Page 268 - Mary: An Exemplary Muslim Woman

266

might believe in impossible scenarios and claims full of stupidity and il-
logicality. However, "magic" is the only possible explanation for people
from all over the world believing that unconscious and lifeless atoms sud-
denly decided to come together and form a universe that functions with a
flawless system of organization, discipline, reason, and consciousness; a
planet named Earth with all of its features so perfectly suited to life; and
living things full of countless complex systems.
In fact, in the Qur'an Allah relates the incident of the Prophet Moses
(as) and Pharaoh to show that some people who support atheistic philoso-
phies actually influence others by magic. When Pharaoh was told about
the true religion, he told the Prophet Moses (as) to meet with his own ma-
gicians. When the Prophet Moses (as) did so, he told them to demonstrate
their abilities first. The verses continue:
He said: "You throw." And when they threw, they cast a spell on
the people's eyes and caused them to feel great fear of them. They
produced an extremely powerful magic. (Surat al-A'raf, 116)
As we have seen, Pharaoh's magicians were able to deceive every-
one, apart from the Prophet Moses (as) and those who believed in him.
However, his evidence broke the spell, or "swallowed up what they had
forged," as revealed in the verse:
We revealed to Moses: "Throw down your staff." And it immedi-
ately swallowed up what they had forged. So the Truth took place
and what they did was shown to be false. (Surat al-A'raf, 117-118)

As we can see, when people realized that a spell had been cast upon
them and that what they saw was just an illusion, Pharaoh's magicians
lost all credibility. In the present day too, unless those who, under the in-
fluence of a similar spell, believe in these ridiculous claims under their sci-
entific disguise and spend their lives defending them, abandon their su-
perstitious beliefs, they also will be humiliated when the full truth
emerges and the spell is broken. In fact, world-renowned British writer
and philosopher Malcolm Muggeridge, who was an atheist defending
evolution for some 60 years, but who subsequently realized the truth, re-

Mary: An Exemplary Muslim Woman