Scientific Indications of Resurrection

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Scientific Indications of Resurrection

 

One of the valuable benefits that have been derived from the

ceaseless progress of experimental science is that it has proven the

possibility of the man's restoration to life. The advancement of

human knowledge has, in fact, opened up a very interesting area of

exploration in this respect, placing the matter in a new light and

making it possible to examine it with precision for the very first

time. This achievement contributes significantly to an improved

understanding of the topic, and it appears, moreover, that scientific

investigations of the matter are advancing toward still more highly

developed theories. The broader the scope of science becomes, the

fewer ambiguities and obscurities will remain in this area.

 

When early materialist scholars discussed the question of

resurrection, they regarded a return to life as impossible, and were

therefore unable to treat resurrection as a topic worthy of

scientific discussion.

 

The first change that occurred as a result of continuing scientific

investigations of the matter was brought about by Lavoisier, the

celebrated French scholar and founder of modern chemistry. He refuted

previous theories and brought their dominance to an end, because in

the course of the researches to which he devoted the major part of

his life he reached the conclusion that the total quantity and mass

of matter in the world are stable, subject to neither decrease nor

increase.

 

The discovery of radioactivity and the transformation of matter into

energy, the second important advance that was achieved in this area,

caused Lavoisier's law to be modified, but it has retained its

validity as far as the permanence of matter and energy is concerned.

 

Despite the chemical action and reaction which take place in the

matter of which the world is composed, causing it to change its form

and shape, no element of matter is ever buried in the cemetery of

annihilation. What we see and perceive is a collection of various

beings possessing mutable qualities. Thus the theory of the

indestructibility of being came to replace the previous law and to

explain fully all the changes and transformations that take place in

matter.

 

A drop of water that falls on the ground and is absorbed; the smoke

of a cigarette that rises in the air; the various fuels that are

consumed by industrial machinery; the flame that arises from burning

dry wood; the candle that burns, scattering its particles in the air

none of this is utterly lost and destroyed. If we had the means of

reassembling their component parts we would obtain the same original

materials, without the slightest decrease. It is only our superficial

way of viewing things, our limited and inadequate way of thinking,

that makes us imagine all these things disappear.

 

* * * * *

 

Man's body is formed of clay, and after passing beneath the wheels of

change and transformation it changes back into clay; i.e., it returns

to its original form. This is because the body carries within it

receptivity to change within it, but its existential core never tends

to non-being as a result of these changes. It loses only the

particular nature of its composition, like all other bodies, without

ever sacrificing anything of its essence.

 

Similarly, the dead and lifeless form of man is transformed into

clay, through the working of internal and external factors; it turns

this way and that, each time assuming a new form. For example, in the

course of time, a plant may grow from the soil where a person is

buried and be eaten by an animal, contributing to its growth. Thus

variety has been introduced into the matter of which man's body is

composed, but the substance and content of his body remain firm and

indestructible throughout all the changes that may occur.

 

The different forms taken on by our energy, good and bad deeds are

likewise imbued with stability and permanence; they are preserved in

the archives of the universe as the determining factor in our

ultimate fate, whether it be good or evil, eternal happiness or

permanent torment. We are obliged to submit to the consequences of

our deeds.

 

The efforts of researchers to capture the sound waves emitted by men

of the past have enjoyed some success; to a limited degree and with

the aid of special equipment they have been able to recapture the

sound waves emitted by the makers of tools, imprinted on the surface

of those tools by the radiation of their hands.

 

These scientific accomplishments are in themselves an indication of

the reality of resurrection; they provide a method which joined

together with reflection may permit us to understand resurrection and

prove it scientifically.

 

Quite apart from all the foregoing, we may ask why God should not be

able to recreate the form of man which came into being out of

scattered particles of clay and was then again turned into earth.

 

The Qur'an makes repeated reference to this matter, saying for

example: " We created you from earth and return you to earth, and then

bring you forth from it once more " (20:55).

 

In this verse, our attention is drawn to the creative power of the

Maker. Through the presentation of the past and future of man in this

world and the hereafter in a single panorama, solace and assurance

are given to man's unquiet and skeptical soul. The thought of man

being swallowed up in death is shown to be irrational, and to speak

of the changes and transformations that man undergoes as aimless is

demonstrated to be absurd.

 

Life in the narrow sphere of this world is too petty to represent the

ultimate aim of creation. If we take into consideration the total

picture of creation, we will see that this petty realm taken in

isolation is unworthy of the lofty origins from which it sprang.

 

Addressing those incredulous people who imagine that the body of man

dissolves and disappears as a result of chemical actions and

reactions within the soil and that it cannot be restored to life, the

Qur'an says: " The unbelievers say: `Is this not a strange thing that

we should be brought back after dying and turning to dust? Such a

return is impossible.' But We are fully aware of what the earth takes

from them, and it is We Who possess the Preserved Tablet " (50:2-4).

