Page 272 - For Men of Understanding

against the unbelievers is so firm that there is no avoiding it. No matter what
they do or to whom they appeal, never can they find any helper other than
Allah. As Allah informs in the Qur'an, "they shall not find for them other
than Allah a patron or a help." (Surat an-Nisa': 173)
Materialists never expected to fall into such a trap. Having all the means of
the twenty-first century at their disposal, they believed they could grow obsti-
nate in their denial and drag others into disbelief. This ever-lasting mentality of
unbelievers and their end are described as follows in the Qur'an:

They plotted and planned, but We too planned, even while they per-
ceived it not. Then see what was the end of their plot! - this, that We
destroyed them and their people, all [of them]. (Surat an-Naml: 50-
51)
This, in another sense, is what the fact stated in the verses comes to mean:
Materialists are now told that everything they own is actually in their brains,
and therefore, everything they possess has been rendered valueless. As they
witness their possessions, factories, gold, money, children, spouses, friends,
rank and status, and even their own bodies-all of which they deem absolute-
slipping away from them hands, in a sense, they are destroyed. They come face
to face with the fact that Allah, not matter, is the only absolute.
Realizing this truth is doubtless the worst possible thing for the materialists.
That matter in which they place such faith, is separated from them by an
impenetrable frontier is, in their own words, tantamount to "death before
dying" in this world.
This leaves them all alone with Allah. With the verse, "Leave Me alone, [to
deal] with the [creature] whom I created [bare and] alone!" Allah has
called our attention to the fact that each human being is, in truth, all alone in

His presence. (Surat al-Muddaththir: 11) This remarkable fact is repeated in
many other verses:
"And behold! You come to Us bare and alone as We created you for
the first time: you have left behind you all (the favours) which We
bestowed on you..." (Surat al-An'am: 94)

And each one of them will come unto Him on the Day of
Resurrection, alone. (Surah Maryam: 95)
This, in another sense, is what the fact stated in the verses comes to mean:
Those who take matter as their god have come from Allah and returned to Him.
They have submitted themselves to Allah, whether they want to or not. Now
they wait for the Day of Judgement, when each one of them will be called to
account, however unwilling they may be to understand it.

270 For Men of Understanding