The Universe in a Nutshell

Science & Religion

Beyond Intelligent Design — The Scientific Case for a Creator

Science of God

A Muslim's Duty Towards All Life and Every Creature in Existence

“If a mule stumbles near the Euphrates, I fear being questioned by Allah as to why I had not paved the road for it.”

~ Umar ibn al-Khattāb

A Muslim is supposed to make life easy for all living beings within their jurisdiction whether it be a plant, an animal or a human. All life is precious and deserves a comfortable abode in this world.

Hazrat Umar ibn al-Khattab feared being questioned regarding the life of a mule and we let our children mistreat dogs and cats because they are only dumb creatures with no sentience. It is truly shameful. Caliph Umar also said:

"If a dog dies hungry at the banks of Euphrates, I will be held responsible for dereliction of duty."

Yet, today, babies die, plants wither and we look away. God hangs His head in shame when He looks down at us. May He forgive us.

— Fahim Ferdous Kibria

Beauty

There is nothing in which deduction is so necessary as in religion.
It can be built up as an exact science by the reasoner.
Our highest assurance of the goodness of Providence seems to me to rest in the flowers.
All other things, our powers, our desires, our food, are all really necessary for our existence in
the first instance, but this rose is an extra. Its smell and color are an embellishment of life,
not a condition of it. It is only goodness which gives extras, and so I say again that we have
much to hope from the flowers.
~ Sherlock Holmes

The quote posits religion as a science of pure reason, without practical experimentation and hypothetical theorizing – a science based completely on armchair observation and deduction, everything occurring within the mind
as it analyzes the data without the use of tabletop tinkering involving gadgets and contraptions.

The observation notes that beauty is the ultimate reason vouching for the existence of God, a good One at that, for everything else in the world can be explained away with the reason of necessity but beauty is something that exists as a bonus in reality serving no other purpose than to provide aesthetic pleasure to the soul without ensuring survival of any sort in and of itself though attraction to beauty may beg to differ but this attraction itself cannot be rationally explained for why be attracted to a feature that does not provide you with any sustenance? Attraction to food and water may appease hunger and thirst for one to nourish themselves, but what purpose does attraction to color and symmetry serve other than to appease the eyes? Yes, beauty is truly an enigmatic feature of the universe.

Beauty is not a mechanism of cold, unfeeling evolution as presented by the ideology of naturalism. It is an extra – something existing beyond natural selection; a product of the unconditional goodness of a caring, loving God. Perhaps, it is why the Prophet Muhammad said:

Verily God is Beautiful and They love Beauty.

[Sahīh Muslim, Hadith 131]

— Fahim Ferdous Kibria

Flowers

There is nothing in which deduction is so necessary as in religion,

He said, leaning with his back against the shutters.

It can be built up as an exact science by the reasoner.
Our highest assurance of the goodness of Providence seems to me to rest in the flowers.
All other things, our powers, our desires, our food, are all really necessary for our existence in
the first instance, but this rose is an extra. Its smell and color are an embellishment of life,
not a condition of it. It is only goodness which gives extras, and so I say again that we have
much to hope from the flowers.

— Arthur Conan Doyle, The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes