Basic Questions

As mentioned before, the first error a person prejudiced towards religion makes is trying to evaluate religion without giving thought to Allah's existence. Anyone who decides to learn about Islam needs first to understand the omnipotence of Allah. If he does not believe in Allah, he will simply be investigating the Qur'an and Muslims in terms of his own world view that is filled with superstitious inaccurate information, and will not be able to attain the truth.

Sociologists, for example, who did research on religion, have written thousands of books on how religions arose and how they affected societies sociologically. Yet, in spite of all these academic studies, they couldn't understand religion even to a minute extent when compared with those who truly lead their lives according to the religious morality.

Such people are not capable of comprehending the reality of Allah's oneness , which is the basis of religion, and the fact that Allah encompasses everything.

The situation of such people is expressed thus in the Qur'an: "… They disbelieve what they cannot grasp, for they have not yet seen its prophecy fulfilled." (Surah Yunus: 39)

The individual can immediately understand what Islam is about when he understands the existence of Allah and lives his life as enjoined in the Qur'an.

Essentially, the existence of Allah and the reality that there is no deity other than Allah are crystal clear facts. But in "the society of ignorance"(this is the name given to social structures other than Islam) which is founded on the indolence of thought, people grow so blind that they cannot comprehend this reality. As a matter of fact, that is the reason why they were described as a "society of ignorance" (Jahilliyah).

Muslims, on the other hand, are held responsible for pondering on the existence of Allah and observing the signs of creation, as commanded in many Qur'anic verses. One of these verses is as follows:

"Say: 'Think, you, if Allah took away your hearing and your sight, and sealed up your hearts, who – a god other than Allah – could restore them to you?'" The same verse goes on to say: "See how We explain the signs by various symbols; yet they turn aside." (Surat Al-An'am: 46)

A brief example can help people enrich their views and remove the ignorance caused by being a member of the society of ignorance.
Let's assume that there is a person from whose memory everything, including the knowledge of his self-being and his body, has been wiped out. If he found himself on a place like earth, what would he feel like? He would undoubtedly be very amazed and astonished. The first thing he would notice would probably be his body. He would not be aware that his body in fact belonged to him in the first place, thinking of it as an external object, like the other things in the scene. Then it would be very interesting for him to be able to control his body parts and make them do what he wanted them to do. He would probably try to figure out the use of his arm by moving it up and down for a while.

He would find very suitable surroundings for his body, the reason for the existence of which would still be unknown to him. There would be safe ground to stand on, a clear image to view, beautiful fragrances to smell, various animals, a proper air temperature exactly suitable to the body, an atmosphere suitable for breathing, and thousands of other sensitive balances. Edible fruits to satisfy his hunger, pure and clear water to cool his parched throat and many more things.

For a moment, put yourself in his position and reflect for a while. In a place like this, would you just go and enjoy yourself without reflecting on anything, or be wise enough to ask yourself some very crucial questions? Would you try to understand who you were, why you were there, what the reason for your existence was, what the reason for the existence of the present order was or, would you simply ignore these questions and be concerned with how much you enjoyed your life? Would not the first questions to come to your mind be as follows:

Who am I?

Who has created me, Who has created this flawless body of mine?

Who has created this great order which surrounds me?

What does He, Who created everything, want from me? What does He show me?

Even an individual with a weak mind would think that there is nothing more important than finding answers to these questions. Someone who pays no attention to them, preferring rather to spend his life in fulfilling his physical needs, amusing himself during the day aimlessly and sleeping at nights, would undoubtedly be a creature of no understanding at all. An Omniscient Power has created his body and his surroundings, and they have come into being all of a sudden. Once he was created, every second of the rest of his life can only exist by the grace of Him, Who had initially created him. Then what could be more important than knowing about this Omniscient Power Who is All-Powerful?

Let us continue with our example and assume that he reaches a city after walking through the land for a while. There are various types of people there, most of whom are pretty vulgar, ambitious and insincere. And almost nobody is thinking about his Owner or the place he is living in. Although everyone has a job, an aim or an ideology, the people of the city cannot bring good order to the city, with which everyone would be content.

Let's assume he meets some people significantly different from the others in moral aspects. He feels that, as human beings, they are amiable reasonable, and trustworthy. They look humble and they speak in a clear, moderate and sensible manner. He can easily see that there is nothing wrong with them, so he becomes confused and has doubts as to why the citizenry think otherwise.

Let's assume he starts a conversation with them and they tell him: "We have a different view of life and think differently from other people because we are aware that there is an Owner of this place and everything in it. We are also aware that His power is unlimited and He has created this place and everything else to test and educate us until the day comes when we will leave this place. We have a book which we have received from Him, and we are leading our lives in accordance with this book."

