker of the glow-worm among the leaves, of the innumerable fish with their infinite colours and variety in all the waters of the world, of the birth of the fawn of the honey-coloured gazelle in the depths of the forest, of the falling of the clear, pearly dew-drop from the petal of the half-opened rosebud in the recess of the rocks.

He knows the height of the mountains, the covering of the sky, the expanse of the lands and the seas and the treasures of the mines, the hidden depths of the caves and of all and How beautiful is the word of God!everything.

He knows what is in the land and sea; not a leaf falls, but He knows it. Not a grain in the earth's shadows, not a (VI:59)thing, fresh or withered, but it is in a Book Manifest.

He who creates and gives existence is aware of His Creation and always attends to it, in the same way as we are not unaware of the forms we create in our own imaginations.

As long as we wish them to exist, they remain in our minds, but when we turn our attention away from them, they cease to exist. If you imagine a person, you are necessarily aware of all his movements and his resting, and his actions are never hidden from your mind, because this imaginary person is your creation, that is, he did not exist before you thought of him, and you God, Who created the world and all of Creation, whosebrought him into existence by your imagination.

existence comes from Him, oversees it all and is never unmindful of it. Of course the difference between us, who imagine various forms in our minds, and God, Who created the universe, is that we ourselves depend on God for our existence, and our existence comes from Him.

However, God is independent of all things and has given existence to all things. It is for this reason that we call only Him the real Creator.

The maker of the computer is not the creator and did not give it its existence; his only skill was that he gave a new form to what was already in existence.

He was not aware of the computations and the information that will be stored in it in the future. Similarly, other inventors, discoverers and artisans are not informed of all the minutiae of the movements and restings of what they have made, because they have not given existence to them, they have not brought them from non-existence into existence.

The raw materials were already in existence in the world. Only, by analysing and constructing, they have changed their form. Take the case of the aeroplane, which is made from raw materials in mines which were extracted, smelted and forged and made into Clearly, then, the makers did not create what they made; they only changed the formthe finished product. of the materials. For this reason they are not permanently aware of their artifacts, and one cannot, therefore, properly call them creators.

If, in some cases they have to be called creators, they have only been called so But God, Who has given existence to all things, is always aware andfiguratively, not literally. knowledgeable of their actions, because He is the real and true Creator.

The Holy Qur'an says: Shall He not Now we have understood that we ourselves and all the creatures of this worldknow who created? (67:14) are not separated from the glorified presence of God. Wherever we are, and to whatever land we travel, in the depths of the oceans, in the outer reaches of space, in the narrow places of the valleys, we are not hidden from CanHim. He sees the smallest of our good or bad deeds, and rewards and punishes accordingly. someone who has such a God and believes in Him ever fall prey to sin?

A little reflection on the creation of each of the objects of existence will reveal to our minds the unique 1- The defence system of the body has for a longpower of the Creator. As examples, consider the following: time attracted the attention of physiologists.

The body's defence system is a complicated one consisting of the lymph glands, the thymus, the spleen, the liver and the bone marrow. The cells of these parts of the body, despite the difference in their structure, follow a common aim, viz. defending the body against foreign elements such as microbes and poisons.

In this task, the white blood-cells, found in their greatest concentration in the lymph glands, play a vital role. When a foreign body enters the organism, the white blood-cells, which are about 7 to 30 microns in diameter, rush immediately to the site of the invasion, and, in various ways, prevent an increase in the danger. To help these cells the body follows different ways in the fight against foreign elements, and to combat each foreign substance it manufactures antibodies.

The antibodies made in the body are of different sorts. Some of them are for the destroying of microbes and their elimination, some of them neutralise animal, insect and chemical poisons. Some stop the activity of microbes, and others separate out the poisonous substances in microbes and other noxious bodies.

Yet another kind comes into action when blood from an incompatible blood-group enters the body. The point is that the body can manufacture suitable antibodies against all kinds of foreign substances, even those which are as yet

2- The Director of the Leon Observatory on Mount Palomar in Arizona hasunknown to modern science. said: "As long as the telecope of this observatory had not been invented, the range of the visible universe was not more than five hundred light years, but this telescope has extended this range to one thousand million light years. As a result, millions of new galaxies have been found, and some of these are a thousand million light years from us. But beyond this distance there is a great, dark, fearful expanse in which nothing can be seen.

That is to say that no light comes from it which leaves its traces on the photographic plates of the telescope. But, without doubt, there are hundreds of millions of galaxies, by the force of whose gravity the universe is held together.

