Mankind – the Privileged Species

By Shahid J. Ahmad

Mankind, the Homo sapiens, enjoys a unique and privileged status on the planet Earth. He is not an evolved ape or higher breed of monkey. He can think, argue and invent. He has travelled a long distance during the last 5,000 years of time. He was living in huts, grazing cattle and tilling land to fill his belly. Today he lives in skyscrapers; he has ready-made packaged food on his dining table, and most of his activities are mechanised. Five thousand years ago he was travelling on foot, later on using horses and camels to travel from one corner of the earth to another. He had to spend months together to cover 2000-3000 kilometres. Now he can traverse these distances in a matter of hours, through the modern modes of travelling at his command.

He, with his weak faculties, is ruling over the planet Earth, reshaping it and manipulating things at his will. He has invented computers, robots and artificial intelligence. He has even broken the boundaries of the outer space surrounding the planet Earth and travelled to the sub-planet Moon. He is now planning to colonise the Moon and making attempts to reach the star Mercury. His achievements seem to be boundless, while monkeys are still inhabiting the branches of trees.

How all these could happen?

The Laws Governing the Universe

The universe that man inhabits is governed by certain laws commonly known as the laws of nature. Man, since the beginning, has been trying to explore these laws of nature but could touch only peripheries despite his marvellous achievements in sciences. Apparent reasons for this limitation are twofold.

1. His faculties of perception and understanding are limited in their reach and observation.
2. He could use only two sets of methodologies to understand the nature, viz., his observation of the universe by his five senses of perceptions and the experiments that he undertakes in nature.

Apparently, these capabilities have limitations that make his vision of the universe a blurred one. The conclusion that he drives are not absolute, conclusive and ultimate. These shortcomings made his own vision of the universe change with the passage of time as witnessed in the history.

The moot question is what limits man’s efforts in understanding the laws of nature? Why could he not dive deep into the mysteries of the universe? One obvious reason is that he is approaching nature in a compartmentalised fashion, attempting to explore it in part, while the universe is one functional unit and one entity. The history of sciences reveals that man’s approach to the laws of nature remained one-dimensional. He is exploring the laws of nature in segments comprising the various disciplines of sciences like physics, biosciences, geology and the science of chemical reactions that are taking place every moment in the environment and in the bodies of living beings. These disciplines of knowledge appear to be independent, but they are closely interrelated and interdependent that make the universe function as one unit.

The Search for the Unifying Force

The question is what is the harmonising factor that governs various laws of nature and makes it function so uniformly? Man is still not able to discover that harmonising factor, the central law that brings an amazing and complete harmony in nature and that makes the universe not only habitable but also so lovely to live in for man.

Nature functions as one harmonious whole and not a combination of various fragments. It appears that the universe is designed to function as one unit and a single entity, like a human body. As in a human body, there is a live force that is giving direction to everything; every activity and every movement the universe also has a driving force that makes it function as one harmonious whole. Man’s faculties of observation and reasoning are still not able to detect and perceive the ‘live force’, the guiding spirit, or the central law that is governing the universe. This limitation has made man’s approach to nature partial and one-dimensional.

Also, this weakness leads to man’s ignorance of realities prevailing in the universe. He, despite his remarkable progress in all directions, is not able to know the universe in a real sense and failed to discover even his own self. He does not even know the raison d’être of his existence on earth and why his span of life is so short and why he gets weaker and older with the passage of time.

Fundamental Questions of Human Existence

Here, several questions arise that are very basic in nature and need deep reflections. The stark reality is that man could not know himself even at this stage of his history on earth and despite his progress in all directions and in all disciplines of science. These questions are:

1. How did he come on earth? Did he evolve by chance on earth by the interplay of forces of nature, or is he a planned and purposeful creation?
2. What is the real purpose of his creation?
3. Why is his span of life so short?
4. Once his life ends, it is all over, or some more purposeful and rewarding life is awaiting him.

These are the existential questions that man and his thinking brains have been trying to answer since time immemorial. All these questions need an answer to solve, in the real sense, the mystery of human existence.

It appears every one of these questions is a separate discipline of enquiry, but in a real sense they are the clues to solve the mystery of human existence. Were the thinking brains of humanity able to answer these questions ever in the history of humanity? And if yes, then how convincingly?

Coming back to the real question mark before humanity, that’s no doubt the universe is functioning as a harmonious whole, a single entity, but how to know the driving force that brings the harmonising effect in the universe?

Here human mind is constrained to realise the presence of a supreme intelligence, an all-powerful and very dominant mind controlling and managing everything from stars and galaxies to minuscules like atoms and quarks.

But how could a mortal being like man know about and discover the Supreme Mind and, more importantly, how to connect with Him?

Turning over the pages of human history, we could locate several humans claiming to be inspired and guided by the Supreme Being who had conceived, planned and created the universe. They were the messengers of God, the originator, designer and fashioner of the universe and who had perfectly fine-tuned the universe with a purpose.

