Finding God

By

Dr Ghayur Ayub

Belief in God is the basic tenet of theology. But when it comes to perceiving God, the mind diversifies; such as one monotheist would support suicidal bombing to please Him, while another would reject it. Similarly, a practice carried out by one believer may be taken as "˜Shirk' by another believer because he perceives it differently. The diversities go on and on. The process doesn't end with the theologians. It affects the scientists who believe in the concept of godhead. The difference is that scientists try to find God through experimentations while theologians stress on blind faith. This difference was narrowed with the emergence of Quantum mechanics when studies at a subatomic level revealed certain phenomenon which clashed with the logic of conventional physics. For example; a particle which behaves like a particle suddenly starts behaving like a wave leaving no distinction between the two; or a particle splits into more than one without actually splitting. Logically, scientists should not accept such phenomena but they do.

It was Peter Higgs who started looking for a particle which, he believed, gives matter its mass. It was named "˜Higgs boson particle'. Some called it the "˜God particle'. This particle is hard to detect because it is hypothesized to exist only at very high energies which last existed in nature in the moments after the Big Bang. Professor Higgs thought he had found a solution to one of the great mysteries of the standard model of physics "“ how matter has mass and thus exists in a form that allows it to make stars, planets and people. He proposed that the universe is pervaded by an invisible field of bosons that make mass.  

In 1964, Peter Higgs said that he was more than 90 per cent certain that the "˜God particle' would be found within the next few years. At the age of 78, even now he is hopeful that the search is nearly over, with a new atom-smasher, Large Hadron Collider (LHC), switched on near Geneva a few weeks ago in a bid to find; the Higgs boson; the beginning of the universe; and the nature of "˜black holes'. According to him, critical evidence about the "˜God particle' already exists in data from an American experiment in Illinois that has yet to be analyzed fully.

He is hopeful the crucial particle might help find God, and if it is not found, he said, "I should be very, very puzzled. If it's not there, I no longer understand what I think I understand." Some scientist fear that the experiment might recreate the situation that existed at the time of Big Bang, causing total destruction of planet earth. Having said that, isn't it interesting to see scientists hoping to find God through means other than religious belief? There is disagreement between atheist and theist scientists on the subject but there is no animosity seen among their counterpart theologians.   

The theologians at times support issues pertaining to the pleasure of God that can only be perceived as inhuman. For example, in the case of suicide bombings, we find humanists objecting as to how can religious preachers instruct their followers to go and blow themselves up killing innocent people, committing two sins; killing themselves and taking innocent lives of others? Both acts are against religious teachings. Here is the dilemma; the scientists who have doubtful beliefs in God strive to find Him for the good of humanity; while the religious custodians who apparently know God prepare people to kill fellow human to please Him.

I always wondered what could be going through the minds of suicide bombers when they see the faces of the innocent children around them who are going to be blown away in a tormenting inferno. I found an answer when I read a true story of a passenger traveling in a bus from Islamabad to Peshawar. According to him, a young man with a short beard entered the bus and went straight to the driver and whispered something in his ear. Then he walked back calmly and set a few seats away from him. The bus went on speeding towards Peshawar. Now and again, he would glance at the man busy in some kind of Dhikr. The driver seemed tense. After three hours, the bus reached its destination. The passenger was the first to get up. He went quickly to the driver and whispered again in his ear, before leaving the bus in haste, disappearing into the crowd.

After he left the bus, the driver started shouting. It was hair-raising what he said. "The man who left the bus was a suicide bomber. He told me that if I saw a military vehicle on the road I should run into it. He also told me that I and all the passengers are lucky because we will all soon go to heaven. Luckily we didn't come across a military vehicle otherwise I had no choice but crash into it." With a tearful expression and fearful tone he further said that before leaving the bus, the bomber told him, "How unlucky you people are to miss a chance to go to heaven". Last week, when I read about the bomber who distributed sweets just before he blew himself up at Police HQ in Islamabad, the year-old narration returned to me.

How do we explain the strange ways of finding and pleasing God? The scientists want to find Him for the good of humanity by risking initiating a "˜black hole' phenomenon, which could bring an abrupt end to planet earth. The theologians want to please God by killing innocent people with the belief that they are providing them "˜Jannah' in the Hereafter. One group is taking risks to make life easier for humans; the other is destroying life to give them a good place somewhere else. Could there be a way in between, where without risking the lives of others one could prepare them for the benefits of life after?    

To find an answer, I went to the shrine of a Sufi saint Bari Imam, The mausoleum was flocked with all kinds of people-rich and poor; destitute and privileged; smiling and crying. They all had one thing in common; they needed moral, monetary or spiritual support. I looked around and saw a large number of poor people standing in queues waiting for their turn to have free "˜langer'. Who wouldn't like to have free food in this backbreaking time of high costs? For me, that scene alone was enough to convince me that these saints are doing a superb humanitarian job abating the most crushing factor of life-hunger. I am not talking about their teaching of spreading humanity, tolerance, understanding and love. No; just filling the hungry bellies of the poor whose souls are broken by the ignorant religious custodians and the pompous political leaders, who don't give a damn about what happens to them in this world or the world after. I thought, wouldn't it be nice to find God in the hungry bellies, deprived minds, shelter-less bodies, dying patients and living dead? I turned back and looked at the shining dome of the saint Bari Imam and was mystified by acute awareness that may be it is the noble deeds which put us on the path to knowing the Soul, Spirit and God. Could this be the way to find God?

The end