"The whole of this immense visible universe which contains a hundred thousand million galaxies is nothing but a small and insignificant speck in a still more immense universe, and I am not sure that we shall not find beyond that yet another universe." `Ali ibn Abu Talib (A.S), the first Imam, said: "We are not able to fathom the depths of Your Greatness, only we know that You are Living and Everlasting, that neither slumber nor sleep take hold of "No sight can reach You, and no eye can see You, but You see the eyes, and reckon the timespan ofYou.

"What is it that we see of Your Creation? Whateverything. The heads and feet of man are in Your hold. is the Power that causes us to wonder? What can we describe of Your Ruling? Those parts which are hidden from us, which our eyes cannot reach, which our minds cannot comprehend, which are covered by curtains of Indeed, the unique Power of Allah has brought everything intoconcealment, are more magnificent." existence, and nothing falls outside the area of His Command. The world exists by the Will of Allah, and it will continue to exist as long as He desires.

The stars, the moon, the sun and the other heavenly bodies move round by His Power, and the amazing order of the universe is entirely in His hands. He is able to change it to a new order whenever He wishes.

It is not the case that He created the world and then abandoned it, the rotation, growth, pulsation, existence and sustenance of everything is from His Will. Nothing can happen without His Willing, niether can anything remain. So, the One Who brings things into existence, Who sustains them and governs them, is Allah.

It is true that Allah has laid down a natural order for this universe, according to which it is possible to anticipate the future. But in certain circumstances, Allah manifests His wide-ranging power, and by His Will creates a superior order which can dominate the existing order.

Instances of this superior order can be seen In these cases we see how the hand of Allah is at work in the universe:from history and in everyday life. at times He raises those who have fallen, and at other times He causes those who are elevated to be cast It is for this reason that those who have a strong faith in a powerful God do not becomedown. disappointed in life. In whatever situation they find themselves, in the darkness of despair, the flame of hope is We have all readalight, and they are confident that they will find deliverance through the help of God. or heard the story of Musa(A.S) and Pharoah. Pharoah was unequalled in cruelty.

He killed the sons of Israel so that the promised one of the children of Israel who, he had heard, would come to destroy his throne and crown would not come to life. He thought that by these contrivances, by persistance and through the natural order he could counteract the Power of God. But his efforts were in vain.

At last the promised one was The mother of the child was inspired to put him in a box and to cast him onto the waters of the Nile.born. The river carried him down to the palace of Pharoah, and the eye's of Pharoah's wife caught sight of the box, and she took it out of the water. When she saw the infant in it, she asked Pharoah to take the child as their own son, and Pharoah agreed.

The powerful hand of God kept the child of whom Pharoah was so afraid in his Similarly, the Power ofvery lap, till he grew up, became strong and brought down the crown of Pharoah. God caused the vain efforts and devices of the brothers of Yusuf to come to nothing. Yusuf (A.S) fell down The unbelievers of Mecca joinedinto the well, but he was raised to a high position in the land of Egypt. hands to do away with the Prophet of Islam.

They began to make trouble for the Muslims, and even applied economic sanctions against the Prophet (A.S) and his followers for several years in the valley of Abu Talib (A.S). Eventually they decided to murder the Prophet (A.S), thinking that by such subterfuges they could achieve something. But the Will and Power of God preserved the Prophet (A.S), and He caused Islam to These and other examples leadprosper day by day, and brought down the Quraish and the disbelievers. us to the truth that the order of this world is in the hands of God, and that when it is according to His Wish, Therefore our minds and ourHe can cause a new order to rule over the normally existing order.

consciences demand that we humble ourselves before this Great and Beneficent Power, act in all obedience and avoid opposing our Creator.

The powerful hand of God has moved us through various stages and has One whobrought us to our present stage of intelligence and ability. Is it right that we should forget Him? knows God, acknowledging that he has such a Wise and Powerful helper, will not fear any difficulty. The most complex and difficult problems can be solved by him, and consequently he will try to reach his aim with unflinching determinism arising from his faith in God.

He will not be afraid of any obstacles, for he sees Belief in Godhimself in the shade of a great Power which will enable him to overcome all difficulties. and His Unique Power enabled the Prophet (A.S) to fight large groups single-handed, to stand firm against difficult circumstances, so that he could build the structure of tawhid and a programme for life.

In this way he A man whose heart is overflowing with faith in the Creator ofwas able to establish humanity and virtue. the world, and is filled with love for the Truth will never feel alone, disappointed or without hope, and the light of God will always illuminate the corners of his heart. Obviously, such a man will make himself ready for a better and more virtuous life with unbounded enthusiasm.

1 . German scientist, chemist and biologist, who, in 1694, became professor at Hall University. (b. 1660, d. 1734)

2 . French scientist. (b. 1703, d. 1770) ےے