The well-known Quranic verse in Surat Al-Rum:
‘Do they not contemplate within themselves? Allah has not created the heavens and the earth and what is between them except in truth and for a specified term’
asks us to look within ourselves to find truth. For some in the modern age, this idea sounds blasphemous. In modern times, when the mind and body are constantly kept busy, there is no idle time to contemplate our existence. What does it mean to be alive? Where have we come from, and where are we going? These sound like questions from a child, and it seems as if there is a silent agreement between adults to no longer raise such questions. The secular age assigns no importance to these questions mainly because they cannot provide answers to them. Even the mention of a Creator in an environment outside places of worship is now often frowned upon. “Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and unto God the things that are God’s”—this seems to be the slogan of the modern age.
The outbreak of COVID-19 has led to a major disruption in almost everything we know. Schools are shutdown; many people work from home; and even a trip to the grocery store is challenging. Many people have lost their jobs and livelihood because of the virus, while others have been confined to their homes for weeks. However, we have learned that much of what we thought was essential turned out to be mere luxuries. In the age of consumerism and irresponsible consumption, being confined at home has felt dreadful for some.
I do not support the view that we have the ability to know which events are the wrath of Allah and which are not. Nonetheless, this does not mean that we should not reflect upon such events. It is striking how something that the naked eye cannot see could wreak such havoc on the world. As humans, we have reached a time in which we are more technologically advanced than our forefathers had ever imagined. We sometimes feel invincible and immortal, as if nothing could get in our way, especially not a ‘deity’ that might not even exist.
When the Prophet Hud approached his tribe to guide them, he questioned their actions:
‘Do ye build a landmark on every high place to amuse yourselves and make for yourselves mighty castles, [hoping] that you might become immortal?’
In other words, he is rhetorically asking if they think that what they have built, their beautiful palaces and their buildings, will make them immortal. In modern terms, he would ask if they believe that their ‘civilization’, including great skyscrapers, advanced transportation systems, high-level technology, and medicine, will allow them to live forever. Of course, the use of the word ‘immortal’ could be taken either literally or metaphorically here. In the literal sense, it could be said that, while mankind is busy worrying about their everyday lives, they miss the overall picture and important aspects of life. Metaphorically, they believe that they have reached such a high level of technological sophistication that there is no need for a God.
In reaction to such claims, many have advocated for the use of meditation and similar reflection techniques. This is the epitome of the modern human: we create a problem and find an incomplete solution; we commercialise the inhumane killing of animals to sell in supermarkets and advocate being vegan as a solution; we destroy our planet with greenhouse emissions and blame large companies instead of looking towards the economic system that governs them; and we destroy the family structure, which was the essence of human civilization for thousands of years, and establish centres to prevent suicides and drug use. Modern man has never found the right solutions to the problems that he has created because he is not looking in the right place. He only believes in the material and what can be proven empirically. He believes that depression and other non-material illnesses can be cured with pills. For him, that is more reasonable and ‘enlightened’ than the belief in a Creator.
The tribe of ‘Ad replied to Hud sarcastically saying,
‘It is all the same to us whether you advise or are not of the advisors. This is not but the custom of the former peoples, and we are not to be punished’
They ridiculed his cries for believing in a God as mere old folks’ stories, something the ‘modern’ ‘Ad ought not believe in. After all, they had built a civilization like no other in human history. In another place, the Quran mentions ‘Ad by saying,
‘As for ‘Ad, they were arrogant upon the earth without right and said, “Who is greater than us in strength?” Did they not consider that Allah who created them was greater than them in strength? But they were rejecting Our signs’
They were deceived by their material strength and believed that gave them God-like features. The mirage of material advancement is what led them to the fool themselves into believing that they had risen above being mere humans who would eventually lie in a grave.
For modern man, keeping himself busy in matters of this world is what keeps him away from the difficult questions. Ironically, he does not stop to consider that, no matter how hard he tries to avoid these questions, they will return upon his deathbed. It is rather the sign of the intelligent to wonder about such question before that time comes. My four-year-old son asks me questions that I believe are more detrimental than what many of my peers ask me. He often asks, ‘Where is Allah?’ and ‘Where do people go when they die?’ These are questions that we should ask ourselves and contemplate in detail before we get asked either on our deathbed or by our four-year-old son.