Perspectives

March 8, 2017

إِنَّ فِي خَلْقِ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ وَاخْتِلَافِ اللَّيْلِ وَالنَّهَارِ لَآيَاتٍ لِّأُولِي الْأَلْبَابِ ﴿١٩٠﴾ الَّذِينَ يَذْكُرُونَ اللَّـهَ قِيَامًا وَقُعُودًا وَعَلَىٰ جُنُوبِهِمْ وَيَتَفَكَّرُونَ فِي خَلْقِ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ رَبَّنَا مَا خَلَقْتَ هَـٰذَا بَاطِلًا سُبْحَانَكَ فَقِنَا عَذَابَ النَّارِ ﴿١٩١﴾آل عمران 189 - 191

Indeed, in the creation of the heavens and the earth and in the alternation of the night and the daylight are signs of God's creative power for those who are endowed with discretion and understanding and so heed admonition. The ones who remember Allah with reverence while standing and while sitting and while lying on their sides; and who reflect on the creation of the heavens and the earth, saying: Our Lord! You have not created all this in vain. Highly exalted are You far above all! So save us from the torment of the Fire of Hell.

I remember explaining the chicken and the egg paradox to my wife in a discussion shortly after getting married. Given my Western academic background, I was familiar with its usage as a metaphoric adjective to describe a situation in which it is difficult to tell which of two things happened first. My wife, on the other hand came from a very pure background, hailing from an institute of Islamic learning and to my surprise was unfamiliar with it.

I explained the paradox to her and eagerly awaited a deep philosophical discussion to ensue. To my surprise, she simply quoted:

﴿يُخْرِجُ الْحَيَّ مِنَ الْمَيِّتِ وَيُخْرِجُ الْمَيِّتَ مِنَ الْحَيِّ﴾الروم : 19

He brings forth the living from the dead. And He brings forth the dead from the living.

and said: "The egg came first."

Done.

سبحان الله - it’s so simple when you have the correct perspective!

Most of us are college graduates, conditioned by decades of Western academics, but only have a 2nd grade equivalent of Islamic knowledge. This discrepancy can manifest itself any time we have to decide between the two. When all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail!