People think that since God is everywhere, idols and statues can be worshipped. This reasoning is incorrect due to the following reasons:
i. If God is everywhere, then we can start worshiping any object present around us and need not look for an idol or an image attributed to God. Example: pen, chair, table, etc.
ii. It is illogical to think that God is everywhere. Creations have a beginning and an end. If God (creator) is within the creations then what would happen to God when the creations come to an end?
iii. Our universe comprises matter and anti-matter. When matter and anti-matter come in contact with each other, they cancel each other and the result is non-existence. So if God is present everywhere, it would mean God is present in both matter and anti-matter. So when the matter and anti-matter come in contact with each other, it would mean that God becomes non-existent because the matter and anti-matter cancel each other. Hence, God being present everywhere is illogical and impossible.
Hence the reason ‘God is everywhere, so worshiping idols is not a sin’ is rationally incorrect.
iv. How can we achieve concentration in worship?
When man starts to think about the attributes of God like God’s mercy, forgiveness, love, wisdom, power, etc., he would be able to really concentrate on his worship and the worship will also become meaningful. One important thing everyone needs to ask oneself is, have we ever tried to worship God without using an image or an idol? If no, how is it correct to dismiss the idea without even trying it?
v. Common people need idols to worship God
The claim that common people are incapable of worshipping God without idols is false because of the following reasons:
i. There are millions of common people in Islam, Judaism and several denominations of Christianity who worship God without idols. If all these people can worship God without idols, it should be possible for common people of all faiths to worship God without images and idols.
ii. To say that common people are like children in spirituality and hence would need idols is like saying ‘we need to draw a picture of a small sun for children to look at since they cannot see the sun rays directly’.
iii. Only if the fundamentals of any particular subject are strong, a person will be able to excel in future. For example, a teacher of mathematics in standard one teaches the students that 2 + 2 = 4. Irrespective of whether the student passes school or does graduation or does a Ph.D. in mathematics, the basics of 2 + 2 = 4 will always remain the same, it will not change to 5 or 6. In higher standards the student may learn about Algebra, Trigonometry, and Logarithm, etc., besides addition, but the fundamentals of addition will yet remain the same. If the teacher in standard one itself teaches the fundamentals wrong, how can you expect the student to excel in future?
Will you tell your son who is in standard one that 2 + 2 is not equal to 4 but is equal to 5 or 6 and tell him the truth after he passes school? We would never do that. In fact, if he makes a mistake, you will correct him and say it is 4 and not wait till he graduates; and if you don’t correct him initially, you will ruin his future. Similarly, the fundamentals of worship can never change irrespective of whether the person is a scholar or a commoner.
vi. Do we have an excuse to worship idols?
When we confront the person who worships an idol with the evidences and reasons against it, he may recant saying, ‘What matters is to be good, let us not worry about how we worship God’. Using this statement, the person attempts to nullify all the arguments against idol worship. If this statement is made by a person who worships God, we may ask him, if it is just about being a good human being, why do you worship God?
By worshiping God, the person agrees that as much as we strive to be good human beings, it is equally important to worship God. Since worship is for God, are we not supposed to see if God ratifies how we worship? We did see that God does not permit idol worship and also the problems with it and why it becomes a sin.
Let us try to understand this through a simple example. Say there is a person called A, who does a lot of social service like helping the poor, the sick and the needy and he is known as an excellent human being in his society. One day, people discover that he was involved in treason by secretly helping an enemy nation by passing on confidential information to them.
On the other hand, we have another person called B, who does not do much social service or get involved in any social welfare activities and is not considered a great person in his society. Although this person does not do any good acts, he stays loyal to his country. Compare these two persons, A and B. Who is better of the two? Can person A be forgiven just because he has helped a few people? In no case, will he be forgiven, as what he has done amounts to treachery and planning against the country. All countries consider treason a very serious crime.
Similarly, God does love people who do good deeds, but under NO pretext will God forgive those who do ‘treachery’ against Him, by worshipping things other than Him or by worshipping idols. It is hence, very clear that when a person is involved in idol worship, he disobeys God. A person can never be a good human being by disobeying God and doing things that displeases God. Hence, to be a good human being, a person has to obey God in all matters, including worship. So the excuse ‘What matters is to be good, let us not worry about how we worship God’ is not justified.
vii. Essence of Worship
Worship is a deed done by the worshipper out of extreme piety, reverence and humility to God. It is unbecoming of man, who is the best of God’s creations to offer worship to something that is equal to him or to something which is below him in status.
Moreover, worship with extreme reverence is shown only to the one who deserves it. God alone is perfect in greatness, wisdom and power. So God alone deserves worship and it is God’s privilege to be worshipped and adored. What God alone deserves should not be given to others; and doing so is against God’s will because it is like elevating them to the same level as God, who is the one and only deity.
To conclude, idol worship is a major sin, God did not permit idol worship, images attributed to God humiliate God, images of God distort the correct concept of God, images attributed to God are many times unacceptable to us, we do not need idols for concentration as concentration in worship can be achieved by thinking about the attributes of God and the argument “God is everywhere, so Idol worship is correct” is erroneous.
