The Seedbed of Light, The Third Treatise
The Necessity of Resurrection
Belief in God requires believing in Messengership (page 51)
“Know, O Friend, that belief in God, the Prophet, Resurrection, and affirmation the universe’s existence require mutual belief. There is a perfect relation between these pillars of belief, for believing in one requires believing in the others. The universe explains the absolute necessity of God’s Existence, and God’s Existence requires Messengership and the other world.”
Each pillar of belief needs independent confirmation, although they are all intertwined. It does not mean that one necessitates the other. It means that each one is required to confirm the other. Atheistic view gets eliminated when a person concludes that there must be God. Mostly, people preferring a religion over secular views are considered “people of the book”. In other words, people who follow the society culture which does not deny religion are known as “people of the book”. That is, they believe in God, follow religion and Messengers. It is not wrong but one has to get his/her own evidence to conclude something. You cannot simply present an argument that the book says to believe in resurrection and so we got to believe it.
The text is presenting to us that without Messengership, the universe would be meaningless. Transient world is evidence of permanence of its Maker. We all desire permanence. The text is also suggesting that for each pillar of belief, one must have an independent evidence to confirm belief. If one carefully studies the Quran, one finds that the Quran is full of evidence of each pillar of belief which we can confirm from the universe and by using our human qualities. That is, belief in God is necessary in order to confirm resurrection, but it is not sufficient.
This universe is a dependent creation and cannot satisfy what one’s human qualities actually desire. We all desire a permanent abode. This desire is a promise and it must be fulfilled by the One that gives existence and this desire of wanting Permanence.
Am I going to be satisfied that there must be another order of creation?
Resurrection= a new creation, destruction of things within the order that one observes here. The Quran mentions that this order is dependent on Something else. This universe with its order demonstrates that it depends on an Absolute Being.
Resurrection is not an extended event. It cannot be understood as a causation i.e. event A causing a result B. It can be understood as a correlation to our experiences here in this transient universe i.e. causality. That is, the order in the universe does not change but everything within it changes.
Scholars need to be respected for their research within their own era. We need to refresh the findings and make it relevant to our times and conditions. Similarly, the Quranic teachings need to be renewed as well so that the new generation is raised according to their time.
Without using the universe, no one can understand the Quran. Every quality that we observe here necessitates the existence of an Absolute Source. If one does not see transience in this universe, then they cannot see meaning behind the existence of this universe. Not liking transience makes one realize that the One that gives dislike of transience and like of Permanence must give me what I desire. That is a promise that shall be fulfilled otherwise my human qualities are not satisfied here. We cannot deny our emotions. They need to be used to connect with the Source of our existence. In conclusion, everything in its existence is meaningful.