CHAPTER SIX — Modern Possibilities

human mind for thousands of years! Intellectuals and philosophers had done their utmost to unravel the mysteries of the universe through reason, but had ultimately been forced to admit defeat. That is why philosophy, until now, has not led men to any positive creed, but has rather plunged them into scepticism. As the Quran has put it, “Little indeed is the knowledge vouchsafed to you.” (17:85) It has been conceded that man’s intellect on its own can take him only part of the way along the path to truth; it cannot take him right to the ultimate reality. Whenever man attempts to go beyond his limits, he will certainly fail. His approach would be more realistic if he were to rely upon that knowledge which has been given to man through revelation. In the past, both these viewpoints had been dealt with only by speculation. But now, in modern times, science has—astonishingly—given its judgement in favour of the Quran. Science has discovered that through reason man can achieve only partial knowledge. A scientific illustration of this is the black hole theory, which tells us that only three percent of matter is physically observable, the other 97 percent remaining beyond the limits of human observation. Modern scientific discoveries have enabled us to establish revealed knowledge as authentic by adhering to modern scientific standards. It would take a whole encyclopaedia to do justice to all of the facts now accepted by modern science. For our immediate purposes, we list below just a few of the more salient points: 1. The process of general research into an investigation of nature has uncovered secrets of nature which give amazing proof of there being a Mind behind it, which created it, and which continues to control it. The universe discovered by science is so extraordinarily meaningful and organised that there can be no explanation for it but the existence of a Creator and Master of the universe. 2. Islam has had the greatest difference with other religions over the question of polytheism versus monotheism. People in general have favoured polytheism because they found it difficult to believe that the multifaceted world could have