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<\/a><\/p>\nLet the Heavens \u201cSpeak\u201d<\/h2>\n
If the philosopher has no definitive answer, perhaps the answer can be found within the heart and mind that we ourselves possess. \u00a0Have you ever looked at the open sky on a clear night?\u00a0 You will see an incalculable number of stars.\u00a0 Look through a telescope and you will see gigantic spiral galaxies, beautiful nebula where new stars are being formed, the remnants of ancient supernova explosion created in a star\u2019s final death throes, the magnificent rings of Saturn and the moons of Jupiter.\u00a0 Is it possible not to be moved by the sight of these countless stars in the night sky shining like diamond dust on a bed of black velvet? \u00a0Multitudes of stars beyond stars, stretching back; becoming so dense that they appear to merge into delicate wisps of sparkling mist.\u00a0 The grandeur humbles us, thrills us, inspires a craving for investigation, and calls for our contemplation.\u00a0 How did it come into being? \u00a0How are we related to it, and what is our place in it? \u00a0Can we hear the heavens \u201cspeak\u201d to us?<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the creation of the heavens and the earth and the alternation of the night and the day, there are surely signs for all who are endowed with insight, who remember God when they stand, and when they sit, and when they lie down to sleep, and reflect on the creation of the heavens and the earth: \u201cO our Lord, You have not created this without meaning and purpose.\u00a0 Limitless art You in Your glory\u2026\u201d (Quran 3:190-191)<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n When we read a book, we accept that an author exists.\u00a0 When we see a house, we accept that a builder exists.\u00a0 Both of these things were made with a purpose by those who made them.\u00a0 The design, order, and complexity of the universe as well as the world around us are evidence of the existence of a supreme intelligence, a perfect designer.\u00a0 All the heavenly bodies are controlled by precise laws of physics.\u00a0 Can there be laws without a lawmaker? \u00a0Rocket scientist Dr. von Braun said: \u201cThe natural laws of the universe are so precise that we have no difficulty building a spaceship to fly to the moon and can time the flight with the precision of a fraction of a second.\u00a0 These laws must have been set by somebody.\u201d \u00a0Paul Davies, a professor of physics, concludes that man\u2019s existence is not a mere quirk of fate.\u00a0 He states: \u201cWe are truly meant to be here.\u201d \u00a0And he says regarding the universe: \u201cThrough my scientific work, I have come to believe more and more strongly that the physical universe is put together with an ingenuity so astonishing that I cannot accept it merely as a brute fact.\u00a0 There must, it seems to me, be a deeper level of explanation.\u201d \u00a0The universe, the earth, and living things on the earth all give silent testimony to an intelligent, powerful Creator.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Figure 2 Central region of the Trifid Nebula taken by the Gemini Telescope on Mauna Kea on the Big Island of Hawaii, June 5, 2002.\u00a0 Located in the constellation of Sagittarius, the beautiful nebula is a much-photographed, dynamic cloud of gas and dust where stars are being born.\u00a0 One of the massive stars at the nebula\u2019s center was born approximately 100,000 years ago.\u00a0 The nebula\u2019s distance from the Solar System is generally agreed to be somewhere between 2,200 to 9,000 light years away.<\/p>\n Image courtesy of Gemini Observatory Image\/GMOS Commissioning Team.<\/p>\n If we were made by a Creator, then surely that Creator must have had a reason, a purpose, in creating us.\u00a0 Thus, it is important that seek to know God\u2019s purpose for our existence.\u00a0 After coming to the realization of this purpose, we can choose whether we want to live in harmony with it. \u00a0But is it possible to know what is expected from us left to our own devices without any communication from the Creator?\u00a0 It is natural that God Himself would inform us of this purpose, especially if we are expected to fulfill it..<\/p>\n <\/p>\n This brings us to the second option: the alternative to speculation about the meaning and purpose of life is revelation.\u00a0 The easiest way to discover the purpose of an invention is to ask the inventor.\u00a0 To discover the purpose of your life, ask God.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n In Christianity, the meaning of life is rooted in faith in the gospel of Jesus Christ, in finding Jesus as Savior.\u00a0 \u201cFor God so loved the world that he gave his only son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life<\/em>.\u201d \u00a0However, the proposition is not without serious problems.\u00a0 First, if this is the purpose of creation and the precondition for eternal life, why was it not taught by the prophets to all the nations of the world? \u00a0Second, had God turned into man close to the time of Adam all mankind would have had an equal chance to eternal life, unless those before the time of Jesus had another purpose for their existence! \u00a0Third, how can people today who have not heard of Jesus fulfill the Christian purpose of creation? \u00a0Naturally, such a purpose is too narrow and goes against divine justice.<\/p>\n Islam is the response to humanity\u2019s search for meaning.\u00a0 The purpose of creation for all men and women for all times has been one: to know and worship God.<\/p>\n The Quran teaches us that every human being is born conscious of God,<\/p>\n \u201c(Remember) when your Lord extracted from the loins of Adam\u2019s children their descendants and made them testify [saying]: \u2018Am I not your Lord?\u2019 \u00a0They said: \u2018Yes, we testify to it.\u2019 \u00a0(This was) in case you say on the Day of Judgment: \u2018We were unaware of this.\u2019 \u00a0Or you say: \u2018It was our ancestors who worshipped others besides God and we are only their descendants.\u00a0 Will you then destroy us for what those liars did?\u2019\u201d(Quran 7:172-173)<\/strong><\/p>\n The Prophet of Islam teaches us that God created this primordial need in human nature at the time Adam was made.\u00a0 God took a covenant from Adam when He created him.\u00a0 God extracted all of Adam\u2019s descendants who were yet to be born, generation after generation, spread them out, and took a covenant from them.\u00a0 He addressed their souls directly, making them bear witness that He was their Lord.\u00a0 Since God made all human beings swear to His Lordship when He created Adam, this oath is imprinted on the human soul even before it enters the fetus, and so a child is born with a natural belief in the Oneness of God.\u00a0 This natural belief is called fitra<\/em> in Arabic.\u00a0 Consequently, every person carries the seed of belief in the Oneness of God that lies deeply buried under layers of negligence and dampened by social conditioning.\u00a0 If the child were left alone, it would grow up conscious of God – a single Creator – but all children are affected by their environment.\u00a0 The Prophet of God said,<\/p>\n \u201cEach child is born in a state of \u2018fitra\u2019, but his parents make him a Jew or a Christian.\u00a0 It is like the way an animal gives birth to a normal offspring.\u00a0 Have you noticed any young born mutilated before you mutilate them?\u201d[2]<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Figure 1 The marvel of life.\u00a0 An unborn fetus sucking its thumb.<\/p>\n So, just as the child\u2019s body submits to physical laws, set by God in nature, its soul submits naturally to the fact that God is its Lord and Creator.\u00a0 However, its parents condition it to follow their own way, and the child is not mentally capable of resisting it.\u00a0 The religion which the child follows at this stage is one of custom and upbringing, and God does not hold it to account for this religion.\u00a0 When a child matures into an adult, he or she must now follow the religion of knowledge and reason.\u00a0 As adults, people must now struggle between their natural disposition towards God and their desires in order to find the correct path.\u00a0 The call of Islam is directed to this primordial nature, the natural disposition, the imprint of God on the soul, the fitra<\/em>, which caused the souls of every living being to agree that He Who made them was their Lord, even before the heavens and earth were created,<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\nAlternative to Speculation: Ask God<\/h2>\n
Can Christianity Answer the Question?<\/h2>\n
The Answer<\/h2>\n
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