In the early 20th century, scientists discovered something new: that matter was not as we had imagined it to be. Matter was not solid. Matter had no colors. It gave off no smells, sounds or image. Matter was simply energy. The chair you sit in, the table you lean on, the house you live in, your dogs, the people around you, buildings, space, stars—in short, the whole material world exists as a form of energy.
In the face of this unexpected discovery, all philosophies constructed on the basis of matter therefore suffered a scientific collapse. Science revealed the proof of something inside the human body but not belonging to it, something that perceived the entire physical world, but was not itself physical: the human soul.
The soul could not be explained in any way in terms of materialist claims. Darwinism, which produced countless fictitious tales regarding the imaginary evolution of species, remained silent in the face of the existence of the soul. Because the soul was not matter, it was a metaphysical concept. And metaphysics was something that materialists were completely unable to accept, because metaphysics did away with all the unconscious events, coincidences and random processes that they had deified. Metaphysics submitted evidence of a conscious creation, in other words, of the existence of Allah (God). That, in any case, was why materialists had been denying the existence of the soul ever since the days of Ancient Greece.
This struggle, which had persisted since Ancient Greece right up to the present, now became meaningless because there is an entity that makes a human being human, that lets you say, This is me. That, in other words, is your soul: It exists, and it belongs to Allah. Science definitively proved that the human soul observed all things as they were presented to it and that there could be no reference to any reality beyond these perceived images. To put it another way, it openly declared that the only absolute Entity was Allah.
This proof by science is of importance in convincing minds that deify materialist philosophy. In fact, though, all who possess reflection and intellect are aware that they possess a sublime soul. Anyone who can reason at all will understand that it is the soul that rejoices, thinks, decides, judges, experiences joy and excitement, loves, shows compassion, gets anxious, enjoys the taste of an apple, takes pleasure from listening to music, builds planes, raises skyscrapers and constructs laboratories in which it examines itself.
If human beings are possessed of souls, they cannot have been created haphazardly. There is a purpose behind their presence in this world. All people bear a soul that belongs to Allah and are being tested in this lifetime, after which they will be held responsible for all their thoughts and deeds. There is no randomness or aimlessness in life. There are no chance events, as Darwinists maintain. Everything has been created by the will of Allah to become part of the tests to which we are subjected. In this life, which will end in death, the only thing that will be left behind is the body. The soul, on the other hand, will live for all eternity in the Hereafter, which is its true abode.
These are great glad tidings for anyone who realizes he has a soul and is able to appreciate its Creator. Darwinists, however, will continue to refuse this reality with all their means and maintain that they do not possess a soul. They will continue to refuse to accept that they will one day enter the presence of Almighty Allah, Whose existence they denied throughout the course of their lives. They will continue to regard themselves as randomly formed collections of atoms and will keep on dismissing the miraculous human consciousness that has discovered DNA, investigated the structure of the atom and has been amazed by the innermost workings of the cell.
The human soul is a terrible dilemma for Darwin and the supporters who came after him. It is the basic evidence which they cannot explain, which they cannot refute and cannot resolve. Allah has vanquished them by providing proof, of a scientific kind that they cannot deny: the insubstantiality of matter. In the face of this, any objections to the soul’s existence they may come up with are invalid and meaningless.
In His verses in the Qur’an, Allah tells us:
Who could be further astray than those who call on other things besides Allah, which will not respond to them until the Day of Resurrection and which are unaware of their prayers? When humanity is gathered together, they will be their enemies and will reject their worship. (Surat al-Ahqaf, 5-6)
Darwinists and materialists need to realize that the only absolute Entity is Allah. Confronted by this truth, all hollow, empty deceptions and superstitious faiths fall into an insuperable quandary. Allah has enfolded all things with His Sublime Might. All things belong to Him and are under His control. Denying creation and the existence of the soul cannot alter these facts one iota.
The world that the soul perceives is merely an illusion, a phantom and the sole absolute Entity Who rules the entire universe is Allah, Ruler and Lord of the Earth and sky. Henceforth, those with unclouded minds who understand this fact will look at the world from a different perspective and realize that Allah is their only savior. In order to attain salvation in the Hereafter, their true life, people need to behave in the light of that understanding.
Mar 15, 2008
Dr. Harun Yahya
