Materialism - The Superstition of an Age

rt -->stimuli we receive and by our prior conditioning. As
Ancient Greek thinkers imagined that all bodiesexiles, we have no responsibility, no choice; our free will
consisted of tiny particles called atoms. Theyis a mirage. (Amit Goswami, The Self-Aware Universe:
maintained that these atoms shaped the universe andHow Consciousness Creates the Material World,
all living things, without intention or direction and withoutTarcher/ Penguin Books, 1995, p. 12.)
being subjected to any conscious intervention.The fact is, however, that Allah created man. And man
According to this belief, matter was timeless andis not an entity devoid of purpose and responsibility.
eternal, and nothing beyond matter could exist.Contrary to what materialists claim, man is not an
Supernatural events that intervened in entities' behaviorunthinking machine. Man is an entity with a responsibility
and altered their structures was sheer superstition,to Allah and will be held to account for all his deeds in
unacceptable. All axioms and principles were based onthe Hereafter.
the assumption that matter was an absolute reality.The materialist logic that seeks to divert people away
Since matter was eternal, the universe must be eternalfrom this fact has been evident at all times throughout
as well, and that idea served as the foundation ofhistory, ever since the days of Ancient Greece. Yet it
atheism. If the entire universe had existed for all time,was only in the 19th century that this belief spread and
then according to the perversion of materialist belief, itbecame established as a settled intellectual system. In
was impossible for matter and the universe to everthe 19th century, the great majority of classical
have been created.physicists thought that the fundamental components of
According to materialists, the universe was eternal, andmatter were inanimate and indivisible atoms, just like
therefore, there was no purpose or special creation intiny billiard balls, and that the perfect regularity and
it. Materialists imagined that all the balances, equilibrium,complexity in the universe were the result of the
harmony and order in the universe were solely therandom motion and compounds of these atoms. In
results of chance. They claimed that everything cametheir view, everything on Earth, life included, came into
into being as the result of unconscious atomsbeing by accident through a series of blind, unconscious
assembling at random. And no matter how muchprocesses. Atoms established unreasoning unions and
complexity, balance and magnificent regularity exhibitedgave rise to the world we see with all its perfect
by the external world, these were still the result offeatures-and also to ourselves, with our minds and
purposeless coincidences.consciousness.
Materialist minds had held this preconception orBy setting out these claims, materialists sought to
idée fixe ever since the days of Ancientindoctrinate people with the idea that man was not
Greece. Since materialism rejected the concepts ofmade by a Creator and that apart from matter,
purpose and creation to the universe, it also denied thenothing existed. The fact is, though, that man was
existence of a Creator. To be strictly accurate,obviously created with perfect systems and
materialism was a philosophy which had beenmechanisms, through an extraordinary mind and
formulated to reject Allah (God). Many movements,intelligence. There were no unconscious processes on
ideologies and intellectual systems that rejected beliefEarth of the kind suggested by materialists, and no
in Allah were, similarly, rooted in materialism. In otherunthinking structures and systems arose as a
words, materialism was the most influential religion ofconsequence. Everything displays a complexity and
atheism.sublimity that often exceeds the capacity of human
Stanley Sobottka, a professor of physics from Virginiaminds to comprehend, and so perfect are these details
University, describes the perversion of materialism inthat they exclude all possibility of chance. The Earth
these terms:itself reveals proofs of creation.
If we believe this way [believe in materialism], we mustDespite these facts, however, materialists insisted in
conclude that everything, including ourselves and all oftheir claims that unconscious atoms were the basis of
life, is governed completely by physical law. Physicalall things. So what, according to materialists, were
law is the only law governing our desires, our hopes,these atoms, the source of all else that exists?
our ethics, our goals, and our destinies. Matter andIn one respect, we now know that the atom is an
energy must be our primary focus, the object of all ofalmost complete void, and that is a proven fact. We
our desires and ambitions. Specifically, this means thatcan explain this as follows: If you imagine the atomic
our lives must be focused on acquiring material goodsnucleus, comprised of neutrons and protons, as a
(including bodies), or at least rearranging or exchangingpinhead just 1 millimeter (0.039 of an inch) in diameter,
them, in order to produce the maximum materialthen an electron revolving around that nucleus does so
satisfaction and pleasure. We must expend all of ourat a distance of 100 meters (328 feet)! (Taskin Tuna,
energy in this quest, for there can be no other goal.Ol Dedi Oldu: Big Bang'in Nefes Kesen
And in all of this, we have no choice, because we areÖyküsü, October 2005, Sule
totally governed by physical law. We may feel trappedPublications, p. 59)
by these beliefs and desires, but we cannot shakeIn this considerable volume between the nucleus and
them. They totally dominate us.the electrons, the only thing that exists is empty space.
