Page 188 - Allah is Known through Reason

and beguiled them into perceiving this whole collection of images as real.

All those "eminent" people, professors, astronomers, biologists, physicists,
and all others regardless of their rank and post are simply deceived like
children, and are humiliated because they took matter as their god.
Assuming a collection of images to be absolute, they based their philoso-
phy and ideology on it, became involved in serious discussions, and adopt-
ed so-called "intellectual" discourse. They deemed themselves wise enough
to offer an argument about the truth of the universe and, more important-
ly, to dispute about Allah with their limited intelligence. Allah explains
their situation in the following verse:
And (the unbelievers) plotted and planned, and Allah too planned, and
the best of planners is Allah. (Surat Ali 'Imran: 54)
It may be possible to escape from some plots; however, this plan of
Allah against the unbelievers is so firm that there is no way of escape from
it. No matter what they do or to whom they appeal, they can never find a
helper other than Allah. As Allah informs in the Qur'an, "they shall not
find for them other than Allah a patron or a helper." (Surat an-Nisa:
173)
Materialists never expected to fall into such a trap. Having all the means
of the 20th century at their disposal, they thought they could grow obsti-

nate in their denial and drag people to disbelief. Allah describes this ever-
lasting mentality of unbelievers and their end 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, on another level, is what the verses come to mean: materialists are
made to realise that everything they own is but an illusion, and therefore
everything they possess has been destroyed. As they witness their pos-
sessions, factories, gold, dollars, children, spouses, friends, rank and sta-
tus, and even their own bodies, all of which they deem to exist, slipping
away from their hands, they are "destroyed" in the words of the 51st verse
of Surat al-An'am. At this point, they are no more material entities but
souls.

188 Allah is Known Through Reason