Page 238 - Darwin's Dilemma: The Soul

Darwin’s Dilemma: The Soul

will.” On the contrary, he will take all the requisite precautions.
He will go to the doctor, be careful what he eats and take medi-
cine. However, he will not forget that the doctor he visits, the treat-
ment administered, the drugs he takes, and how effective these will
be—in short, every single detail—are all in his destiny. He knows
that all these events were already in the memory of Allah, long be-
fore he ever came into the world.
Allah has revealed this in verses:

It is He Who created you from clay and then decreed a
fixed term, and another fixed term is specified with Him.
Yet you still have doubts! (Surat al-An‘am, 2)

. . . Allah’s command is a pre-ordained decree. (Surat al-
Ahzab, 38)
Not just human beings have a destiny in the Sight of Allah,
but the Sun, the Moon, mountains, trees and all things and entities.
A centuries-old antique vase that is broken, for example, breaks at
the moment appointed in its destiny. The people who would use
this vase, where it would stand in which home, and what other ob-
jects would be standing alongside it were all determined at the mo-
ment it was manufactured. Every pattern on it and all its colors
were determined beforehand in its destiny. The day, hour and
minute when it would be broken, and by whom and how, already
exist in the memory of Allah. In fact, the moment that the vase was
first made, the moment it was placed in the shop window, the mo-
ment it was placed in its new home and the moment it was bro-
ken—in short, every moment in the life of that vase lasting several
hundred years—all exist as a single moment in the Sight of Allah.
Although the person who broke the vase was totally unaware of
that event even a few seconds beforehand, that moment had al-
ready happened and was known in the Sight of Allah. That is
why Allah tells us not to be saddened by what befalls us.

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