A succinct, personalized, summary statement ofThis 100-meter void is literally empty. That is why in
materialist philosophy is, "I am a body." (Stanleyone sense, experts are justified in regarding the atom
Sobottka, "A Course in Consciousness)as an empty vacuum. In the words of the British
In Ancient Greece, materialists held that religiousphysicist Sir Arthur Eddington, matter is mostly ghostly
adherents were illogically opposed to science. For thatempty space. (Peter Russell, "The Primacy of
reason, materialists throughout history have sought toConsciousness) To be more precise, it is 99.9999999%
give the impression that belief in Allah and science areempty.
incompatible. In fact, however, science has increasinglyFred Alan Wolf, a particle physicist at the University of
showed evidence of His existence, and thoseCalifornia describes this fact regarding the atom:
discoveries worked against the materialist mindset thatIf you stop to think about it at all, you might realize that
fought against belief in Allah.life on planet as we live it is really a surprise,
This included Darwinism, of course. The struggleconsidering just how empty the universe really is. In
against Darwinism is basically an attack on itsfact, the universe is more than 99 percent nothing! And
materialist origins.considering that the universe is still expanding at an
Throughout the course of history, materialists claimedalarming rate, it's getting to be more nothing than it
that entities consisted merely of assemblages ofever was!
atoms, and that the human brain was nothing moreSo while looking out at it leaves us in awe, when we
than a network of neurons. They were unable toconsider the microworld of subatomic matter, it's even
account for the human mind, and attempted to explainworse. There, nothing exists in spades, so to speak.
it as the electro-chemical interaction between its(Fred Alan Wolf, The Spiritual Universe: One Physicist's
neurons.Vision of Spirit, Soul, Matter and Self, Moment Point
Materialists had no qualms about describingPress, 1999, p. 99)
themselves as animals or machines. They denied thatAt the beginning of the 20th century, it was known
they had the status of entities with consciousness andthat there was a giant empty space inside the atom,
claimed that they had come into existence by chance.which was regarded as the smallest component of all
Yet this was a grave misconception and a liethings, and that this space contained a nucleus and
fabricated in order to deny Allah.electrons revolving around it. However, only the general
In the words of the quantum particle physicist Stephenlines of matter-the atom and its fundamental
M. Barr, of the Bartol Research Institute at theparts-were understood. So what was there in the
University of Delaware, these people who believed inatomic nucleus, in a space just 10-18 kilometer in size,
the absolute reality of matter were almost no differentor one millionth of a millionth of a millionth of a
from the pagans of the past. Just like the ancientkilometer? That was something unknown to scientists.
pagans, materialists describe humans as essentiallyIn the 1960s, a most significant scientific discovery was
sub-human. Pagans deified matter; materialists did themade. It was realized that in the depths of the proton,
same thing by denying the soul and reducingthere were particles known as quarks. These
everything to the level of matter. Pagans declared thatextraordinarily minute particles caused protons to have
events were determined by the orbits of the planetsa positive electric charge, and neutrons to have no
and the stars; materialists claimed that they werecharge. Research eventually revealed the presence of
controlled by the ebb and flow of the hormones in theira gloriously complex world in what comprised just
brains. Pagans prostrated themselves to worship in0.0000001 of the atom.
front of false animal deities; materialists claimed thatThe more that materialists descended into the depths
they were no more than animals themselves.of the atom and the more extraordinary details they
(Stephen M. Barr, "Retelling the Story of Science,"saw in matter's smallest building block, the more they
March 2003)sought some solution by developing their theory in
Amit Goswami, a professor of physics at theanother direction. In order for the entire universe to
University of Oregon's Institute for Theoretical Science,form unconsciously and haphazardly, they had to
describes the fundamental logic with which materialistsexplain how not just atoms but also the world inside
sought to indoctrinate people:the atom,-in other words, the motions of sub-atomic
We are conditioned to believe that we areparticles-had come into being.
machines-that all our actions are determined by the