5. LIFE AFTER DEATH
The question of whether or not there is life after death does not fall into the field of science, because science is only concerned with the classification and analysis of recorded data. Moreover, man has been busy with scientific enquiries and research, in the modern sense of the term, only for the last few centuries, while he has been familiar with the idea of life after death since time immemorial. God says in the Qur’ān, “…He says, “Who will give life to bones while they are disintegrated?” Say, “He will give them life who produced them the first time; and He is, of all creation, Knowing” (Qur’ān 36:78-79).
i. Need of Hereafter
We need a life after death, because complete justice cannot be established in this world. Let us try to understand this with a few examples. Hitler killed millions of Jews during his reign of terror. Even if the police had arrested him, what punishment can the human law give Hitler? The most they can do is to send Hitler to the gas chamber. That will only be punishment for the killing of one Jew. What about the remaining five million, nine hundred and ninety nine thousand, nine hundred and ninety-nine Jews? How do we punish a suicide bomber who killed millions of innocent people? We will not be able to punish him as he is already dead.
We have heard of judges writing multiple life sentences which can go up to 100 years for the convicted criminals. This is because the criminal deserves so many years of punishment. Will the convict complete his term of punishment if it is 100 years? True and perfect justice would mean that the people who were victims are also taken care of. What compensation can we give to those innocent people who were killed by people like Hitler and suicide bombers? We will not be able to compensate them because they are already dead.
Several righteous people were tortured and some even killed. Don’t you think those righteous people should be rewarded for their righteousness? Rational thinking will lead us to conclude that there is definitely a need for an eternal life after death to compensate people for what they did in this world. God who is most just will not let people go without being rewarded or punished for what they did.
In the world, there is the powerful and the weak, the tyrant and the oppressed, the poor and the rich, the healthy and the sick, and the short lived and the long lived, and when death occurs, there must be another day in which all accounts will be settled.
ii. Concept of Hereafter
Islam teaches that the whole world will come to an end one day. All the human beings, from the first man to the last will be brought back to life (Resurrection) on the Day of Judgment and will be questioned for their deeds. People who have done good deeds and lived a life in accordance with God’s command will receive a reward and people who have disobeyed God will be punished. The reward will be Heaven and the punishment will be Hell. The life in Heaven and Hell will be eternal and never-ending.
Since the life in Heaven and Hell is eternal and never ending, God can punish Hitler and the suicide bombers several times in the hell fire. Similarly, God can reward and compensate countless times, the righteous and the innocent people who were killed.
iii. Resurrection
God who created us for the first time will give us life the second time after we die. We all know that creating something for the first time will be difficult. Repeating the same creation again will not be as difficult as the first time. God did not have any difficulty creating us the first time, why will He find it difficult to give us life after we die? Bringing us back alive after we die is indeed very easy for God.
iv. World has to End
The world has to come to an end for complete and perfect justice to be rendered to human beings. For example, I plant a tree and the tree benefits people by giving fruit and shade. You would agree that I need to be rewarded for it. Let us say, I plant the tree and I die a few years after I planted it. The tree continues to live for some 200 years. If I am re-born before those 200 years, I am not rewarded fully for planting that tree as the effects of that good deed still continue. So I will have to wait for 200 years till the tree dies to be fully rewarded for planting that tree.
This is the case with every good deed you initiate. Imagine starting an orphanage. You can be given the full reward only after the orphanage ceases to exist. This is the case with a bad deed you do as well. Take the example of the atom bomb dropped in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Doctors say that the consequences of that bomb are still seen today. As long as the consequences exist, the people who were behind the dropping of the bomb can never be fully punished. They have to be brought into complete account for all the damage they caused. To put it in a nutshell, unless the world ceases to exist, effects of many good and bad deeds will not cease to exist. So logically, the world has to come to an end for complete and perfect justice to be rendered.
6. NEED OF PROPHETS
God, in His Mercy, turned towards this shortcoming and disability of man. He sent messages and guidance to some select, noble souls through angels. These men, the prophets, conveyed the art of living and the ways of worship. They unveiled to people those truths of life which were out of bounds of the intellect. These Prophets were only human and they did not have any divine quality. They stand tall as the role models and leaders for human beings. God says in the Qur’ān, “And We have not sent you, (O Muhammad), except as a mercy to the worlds” (Qur’ān 21:107).
i. Why we need Prophets?
To teach someone how to use a washing machine, we use a washing machine to demonstrate. To teach someone how to drive a car, we use a car to demonstrate. If there were angels living on the earth then God would have sent angels to demonstrate as to how they will have to lead their lives. Now, as Human Beings are living on earth, God sent a Human Being to demonstrate how to lead their lives. These demonstrators chosen by God are called Prophets.
ii. Was a Prophet sent to every nation?
Every nation in this world was sent a Prophet. Some of the Prophets are, Noah, Abraham, David, Solomon, Moses, Jesus, and Muhammad (peace be to them all). They could also be called ‘Avtaars’ provided the term ‘Avtaar’ means ‘one on whom something has been sent down or revealed’.
(to be concluded)