Hundred Questions - Beginningless and Beginning (la-ibtida' awr ibtida')
Beginningless and Beginning (la-ibtida' awr ibtida')
Q7 It is said that we are from Adam (May peace be through him) and Eve (May peace be through her) and it is also said that first we were stone, then vegetable etc. Which view is correct?
A7 Both these views are correct, for we are from Adam and Eve (May peace be through them) and they in turn are from dust, etc. In other words, we, in addition to being from Adam and Eve (May peace be through them), are also from minerals, vegetables and animals with respect to the completion of our body. For, our nourishment and those of our parents is prepared from these things, from which our bodies are created.
However, if in this question there is any reference to Darwin's theory of Evolution, then according to me that is not correct, for in the background of this theory lies the concept of atheism, i.e., in it is an attempt to deny the existence of God and to negate His omnipotence, and it is accepted that the universe came into existence as the result of an accident, and man also has continued to be transformed from one form into another, until he transformed into the form of a monkey and then gradually became a human being.
We have no enmity with Darwin. But alas! He closed his eyes and without giving the slightest consideration to the supernatural world and its King, plunged into the ocean of nature and continued to sink in it. Had he gone beyond the boundary where his theory starts he would have succeeded in understanding that without any beginning and beginningless there has always been a great living power without whose command nothing moves and acts at all.
The basic question should be: do we accept both existence and non-existence or not. If we accept both, then the question arises: does God rule both existence and non-existence or not? If the answer is positive, then we should further ask, if God, the Creator of the earth and heaven, has created existence from non-existence, from what did he create non-existence? This question is so difficult that the entire world is unable to answer it. However, the people of ta'yid (divine help) have a correct answer to it, which is that as God created existence from non-existence, similarly, He, the Omnipotent, created non-existence from existence. Thus we see that there are many things, which become non- existent after being existent and many things come into existence after being non-existent.
It is clear without any doubt from the above explanation that just as the chain of the creation of the day from night and of the night from day continues the infinite chain of the creation of existence from non-existence and of non-existence from existence continues. This is the view of Qur'anic wisdom and not that of anyone else.
It should be known that, in God's kingdom sheer non- existence is impossible. That is, a non-existence, which has no quality at all, is impossible. Rather it is a figurative non-existence and its brightest proof can be found from the Qur'an itself. As God has said: "Glory be to Him Who created pairs of all things that the earth produces, and themselves, and that which they know not" (36:36). The point here is that there is nothing that does not have a pair, either vegetable or animal or human or any other thing that is related to the intellect and knowledge. It is obvious from this verse that existence and non-existence are also among those pairs, which are created by God. This means that just as God made existence apparent from non-existence, He extracted non-existence from existence, and kept it hidden. Neither of the two is anterior or posterior, rather they are both on the circle of beginningless without any anteriority or posteriority. However, in view of some expediency, you can present this fact of beginningless as beginning, saying always that God created existence from non-existence. However, not to shed the light of knowledge and wisdom on non-existence, not to try to lift the veil from its reality, not to search for the understanding of "He created life and death" (67:2), that He (God) created life, but how did He create death?; can our partial life and death be a proof of the annihilation and survival of this great universe?; can we or not, from the example of our own life and death, understand the reality of existence and non-existence?; not to ask such questions so that the veil may be lifted from reality would be just a matter of expediency and prudence, but not of reality. This is probably because the world has not reached this level of understanding otherwise it would have been evident that if there is any beginning of time, existent and creature, it is a partial beginning. If we look universally, it would be evident that everything is on a circle, which is created from the alternate coming and going of existence and non-existence, such as the rotation of day and night. It is from this roation that the concept of beginningless and beginning is established.
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