 

This verse refers, then, to a group of unbelievers who deny the

resurrection of the dead. It reminds them that God knows full well

where the elements are that once made up their bodies before being

dispersed and returned to the storehouse of nature. He will

reassemble those elements on the plain of resurrection, thus

reconstructing the body in a way the unbelievers thought impossible.

This reconstruction will follow entirely the structure and contents

of the body as it previously existed and be based entirely upon it.

 

The Persuasive Logic of the Qur'an

 

When the Prophet of Islam, peace and blessings be upon him and his

family, expounded the topic of resurrection to the pagan Arabs, a

Bedouin by the name of Ubayy b. Khalaf picked up a decayed bone and

set out for Medina to visit the Prophet. In the hope of refuting the

arguments of the Prophet and the logic of the Qur'an on which they

were based, he raised up the bone, as if it were a valuable and

convincing piece of evidence, and crumbled it to dust, scattering the

pieces in the air. Then, he addressed to the Prophet these crude,

unadorned words, inspired by his rebelliousness and ignorance:

 

" Who will restore to life the scattered particles of this rotten

bone? "

 

He believed that he would thus be able to refute the arguments of the

Prophet and to destroy the belief of others in resurrection of the

dead. His ignorant mode of thought prevented him from having any

correct notion of the creation of being so that he imagined that the

scattered particles of a decayed bone could not possibly be brought

back to life. He obstinately maintained that the reassembling of the

countless particles of the body was unacceptable to man's reason.

 

The Qur'an replied with this convincing argument based on persuasive

logic: " (O Messenger,) say: `God Who first brought them to life will

restore them to life. He has knowledge of all His creation.' ... Is

the Creator Who brought into being the heavens and the earth

incapable of creating the like thereof? Certainly He is the Creator

and All-Knowing " (36:79, 81).

 

* * * * *

 

The Qur'an invites man to contemplate, the whole vast structure of

creation, together with the innumerable phenomena and minutiae it

contains, using his wisdom and intelligence which are his means for

recognizing the principles underlying the universe. Such reflection

will enable him to realize that the restoration of life to man

through resurrection is not more difficult than the initial creation

out of a mass of different materials that were compounded together.

 

It is thought and reflection that lead to correct comprehension; they

form the method by which man must acquire a true understanding of the

world in which he lives and they confirm, in a logical and profound

fashion, the concepts he holds.

 

The Qur'an stresses the importance of resurrection as follows: " Were

We weakened by bringing forth creation the first time that We should

now be incapable of restoring it to life through resurrection? "

(50:15).

 

The Qur'an wishes man to realize that although the restoration of

life to the dead appears impossible when measured against the

capacities of man, it is something straightforward when measured

against the infinite power of God Who first inhaled life in the

inanimate form of man.

 

Man may well ask himself how the breath of life may be inhaled anew

into the particles of his body once they have been scattered in the

recesses of the earth, and how lifeless matter may be brought back to

life although its constituent elements have been dispersed.

 

But that dispersal does not result in their permanent alienation from

each other, and the human intellect can well understand that the

infinite and eternal creative power of God has no difficulty in

compounding anew those scattered elements so that they begin

pulsating with life anew.

 

The Noble Qur'an reminds man of God's unlimited ability to restore

all the minute qualities and precise details of man's limbs with the

following words: " Does man imagine that We are not capable of

reassembling his decayed bones? We are able even to restore his

fingers to their previous state " (75:34).

 

This verse stresses that God is able not only to reassemble the bones

of the dead and restore them to life but even, through His boundless

and incomparable might, to gather together the scattered particles of

their beings and resurrect them.

 

When the power of God begins to restore to life the order of man's

being, in order to implement the ultimate purpose of all being, His

infinite power encounters no difficulty in bringing back even the

detailed physical characteristics of man, in just the same way that

He effortlessly caused the rays of life first to shine on the vast

and as yet inanimate plain of being.

 

In the verse that we have just cited God selects for mention out of

all the marvels of man's composition the lines in his fingers as an

example of His power. This is significant, because it is possible

that individuals should roughly resemble each other with respect to

their other limbs, but in the whole world two people cannot be found

with exactly identical fingerprints.

 

Sensory and empirical awareness teaches us that throughout all the

changes we undergo in life and all the quantitative transformations

to which our bodily composition is subject, the lines in our fingers

remain stable and unchanging. This is completely at variance with the

continuous changes that occur in our bodily condition.

 

If the skin on our hands is removed, for some accidental reason, a

new skin grows in its place with exactly the same features. Those who

specialize in these matters know that fingerprints are therefore the

best means for establishing the identity of a person. Throughout the

world police have recourse to fingerprints as the surest way for

establishing the identity of the author of a crime. This unique

quality of fingerprints, first indicated in the Qur'an, remained

otherwise unknown until discovered in 1884 by some British scientists.

 

Anyone whose mind is oriented to truth and reality will understand,

without any hesitation, that the powerful hand of God is at work in

the appearance of all these wonders; no intelligent person can accept

that some blind mechanical force should be capable of creating the

precise and miraculous phenomenon that is man.

 

 

http://www.al-islam.org/Resurrect/r6.htm