These men, ordinary mortals but with the finest of human traits, were endowed and equipped with the special capability to receive the signals revealed upon them by the supreme intelligence to guide humanity towards its ultimate success and salvation.

The Nature of Revelation

More than one question arises here:

1. How do they receive the signals that inspire them and infuse them with the real knowledge while others inhabiting the planet were not?
2. Do they have any other faculties or sense of perception than others that receive the divine signals?
3. What were the reasons for choosing them over others to bear the burden of divine guidance?

There are the great secrets of nature that cannot be answered by ordinary human intellect.

Tawheed: The Central Truth of the Universe

These messengers were fully endowed with the fundamental knowledge of Tawheed, the force that is governing the universe. This had been possible because they were the chosen people. They could envision and see very clearly the uniformity and coherence in laws governing the universe, leading them to the conclusion that their source is one and one only. The story of Prophet Abraham as told in the Qur’an elaborates on this fact very well. This truth that is Tauheed, was transmitted to the prophets and well-conceived and realised by them very early in the history of humanity.

It was the time when knowledge based on experimentations and observation was in a very nascent stage and in cradles. Since the very beginning the Prophet’s call to humanity was to know, understand and worship (obey) the Supreme Being, the originator, designer and fashioner of the universe, every other way, apart from this was ignorance and a path that leads to its catastrophe. This was the first signal or command that they received, and they transmitted it to humanity and as conveyed it very well by words and also by their lives. They were fully committed to this truth, and their only mission was to convey it to the society of their time and guide humanity to the path of its success here and salvation hereafter.

The Qur’an is the last revelation that informs us about various prophets living at different stages of human history when they declared it.

Prophet Nuh: He said: “O my people! Tell me, if I have a clear proof from my Lord, and a Mercy has come to me from Him, but that Mercy has been obscured from your sight. Shall we compel you to accept it when you have a strong hatred for it?”

He said: “And O my people, who would protect me from Allah if I drove them away? Then will you not be reminded?” (Surah Hud, Ayat: 28 and 30)

Prophet Salih: He said, “O my people, have you considered: if I should be upon clear evidence from my Lord and He has given me mercy from Himself, who would protect me from Allah if I disobeyed Him? So, you would not increase me except in loss.” (Surah Hud, Ayat: 63)

Prophet Ibrahim: His people disputed with him. He said: “Do you dispute with me about Allah while He has guided me, and I fear not those whom you associate with Allah in worship. Nothing can happen to me except when my Lord wills something. My Lord comprehends in His knowledge all things. Will you not then remember?”

He said: “And how should I fear what you associate while you do not fear that you have associated with Allah that for which He has not sent down to you any authority? So, which of the two parties has more right to security, if you should know?” (Surah Al-An’am, Ayat: 80–81)

Prophet Shuaib: He said, “O my people, have you considered: if I am upon clear evidence from my Lord and He has provided me with a good provision from Him – I do not intend to differ from you in that which I have forbidden you; I only intend reform as much as I am able. And my success is not but through Allah. Upon Him I have relied, and to Him I return.” (Surah Hud, Ayat: 88)

Prophet Yaqub: He replied: “I complain of my anguish and sorrow only to Allah, and I know from Allah what you do not know.” (Surah Yusuf, Ayat: 86)

Revelation and the Theory of Everything

We could find in these declarations that their psyche was fully tuned with and strongly affected by the fundamental truth prevailing in the universe. They feel the effect deeply in their conscience.

Now, with the centuries of experimentations and observations, mankind is inching towards this reality, leading it to the search of the ‘Theory of Everything’ that is the central unifying force that prevails in the universe.

This ‘unity of creation’ and unity of direction and purpose in every movement in the universe is pointing to the driving force that is governing the universe. This fact was well understood by the prophets very early in the history of mankind.

Revelation as the Ultimate Source of Truth

The truth of vital importance is that the direction which humanity could now take must be in line with the revelations as received by the prophets; then only could humanity survive, nurture and prosper by being in tune with the real nature of the universe and its governing spirit; otherwise, it is destined to be doomed. The revelations received by the prophets are not bound by any limitation of time and space, are fully in tune with laws of nature and hence infallible. Conclusively, the only source available to humanity that could lead to the true concept of truth and lead it to the real purpose of its existence and the path of its salvation is Revelation, and Revelation only.

We could find from the history that humanity was never left alone and unguided to find its own path. God’s message came at all stages of human history, every time in a new and advanced version to suit the time and situation. The final and most advanced message came when humanity had passed its childhood and adolescence and had achieved the real maturity, addressing the human mind and psyche with reality and the whole truth and providing the broad line of guidance to determine its footsteps with confidence and clarity of vision, and thus achieve the Privilege he was designed for.

[The writer, BSc (Hons.), LLB, FCS, is a science graduate with honours in Physics, a law graduate and fellow member of Institute of Company Secretaries of India]