RENAISSANCE FEBRUARY 2021

Faith & Beliefs 25 Monthly Renaissance February 2021 life: they do not fear death. Many jump into fire; they jump into the river and sea. Many in Japan disappear when they jump into the mouths of volcanoes. Hence, if early man was afraid of thunder, lightning and storms, and he wanted to protect himself from these dangers, it follows that he was aware of the blessings of life and its provisions, because until and unless something is held dear, any worry to protect it is meaningless. No one locks an empty house. It also means that early man must have been aware of a Provider, because a provision must be connected to a provider. If the point that he began to worship the phenomena of nature due to fear of being deprived of life and its blessings is deemed to be true, the point that awareness of these blessings would have created within him love and gratitude for the Provider seems to be more valid. Thus, this shows that awareness of a Provider, feelings of love and gratitude and the idea of His worship is superior to feelings of fear and animism. Nevertheless, ever since man has felt fear, he has felt life to be a blessing and the presence of being and love for Him. When he was incited to worship forces of nature, surely a vision would have emerged from his feeling of love to thank his Provider. The feeling of love and gratitude lays the foundation of monotheism and pure God worship, not of polytheism. َْ ٰ رَب ﻟْﻌٰﻠَﻤ َﻟْﺤَﻤْﺪ * ﷲ . ﻟﺮَﺣْﻤٰﻦ ﻟﺮَﺣﻴْﻢ “Praise be to Allah, the Cherisher and Sustainer of the worlds; Most Gracious, Most Merciful.” (1:1-2). Our view is also supported by the fact that the things that cause fear within humans are not daily routine in the world. Earthquakes do not occur daily; volcanoes do not erupt daily; lightning does not strike every day and the noise of storms too are not a daily occurrence. By contrast, stars brighten up the sky daily; the sun shines every day; the blue skies provide a sight for the eyes on a daily basis; the moon spreads out the sheet of moonlight upon deserts and mountains every night; rain provides sustenance and trees bear fruit in every season. Then how astonishing is that the scolding of nature and its threats would intimidate mankind to the extent that he begins to worship them but the unseen Provider’s generosities produce no result and do not create any desire for thanksgiving and gratitude within the human heart! Scholars of biology have painted a horrible picture of those times and attempted to show that the natural scenes of that age