For Children

ALLAH CREATED ALL OF US

You often hear people referring to "Allah." They usually form sentences such as, "May Allah bless you," "If Allah wills," "Insha'Allah," "May Allah forgive you" and so on.

These are the statements that are used when one remembers Allah, prays to Him or exalts Him.

For example, "May Allah protect you" expresses the fact that Allah has infinite power over you and every being-animate or inanimate-around you. It is Allah Who can save you, your mother, father and your friends from evil. For this reason, this phrase is often used when mentioning a natural disaster or similar unwelcome event. Think for a moment: Could your mother, father or anyone else you know prevent a natural disaster, for example, a flood? They certainly could not, because only Allah makes such events happen to man and, similarly, only He can prevent them.

The word "insha'Allah" means "if Allah wills." Therefore, when we say that we are going to do something or not going to do something, it is essential we say, "Insha'Allah." This is because only Allah knows the future and thus creates it as He wills. Nothing happens except what He wills.

When one of our friends, for instance, says, "I will certainly go to school tomorrow," he or she is making a mistake, because we cannot know what Allah wills him or her to do in the future. Maybe he or she will be sick and unable to go to school, or atrocious weather conditions may suspend classes.

For this reason we say "insha'Allah" when expressing our intentions for the future, and thereby acknowledge that Allah knows everything, that everything happens only by His Will and that we can never know anything beyond what Allah teaches us. This way, we show due respect to our Lord, Who possesses infinite might and knowledge.

In the verses of the Qur'an, Allah informs us that He wants us to say "insha'Allah" (If Allah wills):

Never say about anything, "I am doing that tomorrow," without adding "If Allah wills." Remember your Lord when you forget, and say, "Hopefully my Lord will guide me to something closer to right guidance than this." (Surat al-Kahf: 23-24)

You may not know a lot about these issues, but that is not really important. In order for you to come to know Allah, all you need to do is to look around and think.

Everywhere is full of beauty showing us the attributes of Allah and His infinite might. Think about a lovely white rabbit, the smiling faces of dolphins, the glorious colours of butterfly wings or the blue seas, green forests, various kinds of flowers and the other innumerable beauties in the world. It is Allah Who creates all of these. Allah has created the entire universe you see-the world and the creatures in it-from nothing. Therefore, looking at the beauty that He creates, you can see His infinite might.

It is a fact that our own existence is evidence of Allah's existence. So let us first think about our existence and how Allah has created us so perfectly.

The Existence of Man

Have you ever wondered how man came into existence? You will probably say, "Everyone has a mother and father." But that answer is inadequate. After all, it does not explain how the first mother and father, that is, the first man, came into being. You will most probably have heard some stories on this subject at school or from people around you. Yet the only accurate answer is that it is Allah Who created you. We will dwell on this issue in detail in the coming chapters. For now, there is one thing we must all know; The first human being who appeared on earth was the Prophet Adam, peace be upon him. All human beings are descended from him.

Adam, peace be upon him, was, just like us, a man who walked, talked, prayed and worshipped Allah. Allah first created him and then his wife. Then their children spread all over the world.

Never forget that Allah only needs to give a command in order to create. When He wishes something to be, He gives the command "Be!" and it comes into being. He has enough power to do anything. For example, He created Adam from clay. This is easy for Allah.

However, never forget that there are also people who deny Allah's existence. These people give other answers to the question of how people came into existence. They do not search for the truth.

If the boy in this cartoon says, "My picture here has been drawn by ink being spilt on a white sheet of paper by pure chance," this will just sound strange, since we know that it is an artist who drew this picture. Similarly, a man sounds strange if he fails to accept that Allah created him.

If a cartoon character said, "I came into existence when ink was spilt on the paper by chance. The paints were also spilt by chance and formed the colours. That is to say, I do not need anyone to draw my picture or shape me. I can come into being myself, by chance," you would surely not take it seriously. You know that the perfect lines, colours and actions in cartoons cannot be formed by randomly spilling paint here and there, since knocking over an ink bottle only makes a mess; It never forms a fine picture made up of regular lines. For something meaningful and with a purpose to come into being, someone has to think about it, design it and draw it.

To understand all this, you do not need to see the artist and the painter. You automatically understand that the cartoonist has given this character its attributes, shapes and colours, and the faculty of speaking, walking or jumping.

After this example, think seriously about the following: Someone who does not accept that Allah created him is also lying, just like that cartoon character.

Even artificial high-tech robot organs remain very rough and primitive compared to the organs of human beings. Allah created man perfectly and every detail in the human body manifests this perfection.

Now let's assume that such a person talks to us. Let's see how this man tries to explain how he and everyone else came into existence:

"I, my mother, father, their parents and the very first parents who lived from time immemorial all came into existence by chance. Coincidences created our bodies, eyes, ears and all organs."