In such a situation, he might not be a hundred percent sure whether these people were really telling the truth or not. But he would probably understand that what they were talking about was quite important. He would feel there was nothing more important than obtaining further information about these people at that moment, and he would be extremely curious about the book they were talking about, would he not?

What stops you from being as sensible as the person in this example? Is it because you have experienced a growth process instead of coming into being as an adult all of a sudden, like the person in the story? Consequently, you have to admit that you are in a position similar to that of the people living in the city mentioned in the example.

Are you aware of the fact that at the moment, there are "ignorant societies" that lead you only to finding answers to questions like: "What shall I eat tonight, which dress should I wear tomorrow?" or "What is she thinking about me, what should I say to him?" by keeping you away from matters that are evidently far more important than those questions?

Think about the complete ignorance you might have been exposed to by such a "society of ignorance" and ask yourselves the following question, which so far you might not have thought over, or might have brushed aside with insufficient explanations: How did I come into existence?

In order to be able to answer this question, it would be useful to abandon all prejudices and think about the beginning of life and that extraordinary event – "birth".

The brief history of birth

Sperms are produced in an outer part of a man's body. The reason for this is the fact that sperm production can occur only in a suitable environment with a temperature of about 35 degrees Celsius, which is two degrees below the average body temperature. Male testicles are the only body parts with this temperature, as they are rightly placed outside of the body. To bring the temperature to the required level, another mechanism is activated. The skin covering the testicles shrinks when it is cold and sweats when it is hot to keep the temperature of this area stable. Approximately a thousand sperms are produced per minute, and they have a special creation that eases their long journey from the man's testicles to the woman's egg. A sperm comprises a head, a neck and a tail by the use of which a fish-like movement towards the mother's uterus takes place.

The head part, which carries the genetic code of the future human being, is covered with a special protective armour. The benefit of this armour is noticed at the entrance of the mother's uterus. This place is very acidic to protect the mother from microbes and other alien particles like sperms, but by the use of this armour, most sperms manage to stay alive.

Not only sperms are ejaculated to the uterus. Semen is a mixture that consists of many other liquids. These liquids contain sugar that supplies energy to the sperms. Semen, which is a base in its chemical form, neutralizes the acidic environment at the entrance of the uterus and creates a safe environment for sperms. It also makes the environment slippery so that sperms can move along easily. Sperms make a difficult journey inside the body of the mother until they reach the egg. No matter how hard they try to survive, only a thousand sperms out of 200-300 million can make it to the egg.

In the light of this brief information, let's try to find the answers to some questions that cross our minds: How can a sperm make itself so suitable for entry into the mother's uterus, about which it knows nothing beforehand? How can a sperm be produced in the male body in a way that it can survive and find its way to the egg in the female uterus in spite of the protective mechanisms of the female body, about which the sperm had no previous idea? How can this happen?

Since a sperm lacks the ability to adapt itself to an unknown environment in advance, the only possible answer to these questions is that it is actually created that way.

Let's continue with the brief story of birth:

An egg is about half the size of a salt grain. The place where an egg and a sperm meet is an area called the Fallopian tube. The egg secretes a special fluid that leads the sperms to the egg. As they come closer to the egg, their protective armour is melted by another fluid secreted by the egg. As a result, solvent enzyme sachets appear on the cover of the sperms' heads. By the use of these enzymes, the sperm that is to fertilize the egg, penetrates the membrane of the egg. When the sperms surround the egg, they race one another to enter to the egg. Mostly, only one sperm fertilizes the egg and from that time on, there is no possibility for another sperm to enter it. Before fertilization, the electric charge of the sperms and the egg are opposite, therefore they attract each other. However, after the entrance of the first sperm, the electrical charge of the egg changes, acquiring a pushing effect on the rest of the sperms.
Finally, the DNA of the male present in the sperm combines with the DNA of the female. At this moment, there forms a new cell (the zygote), that is, a new human being inside the mother's womb.

After considering this bit of information, a new question comes to our minds: How is it that an egg is prepared to welcome a sperm as if it "knew" that it would meet the sperm? How can this happen? The only possible answer to this question is that the egg is created to be suitable to the sperm by the will of a Creator Who has also created the sperms and controls both the sperm and the egg.
The extraordinary nature of birth does not finish with all this. In fact this is only the begining of the stages of the creation of humans. The fertilized egg clings on to the womb by its special knobbly surface. The small protuberances on the surface of the egg jut out and penetrate deep into the mother's womb like the roots of plants in the ground. The zygote starts to develop through hormones secreted by the mother. The egg keeps receiving nutrition provided by the mother.

With time, the cells divide and grow in folds by the two-four-eight-sixteen model. In the beginning, all cells that are formed by the division of old ones have the same properties as each other. Then, all of a sudden, newly formed cells somehow start differentiating, showing separate characteristics, as they are to form different organs of the fetus. The science of today still lacks the competence to give a satisfactory answer to the question of why and how exactly this differentiation of cells takes place and how they form different organs with such perfect organization.

As time passes, a drastic change takes place in the jelly-like fetus. Relatively rough bones start to form inside that soft structure, all of them surprisingly, in their proper places. What's amazing here, is that while all the cells carry exactly the same characteristics at the beginning, through the differentiating process, some of them turn out to be eye cells sensitive to light, others become nerve cells that perceive heat while yet others form those cells that detect sound vibrations.

Finally the fetus' construction is completed and a new baby is born into the world. At this stage, it is 100 million times bigger and 6 billion times heavier than its initial form when it was a fertilized egg.

This "brief history" mentioned above concerns us, because it is the story of how we came into being. So, for us, what can be more important than finding the ultimate Cause and Owner of that great, extraordinary and complex event of our existence? Let us return to this question later. For now, having glanced at this short history, let us answer another question: How can cells of the same structure start to gather in groups and form different organs of the body while they multiply?

Let us give the answer to this question for a little later and respond to another question that requires answering after taking a look at the brief history of birth:

How can the cells devide into groups while they are multiplying and form different organs of the body?

The fact that we come across at this stage is this: Actually, there is no answer to these questions about birth other than accepting the Presence of a Creator. It would be a great mistake to think that all of these complex operations occur "on their own" or by chance. How can unconscious cells "agree" to form human organs? Even atheist scientists of today who see this extraordinary feature in this eventadmit that this marvellous occurrence cannot come about of its own accord, but in order to avoid admitting to creation they give it a meaningless name by adopting the idea of a "miracle of nature." However, one seeks such a consciousness that might give rise to such a perfect system in nature in vain. Nature itself is a whole made up of lifeless and unconscious atoms and has no decision-making powers."

Another attempt to answer this question might be to refer to the mother and the father – which would be wrong. Neither mother nor the father is aware what goes on within them. In spite of this, mother and father are seen as the "cause of one's life", and are therefore loved and respected.

One must reflect then: Is not Allah, the real Creator, Who has the ultimate power and controls one's everything including birth, life and death, worth more love and respect? His existence is clear and the existence of any other thing without Him is not possible.
The miracle of man's creation is explained in the Qur'an as follows;

"We created man from a quintessence (of clay);

Then We placed him as (a drop of) sperm in a place of rest, firmly fixed;

Then We made the sperm into a clot of congealed blood; then of that clot We made a (fetus) lump; then We made out of that lump bones and clothed the bones with flesh; then We developed out of it another creature. So blessed be Allah, the noblest of Creators!" (Surat Al-Muminun: 12-14)

The miracle of creation is referred to as follows in other verses of the Qur'an:

Does man reckon he will be left to go on unchecked? Was he not a drop of ejaculated sperm, then a blood-clot which He created and shaped, making from it both sexes, male and female? Is He who does this not able to bring the dead to life? (Surat al-Qiyama: 36-40)

... No female becomes pregnant or gives birth except with His knowledge. And no living thing lives long or has its life cut short without that being in a Book. That is easy for Allah. (Surah Fatir: 11)

This being so, it is clear that there is no difference between one and that man in the story, who was "suddenly" created and become curious about Who had created him and everything around him. In such a situation, the most important thing to do is to search exclusively for the truth, to listen to those who claim they have knowledge and evidence about the truth and then to think over what one has been told. Take the man in the story again. As we know, he meets some people in the city who tell him that they can make known to him our Creator Who has created him and everything around and that there is a book from Him. What do you think he would do? Would he listen to them, or would he simply turn away from them and prefer to be involved with such ordinary, everyday questions like: "What shall I wear tonight, what shall I say to him?" That are daily repeated questions and will one day become meaningless when death comes to him. Which one of these two choices is the more rational, logical and conscientious? You, without doubt, know the correct answer for this man. But, what about yourself?

The human is a being created by Allah and as a created entity, he cannot change this fact. He cannot bring any other explanation to his own existence. Since he has been created, he would not be left uncontrolled and irresponsible as emphasized in the above verses. There is, of course, a purpose for creation. Where then will he find the answer?

There is only one answer to this question and that is in the book that Allah has sent down to him.