In order to make them speak up and overcome their bashfulness, students are often told by their teachers that there are no bad questions. In the same spirit, they are told that it is quite all right even if they say something silly. There is nothing wrong with the teachers’ intentions. Unfortunately, some of their pupils accept it as a challenge and spend the rest of their lives trying to prove their teachers wrong.
For example, those who cannot resist the temptation of saying things such as: ‘Why does God do A?’ ‘Why does God not do B?’ ‘God must do C.’ ‘Only if God did D.’ ‘Is it fair for God to do E?’ It can be safely concluded that not an iota of wisdom (or even intelligence or basic common sense) has ever been anywhere in the vicinity of the individual uttering such statements, questions and rhetorical questions. Some of these geniuses go even further. They have the gall to say ‘If I were God I would…’ [followed by what in their opinion is some particularly brilliant idea].
A new question in this brave new, and politically correct, age of human rights is this: ‘Why did God create me without my consent?’ Other ‘reservations’ have been around for a while: ‘Why are there incurable diseases?’ ‘Why is there so much suffering and injustice in a ‘perfect’ world?’ ‘Why does God not give his message directly to every man instead of via his messengers?’ ‘Why did He choose to end prophethood instead of continuing it till the Judgment Day.’ And who can forget the ‘Who created God?’ question! The list of such observations, reservations, complaints and suggestions goes on and on.
Misplaced sense of self-importance and an inflated opinion of one’s own wisdom are obviously at play here. The Quran addresses all such foolishness in principle. When it says that God is the Sovereign, the Almighty, and the All-Knowing, it follows directly that He does not require man’s suggestions on how to run His universe; nor is He therefore obliged to listen to man’s counsel. In fact, the Quran explicitly says that anybody who has a problem with God’s scheme as it is, should try and get out of His Kingdom if he can. This being obviously impossible, the point is to make men realize that they should learn to face the reality as it is, and to live to the best of their potential accordingly; instead of wasting their time wishing how, in their opinion, the world ought to be.
So much for the principle. The Quran also makes a detailed and coherent case regarding the world and man’s place in it. When it claims that there is no flaw in the design and working of the universe, it is in the context of its purpose. Evil and misfortune are as indispensable to that purpose as are good and happiness. How that purpose fits in with people continually making merry and living disease-free till eternity, only atheists know. Or do they?
Those who are guilty of the above silliness are naturally atheists. Not to be outdone, theists often bring their own brand of foolishness to the table, doubtless with the best of intentions on their part. This usually comes in the form of similitudes: ‘God is like a watch-maker’, ‘God is like a mother’, or some such variant. Any wonder that this level of ‘discourse’ creates more problems than it solves? Belief in an Omnipotent God whose infinite knowledge and wisdom encompasses all – while none encompasses His knowledge – ought to rule many things out. One of which is the belief that man can improve upon how God descries Himself in the Quran. Unfortunately, it does not. God surely works in mysterious ways.
Such silly reservations and questions (from atheists) and equally silly similitudes (from theists) stem from a failure to understand a simple yet fundamental fact: There is nothing in the universe that is like God. Therefore, somebody may give free rein to one’s imagination all he likes; but such ‘insights’ only make him look stupid. All man can know about God is some of his attributes as revealed by God Himself (those too stated strictly from man’s point of view) – absolutely nothing about God’s person or essence, or how He goes about His business.
Another fact that is frequently forgotten, especially in this age of scientific optimism, is that there are limits to man’s knowledge. When some questioners wanted to know how a Transcendental God interacted with the world (which is strictly subjected to the constraints of time and space), the Quran reminded them in no uncertain terms that man is given but little knowledge. Knowledge, then, is much more than just knowing answers to questions. Probably more important is knowing that there are certain questions that one cannot possibly know the answers to. Knowing the limits of knowledge is therefore the start of wisdom.
There is an enlightening Bible narrative about the episode where the Devil tempted Jesus Christ (peace be upon him) to throw himself from a height and see if his God saved him. Jesus in his characteristically concise manner told the Devil that it was God’s business to test man; not man’s business to test God. One forgets this on one’s peril.