These words of this man, who denies that Allah created him, are very much like the words of the cartoon character. The only difference is that the character is made up of lines and paint on a sheet of paper. The person who utters these words, on the other hand, is a man made up of cells. But does this make any difference? Isn't the man who utters these words a highly complex organism more perfect than the cartoon character? Doesn't he have more organs? In other words, if it is impossible for a cartoon character to come into being by chance, then it is even more unlikely for this man to have come into being by chance. Now, let's ask this man the following question:

"You have a very wonderful body that functions flawlessly. Your hands can hold objects with great delicacy-much better than the most developed machines. You can run on your feet. You have perfect eyesight, sharper than the highest quality cameras. You never hear a hissing sound in your ears; No hi-fi can produce such a clear sound. Many organs of which you are unaware work together to keep you alive. For instance, although you have no control whatsoever over the functioning of your heart, kidneys or liver, they continually operate flawlessly. Today, hundreds of scientists and engineers are working strenuously to design machines similar to these organs. However, their efforts have achieved nothing. That is to say, you are a flawless creature, the like of which cannot be manufactured by man. How do you account for all this?"

The man who denies that Allah creates these things will probably say:

"I also know that we have a flawless body and perfect organs. But I believe in the following: inanimate and unconscious atoms came together by coincidence to form our organs and bodies."

You will doubtless have noticed that these words sound unreasonable and odd. Whatever age he may be or occupation he may have, a person who puts forward such claims obviously fails to think clearly and has mistaken ideas. Surprisingly, one frequently comes across people who believe in such irrational notions.

Since even the simplest machine has a designer, a complex system like man could not have come into existence by chance. There is no doubt that Allah created the first human being. Allah also created the systems within the body of the first man to enable reproduction and the appearance of succeeding generations. Allah ensured the human race would continue by means of a programme inserted in its cells. We also came into existence thanks to this programme created by Allah, and continue to grow up in line with it. What you read about this subject in the following pages will enable you to attain a better understanding of the fact that Allah, Our Creator, possesses infinite power and wisdom.

The flawless programme in the human body

Despite some superficial distinctions between races, everyone shares such basic, unchanging features as the mouth, nose, eyes and ears. Due to the different programmes that Allah put in the human body, everyone enjoys the same fundamental characteristics, although they may look superficially different.

In the previous page, we mentioned a perfect programme Allah inserted into the human body. Thanks to this programme, every human being has eyes, ears, arms and teeth. Again thanks to this programme, despite some differences in their appearances, all human beings look reasonably similar. We resemble our relatives, and some peoples have their own distinctive characteristics because of this programme. For instance, the Chinese and Japanese generally resemble one another, and Africans have their unique skin colours, facial features, and mouth and eye structures.

In order for a computer to operate, software called a "programme" is needed. A person lives thanks to the information similar to software that Allah has placed in our genes.

Now let's explain what this programme is like with the following example:

You must have an idea of the way computers operate. An expert designs the computer. Experts in special factories with the help of advanced technologies also produce complementary components such as the microprocessor, monitor, keyboard, CD, loudspeakers and so on. Now, you have a machine capable of processing highly complex operations. You can either play games or write whatever you want. But for all this to happen, you need software called "programmes." Without these programmes, which are specially prepared by experts, your computer would fail to operate.

Furthermore, we know that not every programme is compatible with every type of computer, which means that the programmer must know both the computer and the software compatible with it. As we have seen, one needs both a machine and a proper programme to operate a computer. But more importantly, if nobody designed and produced all these things, your computer would again fail to work.

The human body is similar to a computer. As we said earlier, there is a programme in our cells that brings about our existence. Now the question is, how did it happen that this programme came into existence? The answer is obvious:

Allah, the Almighty, specially creates every human being. It is Allah Who has created our bodies as well as the programme that shapes them.

But don't get me wrong. From another point of view, it is quite impossible to compare the human body to a computer. Our bodies are infinitely superior to the most complex computer. Our brain alone, for instance, is many times more complex than a computer.

Now let's see how a baby is born into this world:

Initially, there exists a tiny piece of flesh in your mother's womb. In the course of time, this tiny piece of flesh expands and takes shape.

Your height, the colour of your eyes, your eyebrows, the shape of your hands and hundreds of other features are all predetermined from the very first moment of your existence. All this information is stored in that initial programme Allah placed in your cells. This programme is so flawless and detailed that scientists have only recently come close to understanding how it operates.

In compliance with the programme Allah has placed in our bodies, we grow gradually. The sight of a newborn baby suddenly turning into an old person before our very eyes would certainly astonish us.

In accordance with the programme Allah placed in our bodies, we grow gradually. That is why the growth of our body does not seem odd to us. It takes us years to grow. We would no doubt be astonished if this programme worked faster. The sight of a newborn baby suddenly turning into an old man before our very eyes would be quite amazing.

How Did Other Living Things Come Into Existence?

Human beings are not by any means the only creatures who exist on earth. There are thousands of other living things, some of which you know and many others you do not. Some of them are all around you; you see them everywhere. Some of them, however, are so far away that you only have the chance to see them in books or movies. But a closer look at these beings would show you that they all have one feature in common. Can you guess what that feature is? We can call it "compatibility." Now, let's enumerate what a living thing is compatible with. They are compatible with:

The environment in which they live,

Other living things with which they co-exist,

The elements that maintain the balance of nature,

The factors that provide benefits for human beings.

Allah created every living being in an environment in which it can survive. Fish can breathe in water, birds can fly in the sky and mammals can live on land.

Before expanding on these, let us take a simple example to clarify the meaning of "compatibility." Think about the sockets and plugs in your home. They are perfectly compatible with one another. But how can you tell that they are perfectly compatible with one another? Because there are openings in the socket into which the prongs of the plug fit. Do you think these are enough? The width of the plug's metal prongs is just the same as the width of the openings in the socket. If this were not the case, the plug would never fit the socket. The distance between the plug's prongs and the distance between the socket's openings are also the same. If they were not the same, the plug would never fit in the socket. However, these features alone would not be enough to establish the compatibility of the plug and the socket. If the plug were very long, this would again be a failure in terms of compatibility. If the prongs of the plug were non-metallic, they would fail to conduct the electricity in the socket. If the plug were not made of plastic, then every time you held it you would receive an electric shock. As you see, a lack of compatibility in even the simplest device renders that device inoperative. This means that the same person designed the plug and the socket. And he designed them to be compatible with one another. He made them functional. It is unlikely that the metal and plastic could have come together by coincidence and that they were planned separately and independently of each other, because in that case you could never find a socket and plug compatible with one another.

Bees carry the pollen of the flowers they visit to other flowers. This is the process that ensures the reproduction of flowers. Similarly, cleaning fish clean larger fish.

The compatibility of living things is far more complicated than the compatibility in a socket and plug, because living things contain thousands of systems and organs that have to co-exist harmoniously and work together flawlessly. Any attempt to write down these systems one by one would fill a library of hundreds of books. Therefore, in the following pages we will dwell in brief on these flawless features of the living things created by Allah:

Living things are compatible with the environment in which they live

Every living thing, whether on land or in the air, is perfectly compatible with its habitat. This is how they are created. Various perfect systems secure the nutrition, protection and reproduction of living things. That is to say, each living thing is specially designed in accordance with its habitat.

The organs and the lifestyles of living things are all compatible with the conditions in their environment. For instance, birds have perfect wings to fly in the sky. Fish have specially created gills with which to breathe under water. If they had lungs like us, they would drown.

Living things are compatible with other living things with which they co-exist

We need nutrients such as meat, milk, eggs, chicken, honey, vegetables and fruit every day. Many other fundamental sources of nutrition are blessings Allah created for us, in return for which we need to give thanks to Him.

Some birds and insects contribute to the reproduction of plants. That means that, although they are unaware of it, they help the growth of plants. For instance, while visiting one flower after another, bees carry pollen. Thanks to this process, plants are able to reproduce. In some cases, animals perform actions that are beneficial to other animals. Cleaning fish, for instance, clean micro-organisms off the skins of big fish and thus provide the basis for a healthy life for them. This is another form of compatibility.

Living things are compatible with the elements that secure the balance of nature

No living thing, apart from man, disturbs the balance in nature. Furthermore, they are created with features that maintain that balance. Yet, the balance of the earth is always vulnerable to man's ignorant behaviour. For instance, if man hunts a species beyond reasonable limits, that species becomes extinct. The extinction of that species causes its prey to increase in numbers far too much, which in time endangers the lives of human beings and even nature itself. So, there is an innate balance in the creation of living things; They are totally compatible with the balance of nature, but man alone has the potential to destroy that delicate balance.

Living things are compatible with the factors that provide benefits for human beings.

There is a balance in the creation of living things in nature. Owing to this flawless balance, they can survive as species for millions of years.

For instance, think about how good honey is for you. How do bees know that you need such a type of nutrition, and how do they produce it? Could a chicken, cow or sheep know the nutritional needs of human beings and produce perfect nutrients to meet those needs? Of course not.

This astonishing harmony between living things is obvious evidence that a single Creator creates them. It is thanks to the flawless creation of Allah that these balances exist on earth.